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Showing posts from February, 2013

Presidents' Day Party...decorations

The invitations , the food , the food labels , even the extra food labels are all done. How about some decorations? In addition to red, white, and blue dishes and napkins, I've got balloons and streamers to put up. Maybe you'll even want some bunting for your table. Then, for extra fun, I searched the internet for presidential campaign posters, glued them to colored paper and strung them up on giant red rick rack. It was easy and you can find tons of posters on-line. Here are a few to get you started.

Presidents' Day Party...more food labels!

My RSVPs are coming in and fast and furious and people are offering to bring food! My food will all have fun, crazy labels on it. It just seems polite to have labels for what other folks bring. So, I've created a few more general labels to have ready for other dishes. These would also work if you have a favorite party dish you want to serve but it didn't fit in with any of the labels I gave you already. Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Presidents' Day party...food labels

You've sent out the invitation s and made all the food , now here's a way to let people know what they're eating at your party. Just print and cut out these labels . They can be attached to bowls with clothes pins or stuck right into the food with kabob sticks. Maybe just use ribbons to tie them to serving baskets. For bonus points, decorate them with stickers, fringe or other trim!

Presidents' Day Party...food

Are you throwing a Presidents' Day party with me? We've sent out the invitations , now we're deciding the food. You could go with recipes that Presidents and their wives actually used. Here's a link to a few of those. There's even a cookbook you can get for some more. But I've decided to go a bit wackier. Here's my menu: Buchanan Bourguignon Theodore Rollsevelts Washington Redskins Lincoln Logs FDROs Bushmeat Millard Filberts Chestnuts A. Arthur LBJ PBJs Calvin Coolwhip Cake Ford Model Tea Although I want the food to be fun and definitely tasty, I've tried to choose things I can either purchase pre-made, make ahead, or just aren't too labor intensive. For the Buchanon Bourguignon, you can use any Beef Bourguignon or beef stew recipe and throw it in the slow cooker. Here's an example on Food.com. For the Theodore Rollsevelts, go easy by purchasing some nice bakery rolls, or get crazy ambitious with something off the King Arthu

Super easy, super dark curtain liners

How dark is your bedroom at night? Lots of studies show that the darker it is, the better you sleep. So if your curtains are too thin to block much light, here's a tutorial for you! I choose black ripstop nylon for my liners because it really blocks light and it's lightweight. (Just make sure your curtains are heavy enough that you can't see the black through them.) I then lined the liners with muslin because I didn't want it to look, from the outside, as though I have black curtains! To get the width of your liner, measure the distance on your curtains between the side hem stitching lines. (So not quite the full width of the curtain.) To get the length, measure from the bottom of the rod pocket to about half-way down the bottom hem. Add 1/2 inch seam allowance on all sides. This is how much ripstop nylon you'll need. Now add 4 inches to the width and 4 inches to the length. This is how much muslin you'll need. I was making two curtain liners but I got them