the glittered nest

Patisserie Camp Macarons

 
Look what's baking in the oven for patisserie camp in Birmingham this summer!

I am starting to prepare the french macarons in several shades of pink for the camp.   I haven't baked in a while so I was so excited to put on my favorite Anthropologie apron and get baking.

After the camp(June 27-29th) I will launch my new glittered nest website with all of the day to day menus and recipes to go with it!  We will be baking meringue nests with fruit and whipped cream, Eiffel Tower Sugar Cookies and many other things.

 
Happy (hot here in Austin) Summer to you!

Madagascar Vanilla cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Frosting

This is a recipe I have blogged about before but loved it so much...wanted to share again!  Enjoy.

I am embarrassed to say this is the first time I have ever made homemade cupcakes before!  I have always made the frosting but used a box cake.  I will never never never do that again after tasting these yummies!  Of course it takes longer but you can double and freeze!

My kids love sprinkles...sprinkles on everything! Just roll the edges of the cupcake in a little bowl of sprinkles for this look.

For the recipe go to marthastewart.com (vanilla cupcakes)

For the frosting go to marthastewart.com

Here are some pics of other ways to frost these little lovelies:

   

Can you just see how light and fluffy this icing is.  It is not as sweet as buttercream icing but creamy and delicious!  To pipe the ruffle edge I used the small petal tip.  I like the two tones of pink.  

My daughter Abby made a picture of our family that we will use as our tags when we give our baking gifts to friends:

 Daddy, Mommy, Madi, Abby and Brock!  These are the little things I can never forget.  I will have this picture forever.  Sweet Dreams!

Wedding Birds

 
You must check out this Etsy site.  She has the cutest little birdie cake toppers and other things!

cottonbirddesigns

 
Happy Friday everyone!

Giddy Up Gala

I had the honor of styling the Giddy Up Gala for the Hill Country Education Foundation 

at UT club on Friday.

 
 
Susan O'Keeffe and I made paper sunflowers inspired by a shopping trip to Anthropologie.

They were so much fun to make and made such an impact on color for the gala.

We also swagged a cream gauze material on all of the auction tables along with the flowers and rope.

 
Here are the centerpieces for each of the 33 tables.  I took burlap coffee sacks and cute them in 4 squares.  I thought the look of the writing really added to the rustic cowboy quality.

 
Susan did an amazing job on the picket fencing to hold the auction papers. They are anchored into little buckets with plaster of paris and rocks.

Ut Club is such a beautiful and open venue for events of this size.  If you want a rustic feel, you already have that in place with the decor of the club. They have a wonderful outdoor fireplace and fire pit.

 
 
 
This is one of my favorite decorations for the dessert table:

If you don't have a bucket that says fire, just paint one!

Add sand and branches from your backyard.  Walmart sells these jumbo

marshmallows called campfire marshmallows.  Just burn the ends to roast them and add to the branches. I also added some moss with a glue gun.

 
Here is Susan O'Keeffe and I in front of our flowers.  I thought we made an amazing team!

 
Thank you Hill Country Education for including the glittered nest in your big event.

 

Happy Birthday to my little Boy

 
5 Years Old today.

Dressed as Spiderman this year

and

We had the animal farm again and it was a huge hit!

 
 
Oh Yeah...full on Spiderman gear. 

These years are the most precious when they really believe

once the costume goes on that they ARE spiderman.

As you can see the animals didn't stand a chance!

Brock's first monkey I made him and spiderman had to make an appearance!

I love using my children's toys as decorations.

It makes you feel like you have brought a

little bit of home to the party.

 
 
 
Spiderman pinata....made it through 9 kids before it went down!

 
We love you Brock!!!!

(Kyleigh-cousin, Abby and Madi-sisters) 
 

 

Fun with Paper

 
I love working with paper and creating something totally off the wall with simple materials.

This flower has many layers of handmade torn paper that I purchased at World Market.  I used three different patterned papers and I think that's what gives this flower it's funkiness!

I am working on a how to post for any one who has the desire to add these flowers to their own parties.

 
 
Tartlets from La Madeline are amazing!

 
You can dip your own strawberries by melting almond bark from the baking isle in your local grocery store.

 
As you can see the theme was funky and bright.

 We cut a square of the same paper as the flower and put it in the center of the tables for color.

We love our teachers at Laura Bush!

Peyton Wedding

What a beautiful weekend.

I had the honor of working with one of my dearest friends

and  creating a beautiful wedding for her daughter.

 
The reception was at Saengerrunde Hall which is next to Scholz on San Jacinto in Austin.

Remember the bride's ribbon post?  Here is one of the hangers above the bridal table.  Pictures of the bride and groom hang from the branches on matching cream ribbon.

 
Here's the ribbon hanging above the favor table.  Minature salsa jars were the favors!

 
 
 
The tables were very long and super skinny.  We decided to keep it simple yet rustic.

We covered the tables with cheesecloth.  Very Affordable compared to renting linens.  Italian Ruscus lines the center of the table.

 
 
We made chocolate cake balls for the groom(Jarod) instead of a cake!  Love it.

 
The bride(Meredith) wanted little tartlets instead of the traditional cake. She cut into a pecan pie with little love birds sitting on top.

 
The Aunts of the bride gave a fabulous luncheon at the Grove in Austin.

Aren't these little cups of flowers adorable

 

I made these little bridal dresses for the luncheon.

 
The bride, Meredith is on the left, Mother of the bride, Jill and Taylor, sister and Maid of Honor.

Thank you girls for letting me be a part of your big day.

 

 

Ribbons for a Bride

 
 

I cannot wait to show you what I am working on for my dear friend's daughter's wedding.  It is a beautiful ribbon hanging that will be placed over her bridal gift table and another one will hang over her favor table.  The bride is wearing cream so we picked as many different types of cream ribbon we could find. It really has a nice vintage look and reminds me of a tulle petticoat.  We also incorporated some gauzy material.  To make this even lovlier, the mother of the bride is adding lace that her mother gave to her.  What a beautiful addition to a beautiful day.

 
We simply tied the ribbon on and knotted the top.  This whole project cost 50.00 and took two hours to complete.  You want to add different widths of ribbon and make sure there are different textures to achieve this look.  As you can see here, I have ribbon with shimmer and satin ribbon combined.  There are also chunks of cream gauze to fill in the gaps.  I have thin pieces of ribbon overlapping larger ones.  We will be adding some floating flowers here and there to sweeten it even more.

Buy your 4 ft. dowel rod and ribbon from Michaels.  We cut the ribbon in lengths of 6ft.

I waited until the ribbon went on sale to keep each dowel rod at the 50.00 mark.

I will post lots of pictures of the day of the wedding. 

 

Angel Food Goodness

When you need something fast but delicious, give this simple recipe a try. I made these for a quick treat to take to an afternoon party. These would be wonderful little additions to a Mother's Day luncheon or shower. To make them extra pretty you could add a little dollip of whipped cream.  Yum

 
Purchase your angel food cake(I bought these at Costco)

Make your favorite ganache:

Heat 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream on the stove.  When brought just to boiling, pour over 8 ounces of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate.  Wait a couple of minutes until chocolate is melted and stir.  Add two tablespoons of unsalted butter and two tablespoons of your favorite liquor.

Add your ganache to the center of the angel food cake and top with your favorite fruit. 

 
 
Happy Sweet Day to you!

Wedding Macaron Table

 
 
What an amazing day...

I had so much fun putting together this french macaron table for a wedding.

As you can see I changed a few things from the original design.

 
Setting up a couple of hours before.

Macarons taste the best 15-30 minutes out of the refrigerator.

So I waited until just before the ceremony to set them out.

 
I used lots of spanish moss to create the bird nest setting.

I even hung it from the willow branches to tie it all together.

Can you see the little jenni horne birdies hanging?

 
I sewed their little bellies together so they looked like they were kissing.

 
 
 

 

Isn't this tag cute?  I used grace printables on etsy.com.

 

Thank you for taking this creative journey with me.

I am working on a french macaron video to share with you.