May muni people

The muni people project is still going strong, almost half of the way through the year. I'm thinking at the end of June I might have to hang all of them up and take a picture of the whole thing together and see what it looks like.

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May party place cards

The place cards I threw together for this party don't really need a tutorial as they were so simple. But I quite liked the look of them and in fact think they'd look pretty cute on top of a cake as well, or marching down the middle of a table spelling out a message, or as signs for food on a buffet table.

I used a pretty light weight wire and wrapped it several times around a large marker to create the round paperclip part at top, then bent it down and wrapped it around the middle of the animal and sort of tied it off to itself to keep it fixed. I didn't have to use and glue or pliers, it was easy enough to do with my hands and just a wire cutter the cut it off at the end. Like I said, simple and of course encouraging for my small animal collecting habit.

May party favors

I found these little shaped boxes at the craft store and immediately knew what  I wanted to do for favors. I just loved the idea of a teeny tiny pinata box and I figured it would be such an easy thing and a great place to stash a special truffle or something as a favor while also tying into my (mostly color themed) party table easily. Sometimes a new or different material will spark an idea. 

The favor boxes looked pretty cute added to the table in their ombre color pallet, and I imagine they could hold a variety of other things as well. Jewelry perhaps, a charm that tied in, though I always default to something edible because, well, I really like sweets and candy, especially when packaged up all cute.

A May celebration

I was thinking about celebrations and congratulations so for this months party I thought I would do something that could possibly work for a graduation, but still was flexible enough to work for some other event. 

I started with the pink and red crepe paper backdrop which I cut with fringe scissors and taped to the wall. I cut the letters out of card stock and hung them with thread on top.

The place settings were a mix of some basic white dinner plates and these scallop edged floral bowls my mother found for me at a thrift store, a mix of glasses and gold flatware. I made the place cards by  wrapping wire around a herd of black and white animals I had from another project, and cutting down some card stock into triangles.

I covered the table with a roll of brown butcher paper and then topped it off with an odd piece of black and white patterned fabric I had in my stash. Down the middle of the table I lined up some tall brass candlesticks I found at Goodwill, along with some shorter votives from a yard sale.

Since I used mostly things that I already had again the budget was pretty reasonable but here's how it shook out.

candlesticks...............................................2.50 each

favor boxes...............................................3.00

total..........................................................13.00

And I'll be back with some details about the favors (not shown here) and the name tags next.

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A peek at my project for the weekend....

creme brulee (first try)

I have loved creme brulee forever. When  I was in Paris I had some every day. I never really considered it as something I could make myself because I figured it was complicated and also the use of fire was intimidating. But I don't think intimidation should keep me from one of my favorite desserts, so I have decided to give it a shot.

This was my first attempt, just a basic vanilla custard, and I learned a lot from the experiment. The custard seemed to fall a bit on baking so next time I will fill the ramekins up to the very top and not worry about overflowing. I plan to try some more experimental flavors, like coconut, persimmon, maybe even lavender and it's very exciting that this is something to be made ahead of time and then brought out to be finished when it's time for dessert. Super convenient.
 Also that moment of cracking the burnt sugar crust is even more satisfying if you made it yourself.