Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Beautiful Wedding Decor Ideas


If you visited last Friday's Dare to Share Party, you saw that my bonus daughter got married this past weekend. It was a very long weekend with a lot of set up and clean up, but the wedding was BEAUTIFUL! We had such a great day with gorgeous weather.   The bride had a specific vision of what she wanted for her decorations, and made most of them over the last couple of months.



                                                


Part of her vision for the wedding is to make sure everyone had plenty to eat.  Since her actual ceremony was earlier in the day, she wanted to provide coffee and donuts, snacks to munch on throughout the day, and a catered meal.  Just like it sounds, it was A LOT of food.  The guest definitely did not go hungry, and there was still a lot left over at the end of the day.  In this picture you are looking at 192 cans of pop, beer, wine, lots of fruits and vegetables, cheese and snack meats. 



They were not sure how much water we would need.  With all of those other drinks, we had 5 or 6 water jugs left over. 


On the counter is chips, crackers and cookies. 


There were many boxes of decorations to bring to the venue. We had multiple cars, and it took a couple of trips. 




To save on cost, but still match her nature theme, the bride had been finding items at thrift stores, and on marketplace.  She used these on the dessert and snack tables.  






She rented tablecloths in her wedding colors.  Half of the tables had vine runners, and the others had green mesh runners.  Every chair had a green sash tied around it. 


Both tables were lined with small glass jars with tea lights (see below) 


I helped the bride make these.  We wrapped the top with twine around the top of the jar.  Inside the jar is a little bit of greenery, small pearls and a white tea light.  



The main centerpiece was gorgeous.  She used large gold wrapped cans as a vase for the bouquet of flowers that she made herself. The base was a slice of a tree.  


Each table had a table number which really helped when it was time to go to the buffet. We were at the bride's family table so we went right after the main bridal party.  


On the dessert table, the large wooden tiered trays old delicious cupcakes of different flavors from a local bakery. 


On this tray are chocolate cherry and strawberry cupcakes. 


The newlyweds cut a small carrot cake. The bride has to eat gluten free, so this cake was safe for her to eat. 




The bride made all of the corsages and boutonnieres. She hand painted each of the handmade flowers before making the arrangements. 



The morning of the ceremony the guests were treated with coffee and donuts while they waited. The wedding was outside under a beautiful tree.  It truly was a magical day, and the decorations helped make it feel that way. 







 

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Friday, September 15, 2023

Time to Dare to Share!




It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 
It's time to Dare to Share! 

Tonight my blog post is going to be short and sweet.  We have had a very long week, but for a very good reason.  My bonus daughter is getting married tomorrow!  We were at the reception hall 13 hours today/tonight, and there is still more that needs to be done.  We have an early call tomorrow, because as part of the wedding party we have some special tasks that need to be done before the early in the day wedding.  The reception hall looks beautiful, and the weather is supposed to be perfect tomorrow. We are really looking forward to this day.

So since I am exhausted and need to get some sleep before our huge day tomorrow, let's get this party started! 

Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 





 

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Friday, September 8, 2023

Dare to Share Saturday!


 It is Friday night, and you know what that means.. 
It is time to Dare to Share! 

Are you ready for some football? I know I am very excited about this weekend, football is back at both the college and pro level. Ohio State has their first home game, and my Bengals have their first game of the season. :) Who Dey! 

We are also now in the final week of wedding prep for D's daughter's wedding.  I just finished some printables to use at the reception.  Last weekend I found a dress that I am pretty sure is a keeper, and we also bought almost 200 cans of pop with some great Labor Day deals. There are still things to do, but it is a good feeling to have a lot of it completed 


I know I mentioned a few weeks ago that I am now helping my friend with her bakery. We have a few events and a birthday cake coming up in the next few weeks.  What I love about this time of year is that we are starting to make Halloween treats to sell. I will be sharing more about our events and treats in the next few weeks.   This week I shared a post how to make devil fruit cake.  We were recently asked to make these for a birthday party, it wasn't too hard once we learned what they actually were. 


 
During last week's party, I posted that my Halloween Treasure Hunt was going to be live over the weekend. If you did not see my update I posted on the last week's party, it went live on Saturday.  You can see it in my Etsy Shop here.

Now that you know what I have been up to this week. I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN!  







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Thursday, September 7, 2023

How to make a Devil Fruit Cake








Recently I started helping a friend with her bakery.  I have always loved to bake and making sweet treats, so when she asked me, I was quick to say yes.  She told me that we had an interesting cake request from a customer, but she was not sure exactly what they were asking for.  I have to admit I did not know what a devil fruit cake was at first either but I love to learn new things. I soon found out that they were from the anime series called One Piece.  One Piece is the longest running anime that started back in the late 90s and is still going.  Devil Fruits are very important to the characters of One Piece, because they give the character who eats it special powers. 





We were asked to make three small different devil fruit cakes.  One of the most popular devil fruits is the Gum Gum fruit which belongs to one of the main characters.  We also really liked the heart shape devil fruit called the Ope Ope fruit. 


Each of the cakes have swirls on the outside.  We decided to used fondant to make the swirls and attached it to the outside of the cake. 


This cake is the Chop Chop fruit.  


 We colored and rolled all the swirls for all three cakes and also made the stems out of fondant, hoping they would stay intact.  




They turned out pretty good, the customer was happy. and that's what counts.  There are a few minor things we would do a little differently next time, like color the fondant underneath so there is no white showing through.  We are now working on fall and Halloween items for a neighborhood market and a local festival. Stay tuned to see what we make.   

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Saturday, September 2, 2023

Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know that means..
It's time to Dare to Share! 

Happy September! I know I say this every month, but how is it already almost fall?  While I do not look forward to the cooler weather, I am super excited about football season starting and Halloween.   Another very exciting thing going on this September is we have a wedding in the family.  D's oldest daughter is getting married in a couple of weeks, and we are busy helping with preparations.  One very important thing that I need to do this weekend is find a dress to wear.  While I am not the mother of the bride, D is the father of the bride. He will be wearing a tux, so my dress can't be too casual.   It is not a super fancy wedding, so it should also not be too dressy.  The wedding  will be outdoors (weather permitting) and the reception is in a quaint hall at a park reserve.  I have an idea of what type of style that I would like in my mind, now hopefully I can find something like it.  


I am in the process of making several Dollar Tree fall/Halloween DIYs that I will be sharing on the blog and Instagram when they are finished. I am still looking for a few supplies.  One of my favorite easy DIYs is how to make Halloween Gnomes. I originally made my gnome twins a couple of years ago. I reposted how I made them this week, since the craft pumpkins are back in stock at most Dollar Trees. 

Over in my Etsy Shop my newest Halloween Treasure/Scavenger Hunt will be going live this weekend.  Spooky season is such a fun time of the year, and I have so much fun creating new listings for my shop.  I hope to add several this month if time permits. If you ever thought about making and selling printables, I took this course and loved it. It really helped me get started with my shop.  Students receive so much support, and the Facebook group is one of the best I have ever been in.  I do need to disclose that I am an affiliate for the course, but I would definitely share how much I love the course even if I wasn't. 

Update on the Halloween Hunt. It is now live and if you would like to check it out, you can find it here.

Speaking of time, it is now time to get this party started! Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 


 

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