the glittered nest

Valentine Cookie Party Part II

 
Cookie Decorating, Eating Treats and Painting little heart shaped boxes....

What a wonderful afternoon for these sweet girls.

Most importantly...

Friend Bonding Time(for the moms too!)

After the girls ate strawberry buttercream cake, strawberry french macarons, nutella brownies

 and

Apple Cider steeped in Cinnamon Red Hots

we

Broke out the Acrylics, Modge Podge, Scrapbook paper, glittery embellishments

and of course heart shaped pretties...

 
I was so impressed with the girls' ability to perfectly add paper with Modge Podge and

make their boxes so beautiful.  I heard later that some of the girls were so proud

they took their boxes to school for their valentine parties!

Materials used:

Heart shaped paper mache' boxes from Hobby lobby(you can also find them on ebay)

various pink patterned flowers from Michaels

Felt Hearts from Hobby Lobby

Acrylics in valentine colors

Modge Podge

Glue

foam paint brushes(michaels) these help spread the color quicker and over a large area

Glitter Letters from Michaels

 

These boxes were perfect for putting the decorated sugar cookies in when the girls went home.

 
 

 Cinnamon Cider

1 bottle Apple Cider

1 bag(8 ounces) cinnamon candy red hots

Put Apple Cider and red hots in a pan on the stove and place on medium low heat.

Heat until Red Hots are melted and serve in pretty china cups.

This drink has the most brilliant red color...very festive for the holidays.

The drink was so yummy, the moms were asking for some!!!!

Valetine Cookie Party

 
Valentine's Day is such a special day

I love to do something with my girls that they will never forget.

Heart shaped cookies, heart shaped candy and lots of pink treats!

What better way to spread love and joy but to invite friends to join in....

 
To prepare for this fun party you will want to make cinnamon sugar cookies and royal icing:

sugar cookie dough from Martha Stewart (I adapted it by adding cinnamon)

Makes enough for our 4 varieties of cookies

• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for 5 minutes, add vanilla and salt.

Add one egg and then two cups of flour.

Add the last egg and the remaining flour(3 cups)

Add 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Royal Icing:

5 TB meringue powder

4 cups of powder sugar

1 Tablespoon Almond extract

1/2 cup of water(add a little at a time to make a stiffer icing for piping and add a little more to make runnier icing for flooding). More on these tricks later!

 
 

The table set up needs to be simple and ready for spills.  I have a plastic cover on the table to prevent staining the table.  Paper plates for decorating the cookies, tray with 4 dozen heart shaped cookies for 6 girls(this was plenty for them to decorate and the recipe above will give you that many).  I made 4 batches of the royal icing and put stiff icing in 6 bags with different icing tips.  I placed 4 bowls of runny icing for the flooding technique.  Colors used were red/pink/white. Also add a couple of bowls with Valentine Sprinkles.  My favorite are the little hearts from Williams Sonoma.

I first showed the girls how to pipe the border on a cookie with an icing bag and then how to flood the cookie with the back of a small spoon.  The girls started their cookies and I barely had to show them new techniques with different tips!  They just picked it right up and had so much fun making their own decorated cookies.

 
How amazing are these cookies from 9 year olds!!!! 

Ok...now don't forget treating the moms while the girls are busy.

 
Prosecco with framboise liquor and a couple of raspberries

Strawberry french macarons

Warm chocolate Truffle cakes(Martha Stewart-Feb 2011)

2 (4 ounce) bars bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup plus 1 TB unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cups plus 3 TBL sugar

2 TB cornstarch

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla extract

sugar for dusting

garnish: confectioner's sugar

1.  In a small saucepan, combine chocolate and butter over medium-low heat.  Cook until melted, whisking constantly.  Remove from heat, and set aside to cool.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, yolks, and vanilla.  Add egg mixture to sugar mixture, whisking to combine.  Stir chocolate mixture into egg mixture.  Refrigerate for 2 hours. 

3.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 6 (4 ounce) ramekins with nonstick cooking spray; dust with sugar.  Spoon approximately 1/2 cup batter into each ramekin.

4.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Garnish with confectioner's sugar, if desired.  Serve immediately.

(Batter can be prepared ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days).

 

  
 

 Strawberry cake with pink vanilla butter cream.

 
Here are the brownie bites from the previous post.  Don't they look pretty on this gorgeous tray from Paula Deen's collection at Michaels?

Candy hearts and lips are in the apothecary jar for snacking.

 
Look at how beautifully our little friend Brandi is holding her piping bag!  Future Pastry Chef right here!

After the girls decorated cookies they painted heart shaped boxes to put their cookies in.  I will show you that in the next post.(Valentine's Party Part II).

 If you want to throw a cookie decorating party and have questions about putting it together, please email me.  Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

Gingerbread Houses and Happy Girls!

 
   16 girls

laughter

memories

Lots of holiday spirit!!!!!

 
We made gingerbread houses, ate some dessert and made mixed media art!

Here's the gingerbread setup:

two tables, plastic table cloths and lots of supplies on hand. 

16 orange juice cartons(use as the bones of the gingerbread house)

3 boxes of graham crackers

2 bags of mini marshmallows/1 bag of large marshmallows

sprinkles

7 cans of frosting

Ask each child to bring one bag of candy!

Cake circles(makes a nice little area for their gingerbread house to go)

I covered the tables with plastic cloths so clean up was easy...just wrap everything up inside and toss!!!!

 
One great way to dress up your chairs if you don't have chair covers is to simply take two yards of fabric and tie around the chair in a bow.  I used a muslin type of fabric here so it is see through.

To make the girls' places stand out a little...use 12x12 scrapbook paper coordinating with the season as their placemat.  It Keeps their area their own and they love the look of it(and it is inexpensive).

 
I found it easy to cut the graham crackers with a heavy duty knife.  Just hold up the graham cracker to the orange juice box and decide the height you should cut to.  You will have 4 sides, 2 pieces of a roof and two little sides to go under the roof.

After the girls made their gingerbread houses they went in groups of four to the dessert table. 

Next up...art activity.

You will need canvas paper, holiday scrapbook paper, gesso, acrylic paints, paper bowls, lots of paint brushes and a little creativity.  It always helps to have  an example to show them first.

The girls made some of the cutest paintings in an hour! 

How cute is this painting and creative!!! I was so impressed because I didn't give the girls any scissors...they tore the paper for an edgy look!

 

 

Thank you Lily for the special gingerbread house you brought us.  We had a blast decorating it.

Thank you girls for sharing this day with Madi and Abby!  The memories we will have!!!! 

Please email me if you have any questions about incorporating these ideas into your own parties.  I love to hear what you do.  Happy Holidays...Terri

 
 

 

 

 

Pink Winter Wonderland Dessert Table

 
I had the best time creating this gingerbread house making party for my girls and their friends.  Not only was it fun and pretty...it was semi homemade!!!!   I had different plans a week ago as you saw in my previous post.  I decided to throw some of those beautiful ideas out the window when I had a pile of gifts to wrap and things around the house to get done!

The week before Christmas is hectic and impossible to do all of this baking from scratch without unecessary stress.  With three kids anxiously awaiting the arrival of Santa this party was so easy to pull off.  You can use simple Christmas decorations around the house and jazz up some desserts you can buy from the store!

The dessert table:

hot chocolate with peppermint sticks

Campfire Marshmallows dipped in vanilla candy coating and sprinkles (marshmallows purchased at Walmart)

Powdered donuts

Mint oreos dipped in candy coating and peppermint candies

mini vanilla cupcakes with store bought frosting tinted pink with food color

cotton candy (Walmart)

rock candy (Walmart or Michaels Craft store)

 
Fun Winter Theme ideas for this table:

Add snow to the table to give it a soft and wintery feel.  The pink ice tree was purchased at Michaels and added a nice girly Christmas touch to the table.

I also like to use pedestals with my desserts and different shaped  plates and candy holders.  You want to show the beauty of the rock candy with a glass vase. 

Add little houses to bring some whimsy to the table.  I found these gorgeous houses at World Market.

 

How about these oreos!!!  The easiest and yummiest part of this table:

Recipe for oreos:

One package mint filled oreos

1 package vanilla candy coating(find it at your grocery store in the baking isle)

1 package of crushed candy canes ( or crush some yourself)

Melt the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl for about 1 minute 30 seconds.  Lay out some parchment paper on your counter for the oreos to dry.  Dip on side of the oreos and lay on parchment.  Sprinkle crushed candy cane or any sprinkles you would like.  Package up in your favorite tin, bakery bags or box and tie with a pretty ribbon!!!!

North Pole goodies: (campfire marshmallow with candy and sprinkles)

The kids thought these were so cool because of their size and the peppermint stick!

 
First melt your candy melts in the microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds.  Take a marshmallow and dip one end.  Stand the marshmallow up with vanilla candy on top and add your sprinkles to the top.  Add the candy cane while the vanilla candy is still soft. You could make these as treats to pass around to your neighbors...just add a packet of hot chocolate and put in a pretty bag!

 

Mini Cupcakes with tree picks(trees found at Hobby Lobby)

 
These little cupcakes were the only thing I baked.  I used Betty Crocker's white cake mix.  I also used Betty Crocker's white frosting and tinted it with Americolor's deep pink gel food coloring.  The key to jazzing up your own cupcakes is the way you frost the cake.  I used Ateco's jumbo tip 847 and added little paper tree sticks from Hobby Lobby.  Little pearl sprinkles make them look snowy.

Using two tiers of pedestals really add dimension and make your cupcakes a centerpiece. 

 
The candy : pink rock candy sticks(Michaels Craft Store) and Pink Cotton Candy (Walmart) 

I added sugar to the bottom of a square vase to look like the rock candy was sitting in snow.

 
I used a beautiful white antique tray from Pier 1 to serve the hot chocolate.  I added whipped cream and sprinkles along with a candy cane.

How simple is it to stack powdered donuts on a beautiful pedestal? 

 
 

Here is one happy girl!

 


My next post will be on how to put together the actual gingerbread party!

Fall and Chalkboard paint

I know I have said this before but I LOVE THE FALL!

I love buying magazines with pictures of pumpkins

I love pumpkin spice coffee....really anything pumpkin!

I bought fire logs the other day

why...because they were available

yeah...it's still in the high 80's here..a girl can dream can't she!

I love the fact that my children want to stay out and play all night long

I love doing crafts with my kids when it involves all the things they love about Halloween!

Here's something I just created in my kitchen that you must incorporate into yours:

A blackboard!

All I did was paint the side of my cabinets with chalkboard paint.(craft store)

My kids are constantly drawing on it!

 
Abby loves to write poems on it

 
Brock pretty much scribbles all over Abby's poems...but she doesn't mind(most of the time)

 
Madi likes to write me messages on them!

The best part of Fall is seeing the joy in my children's faces as the season changes and

celebrations begin.  Fall always reminds me of getting off the bus the first day of October and running

home to see the Halloween decorations my mom always put up in the windows on our front porch.

I hope my children have wonderful memories of seasons changing as I do...

Do you have a special memory of Fall? 

 

 

Coffee Filter Garland

I have had so much fun making this with my girls

I just had to show you how to do it!

I saw something similar at you guessed it....Anthropologie

Theirs wasn't as cutesy but you can really add anything you

want to create the style you are looking for.

Materials:

brown and white coffee filters

cupcake liners

string/ribbon

scrapbook paper/wrapping paper/ledger paper/old patterns...let your imagination run wild!!!

fabric flowers(you can find these at any craft store and they already have a hole punched in the middle to make stringing easy) Easy is Good!

Glitter and Glue

Fabric or food dye

metal skewer for poking holes

 

Steps

1. First you will want to dye the coffee filters.  Add hot water to a bowl and drop in your dye.  I used Americolor's Electric pink to achieve this light pink color.

 
  
2. Put the coffee filters 10 at a time in the hot water with dye for 10 minutes.  Take them out and wring them out over the bowl and place them in the dryer on low for 5 minutes.  They will not leave dye in the dryer and they are incredibly durable.  You will not tear them.  They come out nice and crinkly.

3.  Once you have all of your coffee filters dyed and dry get out all of the items you will use in your garland.  It's great to have it organized in front of you by paper, flowers, glitter, coffee filters etc. 

4.  Get your string or ribbon ready(I used both) and take a piece of tape to cover the end.  This helps guide the ribbon through the holes you create in the paper and filters. Tie a knot near the end so the filters do not fall off the end.

5.  Take your metal skewer and poke a hole through a few coffee filters. 

6.  Do the same with cupcake liners, coffee filters and your paper.  

 
 
7.  String the items on your ribbon and tie a little knot on each end to keep that group of filters/paper in place. 

 8.  Add your flowers or any other decoration.  You can see here I added little tags that I stamped dream on and then glittered. These would be cute in Holiday paper for any occasion and string them up to be festive!  You could even string lights through the filters.

You can hang these pretties on your mantle or your curtains...you can even lay them on tables.  My girls and I made these for a Paris themed luncheon for our teachers.  I laid them on the tables with flowers and candles to add a little whimsy and color.

If you make or have made a coffee filter garland, I would love to see it!!!!

Yes....the crepe paper tree made it to the luncheon!  You can find these fun eiffel tower bottles at World Market.  I filled them with olive oil and fresh rosemary!

 

 

Chalkboard Paint

Ok...I am going nuts over chalkboard paint.  If you have small children, you must try this project.  You will love how they can change out the art and you can put inspirational quotes for them to read everyday.

I purchased this 48x48 canvas at Michaels.  Remember to bring your 40% off coupon b/c these can get pricey!  I purchased the chalkboard paint at Walmart.

I couldn't just stop there....I found an old bowl that I never use and painted it.  You can paint virtually anything with this magic paint!

 
Next I will paint a cutting board to put cheeses on.  Just remember if you are going to put food on it, paint a non-toxic food safe clear coat or use parchment paper.

Tiny Treats

 
Have you ever made teeny tiny treats for a little doll party?  I bought my daughters the American Girl Tiny Treats .  With all of the tea parties I have had my little girls, I have never thought to make little desserts for their dolls. This is a little strawberry shake with fresh whipping cream.

Mix vanilla yogurt with a spoonful of strawberry jam.

To make the whipped cream, pour some cold heavy whipping cream in a deep bowl and add a tablespoon of sugar.  Use your hand beaters until it forms soft peaks.  Pour the yogurt mixture in the tiny cup, add a dollip of whipped cream and a little bit of sprinkles.

Let your kids do all of the prep for this activity.  They will feel like they created something wonderful for their dolls.  Madi made the whipped cream, yogurt mixture and spooned into the cups.

Here are tiny little heart shaped ham sandwiches.  Just make a ham sandwich and use a tiny cookie cutter:

Have a wonderful little Monday! Check out the book...you will love making these with your little girls!

Teacher Christmas Gifts

Just wanted to share some pics of the gifts my girls are giving their teachers.  They came up with both of these ideas since this is what they love to do!

Madi my little baker worked hard on fudge and gingersnaps.  I made the macarons for her!

These are in little cupcake liners in cupcake box(we had some left over from our bakesale in October).

Remember the cute tags I had made for Madi's baking birthday party. Now her gift is personalized from her kitchen.  You can find those cute tags here:   doodle pad designs

The striped tags are from target.  We added the label from Rainbow Froggy's Bake Shop!

My daughter Abby loves to paint so she painted little 8x 10 canvases we bought from Walmart for 4 dollars for a pack of three!

 
  She painted her and her teacher!  This proves you don't have to spend a lot to give a great gift.  Just put a little heart and love into and it will turn out wonderfully.  Have a great holiday season.

Find the gingersnap recipe here

Little Clothespin Dolls

You will love Elyse's litte clothespin doll kits for your little girls and her friends.  I just received these today and I just love them.   I wanted to share the link so you can go and order some too for Christmas! Not only are these adorable but the packaging is even cuter.  Elyse gives every one of her little creations their very own name so you feel your little doll is special.

Tinkered Treasures

 

(These two pictures are from Elyse's blog)

I don't know who will have more fun making these...me or my eight year olds!

You will love the little booklet that comes with the kits. 

 
 
  I can't wait to show you the little dolls my girls make.

 
 Happy Holiday Crafting!