3.14 = Pi Day!

We had to delay our Monthly Dinner by a week, and it just so happened to fall on March 14th (3.14).  The date was so perfect I just had to make my theme Pi Day!  And to be honest...who doesn't love pie?

Invite:  I created the invite on Photoshop. If I were mailing invitations, I would have made the strawberry pie so that it could rotate and reveal the party details as you rotated it around clockwise.  That was my original plan, but with time constraints, I just created this one to email out.

Entry Decor:  I made a simple sign for inside the front door using form board and card stock.  The numbers/letters I cut out using my Cricut. It look a bit of time to glue on all the border numbers, but I finished it (barely) in time for the party.

Table Decor: I went with a color palette of red, yellow, black, and white for my decor.  I wanted to incorporate both the mathematical sign Pi as well as Pies in my decor.  The table runner I made out of card stock.  I taped black card stock together and them cut the white Pi letters out of my Cricut to glue on.

For the centerpiece, I used the red cake stand I made for my son's birthday party last June.  I made a pretend apple pie to place on top.  I bought 3 fake apples from the Dollar Tree and cut them in half.  I put red tissue paper inside the pie pan and placed the cut apples in it.  Then I cut some tan felt into 1" strips and wove them on the top before tucking them into the pie pan.  No gluing at all.  A quick and easy centerpiece.

For my napkin holder, I made a pie box out of card stock.  I found the template for this online here.  I added a slit on the top of the pie box big enough to slide my rolled napkin inside. The tag I made using Photoshop and then tied it around the napkin.  I served dinner in pie tins, so these napkin holders I placed inside each tin.

For a place card, I used the same Pi/Pie image I used on my invitation.  I simply added the guest's name, printed them, and then backed them in card stock.

For wine charms, I used my Cricut to cut out the Pi symbol in various colors.

Menu:  I started with these adorable cheese and cracker pies.  They were super easy to make and so cute.  I think they would be a great appetizer around Thanksgiving since they look just like pumpkin pies.  To make them, you need:

• Triscuit Thin Crisps (they are shaped in triangles so they are perfect)
• Cheddar Cheese block
• Chicken in a Biskit crackers for the back
• Wavy stick crackers from a bag of Chex Mix
• Whipped cream cheese

The cream cheese is your "glue" to hold the crackers/cheese together as well as the "dollop" on the top. I got this idea from the website She Knows.  The photo at the right is from her finished product.

I made a simple green salad with mushrooms and red and green peppers.  To fit with the pie theme, I served them in mini pie tins.

For the main dish, I didn't want to go with the standard Chicken Pot Pie or Shepherd's Pie. I decided to make this Three Cheese Italian Rigatoni Pie just because it looked cool!  I love how it came out, and it was tasty too.  You make it in a spring-form pan and then just remove the sides when ready to serve.   I found the recipe here. It's a simple pasta dish, but served in neat way.

With it I made pie-shaped bread sticks out of pizza dough.  Just baked the dough, added butter and Italian seasoning, and then cut into triangles before serving.

The pasta pie keeps it's shape quite nicely.

For dessert, I wanted something light.  I decided to go with an easy to make lemon pie.   No baking needed on this one either!  It was creamy and delicious with only 4 ingredients:  graham cracker pie crust, 8 oz cream cheese softened,  2 cans sweetened condensed milk, and 3/4 cup of lemon juice. I garnished with a slice of lemon and whipped cream.

Favor:  I saw a recipe for mini blueberry pie bites forever ago on Pinterest, and decided this was the perfect time to try them out.  I made them using the recipe found on Sugar Dish Me.  I put 10 bites into a bag, tied them with a ribbon and tag, and made pie boxes out of card stock to place them in.  Here's a close up...

These taste amazing to just snack on, but they are also really good as a topping on vanilla ice cream. 

                                    We had a great time celebrating Pi Day!  Hope you did too!

A Scrabble Party!

I have always loved board games.  I love the family bonding time that comes along with them, and I am always down for a fun game night. With this idea in mind, I decided to have a Scrabble Night for our February monthly dinner.

Invite:  I created the invitation on Photoshop. I had to do some planning first to rearrange words to spell out the party details in Scrabble formations, but I think it worked out.  I used a Scrabble board image for the background, and cropped each letter out of a Scrabble alphabet tile image I found online. I had to invent the tiles with numbers and the colon.  The tiles don't pop as much as I wanted them to, but overall, I love the concept of the invite.

Entry Decor:  I created a Scrabble board for the sign on my entry door.  I bought two pieces of foam board to start.  I cut one into 3"x 3" squares to use for the Scrabble tiles because I wanted the tiles to appear elevated above the board like a true Scrabble game.  The remainder of that piece of foam board, I attached to the full board so my board could be wider. I used scrapbook paper for the background, border, and colored squares.  I bought scrapbook paper that looked like wood to use for the tiles themselves, and the letters/numbers were cut out using my Cricut machine.  In front of the board, I filled a vase with Scrabble tiles and placed a candle on top.  The scrabble tiles I bought on Amazon.

Inside Decor:  One of my friends and fellow English teachers happened to have 6 Scrabble games in her classroom, so I lucked out in borrowing a lot of my decor.  I set several of the Scrabble boards and boxes up around the room.  I placed two boards as my centerpiece, and spelled out "Monthly" and "Dinner" using letters from the game.

I also filled my centerpiece vase with Scrabble tiles and a candle at the top.  I placed a smaller vase inside to take up space and require less tiles to fill it.

For my napkins, I bought cream colored napkins from Party City. I used my Cricut to cut out the initials of my guests along with the corresponding number the initial would have on a Scrabble tile.  I just set the black card stock on top of the napkin rather than gluing it which seemed more practical.

The place cards were simply the Scrabble trays with the tiles to spell out the guest's name.

I made wine labels on Photoshop to match our theme.  Here is what the entire label looked like...

I filled a pitcher with water as well, and I attached an H2O label I created.  The H is not really worth 2 points, but I altered it a bit!

For wine charms, I used the Scrabble tiles I bought from Amazon and screwed in some hook rings I bought from Ace Hardware.  I used the first initial of my guests, and then tied them around the glass stem with red ribbon.  The Scrabble board under and the box behind were fun decor additions.

Menu:  I started with an appetizer of a cream cheese spread and veggies.  The spread was just an Italian salad dressing mix packet and cream cheese with a little milk mixed in to soften it. I shaped it into a square and carved an S and a small 1 to make it look like a Scrabble tile.  The picture isn't really good, but it did show up.  If I were to do this again, I might use a strip of red pepper to make the letter/number so it popped more.

I found these Cheese-It Scrabble tiles at Walmart, and tried to find some way to incorporate them into my menu.  I decided to use them as croutons in my garden salad!

For the main dish, I made ground beef turnovers and shaped them into squares.  I made a slight indentation in the pastry to create a letter, brushed melted butter inside the indentation, and sprinkled poppy seeds on top of the butter.  This recipe for turnovers takes a long time to make, but they are always a big hit....so yummy!

Green beans and berries were the other side dishes.

Just another look at the complete plate.

For dessert, I made an ice cream cake that I cut into squares and made to look like Scrabble tiles.  It had an Oreo cookie crust, Heath bar ice cream in the center, and Cool Whip on top. I used frosting to pipe the letter/number on top right before serving.

Favor:  I made mini Scrabble sugar cookies as my take-home favor. I made them small, so it was difficult for to me pipe the frosting letters (and especially numbers) on.  I would try a frosting pen if I were going to make these ever again.  I designed the tag on Photoshop.

No matter how you "spell" it, I have some great friends!  Just love spending dinners with these ladies once a month!

Valentine's 2016!

Happy Valentine's Day 2016!  

Both of my sweet kiddos had their school parties today, so we spent last night making Valentine's for their classes.  Each year, we choose a theme related to their likes. I love that they are excited to help craft them each year.

Ella is in first grade this year, and she is the artist of the family.  When I asked her what she wanted to do for her Valentine's Day card this year, she said she wanted to draw a picture and make the card herself.  I got her a piece of paper and a pencil, and she decided to draw an alligator -- "Because the gator is my school's mascot, and both boys and girls like alligators" she said.  Works for me! 

After she drew the alligator holding the heart and wrote her name, I scanned the picture into my phone and created the rest of the card on Photoshop. Ella chose the "You're My Favorite Gator" slogan as well.  She helped me back each piece of card stock on red paper and attach 3 crayons to the back.  Ella loves to color, so she was pretty excited that now her friends could color too!

Our 4-year old son John, loves Star Wars, so he wanted a lightsaber on his Valentine's Card.  I modified his idea with a pencil lightsaber.  I bought neon pencils, and wrapped the bottom in duct tape and then smaller strips of black electrical tape.  The last touch was adding a neon dot.

 
John put on this karate gi and grabbed his lightsaber before we headed outside to take a photo.  I then used Photoshop to create the rest of the card.  The font I used was called Star Jedi font (it's a free download).  I cut slits above and below John's hands wide enough to fit the lightsaber penci.

Happy Valentine's Day

from my young Jedi & my aspiring artist!

Everything is Better with Bacon Party!

While the majority of people are thinking of getting in shape and eating healthy as their New Year's Resolution, I decided to make our January monthly dinner theme the exact opposite.  Our theme was...Everything is Better with Bacon! The inspiration for this theme came after one of my girlfriend's (who loves bacon) received a 2016 Bacon calendar for her birthday a few days before this party. Seeing just the cover of this calendar gave me the idea, and I ran with it.

Invite:  I made the invitation on Photoshop.  Not super creative this month, but I do like the saying, "It's Time for Swine...Let's Wine & Dine!"

Entry Decor:  As usual, I made a sign out of foam board and card stock.  I used my Cricut to cut the letters and free handed the pig and bacon.  Next to the sign, I set out my children's beanie baby pig and a mini calendar I borrowed from a friend.

Table Decor:  I borrowed some burlap squares to lay on top of my tablecloth.  Then I made a bacon table runner out of card stock.  For centerpieces, I made a vase of bacon roses, a wooden pig, and bacon candle holders.

The bacon roses for my centerpiece were very simple to make.  I just rolled each piece of bacon and secured it with two toothpicks.  The toothpicks kept the rose elevated when I placed each rose in a spot on a mini muffin tin.  I baked them in the oven until they were cooked through.  Once they cooled, I pulled off the petals of some fake flowers I bought at the dollar store, and stuck the stem through the bottom of the bacon rose.  I needed something heavy to hold the stems in place, so I filled the vase with rocks and tied a light blue handkerchief around the vase to give it some color.

Here's a close up of the bacon roses.

For the wooden pig, I simply traced a pig image on wood and my husband used a scroll saw to cut it out.  My kids now use it as a cutting board in their pretend kitchen.

To make the bacon candle vases, I used my tortilla shell pans.  I turned one pan over on a baking sheet and then layered strips of bacon to cover the bottom and up the sides.  I wrapped 2 other strips of bacon around the outside. I set another tortilla shell pan on top of that to keep it in place while baking.  Not sure if you have to do this, but it seemed to work.  I baked them in the oven about 15 minutes or until they were cooked and crispy. I set each "vase" on an upside-down cereal bowl that was covered with a handkerchief.  I put a little wax paper under the bacon so it wouldn't get grease on the handkerchief.

For the place cards, I wanted to find wooden pig die-cuts to paint with chalkboard paint, but I couldn't find them at the craft store.  Instead, I used my Cricut to cut pigs out of black card stock, and I wrote the guest's name with paint pen.

I wanted my napkins to look like bacon too.  I bought burgundy napkins and then cut white card stock in wavy strip shapes to place on top.

Drink Table Decor: I used the burlap again on my drink table and to make a hanging banner. I created a pig garland with black felt pigs.  On my mantle, I borrowed several items from my bacon-loving friend...

The 2016 Calendar that was the inspiration for the party as well as some other bacon themed items (cookbook, Bacon Soda, bacon mints, etc.). I liked the saying about Friends are the Bacon Bits in the Salad of Life, so I printed it out to frame.

For wine charms, I found various sayings about bacon on Google images and printed them small enough for charms.  I backed them in card stock and tied them around the glass stems.

I ran out of time to create anything super creative for my wine labels, so I made them quickly.  The best I could come up with was red and white S-wine.

Menu:  I started with a couple appetizers.  The first was a Bacon Cheddar Dip with chips.  This recipe was AMAZING!  The only problem was that is was so delicious we kept eating and eating it!  We were all practically full on the appetizers before we even sat down for the rest of the meal.  Definitely make this dip for something though as it was delicious.

The second appetizer was mozzarella sticks that I wrapped a slice of bacon around. This was an experiment.  It was good, but I would recommend cooking the bacon a little bit before wrapping it and placing it in the oven.  I like my bacon a little more crispy than it turned out  just in the oven.

We started the meal with a wedge salad. I LOVE wedge salads, so I had to incorporate it into this meal. I made them small hoping it wouldn't be too filling.

For the main dishes, I served a Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Bacon and asparagus wrapped in bacon.  I followed this recipe for the chicken in terms of ingredients, but I cooked the entire thing in the oven rather than first hot frying it, then oven, then broiler.  For the asparagus, I wrapped 5 stalks inside one thick piece of bacon and seasoned it.  It went into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

For dessert, I served mini cinnamon rolls sprinkled with bacon bits.  To make these, I used a package of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.  I cut each one in half and reshaped it into a circle. I then placed them in my mini muffin pan to bake.  After baking, I drizzled the sugar glaze on and sprinkled with bacon.  These were yummy!

Favor:  As a take home gift, I found these silly Bacon cups at Party City.  I made Rice Krispie Treats with Bacon and included them inside. These were actually very tasty treats.

We had a very FILLING time, but it was FUN!