Random Acts of Garnish

Hey!  There's a great website called Think Garnish that has some really fun containers, straws, twine, boxes and "stuff" you can buy to make the ordinary look a bit extraordinary.  In addition to their store, they have a very fun blog with lots of great ideas for packaging goodies and putting together pretty presentations.  My favorite thing?  You can order just the amount you need.   The customer service is fantastic too, so I'm singing their praises! They had a fun promotion going called  Random Acts of Garnish, and I joined in.   It's like a random act of kindness in that it's about giving a little something to someone to thank them, or just to let them know they're special.  Garnish included some fun tags to attach to the little treat.

A surprise treat for my Brennah Claire. 

She made the track team so I filled a great little glassine bag from Garnish with Starbursts and attached the Random Acts of Garnish Tag. The striped bakery twine is from Garnish too and you can buy it by the foot.

A small token of thanks for my housekeeper and friend of 21 years.

The berry box is from Garnish.  It would be perfect for a lot of things--cookies, socks, chocolates, diamonds (just kidding)...  I tucked a plant and some hand lotion in the box and I think it will make her smile!

Celebrating 1,000!

She amazes me, and always has!  Just about a year ago, Kelli  began creating custom wooden letters for special occasions such as baby and bridal showers, parties, weddings, gifts, nursery and home decor...the possibilities are endless! She opened her Etsy shop, Dwelling Online and online shoppers from all over the world have been placing their orders.  With 100% customer satisfaction, it's no surprise that just yesterday, Kelli celebrated her 1,000th sale!  That's a whole lot of alphabet!

One of Dwelling's most popular items are the custom baby names that are ordered to decorate the newborn's nursery.  Kelli has designed letters to match baby bedding and all kinds of nursery themes. 

The wooden letters make a great centerpiece on the table at the baby shower, and then a perfect gift to put in the nursery after the shower!

What a perfect centerpiece for the baby shower!

It was easy to coordinate the cupcake wrappers, picks, and party favors with the wooden letters. 

And with  napkins, plates and table colors matching, the baby's name is the star of the show...as it should be! 

Congratulations Kelli!

More Lemons...

Seems I'm not the only one getting lemons from friends.  Lots of folks made the lemon cookies and loved them.  So, how about a super easy lemon cake?  I think it was my mama that taught me that if you use a cake mix, it doesn't count as baking.  I would probably agree, but there a few exceptions.  Here's one:

Apricot Lemon Bundt Cake

from the Riverwalk Inn--San Antonio, Texas

Cake:

1 box of yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1 t. lemon extract

1-3oz. box lemon Jello

3/4 cup apricot nectar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Heat oven to 350.  Combine cake ingredients with mixer.  Blend well.  Pour into a greased bundt pan.  Bake for about 40-50 minutes.  It will be golden and a toothpick will come out clean when inserted in the center.  Cook cake for about 5 minutes and remove from pan.

Mix together the glaze ingredients.  While hot, stick holes in the cake with a 2-pronged meat fork and pour the glaze over the cake. 

Here's a tip...With one hand I pour the glaze ever so slowly over the cake and hold my other hand close by to kind of corral the glaze and "pat" it into the cake.  You want most of the luscious lemon glaze to seep down into the cake.

I've served this cake all by itself, with a scoop of raspberry sherbet, or fresh berries and whipped cream. 

Coming Soon...

My assignment was to create a birthday party using a single color scheme.   What fun!  The Orange Party is finished, submitted, and will be published soon on celebrations.com.  I'll let you know when!  :)

Sneak Peek

This is just a sneak peek of the next assignment that I'm working on...