Celebrating National Parks

My family just got home from a 3000 mile two week road trip!  Among other stops, we visited Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.  Both were beautiful and the inspiration for this month's monthly dinner theme - Celebrating National Parks.

Invite: I created the invite on Photoshop.  The fonts I used were Rustler and Rocky Mountain Beauty.  They are both free fonts I downloaded.

Decor:  My color scheme was greens and browns. I made the brown National Park poster using cardstock and my Cricut cutter.  I glued the pieces on foam board.  The carved bear and the branches in the vase I already had as decor in my home.  The pine-cones and rocks my kids collected on our trip.  The stuffed bobcat was my daughter's souvenir from Yellowstone.


This beautifully carved bear was a wedding present from our friend Josh Slater in Mammoth.  He even carved our names and wedding date into the stump base.  It was one of my favorite wedding gifts.  Check out his website, Bear in Mind Carvings. This wooden bear was a perfect addition to this month's theme.

I added a few of the ornaments we purchased in Yellowstone to the branch tree.  I always purchase an ornament from the main places we visit on vacations, and I love decorating my Christmas tree in December and remembering these fond family memories.

Table Decor: I used a green tablecloth and my wicker chargers for the table.  I  bought the green and white mixture of centerpiece flowers at Costco.

For the centerpiece, I purchased a wooden tree ring from Michaels. I used vases I already had for the flowers and the candle.  The stuffed bear and the deer were my other two children's souvenirs from Yellowstone -- along with the pine-cones.  The frame I also purchased at Michaels.  I cut a postcard of Yellowstone to fit inside the frame.

The entire centerpiece.

The Yellowstone postcard in the centerpiece was from a pack of postcards I purchased from Amazon here.  I also used these for place cards. I bought small pieces of wood from Michaels, and my husband cut a slit in them to hold the postcard.

I wrote each guest's name and address on the back of the postcard just like you would if you were actually going to mail it to them. It would have been cute to write a fun message and create a fake stamp that went with the theme, but I thought of that idea too late!!

On each plate, I folded a green napkin and cut an animal out of cardstock using my Cricut.  I cut bear, bison, deer, and elk since those were the animals that my family saw in Yellowstone.

Drinks:  I created water bottle labels to match our theme as well.  Costco water bottles suddenly became "Geyser" water from Old Faithful in Yellowstone!

I created labels for my wines based on National Parks that had Red or White in the title. I used images I found online of park maps and the vintage postcards so they would match the rest of my decor.

The wine charms I also created using images I found online.  The images matched the vintage postcard set I bought for the place cards.

Menu:  I made a starter salad with romaine lettuce, hard boiled egg, tomatoes, cheese, and crutons. I used a small cookie cutter to cut the cheese into a leaf shape and called the salad "Autumn in the Tetons".

I served a bison ribeye steak which was delicious.  My husband grilled it, and I added a browned herb compound butter to the top of each steak. I found the recipe on Food52 here.

With the steaks, I served small potatoes that I thought looked like different colored "rocks".  I used a cookie cutter to cut butter into acorn shapes to serve alongside the potatoes.

Asparagus "trees" were our vegetable.  I seasoned them and baked them in the oven.

I also served Pillsbury rolls calling them "Bread DOE Rolls".  I served these with a Huckleberry jam I purchased in Yellowstone.

For dessert, I themed it around two Yellowstone animals - moose and bear.  I called it Chocolate "Moose" with "Bear"ies.  I made the chocolate mousse using this recipe from Betty Crocker. I added raspberries and blueberries to the top along with a chocolate bear I made from a mold. Yummy and perfect for the theme!

Favor:  As a parting gift, I made chocolate and peanut butter fudge shaped into tree rings. I used the recipe found here on Lumberjacks Rejoice! The first batch I made did not turn out.  Either my candy thermometer was incorrect or it needed to be cooked higher than the 234 softball stage that is indicated on the recipe. I had to start over.  The second time I used dark chocolate chips (the recipe didn't specify and I had originally used milk chocolate).  I would recommend dark chocolate.  I also cooked the milk mixture a little longer to thicken it. The fudge was very tasty and the tree rings turned out great.  I love that they are not perfect, so they look even more natural. I made the "TREE-T" tag on Photoshop.

All in all, this was a really great dinner and a fun theme. I was sad all my ladies couldn't make it this month, but the small group of us had a good time. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this party!  Leave me a comment on something you liked!

Crazy for Coloring - for Adults!

One of the new crazes right now is Mandala art and adult coloring books.  Stores like Michaels and Target have devoted entire end-cap sections to adult coloring books, and many adults are enjoying the relaxation of coloring right alongside their young children (I know I am!). When one of my regular monthly dinner gals asked if she could bring an out-of-town friend to our June monthly dinner, I asked my friend for some of her guest's loves hoping it might provide some inspiration for the month's theme.  Two of her friend's likes were coloring and Mexican food - she moved from California to Georgia, so the Mexican food selection in not quite what it is here! I decided to incorporate both of these likes into our June theme.

Invite:  I designed the invite on Photoshop using free images I found on Google.  While there are a lot of art party invites out there to choose from, I wanted this dinner to focus on Mandala art and colored pencils (rather than crayon, paint, etc), so I created my own invite specific to that.

Entry Decor:  I made an entry sign with my Cricut Explore.  I found a Mandala art piece of an owl and cut that image out with the Cricut.  Because it was so large, it was actually difficult to do.  It didn't turn out perfectly, but it did the trick. I added color pencils a dollar store basket to elevate the sign. 

Inside Decor: I set my table with a red tablecloth and then a huge strip of white butcher paper on top. I printed out large images of Mandala art and glued them on the butcher paper.  I colored in a few parts of each image, and guests added to each as the night progressed.

For a centerpiece, I bought a colorful bouquet and cut out a Mandala image my daughter had already colored to adhere to the front of the vase.  She loved helping out with the party!

Also on the table, I made large colored pencils out of Pringles cans. First, I cut colored card stock to wrap around the can and attach with scrap book tape.  Next, I cut a beige circle and smaller colored circle for the bottom.  The top is a beige half circle with a 7 1/4" diameter.  I hot glued the half circle around the lid of the Pringles can and then colored the top in marker.  I added pails I found in the dollar section at Target and filled them with markers and colored pencils. The little rainbow cups I found at Dollar Tree.

The rainbow napkins I also found at the Dollar Tree.

The colorful plates my family uses for BBQ gatherings and camping, so we already had them.  Love the color they added to the table. I created 6" mandala art coloring pages to match each of my guests.  Shown above are a pregnant woman for my friend who is pregnant with her first baby, Star Wars, and a Harry Potter tribute.

A couple more:  Mickey Mouse and Hunger Games.  I created all of these on Photoshop combining images I found free online.

For place cards, I wrapped four colored pencils in twine and added a mandala art piece with the guest's name.

I sawed the tops off of colored pencils and added a mini eye hook to make wine charms.  They were really cute in person and easy to make.

I created the wine labels on Photoshop after finding a mandala piece with red wine glasses.

Menu:  I wanted food with a lot of colors.  I started with this recipe for Rainbow Salsa I found on Gimme Some Oven.  It was a win-win -- delicious AND healthy!

For the main meal, I created a tostada bar with grilled carne asada and chicken, refried beans, and cilantro lime rice. For colorful fixings, I had tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, olives, guacamole, sour cream, and pico de gallo. 

For dessert, I made this rainbow cake with Mandala art on top.  My good friend came over and helped me with the Mandala art to place on top.  I made a stencil with my Cricut, and she used the stencil to carve the mandala out of fondant.  The cakes I made with 2 boxes of white cake mix.  I divided each mix evenly into 3 bowls and used gel food color to dye the mix the desired colors.  After baking, I leveled the cakes and stacked them with homemade buttercream icing in between. 

Favor:  I wanted to do something with Skittles candy because they are colorful and their "Taste the Rainbow" slogan went with my overall theme.  I found a template for pencil boxes here.  I took that template and resized it to my liking in Photoshop.  I also added color to make it a colored pencil rather than a regular pencil, and I added the "You Color My World Thanks for Coming" note.  After folding each pencil (I used glue and tape), I place and bag of Skittles inside.

I really love how everything turned out, and we had a great time coloring. Hope you enjoyed this post, and let me know what you liked best!

Remembering Prince

With the passing of musical icon Prince this past month, the radio stations have been playing a lot of his music.  Hearing it brings me back to lip sync contests, dance team performances, and other fond memories from my junior high and high school days. I decided, Remembering Prince, would make a fun monthly dinner theme as well.

Invite:  A quick invitation I crafted on Photoshop.  I just learned how to make my font in glitter, so that made me super excited!  The Prince font is "Chunk Five Ex", and the Purple Rain font is called "Still Time".  Both are available for free download.

Decor: I initially  made this giant sign for my entry door, but decided instead to place it on my beverage table.  The metallic purple background is wrapping paper I found at the Dollar Tree.  The gold glitter letters and the purple Prince symbol I cut using my Cricut. The text is the opening lyrics to "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince.

For the main table, I used a purple tablecloth with some old-school records I borrowed from my dad spread along the center to act as a table runner. Some wooden music notes and the Prince symbol were the centerpieces.

The music notes actually belong to my dad who has used them with the Community Concerts Association for years, but my talented (and helpful) husband made me the Prince symbol.  I traced it onto a piece of wood, and he cut it out!  I then spray-painted it purple.  After the second coat of paint, I added the purple glitter to make it really sparkle.

I added bright yellow napkins for color and used my Cricut to cut out the Prince symbol to place on top.

For place cards, I found images of Prince album covers online and added each guest's name as "background vocals" or "guest artist".  After printing the covers out, I backed them in purple card stock and placed them in CD cases. Add a burned CD of some great Prince songs inside to be a fun parting gift for guests.  Here's some of the other fun covers I used...

For wine charms, I again used the Prince symbol cut out of card stock.  I used various shades of purple for the symbols to distinguish the glasses.

I made wine labels on Photoshop.  Prince doesn't have any popular songs with White in the title, but he did have a song called "The Gold Experience", so I used that as inspiration for the white wine label.  Then "Little Red Corvette" for the red wine.

Not all my guests are drinking wine at this time (yeah for babies and soon to arrive babies!), so I also made purple Kool-Aid to drink.

Menu:  To decide my menu, I pulled up a list of Prince songs and tried to find ways to creatively craft my menu around them. I started with an alphabet soup after Prince's song "Alphabet Street."  I found the recipe for this healthy soup at Food.com here.  I made some variations to the recipe (on accident mostly), so mine did not come out with as much broth as the original recipe which made it thicker.  Sometime I'd like to try the recipe again exactly the way it is written.  For the breadstick, I bought Crazy Bread from Little Caesars Pizza (no prep for me!).  This went with Prince's song, "Let's Go Crazy."

I grilled BBQ chicken for my main dish, but instead of using a normal BBQ sauce, I found a recipe for Raspberry BBQ sauce on SmokingPit.com. It was super sweet with our first taste test, so my friend added some extra spices which made it taste perfect. This represented the song "Raspberry Beret."

I dyed mashed potatoes purple for "Purple Rain."  We shaped them into rain drops for added fun.

For dessert, I bought Dove ice cream bars for the song "When Doves Cry."  I don't know that I have ever had a Dove ice cream bar before, but those things are tasty!  I feel a bit guilty not hand-making the dessert, but it definitely was easy just purchasing them at the store and having dessert taken care of!

Favor:  I made Hershey Kiss cookies for a parting gift.  These are one of my favorite cookies, so it worked out perfectly that it went with Prince's song "Kiss."  I wrapped 4 cookies in a baggie and designed a tag using the lyrics from the song (with only minor alterations).

Hope you enjoyed this Prince-inspired party!