Coffee Klatch Charcuterie Board

Happy Leap Day!

It is not often that February 29th falls on Saturday so what a perfect opportunity to celebrate with family and friends. That is exactly we did today. We celebrated in the morning with family and in the evening with our close friends and neighbors. Since the evening get together was already planned I spent Thursday and Friday planning for our family Coffee Klatch.

We were meeting at our parents house so I needed something that could be transported easily. I had been wanting to make a charcuterie board and thought this would a good opportunity to try a breakfast/brunch theme. By Friday my plan had evolved into an Engagement board to celebrate the exciting news we received on Wednesday from our niece. 

After dinner last night I started to prepare by getting things laid out for the next morning however it just was not coming together as easily as I had hoped.  It was a bit frustrating so I decided to scratch the whole idea and do something else all together the next morning. 

It is amazing what a little sleep will do. I woke up really early, full of energy and ideas and everything started to fall into place. Yesterday I could not find a board or tray to use that I liked and this morning I knew exactly the one that would work with the theme. 

The muffins I had made ahead so all I had to make were the waffles and  some strawberry cream cheese spread for the bagels. Once everything was done I was ready to assemble it on the tray.

The diamonds and Hershey® Kiss toppers I had prepared yesterday so those were ready to go however the label for the syrup was a very last minute project.  The Starbucks® coffee drinks I had intended on using were not available in the original size so I decided to skip it. This morning however, a new idea came to mind. I happened to have empty Starbucks® bottles that I had saved just for something like this so I filled one of them with maple syrup for the waffles which worked great.

All the bottle needed was a label but by this time I was running behind so the fastest thing to do was make a label with my rubber stamps. Thank goodness for stamps. 

To keep the mini donut RINGS upright I just cut out a row from an empty plastic egg carton.

The best part is our egg cartons are clear so it was not too noticeable which was really nice!

At the last minute I added little extra love with pats of HEART shaped butter. It was ready to go. The Coffee Klatch Charcuterie Board {tray} was finished and without a minute to spare. I am so glad I stuck with it because it really was fun to make and a perfect way to celebrate February and an Engagement all in one at our Coffee Klatch. I look forward to making another Charcuterie Board soon.

Have a wonderful weekend!

sketch, draw, create: Giraffe

Several weeks ago my dad asked me if I would sketch a giraffe for him that would be used as a carving template for one of his new wood cutting boards. He has carved several cutting boards over the years, each one unique and with a different carving on the back.  All of them have been given away, one to our mother, each of his daughters and now he plans to begin making them for the grandchildren. I love a challenge, especially for such a special gift, so I was happy to oblige although part of me was a bit hesitant since I do not tend to draw many animals and have never tried drawing a giraffe. 

The only request he made was that I use the cutting board he made for me as a guideline for the shape and size of the surface area that he needed. Other than that he left it to my imagination to figure out the giraffe. So, before I began, I placed the cutting board on a large piece of paper and traced around the outer edge. I was now ready to start sketching.

After giving the details a little thought my first idea was to sketch a curled up Sleeping Giraffe so I got to work. Once I had drawn the basic outline I emailed a picture of it {which you can see below} to find out if he thought it would work before I continued. Come to find out he wanted just the head so it was back to the drawing board, so to speak. I flipped my paper over and started again. 

Again, I drew an outline, this time of the head only, sent him another picture and this time I got the green light to move forward. The details took a few more days since I did not have as much to time spend on it however it was in the mail about a week later. Before I mailed it though I did take a few pictures and I am so glad I did because....

...the following day it occurred to me that I could edit and add graphics to my drawings using procreate so I immediately started enhancing my giraffe sketch. It was so much fun to add borders, arrows, words and a grid. 

So much fun in fact that I did it to both drawings. 

And even added spots to the Sleeping Giraffe which I had not done on the original before the plan changed.

So there you have it, my little sketch, draw, create adventure. Once the cutting board is finished I will be sure to post an update. 

Happy Friday!

cookies & cakes from the HEART

Valentines Day was actually celebrated over the weekend at our house because Mr. Wonderful is a basketball referee and he had games on Friday night which of course was the actual holiday. So now, I am finally back to share the happy HEART desserts I made.

First I made a batch of sugar cookies, cut them out and personalized them with my cookie stamps. An edible Valentine is always a winner. 

To finish the edges of the baked cookies once I made a little icing and piped it around each cookie to make them extra special.  

The heart sprinkles were added just before baking to give the cookies a pop of color. 

February is a very special month in our family as we have Wedding Anniversaries to celebrate as well. And not just one but two anniversaries! 

For our Valentines Dinner for Two on Saturday I made some cute Valentine Petit Fours. Since I did not have a lot of time I decided it would be faster to use a Sarah Lee frozen pound cake for the base. However, my plan was almost ruined when I discovered my heart shaped cookie cutters were all too large. Well, as disappointing as that was, it actually inspired me to come up with another way of cutting out the hearts. As luck would have it, I found an old plastic multi~heart jello mold in my kitchen that was just the perfect size. I was able to break off one of the hearts and use it as a cookie cutter. The first attempt to cut a small heart shaped piece of cake did not work out well as it did not drop out as easily as expected but,  with a little flour and a strip of wax paper the little cakes finally came out of the mold perfectly. Once they were all cut I dipped them in warm chocolate frosting, placed them on baking rack to firm up and then sprinkled them with hearts. 

We may have been a day late in celebrating however it gave me time to make a few more Sweets treats for my Sweetie! 

Have a wonderful Day!

9 YEARS and counting!

Today I am celebrating my

9 YEAR

BLOGIVERSARY!

It does not seem that long ago that I started blogging but time flies when you're having fun! 

3 Fun Facts: 

890 posts since February 17, 2011

Most popular post is still: Lemon~Cream Cheese Croissants

Viewing Audience-Top 5 Countries : United States, Canada, Russia, France Australia & United Kingdom

Thanks to my followers and everyone that stops by the Grand Surprise to check out what is happening. I appreciate all of your comments and emails and hope you find lots of things to try now or save on Pinterest for later. I look forward to 2020 and hope to share some new things here soon.

Happy Monday!

A hundred HEARTS would be too few....

When it comes to decorating for Valentines Day I do like to use a lot of hearts. I have never counted them all however my collection slowly grows.

The majority of my heart decorations are DIY crafts such as the felted wool candle mat, the framed graphic and the felted wool candle wrap below. Of course, some packaged heart confetti sprinkled around is fun too.

The wonderful tote bag was designed by one of my friends. She is an amazing artist and I have collected all of her adorable reusable shopping bags however, as you can see, I do not use them for shopping. 

The Queen of Hearts was a Mary Engelbreit card which I decided to frame. It is a great way to display special cards.  

Hearts can be made out of just about anything. The sweet pink one above I cut from an old quilt and then finished the edge. 

The hearts in the box were sewing project from years ago. They were originally a swag but I decided to cut them apart this year and use them as filler in my new box that the hubs made. 

Not only is it fun to decorate with hearts but it is also fun to make hearts in the kitchen. This year it will be a Heartfelt dinner for Two although it had to be postponed one day due to basketball games. That's okay, more time to prepare.

A happy Heart makes the face cheerful! Proverbs 15:13

Happy Valentines Day!!

DIY Valentine Cards

February is the perfect time to make some cute cards for Valentines Day and I must say I could not resist making a few. It has been fun and a challenge trying to work with what I have on hand. As much as I love shopping for new things I do have plenty of supplies that need to be used. 

To start my projects I decided to make a couple printable graphic templates for my cards. Once they were finished I was ready to print.

The next step was creating a template for mini envelopes for the "sending Love" card. It took many tries before I was finally satisfied with the shape and size. 

It was worth it though because I was so pleased with how it turned out. 

The Tic Tac Toe Card was fun too. There are two versions. For the first one I used some cute tape I had for the cross hatching and for the other I added the cross hatching to my printing template.

I have the best little heart punches that were just right for all the hearts that I needed.

This is the card with the custom made mini envelopes which of course have tiny messages inside.

The "bushel and a peck" card was really easy with my printable template and some little scattered hearts. 

There were still a few cards in progress when this photo was taken.

Once I'm on a roll it is hard to stop however I was anxious to share my latest obsession. Also, the kitchen is calling. We are in need of some Valentine Sweet Treats so it is time to change gears and get baking.

Happy Thursday!

SUPER BOWL PARTY - Food

As promised, I am back to share our Super Bowl Party food. Our menu was full of "super" simple food. I took advantage of my slow cooker and my dutch oven to free up some time for other things such as cleaning and decorating. Make ahead recipes helped with time management as well.     

Our snacks were pretty easy to prepare. For example, I made a big batch of popcorn. It is ready in minutes and can be served in a big bowl or individual containers like these DIY football lunch sacks. 

The time I saved making popcorn was used to make this cute Football Bread Bowl to serve homemade Guacamole. So cute and Mr. Wonderful's guacamole is the best!

Cowboy Caviar is an easy make ahead appetizer and is a family favorite. 

Our Chili Bar worked out great. I made the Spicy Turkey Chili early Sunday Morning and let it simmer all day. Then just before Half Time I set out the bowls and all the toppings so everyone could dish up their own. The Spicy Pulled Pork had also cooked all day but in the slow cooker. Once it had been shredded I put it back in the slow cooker and set it on warm so that it would be ready to go. All that was left was to set out the slider rolls, which I had pre~sliced, and the Coleslaw. 

Our Dessert was easy too. Red Jersey Jello Parfaits with Chocolate covered Peanut Footballs and...

....Chocolate Cheesecake Football Parfaits! 

There you have it. Our easy~peasy Super Bowl LIV menu.

Happy Friday!