Kitchen Progress

Finally...progress is being made. Although painting kitchen cabinets is a slow and tedious project (especially when it is raining every day that your husband has off of work) I finally can see a little progress. We are using dover white for the cabinets.

Here is Shaun using his fancy spray painter...

Probably one of my favorite things about re-doing the kitchen is getting to have a plate wrack!!! I have always wanted one of these.

I will keep you posted as we continue our kitchen adventure....wish I could make up my mind about the backsplash....

Cake Love

Two trends that I am loving in cakes....

Delicate ruffles:

image via Pinterest

 

image via The Bridal Solution

 And Ombre Cakes:

image via Pinterest

image via Pinterest

Ivy Topiary

I have always loved small ivy plants and  I have always particularly admired ivy topiaries. I didn't even think Shaun was paying attention to me when I mentioned that a few weeks before Mother's Day, but he surprised me with a beautiful heart shaped one that I love!

 Maybe one day I'll get a collection going like the beautiful one pictured below...






via luxury housing trends


These are gorgeous as well.

 
 

 via This Next











 via My Home Ideas


via colchesterplace.com
 

Just Mini Desserts

I got so many thoughtful gifts for Mother's Day this year! My sister Heather gave me this adorable book. 

 Everyone who knows me knows that I love dessert...but I especially love MINI desserts!!!!! This book has so many amazing recipes that seem delicious and relatively easy to prepare. The author focuses a lot on presentation of these adorable desserts for entertaining your guests...right up my alley! Thanks Heather.

And the best part is there seems to be a perfect recipe for everyone in my family which gives me an excuse to start experimenting!!!

Happy Friday!

Maddie and Claudia

Mother's Day Garden Party Brunch

What a beautiful evening it was for a Mother's Day "garden party" breakfast-for-dinner celebration. My sister and I decided sort of spur of the moment to plan for this and I am really glad we decided to go for it. I had never served breakfast food for guests before so I was nervous, but it was actually pretty delicious. The only thing that I forgot to photograph was the French Toast Bake, which was a really big hit and I have a pretty good feeling will be on the menu again! It was super easy and what's even better was that you can prepare it the night before and just bake it the day of. You can find the recipe I used here. Other than the french toast bake we kept it simple and had eggs, sausage, breakfast potatoes, toast, blueberry muffins, crumb cake(one of my biggest weaknesses), mini donuts (which were a big hit with Maddie of course), cheese buns, apple turnovers and of course orange juice and coffee.

 Claudia napped through most of the evening, but she had fun hanging out under the table before everyone came.

 Imaging my surprise when I realized that Shaun was actually listening to me when I told him how much I love ivy topiaries! What a thoughtful Mother's Day gift from my hubby!

 Maddie wasted no time hitting up the donuts!

 My beautiful grandma, Anne. I used two of her old tablecloths this evening that my mother gave to me.

 Gigi telling Maddie a story...

 Heather, Maddie, Me and Mom.

I am definitely the luckiest girl in the world to have such an amazing Mother and to be blessed with the opportunity to raise the most amazing little girls!

New Etsy Items

I have a few new items for my shop  that I have not been able to photograph and post yet, but I just wanted to share two of my favorites that are listed already!

 I am obsessed with cake stands and cloches! How adorable is this little guy??

I fell in love with this three tier tray? Wouldn't it be perfect for a vintage style dessert display?!!

And how cool is this...it folds up for easy storage!!!

I hope to get the rest photographed and listed soon! 

Have a great Thursday!

Breakfast Foods

Remember my post about wanting to do a garden party breakfast type of thing for Mother's Day? Well it is happening. Now I need your suggestions on some really fun food ideas! Also, does anyone have any advice on how to make this happen?

My sister and I did a practice run and lets just say it did not turn out as pretty as this picture.

Please send me any fun ideas for breakfast recipes as I am new to brunch entertaining!

Happy Wednesday!