Green!

On Friday I picked up these beautiful light greenish roses and mixed them in with daisys. They looked lovley for my weekend entertaining and they inspired me to find some other great green inspiration.

 

 

 

Holiday Hosting!

This weekend was all about my favorite hobby HOSTESSING! I had people over both Friday and Saturday night and we had a great time catching up with friends and eating delicious food. We started Friday night by celebrating my good friend Mary’s birthday!

All prepped and ready to go with the sparkling!

For the first appetizer I made a snap pea croistini which is super easy and delicious. Start by sauteeing the snap peas (you can use fresh but honestly I always use frozen). I sautee them with some olive oil, salt paper, and chopped up green onion. After they are nice and cooked throw 3/4 of the peas into a food processor or blender. Add a bit more olive oil and if you have some in the house throw in some basil for a nice extra flavor – we are pretty much making a pea pesto here. After it is all mixed up add back some of the chunks and mix together. This makes the texture nice because you are mixing the smooth peas with a couple chunks.

Next spread it on some toasted french bread and add a nice slice of a sharp cheese like parmesan or swiss. I used Bellavatano Reserve (one of this Wisconsin girls favorite cheeses)! So easy and delicious – always a hit at a party! As for a second appetizer I made sausage rolls like I shared with you last week and a classic white cake – but I forgot to take pictures – sorry!

Next was Saturday night. My boyfriend Chris and I had the couple the actually intorduced the two of us over for dinner. They were nice enought to bring a baked brie cheese plate for the appetizer – isn’t it lovley! I love baked brie so easy and delicoius!

Rosemary potatoes prep!

For the salads I kept it simple with some nice leaf lettuce, pear, blue cheese and balsamic vinegrette. Yum! For the entree with the potatoes I made cornish hens and some sauteed asparagus – in all the excitement of getting dinner on the table I forgot to snap a pic. I will have to share with you another time because they turned out great!

Didn’t the table look lovley!

After dinner we went to Sherlock Holmes the movie – I recommend – it was fantastic. That was my weekend in a nut shell. I had a great time putting on my Martha Stewart hat. Hosting is one of my favorite things – it really put me even further in the holiday spirit. The countdown to Christmas is here!

How To: Make a Stocking

This year I decided I needed to get my first stockings, however after much shopping I was having a hard time finding any that I really liked – and lets be honest they are all really expensive! So I decided to make my own. First to get the fabric.

I ended up with black plaid and silver for the cuff. I had left over pink leopard from an upholstery project so I decided to use that for the inner lining. I am not the best sewer – I am still learning (and I don’t have my own sewing machine) so I enlisted the help of my sister Laura who is not only a great sewer but she has a machine!

After the fabric was all picked out I drew out a stencil on a brown paper bag and pinned it to the outer lining.

Sewing the inner lining pieces together!

Next was pinning and sewing the outer lining. After both pieces were cut and sewn we sewed just the top of the stockings together to avoid too much bulk.

Next we sewed the silver piece to create a cuff that could go over the whole stocking and sewn to the top. This part was a bit tricky so I enlisted Laura to work her magic.

The final touches were to sew the hanging loop on by hand. We sewed on a little button on the outside to add a fun little detail. Finally I painted some wood letters I got at Michaels and put some ribbon through to monogram them and viola – the stockings were all done! Aren’t they fun? I love the way they turned out and (with the help of Laura) turned out great. Thanks Laura! It was fun to learn a bit more about sewing too.