Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Italian Sausage Recipe

Mar 16, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Italian Sausage: easy, semi-homemade pasta dish perfect for a family weeknight, and delicious enough for company.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

This Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Italian Sausage is a real family favourite. It's easy to put together, since it uses store-bought gnocchi from the pantry, and it's so, so good.

Gnocchi

I discovered gnocchi one day after a discussion at a playdate. A friend of mine who comes from an Italian background was talking about what she was having for dinner. I had only tried gnocchi once or twice before at an Italian restaurant.

I was certainly intimidated by the idea of trying to make my own little potato pasta pillows, of homemade gnocchi. I was surprised to hear that she bought hers in the dry pasta section of the grocery store. And I thought that if she used pre-made gnocchi and liked it, I should give it a try too.

how to make Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Italian Sausage

My friend mentioned that she sometimes made gnocchi with a little wine, garlic, mushrooms, parmesan cheese, and sometimes a bit of cream. I thought that sounded delicious, so that very night I picked up the ingredients, added Italian sausage, and we've been enjoying this easy meal ever since! It was a huge hit with the whole family. The store bought version made tender gnocchi that was so delicious with the creamy mushroom and Italian sausage sauce. This is a delicious dinner with simple ingredients that's very quick and easy to prepare. It's sure to become one of your favorite recipes.

Here's my version of the recipe, easy enough for busy weeknights, but delicious enough for company. It's great with a green salad, nice crusty bread, and a bottle of wine. With minimal effort, you'll have a delicious meal the whole family will love. You will want to add this recipe to your regular rotation after you see how easy it is to make, and how delicious it tastes.

Sausage

We used mild Italian sausage in our recipe. This makes this meal very family friendly and great for kids or anyone who doesn't like spicy food. If want to add a little spice to your portion, you can sprinkle it with some red pepper flakes to add a little heat. If everyone you're cooking for likes spicy food, you can use hot Italian sausages instead of mild ones. The spicy Italian sausage are a great way to turn up the spice in this recipe.

You could also substitute turkey sausage in this recipe if you prefer it. Or you could try a Italian chicken sausage.

Mushrooms

We did a mixture of white button mushrooms and portobello mushrooms for this recipe because they're our favorite kinds. You can use both kinds like we did, or do all one kind, or substitute them with your favorite kind if you prefer.

Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Italian Sausage Recipe

If you have any leftovers, store them in a sealed airtight container in the refrigerator, and reheat in the microwave. If you do have any leftovers, it sure is a lunch to look forward to the next day.

We served our creamy gnocchi dish with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. It would also be delicious garnished with some fresh basil leaves. And if you want to add some heat you can also add a sprinkle of red chili flakes.

This is a one skillet and one pot dinner too, so easy clean up. Just another reason to love this great recipe. The pillowy gnocchi is so delicious with the creamy sauce, tender mushrooms and flavorful Italian sausage pieces. It's the perfect recipe for any pasta lover the next time they are craving comfort food. This creamy sausage gnocchi is such a yummy quick dinner with a salad and garlic bread.

Recipe

How To Make One Pot Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Italian Sausage

With Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Italian Sausage, life really is a party!

More Recipe Inspiration

You might also like our Easy Lasagna Recipe here.

Easy Lasagna with cottage cheese: this is a great make-ahead, and it freezes well. Easy to put together, and sure to be a family favourite.

Also check out our Tortellini and Italian Sausage Soup Recipe here.

You might also enjoy our Unstuffed Zucchini Recipe here.

Unstuffed Zucchini: the perfect quick and easy, one pot weeknight meal. We made cooking time quicker using zucchini zoodles.

Bath Bomb Recipe for Kids with a Toy Inside

Mar 14, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Bath Bomb Recipe For Kids with a Surprise Toy Inside: the perfect DIY fizzy, scented bath bomb with a toy inside! Kids will love.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

My little girls love taking baths, and playing in the bath. If your kids do too, then this is the kids bath bomb recipe with a toy inside is the perfect little treat for them. We made ours for Easter with an Easter egg mold, but you can make them for any time of year with a regular round mold. Not only will your little love having a hot bath with a bath bombs fizz, but they'll get so excited when they discover that there's a small toy hidden inside! Bath time just got better.

This treat offers a beautiful scented and fizzy bath, with the fun of a surprise little toy inside. What could be better? And they're simple enough to make either for them for a surprise or with them. Your kids will love doing this fun project and helping to choose different colors and scents for their own bath bombs.

Kid Friendly Ingredients

The best part of making your own DiY bath bombs is that you can make thiem with kid friendly, safe, simple ingredients. Commercial bath bombs sometimes contain harsh chemicals, and can even lead to allergic reactions for sensitive skin. Our DIY bath bombs recipe is full of natural ingredients. If your child has particularly sensitive skin you can even choose to leave out any scent.

How Bath Bombs Work

Bath bombs get the name bomb because of the fizz that happens when they hit the warm water. When the sodium bicarbonate and the citric acid hit the water they have a chemical reaction that creates carbon dioxide and makes the wonderful fizz effect. That's why these are the main ingredients in our bath bomb. The bicarbonate of soda and citric acid ingredients and the chemical reaction are totally safe for your skin. The color is added for interest, the essential oil adds a soothing scent, and the olive oil is good for your skin. The witch hazel is an important ingredient in your bath bomb too. The witch hazel helps bind the ingredients together, and create the sand like texture so that you can form it into the bath bomb mold. Over time the witch hazel evaporates, living the dry hardened bath bomb.

Did you know that bath bombs have a shelf life? Citric acid and baking soda oxidize over time and will react less with water. Be sure to use up your bath bombs within six months for the best results.

Handmade Gifts

Homemade bath bombs also make the most perfect gifts. Choose little toys that your recipient will love. Small plastic toys work really well. We used bunnies for Easter, but look for dinosaurs for the dinosaur lover, fairies, unicorns, even small cars would all work really well for this and make a great gift.

Toys

I used some sweet little Easter bunny plastic toys I found at the dollar store, but you could certainly personalize it for someone special. How about mini dinosaurs for the dino lover you know, or shopkins, or little plastic unicorns? Little cars would be a fun choice too. So many fun possibilities. When you're choosing your toys be sure to look for something small enough to fit inside your mold with some room to spare around it. You need a good amount of the bath bomb around the toy to make sure that it holds together well and doesn't fall apart when you unmold it.

You also need a toy that is waterproof. The toy will be revealed as the bath bomb dissolves in a warm bath. So make sure your toy is something that can get wet. Plastic items work really well.

Easter Egg Bath Bomb with a Surprise Toy inside

Recipe

Kids Bath Bomb Recipe with a Surprise Toy Inside

No ratings yet

Print Pin Rate

Cook Time: 15

Additional Time: 1

Total Time: 1 15

Servings: Bath Bomb

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Materials

½ cup citric acid we found ours at the health food store in bulk
¼ cup baking soda
1 tablespoon olive oil
witch hazel -a few sprays from a spray bottle
food colouring -few drops
scented oil -few drops
plastic Easter egg to use as a mold or a round bath bomb mold
small toy for the surprise

Instructions

Combine the dry ingredients of citric acid and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
In a separate wet ingredients small bowl, combine the olive oil, food colouring, and scented oil.
Slowly add oil mixture to dry mixture until it reaches the consistency of wet sand.
To bring it all together, spray lightly with a small amount of witch hazel.
Pack the bath bomb mixture tightly into the bottom of the mold or plastic Easter egg and add the toy surprise to the middle. Fill the other half of the mold completely and click it together with the toy inside. Let it set for 24 hours.
After 24 hours, open the bath bomb molds or Easter egg and carefully remove the bath bomb. Store these in an dry place, in an airtight container.

The Bath Bomb Mold

We made our bath bombs for Easter and thought it was so fun to reuse some plastic Easter eggs as the molds.

Variations

When it comes to adding variations to your easy bath bomb recipe feel free to try lots of different colors and scents. We made some light pink, some light blue. You can even make different layers of color in your bath bath to create a striped effect. To create the different colors just add a few drops of food coloring to the liquid mixture.

The sky is really the limit when it comes to combining different colors and scents. We made our bath bombs with either vanilla and lavender essential oil. It only takes a few drops of essential oils to add a beautiful scent. This creates a wonderful sensory experience for kids. Sweet almond oil is another great choice.

Another fun idea is to add some dried flower petals to your homemade bath bomb recipe. Real dried lavender or rose petals make a fun addition and add a little magic and so much fun.

These are a little fiddly, and we did break some un-moulding them. If you're worried an making the Easter egg version, you could just give them inside the plastic Easter egg. We did get the hang of it though, and had lots of successes too.

We wrapped some of ours up in cellophane bags and tied them with ribbon. This makes them perfect for gift giving with a cute bow and gift tag.

We made ours in the shape of an Easter egg to make the perfect addition to any Easter basket. Another idea is to use a heart shaped mold for Valentine's Day with a special Valentine's Day toy inside. This DIY bath bomb recipe is so fun and easy to make that they'd be a great craft idea for kids to make at summer camp, or at a club. You could also make them at school for a Mother's Day gift, just leave the toy out, and let the children pick food colors and a scent they think their mother will enjoy. Who won't love homemade beauty products as lovely thoughtful gift? If you're making these in larger quantities be sure to look for the citric acid at the health food store, were we able to buy just the amount we needed in the bulk section.

With homemade bath bombs with a surprise toy inside, life really is a party!

More Easter Inspiration

Also check our Bunny Bait Easter Trail Mix here.

Bunny Bait Easter Trail Mix -trail mix, with some fun Easter additions like graham cracker bunnies, and Easter eggs, also a free printable Bunny Bait label.

You might also like our Little Baker's Easter Basket here.

Also check out our Bunny Treat Box here.

DIY Leather Feather Necklace or Earrings

Mar 9, 2017 · Leave a Comment

DIY Leather Feather Necklace: Use leather, gold leaf and some gold chain to create a simple and stunning leather feather necklace.

How to make a leather feather necklace or earrings.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

This Leather Feather Necklace with Gold Leaf is the perfect spring accessory. It was really fun to make and perfect for wearing, or gifting. It's a great way to use up leather scraps. You can make it in lots of different colors for a really fun look.

It's really easy to make, with just a few simple supplies. The main item you'll need is a small piece of leather. This is great way to use any leather scraps. Look for bundles of scrap leather pieces at craft stores or online. Another source of leather can me upcycling old leather goods, like handbags, or wallets. You only need small pieces, so one bag can give you a lot of material. Use your own or look for them second hand at garage sales or thrift stores.

Matching Earrings

We made a long necklace with our leather feather, but you could also make earrings. To make earrings you will need an earring hook, and two leather feathers. Try to make your two leather earrings as similar as possible so that the two earrings match. Instead of attaching a gold chain to the top to create the necklace, attach the earring hook to the top. You may need an extra small jump ring to ensure that the feather hangs facing outward.

Stitching Detail

We've added a stitching detail to our feather. This stitching adds a lot of dimension to the leather feather. If you don't have a sewing machine, you can leave this step out for a more plain look. We used a regular sewing machine and regular thread to stitch the leather. Do practise on a small scrap of leather to ensure your settings are correct before stitching your feather. The sewing machine will make holes in the leather, and unlike fabric, even if you remove the stitching if you make a mistake, the holes will still show. You have just one shot at getting the stitching perfect, so be sure to work carefully. I liked the look of the stitching in a slight "V" pattern, going doing down, and then back up at a very slight angle. You can do the same, or just do one line that is straight down the center of the feather. Tie your thread ends off in neat knots at the back of the feather and snip off the loose ends for a clean finish.

We used black thread on black leather, but you can choose to use a contrasting thread color, if you want it to stand out more. You could even use a metallic thread for a different look.

Gold Leaf

We added a fun gold leaf detail to our leather feather. This step is optional. You could use silver leaf, or rose gold leaf as a variation. We wanted a spoty, not quite covered look, so to accomplish this look be sure to apply the adhesive with just a few dabs here and there and don't completely cover it. The gold leaf adhered very well to the leather and added a fun detail, and a little glam to the jewelry piece.

Chain Tassel

We also added a gold tassel made with a few lengths of gold chain to our feather. To make it we cut three extra pieces of gold chain using wire cutters. We varied their lengths for interest, but made them around the length of the feather. The chains are attached to the feather using a jump ring. Open your jump ring with small jewelry pliers and then after adding the chain, carefully close it to secure your tassel. This detail is optional. We used matching gold chain for the tassel detail and the necklace. You could also use silver, or rose gold for a different look.

Recipe

Leather Feather Necklace or Earrings

No ratings yet

Print Pin Rate

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 30

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Equipment

scissors
leather hole punch
Sewing Machine

Materials

Leather
Gold Leaf
Adhesive for Gold Leaf
Gold Chain
Jump Rings
Thread

Instructions

To begin with, create a feather template you're happy with and use it to cut out your leather. Look for feather patterns online, or draw your own. We liked using sharp scissors for cutting, but you can also use a x-acto knife if you prefer.
The next step is to punch a hole in the top of the feather. We used a leather punch for this and it worked really well.
Apply gold leaf adhesive to the bottom of the leather feather with a small paint brush, creating a spotty coat so that some of the leather will still show through. Dap off any excess with a paper towel. Wait for it to set, according to the manufactures directions, and then apply gold leaf. This step is optional. You can also use silver leaf, or rose gold leaf for a different look. Or leave the leaf off all together.
Using a sewing machine and coordinating thread (or contrasting for a different look), stitch a line down and back up the middle of the feather. Pull threads through from the front to the back and tie off the ends on the back to finish.
Cut fringe along the side of the feather with sharp scissors, stopping short of your stitch line, on each side. Try to angle the slits downward to look like a real feather.
Using an open jump ring, add some pieces of gold chain in varying lengths to create a tassel at the top of your feather. Next add a long chain to the top jump ring as a necklace and then carefully close the necklace with small jewelry pliers.

How To Make A Leather Feather Necklace:

I can't wait to wear this pretty feather necklace with some spring outfits. It would also be great to make two and turn them into earrings. These are perfect for wearing yourself or making for your best friend or girl friends as handmade gifts. These one of a kind custom feathers would even be a great item to make to sell at craft fairs or a place like Etsy.

With a Leather Feather Necklace or Earrings like this, life really is a party!

More Inspiration

You might also like How To Make A Leather Cuff Bracelet here.

Also check out our Macrame Feathers here.

You might also enjoy our Wood Feathers here.

Bread Machine Mini Nutella Filled Donut Recipe

Mar 7, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Nutella Filled Donuts: This easy donut dough is made in the brad machine, mini sized, covered in powdered sugar and filled with Nutella.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

If you're a donut lover, and a Nutella lover, these Nutella Filled Mini Donuts are a match made in heaven! They are sweet little bites of sugary, chocolatey, hazelnutty goodness. What could be better than fresh homemade nutella donuts?

Bread Machine Donut Dough

These mini donuts are made with an easy bread machine dough. It's very versatile. I've used the same donut dough that I used for my mini jelly donuts -see them here. This time they're rolled in powdered sugar, and filled with Nutella.

I like making the dough in a bread machine because it's so easy. The bread machine does all the hard work for you. Just add your ingredients and let the machine make the dough for you. Set your bread maker to the dough setting and layer in the ingredients. It's important when you're using a bread maker to layer in the ingredients exactly how the recipe says to. You want your yeast on the very top so that it activates properly.

We aren't using the bread machine to bake the donuts. We're just making the dough in the bread maker, and then shaping and frying the donuts separately.

Without A Bread Maker

Even if you don't have a bread machine you can also make this dough my hand. Start by adding your warm water, warm milk, sugar, and yeast into the bowl of a stand mixer or in a mixing bowl. Let it set until it begins to get foamy. Add the remaining dough ingredients eggs, butter, flour, and salt and mix together on low, scape down the sides of the bowl, and mix again. Or in a mixing bowl use a wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients together.

Next knead the dough by hand, or with the dough hook attachment in your stand mixer for 5-7 minutes. Next let your dough rest in a greased bowl that's covered in a warm spot to let the dough rise until it has doubled in size, about 1.5 hours. After that the dough is ready and you can follow the recipe below for shaping, second rise, frying, and filling the donuts.

Nutella filled donuts from the bread machine

Frying Your Donuts

These donuts are best deep fried in oil. This recipe is not meant to be baked or cooked in a air fryer. It is easiest to fry these in an at home deep fryer. These are not too expensive and you buy them anywhere that sells kitchen appliances. They make it much easier to fry donuts because they have a built in thermometer that regulates the temperature of the oil and keeps it even.

You can use a pot of oil on a stove to fry these donuts. Be sure not to over fill the pan with oil. Also do use a candy thermometer on the side of the pan to monitor the temperature of the oil. Adjust your heat accordingly to try and keep the temperature as even as possible. If you find that the donuts are browning quickly on the outside but still raw in the middle, your oil is too hot.

We like to fry in peanut oil. It has a high smoke point and also doesn't transfer the tastes of other food, so you can reuse the oil for frying other things without affecting the taste. You can also use vegetable oil, if you prefer it for deep frying.

Nutella filled mini bread machine donuts

Sugar Coating

We rolled our donut holes in powdered sugar. We think the powdered sugar and the nutella filling go perfectly together. You can also roll your hot donuts in regular granulated sugar if you prefer, or even cinnamon sugar.

Filling Your Donuts

These donuts are filled with Nutella inside. Look for a special donut filling tip (Tip #230) to add to your icing bag. This tip is extra long and makes filling these little donuts so much easier. You can also use this tip for other fillings like jam and custard.

You want to completely fill, but not over fill or under fill your donuts. Fill your first one and then break it open to make sure it's filled enough and adjust the feel and pressure accordingly until you hang of it.

Storage

These donuts are best eaten the day they are made. If you have leftovers you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature.

You can also store the unbaked dough in the fridge for a day ot two. This is a great way to keep them if you don't want to eat them all at once, because fried donuts really taste best when they're fresh. We fried up half a batch of the dough and made these donuts, and used the other half of the dough for jelly donuts the next day -see how to make the jelly donuts here.

These are best eaten the same day they're made….in my experience, it's not a problem. 😉

These would be a really sweet addition to any special occasion, and they make a brunch extra special, they're also amazing on Christmas morning, Easter morning, Father's day breakfast -really anytime is a great time for amazing nutella donuts. These homemade donuts are stuffed with hazelnut spread and rolled in powdered sugar are really the most delicious treat.

If you've never made homemade donuts this nutella donuts recipe is worth a try. Using the bread machine takes most of the hard work out of this recipe. Just add your ingredients, let the bread maker do its thing, and then you just have to roll out, fry, and fill the donuts. They are definitely worth the effort.

Recipe

how to make donuts with the bread machine

With homemade nutella stuffed donuts, life really is a party!

More Donut Recipes

You might also like our Honey Cruller Donuts recipe here.

Also check out our Jelly Donuts recipe here.

Bread Machine Jelly Donuts: mini heart shaped jelly donuts, with an easy to make bread machine dough. Perfect for Valentine's Day dessert, or anytime.

You might also like our Mini Brownie Donuts recipe here.

How To Make A Ploughman's Lunch with an Irish Twist for St. Patrick's Day

Mar 3, 2017 · 1 Comment

Irish Ploughman's Lunch: The perfect easy and delicious way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, with a really simple Brown Irish Soda Bread recipe included.

Irish ploughman's lunch with cheese, ham eggs, bread and apple.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Yesterday I shared by St. Patrick's Day table and bar cart, and today I'm sharing the food. We had a delicious Ploughman's Lunch with an Irish twist. It's perfect for celebrating St. Patrick's Day -easy, and so, so delicious. You might also like our Irish Beef, Guinness, and Mushroom Pie Recipe for celebrating St. Patrick's Day. You might also like our St. Patrick's Day Tablescape here.

What's A Ploughman's Lunch?

A traditional ploughman's lunch is served all over the UK. It's real pub grub. Some say it was made popular in the 1950's in Britain when the cheese bureau at the time popularized it to help with cheese sales. Other's say it was the milk marketing board in the 1960 in a campaign to promote cheese.

A ploughman's lunch usually consists of some classic cheese, good bread, and cold meat, sometimes hard-boiled eggs, and condiments like pickled onions, english mustard, or pickle. It also sometimes includes a bit of fresh fruit like an apple or salad or vegetables like peppery radishes, cherry tomatoes,. A ploughman's lunch was commonly served in local pubs as a lunch time meal accompanied by a glass of ale. It is a British classic served all other the English countryside, and at every traditional pub. It's quite a simple meal, but it really is the perfect combination of robust flavors.

The name ploughman's lunch is because it's associated with the substantial mid day meal served to agriculture workers, and it dates back hundreds of years in England, much earlier than the 1950's or 60's. People had been eating a traditional combination of a thick wedge of crusty bread, English cheese, and beer in English pubs or at home for as long as anyone can remember. Unfortunately the ploughman's lunch had fallen out of favour during rationing times during WW1 and WWII, when they didn't have the resources to make it. The advertising campaigns were to bring it back into popular use. They worked very well.

Irish Twist

We've put a fun Irish twist on ours with some special Irish ingredients, making it the perfect meal for celebrating St. Patrick's Day with friends.

Ingredients

Bread

We started out first with some homemade Brown Irish Soda Bread. This recipe is easy and delicious. I originally had this recipe at my sister's house. She got the recipe from a friend of hers after having it many, many times at her house. Those are always the best kind of recipes.

This bread uses soda as the raising agent, not yeast, so it's quick and easy to make.

Recipe

Brown Irish Soda Bread

Rich and slightly sweet brown bread.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main

Cuisine: Irish

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1

Total Time: 1 10

Servings:

Calories: 208kcal

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Ingredients

Instructions

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients: both flours, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda.
Add in the buttermilk and gently mix to combine. Do not knead or over mix.
Grease two 9x5 loaf pans, and divide the batter evenly between them. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. (I made mine round in two cake pans, and reduced the cooking time slightly because they were more shallow. Bake until the tip of a knife comes out clean.)

Nutrition

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LifeisaParty or tag #lifeisaparty!

Irish Cheese

Next along with our amazing Irish Soda Bread, we knew we needed some Irish cheese. A traditional ploughman's lunch uses English cheddar so as part of our Irish twist we looked for some Irish semi-hard cheese. I found some good varieties at the local grocery store

Kerrygold Dubliner Irish Cheddar Cheese
Blarney Castle Gouda
Bradbury's Mature Irish cheddar.

I feel like I have a special connection to Ireland, although I'm not Irish and I've never been there. My best friend, Heather, is from Dublin. She's passed onto me a certain appreciation for all things Irish.

Irish Butter

We were discussing Irish butter in preparation for the ploughman's lunch. Unfortunately you can't buy Irish butter in Canada, something to do with the milk pasteurization laws here (but for my American readers, you should be able to find Kerrygold).

As we discussed Irish butter and what made it better we came up with the milk fat content being higher, and the cow's being grazed on grass -which is a certain problem here in Canada where the grass is under the snow for half the year.

I was able to find a few substitutes though. We had one grass fed cows butter, and one with a European style butter with a higher milk fat content. They were a splurge, but so, so yummy, and really fun to hunt down for a special occasion like this.

The Rest Of The Ploughman's Lunch

We also served:

a generous slice of carved ham
crisp slices of apple,
hard-cooked eggs.

Lastly we also needed some condiments,

a good mustard
pickled onions
and traditional Branston pickle, or any good chutney would be great.

We served our Irish inspired ploughman's lunch on individual cheese boards, which worked really well. You can either serve the condiments and butter on each individual board, or have them available in the middle of the table for everyone.

Irish Beer

The traditional accompaniment to the ploughman's lunch is a pint of beer, which is why it's so popular on a pub menu. So we decided to go with

Irish Guinness, which is a very dark beer,
and Irish hard apple cider, both are favourites around here.

Any Irish beer would be a great addition to this lunch.

St. Patrick's Day Irish Ploughman's Lunch

In short, this is the perfect easy no cook meal for a party. The ingredients are best served at room temperature. Bake your bread and cook your ham ahead of time and assemble this lunch in a matter of minutes. You can sit a long time, savour good simple food, and then have another pint and another story in the Irish way.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between an Irish ploughman's lunch and a traditional one?

We used Irish ingredients, including Irish cheddar, Irish soda bread, Irish butter, and served it with Irish beer.

How is a ploughman's lunch different from a charcuterie board.

A ploughman's lunch is more simple. It uses fresh bread instead of crackers, and usually a cold roast meat, or pork pie. Where as a charcuterie board is usually an assortment of cured meats.

More St. Patrick's Day Inspiration

With an Irish Ploughman's Lunch to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, life really is a party!

If you tried this Irish Ploughman's Lunch or any other ideas on my blog please let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!

St. Patrick's Day Party

Feb 28, 2017 · 2 Comments

St Patrick's Day Party -modern and simple ideas for decor and a festive St Patrick's Day Bar Cart for entertaining.

St. Patrick's Day party decor, menu, and drinks.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

It's almost St Patrick's Day, and today I'm bringing you some inspiration for celebrating with our St Patrick's Day Party. This beautiful tablescape is the perfect modern, and simple party decor.

Moss Table Runner

I started out with this amazing moss table runner. I went hunting for moss in the forest and found some great pieces.

They were really wet, since it's spring, so I dried them out to create this beautiful runner for the table.

You could also pick some up at the craft store.

I wanted to make sure that my dining table didn't get damaged at all, so I started out with a strip of clear cello wrap to protect the table, and then laid out the moss pieces on top.

I picked up some simple white candles at the dollar store and cut a few holes in the moss where I placed them to make sure they weren't too tippy.

Along with the candles, I sprinkled some leprechaun gold -aka chocolate coins left over from Christmas stockings. Yum.

More St Patrick's Day Party Decor

On the buffet, I added some simple honeycomb balls and paper lanterns for a modern festive feel, along with a little light box message.

St Patrick's Day Party Bar Cart

I also thought it would be fun to set up a St. Patrick's Day bar cart.

I love setting up little drink stations like this for a party so guests can help themselves.

On the bar cart, we served some of our Irish favourites -Guinness and Magners Irish Cider.

It's fun to add a few St Patrick's Day details, like shamrocks, my "I feel lucky" DIY St. Patrick's Day artwork, and some fun paper straws.

And for some after dinner coffee, we were sure to include some Baileys Irish Cream.

I had so much fun setting up our festive table, and preparing for friends to visit.

It looked so pretty with all the candles lit!

With a modern festive St Patrick's Day Party table and decor, life really is a party!

More St. Patrick's Day Inspiration

Check out all the food from our party - Irish Ploughman's Lunch.

You might also like our St Patrick's Day Table here.

St. Patrick's Day Table: a mix of vintage and modern touches with lots of green for the perfect St. Patrick's Day table decorations.

Also check out our St. Patrick's Night In -Dinner and Movie Ideas for St. Patrick's Day here.

St. Patrick's Night In -Dinner and a Movie Ideas for St. Patrick's Day: recipes, Irish drink ideas, and favourite top Irish films.

Pancake Sugar Cookies with Maple Syrup Icing

Feb 23, 2017 · 2 Comments

Pancake Sugar Cookies: these are pancake sugar cookies are perfect for a Pancake Tuesday celebration, or a Pancakes and Pyjamas party.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

These Pancake Sugar Cookies are the perfect way to celebrate Pancake Tuesday! They would also be really great as an addition to a pancakes and pajamas party. Made from simple ingredients these cookies are so tasty and they really look like a little stack of pancakes.

Time Saving Idea

This is a great easy cookie recipe, the sugar cookie recipe my Grandma always used, for every occasion. It was truly one of her favorite cookie recipes. But if you don't have time to make sugar cookies from scratch you could also substitute in a sugar cookie mix, or ready bake sugar cookie dough to make your pancake cookies. These shortcuts should give you enough time to work on the best party -decorating these adorable cookies. We love simple ways of speeding recipes like this up when we're in a time crunch.

Pancake Sugar Cookies

To make the pancakes cookie base, I cut out simple round circles from the sugar cookie dough.

Icing Our Pancake Cookies

After the cookies were baked to a golden brown and cooled, it was time to make them really look like pancakes. I started out with the "butter". To make it, I made a mixture of icing sugar and milk and mixed it to a paste consistency. Then I added in yellow food colouring so it looked a little like butter.

To make the pats of butter for the top of the pancake stack, I rolled out the frosting between two pieces of plastic wrap, and then cut it into little squares with a knife. I set the whole piece in the fridge for a little while to firm up, and went on to the icing that we would use for the syrup.

For the syrup frosting, I made a really runny icing, thinned out with milk, and maple syrup. To make it darker I added a few teaspoons of cocoa powder, and a little bit of yellow food colouring. I wanted it to be runny enough to pour off of a spoon easily.

To assemble the pancake sugar cookies, I stacked two cookies together, spooned on some of the syrup icing so that it drizzled off the edge like a real pancake stack, and added a pat of butter to each one.

Recipe

They turned out really authentic looking, and they were so delicious. These were the perfect addition to our Pancake Tuesday Party -which you can read all about here.

With Pancake Sugar Cookies for Pancake Tuesday, life really is a party!

More Pancake Inspiration

You might also like our Pancake Tuesday party with free printables here.

Also check out our Jelly Donut Pancake Recipe here.

Also be sure to look at our Pancake Bean Bags.

Pancake Tuesday Party

Feb 21, 2017 · 4 Comments

Pancake Tuesday Party: Free pancake printable decorations, invite, and pancake jokes, and a pancake buffet with topping ideas.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

It's almost Pancake Tuesday, and time to start thinking about a special pancake party. No matter how old you are, who doesn't love the idea of pancakes for dinner once a year? This is such a fun tradition, and one that my family loves!

We've set up our party for celebrating pancake Tuesday, but these ideas for the menu and decorations, along with the free printables would also be also be so great for any pancake themed party. If you're hosting a pancakes and pajama party, or a pancake themed birthday party for a little girl or boy, you'll find lots of fun inspiration here too.

Entertaining on a weeknight for pancake Tuesday can be a bit tricky, but this easy party is perfect for family and friends. I've made it a little easier with some beautiful free printables you can print, cut out and hang up for a festive atmosphere. Do all your set up the day ahead, if you can, and then all you'll have to do the night of is cook your pancakes.

Free Printable Pancake Party Banner

For the backdrop to the pancake buffet, I used inexpensive tissue paper and twine to create some pretty tissue paper tassels. These are really simple to make, and have a big impact.

shrove Tuesday pancake party decorations

The cute little watercolor pancakes were made by my youngest daughter Maddie. I love them. You can download them for free in our Free Resource Library. Just subscribe below for instant access.

What's cuter than a pancake? A smiling pancake.

Free Printable Pancake Party Invitation

We also created a Pancake Party invite. You can print it out and send it to friends for your own little get together. Download it from our Free Resource Library. Subscribe below for instant access.

Syrup Can Flower Vases

For the table, we used maple syrup cans for vases.

I love that they have painted on labels, and such pretty pictures of little maple sugar shacks, and lots of forest trees. The blue in the cans inspired the color scheme of light blue for the party. Look for these at the grocery store, and just pour the syrup into a bottle or pitcher, was the can and use for your flowers. I've saved mine to use year after year for Pancake Tuesday. It's such a fun party detail. We kept the rest neutral with natural brown kraft paper and lots of white.

Baby's breath makes the perfect centerpiece of simple flower arrangements.

Pancake Party Table

For the place settings, I used some cute denim napkins and the sweetest printable pancake jokes.

Free Printable Pancake Jokes

The printables help take this get together from a simple dinner to a party. Even if you're just making pancakes for your kids, I guarantee they'll love the pancake joke printables we came up with. You can find them in our Free Resource Library. Subscribe below for instant access. Then just download, and print on card stock on your home printer or at an office supply store.

Along with the jokes, I made some mini tissue paper tassels with some tissue paper from the dollar store, to tie the whole look together.

Pancake Sugar Cookies

I also made a batch of Pancake Sugar Cookies. We used our favourite sugar recipe and round cookie cutter to make them. They turned out so cute -find the recipe for the pancake sugar cookies here. They're easy to make, and such a fun detail. I added one to each place setting, and one of the little girls who loves sugar cookies was asking us "where are the sugar cookies?" she thought they were actual pancakes, so I guess that was a good sign, lol. These would also be a really fun addition to a party favors if you were hosting a pancakes and pajamas party birthday party.

Pancake Buffet

The highlight of the whole party was of course the pancakes! We set up a whole pancake bar where guests could help themselves to their own pancakes and all the fixings. The topping bar was a huge hit with party guests. Everyone loved being about to add their favorite things and make the perfect pancake.

buttermilk pancakes
blueberry pancakes
chocolate chip pancakes
maple syrup
blackberries
blueberries
raspberries
strawberries
sliced bananas
sprinkles
whipped cream
bacon
sausage
pancake sugar cookies
strawberry pancake shortcakes

We set up the easy, help-yourself, pancake buffet for dinner, complete with lots of fun and delicious pancake toppings. We love this set-up for a party, since guests can help themselves to their favorite toppings and you can enjoy yourself too, without having to serve all evening. This is such a great way to serve food at a party.

The menu was simple -pancakes!

My husband makes fluffy pancakes from scratch buttermilk pancakes -find the best recipe here. For this special occasion he made a double batch.

We had a few different kinds of pancakes. He made some plain original pancakes, and some made with blueberries, and some made with chocolate chips- YUM!

We also made some sweet strawberry shortcake stacks of mini pancakes. I love how these look, and they were delicious too.

Pancake Toppings

We offered lots of fun toppings for the pancakes, and they were really easy to put together.

We used simple mason jars for the toppings. I love this party idea because it look great, and was easy for guests to access. We offered different fresh berries, along with some sprinkles, since it was a party. I also made a little whipped cream. And of course, we had to have lots of real maple syrup -we are Canadian after all.

I also had some more of the cute pancake sugar cookies -see the recipe here, on the pancake buffet.

Since it was dinner, we also fried up some bacon and sausages. The perfect savoury accompaniment to lots and lots of pancakes on our breakfast bar.

Orange Juice and Mimosas

For drinks, I offered guests some orange juice, since it seems like the perfect accompaniment to pancakes. And for the grown-ups, I picked up a bottle of sparkling wine, so we could turn our orange juice into mimosas. Special Tuesday night treat, haha.

This little party was so much fun and we had a great time. Whether you set up something like this, or just print out our pancake jokes and make your kids pancakes for dinner, I hope you're feeling inspired! We had so much fun celebrating pancake Tuesday, but these would also be great ideas for a pancakes and pajamas birthday party too.

With a special Pancake Tuesday Party, life really is a party!

More Pancake Ideas

You might also like our Pancake Sugar Cookies recipe here.

Also check out our Jelly Donut Pancake recipe here.

Jelly Donut Pancakes: Your two favourite treats combined! Cut into a delicious pancake with a surprise inside -your favourite jam!

Crispy Panko Onion Rings Recipe

Feb 18, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Homemade Panko Breaded Fried Onion Rings: great recipe to make breaded onion rings, guaranteed to wow!

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Last night, Friday night, Homemade Breaded Onion Rings seemed like the perfect treat to kick off the weekend. These onion rings were amazing. Made with simple ingredients, they're the perfect balance of crunchy seasoned goodness on the outside, and sweet tender onion on the inside. If you're an onion ring fan, you will love these ones coated in panko breadcrumbs and deep-fried to perfection. Speaking of panko, have you tried our Mac and cheese with panko breadcrumb topping?

I heard it said once that if you only ate french fries when you made them yourself, from scratch, it would probably be about right -from a calorie and health perspective. Since they're a lot of effort, it's good that they're a sometimes, not all the time treat. The same could be said of these amazing onion rings.

Not an everyday kind of food, a little fiddly to make, but so, so worth it. These homemade onion rings are definitely worth the trouble. After the first crunchy bite, I'm sure you'll agree with me. They're the perfect side dish accompaniment to your favorite burger, or hot dogs. Also a great appetizer or snack. Make them as a game day snack.

Onions

Onion rings are made of slices of raw onion. The onion is sliced so that it forms rings, and then the rings are coated in breading and fried. You can use any white onions or yellow onions for this recipe. The very best onions for this recipe are sweet onions. I like to use Spanish onions. Vidalia onions or Walla walla onions are a great option too.

You want the onion slices to be about ¼ inch thick. Discard the very smallest and center rings from the onion.

Bread Crumbs

We love to use panko bread crumbs for the best onion rings. The panko bread crumbs make the most crispy onion rings. Look for panko crumbs in the grocery store with the regular bread crumbs. Panko bread crumbs are a Japanese bread crumb. These crumbs are made from crustless white bread and are flaked and dried to produce a lighter and crispier bread crumb. When used in fried food, it creates a crunchier effect than regular bread crumbs do. In this recipe we combine both the crunchy Panko bread crumbs and seasoned Italian regular breadcrumbs for the perfect blend of both.

Breading Station

Preparing your delicious onion rings can get a little messy. The easiest way to make them is to prepare a breading station. Set up a station with one bowl filled with flour, another bowl with the batter, and a shallow third bowl with the breadcrumb mixture. Begin by dipping the rings first into the flour, and tapping off any excess flour. The second step is to dip the floured onion rings into the batter. Be sure to let any excess batter drip of the rings before the third step of placing them into the bread crumbs. Use your fingers to flip over the onion rings and press in the panko mixture so they're fully coated. Next the coated onion rings are ready to fry.

Frying

The best way to make delicious crispy onion rings is to fry them in a deep fryer. A deep fryer gives the best results. It's much easier to get a great result with at home deep fryer than with a large pot of oil because there is a thermometer on the deep fryer that regulates the temperature and keeps it even, so it doesn't become too hot or cool down too much. Deep fry onion rings in small batches so that the deep fryer isn't over crowded.

After the frying the onion rings in hot oil, remove them when they're gold brown and place them onto a few paper towels to absorb any excess oil and sprinkle them with a little salt while they're still hot.

Onion rings are best eaten as soon as they're ready.

Serve these crispy fried onion rings with your favourite dipping sauce like ketchup, barbecue sauce, fry sauce, or some mayo with a little hot sauce.

These are guaranteed to take your regular burger night -or any other meal, to a whole new level.

These are guaranteed to woo any guests you serve them to. They're definitely a crowd favorite. The combination of sweet onion flavor, and crispy batter and breadcrumb coating, with a little sprinkling of salt is truly the perfect onion ring. If you are an onion ring lover, you're guaranteed to love this panko onion ring recipe.

Recipe

With Homemade Crispy Panko Onion Rings, life really is a party!

More Recipe Inspiration

These onion rings would be so good with our Irish Burgers.

You might also like these Homemade Potato Chips here.

Also you might enjoy our Stuffed Mushroom Recipe.

Mini Hearts in a Bottle Miniature Terrarium

Feb 10, 2017 · 2 Comments

Mini Hearts in a Bottle Miniature Terrarium: Tiny felt heart flowers inside a glass jar create a magical terrarium garden.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Our little mini hearts in a bottle miniature terrarium is so sweet, and really easy to make for someone special this Valentine's Day. We love decorating for Valentine's Day with cute DIY touches, like our Yarn Hearts.

I was inspired by the mini glass bottles with the sweet little cork tops. I thought it would be cute to make a miniature heart flower that was like it was growing inside.

These little bottle gardens remind me of teeny, tiny terrariums. You can get a sense of the scale and how small they really are by the thimble. The thimble was too big to fit inside the glass bottles, so I made a cute little stand alone one with the thimble as a tiny flower pot.

Here's how to make your own:

Miniature Terrarium Materials:

mini glass bottles
moss
air dry clay
white glue
felt
stuffing
thread
glue
wire
green embroidery thread

Instructions:

1. To make the heart flower, start by cutting out two matching hearts (a front and a back) , small enough to fit through the mouth of the glass bottle. Sew them together with coordinating thread, using a blanket stitch. Before sewing all the way around the heart, add in a little stuffing. Finishing sewing it all the way around.

2. To make the stem, cut a small piece of wire. Using green felt, cut out a very tiny leaf or two, with a narrow stem piece. Tie on some green embroidery thread to the top of the wire, and wrap it around the wire tightly. Part way down, wrap in the stem of the felt leaf. At the end of the stem, finish by tying the thread off, and using a little white glue to secure it.

3. To assemble the heart flower, use a tiny piece of air dry clay as a base, and insert the stem into it, so it's able to stand up on its own. Glue the heart onto the top of the stem to create the flower, pushing the wire up into the felt heart. Allow the clay and glue to dry.

4. To assemble the jar, put a tiny amount of glue in the bottom of the jar with a toothpick. Glue the flower in place in the jar, using tweezers to position it. Cut the moss into tiny little pieces and add to the bottle. Use a toothpick and tweezers to push it down and compact it at the bottle of the flower. Optional: Add a little handmade tag that says "love grows here".

5. To create the thimble flower, make the flower in the same way, with the clay pushed into the thimble and topped with moss.

Mini Hearts in a Bottle Grouping

Make a few for a pretty little grouping, with different shades of pink felt hearts. Use little birch tree rounds to create different heights in your display, and different sized bottles.

I love how these turned out and they were really simple to put together.

They remind of fairies. Any little fairy fans on your Valentine's Day list? These would be perfect. I know my little girls love them.

With A Mini Heart in a Bottle Miniature Terrarium, life really is a party!

More Heart Inspiration

Valentine's Day Breakfast

Feb 2, 2017 · 17 Comments

Celebrate Valentine's Day with a special Valentine breakfast party that brings family and friends together for a festive morning full of heart shaped treats, pretty decorations, and delicious food. This Valentine's Day breakfast is perfect for making sweet memories in your pajamas!

Valentine's Day breakfast ideas menu and decor.

Quick Look

💕 Occasion: Family Valentine's Day celebration
🍴 Menu: Sweet and savory breakfast buffet
🎨 Decor: DIY paper flowers and budget friendly finds
💭 Top Tip: Set up your paper flower backdrop and table the night before so you can enjoy a relaxed morning with your family!

Why You'll Love This Party

Family friendly celebration. Perfect for couples and kids to enjoy together.
Budget friendly decor. Use dollar store finds and DIY paper flowers.
Simple menu. Mix homemade favorites with store bought shortcuts.
Pajama party vibe. No need to get dressed up for this cozy celebration.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

I love Valentine's Day, and as much as I love celebrating with my sweetie, I also love celebrating as a family. This Valentine's Day Breakfast is the perfect way to celebrate together and share a little love with a special morning party. We set up a beautiful breakfast buffet with all our favorite foods, added some festive decorations like giant paper flowers, and enjoyed a relaxed morning in our pajamas. It was such a fun way to start the day!

If you love this party you might also like our Valentine Breakfast Board, Valentine's Day Tea Party, Valentine's Day Movie Night, 20 At Home Valentine's Day Ideas, or Fondue Date Night.

Valentine's Day Breakfast: the perfect inspiration with decor and menu for celebrating Valentine's Day with family and friends.

Valentine Breakfast Menu:

I started with a beautiful buffet filled with sweet and savory options so everyone could find something they loved. Here's what we served:

Sweet Options:

Mini Pancake Stacks -We love this pancake recipe, double it, or triple it for a crowd. We made mini pancakes and served them in stacks with the cutest Valentine's Day picks.
Heart Shaped Jelly Donuts -Homemade donuts are such a treat! We made the dough in the bread maker the night before and then cut them into small hearts, fried, and filled with them in the morning. Get our easy bread machine jelly donut recipe here. Or pick up donuts at your favorite bakery.
Yogurt and Granola Parfaits -These are simple to assemble. We made our homade granola a few days ahead of time, or use your favorite store bought granola. On the morning of the party layer yougurt (plain, vanilla, or your favourite flavor) in the bottom of a small bowl and then layer granola on top. Garnish with a heart shaped strawberry, cut with a small knife or cookie cutter.
Fresh Strawberries
Whipped Cream -This is one of those things that is so much better homemade, just whip with some sugar and vanilla. But if you need to you can substitute store-bought, or whipped topping instead.
Maple Syrup -Real maple syrup is what every pancake breakfast truly deserves.
Valentine's Day Sprinkles -The kids especially will love this easy addition that makes breakfast feel so much more special.

Savory Options:

Scrambled Eggs -To make our scrambled eggs fit our Valentine theme we served them up a pretty heart shaped bowl.
Heart Shaped Breakfast Sausage -look for sausage patties at the grocery store, and after they're cooked use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make them into hearts.

Other great addtions would be bacon, or hash browns. Buy the hashbrown patties, and use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make them into hearts also.

Drinks:

Pink Hot Chocolate -To make things extra special I made pink hot chocolate. Look for white hot chocolate mix and add a little pink food coloring, or make your own with melted white chocolate, hot milk, and pink food coloring. We served it in a tea pot into heart shaped cups. We found the perfect heart shaped marshmallows and had whipped cream as a garnish too.
Coffee for the Adults

Paper Flower Backdrop

My very favorite element of the Valentine's Day Breakfast Buffet has to be the amazing paper flower backdrop.

I actually made the flowers last year and had them stored in a plastic bag in the basement. They're so pretty I couldn't bear to throw them out! Find my How To Make Giant Paper Flowers tutorial here, including a video. They're quite easy to make. I used pinks, white, some off white, and some book page papers. Some have a little pink paint added here and there too.

To hang them over the buffet, I hot glued them all to some paper in a kind of swag, and then used command hooks to secure the paper to the wall. Prepare this all the day before, and the next morning it will be all ready and waiting for you.

The giant paper flowers are so pretty, I don't think I want to take them down!

Valentine's Day Table

For the Valentine's Day dining table, I kept it pretty simple.

Table Setting Details:

Layered Table Runners -I used a pink and white table runner and layere them for texture.
Milkglass Glass Vases and Flowers -The milkglass was all from thrift stores, and I love how they all match, but are a little diferent. I filled them with some simple pink and white roses and tulips from the grocery store.
Heart Pates -I used our everyday white plates, but layered some adorable heart plates on top that were a great garage sale find a few years, that I birng out every Valentine's day.
Wooden Heart Chalkboard Placecards -I picked these up at the dollar store and thought they'd make great placecards for our table.

I wanted to keep things pretty neutral, in keeping with the feel of the room, with just enough festive pink to make it feel like Valentine's Day, but with lots of neutrals too.

Make Ahead Tips

In the Week Before:

Make the flowers for the backdrop
Shop for ingredients and flowers
Make the granola

The Night Before:

Hang the paper flower backdrop
Arrange the flowers and set the table
Make jelly donut dough and store in the fridge overnight
Make whipped cream and store in the fridge
Wash strawberries
Set out serving dishes and utensils

Valentine's Morning:

Fry the donuts and fill with jelly, or pick up at the bakery
Cook pancakes and keep warm in 200°F oven
Cook sausage and cut into heart shapes
Make scrambled eggs
Make yougurt parfaits
Make pink hot chocolate
Setup the buffet and enjoy

This was such a fun and sweet little family party on Valentine's morning. I hope you're feeling inspired to do something special with your family to celebrate love day together. Whether big or small, make sure to show your loved ones how much they mean to you.

With a special Valentine's Day Breakfast, life really is a party!

Frequently Asked Questions

How far in advance can I prep for a Valentine breakfast party?

You can make the paper flower backdrop weeks ahead and store it carefully. The night before, set your table, and prep some food. The morning of, just finishing preparing the food and assembling the buffet.

What if I don't have time to make homemade donuts?

Store bought donuts work perfectly! Serve regular donuts, or look for special Valentine ones near the holiday at your favorite bakery.

Can I make this work for just two people?

Absolutely! Scale down the menu to your favorite items. A simple spread of heart shaped pancakes, sausage, eggs, and coffee with a few pretty flowers is perfect for a romantic morning.

What other foods can I cut into heart shapes?

Try waffles, toast, eggs, hash browns, or fruit slices (watermelon, pineapple). Any food that's thick enough to hold its shape works, use mini heart cookie cutters for smaller items.

How do I keep pancakes warm while cooking a big batch?

Place cooked pancakes on a baking sheet in a 200°F oven. They'll stay warm and fresh while you finish cooking.

Do I need special equipment for this party?

Not at all! A heart shaped cookie cutter is helpful but optional. If you don't have one just use a knife. Everything else uses regular kitchen equipment and serving dishes you probably already have.

Can I do this party for a classroom or large group?

Yes! Focus on easy items like store bought donuts, and simple finger foods. The heart cookie cutter technique works great for making regular foods feel festive without a lot of extra work.

What drinks should I serve besides pink hot chocolate?

Coffee for adults, regular milk or chocolate milk for kids, orange juice, and water are all great options. You could also do a strawberry smoothie for a pink drink option.

More Valentine's Day Ideas

If you try anything from this Valentine's Day Breakfast party or any other ideas on my blog, please let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!

Birch Bark and Gold Leaf Hearts

Jan 24, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Birch Bark Gold Leaf Hearts: easy birch bark craft is perfect for Valentine's Day, or a rustic wedding, cute birch bark ornament with gold leaf.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

This year for Valentine's Day, I wanted to add a few Rustic Scandinavian touches around the house, and made these simple and beautiful Birch Bark and Gold Leaf Hearts for a little Valentine's Day Tree. It's the perfect rustic birch bark craft. In the past I've also used these DIY yarn hearts for a similar look.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen me collecting birch bark. I had some, and found some from a dead tree in the forest that is perfect for my birch bark craft. If you're not lucky enough to have a forest near by, you can order some on-line. Here's how I made them.

Birch Bark Craft Materials:

Birch Bark
Gold Leaf
Gold Leaf Adhesive
Twine
Darning Needle

How To Make Birch Bark Hearts

1. Start by cutting out some small hearts from your birch bark. You can make a pattern and draw it onto your birch bark, or free hand it. Birch bark is easy to cut, but also quite fragile, and easy to rip, so take some care with this step.

2. Next, use a small paint brush to apply the gold leaf adhesive to the edges of the birch bark hearts. I liked the look of doing the edges of both sides, so they could be reversible.

3. Following the manufactures directions with your adhesive, and wait until the glue is slightly set before applying the gold leaf. Wrap small pieces around the edge, and rub off the excess with your fingers, or use the left over gold scraps and rub the edges into it.

4. Lastly, cut a small piece of twine to hang your heart. Mine was three-ply and too thick for the delicate hearts, so I unraveled it into three strands, and used one for each heart. Thread a darning needle with the twine and carefully poke a hole through the heart. Take care to not make the hole too close to the edge, since the bark rips easily.

I hung my finished birch bark craft on to some branches to make a Valentine's Day Tree. It's so beautiful with the light hits the gold, and adds a little sparkle.

This pretty little tree is perfect for Valentine's Day, but would also be really pretty for someone doing a nature inspired wedding. It would also be beautiful as a garland. There are lot's of possibilities, I'm loving mine on the entrance way console table.

With Birch Bark and Gold Leaf Hearts, life really is a party!

More Inspiration

You might also like our Yarn Hearts here.

Also check out our 3D Origami Hearts here.

You might also enjoy our Book Page Heart Garland here.

Book Page Heart Garland: How to make a DIY watercolour book page heart garland with an old book and a sewing machine, easy and inexpensive.

Rock Climbing Gem Party

Jan 19, 2017 · 6 Comments

Rock Climbing Gem/Jewel/Geometric Birthday Party -rock climbing party with DIY gem decor, rock themed dessert table, and party favor ideas.

Rock climbing themed party decor and menu ideas.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

When my daughter Paige turned 12, she decided she'd like a rock climbing gem birthday party to celebrate. We had an amazing time rock climbing with her friends, and then invited them all back to our house for a "Paige Rocks" celebration. We used the idea of rocks to inspire a rock/gem/jewel/geometric party theme.

Rock Climbing Gem/Jewel/Geometric Party dessert table

The party was amazing. It's so much fun to create, and to host birthday parties, and this theme was great. I hope it inspires you.

Rock Climbing

We started out at our local rock climbing gym and the girls got to climb for a few hours together. The staff members were great at teaching everyone how to suit up with the ropes and get climbing, even the first timers. It was great that each rock climber at any skill levels could join in and have fun. Paige loves rock climbing and had a great time getting to the top of the wall with all her friends.

After the rock climbing wall was done, we headed back to our house with some tired, hungry and excited girls.

The Rock/Gem/Jewel/Geometric Birthday Party Decorations

We love making things feel extra special by decorating for birthdays. Check our our best ideas for decorating for at home birthday parties. We set up the dining room for our birthday party guests to enjoy some "rock" inspired treats.

The Table

For our Rock Climbing Gem Birthday Party our color palette was pink, aqua, and gold. I made a lot of the decorations with my Cricut machine. Including the paper 3-D shapes that we used throughout the party area as decorations.

I adjusted the size a few times to make some bigger and smaller ones.

Rock Climbing Gem birthday party decorations

The Rock Climbing Party Favors

Each girl, had a special place setting waiting for them.

I used inexpensive muslin bags to make a goodie bag for everyone, and customized them with each girl's name, so they doubled as placards. To make the party bag for everyone, I used iron-on gold vinyl and cut it out with the Cricut machine. They were really easy to make and the girls were very impressed.

Each bag was to hold a little gem necklace -which was the perfect little rock climbing party favor.

Other fun additions to party favor bags for a rock climbing party could be carabiner clips, water bottles, a small goody bag of rocks and crystals.

Gem Straws and Candles

I also used my Cricut to make the straw gems. After we cut out the gem shape on the Cricut, we used hot glue to attach them to the gold paper straws. We found a gem cut file that had two layers, in my Cricut Design Space. I cut the top layer out of glitter cardstock, and layered it over another piece of cardstock in the party colours. These little gems turned out so well, I loved them and so did the girls. I was so impressed with what my Cricut was able to do.

We used the same cut file to create some vinyl adhesives for my candles. The candles are from the dollar store, and then we added the gems cut out in gold vinyl. They looked amazing, and were very easy and inexpensive to make.

DIY Borax Crystal Decorations

On the table we also used lots of scattered rocks, gems and crystals. We collected some rocks on our walks, and found some fun faux gems at the dollar store. We also made some pretty crystals out of borax. This tutorial was our favourite. It took about a week for us to make them all. We added some gold paint to some of them too. These were such a fun addition to our rock themed party decorations and a great DIY for your own party.

diy borax crystals for a gem rock climbing themed birthday party

We also added some pretty pink flowers, and some geometric gold candle holders.

More Gem Rock Decorations

Over in the entryway, I used a few more of the vinyl gems I cut out on the Cricut machine. They looked great on the mirror, and easily peeled off after the party.

I also sewed some geometric bunting. Again I used the Cricut and cut out some simple geometric shapes out of different colours of cardstock and in different sizes. I used my sewing machine to sew them into a pretty garland -see my tutorial here on how to sew paper or card stock into a banner with a sewing machine . I made a few and used some over the console table too.

Rock Climbing Gem/Jewel/Geometric Birthday Party -rock climbing party with DIY gem decor, rock themed dessert table, and favour ideas.

To make the geometric shaped honeycomb decorations, I cut the round ones before they were unfolded -I love how these turned out and they're so simple to make.

Rock Climbing Gem/Jewel/Geometric Birthday Party Desert Table

Rock and Gem Themed Dessert Table

The main attraction of the party was the beautiful rock themed food dessert table. We had so much fun putting it together and the party goers just loved it.

The backdrop was made with a simple branch attached to the wall that we hung more of the geometric garland and shapes off of it. The vinyl wall decals were cut with the Cricut machine too. I used the same gems and layered the vinyl with white on top and, pink and aqua the party colors underneath. We also made "Paige Rocks" out of the vinyl. These all looked amazing for the party, and were easy to remove afterward.

Rock Gem/Jewel/Geometric Party decorations

The metal geometric shapes were some I used as Christmas decorations, but worked perfectly here with our theme.

All the party desserts were rock and gem themed, which was such a great idea.

Rock Climbing Gem birthday party dessert table

The Birthday Cake

The cake was made the week before -you can see how easy this succulent cake was here, and I just put it in the freezer and took it out the morning of the party.

Paige, the birthday kid, loved the succulents, so we incorporated them into the party flowers, and just added some pretty rock candy to the cake to tie it into the rock gem theme. It turned out so, so pretty.

I served some fruit in cute little paper cups.

Rock Themed Candy

The rock themed candy was pretty fun to find. We had classic rock candy.

I also found this fun rock popping candy, that the kids thought was amazing. This brand was Shock Rocks, but look for Pop Rocks too.

And to go with the gems, some candy rings.

One of the prettiest treats of the day, a beautiful plate of donuts. They sure looked great with their little gem pics! For your own food table, use gem cake topper/ cupcake toppers to bring your theme to any food item.

Over on the other side of the table, more treats.

We made regular rice crispy squares, and cut them into cubes and dipped half on a diagonal into coloured chocolate. They were simple, looked great, and were so yummy.

We also made some dirt pudding (chocolate pudding with crushed oreos) and topped them with candy rocks, and served them in little mason jars. These were a fun way to use the candy rocks. They look so real, and taste great. They're chocolate inside. They'd be fun to use for your own rock themed birthday cake too.

I wanted to offer some chips so I picked up a party mix and served them in these sweet little takeout boxes. I wanted them to match the party, so I used some more of the vinyl decals and added them to the boxes.

Homemade Agate Slice Rock Lollipops

We also made these agate slice rock lollipops. We used this tutorial to make them out of crushed up candy. They weren't too hard to make, and looked amazing. The tricky part was trying to find colors that we wanted and flavours that went together well. These are also great to include as rock climbing party favors. Package these in cellophane bags and tie with ribbon.

Tips and Tricks

This party was a huge success. If you're considering something similar, I have one little bit of advice. The rock climbing place also had a party room and dedicated area, and we considered renting it to keep things all in one place, but I'm so glad we didn't use it, and set everything up at home.

Hosting part of the party at home meant that we could make it really, really special. I could set up everything ahead of time, and the 15 min. drive back to our house was no problem at all. The girls faces when they walked in and saw it all, made it all completely worth while, that's for sure, and I never would have had time to make it quite so magical if it wasn't at home. There was even something about the birthday child coming into the party space and seeing it with all her friends that made it really wonderful.

This is one of those times where the smile on the birthday girl's face says it all. This was the best rock climbing party ever!

With a Rock Climbing Gem Birthday Party, life really is a party!

More Party Inspiration

Harry Potter Family Movie Night

Jan 17, 2017 · Leave a Comment

This Harry Potter Family Movie Night with the kids has ideas for homemade wands, decorations, butter beer recipe, golden snitch chocolates, and every flavour jelly beans.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Why We Love This Movie Night

Harry Potter!!!! We're big fans!
The DIY Harry Potter wands were easy to make with things from around the house, and came out so great.
We made butterbeer, and goldsnitch chocolates and they were delicous.
The DIY Harry Potter decor from things was a fun detail to add.

Over the last few months, my daughter Paige has been reading the Harry Potter books. So we've started watching the movies together as she finishes each book. Over the Christmas break we enjoyed the first three together, and last Saturday we made a Family Movie Night out of the fourth Harry Potter Movie. It was so much fun, that I wanted to share it with you and possibly inspire a Harry Potter Family Movie Night of your own.

We did this party quite awhile ago, and it inspired even more DIY Harry Potter decor, including a whole set of Harry Potter Free Printables you might like. And we created a whole snack tray of Harry Potter snacks that are perfect for a Harry Potter movie night. And our Harry Potter Christmas Tree post, includes a whole Honeydukes candy cart and free printables! You might also like our Harry Potter Christmas Party ideas. Be sure to check them out for more ideas.

Harry Potter Family Movie Night homemade decorations

We didn't have anything planned Saturday, and those are sometimes the very best kind of Saturdays. I knew we were planning to watch the next Harry Potter movie, since Paige had finished the book and when I was out shopping that week I noticed a package of Bean Boozled Jellybeans -they're just like Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, so I picked them up on an impulse, thinking they might be fun for movie night.

You know how much we love a theme around here, so I mentioned to the girls I'd picked up the jelly beans, and asked if they'd like to turn it into a family party. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, of course they loved the idea of making it into a family party. And so, our Saturday was filled with creating our little Harry Potter party.

Harry Potter Decorations

They decorated the living room with a few Harry Potter inspired things. They added Harry's luggage pile and owl Hedwig, along with a broom for flying -not exactly the Nimbus 2000, haha, but close enough.

how to decorate for a Harry Potter party

We were inspired by the scene in the first book where all the school letters come flying out of the fireplace, and added some letters on fishing line to our fireplace.

On the side chair, is Harry's cloak of invisibility.

And up on the mantel, a favourite quote "Mischief Managed".

Harry Potter Family Movie Night decor ideas

Harry Potter Movie Night Menu

We often make homemade pizza for family movie night, so we enjoyed that with a salad for dinner, and ate in the living room watching the movie. To go with our pizza we made our own Butter Beer, and it was soooo good.

Harry Potter Family Movie Night dessert table

Butter Beer

To make the Butter Beer, we combined a little bit of vanilla cream soda in the bottom of the cup with some butterscotch sauce, and stirred well to combine. Then we topped it with more cream soda. We added whipped cream to the top, and another drizzle of butterscotch sauce. It was kind of like a soda float, so good.

Harry Potter Family Movie Night golden snitch desserts

Harry Potter Dessert

For our dessert, we made some golden snitches out of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. We used free printable Golden Snitch wings, and hot glued them to the wrappers.

We also ate the jellybeans. This was so funny.

We put them all into a little bowl. You know that sweet smell you usually get when you open a bag of candy? Well it was certainly missing here, since the vomit, grass, and dog food jelly beans were mixed in there too.

We took turns choosing one and seeing what we got. It was so funny to see some of the reactions to a first taste. And also funny to see who refused to play anymore after one round, haha.

DIY Harry Potter Wands

My girls spent most of the day before the movie working on their wands.

They used inexpensive plastic chopsticks as the base for each one, and then added dimension with hot glue. For some of them we also added beads, and polymer clay details, or beautiful marbles.

Once they were done, we painted them with regular craft paint.

They turned out so, so well. I think they were their favourite part of the day.

Harry Potter Costumes

My an girls also made some costumes for us. They made the sweetest little doggie Hogwarts uniform for our dog Oscar, out of felt and hot glue.

And for the rest of us, school ties to match our houses. We had all taken an on-line quiz before to see what house we belonged to.

Harry Potter Family Movie Night house ties

This was such a fun night, and I know we were making special memories too.

Harry Potter Family Movie Night -homemade wands, decorations, butter beer recipe, golden snitch chocolates, and every flavour jelly beans.

It was almost all stuff we had around the house. I think the only thing I had to buy was the package of jelly beans.

It's a reminder to me that sometimes all we need is time enough to create something fun. Often our weekends are busy, or full of errands and jobs to do, but there is something special about a Saturday with no real plans,and all the possibilities it holds.

As we say around here a lot, life is what we make it, so we may as well make it a party, and this is the perfect example of that. May your life be marked with great celebrations, some as simple as an amazing family movie night.

With a Harry Potter Family Movie Night, life really is a party!

More Movie Night Inspiration

If you try any of our Harry Potter Movie Night Ideas or any other ideas on my blog please let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!

Frequently Asked Questions

Where did you find the every flavor beans?

I spotted them at the party store. You could also look for them at speciality candy shops or on-line.

How long did it take to make the Harry Potter wands?

We worked on the in stages, since we need to let the hot glue dry, bake the polymer clay, let it cool, attach it with hot glue, and then finally paint the wands. It was probably an hour or two project, broken up over the afternoon.

Where did you get the suitcases and bird cage?

These are some vintage ones I actually use as decor. I found the suitcases at an antique show years ago, and the bird cage was a thrift store find that we spray painted gold to use as decor. They came in handy for this project.

The Best Homemade Gingerbread Milkshake Recipe

Dec 23, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Gingerbread Extreme Milkshake Freakshake: Recipe for gingerbread syrup and gingerbread extreme milkshakes.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

These Gingerbread Extreme Milkshakes are just in time for a special holiday season treat, I'm sure Santa would love one too. If you love gingerbread cookies and holiday treats, then this is the recipe for you.

If you haven't heard of Extreme Milkshakes or Freakshakes you're missing out. They're milkshakes kicked up a few notches, with the addition of lots of extra treats on top! But you can also make these has regular milkshakes, just leave out all the fun toppings piled on top. Either way, these this gingerbread milkshake recipe is sure to become a new holiday favorite, and a great way to spread a little holiday cheer.

I thought it would be fun to make Gingerbread Milkshakes for the holidays. They're the perfect treat for Christmas. I made these for my kids and they LOVED these delicious treats.

Gingerbread Extreme Milkshake with gingerbread donuts, whip cream, sprinkles, gingerbread man, and candy cane

Homemade Gingerbread Syrup

To make these sweet treats, start by making yourself a batch of Gingerbread Syrup. It's easy to make, and uses simple ingredients, and keeps in the fridge for weeks. It also tastes amazing with your coffee too for a little gingerbread latte. If you love all things gingerbread flavor, you will love it.

Some recipes for gingerbread milkshakes suggest using gingerbread ice cream, but it can be expensive and hard to find. With our easy to make gingerbread syrup, you can use regular vanilla ice cream to make your gingerbread cookie milkshake, and then use any leftover gingerbread syrup in your coffees all season long.

gingerbread men and Gingerbread Milkshake

Extreme Shakes

The extreme part of the milkshake is all the fun toppings piled high. We started with dipping the rim of the glass in melted milk chocolate and then sprinkles. Next, we topped off the milkshake with a gingerbread donut, lots of whipped cream, more sprinkles, a gingerbread man cookie and a candy cane for a classic Christmas addition. Don't forget a festive colorful straws. A cinnamon stick would be a great garnish too. You could also use cookie crumbs in addition to the sprinkles. Or even add mini gingerbread houses to the top.

These would be very fun to serve at a gingerbread house decorating party. They're perfect for anyone who loves seasonal flavor drinks this time of year, but prefers a cold treat. Kids really love these gingerbread milk shakes.

Recipe

With homemade Gingerbread Extreme Shakes, life really is a party!

More Holiday Treat Inspiration

You might also like our Gingerbread Cookie Recipe here.

Gingerbread House Cookies: a classic gingerbread cookie recipe perfect for Christmas cookie ornaments or mini houses.

Also you might enjoy our Cashew Coconut Brittle here.

Check our Homemade Caramel Corn recipe here.

Felt Play Food Christmas Cookies

Dec 20, 2016 · 2 Comments

Felt Play Food Christmas Cookies: use cookie cutters to make patterns and embellish with beads and faces to make the cutest felt play food.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

It's so fun to make handmade beautiful things, especially for Christmas. These Felt Play Food Christmas Cookies will delight any children on your Christmas list this year.

When my girls were little they loved playing with felt food, and now these are the perfect holiday gift for the little ones in my life. They're very easy to make, and their little faces are sure to make them a hit with any shopkins fans in your life.

assorted colors of felt
Christmas cookie cutters to use as patterns
thread
stuffing
beads to use as sprinkles
white and black embroidery cotton

How To Make Felt Play Food Christmas Cookies:

1. Use Christmas cookie cutters to make a pattern for your felt cookies.

2. Cut out two light brown felt shapes as the cookie front and back, and then colored "icing" pieces, slightly smaller than the cookie pieces.

3. Start the sewing with adding the face. Cut two small black felt eyes, and pink felt cheeks. Use the white embroidery cotton and stitch one french knot as the center for each eye. Next is the mouth stitched with black embroidery cotton using the backstitch. I found it really helpful to use a disappearing marker (you can find at the fabric store) to mark the mouth and get just the right expression before stitching.

4. Add any other embellishments, like bead "sprinkles". Next, sew the "icing" to the cookie piece. Then, sew the the cookie pieces together using the blanket stitch. Leave a small hole for the stuffing. Once it's lightly stuffed, stitch up the hole and your cookie is finished.

These are perfect for little ones to enjoy their own Christmas tea parties over the holidays.

I made a few different cookies: a bell, a star, a Christmas tree, a candy cane, a stocking, and a little Christmas pudding.

The most fun is choosing all the different expressions on their cute little faces.

These would make the perfect handmade gift for the holidays.

Happy sewing! With homemade Felt Play Food Christmas Cookies, life really is a party!

You might also like our Felt Chocolate Chip Cookies tutorial here.

Also check out our Felt S'mores tutorial here.

Felt Smores Play Food: these easy homemade toy DIY felt smores for children to use as play food are simple to put together and adorable for dramatic play.

You might also enjoy our Felt Mushrooms here.

DIY Felt Mushrooms: easy to sew red and white polka dot mushrooms with felt, and cork and wooden spool stems. Perfect for your spring decor.

Homemade Caramel Corn Recipe

Dec 16, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Homemade Caramel Corn Recipe: Easy make at home caramel corn, so good, better than store bought, perfect for gift giving.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

It's the final day, Day Five of Christmas Treats Week. And today we're making Homemade Caramel Corn. It's been so much fun making lots of sweet treats for the holidays. And, my family and friends sure are enjoying eating them all. Check them all out at the bottom of this post.

Home Made Caramel Corn Recipe: Easy make at home caramel corn, so good, better than store bought, perfect for gift giving.

This caramel corn recipe is amazing. Like I can't stop eating it amazing. I mention to my friend Leanne long ago that I was looking for a caramel corn recipe. She said she had one, and that people she'd given the caramel corn to in the past keep asking her and asking her to make it for them again. Always a good sign. And after making it myself I knew why they keep asking for it, it's so good. This is sometimes called Amish caramel corn, and comes from an old Amish family recipe. This Amish recipe uses simple ingredients.

One of my very favourite things to get at Disney World is the amazing Caramel Corn at Epcot, from the Werthers Bake Shop. After I first made this caramel corn, I told my husband we don't have to go to Disney World anymore. Then he looked sad, so I revised it to, we can satisfy our Disney World Caramel Corn cravings in between trips. ;). If you're a fan of the Disney Werthers caramel corn, I know you'll love this recipe too.

How to make Disney World Caramel Corn at home.

This caramel corn is quite easy to make, it just takes a little time. I promise it's worth it though.

Popcorn

We used our air popper to make our popcorn. The measurement in the recipe is for unpopped kernels. All of the popcorn kernels will not pop, but make sure to remove them. You don't want to bite into a caramel covered unpopped kernel, as it would be very hard on your teeth. I don't recommend using microwave popcorn for this, as it usually included salt and butter which we don't want for our caramel corn recipe.

Optional:

This caramel corn is also be great with some nuts stirred in with the popcorn. Add a cup of peanuts to the popcorn and caramel mixture before baking if you wish. We like using roasted peanuts, but you can alter the nuts, or try mixed nuts if you wish, or slivered almonds, or pecans. Salted nuts add that great salty sweet combo, that many people love and is something a little different.

Gift Giving

This sweet treat is perfect for gift giving. I've packaged it up into cute little take-out boxes, it would also be great in cello bags. It's a great recipe with no artificial flavors, made with simple ingredients you probably have in your pantry and fridge. It has a great depth of flavor and is buttery and rich. We love to make this around the holiday season. It's become one of our family traditions to bring it to holiday parties and family gatherings. Anyone with a sweet tooth will love it. It's a perfect hostess gift. It's also great around Halloween. It makes a great little party favor packaged in cute containers. Really, this is a lovely homemade gift anytime of year.

Be sure to store it in an airtight container. But, it probably won't last too long. It tends to be a little bit addictive once you start eating it.

Recipe

Homemade Caramel Corn Recipe

Sweet and crispy caramel corn.

No ratings yet

Print Pin Rate

Course: Candy, Desserts

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 1 15

Total Time: 1 30

Servings:

Calories: 148kcal

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Ingredients

Instructions

Start by popping your popcorn, and removing any unpopped kernels. Set the popped popcorn aside.
In a large pot, melt your butter over a high heat and stir in the sugar, corn syrup and salt.
Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 5 min. without stirring.
Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. Take care, it will foam up when the baking soda is added.
Add the popcorn to the caramel sauce and stir until the popcorn is completely covered.
Pour mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
Bake at 250 for 75 min. stirring every 15 min.
Continue to stir and break up the caramel popcorn clusters as it cools after baking for the best results, so that it doesn't stick together as it cools.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Nutrition

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LifeisaParty or tag #lifeisaparty!

With this Homemade Caramel Corn, life really is a party!

More Homemade Candy Inspiration

Check out all these other posts from our Christmas Treat Week:

Pecan Butter Crunch recipe here.

Creamy Caramels and Chocolate Salted Caramels recipe here.

Homemade Caramel Apples recipe here.

Caramel Apple Recipe: Easy, homemade Caramel Apples, perfect for Christmas gift giving, or anytime of year. Add your favourite toppings.

Homemade Coffee Marshmallows recipe here.

Pecan Butter Crunch Toffee Recipe

Dec 15, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Butter Crunch Toffee -this homemade candy recipe is loaded with pecans, sometimes called English toffee, perfect for gift giving.

How to make homemade pecan butter crunch candy.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Today I'm sharing my recipe for Butter Crunch Toffee, affectionately known around here as Christmas Candy, also often called English Toffee, or Pecan Butter Crunch. By any of its names though, it's totally delicious. It's Day Four of Christmas Treats Week!

Pecan Butter Crunch English Toffee Recipe: Home made candy recipe, perfect for gift giving.

I'm a little late posting today, because I spent the morning volunteering at my daughter's school teaching them a little Christmas craft -tis the season. Her teacher said the sweetest thing to me as I was leaving, she thanked me for using my gifts to bless them. It really made me smile. It made me think about Life is a Party, and oh how I hope I'm using this little space to be a blessing to you.

The spirit behind a week of Christmas Treats, is really gift giving. It's special to take the time to make something homemade for family and friends, and I hope that these trusted and true recipes make it easier for you to show your love to the ones around you this holiday season with some edible gifts. Check the treats from the whole week at the bottom of this post.

This is a recipe I've been making many, many years. I first started making it when I was in high school, and it has become a real Christmas tradition for us. In fact, my mom makes (well has me make) a batch for all our customers every year. Making this homemade toffee has become an annual event. Once people have tried this buttery toffee with pecans and chocolate, they tend to ask for year after year.

Troubleshooting

It can be a little tricky to make, I have had a few fails over the years, but the failures have taught me a few tricks too. The main issue that can sometimes happen is that the sugar can recrystalize. During the cooking process the sugar crystals can reform and make a grainy toffee that doesn't set properly. The best way to prevent this from happening just brush down the sides of the pan with cold water and pastry brush several times during the cooking process.

I also did once burn the toffee. I have found that the easiest way to make this toffee is by eye. I don't tend to use a candy thermometer for this recipe. I cook the toffee until it's a dark amber. But once... I took it too far and it burnt and the whole batch tasted burnt and I had to throw it out. Once it starts to turn brown and toffee colour and it can burn quite quickly so be sure to stay with it, and have your tray prepared so you can pour it out as soon as it's ready.

Chocolate Topping

I live to pour the toffee over chopped pecans, and then top it with chocolate. I usually use semi sweet chocolate chips. You can use milk chocolate, or dark chocolate if you prefer. The chocolate chips make the process very easy. There's no need to melt the chocolate, just sprinkle it over in an even layer while the buttercrunch toffee is still very hot, and the heat from the toffee will melt the chocolate chips, Use an offset spatula to spread it all evenly, and then sprinkle it with some very finely chopped pecans to finish it off.

Other Options

We love the pecan, toffee, and chocolate combination, but you can change up the combination if you'd life to with different great options. Use any nuts that you like. Whole almonds are a great choice too for almond butter crunch or homemade almond roca. We usually go for unsalted, but if you like the salty sweet combination, you can try salty nuts, or even add a little salt to the top of the chocolate. Or you can leave the nuts all together and make a homemade Heath candy bar. When it comes to the chocolate coating on top you can use semisweet chocolate like we did, or try milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate or a combination of them. And if you just love toffee, you could even make a batch of just the crunchy toffee.

We like to chop the nuts by hand, instead of in a food processor. It just gives you better control, and helps to not over chop the nuts. We want nice chunky pieces for the bottom and not over processed nut dust.

This candy is perfect for gift giving. I love to package it up in a little tin, a mason jar, or a cello bag. Your friends and family will love it. It's also a great addition to holiday cookie trays. It would also be a lovely gift for Valentine's Day. I also like to make a batch sometimes as a party favor. I just put the candy mixture into small cellophane bags, and tie it with some ribbon to coordinate with my party color scheme. Everyone always loves this little gift.

Recipe

Butter Crunch Toffee

Rich toffee with pecans and chocolate.

No ratings yet

Print Pin Rate

Course: Candy, Desserts

Cuisine: American

Cook Time: 30

Additional Time: 6

Total Time: 6 30

Servings:

Calories: 527kcal

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Ingredients

Instructions

Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray, and spread out the chopped pecans, reserving about ½ cup of chopped pecans which are really finely chopped to use on the top at the end.
Melt butter and water in a large heavy saucepan. Add the sugar to the melted butter and water, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the sugar is fully dissolved. Occasionally brush the inside of the pot down with cold water, using a pastry brush, to help prevent the candy from recrystallization. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally until the candy turns a dark amber. Be careful not to burn it though.
Pour the candy evenly over the nuts in the prepared pan. Use an offset spatula dipped in cold water so it doesn't stick to smooth the toffee mixture out and completely cover the nuts. Be careful as you work, as it's very hot.
While the candy is still hot, cover completely with chocolate chips. As they melt, use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate layer evenly. Sprinkle the top of the layer of chocolate with the reserved finely chopped pecans. Let it harden, and then break into small pieces. Let set at room temperature. Store in an airtight container.

Nutrition

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LifeisaParty or tag #lifeisaparty!

With Butter Crunch Toffee Candy, life really is a party!

More Homemade Candy Inspiration

Check out all these other posts from our Christmas Treat Week:

Homemade Caramel Corn recipe here.

Creamy Caramels and Chocolate Salted Caramels recipe here.

Homemade Caramel Apples recipe here.

Homemade Coffee Marshmallows recipe here.

The Best Homemade Caramel Candies Recipe

Dec 14, 2016 · Leave a Comment

How To Make Easy Creamy Caramel Candies: these caramels are delicious, and easy to make, and the perfect gift. Serve plain, with salt for salted caramels, or dipped in chocolate.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

This easy homemade caramel candy is such a favorite. It's perfect for a special homemade treat. It's sweet and chewy, and soft and the perfect treat for any caramel lover. Wrap these soft caramels up for gift giving, sprinkle them with salt for salted caramel, or dip them in chocolate for caramel chocolates. Anyway you serve them, these homemade caramels are so delicious.

It's Day Three of Christmas Treats Weeks, and today I'm sharing a recipe for Creamy Caramels and Chocolate Salted Caramels. You can check out all the other recipes for Christmas Treat Week at the bottom of this post.

How To Make Creamy Caramels and Chocolate Salted Caramels: Salty or not salty these caramels are delicious, and easy to make. Sure to be a hit for gift giving.

If you are making these chewy caramels for the holidays be warned that these are so good, you might have a little trouble not eating them between now and Christmas. My family finished an entire batch in days, but this caramel recipe is so easy you can make another batch. I love this homemade candy for gift giving around the holidays, or serving guests. It's also really nice as a Valentine's Day treat too. But really any time of year, who won't love some homemade caramel?

It's a lovely party favor too. It's one of the easiest candy recipes too. So if you're a beginner at making homemade, which can be a little tricky if you're not used to using a candy thermometer, this is a great recipe to start with.

Candy Thermometer

You will need a candy thermometer for this recipe. They're inexpensive to buy, and great to have on hand. Look for them at any good kitchen store. The candy thermometer attaches to the side of your pan. Just make sure that the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan, which will not give you an accurate reading of your candy temperature. It's important to get the candy to the right temperature for it to set property. If it's undercooked it can be runny and if it's over cooked it will become hard.

Some people like to use the cold water test and get the caramel to the firm ball stage. To test this way you take a spoonful of the hot caramel and drop it into a cup of ice water, and then mold it into a ball with your fingers. You're looking for it to be fairly firm and make a ball.

I prefer to use a candy thermometer because I find it easier. The temperature is exact, so it takes the guesswork out of the cooking process, and is the easy way to make perfect caramel candies each time.

Both the creamy caramels and the chocolate salted caramels have the same caramel base. In fact, it's the same caramel I made for the caramel apples yesterday. I made two batches of the apples, and each time I poured the leftover caramel into a well greased small rectangle container after I was done dipping apples. I let the caramel mixture harden overnight, and then removed it from the container and sliced into small cubes.

To wrap the creamy caramels, just cut small pieces of parchment paper or wax paper and wrap each square. You might like to tie the ends with a little twine too.

How To Make Creamy Caramels for homemade gift giving

You could, of course sprinkle these with a little sea salt to make salted caramel candy too. I left these ones plain.

Packed in a little jar, these are perfect for gift giving.

chocolate dipped Creamy Caramels with salt

Store your caramels in an airtight container, or wrapped airtight with some waxed or parchment paper, at room temperature.

Chocolate Covered Caramels

To make the Chocolate Salted Caramels dip your creamy caramels in some melted chocolate. I used semi-sweet chocolate melting wafers, that I melted in the microwave. You could also use milk chocolate or dark chocolate, whatever you like best. You can also add a little salt before they set for salted caramel chocolates.

Salted Caramel Candies

If you have some fans of sweet and salty together on your Christmas list, these are sure to be a big hit. I used Pink Salt, sea salt or Himalayan Salt would be nice too. Just sprinkle it over the caramels as they set, or sprinkle some over the chocolate before it sets.

How To Make Creamy Caramels and Chocolate Salted Caramels

Troubleshooting

The main problem that can occur when making your homemade caramels is around not getting the caramel mixture to the right temperature when your cooking it. Be sure that the candy thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan. If necessary adjust the clip on the side of the thermometer so that it fits tightly and can hold the thermometer up off of the bottom of the pan.

Too Soft: If your caramel is too soft you likely didn't cook it long enough. If it doesn't reach 240 degrees F, it will not set properly and instead of being chewy, it will be too soft and not hold it's shape.

Too Hard: You also might overcook your caramel candies so that they are too hard and not soft and chewy. To fix this problem be sure to remove the caramel mixture from the heat as soon as it reaches 240 degrees F.

Gift Giving

If you have some fans of sweet and salty together on your Christmas list, these delicious caramels are sure to be a big hit. Place the caramel candies in gift boxes, or a cellophane bag, or glass jar for gift giving. Last year, these were a big hit with all my friends and family. Everyone loved their chewy texture. If you're having candy cravings this holiday season, this is the perfect caramel candy to make.

These caramel candies also make a lovely small party favor. Wrap them up in a some packaging that matches your party theme and send them home with guests for the sweetest goodie bags.

Recipe

Creamy Caramel Candy

Soft caramel candy with chocolate and sea salt.

No ratings yet

Print Pin Rate

Course: Candy, Desserts

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 15

Total Time: 25

Servings:

Calories: 85kcal

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Ingredients

Instructions

To make the caramel, combine butter, brown sugar, condensed milk, corn syrup and salt in a heavy saucepan.
Bring it to a boil over a high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Pour into a well greased 8 x 8 pan, and let set overnight at room temperature or for a few hours in the fridge.
Remove caramel from the pan and cut into small cubes with a sharp knife. Wrap in parchment paper squares. Or, add salt first for salted caramels. Or, dip in chocolate and then sprinkle with salt for chocolate salted caramels.

Nutrition

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LifeisaParty or tag #lifeisaparty!

With homemade caramel candies, life really is a party!

More Homemade Candy Recipes

Check out all these other posts from our Christmas Treat Week:

Pecan Butter Crunch recipe here.

Homemade Caramel Corn recipe here.

Our Homemade Caramel Apples recipe here.

Homemade Coffee Marshmallows recipe here.

How To Make Homemade Caramel Apples

Dec 13, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Homemade Caramel Apples: Easy, made from scratch Caramel Apples, perfect for gift giving.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Caramel apples are such a great treat. The combination of tart crispy apple with the smooth creamy sweet caramel is a match made in heaven. Perfect homemade caramel apples are the perfect handheld treat. They're especially during the fall when it's apple season. I love making them for special parties, and these easy caramel apples make great gifts or party favors too.

It's Day Two of Christmas Treat Week. Today I'm sharing my Homemade Caramel Apples. You can find all about the rest of the recipes from Christmas Treat Week at the end of this post.

Home Made Caramel Apple Recipe: Easy, made from scratch Caramel Apples, perfect for Christmas gift giving.

These are so good, and perfect for holiday gift giving. Your family and friends are sure to love them. And we've dressed these ones up for Christmas with some pretty festive sprinkles. You can change out your sprinkles to suit whatever season or holiday your in. We've made our caramel from scratch with a simple recipe. No need to unwrap pre-bought caramel candies for ages. This homemade caramel is cheaper, fresher, and more delicious and makes the best caramel apples.

Caramel Apples vs. Candy Apples

Caramel apples are fresh apples that have been dipped into a soft caramel coating. When the set the caramel coating will still remain quite soft and sticky and it's relatively easy to bite through. If you struggle with the sticky caramel, you can cut your homemade gourmet caramel apples into wedges so that they're easier to eat.

Caramel apples are different than candy apples. Candy apples have a hard candy coating on the outside. They are traditionally red, and it can be quite difficult to bite through the hard candy coating on the outside of the apple. If you're looking for a candy apple recipe please check out our traditional red candy apple recipe here. And click here if you want to see how to pink or any other color candy apples here. You might also like our Caramel Apple Fondue Recipe.

Apples

You can use a variety of different apples for making your caramel apple. Lots of people like to use tart granny smith apples to contrast the flavor of the tart apples with the sweetness of the caramel. Some people like pink lady, fuji, or honeycrisp. You can use whatever types of apples that you prefer for this recipe. My preference is a crisp eating apple, and not a baking apple.

Wax and Apples

No matter what variety of apple you decide to use for your caramel apple, the most important thing is that you either choose one that has not been waxed or that you remove the outer waxy coating and properly prep apples before dipping them. Most apples from the grocery store have a waxy coating on the outside to make them look more shiny. The wax can prevent the caramel coating from sticking properly to the dipped apples.

The best way to avoid this problem is to purchase your apples directly from a farmer's market, or orchard where the apples haven't been coated. If you can't do that and need to get your apples at the grocery store you can remove the waxy coating.

To clean the wax off boil a large pot of water and then turn the heat off. Next, quickly dip your apples in the boiling the water for a few seconds, then use a kitchen towel to rub the melted wax off of the apples. You don't want to keep the apples in the boiling water too long because you don't want to start the cooking process, or discolor your apples. A quick dip in the hot water is all that's needed to make the wax melt and allow you to clean it off with a kitchen towel. Be sure to dry your apples before dipping, and chill them for the best results.

How To Stop Puddling

One problem that can sometimes occur when making homemade caramel apples is that caramel coating can run off the apple and puddle around the bottom. One cause of this problem is that the apples have not had their waxy coating removed and the caramel is sliding down off of the apple and pooling at the bottom of the apple.

To avoid this problem follow the directions above to clean off the waxy coating using hot water. An even better solution is to purchase apples from a farmer's market or orchard that don't have the waxy coating added to them.

Caramel puddling at the bottom of the apple can also be because of the temperature of your caramel when you dipped the apple. It can be helpful to chill the apples before dipping. If the caramel is too hot, it may run off of the apple. It may also become too cold to dip the apple, so you want to find that sweet spot as best as you can where the caramel is not to hot to avoid excess caramel drip, but still warm enough to dip the apple into easily.

You also may have to work on your dipping technique. You want to hold your dipped apple over the caramel pot long enough for some to drip off before placing it on the parchment paper to set. Some people like to spin their apple slightly and some people like to dip apples and then scrape a little caramel off the bottom of the apple on the side of the pan before setting it down. You will have to experiment a little and find what works best for you and gives you the best dip without having too much of your buttery caramel dip down around the bottom of your freshly dipped caramel apple.

Caramel Apple Topping Ideas

You can top these caramel apples with anything you like, or even just leave them plain. For these ones I used some drizzled melted chocolate and Christmas sprinkles for a real festive feel for the holidays. Adding your favorite things to these apples as toppings takes them to the next level. You might want to think about what the caramel apples are coated with at your favorite gourmet place like rocky mountain chocolate factory to give you some ideas for favorite toppings, like s'mores apples, or turtle apples.

You can use just about anything small and sweet to add to these caramel apples such as:

milk chocolate
dark chocolate
white chocolate
graham crackers
mini marshmallows
M&Ms
mini chocolate chips
toffee bits
peanuts, almonds, cashews, or pecan pieces
cut up chocolate bar pieces
shredded coconut

Home Made Caramel Apple Recipes with chocolate and sprinkles

These would be beautiful on a holiday dessert tray, you can cut them into apple slices for easier eating. Or, wrap the caramel apples for gift giving. You will love making this easy recipe for family and friends. Feel free to experiment with different toppings and try different combinations.

Gift Wrapping Your Caramel Apples

Cello bags work perfectly for wrapping, a little tip -push the edges of the bag down and open it up so that you can set the caramel apple inside, without it sticking to the sides of the bag on you.

Add a little bow and some pine for a holiday touch. Or for a birthday or different celebration try adding coordinating ribbon to match your party colors. This recipe makes perfect caramel apples that your family and friends will love. These are best enjoyed when they are freshly made, but you can store a few days in the refrigerator.

Recipe

Homemade Caramel Apples

Crisp apples coated in soft and creamy caramel coating.

No ratings yet

Print Pin Rate

Course: Candy, Desserts

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 10

Total Time: 30

Servings: apples

Calories: 483kcal

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Ingredients

Instructions

Prepare your apples by putting a lollipop stick in the middle. If your apples are from an apple orchard, you might be lucky enough to have ones that aren't coated in wax. Most grocery store apples are coated in wax, and you need to remove it so that the caramel sticks. To remove the wax, place the apples in boiling hot water for about 10 seconds, and then wipe with a paper towel. Make sure they're thoroughly dry and chilled before dipping in caramel.
To make the caramel, combine butter, brown sugar, condensed milk, corn syrup and salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring it to a boil over a high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Dip prepared cold apples, and place on a parchment paper or wax paper lined baking sheet to harden.
Optional: Melt some chocolate in a ziplock bag in the microwave, and snip the corner, and pipe onto the caramel apples. Add sprinkles to the chocolate before the chocolate sets.
Let harden and package in cello bags. Store in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LifeisaParty or tag #lifeisaparty!

Home Made Caramel Apple Recipes for christmas gift giving

With this Homemade Caramel Apples Recipe for, life really is a party!

More Recipe Inspiration

You might also enjoy Homemade Coffee Marshmallows Recipe here.

How To Make Homemade Creamy Caramels and Salted Chocolate Caramels

You might also like our Pecan Butter Crunch Recipe here.

Or, Homemade Caramel Corn Recipe here.

Homemade Coffee Marshmallows Recipe

Dec 12, 2016 · 1 Comment

Fluffy, coffee flavored marshmallows that taste gourmet but use simple ingredients you already have. This recipe uses real brewed coffee for authentic flavor without hunting for specialty espresso powder. Perfect for enjoying in hot chocolate, coffee drinks, s'mores or giving as gifts with budget-friendly presentation ideas.

Quick Look

🍬 Homemade Coffee Marshmallows made with real brewed coffee (no specialty espresso powder needed)
⏱️ Time: 35 minutes prep and cooking, then let sit overnight before slicing and enjoying
🍽️ Yield: About 24 large marshmallows (2 inch squares)
📊 Difficulty: Intermediate (requires candy thermometer)
🎁 Perfect For: Holiday gifts, teacher gifts, hosting gifts, hot chocolate bars
💡 Top Tip: Brew your coffee the night before and refrigerate it so it's completely cold when you start making marshmallows

Why You'll Love These Coffee Marshmallows

Real brewed coffee flavor. No hunting for instant espresso powder or settling for artificial-tasting coffee extract. This recipe uses strong coffee in place of water for authentic taste.
Simpler method. Coffee replaces the water that's already in the recipe (same moisture, fewer steps). No extra ingredients to dissolve separately.
Use any coffee you love. French press, drip, cold brew, or regular coffee maker all work great. Even works with decaf.
Perfect for gift-giving. Beautiful homemade quality with budget-friendly packaging ideas that look premium.
Make-ahead friendly. Ideal 2-day timeline means you can prepare in advance for any occasion.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Homemade marshmallows are lighter and fluffier than anything you'll find at the store. They're more delicate and taste fresher. If you've never tasted a homemade marshmallow, you're in for a little marshmallow magic.

I've made marshmallows probably 10 or 20 times and never had a fail, so these would be a great candy recipe to start with if you're nervous about using a candy thermometer. The coffee flavor is just right. Not overpowering or bitter, but not too subtle either. Because we're using real brewed coffee and not some chemical concentrated syrup, they have a lovely natural flavor.

These make perfect gifts for the piano teacher, girl guide leader, or that neighbour who's always so thoughtful. They're also wonderful as a hostess gift this time of year. For the person on your list who already has everything they need, but you still want something special for them (like an elderly relative), these are perfect. There's something so special about giving homemade treats.

Looking for more marshmallow flavors? Check out our Homemade Marshmallow Mug Toppers. You might also like our Bailey's Marshmallows, Strawberry Marshmallows, and Purple Marshmallows.

Ingredients

Measurements in the recipe card below.

If you've never made homemade marshmallows, this is the year to give them a try. They're not hard to make, and they're so fluffy, and springy, and yummy you won't regret it.

About Using Real Brewed Coffee

Most coffee marshmallow recipes call for instant espresso powder or coffee extract. This recipe is different. We use real brewed coffee in place of the water that's already in the recipe.

Why this works better:

Instant espresso powder requires specialty shopping and dissolving separately
Coffee extract often has an artificial, chemical taste that comes through in the finished marshmallows
Real brewed coffee gives authentic, natural coffee flavor

Same moisture content, better flavor, simpler method. You can use French press, drip, cold brew, or your regular coffee maker. Even decaf works perfectly.

Strong brewed coffee: Replaces water in this recipe. Brew at 2 times your normal strength (about 2 tablespoons ground coffee per 1 cup water). French press, drip, cold brew, or regular coffee maker all work. Must be completely cold before starting. I brew mine the night before and refrigerate it.
Unflavored gelatin: Blooms in the cold coffee to create that signature marshmallow texture. Use three standard packets (about 21g total).
Corn syrup: Prevents sugar crystallization and keeps marshmallows soft and chewy. You can substitute honey, but the flavor will come through.
Cocoa powder: Creates mocha flavor and rich color. Without it, coffee marshmallows look pale and gray. Optional but highly recommended.
Vanilla extract: Rounds out the coffee and cocoa flavors. Don't skip this.
Dusting powder: Confectioners' sugar and cornstarch mixture prevents marshmallows from sticking. Add cocoa powder to the dusting mix for darker coating.

Equipment

Candy thermometer: Essential for success. The sugar syrup must reach exactly 240°F for marshmallows to set properly. You can find one at a kitchen store or order on line, they're under $20
Stand Mixer: This recipe requires a lot of whipping and is best made with a stand mixer. You can use a hand mixer, but requires patience. Avoid whipping by hand.
Pizza Cutter: A pizza cutter works really well for slicing the finished marshmallows and giving a good clean cut.
Cookie Cutters: You can also use cookie cutters to cut out the marshmallows into shapes if you wish.

How To Make Coffee Marshmallows

Step 1: Bloom the gelatin. Put the gelatin and ½ cup of the cold coffee into the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Set aside while you make the syrup.

Step 2: Make the sugar syrup. Combine the other ½ cup of coffee, white sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook covered over medium high heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the lid and clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan. Continue cooking until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, take it off the heat.

Step 3: Whip the marshmallow mixture. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly pour the hot sugar syrup mixture down the side of the stand mixer bowl into the gelatin mixture. Then increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, about 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder during the last minute of whipping.

Step 4: Prepare the pan. While the mixture is whipping, combine the powdered sugar, corn starch, and 2 tablespoons of cocoa in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add ¼ cup of the powdered sugar mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

Step 5: Pour and set. When ready, pour the marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top of the marshmallows with more of the powdered sugar mixture to lightly cover. Save the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight at room temperature.

Step 6: Cut and finish. Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 2 inch squares using a pizza cutter dusted with the icing sugar mixture, or a sharp knife. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining powdered sugar mixture. You can also use a cookie cutter to cut shapes like hearts or stars.

How To Make Homemade Coffee Marshmallows

Expert Tips for Perfect Coffee Marshmallows

Temperature is critical. Your candy thermometer must reach exactly 240°F for the marshmallows to set properly.
Coffee must be cold. Warm coffee won't bloom the gelatin properly. Refrigerator cold is best. I always brew mine the night before.
Don't skip the whipping time. That 12 to 15 minutes is essential. The marshmallows triple in volume and develop their signature texture during this stage.
Grease your cutting tools frequently. Wipe off marshmallow residue between cuts if necessary for neater squares. A pizza cutter works great for this step.
The dusting powder prevents sticking. Don't skip coating all sides of the cut marshmallows. It keeps them from becoming one giant sticky blob in storage.
Use a stand mixer if possible. Hand mixers work but require patience. The mixture needs sustained high speed whipping to reach proper volume.

How to Package Coffee Marshmallows for Gifts

This is where my experience as a party planner really shines. You can create premium looking gifts from dollar store finds.

Clear cellophane bags: Buy in bulk from dollar stores. Tie with coordinated ribbon. Add a simple tag that says Homemade Coffee Marshmallows.
Mason jar presentation: Layer marshmallows in small mason jars. Add a fabric circle under the lid (cut with pinking shears). Tie twine around jar neck with a tag. Pairs beautifully with hot cocoa mix.
Coffee themed gift sets: Package marshmallows with a small bag of coffee beans. Include in a mug with ribbon. Add a recipe card for coffee hot chocolate. Perfect complete gift for coffee lovers.
Pro repackaging tips: Choose 2 to 3 coordinated colors for cohesive look. Dollar store ribbon looks premium when colors match. Print simple labels at home on kraft paper. Group several small packages in a basket for impressive presentation.
Shelf life for gifting: These keep well for 1 to 2 weeks in an airtight container. Always include a best by date on your gift tag (2 weeks from when you made them).

Creative Ways to Use Coffee Marshmallows

These are perfect for Christmas, but also a great treat anytime of year. Beyond adding them to hot chocolate, these coffee marshmallows are incredibly versatile.

In drinks: Float in morning coffee instead of cream. Top Irish coffee or spiked hot chocolate. Melt into lattes for extra flavor. Add to cold brew for a sweet treat.
For desserts: Make coffee marshmallow rice crispy treats. Use in s'mores with dark chocolate and graham crackers, or on a s'mores charcuterie board. Top brownies before baking for a mocha finish. Fold into ice cream. Add to rocky road candy. Use as a dipper for chocolate fondue.
For entertaining: Create a hot chocolate charcuterie board, with coffee and vanilla marshmallow options. Serve alongside espresso at dinner parties. Package as party favors for coffee themed showers. Include in dessert charcuterie boards.
Gift pairing ideas: Bundle with homemade hot chocolate mix. Pair with a bag of specialty coffee. Include with a new mug. Add to a coffee lover's basket.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use instant espresso powder instead of brewed coffee?

Yes. If you prefer instant espresso, dissolve about 2 tablespoons in 1 cup of water instead.

Can I make decaf coffee marshmallows?

Yes, absolutely. Just brew strong decaf coffee and use it the same way. The process is identical.

Why are my marshmallows too soft and sticky?

The sugar syrup probably didn't reach 240°F. Make sure your thermometer tip is fully submerged in the syrup, but resting on the bottom of the pot for an accurate reading.

Can I use cold brew coffee?

Yes! Cold brew is already concentrated, making it perfect for this recipe. Use it as is without diluting.

How do I store coffee marshmallows?

Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Keep away from heat and direct sunlight. Add a little extra dusting powder to the container to prevent sticking. They last up to 3 weeks but are best in the first 2 weeks.

Can I freeze marshmallows?

Yes, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. Store in an airtight container or freezer bag with parchment paper between layers. Thaw at room temperature before using. The texture may be slightly different but they're still delicious.

What if I don't have a candy thermometer?

A candy thermometer is really essential for consistent results. I don't recommend making this recipe without a candy thermometer.

Do I have to use cocoa powder?

It's optional but recommended. Without it, the marshmallows will be pale beige. The cocoa adds color and creates a more complex mocha flavor.

More Candy and Coffee Recipe Inspiration

If you make these Homemade Coffee Marshmallows, please leave a rating and comment below. Thanks for visiting Life is a Party today!

Recipe

Christmas Fondue Party

Dec 8, 2016 · 8 Comments

You will love this Christmas Fondue Party! Make an entire evening out of fondue, with cheese fondue, oil fondue, chocolate fondue, and caramel fondue. This is perfect easy entertaining for the holidays at it's best.

Christmas fondue party with menus, recipes, and decor.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Why We Love This Party

A fondue evening is something special and a little different, that your guests will love.
You won't have to spend half the night in the kitchen alone, the guests cook their own dinner!
Fondue creates a slower, lingering pace to the dinner, so you get to really enjoy the time with friends and family.
We've created a delicous menu of savoury and sweet fondue courses.

This Christmas Fondue party was so much fun! I love to entertain and especially around the holidays. But sometimes you spend so much time hosting that it's more tiring than fun…anyone been there?

Hosting a fondue party is the perfect way to get to be a guest at your own party.

This is a great party for the holidays or for New Year's Eve. But a fondue dinner party is great for any special occasion, or just for getting a group of friends together. One of my favorite things about a fondue meal is that it takes awhile to cook your food, and tends to be an evening where everyone slowly cooks and talks together, and spends a great evening together.

You might also like our Christmas Cookie Party, Christmas Movie Night, Nutcracker Tea Party, Circus Dinner Party, or Fondue Date Night.

Dining table set for a Christmas fondue party.

How To Host A Fondue Party

This Christmas Fondue party is so much fun, easy to put together, and a fun retro idea for the holidays. We made a complete meal of fondue, by starting with a cheese fondue, and offering an oil fondue with meat and vegetable options. We added a salad as a great accompaniment to round things out. We had a chocolate and a caramel fondue for dessert. Dinner guests loved all the fun choices.

As your guests arrive at the beginning of the party it's lovely to offer them a drink a glass of wine from the bar cart.

I set up a wine bar near the door. It made it easy for guests to serve themselves through out the evening, and is a great way to welcome them in with a lovely glass of wine.

Wine and cheese are the perfect pair, and inspired the wine and fondue theme.

Christmas Fondue Party Table Setting

I set the table for the party and tried to make it warm, welcoming and festive. My dining room already has a Christmas forest theme, so I added in some snowflakes and lots of silver and gold for the party.

We added in some pretty paper stars, and honeycomb balls to really make it feel like a party! See how all my Christmas decor in our Christmas Home Tour here.

Side table with dessert and neutral Scandinavian Christmas decor.

Christmas Fondue Sign

One of my favourite little party details is this fun sign I came up with. "All I want for Christmas is fondue", a little spin on the Christmas song "All I want for Christmas is You". 😉

I had lots of fun setting the table too.

Christmas pacesetting with wood charger, gold cutlery, and snowflake plate.

Place Settings

Next we used wood chargers for the table. I love the mix of the gold and silver with the rustic wood and antlers. It helps strike the perfect balance for a holiday table where you want a little bling and sparkle, but love the rustic style too. And the snowflake plates, table runner, and candle holders definitely add to the winter wonderland feel in the room.

And don't forget the fondue forks. It's works well to give everyone a colour for the evening. We had several sets of fondue pots going, so everyone had multiple forks to have more than one going at once, which worked really well.

This is the kind of meal where the guests linger. The fondue takes a while to cook, you tend to chat, and cook, and eat, and sip your wine, and then do it all over again.

It's absolutely the perfect holiday get together. You're not stuck in the kitchen, and it turns into a long, relaxed evening. Honestly, I'd forgotten how fun a fondue party is, until I went to the basement to find all the fondue pots and start setting up.

I started the evening off with a cheese fondue, and oil fondue.

The Cheese Fondue

The cheese fondue is really easy to make, and I promise it's so, so good. A good cheese fondue recipe is a great thing to have to serve anytime, even as a starter to any good meal. You may want to serve this fondue first, as a starter cheese course, or set it up with the oil options all at once like we did. There are different cheeses you can use for cheese fondue but we went with a classic swiss fondue.

shredded cheese and wine and ingredients for a cheese fondue

Recipe

Cheese Fondue

Creamy and smooth cheese fondue.

4.50 from 8 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizers

Cuisine: Swiss

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 10

Total Time: 25

Servings: servings

Calories: 341kcal

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Ingredients

Instructions

Start by rubbing the inside of your pot with the garlic clove cut in half. Then add the wine and lemon juice to the pot and heat to a simmer over a medium heat.
Coat the grated cheese with the cornstarch by shaking in a sealed zip bag.
Slowly add the cheese to the wine mixture, handful by handful, stirring in a figure eight pattern to incorporate it each time until it's all mixed, creamy and smooth.
Add in the brandy, dry mustard and nutmeg and stir to combine.
Serve in a fondue pot with assorted dippers.

Nutrition

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LifeisaParty or tag #lifeisaparty!

Cheese fondue pot with a piece of bread dipping in and dripping cheese.

Cheese Fondue Dipper Ideas

We served the classic cheese fondue with some beautiful fresh cubes of crusty bread from the bakery, roasted baby potatoes, and some kielbasa sausage. This is the perfect simple dish for the cheese lover, with such yummy dippers for melted cheese. Par-cooked vegetables like asparagus, or roasted cauliflower florets, other green vegetables like green beans, or roasted brussels sprouts work really well. You could also try some fresh crunchy vegetables like bell peppers or cherry tomatoes. The best cheese fondue dippers are anything that pairs well with melty cheese. Any breads are an obvious choice, like white bread, whole wheat bread, pumpernickel bread, but things like wheat crackers or tortilla chips are a fun option and good choice too.

crusty French bread or sourdough bread
roasted potatoes
cooked asparagus
kielbasa

In fact, most of the dippers were picked up at the store, so other than making the three fondues ahead of time to re-heat before serving, all I had to do was roast a few potatoes and do a little slicing. Another reason this party is so much fun, it's pretty easy to put together, sure to put the host in a good mood.

Cheese fondue dippers of bread pieces, roasted potatoes and kielbasa sausage.

The Oil Fondue

For the oil fondue, I set up two pots of oil. Just bring the oil up to 375 degrees on the stove and then set them on the fondue stand over the heat source. The oil did lose its heat as we lingered around the table a long time. I did reheat it on the stove top a few times. Another option would be to use electric fondue pots for the oil fondue, which is plugged in and will maintain its heat as long as it's turned on.

Beef, chicken, and egg rolls ready to cook in an oil fondue.

Oil Fondue Dippers

I served some beef, chicken, and egg rolls. For the chicken, I used frozen chicken fingers that had been thawed and cut into bite-sized pieces. The egg rolls were also frozen -already fully cooked so you're just crisping them up in the oil. It's nice to offer a variety of meats.

beef
chicken
egg rolls

For the raw meat, be sure to keep them separate from the other food, and make sure they're fully cooked before eating. Cook time will vary depending on the meat and how hot the oil is. Make sure chicken is fully cooked before eating. Also make sure Let everything come up to room temperature just before serving to reduce cooking time and help your oil stay hot. Do defrost any frozen items first, so that they will cook faster and cook down the hot oil less.

A plate of salad and oil fondue cooked beef and chicken.

Dipping Sauces:

One of the fun parts of oil fondue is offering lots of sauces to go with the meats. This is such a fun part of fondue parties, and there are so many prepared sauces available at the grocery store. This is a change to offer lots of different flavors, so that even just a few meat options have lots of different tastes when combined with the different sauces. Make sure that the sauces are in small bowls, and that plenty of options within reach of your guests around the dinner table.I served:

teriyaki sauce
peanut sauce
plum sauce
asian dipping sauce,
chipotle mayo
truffle aioli
honey mustard.

Raw mushrooms, zucchini, and broccoli ready to dip and cook as a tempura fondue.

Tempura Vegtables

I also offered some tempura vegetables. Just slice the veggies to prepare them. I used:

zucchini
mushrooms
broccoli

To make a tempura batter -see tempura fondue recipe here. Guests can choose a veggie, dip into the batter, and fry in the oil. These are so, so yummy and also great with the sauces. This isn't a traditional fondue choice, but I think these tempura vegetables are good options for someone looking for an option other than just meat.

Green salad in a white bowl with gold salad servers.

Since the fondue is so rich, a green salad helps round out the meal, and makes the fondue into a real main course.

Christmas dining room decorated for a party and a table set with rustic Christmas decor and party food.

After dinner, lastly it was time for the dessert fondue.

Chocolate and caramel dessert fondue with fruit, candy, and other dippers.

Chocolate Fondue and Caramel Fondue

I prepped all the desert before the party and set it up on the side. This way, I didn't have to head back into the kitchen and get back to work in the middle of the party. I just reheated the chocolate and caramel fondues in the microwave when it was time to serve (this is one of the best ways to reheat any leftovers too).

Dessert fondue dippers, included fruit, candy and nuts.

For the chocolate and caramel fondue -see my chocolate and caramel fondue recipes here. The sky is the limit for dippers. Fresh fruit is delicious and one of the best things to include. Next I also added some nuts, and toasted coconut to sprinkle over the dipped fruit. Candy canes are a good idea and fun Christmas touch.

Dessert fondue all set up with dippers and Christmas decorations.

I also included a tray of other sweet dippers; shortbread cookies, marshmallows, angel food cake pieces, belgium waffles, chocolate cookies, and pretzels or try potato chips for those who love sweet and salty.

Lastly, one of my favourite little party details was adding some edible glitter and star sprinkles to this tray. It's the little things. 😉

Dessert Fondue Dippers:

pineapple
apple slices
blackberries
raspberries
oranges
banana slices
candy canes
shortbread cookies
graham crackers
marshmallows
angel food cake or pound cake pieces
Belgium waffles
chocolate cookies
pretzels
toasted coconut sprinkles
nuts

Angel food cake with edible glitter and star sprinkles on it.

Finally we moved everything over to the table for dessert.

Dining room table set up for a Christmas fondue party with place settings and food.

And you thought guests lingered at the table for dinner, wait until dessert. No one wanted to leave! What could be better than getting to dip strawberries in melted chocolate?

Christmas Fondue Party food set up at a table.

Fondue Pots

The chocolate fondue is in a double boiler fondue pot. I think this is one of the best fondue pots. There is water in the pot, and the ceramic bowl with the chocolate is sitting in it so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot. With a regular fondue pot, try to regulate the heat so that it's a low heat for the Swiss cheese fondue or chocolate fondue. I also used the double boiler type fondue pot for the cheese, and it really worked well and is an excellent choice.

If you don't have enough fondue pots to host a fondue party though don't worry. Most of these were picked up at thrift stores. They're easy to find. And also look for an electric fondue maker as a great option for oil fondue.

Dessert fondue dippers and caramel fondue.

In short, this fondue party really was the perfect holiday get together. It would be an amazing idea for New Years Eve too. A family fondue night is a lot of fun too. A word about young children though, the oil fondue could be a little dangerous for burns depending on the children's age. Either partner a child with an adult, or skip the oil fondue with young children. To avoid double dipping with kids, sometimes an individual bowl of chocolate fondue or cheese fondue is a great option.

A plate of dessert fondue with wine and food in the background.

With a Christmas Fondue Party to celebrate with girl friends, life really is a party.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you keep guests from double dipping at a Fondue party?

Just take a second at the beginning of dinner to go over the "rules" of fondue, and remind everyone not to double-dip. If you have children at your fondue party, consider giving them their own small bowl of fondue so you don't have to worry about them double dipping.

What if you don't have enough fondue pots?

Look for fondue pots at the thrift store. They are very easy to find there, and quite inexpensive.

How do you keep the oil fondue hot enough?

You do need quite hot oil for frying. A candle fondue pot will not do for this fondue. The best option is a fondue pot you can plug in. If you don't have one of those, you may need to reheat your oil on the stove part way through your party.

How do you keep the cheese and chocolate fondue from burning?

The best fondue pot for both these types of fondue is the double boiler type, where the fondue pot sits in a water bath. Otherwise, be sure to keep your eye on them and turn off the heat source if it becomes too hot.

If you try any of the ideas from this Christmas Fondue Party or any other ideas on my blog please let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!

More Fondue Inspiration

Outdoor Decorating Ideas for the Front Porch

Dec 7, 2016 · 10 Comments

Outdoor Christmas Decorating Ideas for the Front Porch: yarn wrapped sticks, pom pom garland and a Christmas wreath add a festive touch.

How to decorate your front porch for Christmas.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

This month for our #12MonthsofDIY we're working with yarn. And, it's not just for knitters! I used it this year in all my outdoor Christmas decor, and I love how it turned out. Today I'm sharing outdoor Christmas decorating ideas for the front porch.

Yarn Wrapped Sticks

My very favourite is probably the yarn wrapped sticks I used as the centrepiece of my outdoor urns. My friend thought they were birch at first, so they'd be great for anyone going for the birch look.

These sticks are so, so simple to make. Just find some sticks, straight and without too many small branches is easiest. Then, just wrap them in yarn.

I used whites and creams for my sticks but they would look amazing in any colour to match your decor for Christmas.

Pom Pom Garland

I also used the yarn around the doorway. I used some grapevine that I gathered while out for a walk one day, and wired it around the doorway. Then I added some clear Christmas lights. Next, I made a simple pompom garland.

The different textures really look amazing all together. And the light garland stands out well against the dark coloured grapevine.

Christmas Wreath

I also used the yarn to make a simple wreath for the front door.

Outdoor Christmas Decorating Ideas for the Front Porch

I started out with a straw wreath from the craft store and some moss. This is some that I collected from the forest, and that had dried out. I used hot glue to attach it to the wreath.

I used more of the Gold Leaf Yarn and wrapped it around the wreath. The soft, fuzzy white yarn looks great against the vibrant green, it also helps the moss to stay in place.

I wired on a little metal house from the crafts store, and hot glued a few white bottle brush trees.

The "merry" sign is made of wood and hot glued on too.

More Outdoor Christmas Decorating Ideas for the Front Porch

At the sides, I added a few more treasures.

The stumps were picked up at the side of the road a few months ago. Someone had a whole pile of them and a "free" sign so I loaded them up and put them in the garage for the summer. I thought they'd be perfect out here for Christmas, and now I'm so glad I grabbed them that day.

The white gingerbread house trim was some I found in a ditch one day when I was out for a little walk with the dog. You never know what you'll find. I brought them home banged out a few old nails and added them to my display for a little charm. 😉

Over on this side, more stumps and pinecones, and some old little skates.

DIY Noel Sign

This pretty little sign is another one that started from a walk. I found some old boards and grabbed a few thinking they'd be cute little signs. To make this I just used chalk to write out "noel" and quickly painted over it with some craft paint. So easy.

When you're sticking to a really simple colour scheme like white and neutrals, all these fun little details add interest and texture to your decor.

I hope you like how I used yarn in an unexpected way.

With a pretty Christmas front porch to welcome visitors, life really is party!

More Inspiration

You might also like our Christmas Front Porch here.

Christmas Front Porch: Rustic greens, large pinecones, and lots of birch logs create a rustic Scandinavian feel with brass lanterns for Christmas.

Also check out our Front Porch Decorating Ideas for Christmas here.

You might also enjoy Christmas Outdoor Planter here.

Scandinavian Christmas Home Tour

Dec 6, 2016 · 48 Comments

Scandinavian Christmas Home Tour: Woodland Rustic Scandinavian Christmas decorations with lots of nature inspired decor.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Welcome! I'm so excited you're here for my Christmas Home Tour full of Scandinavian Christmas decorations to inspire you.

The Front Door

My front door is all dressed up for Christmas. You can read all about the details of the Front Porch Christmas decor here.

Now, come on in where it's warm.

Scandinavian Christmas decorating home tour

The Dining Room

The first room in our house is the dining room. I've just finished re-doing it for the One Room challenge -you can read all about our dining room makeover all here. It was a big job, but I'm so glad I did. It was so fun to decorate my new white and bright Scandinavian inspired space for Christmas!

Near the front door I have a little console table, and it's holding my DIY mason jar oil lamps. There's something about Christmas and lights.

I've stuck with the Scandinavian feel for Christmas. I love the simplicity of Scandinavian design, the clean lines, the simple colours, and all the natural touches. This has really been the Christmas of bringing the outdoors in.

Scandinavian Christmas decorations dinning room

Indoor Forest

I wanted to create a forest feel in here, so I cut down five little poplar trees and brought them in for the holidays.

I used some cement in some pretty galvanized buckets to hold them. It's worked really well. On top of the cement, I added some faux snow. It's like a wintry forest in here, and I love the fairy lights, especially at night.

Bar Cart

Near the door, our little bar cart is ready for some holiday merry making with pretty vintage glasses.

I love the little stir sticks.

My sister gave me this pretty little terrarium for my birthday, and I turned it into a fun snow globe for Christmas.

In the dining room, I kept things pretty simple.

Scandinavian inspired Christmas decorations

I love using neutrals even for Christmas because it's so calming and serene.

I used these pretty DIY paint dipped candle stick holders -see how I made them here.

At the other end of the room, is the beautiful vintage book deer art -you can see how I made it here.

I upped the merry factor with the addition of five pretty hoop wreaths. These are so easy to make, just some hoops and fresh greens wired on. I love the simplicity of them.

These wooden trees make it even more Christmas-y.

We got so many candy canes at our local Santa Clause Parade this year, so I added a few for a festive touch in this pretty little marble bowl.

I'm really in love with this new white, bright space, and I can't wait to paint the rest of the main floor rooms white.

The dining room leads onto the stairs, and the living room.

Scandinavian Christmas decorations home tour

The Christmas Tree

I like to put the Christmas tree at the bottom of the stairs so we can enjoy it from the living room and dining room.

In keeping with the Scandinavian vibe, I've kept it really simple and natural. I found my little Charlie Brown tree in the woods, and I love how bare it is. It's surrounded by a few treasures, and our family's story book advent calendar - where we read a different Christmas storybook together each night leading up to Christmas.

Scandinavian Christmas Decortations in the Living Room

The stairs are also simple and natural, we layered grapevine and pine boughs that I gathered on a walk one day.

The little table is a new addition too, and the perfect place for a cup tea, next to the fire.

The Fireplace Mantel

This years mantel is a little different and I just love it.

Corner fireplaces can be tricky so I used an old vintage window frame to fill up some space and a pretty branch attached to it.

The little house lanterns are holding the sweetest little mushrooms. It's very Scandinavian to include mushrooms on your Christmas tree, usually red, and they inspired my mushroom fireplace mantel.

I love how they look like snowy little specimens in their glass houses. They make me wonder if the fairies will visit?

On the other side of the room, a cozy chair to curl up in.

The side table is just some vintage crates, but works perfectly for a rustic touch.

My sweet sister came and rearranged my bookcases for me.

Sometimes you just need fresh eyes, and I love what she did.

On the other wall is the couch, and a pass through to the kitchen.

On the ottoman, a sweet little tray and some candles.

Pass Through

And up on the pass through, a sweet collection of vintage oil cans.

I've been collecting them over the last few years, I love the mix of shapes and metals.

Above the oil cans, is another branch, holding some pretty Christmas decorations.

The Kitchen

And in the kitchen, we've been working on a few tiny gingerbread houses.

They look so pretty all decorated in white.

Scandinavian Christmas Decorations in the Dining Area

And then over to the kitchen table, with perhaps my favourite decoration this year.

I found this old wooden dough bowl at an antique fair last year, and I love it holding some of my vintage Christmas ornaments.

vintage dough wood bowl with Christmas ornaments

Over the years, I've picked them up mostly at second hand stores, and although everything else is neutral this year, I love this pop of vintage colour.

This little cabinet is a new addition this year, and was lots of fun to decorate. We got the most delightful puppy this summer and I needed some where to store all his bits and bobs. The cabinet has worked out great.

I set up a sweet little hot chocolate stand.

My girls love having all kinds of yummy marshmallows to choose from.

And last but not least, these pretty knit stockings hung on some birch poles I cut down in the forest.

Thanks so, so much for dropping by to see all my Christmas decorations, lots found on walks in the woods, or old favourites from years past, and a few new treasures thrown in too -the perfect combo.

The house all decorated with Scandinavian Christmas decorations, life really is a party!

More Inspiration

You might also like our Cozy Christmas Bedroom here.

Cozy Christmas Bedroom: Linen and chunky knits, a Christmas tree, candles, and a Christmas gallery wall help create a cozy space for Christmas.

Also check out Green Christmas Decor Home Tour 2019 here.

Christmas Home Tour: Rustic Scandinavian Christmas Home Tour, with bit of modern boho.

You might also enjoy Scandinavian Christmas Home Tour 2018 Part I here.

Christmas Home Tour 2018 -Black and White Scandinavian design with a little boho. Lots of natural elements, cozy texture and Christmas twinkle lights.

Also check out Scandinavian Christmas Home Tour 2018 -Part II here.

Scandinavian Christmas Decor Home Tour 2018 -Part II: Rustic Scandi design, lots of white and natural elements with some vintage Xmas pieces.

Christmas Dessert Party Ideas

Nov 29, 2016 · 2 Comments

Christmas Dessert Party Ideas: easy holiday entertaining with lots of tricks to turn time saving mixes into extra special treats.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, and what better way to celebrate the season than with our Christmas Dessert Party Ideas! I've put together a really easy, delicious, and extra sweet menu and the best part is it's full of baking tricks that make it quick to put together.

This time of year is so busy for everyone, but it's still so nice to make homemade treats for family and friends. You don't have to give up homemade taste with these little tricks. 😉 I made all these treats in one fun day in the kitchen with my kids.

I love to start with the basics, like brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and pumpkin loaf and then add a few extra special touches to take them to a new level.

Baking Shortcuts

I used some of my favourite ready made cookie doughs, and mixes to make the baking fast and easy and still deliver homemade taste. After I made the brownies, cookies, and pumpkin loaf for the party, I added a few extra special touches to take them to the next level.

I used Holiday Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to make cookie pops.

To make the cookie pops, I separated and baked the Holiday Chocolate Chip Cookies and after they were cooled I sandwiched two of them together with some icing, added a lollipop stick, and rolled the edge in holiday sprinkles.

So easy and such a hit with my guests.

Brownie Lollipops

I also made some special brownie lollipops too. I baked a brownie mix for the brownies, and after they were cooled and cut into rectangles, I put them on a stick, dipped the tops into some melted milk chocolate, and sprinkled with some Christmas sprinkles.

Reindeer Brownies Pops

I also made some reindeer brownie pops, as little take home favours at the end of the party.

The reindeer pops were really simple to put together. I used a brownie mix to make the brownies. After they were cool, I cut them into rectangles and added a lollipop stick. Then I melted some more milk chocolate and dipping the brownies in. I used more melted chocolate in a small zip bag, with the corner snipped off to pipe some small antlers onto parchment paper and put them into the fridge to set.

To make the reindeer faces, I used some candy eyes, and made a nose with a red holiday chocolate chip. Then I added the chocolate antlers.

Once they were set, I put them in little cello bags tied with a ribbon and placed them by the door so my guests could take one as they left as a little party favour.

Pumpkin Bread

I used the Pumpkin Bread Kit to make some delicious pumpkin bread. It's so easy, moist and delicious, and I love that even the icing is included in the kit. If you had more time you could try our Pumpkin Ginger Loaf recipe here.

Pumpkin Trifle

I made two pumpkin loaves and used one to make little pumpkin trifles. These were so, so good.

Recipe

Christmas Dessert Table Ideas

These were a real favourite on the dessert table.

I also included some clementines -or Christmas oranges as we love to call them, they were a nice addition to all the sweets.

The brownies and holiday chocolate chip cookies were so good! My whole house smelt like chocolate.

Brownie Donuts and Milk

I also made some brownie donuts, just for fun.

They looked adorable paired with some little milk bottles. To make them, use some brownie mix and pipe them into a very well greased mini donut pan. I topped them with a little chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles. So cute.

My dining room is all decorated for Christmas with a woodland theme, and was the perfect setting for this sweet party -see more of my Christmas Home Tour here.

I kept the decor pretty simple with lots of fresh greens, and a few red roses.

what to serve at a Christmas dessert table

Christmas Dessert Party Drink Ideas

For drinks, along with the milk in the sweet little bottles, I put together a little hot chocolate bar on my bar cart.

I love having lots of little serve yourself stations when entertaining, it helps with the traffic and flow of the get together.

I made the most delicious hot chocolate with evaporated milk and the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Just heat one can of evaporated milk with ½ cup chocolate chips until the chocolate is melted and hot chocolate is well combined. Using the evaporated milk makes the hot chocolate so rich and creamy. Here's a little tip for serving hot chocolate at a party, use a teapot! It worked perfectly.

I added a few fun toppings like marshmallows, hot chocolate flavoured candy canes and whip cream.

mugs with gingerbread cookies on the side

Gingerbread Mug Cookies

I also made a few gingerbread cookies for the mugs. I used gingerbread cookie dough sheets. It's so easy to use and so good, I don't think I'll ever use anything else again. The sheets come all rolled out and ready to use, you just cut out with your favourite cookie cutter and bake. These are perfect to use with kids, because let's face it all they really want to do is cut out the shapes and decorate them, and with the refrigerated dough that's all there is to it. The only hard part was keeping the kids from eating all the cookies before the party. 😉

This was a wonderful way to kick of the holiday season.

With these Christmas Dessert Party Ideas, life really is a party!

What are you baking this holiday?

More Christmas Party Inspiration

You might also like our Merry and Bright Christmas Party here.

Also check out our Holly Jolly Woodland Kids Christmas Party here.

You might also enjoy our Christmas Fondue Party here.

How To Refinish A Dark Wood Veneer Dining Room Table

Nov 28, 2016 · 27 Comments

How To Refinish A Veneer Table: Tutorial to refinish a dining room table with a veneer top by removing the finish, staining, and sealing.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

I took part in the One Room Challenge this year and made over my dining room -you can see the big dining room makeover reveal post here.

One of the biggest projects in the makeover was figuring out How to Refinishing a Dark Wood Veneer Dining Room Table. I wasn't even sure if I could refinish a dining room table with a veneer top.

At first, I had hopes of replacing my large dark wood veneer dining table with an antique harvest table or something like the beautiful Restoration Hardware ones that I was drooling over. Unfortunately I couldn't find a harvest table in the budget that was long enough. And, I couldn't afford the Restoration Hardware table either. You might be in the same position as me, so I wanted to share how I refinished my old dark wood veneer table, and turned it into my dream table on a budget.

How To Refinish Your Old Dark Wood Veneer Table

Can You Refinish A Dining Room Table Veneer Top?

I actually didn't realize I could refinish dining room table veneer top, because I thought you could only refinish solid wood furniture. After a little research though, I realized I could probably achieve that grey, driftwood finish I'd admired on a solid wood table with my wood veneer surface.

How To Refinish A Dining Room Table Veneer Top

Is It Worth It?

I am so, so pleased with there results. But, I have to say right up front that if you are considering giving this a try, it's a really difficult project. I think it took about 22 hours of work, not counting dry times inbetween. It was one of the hardest projects I've ever done, but the results are amazing. It's not for the faint of heart.

The reason it's so difficult is that modern factory furniture has a very hard, baked on existing finish that is extremely hard to remove. The majority of the hard work was in striping the table. If you have an older antique piece with a veneered surface it might not be as difficult, if it doesn't have that baked on finish that's so hard to remove.

Our table was about 10 years old, but still in really good condition with no damaged veneer. It was a fairly expensive piece when we bought it, and had good quality mechanisms for expanding it, it also fit the room and our needs really well, and was in good shape. All this made it worth the effort. It might not be worth it for a lesser quality piece of furniture.

Getting Started To Refinish A Dining Room Table Veneer Top

The first day, a friend who does a lot of antique furniture refinishing -a real expert with lots of experience, came to help me. Because the table is veneer we knew we had to be careful about how we striped it.

What is Veneer Furniture?

What exactly is a veneer furniture piece? It's furniture that has a thin veneer layer that is just a thin sheet of wood glued on top of a less expensive wood product usually particle board. Lots of modern furniture is made this way because it's cheaper to produce than solid real wood furniture. It was less common, but there are also antique pieces of wood veneer furniture too.

It would be easy to damage the veneer with sanding because it's so thin. So the first rule of refinishing veneer furniture is to not sand it so hard as to remove the veneer and expose the particle wood underneath.

Because of factory finish that's baked on in a large kilm when the piece is finished, we found the stain extremely hard to remove. We couldn't get past the dark, hard like a rock, nearly impossible to remove finish on the entire piece.

We started out with paint striper. A chemical stripper is a good choice with veneer, so you don't risk sanding to much. We started with thick coat of paint stripper applied with a brush, but even after letting it sit for 10, 15, 20 minutes, we saw very little effect when we tried to remove the old stain with a putty knife. At that point though, there was no going back. I felt a little sick, and talk turned to maybe having to just paint it.

It seemed like we'd never be able to get the dark finish removed. But I kept trying and trying, and scrubbing and scrubbing with coarse steel wool, until finally a small patch of the light wood underneath was visible.

Through a process of trial and error we came up with a method that worked. But it sure did take a fair bit of elbow grease to get it back to bare wood, or as close as possible.

How To Remove the Old Finish

Materials:

palm sander
course, medium, and fine grit sandpaper
scraper
paint remover
coarse steel wool

We sanded the initial glossy coating off with a palm sander, then applied a generous amount of paint remover on the wood surface and let it sit about 10-15 minutes. You'll want to use a electric sander for this first step with a very coarse grit of sandpaper.

We then VERY CAREFULLY used a scraper to scrape off the finish. You have to go with the direction of the grain of the wood, and be really, really careful to not make any gouges in the wood. We found this to be the best way to remove the old stain.

We then applied another coat of paint remover, let it sit again, and went over it with coarse steel wool for the best result. You will want to work in a well ventilated area for this step especially and wear rubber gloves to protect your hands.

We then carefully sanded the wood in the direction of the wood grain, with a medium and then fine-grit sandpaper on the palm sander.

It was a really long process, which we divided over two days of work together. In the end, there were still some dark stain marks in the grooves of the grain, but it worked well with our grey finish.

Staining the Striped Table

Materials:

wood stain
clean cloth

We used Minwax's Wood Finish Classic Grey Penetrating Stain on our stripped table to stain it.

Begin by cleaning the entire surface of the whole piece with a tack cloth, or damp rag to remove any sanding dust. It's a good idea to test your stain color on a scrap piece of wood or on the underside of the table or in an inconspicuous spot first. We applied our stain with a clean rag. I choose not to apply wood conditioner to the raw wood first, but you could if you like, it is supposed to help the stain apply more evenly.

We were happy with the color of the stain after the first coat. You may find a second coat of stain is needed to create a color you're happy with.

I love the light grey colour of the stain. After the stain dried overnight, it was time to apply the sealer.

dark wood veneer dining table that's been stripped and restrained grey

Sealing The Table

Materials:

polycrylic protective finish
fine grit sandpaper
clean cloth

I sealed the table with Minwax's Matte Finish Polycrylic Protective Finish. I applied the sealer with a good quality brush. Some people prefer a foam brush to avoid brush strokes. I worked really carefully, taking care to not over work the product. After so much hard work getting to that point I really didn't want to mess things up at the last stage of the game.

There are two coats of the protective finish over the whole thing, and third final coat on the top of the table to make it last a long time. For the best results, in between each coat I very lightly sanded the entire table with a very fine grit sandpaper, and wiped it down with a clean damp cloth to remove the fine dust.

After all that hard work, the table came out looking amazing! It was really worth it all in the end. If you have some old furniture with wooden veneer, it's a great way to give it new life.

How To Refinish Your Old Dark Wood Veneer Table: How to strip your old table, and re-stain and seal it to make it better than new.

It was so fun to set my new beautiful table.

refinished veneer furniture dining room table

Friends who saw it actually thought I'd gone out and bought a new table. I'm really glad I did it, now that it's all done, it really was the best option for me even though it was quite time consuming.

With a newly refinish veneer dining room table that looks like new, life really is a party!

Disclosure: Minwax kindly supplied materials for this project, but the opinions -as always, are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Life is a Party possible.

More Inspiration:

Or you might like Expert Tips From A Contractor On How To Install Shiplap.

Paper Geometric Christmas Ornaments

Nov 21, 2016 · 10 Comments

3D Paper Geometric Christmas Ornaments -These Cricut paper ornaments are easy to make with a Cricut machine, and a free design.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Make easy Cricut paper ornaments this Christmas. These pretty 3D paper geometric Christmas ornaments are really easy to make with a Cricut machine. These machines make any kind of cutting project super easy.

3d Geometric Christmas Ornament Free Cricut Pattern

To make this ornament, find the free Cricut template here. You can adjust the size of the shapes in the Design Space if you'd like to. And then follow regular Cricut procedure -use a sticky mat, adhere your card stock to it, load the paper, and make sure your machine is set for card stock.

For this project you need to make sure to use the scoring tool first, it will then signal you to change to the cutting blade (for the Cricut Explore Model).

3D Paper Geometric Christmas Ornament free Cricut pattern

Once your ornament is all cut out, remove it from the mat. The Cricut will score and cut the paper for you, and all you have to do is fold it along the scored lines and glue it together.

Glue The Ornament Together

I found hot glue is the quickest and easiest way to glue them. For ornaments, while you're gluing it together also hot glue a piece of clear thread in a loop to hang it from when it's all finished.

Cut out 3D Paper Geometric Cricut Christmas Ornaments

Paint And Add Some Sparkle

After that I spray painted some metallic colours, I found it was much cheaper to spray paint the finished ornament made from regular card stock, than buy special card stock, especially if you have some spray paint on hand. I also added a little glitter, since it's Christmas and you know we love a little glitter around here.

Gold, silver, and copper 3D Paper Geometric Christmas Ornaments

These are really inexpensive to make, and look so great on the Christmas tree.

Christmas tree with 3d geometric paper ornaments

how to make a 3D Paper Geometric Christmas Ornament on your Cricut machine

They'd also be great as gift toppers or table decor for the holidays. You could make them in any colour to fit your Christmas decor -but this year I'm still loving the mixed metals.

how to make 3d paper Christmas Ornaments

More DIY Christmas Ornament Inspiration

You might also like our Cricut Wood Feather Ornaments here.

Cricut Wood Feather Ornament: see how to cut wood using your Cricut machine. Includes a free cut file for this wood feather Christmas ornament.

Also check out Mini Macrame Christmas Ornaments here.

Mini Macrame Christmas Ornaments: Easy DIY Macrame Ornament tutorial, perfect for the beginner. No macrame experience required.

You might also enjoy our Cement Star Christmas Ornament here.

DIY Paper Feathers

Nov 16, 2016 · 12 Comments

Make these easy and inexpensive paper feathers. We used old book pages, but you can use any paper to make them. You will only need three supplies: paper, a glue stick and a wire for a centre for this quick and simple craft. Use them to decorate, on a Christmas tree, or as a gift topper.

DIY feather decorations made with old book pages.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Why You'll Love This Craft

You only need 3 supplies for this craft.
These are quick and simple to make.
They look great as decor, on a Christmas tree, or as a gift topper.
Using old books and adding glitter adds lots of pretty texture.

I love this time of year, and decking the halls with lots of pretty Christmas touches. There's nothing better than a few simple handmade additions each year. You will love these simple paper feathers with gold glitter. They're perfect for Christmas as a decoration, or gift topper, or any time of year.

You might also like our 3D Orgami Hearts, Book Page Heart Garland, How To Make A PInecone Wreath, Boho Christmas Decor Ideas, DIY Wood Ball Christmas Ornaments, or DIY Mason Jar Oil Lamps.

Materials

Book Pages: I decided to use paper book pages to make these gorgeous feathers. Unfortunately lots of old books end up in landfill, so finding ways to upcycle old books is a great way to give them a new life. Look for old books at garage sales, and thrift stores.
Glue Stick: We chose to use a glue stick for this simple craft. This works really well. without the worry of wrinkling the paper like white glue can sometimes because of its high moisture content. This isn't the time to use hot glue. It's too thick for this craft. It would add to much bulk, and it would be difficult to cut through when it's time to cut the fringe.
Wire: We used a white craft wire, that came in long pieces. Use wire cutters to trim the wire, so that you don't damage your scissors. You want a wire that's thick enough to hold the shape of the feather easily, but thin enough that it's easy to work with, bend, and cut through.

Variation

Paper: As an alternative to the book pages you could also use regular paper in different colors, or scrapbook paper, old maps, or sheet music.

Paper vs. Cardstock: I think paper works better here than cardstock, because the feathers will be double thick with two pieces of paper and the cardstock paper would be too thick. We want a light and feathery effect, which paper will work better to create.

How To Make Book Page Paper Feathers

Step 1: We started by ripping a few pages out of an old book. The size of your book will help determine the size of your feather. We made the top of our feathers about 3-4 inches long. Next we positioned a wire on the sheet of paper and then glued another piece of paper on top to make a make a wire sandwich. This wire will be the spine of the feather we're creating. Our wire was about 6-7 inches long.

Step 2: Using scissors, cut the paper into the shape of a feather, with the wire as the centre of the feather, and the wire coming out at the bottom of the feather. Some natural variation between each of the individual feathers is great, because it looks more authentic. You want to roughly create a long leaf shape. You may want to look at some real feathers as inspiration for the shape of the feather your cutting out.

Step 3: Next, cut out a few notches in the side of the feather. Then cut the feather like a fringe with narrow strips, and on a slight angle going upward, like real feathers. The wire ensures that you can't cut too far, and makes this step much easier than without a wire.

Step 4: Lastly, an optional step is to add glitter to the book page feathers. Add some glitter to just the tips of the feather. We used gold glitter in two different sizes, first a regular craft glitter and secondly a slightly larger glitter. The combination of the two adds lots of interest and Christmas sparkle.

Expert Tip: After the glue on the paper feather craft has dried a little, ruffle up the fringe slightly to give the feather some dimension. Just very slightly crumbling up the sides of the feather really helps make the look of the feathers be a little more realistic, and interesting.

I love the look of these pretty little feathers, all dressed up for the holidays with a little glitter. You could use any colors of glitter you like, to match your decor. A brown glitter would work really well with the book pages too. If you're using your feathers for something other than Christmas or want a more natural look, feel free to skip the glitter.

I made a pretty little paper feather garland with my book page paper feathers, and also used a few with a little holiday nest. These would be really cute as a gift topper or gift tag too, or as Christmas tree ornaments.

You could use them for lots of other occasions other than Christmas. They'd be a great addition to a woodland or forest themed birthday party, wedding shower, or baby shower, or turned into a baby mobile.

These paper feathers take just a few simple steps. They're inexpensive and easy to create, and they look so cute. String them together into a garland or use them individually in your decor.

With Book Page Paper Feathers, life really is a party!

More Craft Project Inspiration

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to use wire for my paper feather?

No, you can make them without, but it does allow you to bend the feather slightly, gives the feather a base, and helpd prevent you from snipping the fringe too far through.

What size did you make your paper feathers?

We made the top part of feathers about 3-4 inches, but you can make them anysize you want.

If you try making these DIY Paper Feathers or any other idea on my blog please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the commentsbelow. Thanks for visiting today!

Recipe

DIY Book Page Paper Feathers

No ratings yet

Print Pin Rate

Cook Time: 10

Total Time: 10

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Equipment

scissors

Materials

old books
glue stick
wire
glitter

Instructions

Rip a few pages out of an old book, and glue two pages together with a wire down the centre, in-between the two pages.
Cut the paper into a feather shape, with the wire as the centre of the feather, and sticking out the end.
Next, cut out a few notches in the feather, and then cut the feather like a fringe with narrow strips, and on a slight angle like a real feather.
After the glue dries ruffle up the fringe slightly to give the feather some dimension.
Optional: Add some glitter to the tips of the feathers.

DIY Deer Book Art

Nov 11, 2016 · 2 Comments

DIY Large Wall Art: Deer Book Art made with old books as the canvas. Easy, no painting skill required just transfer the pattern and fill in with paint.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Yesterday I revealed my Rustic Scandinavian Dining Room, after taking part in the six week One Room Challenge. One of the highlights of the reveal was sharing this fun DIY large wall art piece made from old books.

I was inspired by a photo on LizMaireBlog's instagram account. She shared this photo from her trip to Magnolia Markets a few weeks ago. I thought it was so pretty, and immediately stated thinking "I wonder how they made that"?

I thought it would be fun to add something inspired by the photo to my new dining room.

DIY Large Deer Wall Art Materials:

12 old books
paint sticks
hot glue
string
tacks
glue stick
small nails
hammer
tape
image
carbon paper
black, grey and white craft paint

Preparing the Old Book Canvas

I started out by collecting the vintage books. We used 12 in my project. I tried to choose ones that were relatively the same size and thickness, but a little variation adds interest. First I lined up my books on my table to work, and tried to find the middle of each book.

In order for the books to hang on the wall, you need to keep the pages from opening. I started out my trying to glue the pages together, but that was too time consuming, so I had the idea of using tacks. I pushed thumb tacks through the pages and then glued one page over top to hide the tack. On a few of the thicker books I used a couple tacks.

Then on the back of the book, I measured in from the top and side of the book, and used a small tack/nail that I hammered into the book. I left it sticking out of the back a little so that it didn't go through, and so that I could attach a string to hang it on the wall.

Next I had to reinforce the book, so that it would stay open and not fold in as it hung. I broke paint sticks in half and hot glued them to the back of the book to reinforce them.

Once the book canvas was all prepared it was time to add my image to the front.

Creating the Deer Image

I used a deer print from PrintAvenue. The geometric print, and the grey, black, and white colouring are really striking. I used a website to transform the image into poster size. Once I had the image printed large enough, I taped the image together, and then cut up the image to match the book sizes.

I originally planned to use a fabric photo transfer paper to add the image to the books. I printed the poster size image (the size of my book canvas) but I had trouble with the iron-on transfers. They're designed for fabric, not paper, and I had trouble lining them up, and getting the image transferred well. It didn't really work out as well as I'd planned. So I needed a plan B.

I ended up using good old carbon paper (like when I made these mugs, and this Christmas art). I placed it under the poster size image and used it to transfer an outline of the image on to the book canvas.

Once I had my outline, I used craft paint to fill it in.

The next challenge was to mount the books to the wall. There was a fair bit of fiddling to get it all lined up, but I used command hooks which I love since they're not permanent.

In the end, it all came together and I really love it. It was inexpensive to put together, and this DIY large wall art makes a big impact in the room.

With new DIY Deer Book Art, life really is a party!

More Inspiration

You might also like How To Paint A Buffalo Check Feature Wall here.

Also check out our Green Feature Wall here.

Green Feature Wall: the perfect shade of green paint, and the hand drawn chevron stencil create the an amazing feature wall.

You might also like our Black and White Boho Office Makeover here.

Black and White Boho Office Makeover: whimsical wallpaper, a wood bead chandelier, art, drapes, and lots of plants give this office the perfect boho vibe.

Rustic Scandinavian Dining Room Reveal -One Room Challenge

Nov 9, 2016 · 16 Comments

Rustic Scandinavian Dining Room Makeover: final reveal of the six week dining room makeover with before and after pictures.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

I'm so excited to finally show you my One Room Challenge final dining room makeover reveal! It's week six of the challenge, and it's finally all come together -be sure to check out all the other final reveals of all the other guest bloggers this week too.

I was inspired by Rustic Scandinavian Design, and wanted to make my dining room lighter, and brighter with a rustic touch. Here's what the room looked like six weeks ago.

The Dining Room Makeover Journey

If you've missed anything, catch up with us here:

Dining Room Makeover Paint

Before the makeover the walls were beige, and the furniture was all dark black. Over the six weeks, we painted the room white, painted some of the furniture white and changed the hardware, refinished the table to a light grey, made slipcovers for the chairs, spray painted the chandelier gold and made some new art for the room.

It was a lot to do, but I love the results. It's certainly lighter and brighter.

Rustic Scandinavian Dining Room makeover reveal

Console Table

At the front door, I painted the black console table to white, and added this new sweet art work. Isn't it the cutest? Love his expression, love the black and white, and love the bit of whimsy it adds to the room.

Bar Cart

I tried to use lots of the colour white, wood, and natural materials to bring the whole room together.

I picked up some more pretty gold vintage bar glasses at a second hand store this week. I'm all ready for cocktail hour.

Don't you just love their little carrying caddy?

The Deer Art

At the other end of the room the buffet was also painted and got new vintage inspired hardware. The art was a fun project. Find the full tutorial on how to make the DIY Deer Art here. I love the way it came out, and the vintage books as the canvas turned out great.

One of my favourite little vignettes in the room is this wooden dough bowl filled with fine crochet thread for lace making.

With a neutral room, lots of texture is important to add interest, so when I a saw a bag of the thread at the second hand store one day, I picked it up and kept my eye out for a few more bags in the weeks that followed. I love how they look grouped together in the wooden bowl.

The old books are a bunch my mom had in an old trunk. I mentioned to her that I was looking for some, and she offered them too me and they were perfect for what I had in mind. See the tutorial of how I made the deer head book art here.

The Table

This week I finished the biggest project in the room, the dining room table. The refinished veneer dining room table turned out great. What a job it was. It was hours and hours of work but my dark black table is now a beautiful weathered grey and I love it!

After the first few hours of work, I never would have believed it would come out looking this amazing. I had a friend who does a lot of restoring of antiques helping me. Without him I don't think I would have been able to do it. Since this is a newer factory made piece, it was really difficult to remove the baked on finish. With lots of perseverance and a few tricks of the trade we did it. I couldn't be happier with the results. The Minwax classic grey stain looks amazing.

You can see the beautiful china cabinet in the background too. I love it white!

Gold Chandelier

And let's not forget the beautiful gold chandelier. The light got a makeover last week, and went from standard silver, to amazing gold statement light.

I'm so glad the room is done. Having the house a little on the upside down side of things for six weeks had its challenges, but I'm so glad I did.

Week by week and project by project I saw it all come together.

Life Lessons From Decorating

I wasn't sure at first, that what I had envisioned would really come to life. In the beginning, I felt like I had to be brave and trust my gut, and I'm so glad I did. I really love it now, and even though it's a small thing in the grand scheme, I'm reminded that if we are brave enough to change things -things that weren't even so bad in the beginning, we might get something amazing, something we love.

It's easier to change things in life and in decorating when they are terrible. But it's a lot harder when they're ok, but not great, and we're afraid we might wreck them instead of making them better. I have heard a little whisper in my ear as I've painted, and refinished, and sewn for this room, a little whisper calling me to be brave and try new things, and see what I might be able to create and accomplish. So I'm listening and trying to learn my lessons, and so glad for the space to try new things.

I can't wait to tackle the living room in the spring (when my sweet, but very orderly husband has had time to recover from six weeks of not so much order as he's used too -ahhh we're all being stretched).

Thanks so much to my readers who've hung in with me, and given me so much kind and generous encouragement over the process. I've appreciated it so much.

Dining Room Makeover Sponsors

And a special thank you to my sponsors who've supplied me with some truly amazing products, and made this makeover possible.

- Fusion Mineral Paints - Minwax - Para Paint -

As always, all opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Life is a Party possible.

With a new Rustic Scandinavian Dining Room makeover to enjoy, life really is a party!

How To Spray Paint A Light Fixture

Nov 2, 2016 · 12 Comments

How To Spray Paint A Light Fixture: step by step instructions on how to spray paint a chandelier to give it new life.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

I decided that I wanted to spray paint my chandelier to give it a makeover this week. Spray paint has to be one of the cheapest, most effective, and easiest way to update home decor. A little spray paint can work wonders, and it's a DIY project anyone can do.

When I first bought this chandelier five years ago I loved it, I mean lovvvvvved it! We had moved into our new house and had a dining room for the first time -this dining room, and I was excited to have a place to hang an amazing chandelier. Today I'm sharing how to spray paint a light fixture with all my tips.

But ten years after buying this light, the spark was gone. I still really liked the light, but it was the wrong color and didn't feel quite as special. And then I had this idea of spray painting it gold! I'm a big fan of Australian design shows, and keep seeing these amazing statement gold light fixtures. This was my way of creating my own whole new look for my old light. I still loved the shape of this fixture, and this was the perfect way to change the look of my old chandelier and turn it into something that looked a new light fixture with just a few coats of spray paint.

This week, as part of the One Room Challenge -where I makeover my dining room in six short weeks, I tackled the light fixture. You can catch up on my other projects for the One Room Challenge here:

How To Sew A Parson Chair Slipcover
Black Furniture Makeover
The One Room Challenge Dining Room Reveal

How To Spray Paint A Light Fixture

I have to say I hummed and ha-ed about it quite a bit. I had that problem of not hating the light as it was, and the fear of ruining it.

I've done lots of projects with spray painting in my day. I've had many, many, many success stories. But I've also had my fair share of not so great spray paint moments. Are you with me?

Let's see, there was the time I didn't shake the can long enough and the paint was all gritty. There have been over sprays where paint got where paint wasn't supposed to be. I have also had drip marks from spraying too heavy a coat. There have been weird reactions to spray painting plastics that don't like spray paint. I have also even created the occasional gloomy messes.

So I knew going in that there were certain spray paint risks to be considered, and I knew I needed this piece to come out perfectly.

So I did all the things you're supposed to do, and today I want to share them with all with you so that you can have a great spray paint result too and avoid all the common issues. For this job we're not taking any short cuts, we're doing all the things you're supposed to do.

Prepping to Spray Paint the Chandelier

1.Take Off All The Removable Parts

I began by removing all the crystals, and while I was at it, I gave them a good cleaning by washing them all in hot soapy water. You can use a damp rag to clean any dust off of the rest of light too. This will help the paint adhere and help to create a nice smooth finish on the entire light fixture.

2. Tape Off Areas

Next, I taped off all the light bulb fixture parts, and the electrical cord, and the hanging wires, using some painter's tape that I could easily remove later.

When we took the light down, I made sure that all the removable parts were removed to spray paint separately so they wouldn't get stuck together.

3. Hang It For Spraying

When I took the light out to the garage to spray paint it, I made sure it was freely hanging so that there'd be less chance of drips, or missing spots, or the paint pooling on the spots that are touching the ground. Be sure to cover the background with an old drop cloth like I did to protect your space from over spraying. This step is really worth the trouble. It gives a much nicer end result than spraying this on a flat surface and moving it in between coats to get the other side and angles.

4. Spray Parts Separately

I set the individual pieces on to little plastic caps to lift them off the surface so they would be no marks where they were touching the work surface. Again, this is a little extra work, but well worth the trouble for a much better result.

5. Shake Paint Well

And then I shook and shook and shook the can of spray paint. For three minutes, which is a surprisingly long time when you're shaking. Lots of time we don't shake the paint long enough, and that means it's not mixed properly and can give a bad result. Also always spray paint in a well-ventilated area. We had the garage door open while painting.

6. Paint Many Thin Coats

I painted about eight really thin coats of paint, forcing myself to stop after a thin coat and not over do it and risk drips. Eight times I want back after 15-30 minutes of dry time, shook the can for 3 minutes again, and applied another thin coat of paint. Again, this is something that is hard to make yourself do, but the results are so worth the extra effort. No drips is the look we're after, and doing many light coats is the way to achieve it.

7. Use Rub and Buff On Non-Sprayable Parts

In between coats, I used some antique gold rub and buff on the metal parts of the hanging crystals and made them a little more gold too. This method worked really well and is great way to paint any spots old fixtures where you can't spray paint.

After the light was all dry, it was time to reassemble it. We hung it up and added the crystals back on. Lastly we screwed in some new light bulbs and we were so happy with the results. All my careful work and following the simple steps paid off! The light is gloriously gold, without any drips, brush strokes, or globs at all.

How To Spray Paint A Light Fixture: From boring silver to gold statement light with a little spray paint.

I love the new gold light, it just looks updated and fresh, and on trend. Painting the light make a huge difference. I'm really glad that I did spray paint the chandelier. It was an affordable way change the look of the entire fixture. This is such an easy way to give an old metal light fixture new life.

I found it funny that when I was doing a little research on-line and searching for spray painted lights that they were all going from brass to silver, or black. Now things have shifted back, and gold, antique brass, rose gold, and copper are all on the rise, and only a spray paint can away. You can update your own old light, or look at thrift stores for one you can give a makeover to. This would also be great for old bathroom fixtures or powder rooms too.

spray paint chandelier makeover before and after

Things are really coming along with the One Room Challenge. The last major project to go is to refinishing the dining room table. I'm a little nervous about this one too, but I'll be starting it tomorrow and sharing it and all the finishing touches next week in the big Week Six Final Reveal. Wish me luck.

With a new Gold Statement Light, life really is a party!

Fall Party

Oct 25, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Easy Fall Party: easy fall party decor, pizza and donuts, a fun family game, and pumpking painting ideas for a wonderful fall get together.

This month for our #AYearOfFeasting we had a very casual little fall party get together with close friends, and it was lovely. We're in the middle of a big makeover for the One Room Challenge which means the dining room is kind of turned upside down. If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen me doing some painting, painting, and more painting. So how do you entertain in the middle of a re-decorate?

Keep It Simple

You order pizza, move the party to the kitchen, and have fun right in the middle of the chaos. The #YearofFeasting is a the challenge we set ourselves up with for the year to host one get together per month, in an effort of opening up our home and our hearts more to our dear ones. After 9 parties since January, I have to say that the dining room challenge seemed like the perfect reason to skip this month. But I thought it would be better to host another get together, and take the stress out of it by making it a really simple get together. We thought about pizza in the park, but it's a little cold here now, so it was a kitchen party for the win.

Easy Fall Party Menu

The menu was super simple. I put together a little veggies and dip…store bought dip, and chopping a few veggies. My friends asked if they could bring anything, and I got them to pick up the pizza on the way over. Does it get any easier than that?

Fall Party Drinks

For drinks, I served some apple cider in these sweet little bottles with the perfect fall leaf paper straws.

Fall Party Dessert

For desert, I picked up some yummy apple fritters -so, so good.

I also picked up some fresh, local apples.

And since it's fall, and getting a little chilly, I made some hot chocolate for dessert, and set it up with some whipped cream, and sprinkles. Yum.

Game Time

After lunch, I thought it would be fun to play Pie Face Showdown together -and it was!

The girls all loved the game, and the whole kitchen was full of laughs and giggles -from the grown-ups too. This game is perfect for a party, especially with the holidays approaching.

Pumpkin Painting

After The Pie Face Showdown, we painted some pumpkins.

We set up some paint, and glitter, and a few different kinds of pumpkins to choose from.

The girls made some very pretty pumpkins.

It was the perfect fall afternoon -despite the mess in the dining room; in fact because of the mess in the dining room. The easy, low prep, low key, fun, and simple, order pizza, and play a fun game, and drink hot chocolate and eat donuts and paint pumpkins was the PERFECT easy fall party!

So this weekend, have some friends over for pizza and doughnuts, and a game and pumpkins and enjoy fall, and friends. With an easy fall party with your favourite people, life really is a party!

More Fall Party Inspiration

"Disclosure: I am part of the Gay Lea Ambassador Campaign and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own."

Ribbon Wall Hanging

Oct 20, 2016 · 20 Comments

Ribbon Wall Hanging: Easy DIY Project using old ribbons, and branch of a tree. Include lace, tassels and old keys for aded interest.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

This Ribbon Wall Hanging is a really easy and fast project to make. It's also a great way to use some old ribbon and lace scraps you might have.

My ribbon project is this easy and beautiful Wall Hanging.

how to make a Wall Hanging our of old ribbon

Ribbon Wall Hanging Materials:

To make the wall hanging all you need is:

ribbons in various widths, and materials
twine
pompom yarn
various kinds of lace
yarn tassels
vintage keys
a birch branch

How To Make It:

1. To begin making the wall hanging, tie some twine to each end of the branch to form the base of the wall hanging.

2. Then loop the ribbons, twine, and lace over the branch alternating widths, patterns, and textures. It's so simple.

3. For interest add in some tassels and vintage keys.

I designed mine so it came to a bit of an informal V, but straight across would be pretty too.

The neutral colours are really pretty, but it would also be gorgeous in a little girls room or nursery in pinks or soft pastels. So many pretty possibilities.

pretty neutral coloured easy Wall Hanging

With a pretty Ribbon Wall Hanging, life really is a party!

More Ideas With Ribbon

You might also like our Macrame and Succulent Wreath tutorial here.

DIY Macrame and Felt Succulent Wreath: Easy Boho Wreath with Felt Succulents made with a Cricut, and simple Macrame hanger.

Also check out our DIY Mason Jar Oil Lamps here.

DIY Mason Jar Oil Lamps: Simple to make and so beautiful. Perfect for a party, wedding centerpiece, or just in your home.

You might also enjoy our Teacup Fairy Garden post here.

DIY Wood Pumpkins

Oct 14, 2016 · 1 Comment

We made these DIY Wood Pumpkins using small driftwood pieces we collected from the lake.

These easy and beautiful rustic DIY driftwood pumpkins are the perfect addition to your fall decor. This would be a great craft for a fall craft night with friends.

Two decorative driftwood pumpkins with a velvet pumpkin.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

I shared these pretty Driftwood Pumpkins in my Fall Home Tour, and promised a tutorial on how to make them. They're simple to make, and a great addition to any fall decor. We love adding special touches to our fall decor like these DIY Concrete Pumpkins, or this DIY acorn craft idea.

DIY Driftwood Pumpkin Materials:

You only need a few materials to put these together. Lots of DIY wooden pumpkins are made from scrap wood. But we used something else for ours. We found our driftwood on a walk along the edge of Lake Ontario. You want to look for smooth, and short pieces for this project.

Expert Crafter Tip: Nowhere in your area to gather driftwood? You can purchase bags of small driftwood pieces on-line.

small driftwood pieces -about 2-3 inches long
balloon
hot glue

How To Make Wood Pumpkins:

1. Start by inflating a balloon, this will be the base for your pumpkin. You can change the size of your pumpkin by how much you inflate the balloon.

Making DIY wood pumpkins with drift wood, balloons and glue gun.

2. Hot glue the driftwood pieces to each other in overlapping triangles all the way around the balloon base. Take care not to pop the balloon with a pointy stick or the hot glue. Fill in the driftwood pieces enough to form a round sphere.

How to make a wood pumpkin from driftwood.

3. When the glue is cool and dry, pop or cutout the balloon. Lastly add a stem piece to the sphere to make it look like a pumpkin.

Driftwood pumpkins on display with velvet pumpkins.

I set my driftwood pumpkins up on my little washstand along with some pretty velvet pumpkins. They make great home decor in the fall.

DIY wood pumpkin made from small driftwood pieces.

I love the subtle neutral colours of the driftwood, and they add a lot of texture too. But for more options, you could add some different shades of orange paint for another look. Or try adding some ribbon tied to the stem.

Store these away carefully and use them year after year.

Expert Crafter Tip: When making your fall wood pumpkin, make sure to glue the wood to itself and not the balloon. The heat from the hot glue will pop the balloon if you it gets on it. You could also use low temp hot glue for this project.

Two DIY wood pumpkins with some velvet pumpkins for a fall display.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use regular twigs instead of driftwood?

Yes. Just make sure that you don't get any with a sharp part that accidentally pops your balloon while you're working.

Could I paint these orange?

Yes. We love the look of them neutral, but you could paint them orange in a solid colour, or with a wash so the wood still shows through a little. And paint the stem green or brown if you wish.

If you tried making these DIY Wood Pumpkins or any other crafts on my blog please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!

Recipe

DIY Wood Pumpkins

Driftwood decorative pumpkins.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 5

Total Time: 10

Servings:

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Cost: $2

Equipment

Glue Gun

Materials

1 Balloon
40-50 2-4 inch pieces of driftwood
1-2 sticks hot glue

Instructions

Begin by inflating your balloon. You can make pumpkins of varying sizes by adding more or less air to the balloons.
Glue the driftwood pieces in triangle shapes and build them out around the entire balloon, taking care to glue the pieces to one another and not to the balloon so that the hot glue doesn't pop it. Fill in the driftwood pieces enough to form a solid sphere.
When the glue is cool and dry, pop the balloon. Lastly add a stem piece to the sphere to make it look like a pumpkin.

Notes

You could paint these orange or leave them natural coloured.

Store your DIY wood pumpkins carefully and use them year after year.

How To Make Your Own DIY Parson Chair Slipcovers

Oct 12, 2016 · 8 Comments

How To Sew Parson Chair Slipcovers: Inexpensive chair makeover with drop cloth slipcovers you can sew yourself without a pattern.

How to sew a parson chair cover without a pattern.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Dining chairs are a big part of a dining rooms design. This week I'm making over my parson chairs by creating my own parsons chair slipcovers for them.

Parson Chair Slipcovers

I started things off with making ten slipcovers for the Parson Chairs in my dining room. I have loved these black leather Parson Chairs over the last ten years of having them. They're comfortable, they're still in good shape, and they have been easy care since the leather could just be wiped off if needed. I wanted to keep the good parts, but give them a makeover to fit our new lighter colour palette. I decided making a slip cover would do the trick. With slipcovers they'd still be comfortable, cute, and with removable slipcovers, they'd still be easy care too. Here's the before shot of the room.

I debated buying slipcovers instead of sewing my own. But these chairs were bought at a big box store and aren't available any more. I couldn't find the exact size slipcover I was looking for, since these are a smidge smaller than most. After debating buying some readymades and adjusting them, I figured if I had to sew anyway I may as well make them myself.

I originally planned to make long slipcovers, but while I was looking for some to buy, I saw the short ones and thought they were a great way to get a little more contemporary look in the dining area. If you're making your own chair covers, you can easily adjust these to create a longer chair skirt.

Materials:

fabric painter's drop cloth
thread
pins
sewing machine
scissors
large paper to make a pattern
velcro

How To Make Parsons Chair Slipcovers

The Fabric

The fabric I used was actually large fabric drop clothes from the hardware store. These were used as table cloths for an event, and instead of them getting thrown out at the end, I took them and brought them home. After a good wash they were ready to go.

I really recommend using these for this project. The drop cloths are a nice and neutral colour, in a natural warm cream colour cotton muslin fabric. The drop clothes are much cheaper than buying yards of fabric at the fabric store. After a few washes the fabric pieces are nice an soft. I also found that the fabric was nice and thick and hard wearing, so a great choice for making a project like slipcovers which will have a lot of wear and tear. For the look, cost, and durability of the drop cloth material, I think it's a really great option compared to home decor fabric if you're making a new cover.

Also, do make sure to prewash and dry your fabric, to avoid any shrinkage when you wash your slipcovers.

How To Make Your Own Pattern

The hardest part of the project was getting started on the pattern. I saw lots of examples on-line where people just cut and pin to make slip covers, but needing to make ten of them, I knew I would fare better with a pattern that I could reuse each time.

How To Sew Parson Chair Slipcovers without a pattern

To make my slipcover pattern I spent some time researching and thinking about how to do the least amount of sewing. I came up with one back piece and one seat piece. The only drawback to this pattern is that it requires large pieces of fabric, but that's where the drop cloths work out great.

Start With Newspaper

I started out by taping newspaper to the chair as a cover to fit the shape of the chair. I then carefully cut it off the chair along the spots where I wanted the seams. For the back of the chair, I made two seams, one along each side, so that the back piece could be made from one large piece of fabric folded over the top of the chair. There's also a seam at the base of the back, where the seat piece connects to the back piece. I also cut seams at the corners at the front of the seat of the seat. I tried to minimize the seams that I would have to sew, and keep the pattern as simple as possible. The seat piece is designed to wrap around the bottom of the seat.

Next, I laid out the newspaper on a large flat surface, and folded it exactly in half and straightened out my edges.

White Paper

For the next step, I placed the newspaper pattern onto thick white paper and traced it. Then I added a half inch seam allowance, and cut out the pattern in the white paper. The white paper allowed me to add the seam allowance after, but also to keep the light fabric from getting dirty from the newsprint. The white paper was also thicker and easier to work with and reuse as a pattern.

The straight edge of each pattern is the fold line, so the fabric is folded in half and the pattern placed on top. When it's all cut out, you unfold the fabric and have the complete piece, with both sides matching each other. This makes the whole process of cutting out all the different pattern pieces a little bit quicker and easier.

Once I had created my pattern, I cut out my first cover. I used pins to pin the fabric into place on the chair, and adjusted the fabric as I went. For my first attempt I used a disappearing marker to mark along the pin lines so I knew where to sew.

Trial and Error

After each seam, I tried the slipcover back onto the chair and adjusted if needed, and snipped off any excess fabric. The first slipcover took a long time, but I knew that after I'd figured out the pattern and my method it would get quicker and it did.

For the second chair, I made a few adjustments to the pattern, and then cut it out and pinned it to another chair. This time I used the pin lines as the sewing line.

creating a parsons chair slipcover pattern from paper

After the second one was done, I was confident with my pattern, and was able to cut out more out at a time. Once I developed my method the pinning and sewing got quicker too for each new slipcover I worked on.

Velcro

To finish the covers, I removed the bottom of the original chairs, which were velcroed in place, and added a long strip of velcro to each side of the chair base and the new covers so they could be wrapped around the sides and back of the seat and give a more tailored look. This will make it easy to remove and wash the seat cover in the future if it gets dirty.

If you were making long skirts on your chair seat, you can skip the whole velcro step and just make long seams down to the floor, and finish the bottom raw edges with a seam on the bottom edge of the chair cover.

The covers aren't quite perfect. There's definitely a few differences between them, there are some not perfectly straight line seams and some of the slipcovers don't lay perfectly everywhere. I'm not a professional seamstress by any means. But, they were so worth doing. This was such an economical way to give an old chair a makeover.

The whole room is already looking lighter. I can see that the chairs will be a perfect neutral backdrop for things I'm photographing in the room in the future.

How To Sew Parson Chair Slipcovers: Inexpensive chair makeover with drop cloth slipcovers you can sew yourself without a pattern.

The Rest Of The Room

I am thinking I might refinish the wood legs to something a bit lighter? But then again a little bit of black in the room might be a good thing. For now I'll leave them, and see how they look as the room evolves over the next 5 weeks.

how to make your own parsons chair slipcover

I'm so pleased that this project only cost me about $10 for thread and velcro. Even if you had to buy the fabric, this would be a really inexpensive way to give your old parson chairs some new life.

make your own slipcover for a parsons chair

With handmade Parson Chair Slipcovers, life really is a party!

You can catch up on my other projects for the One Room Challenge here:

One Room Challenge -Week One

Oct 5, 2016 · 5 Comments

One Room Challenge Dining Room -a six week journey to totally transform the space with paint, furniture painting, furniture refinishing, and DIY art.

I'm so excited…and maybe a little nervous, to be joining in on the One Room Challenge as a guest participant and working on my dining room.

The Dining Room

I've been thinking about re-doing a lot of my main floor living area for quite a while. We moved in here about ten years ago. It feels like time for a little update, some repainting, and some lighter colours. I've loved our cozy, neutral main floor, but lately I've been falling hard for the rustic Scandinavian look.

I'd like to lighten things up around here and go even more neutral with white walls, white painted furniture, and some rustic wood. You can check out some of my inspiration over at my Pinterest board.

Before Picture

Since I just shared the dining room as part of the fall home tour, here's a little reminder of what we're starting out with.

The Plan

I'm planning to keep a few elements like our raw silk drapes -which were a real investment piece years ago, and the chandelier.

Furniture Makeovers

Chair Covers

For our leather parsons chairs, I'm hoping to slipcover them in white, or off-white. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find something that fits perfectly or if I'll be sewing all ten. We'll see how I go.

Dining Table

I'm still not 100% sure about the furniture pieces. The largest decision is the dining room table. Right now we have a large extension table in a dark wood finish -it's veneer so I'm not too sure about re-finishing it to something lighter. I have considered painting it white. I'm still not completely sure.

It has really clean lines, and I might like something more rustic like an antique harvest table. I've been watching kijiji on and off for months, but a nine or ten foot long antique table seems to be proving hard to find. I don't want to settle for something that's too short, and doesn't work for big parties and family gatherings, since that's the main time we use this table. I'd prefer to get an antique than a new one, since antiques seem to hold their value and if I want to change it again in the future I might be able to re-sell it.

If I am able to find an antique one that is long enough, this table will probably move down to our basement family room and be used for a homework table/desk. I have also thought about keeping it as is -since rustic Scandinavian rooms often have a bit of black in them. We'll see how this unfolds.

China Cabinet

In the room there is also a large pine antique china cabinet that was my Grandmothers. When we moved to this house ten years ago, I painted it black to match the other new furniture. I'm thinking about stripping and refinishing it, since I'd definitely like some wood in the room. Or, if I find my antique harvest table it might be the wood element in the room, and I might paint this piece white. Either way, it needs a good clearing out, as it's stuffed top and bottom right now and I'd love to use it more for display than storage in the future, and change it seasonally.

Console Table

The other pieces in the room are a black console table by the front door, that I'm planning to paint white and possibly change the hardware. I'd love to add in some brass, but the light is silver and I'm keeping it so maybe I'm stuck with silver.

Buffet

The final piece is the buffet. I love having this long and low piece at the end of the room. It works great for entertaining there, and is often a buffet for food, or a pretty dessert table. It's very contemporary. I originally thought I should look for an antique piece for there and paint it white. I'm considering keeping it though, since Scandinavian design is often very clean lined and mixes that with antiques. Of course it's cheaper to paint it, so perhaps I'll give it a try.

Those are the major changes I have planned. Perhaps some new art, or a gallery wall too. I've thought about a rug to add texture, but love the convenience of the plain hardwood, so I think we'll leave it.

Inspiration

I definitely am nervous going in to this. I do like the dining room as it is, and have liked it the last ten years, but I think I would like it more in whites. You can tell from the styling of the home tour that I'm loving this rustic Scandinavian look more and more, it'd be great if the furniture in the room reflected that too.

I don't have a huge budget to do this room, so it's mostly going to be make-overs and second hand purchases. While I am a little nervous, and thoughts of ruining what's already there have certainly crossed my mind, I am also more and more determined to surround myself with beautiful things that I love.

I had a major clear out in the basement this summer -with more to go and I tried to let go of everything that I didn't love anymore. My storage room had more than a few pieces that I was hanging onto for sentimental reasons, or because of how much I'd spent on them. Re-doing the dining room is partly about being brave enough to let go of the good enough in pursuit of the better.

It's also Canadian Thanksgiving this Monday, so….after the 15 guests leave, we'll get started. 😉

With a major make-over in the works for the next six weeks, life really is a party!

One Room Challenge Dining Room Progress

You can catch up on my other projects for the One Room Challenge here:

- Before Pictures and Inspiration -Week One
- How To Sew A Parson Chair Slipcover -Week Two
- Black Furniture Makeover -Week Three
- How To Spray Paint a Light Fixture -Week Five
- The One Room Challenge Dining Room Reveal -Week Six

Easy Caramel Pumpkin Butter Recipe

Oct 4, 2016 · 1 Comment

Caramel Pumpkin Butter: This easy recipe is only 3 ingredients, and you can make it one pan. Perfect for fall.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

This Caramel Pumpkin Butter only has 3 ingredients. So it's easy to make and so, so yummy! It's the perfect taste of fall. It would be delicious on fresh bread or your morning toast, or a muffin. It's especially good though to bring the flavours of fall to s'mores!

I was out shopping one day at William-Sonoma and I came across a little jar of caramel pumpkin butter. I thought that it sounded delicious, and set about coming out with a homemade version. It's so good and decadent, and perfect for fall. I'm a big fan of fruit butters. You can find my slow cooker apple butter recipe here.

Pumpkin

You can use simple store-bought pumpkin puree for this recipe. A can of pumpkin puree works well for this recipe, just be sure you're not using pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling has spices and sugar added and would be too sweet for this recipe.

You can also use fresh pumpkin puree for this recipe. If you're making your own pumpkin puree, be sure to use sugar pie pumpkins, which are the small sweet ones. The larger kind of pumpkin are best for decor and not as sweet as pie pumpkins. We roasted our pumpkin for this recipe and when it was cooked and cooled a little we scraped it out and pureed it in my food processor. This recipe only uses a ¼ of pumpkin puree, so if you make your own you'll have lots leftover. You can store it in fridge or freezer.

Caramel

This homemade pumpkin butter recipe goes a step above just being a butter because it's a combination of pumpkin and caramel. We used dulce de leche as our caramel component. It's perfect for this recipe. It's smooth and creamy and rich in flavor. Regular caramel is made from water and sugar that is slowly cooked until it caramelizes. Dulche de leche is made from slowly cooking milk and sugar. It yields a much creamer caramel. It still has the flavor of caramelized sugar, but it's not just sweet, it's creamy and rich in flavor.

Look for dulce de leche with the condensed milk in the baking aisle of the grocery store. If you can't find dulche le leche already prepared, you can buy a tin of condensed milk and make your own. The usual way of making it is to place the unopened tin of condensed milk in a pot and cover the can with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it simmer for 2 hours. Be very sure to check on the water levels every ½ hour. Do not let the water boil dry, or the can could explode. Top up the water every ½ hour as needed to keep the can covered.

Pumpkin PIe Spice

The final ingredient in our 3 ingredient simple recipe is pumpkin pie spice. Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of fall spices made from cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. It's full of fall flavors. It'a great addition to many pumpkin recipes, and a favorite of pumpkin lovers. It's a perfect addition to our caramel pumpkin butter.

This homemade caramel pumpkin butter would also make a lovely gift -think of a little mason jar of this at each place setting for Thanksgiving or a fall dinner party.

Caramel Pumpkin Butter S'mores

We used our Pumpkin Butter to make fall flavoured s'mores -you might have noticed them set up on the table for our fall home tour.

I set up a sweet little s'mores buffet for us, with graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate, and our caramel pumpkin butter. We used this sweet spread as a delicious way to add some pumpkin goodness to our smores for the fall season. These are perfect for autumn campfires, or use a candle inside to roast your marshmallows as a great way to enjoy s'mores anytime.

Serving Suggestions

This easy homemade pumpkin butter is a fall stable. Use it as the perfect spread on toast, with smores like we did, or even in cinnamon rolls. My favorite is to enjoy this pumpkin spread is on fresh scones -get our easy food processor scones recipe here. It's also a great addition for fall to a bowl of vanilla ice cream. If you love all things pumpkin this time of year, you'll love the sweet creamy caramel, combined with fresh pumpkin and warm spices when you make your own pumpkin butter. This is one of my favorite fall recipes, and sure to become a fall staple at your house too. This delicious spread is great idea for enjoying the flavors of fall.

Yum! I highly recommend making yourself a little batch of this and enjoying it with s'mores, or another way.

Recipe

Caramel Pumpkin Butter

Rich and creamy caramel butter with real pumpkin and pumpkin spice.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 35

Total Time: 40

Servings: cup

Calories: 138kcal

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Ingredients

▢ ½ cup dulce de leche
▢ ¼ cup canned pure pumpkin puree or 1 pie pumpkin
▢ ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

Make this caramel pumpkin butter, with canned pumpkin puree or homemade pumpkin puree. To make your own homemade pumpkin puree cut a small pie pumpkin in half, scrape out the seeds, and lay it in a baking dish. Roast the pumpkin in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20-25 min. until it is soft and tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. Let it cool slightly, then scrape the cooked pumpkin out of the skin and pureed it in a food processor or with an immersion blender until it is completely smooth. Or skip this step and used canned pumpkin puree.
Combine ¼ cup of the pumpkin puree with the dulce de leche, and the pumpkin pie spice in a small saucepan. Cook the pumpkin mixture over high heat, stirring the whole time until the mixture has thickened to a butter like consistency. Remember it will thicken slightly more as it cools.
Store in an airtight container like a mason jar in the fridge, and enjoy.

Nutrition

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LifeisaParty or tag #lifeisaparty!

With easy homemade Caramel Pumpkin Butter, life really is a party!

More Pumpkin Recipe Inspiration

You might also like our Pumpkin Bread Pudding recipe here.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding: this recipe is easy and delicious, perfect for Thanksgiving and the holidays.

Also check out our Pumpkin Cream Puffs recipe here.

Pumpkin Cream Puffs: A cream puff filled with pumpkin pastry cream, whipped cream, and topped with warm caramel sauce for the perfect fall dessert.

You might also enjoy our Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats recipe here.

Neutral Fall Home Tour

Sep 30, 2016 · 23 Comments

Neutral Fall Home Tour: full of neutral fall decor like white pumpkins, birch logs, cozy knits, and candles bring fall in whites and creams.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Fall is a real favourite of mine, and I love decorating to celebrate the season. This year I'm sharing lots of neutral fall decor, but you might find a few traditional fall colours here and there, like on the front porch.

I had so much fun making these little fall fairy gardens to greet my guests -you can learn all about how I made them here.

It's gotten chilly outside the last day or so, so do come right in.

Dining Room

At our front door we have this little console table, all decorated for fall. I used lots of pumpkins every where this year, love this pretty green squash mixed in with some faux ones.

These mason jar oil lamps are waiting for a dark night, and there's a little bowl of butterscotch candies. My grandma always had a bowl of candy by the front door. Her's were in a covered glass dish and usually chocolates…remember rosebuds? I'm not a real chocolate girl, but I always like to have a little bowl of candy at the front door and it always makes me think of her.

The dining room is full of neutral fall decor this years, and I'm loving all the white and creams together.

I picked up this long wooden box at an outdoor antique fair in September and thought it would look great when I got it home filled up with little pumpkins. It was filled with tools when I found it, and I had to convince the man to sell me just the box.

There was a fair bit of haggling, and in the end I told him my plan to fill it with pumpkins and put it on my dining room table and he smiled as he dumped out his tools.

We have lots of oak trees on our street, so I picked a few branches on my way home from running errands today. Love the shape of their leaves.

Buffet

On the buffet at the end of the room a few more great vintage pieces. I'm loving the look of the tarnished silver with all the white pumpkins.

This pretty pumpkin with the book page roses is from a few years ago, you find the tutorial for it here.

More book pages up above on the branch -a pretty garland of stitched book paper leaves see how I made them here.

Neutral Fall Decor in the Living Room

And into the living room next.

I'm so pleased with this new hanging pendant light.

It's the perfect little update for this spot.

I'm loving my squirrels, oak leaves, acorns this fall.

And here's what's sure to be the last of the pompom marigolds from my garden.

Neutral Fall Mantel

The centre piece of the mantel this year is this white wooden tool box. I got such a good deal on the wooden tray for the dining room table, that I ended up buying this as well -ha. I love a little haggling. And I think it looks great filled up with a pretty vintage wool blanket, birch logs, cotton blossoms and more white pumpkins.

Down on the ground, more of the same (let's just hope my new puppy doesn't take a bite out of the pumpkins).

Neutral Fall Decor in the Kitchen

And last but not least, into the kitchen for a treat.

On the table I've set up some pumpkins smores.

Find my recipe for the delicious caramel pumpkin butter here -the perfect addition to fall smores made over a candle.

Today it was the perfect after school snack for my girls on this chilly rainy day.

And behind the table is a great spot for a few more pumpkins.

I'll be sharing a tutorial for these driftwood pumpkins and velvet pumpkins next week. They're easy to make and so cute.

With the house all decorated for fall, life really is a party!

I'm so glad you stopped by for my little fall tour, and I'd love for you stop by and visit with all my friends.

More Fall Home Tours

You might also like our Fall Home Tour 2019 here.

Fall Home Tour: Full of autumn decor ideas for Vintage Botanical Scientific Decor with Boho Maximalist Influence with lots of plants, insects, and pumpkins.

Also check out our Fall Home Tour 2018 here.

Fall Home Tour: With a nod to science this botanical scientific vintage decor brings the outdoors in, with lots of neutrals and mustard yellow.

You might also enjoy our Fall Home Tour 2017 here.

Smooth Cottage Cheese Apple Dip

Sep 28, 2016 · 3 Comments

Smooth Cottage Cheese Apple Dip- simple and delicious high protein snack with caramel sauce, toffee bits, and walnuts.

Smooth cottage cheese apple dip with fresh apple slices.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

If you're looking for a delicious high-protein dip to enjoy with fruit, you will love this sweet smooth cottage cheese apple dip. It's a great dip to enjoy with any fruit, and the perfect way to get some extra protein in. Unlike regular cottage cheese, it has a smooth and creamy consistency. This delicious recipe is quick and easy to make and the perfect dip to enjoy as a great snack with an extra boost of protein.

It's apple season, and back to school. We're finally getting into a routine again, this week my girls have started after school activities again. This September has flown by, and I can hardly believe it's the end of the month already.

Back to school, and after school activities for my kids means quick, healthy and delicious after school snacks are needed, and this is the perfect one.

To make this yummy apple dip, I started out with vanilla smooth cottage cheese, with 10g of protein per serving, and only 110 calories, perfect for fueling after school activities. Look for the smooth cottage cheese in the dairy section of your grocery store. If you can't find the vanilla smooth cottage cheese we can make our own.

You might also like our Pumpkin Blondie Recipe, Caramel Apple Fondue, and Mini Apple Crisp in a Mason Jar.

Cottage Cheese

If you don't have the smooth cottage cheese we can make it from regular cottage cheese. If you're making the smooth cottage cheese the type of cottage cheese you start with matters. You will want to start with a cottage cheese that is 4% milk fat, or 2% at the very least. The small amount of fat helps create that creamy dip and smooth texture we're after, and none fat cottage cheese just doesn't work as well. To turn our regular cottage cheese into smooth blended cottage cheese we're going to use the food processor. If you're not a fan of the texture of cottage cheese, you might prefer it when it has a smoother consistency.

Can I Make This Dip With Yogurt Instead?

Yes, if you prefer try using Greek yogurt for the base. Buy it in vanilla flavor, or flavor it with honey and vanilla for this recipe.

Lower Calorie Version

If you want to make lower calorie version of this delicious high protein easy snack, you could use 2% cottage cheese as the base. Instead of adding in sugar or honey to sweeten the cottage cheese you could use a low calorie sweetener like monk fruit sugar, or stevia. You could even up the protein even more by adding in a scoop of protein powder in your favorite flavor. And instead of drizzling the top of the dip with dulce de leche or regular caramel sauce you could use a sugar free caramel sauce. or leave it off entirely. Add the walnuts if you choose, but leave off the toffee bits for a lower calorie sweet treat that's a great source of protein. This healthy fruit dip made with simple ingredients is sure to become a new favorite.

Chocolate Smooth Cottage Cheese

Love chocolate and want to try a chocolate version of our sweet cottage cheese dip? Try adding in 2 tablespoon of cocoa powder when you're blending it in the food processor. You could also use a chocolate syrup drizzle over the top instead of caramel sauce to turn this into a chocolate fruit dip.

Make It Savory

If you prefer savoury instead of a sweet dip you can use this same process of blending the cottage cheese in the food processor to make it smooth, and then add in some savoury ingredients. Instead of adding sweetness and vanilla you could add in some savory ingredients like ranch seasoning blends, or try adding in some garlic and herbs like fresh basil, oregano, and fresh dill. along with some onion powder, black pepper or red pepper flakes for spice. Serve the savory cottage cheese dip with fresh veggies and tortilla chips or pita chips as a great healthy dip.

We served our smooth cottage cheese dip with sliced apples. We love using honey crisp apples because they're so sweet and crisp. You could also use this fun fruit dip with other fresh fruit like strawberries, pineapple, or canteloup. This would also be a delicious dip with graham crackers, or vanilla wafers, or any of your other favorite dippers.

If you have leftover whipped cottage cheese dip you can store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

apple dip made with smooth cottage cheese

This dip is a great way to get some high protein content in your diet. The creamy texture of this cottage cheese dip recipe is so delicious. The addition of the caramel sauce and walnuts make this apple dip taste like a caramel apple treat.

Recipe

Smooth Cottage Cheese Apple Dip

Sweet and smooth cottage cheese combined with caramel and nuts for the perfect dip with fresh apple slices.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10

Total Time: 10

Servings:

Calories: 452kcal

Author: Dannyelle Nicolle-Ramjist

Ingredients

▢ 100 g container vanilla smooth cottage cheese or 1 cup cottage cheese (4% or 2%), 2 tablespoon honey, maple syrup, or sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 1 tablespoon of dulce de leche or caramel sauce
▢ 1 tablespoon walnuts chopped
▢ 1 tablespoon toffee bits
▢ 1 apple sliced

Instructions

Add your vanilla smooth cottage cheese to a small bowl, or make your vanilla smooth cottage cheese.
To make the smooth cottage cheese, place the cottage cheese, honey, and vanilla extract into a food processor and blitz until smooth, scrapping the sides of the bowl down once or twice.
On top of the smooth cottage cheese add a drizzle of dulche de leche or caramel sauce.
Sprinkle the nuts and toffee bits over the top, and enjoy with apple slices or other dippers.

Nutrition

Tried this Recipe? Tag me Today!Mention @LifeisaParty or tag #lifeisaparty!

Cottage Cheese Dip with caramel and walnuts

With Smooth Cottage Cheese Apple Dip, life really is a party!

More Recipe Inspiration

You might also like our Caramel Apple Trifles here.

Caramel Apple Trifle: layers of cake, caramel, cooked apples, custard, and whipped cream create the perfect fall dessert.

Also check out our Caramel Apple recipe here.

You might also enjoy our Campfire Baked Apples recipe here.

Outdoor Fall Tablescape

Sep 22, 2016 · 6 Comments

Outdoor Fall Tablescape: pretty pumpkins, leaves, lanterns, rustic wood, and cozy vintage plaid blankets make the perfect fall tablescape.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

Today is the first day of fall, and right on cue the leaves are starting to change colour where I live. It's the perfect inspiration for a beautiful fall tablescape.

We have a forest behind our house, and every year there are a few maple trees that are the first to change colour from green to beautiful oranges, yellows, and reds. The changing leaves inspired this table.

We have a pergola over our back patio and I thought it would be the perfect place to set up our fall tablescape.

Hanging Leaves and Lanterns

One of my favourite details, and the starting place for this tablescape, are the pretty leaves hanging over the table. I went for a little walk with my puppy in the morning and collected them in the woods. I strung some fishing line from the pergola and tied the leaves on to it. Since there was a little breeze, I also tied a few nuts -as in nuts and bolts, onto the end of each piece of fishing line to help weigh it down a little.

The leaves looked so pretty blowing in the wind.

Fall Tablescape Centrepiece

For the table, I started with a white runner down the middle and layered a burlap one on top of that.

Next came some small branches and leaves. Then I layered on some pretty pumpkins, birch poles, and candles.

I love the different soft colours of pumpkins.

Place Settings

Next I added in the place settings. I used my wood round chargers for a real rustic look.

I also used simple white plates and gold cutlery, along with some amber glasses I've had for years.

On everyone's plate, I layered a simple linen napkin, another pretty leaf, and a little white baby boo pumpkin.

With the sun shining, a gentle breeze, and view of the forest this is the perfect spot for a fall dinner.

Now all I need is a pumpkin pie. 😉

With a pretty Outdoor Fall Tablescape like this one, life really is a party.

More Inspiration

You might also like Rustic Thanksgiving Table here.

Also check out Black and White Farmhouse Thanksgiving Table here.

Black and White Modern Farmhouse Thanksgiving Table: White pumpkins, black cutlery, and DIY macrame napkins rings make the perfect Thanksgiving table.

You might also enjoy our Outdoor Thanksgiving Table here.

Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Italian Sausage Recipe

Gnocchi

Sausage

Mushrooms

Recipe