Holiday craft, wine stopper DIY

This DIY colorful wine stopper is another great quick project to decorate your party table.

 

All you need is a pre-made wine stopper and some beads of your liking (I bought mine at Michael's but you probably will find them at your local craft store).

I chose the unfinished wooden beads for my project and I wanted some color so I painted my beads with acrylic paint. I used some acrylic coral beads in between.

So it's really easy: choose the beads and arrange them in the order you like. Make sure they will fit to your cork stopper pole.

 

If you are happy with the future look, undo the arrangement and paint the wooden beads in the colors of your choice. Let them dry thoroughly. If you'd like, use the clear finish on top. Arrange the beads on stopper pole in the planned order.

That's it! Have fun decorating!

Halloween party food ideas

October is here so is thoughts of the holidays. Halloween is a first one on a list so I am already planning what we are going to cook for a party, what to wear and how to decorate that it would look different than previous years.

So I wanted to share some easy ideas on party food appetizer styles. Last year I made these and they were a big hit! These foods can be easily cooked any time you are in a mood for them. I used some food decorations and these dishes easily fit into the Halloween party table!

1. Сheese balls

Ingredients for the smaller ball:
cream cheese, 8 oz, at room temperature

goat cheese, 4 oz, at room temperature

chopped scallion

seasonings to taste: dried chopped onion, garlic salt, smoked paprika

black sesame seeds for coating

Ingredients for the larger ball:
cream cheese, 16 oz, at room temperature

1 can crashed pineapple, 20 oz, well drained

1/2 chopped green bell pepper

seasonings to taste: dried chopped onion, garlic salt, paprika

black sesame seeds for coating

 

Mix all ingredients but the sesame seeds, form 2 balls. Place sesame seeds on a flat plate and roll the cheese balls in it. Move to a serving plate, decorate and store in a refrigerator until ready to use. Serve with fresh baked sliced baguette.

2. Meat and cheese quesadilla

 Ingredients:

a pack of tortillas

cooked meat (cubed roasted chicken, shredded pork or some chopped steak)

Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

mayonnaise

Medium taco sauce to taste

Preheat your oven to 385"F. Line the tray with a foil. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on 1 side of the tortillas and arrange some meat and cheese on half of the circle. Spread some taco sauce on top of the meat and cheese and fold the other half of the tortilla on top of the meat and cheese. Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes. Let it cool and cut to a single size servings. Arrange on a serving plate and decorate. Cover with a lid to keep moist until ready to serve (no more then 2 hours without refrigerator since there is some meat and cheese in it).

3. Chocolate cupcakes

I am sure you have your favorite recipe for these. So just bake and frost them as you always do, sprinkle with edible decorations. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

What are you going to cook for your party? Please share with me your ideas!

Our 4th of July

We had such a wonderful 4th of July Party yesterday. It was lots of laughs, great decor and lots of delicious food.

I've got some great ideas from Pinterest to make these red and blue jello stars gumdrops and colorful pasta.

It was a big hit! 

Halloween fun

We are getting ready for Halloween party and it's always fun to plan something different to decorate.

I took my boxes with Halloween stuff out of our garage and took everything out. The idea hit as soon as I found a clown mask and some costumes we were wearing previous years. I also noticed a clothing rack in the corner so a scary clown figure became very impressive :)

So the idea is simple. Everything is going on the rack and I am going to add some volume to the body by wrapping some fabrics around the clothing rack. We add the hands made out of twisted wire hanger and we got a pretty tall figure, and pretty good looking one also.

Have fun decorating this Fall!

Pigs in blanket

Sometimes you just don't know what to cook for a party. In this case I am always making something simple what will please a crowd for sure. Pigs in blanket is one of my favorites, it's easy to make and they are always a hit.

 You can make it with purchased puff pastry but I really like to use an yeast dough for them. The easiest way is to buy dinner rolls from your grocery store frozen section, like the Rhodes white dinner rolls. For the dogs I am using cocktail links/ mini sausages from Hillshire Farm.

Open the bag of sausages, drain the liquid and dry each dog with a paper towel. Count how many you have if you don't have this info on your package.

Now, get half the amount of the dinner rolls as you have the number of dogs. Place them in oiled glass dish about 2" apart and cover with the clear film. Wait until your rolls will increase in size (it will take about 5 hours at room temperature).

Prepare the baking sheet and spray it with non-stick spray.

Divide each roll into 2 parts. Make a long strip from each part and wrap it around the mini sausage. 

Place them on baking sheet and repeat the process until you are out of dough and sausages.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350'F until golden in color. Serve warm or cold, they are delicious in any way!

That's witchful thinking

Halloween is getting closer and I am already getting excited, the party spirit, you know.

I was thinking of costumes and decorations for this year and realized I can not come up with many new ideas so I contacted a couple of my friends for some new inspiration. I asked these three friends just three questions about Halloween.

Maybe some of these ideas will help you for your party. Please see my blog for the questions and responses.

Ocean Breeze

Hot, hot, hot! While it is nice and breathable in some parts of country it is just miserably hot here in Phoenix. I am melting, melting...

A drink of cold water is a natural way to refresh yourself, however a swimming pool or a lake is another way to get relief from the summer heat.

In the evening when the temperature goes down try to relax by the pool with a glass of something delicious. I love to have a mojito from time to time but I also tried some new recipes.



The one pictured here is called Ocean Breeze.


To make this you use 1 oz each of Gin, Blue Curacao and Triple Sec. Pour this over ice and add about 3 oz of cold tonic and a slice of lemon. Try it and enjoy!


Stay cool, my friends, the summer is almost over :)

My Birthday Party

I always wanted to have a nice English Tea Party in my garden.

So I invited some friends over for a cup of tea and mentioned they should look slightly old fashioned. Hats, flowers, lace, pretty colors, everything will work!
I searched for a typical Tea Party menu. Tea sandwiches and small cakes are a must. I got that and a little extra. After all, it is my Birthday party, too!Oh, it was so romantic! Pink champagne toasts followed by 5 o'clock tea treats.It was a lot of laughter and unexpected surprises. One of my friends wrote me a short Birthday poem - I did not know she loves poetry!When it was time for candles everything turned even more magical. A light breeze, small crescent moon, star filled skies, light jazz music and a nice company.What could be better for a relaxing evening?Best Birthday Party ever :)

Halloween wonderful

You will not believe what I was doing for the last week. Please, guess ... oh, please, oh please!

You have no idea?

Oh, well, I'll tell you. My friend and I suddenly got that Halloween rush (again) and we are planning the best Halloween Party ever!

At least, we hope :)Our annual Halloween parties became a big hit already among our friends. Usually it takes about 30 to 35 people to party and we have about 4 hours of pure fun! This is the only time in a year for us when we don't have to be ourselves and can wear strange or silly wigs and costumes.
This 4 hours is filled with laughs, games, great food and music and this all is just for us!We are already working on a program (it is going to be fun, I promise! :) and there is really a lot of things to do.
So I am busy now with planning, decorating and adapting games to our taste, and I am still not sure who I am going to be this year... kind of like the idea of a can can girl :)I will keep you posted on updates. Oh, and if you like any particular games to play during parties like these please let me know, I am always looking for a new ideas!