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All Sparkled Up

~ Like dew hanging from the tip of a leaf, a single bead or word adds sparkle where there was none.

All Sparkled Up

Monthly Archives: June 2012

Dessert Buffet

30 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by juliamonroe in baking, food, party

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

banana pudding, coconut cupcakes, dessert buffet, desserts, key lime pie bars, peach melba, peach melba shortcake, pecan pie, pecan tarts, petit fours, strawberry trifle

Several weeks ago I catered a wedding rehearsal event – Individual size Southern-style desserts for 85. I was quite busy with the preparation so these are all the photos I took. It was my first non-wedding cake event. I will say, making individual size servings of seven different desserts for 85 people is much more complicated than making a wedding cake for 250! Whew! I was thrilled that it turned out so well. Three of my sons did a fantastic job helping the day of the event. So very thankful for their help.

I prepared 24 separate recipes for all the components. I didn’t have time to make the Silk Buttercream for the Pecan Tarts so I had to use a simple buttercream instead but everything else went according to plan. Not seen well in the photos: bowls of Peanut Brittle, Spiced Pecans, Fresh Strawberries. Also: Pink Lemonade, Strawberry and Orange stick candy.

Dessert Buffet

Dessert Buffet

One of the beautiful bouquets from the buffet table, given to me by my dear friend after the event. I was not able to get a photo of the table with the bouquets but it looked lovely!

Banana Puddings, garnished with a mini Banana Spice Cookie with Lemon Frosting.

Banana Pudding

Half-size Toasted Coconut Cupcakes, garnished with unsweetened Toasted Coconut and large Coconut Flakes.

Coconut Cupcake

Key Lime Pie Bars, garnished with a thin slice of Key lime.

Key Lime Pie Bars

Peach Melba Shortcake, served with Fresh Raspberry Mousse, a Cinnamon Biscuit and Vanilla Bean Cream.

Pecan Tarts – one sweet bite of Pecan Pie.

Petit Fours – Lemon Sponge Cake with raspberry jam and Almond Poured Fondant.

Petit Fours

Strawberry Trifle – layers of sherry-soaked Vanilla Bean cake with Italian Custard and strawberries.

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The Box

27 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by juliamonroe in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

I finally bought the board, drew the pattern and cut out the pieces. My old Dremel scroll saw was just as crummy as ever and I had to wrestle the board at an angle through the blade just to cut a semi-straight line. So there were a couple gaps in the joints when I glued the box together. But now that I’ve got all the pieces together and drew the carving pattern, and found the pearls, I’m starting to envision the end product. I’ll post later as it progresses.

Supplies for the box include vintage lace, an old broken brooch, vintage beads and my carving pattern.

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Drying ties

15 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by juliamonroe in All Sparkled Up, crafts, Etsy, projects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

All Sparkled Up, Etsy, men's ties, ties

Today’s creative activity – hand washing, drying and pressing disassembled men’s ties to use in my first Etsy project for All Sparkled Up. They dried quickly but I decided to leave them hanging up all day just because I liked how they looked in the breeze. Click photos to see a larger image.

Many thanks to my dear friend Janette and daughter-in-law Holly for helping me disassemble them all last night!

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Ballerina Cake Pops!

09 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by juliamonroe in baking, birthday, crafts, family, food, party, projects, tutorial

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

ballerina, ballerina banner, ballerina cake pops, birthday, birthday party ideas, cake pops, decorated cake, girl's party, honeycomb, honeycomb banner

Here are more photos from my granddaughter’s 4th birthday party. This is a long post with many photos. Please click on a photo to see a larger version if you wish. I made Ballerina Cake Pops for her in her favorite colors, purple and pink.

Ballerina Cake Pops

I drew little ballerinas on white plastic cut from clean buttermilk jugs. Then I carefully cut them out using embroidery scissors. The cake balls were made and chilled and then I inserted the ballerina into the cake ball. You can see the feet of the ballerinas sticking out of the bottom of several of the cake balls. It would have been easier to just make picks but I wanted my Granddaughter to have a little plastic ballerina to play with when she was done eating the cake pop, so of course they had to have legs.

Since there was a ballerina in the cake pop, I could not dip it as usual. I spread the melted white chocolate around the ball with an offset spatula. These were placed in styrofoam and then placed in the refrigerator to chill.

The prepared cake pops were allowed to come to room temperature before piping rows of sugar ruffles using a small rose tip.

All the cake pops were placed on a stage made of styrofoam around which I pinned crepe paper streamers and gilded trim.

She loved the Ballerina Cake Pops. I was so happy!

Enjoying rows of sugar ruffles.

Little one year old grandson enjoys a Ballerina Cake pop too.

I made a banner of ballerinas but forgot to take a photo of them hanging at the party. Here are photos of the construction.

Honeycomb Ballerina Banner

The ballerinas were drawn in Photoshop, based on a similar project in Marie Claire Idees magazine. I had to modify the Marie Claire version since it was flat, not with a full honeycomb skirt. Here you can see the honeycomb bridal shower garland from which I cut the skirts.

The ballerinas are drying after I applied glue and glitter to the shoes, bodices and tiaras.

The ballerinas are prepared for hanging. A single thin wire will be attached through a pinhole at the top of each ballerina and strung with crystal beads.

The ballerinas are hung temporarily in my dining room as I work on the hanging wires on each one They looked lovely at the party and I’m sorry I forgot to get a photo.

I just adore my granddaughter and there is no project too tedious or complicated that I wouldn’t do for her.


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Post-it-Note Pocket from three sticky notes

06 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by juliamonroe in art, projects

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

notebook, post it note, post it note pocket, post it notes, sticky note, sticky note pocket, Your Living Canvas

I’m forever losing small notes and scraps that are tucked inside book covers. Today I made a super easy pocket inside my notebook cover. It takes just seconds to create the pocket using three sticky notes.





Items stay securely in the small pocket.

Just a side note, this is my notebook for a creative class I’m taking online – Your Living Canvas – taught by Art McCracken and Christy Tomlinson. Art’s introspective journal exercises add a nice layer to the creative process and Christy’s wild and colorful artwork is so much fun! When I get a piece done, I’ll share it. For now I’m just writing in my notebook.

The notebook I made to use for an e-course online – Your Living Canvas – taught by Art McCracken and Christy Tomlinson.

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Art tool bucket

04 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by juliamonroe in art, projects

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

art, arts, craft tools, paint brushes, scriptures, tool bucket

I’m much too tired to post more than a quick one tonight. Today I made an insert to put in a bucket to hold craft tools – knives, paint brushes, etc. I used the hard cover of a book and cut two pieces, fitting them to the tin and slotting them together. Then I painted the piece and wrote scriptures about creativity on it. I love the idea that there are scriptures about creativity hidden amongst my craft tools.


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Recent Posts

  • Plan B
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  • We planted strawberries in the hanging planter
  • The roses have bloomed
  • Soap Bubbles on Mother’s Day

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