Autumn Amelia

Hello everyone!
In the saga of sharing my playlists, it is time for my Christmas Party Playlist.
As I have mentioned, I LOVE making playlists so when it comes to a big holiday like Christmas I don't have just one playlist, I have several.
Today I am going to be sharing my Christmas Party Playlist in the hopes you can use it for your festivities this holiday week.
This is the fun Christmas playlist.
The one with all the upbeat music that is going to get you pumped.
Hence the party title. 😉

Hello everyone!

Last weekend we celebrated our dog Ziggy's first birthday!

As you probably remember from our first puppy Scout, we LOVE to throw themed parties for our pups.

For Ziggy's first birthday we decided to go with a space theme.

He is Ziggy STARdog after all...

I used a black table cloth as a backdrop and set up our banquet table in front of it with a navy tablecloth on top.

On the left side of the table, we placed Ziggy's presents dressed up in dark colors and metallics.

In the middle, his birthday cake.

I displayed it on a silver cake stand to give it an industrial feel and topped it with a number 1 and a few star candles.

In front of the cake, gold plates, and napkins to help us serve. 

On the right side of the table, we have a few random items from around the house that I felt were "spacey."

A gold geometric sculpture, some decorative geodes for moon rocks, and our Google speaker.

I thought it looked like a space communication device?

To the left of the banquet table, we had our letterboard surrounded by a few gold stars.

It read:

3...

2..

One...

Blast off! 

With one spelled out as it is his first birthday.

The thing I was most satisfied with was my balloon garland.

This was the first thing I envisioned when we started planning his birthday.

I placed it above the right side of the table.

I stayed with my deep space colors of black and blue.

To make it feel more space like I added a few star cutouts, 

some metallic accents, star balloons, a moon balloon,

 and I turned one of the balloons into a planet.

This bad boy did not want to stay up but with some persistence (lots of tape and thumbtacks) we got it up for good.

We spent the day opening presents, eating cake and playing at the park.

I think that Ziggy really enjoyed his first birthday.

His tail wouldn't stop wagging and he crashed hard at the end of the day.

I can't wait until he experiences his first Christmas with us.

I think he's gonna love it!

Do you celebrate your furry friends birthdays?

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!

Are y'all ready for a new decade?!

Because it's basically here...

To help us celebrate I made this fun DIY disco ball piñata.

I have made a few piñatas in my day.

They aren't hard but, are a little time-consuming.

Make sure to give yourself a few days to complete this project.

You will need:

36 Inch Balloon

Newspaper

Scissors

Flour

Water

Silver Crepe Paper

Fringer Scissors, Optional

Tape
Silver Ribbon

Start by inflating the balloon to your desired size.

I inflated mine about halfway, 18 inches.

A 36-inch balloon is rather large...

I'm lazy and didn't want to decorate the whole thing but still wanted it to be large enough to make an impact.

You can blow it up to the full size if you prefer.

Cut your newspaper into 1-inch strips.

Cut A LOT because you will need it.

Once your strips are ready to use, create your papier-mache.

Mix 1 part flour to 1 part water until a paste is made, it should be a thick glue-like substance. 

1 and 1/3 cups of each is the amount that worked for me.

You will need to make more or less depending on the size of your balloon.

Dip the strips of newspaper in the paste and slide off any excess with your fingers.
Add the wet strips directly onto the balloon.

To help keep the balloon in place, set it in a box.

Repeat until the balloon is completely covered.

Let dry completely.

I recommend 24 hours but, have gotten away with 12 when I was in a hurry.

Once the first layer is completely dry, apply another layer in the same manner.

Let dry.

Add a third coat to make it extra sturdy.

Let dry.

Once the final layer is completely dry, poke a hole through the papier-mache to deflate the balloon. 

Cut a small flap in the top of the papier-mache, large enough to fit your hand into so you can stuff it with your goodies.

Open the flap and remove the deflated balloon.

Cut long strips of crepe paper.
With the fringe-scissors, fringe one side of the crepe paper leaving about an inch of space at the top to attach to the piñata.

You can fringe the crepe paper with regular scissors as well but, the fringe scissors will save you quite a bit of time.
I'd highly recommend investing in some! 

Starting at the bottom of the piñata, add a layer of the fringed crepe paper.

Use small pieces of tape every few inches to secure into place. 

Continue adding strips of the crepe paper up the piñata until it is entirely covered.

Poke two slits in the top of the piñata and string one end of the silver ribbon through.
Tie the ribbon into a knot on the inside of the piñata.
Repeat with the other ribbon end to create a loop in which to hang the piñata from. 

Open the flap and fill with your goodies.

 Seal the flap with tape.

Hang and enjoy!

I love how this piñata turned out!

The size and metallic silver make it the perfect pop of fun every party needs.

I am planning on using it as decor for our New Years' Eve at home.

It's too pretty (and took too long) to wreck!

Maybe next year?

How are you spending your New Year's Eve?

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!

We are in the final countdown to Thanksgiving and I am excited to share this set up with you!

I have had this vision in my head for almost a year now and am so happy I was able to bring it to life.
Inspired by Ariana Grande's hit song Thank U, Next, I wanted this setup to be femme and fun.
I incorporated a lot of glam through amping up typical Thanksgiving elements with color.

It would be perfect to display at a laid back Friendsgiving or to fill with your favorite elegant desserts for Thanksgiving dinner!

The Backdrop

The focal point of this festive setup.

I used gold letter balloons to spell out the phrase "I'm so -ing grateful", a lyric from the song, and used a turkey balloon to bleep out the F word so I could take it to family gatherings without being a bad influence on my nieces and nephews.

The turkey balloon was originally a cartoon turkey but I needed to make it fit in with this fab set up so, I quickly applied a few coats of gold spray paint and let it dry before putting it up.

I think it worked out nicely, don't you?

The Bar Cart

I wanted the "tablescape" to match the glam feeling of the gold backdrop.

I thought a gold bar cart was the perfect touch.

I centered it underneath the backdrop and covered it with the goods.

The Food

Dessert!
I made three fall-themed finger foods to nibble on.

Mini pumpkin pies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and mini caramel apples.

All easy to make and fun to eat!

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Instead of using pie dough for the crust, I used sugar cookie dough.

You can find my Grandma's famous sugar cookie recipe here.

I rolled out the dough, cut out circles using a scalloped three-inch round cookie cutter and gently pushed the dough into a greased mini muffin tin.

I filled the center with one tablespoon of  Lauren Conrad's pumpkin pie filling.

Baked at 350o for 20 - 25 minutes.

Removed from the oven and let cool.

Once cooled I added a dollop of whip cream and sprinkled with nutmeg.

I served these on a white rectangular serving tray.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I whipped up a batch of my other Grandma's famous pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

I have never found a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie that beats hers.

I might be a little biased though...

Find the recipe for the cookies here.

I served the cookies on a white cake stand with metallic gold lining to add some height.

Mini Caramel Apples

Using a melon baller, I scooped out mini apples from a regular-sized Granny Smith apple.

I carefully placed a gold paper straw through the center of the mini apples and dipped them in melted caramel.

I added red, orange and pink sprinkles immediately to the wet caramel and let set.

I served the mini caramel apples on a second white rectangular serving tray.

The Drink

I wanted the drink to match the color scheme of the layout so we went with some non-alcoholic rosé.

I don't want to be a bad influence, remember?

I added pomegranate seeds to the champagne flutes to elevate the drink instead of serving it on its own.

The Pumpkins

To add more color to the display I spray painted craft pumpkins in three different colors,

Burgandy, coral and orange.

Yes, I spray painted an orange pumpkin orange...

I needed it to have a sheen like the others and cover the stem!

I spray painted the pumpkins until my desired coverage was reached making sure to let them completely dry between coats.

Once the pumpkins were dry I placed them around the bottom of the bar cart for a fun twist on classic Thanksgiving pumpkins.

How fun is that?!

I love how the overall look turned out and it was all very easy to execute.

It's such a fun trendy theme and you can use the pieces for years to come!

What's your favorite part of the display?

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!

Erik turned 27 on Saturday so we spent the entire weekend celebrating!

Erik was lucky enough to have Thursday and Friday off for Fall Break so we packed it all in.

Wednesday I spent the day decorating the house.
Erik requested a donut theme so, a donut theme it was!
When he came home we went out to dinner and opened presents.

Thursday we went and grabbed donuts from Erik's favorite bakery.

We stacked them on top of each other to create a cake and Erik blew out the candles.

On Friday we had a relaxing night in.

We ordered a Jack O'Lantern pizza and Erik played his new video games.

On Saturday we slept in, hit up some stores and caught a movie.


It was a very relaxing weekend and over sooner than we liked...
Erik is very excited to be 27.
He has a good feeling about this year.
How do you like to spend your birthday?

All my love,
Autumn