Favorite Things

Simple Gifts

2011-11-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down
where we ought to be,
and when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained
to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,
to turn, turn, will be our delight
till by turning, turning we come round right.

— SHAKER SONG —

1848

by Elder Joseph Brackett

GIVING THANKS FOR ALL THE SIMPLE GIFTS IN MY LIFE!

Blessings for a happy Thanksgiving,

Donia

Kinfolk

2011-11-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

— KINFOLK —
www.kinfolkmag.com

I stumbled across this jewel of a publication earlier in the month and its simplicity of design and content was stirring. Kinfolk magazine is about the beauty of gatherings. From moments of solitude to intimate gatherings and group celebrations.

It was something I just had to share with you as we approach, to me, one of the most beautiful days of the year. Thanksgiving. A celebration of the simple, most basic and essential blessings mankind can enjoy. Food, family and fellowship. It is a celebration of our roots and all the Lord has given.

I hope you enjoy reading through it as much as I did. May it inspire you to have others into your home, something we often do to little of.

Blessings,

Donia

I had three chairs in my house: one for solitude,

two for friendship, three for society.

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden —

Simply Grateful

2011-11-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

THE GRATITUDE TREE

Since my husband has gone back to work, I have had to simplify my life.

It's a must to be organized! I have to streamline and multitask. I am constantly learning new ways to cook, clean and schedule more efficiently. I am purging the house of unwanted clutter room by room and seeking a "less is more" kind of life.

Those who will benefit are my children. More quality time with Mommy equals more peace and tranquillity in their lives and mine. Each week I try to make sure to incorporate craft time and exercise into at least one or two nights.

Since Avery has started school, time at night is limited to homework, the family meal and the nightly bedtime routine. For that reason, I was seeing a need for a little educational fun in our routine and I am trying to squeeze a family bonding activity in there as much as I can.

This is a perfect example of a simple and educational family activity! My friend Stacie, a former school teacher, told me about a blog she wrote last year on a "Gratitude Tree." I looked it up the next day and loved what she did. I appreciate the simplicity of the project rooted in one of the most valuable attributes a person can display, gratitude. I hope our family will benefit this month from thinking daily about life's blessings, large or small.

Simply grateful this month for all the Lord has given.

Blessings,

Donia

Rural Soul

2011-11-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Photo Courtesy ConrhodZonio.com

I'm a Southerner, an Okie, a Colorado mountain man's daughter. A farm girl in a city girl's body. I long for the lonely sound of wind through the pines. I marvel at the endless prairie skies, and my soul is stirred by waving fields of wheat. I believe pie binds, chocolate heals, casseroles comfort and biscuits are the way to a man's heart. Sentiment is essential, the new always leads back to the old and God is over all.

I belong nowhere and everywhere all at once. I am God's child and my life is His mission.

No, I did not grow up on a farm. In fact, I grew up in a mid-sized Colorado suburb, only having lived out in the country in a "mini-ranch" subdivision towards the end of middle school . By all reasoning, most would call me a suburban youth. While not a city girl one could not really call me a country girl either.

Facts withstanding, I am a tried and true country girl at heart. I always have been. My soul has always been restless. It doesn't belong in the city, it belongs under Gods big sky, where people give you the shirt off their back, friends gather to quilt, the country fair is the highlight of the summer and you greet the Lord when you step outside each day. The dirt runs through your fingers, you watch your food grow and you make the lovely out of what is available. It is where I am at home. Is it where I live? No, but it is where I dream of living one day.

By theblusash.com

Perhaps it is because it is in my roots. It's in my blood. My father's cousin still owns the family farm along the Ohio River Valley in Southern Illinois. There was always something stirring about visiting the old farm house his mother and her 12 brothers and sisters grew up in. Lillian Childers, my father's mother, was known all around for not putting up with any bull. That is, any literal bull!

Then there was my mother's father, born and raised on a farm in south-central Kentucky along the Green River. Although Grandad left those rural roots to attend college after World War II, he could make anything grow. I remember watching my brother follow him through the rows as he plowed and prepped his garden on those muggy Kentucky summer days.

Whatever the reason might be, this city livin' girl has a dream. A dream of moving back home. Back home to the country.
To the rural. To the quaint and simple.

Photo courtesy ConrhodZonio.com

Two years ago that dream seemed impossible. Today it seems closer because I chose imperfection over perfection. You see, I was waiting for the perfect time to start my side business. Ever since my wedding day, almost ten years ago, I had longed to use my talents as a graphic designer to create lovely, personal and unique wedding stationery. I kept waiting for my husband to find that magical job that would allow me to quit and focus on the perfect launch of an exciting new endeavor. Life had other plans.

Year after year and prayer after prayer, that "magical" moment in time never came. Eight years later I had two kids, a husband who couldn't find work in a down economy and a job that could barely cover the bills. I tried always to be grateful, for in many ways we were so blessed. Our children were beautiful, healthy and a delight, we had a roof over our heads and each other. But I still felt the need to ask God "Why?" I will be honest. I was bitter. I was angry. I felt trapped by circumstances out of our control. God often seemed far away, obscured by life's sometimes suffocating obstacles. I didn't understand, but I had to believe He was there waiting for me.

Top Photo Courtesy Clayton Austin Photography

As always the Lord works in ways we do not understand. No, there wasn't an "aha" moment where the clouds broke and the sunbeams shown down from heaven. But there was this crazy desperate sense of necessity to create a door through which I could walk. Through which all these talents the Lord had blessed me with could be freed. This drive came from that which I despised: the difficulties life's circumstances had dealt our small family.

Over the last two years there have been great highs and low lows, but there is a freedom and a creative outlet that has renewed my faith in God's time and a confidence in who He has made me. I see Him at work in my garden growing things in me that I did not know were there. I am now the proud owner of The Blu Sash and the joys and heartaches of running your own business. I also still work full-time, having recently been promoted, while my husband has found work outside his field and we are continually blessed by the gift of our children.

By theblusash.com

Life isn't easy, but it's a blessing. There is no perfect except what is found in the Lord's creation and purpose. Both the sunshine and the rain bring forth a garden which will nourish you and those around you. Perhaps that is why I love to be near God's country. It is there that I am the closest to being who he made me to be. Unobscured by the concrete walls of those things that do not matter, you grow.

Bloom where you are planted, you rural soul.

Many Blessings, Donia Simmons

{ THE BLU SASH }

theblusash.com | facebook.com/theblusash | theblusash.blogspot.com

859.576.0011

All Hallows Eve

2011-10-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

ALL HALLOWS EVE

"Nothing that is complete breathes."

— Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

Yes, I know... it's been awhile. Perfection has scared me away from blogging this year. I have grand ideas and if I can't execute them perfectly, then I don't blog at all.

In this crazy thing called life, I am learning to let go of the need for perfection in some areas so that I can actually live. Yes, I know its a novel idea, but I often have to remind myself what this life is really all about. It's more important that I celebrate the season in fun ways with my children then having the perfect blog replete with Halloween printables from The Blu Sash and the perfect party table photo shoot.

And so it is. All Hallows Eve in all its sweet and lovely imperfection. At least it is to me. When I look at these grainy iPhone photos I see Avery and I sprinkling glitter on the black branches, we are writing silly messages and drawing Jack-o-lanterns on our chalkboard bottles. West and I are hanging cloth ghosts with hand drawn faces from our ghost tree. We are eating our dinner by the glow of pumpkin light.

The fear that I might wake up one day and regret what I didn't do with my children far out weighs the fear of imperfection.

I would rather be an imperfect mother than a perfect designer any day!

Bat Garland, a simple & fun craft.

The Simmons Family Ghost Tree

Blissful Brides

2011-09-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

It has been way too long since I've written a blog, but for me that is good news as I have been happily designing some super fun and amazing invitations this year. I am in love with this job! I enjoyed setting up a display this weekend at the Bridal Bliss show and was privileged to meet some wonderful new brides-to-be! It is my hope that we will be able to create some "blissful" wedding invitations together this fall and next spring.

Here are a couple of not-so-great iphone shots from The Blu Sash booth Sunday. Congratulations to Chelsea Roster for winning a free custom designed invitation from The Blu Sash!

Give me a call — 859.576.0011!

Happy Fall!

Let them eat cake

2011-05-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

ONE FISH...

Hello! Happy rainy and cold Wednesday to you! I thought we all could use a little bright spot in our day, so I am posting a cake I did for a "Suessical" birthday party. This is by no means an original cake design, but I LOVED making it. I don't make cakes professionally, but love doing them on occasion for family and friends.

Dr. Suess and I go way back. Cat in the Hat was my absolute favorite book and the fish was my favorite character. In fact, I have the exact same book my mother read to me at home. I now read it to my kids regularly. It's missing it's spine, but it's still in good shape! I marvel at my mother's ability to keep things so well preserved.

I truly credit Dr. Suess with inspiring my illustrative style and my my passionate love for children's books! Speaking of those two things, I hope to have more to share with you all in that arena later this year or early next year. I have some exciting things I am "cooking" up graphically, but there is still a lot of groundwork to be laid. I am so excited though!

Have a "Suessical" day!

A fresh perspective

2011-03-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

The word I cannot get out of my head today is [ FRESH! ]

Fresh air, fresh flowers, fresh strawberries, fresh lettuce. Everything is new again and I am celebrating simple joys. The joy of opening my windows wide, noticing the sky again, the fresh fragrance after a spring rain and the way a the daffodil my son gave me smells so sweet.

Open your windows today and celebrate the simple pleasures life affords. We are blessed to be here! Each day is fresh and NEW.

1) NEST PRETTY THINGS on ETSY

{ Rosy Bracelet }

1) 1AMANDA on ETSY

{ A Wedding Wish Brooch Bouquet — by Amanda Heer }

1) 0MIN on ETSY

{ T iny Leaf }

1) WARMNFUSZZIES'S on ETSY

{ Sugar Pop Cathedral Window Pillow Cover }

"The earth laughs in flowers"

EE CUMMINGS

Brown Paper Packages: Emergency Snowman Kit

2011-01-16T23:05:00.000-08:00

In case of emergency snow day ... bundle up, grab your "Emergency Snowman Kit" and venture out into the great white unknown!

Make this quick and easy craft with the kids next time it snows. Send them on a treasure hunt through the house and out in the yard to gather the supplies for your very own Snowman Kit. Then put it straight to use or better yet, package it up, have the kids make a cute card and take it to a neighbor or friends house for some instant snow day fun!

Don't forget the hot cocoa!

EMERGENCY SNOWMAN KIT
{ EVERY HOME SHOULD HAVE ONE }

1 ] EYES : SEEING IS BELIEVING.
For my kit, I picked out some large navy blue buttons I had in my sewing drawer,
but acorns, large marbles, rubber bouncy balls or, of course, coal would do.

2 ] NOSE : THE NOSE KNOWS.
A cinnamon stick will do nicely for a nose that you can reuse
or you could purchase a small wooden cone and have the kids paint it orange!

3 ] MOUTH : WHEN YOU'RE SMILIN' THE WHOLE WORLD SMILES AT YOU.
Anything will do for a mouth! A pipe cleaner, a ribbon, or my favorite ... rick-rack! A snowman's smile
always melts my heart and you can't help but smile back!

4 ] BUTTONS : BUTTON UP!
A snowman must be clothed in weather appropriate fashion! Scour the house for old
unwanted buttons and seal them up in a plastic bag, a cute sack or an old breath mint tin.

5 ] HAT : IT'S OLD HAT.
Grab an old hat out of the closet or head on over to your local store

and grab a hat and some mittens on clearance.

For what is a snowman without a hat?

6 ] SCARF : THE FINISHING TOUCHES.
A snowman isn't complete without the cutest old scarf you can find!

Grab one out of the closet or run down to the local thrift shop.

7 ] ARMS : WRAPPED IN A WARM EMBRACE.
Last but not least find a couple of suitable sticks for a set of loving arms.

THEN ....

8 ] BUNDLE UP : WRAP YOUR SWEET SNOWMAN BITS INSIDE THE SCARF.

9 ] IT'S A WRAP : TIE THE SCARF BUNDLE TO THE END OF YOUR TWO STICKS

& VENTURE OUT INTO THE GREAT WHITE WORLD!

10 ] BUILD A BETTER SNOWMAN :

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!

Kentucky Bride Bridal Show 2011

2011-01-11T13:43:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing first time at the Kentucky Bride Bridal Show this last weekend! There was non-stop traffic to our booth and my lovely friend Sarah was so gracious to help me out. My precious daughter let me steal all her bedroom furniture and my sweet husband hauled it all in and out of the swagger-wagon for me. My wonderful mother and sister are the ones who made this opportunity possible for The Blu Sash, so a special thank you to all the people I love the most.

I look forward to the future of The Blu Sash and the new brides I will be working with this year. It has been such a privilege!

I'll be posting the winner of the FREE custom invitation design tomorrow, so check back! Sweet dreams and good night!

Blessings,

Donia

Let them eat Cake

2011-01-03T10:16:00.001-08:00

"Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer ..."

— PROVERBS 30:24-25

If you've been following this blog and my 1-year old business, you know that I occasionally make cakes for friends. The Blu Sash leaves the baking and cake decorating to the professionals the rest of the time. Once in a while I will have a friend ask me to make a cake for a special occasion and I will oblige as I love to experiment and try something new.

A few weeks ago a dear friend called wanting me to make a "Mad Hatter" cake for his wife's birthday and I was more than happy to do it. I knew mine wouldn't be Cake Boss quality, but I thought it would be fun to give it my best. It was a late night with a few rough patches in the wee morning hours. At 2 am I was trying to glue the fondant base back down to the cake with frosting. The fondant was splitting apart due to the weight of the top two cakes [note to self: more dowels next time]. At 3 am I said a prayer, put the cake in the fridge and trudged off to bed hoping the morning would not present a toppled cake. The next morning the frosting had set up nicely, I put on the finishing touches and viola, it was done!

It was handed off to my friend and I held my breathe as I waited to hear that it had made it's long journey through the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, without incident. The news came and it was safe at home. What a glorious feeling! A job well done, despite my fears of the cake's stability. I couldn't wait to hear about Emillee's response upon seeing it!

Then the news came. The bad news. Ants. Ants had found the cake during the night between delivery and birthday party. A crushing blow to all involved! Nothing could be done and the cake was a loss.

I feel so heart-broken for Ben that I am seriously thinking about making him a cake to take her for Valentines. It was such a sweet, loving gesture and then the ants had to come and crash the party. You can't blame them though. They were just doing their job. Frosting, cake and raspberry filling are hard to resist!

Here are my wishes for you in 2011: May you have your cake and eat it too!

{ Although The Blu Sash will not be in the business of baking your cake, we do offer cake design services and have local vendors we work with to create the perfect cake for your occasion. Let us coordinate with those lovely invitations and party favors we look forward to designing for you! }

859.271.6934 or 859.576.0011
donia@theblusash.com

An Invitation to Love } Side By Side

2010-12-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

{ SIDE BY SIDE }

A WEDDING INVITATION SUITE

All Photos Courtesy of www.claytonaustinlovestories.com

[ Stationery photos by The Blu Sash ]

Oh we ain't got a barrel of money,

Maybe we're ragged and funny;

But we'll travel along, singin' a song,

Side by side.

— Harry Woods (melody) & Gus Kahn (lyrics) 1927

Some things are timeless. A century old photograph buried in a box. A dress in an attic trunk. A letter from the front lines. A rusting license plate hanging in a barn. The words to a song long forgotten. They still have the power to move you because they posses a human element that can touch any heart regardless of century, decade or hour.

Love is timeless. It is has and always will be the essence of our very being. Today, perhaps love has become too much of a packaged product. We polish and shine our love for all to see. It must be perfect. Unblemished. An ideal. A dream. But reality sets in. Love becomes bumped along the dusty road of life. There are detours, delays, road blocks, wrecks. Often love is left along these lonely roads of disappointment and despair when it is at these times love needs us most.

Would it be that more went into marriage realizing that the dream is about living in this imperfect world with a determination to work for something that is worth more than it costs. What many fail to realize is that the potholes are melded together with periods of breath-taking scenery, memorable stops and mountain top experiences. If one gets out of the car halfway through the journey, so much will forever be missed.

Brooke and Manny's wedding made me think of the beauty found in the rough patches of life. The Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, Mississippi was full of just such beauty. The beauty of the forgotton, the beauty of the well-loved, the beauty of simplicity, the beauty of trials and tribulation, the beauty of the soul and the beauty of love.

Brooke is my dear cousin and this wedding was a family event. I am so thankful this vivacious woman with a great thirst for life allowed me to be a part of her day through design. It was a weekend full of love and joy, tears and laughter, fellowship and celebration, song and dance. Many people from many walks of life coming together to celebrate a time, a place and a love. A love in all its beautiful, flawed, timeless perfection.

{ WEDDING INVITATION SUITE }

[ All artwork used in this invitation suite was drawn on the computer

using vintage 1920's labels and music sheet artwork as reference. ]

[ Vellum direction cards were enclosed with the invitations

and envelopes were lined with a metallic paper and coordinating pattern. ]

[ The reply card was a 2-sided postcard and

1920's scrollwork was carried over onto the envelope flap. ]

{ SIDE BY SIDE }

"Young lovers seek perfection. Old lovers learn the art of sewing shreds together and of seeing beauty in a multiplicity of patches. " — Finn, How to Make An American Quilt

An Invitation to Love } Deco Love

2010-11-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

{ DECO LOVE }

A WEDDING INVITATION SUITE

by The Blu Sash

Wedding Photos Courtesy of www.truereligionphotography.com

Stationery Photos by The Blu Sash

I love all things vintage. If it's old and once belonged to someone else .... I love it. Instantly. I love to ponder the story behind the item. I wonder who once wore this brooch? What was she like? What special occasions did she wear it to? When I am in an old building I immediately want to know it's history, it's story, what tales it's walls might hold.

When Kevin, a good friend of my sister, contacted me about designing her save-the-dates and wedding stationery I was beyond excited. Kevin has a timeless elegance to her. Her classic design tastes and love of bygone eras were evident from the start of our conversations. While there were classic and vintage elements that Kevin and Nate wanted to incorporate into their wedding there was also a small hint of modern sophistication to what they were planning. I tried to season their Art Deco inspired invitations with a sprinkling of that modern elegance and hopefully captured the mood of their day in their "Deco Love" wedding suite.

Many blessings Kevin and Nate for a forever love!

{ WEDDING INVITATION SUITE }

RECEPTION INVITATION CLOSE-UP

CEREMONY INVITATION

RESPONSE POSTCARD

RECEPTION INVITATION

THANK YOU CARDS

{ I'll be loving you always. — Irving Berlin (1925) }

{ Handmade jewelry by the bride that mimics the burst in the invitations }

{ Drink labels designed by The Blu Sash and made by the bride }

{ All because two people fell in love. }

Goosebumps! We were featured in Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book!

2010-10-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

I just had to share that my designs were featured on Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book this week! My thanks to my client and new found friend Jessica for making this happen.

Jessica took a chance on me this spring. I was an unknown designer, designing my first set of wedding invitations, for my first client. She was brave!

I had no portfolio of invitations to show her. All she had to go on was what she had seen me present at a couple of Urban Marketplace shows. She has impeccable taste and was amazing to work with! I could not have asked for a better first client and I am thankful to her for sharing her wedding details with Style Me Pretty.

I am on cloud nine this morning and am remembering that you can get goosebumps without being cold!

Blessings,

Donia

An Invitation to Love} She Sells She Shells

2010-08-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

{ SHE SHELLS }

A WEDDING INVITATION SUITE

All Photos Courtesy of www.jenniferangeloro.com

The art of a wedding invitation. From start to finish it's about discovering the bride and groom and the substance of their bond. Molding it into a visual representation of who they are and what their love represents. It's a depiction of that day. That day and place that is purely theirs in time and space. It belongs to no one else but them. We may be privileged enough to share in a small portion of that day, but only they will truly reside in it.

Our wedding invitation hangs in our home. My husband has one he carries in his Bible. When I see it I am in my eggshell white organza gown standing on the green lawn outside the quaint Ryssby church. The Rocky Mountains are basking in the glow of the brilliant sunset. I'm waiting for my husband to find the keys to the vintage white mustang we will leave in. My Uncle and cousins have sent him on a hunt for the keys. He finds them. My family and dearest friends blow bubbles. We hug and wave our way to the car. We drive off down a rural Colorado country road. The wind is blowing my veil and all we can do is laugh. A brilliant laugh. A giddy laugh. A laugh like no other on a day like no other. Our day.

I hope I captured your day Jessica and Matt. I hope when you see your invitation you are transported to a day when time stood still and it was just the two of you, in love.

{ WEDDING INVITATION SUITE }

CUSTOM LETTERPRESS INVITATIONS, ACCOMMODATION CARDS, VELLUM MAPS,

ENVELOPE LINERS AND SAVE-THE-DATE CARDS

{ WEDDING PROGRAMS }

{ MENU CARDS }

A very special thanks to Jessica for entrusting me with the great task of designing for someone with such impeccable taste. Another special thanks to Jennifer Angeloro Photography for your amazing talent! I will recommend you to any bride getting married on Sanibel Island.

She sells sea shells by the seashore.

A Favor - Kentucky Bride Magazine

2010-07-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since my last post, so I am pleased to announce that Kentucky Bride Magazine included our cake pops in their summer issue! What an honor!

They featured a great shot in the magazine and I thought I would share a couple of lovely pictures from the photo shoot. I had such a great time making these teal and red flower cookie pops and Martine's Pastries did a lovely job of making The Blu Sash cake pop designs blosom and come to life.

Thank you Kentucky Bride!

"Bloom where you are planted."

The Blu Sash offers these custom ordered treats for your special event. Please give us a call! We can design the perfect cake or cookie pop for your themed party or that special day.

Call 859.271.6934 or e-mail: donia@theblusash.com.

What a doll - A Cookie Doll!

2010-04-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

THE COOKIE DOLL

What a Doll: Cookie Dolls!

I'm so excited to announce this fashionable little treat that is certain to bring delight to any party! This doll of a cookie was supposed to make her debut at my daughter's 4th birthday, but due to a lack of time I waited. I presented her fashionably-fun self to the Bluegrass at the March Urban Marketplace to great response!

The idea struck me in the midst of designing my daughters paper doll party invitations. Why not make a cookie doll that the girls could dress up with clothes and accessories? How amazingly fun would that be?

These dolls are an absolutely adorable idea for a birthday party favor, bridal shower, Derby party or tea party! They are interactive and amazingly delicious! What girl from 2-100 wouldn't love to dress one of these up?

Each doll comes with a skirt, shirt, hat or crown, two accessories, a pair of shoes and it's own box. Choose from any seasonable color you desire but no white shoes for this doll after Labor Day!

ONE SMART COOKIE

GET THE LOOK FOR YOUR NEXT PARTY!

Purchase a Cookie Doll for your { very sweet } mother at the Urban Marketplace for Mother's Day { Urban Marketplace | May 8th | Hilton in Lexington Green }. Or simply order ahead and we will deliver one to you! Email us donia@theblusash.com or give us a call — 859.271.6934.

p.s. Derby lovers and Red Hatters...this one's for you!

Fashion Plate & Cup

2010-04-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

TEA CUP COOKIES

Fashion Plate & Cup: Tea Cup Cookies — It's time for tea!
All inspiration for these tea cups came from a delightful recipe that my mother sent me to use for my daughter's birthday tea party. I adapted the recipe to my liking and created these wonderful, not to mention, extremely tasty tea cup cookies.

These cake-like and not-too-sweet sugar cookies are coated in candy melts and can be used to serve small melon sized scoops of ice cream at a birthday party, tea party, bridal shower or baby shower.

ONE CUP...

...OR TWO?

We can create these tea cup cookies in any color you desire and the styles and patterns are endless. Let us create something unique for your event that will be the talk of the party.

If you are interested in placing an order from The Blu Sash for your upcoming party or event, please email us donia@theblusash.com or give us a call — 859.271.6934.

All Dolled Up

2010-04-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love getting "all dolled up"?

I adore that phrase and everything is stands for. My Memom always said that to me when I'd walk into a room dressed to the nines. "Why, aren't you just all dolled up!," she'd say. The child in her was ever present and her love of dolls was evidence of that. She had cabinets full of Madame Alexander dolls. Doll-face was a term of endearment she would call her granddaughters and great-granddaughters. I'll never forget the pack of paper dolls she sent me when I was away at college and the giddy feeling it gave me to look through all the outfits. She knew getting dolled up was key to a woman's perspective on life.

Getting dolled can mean something special is about to happen or it can mean you need to take a moment to remember who you are, where you've come from and where you're headed. That new dress, that hour at the salon, a bubble bath, an heirloom piece of jewelry or a stunning hat can make you feel like you can accomplish anything.

In honor of my Memom and all women out there who look forward to getting "dolled up," I would love to present, this week, some fun edible favors and enjoyable invitations that are sure to bring out the little princess in all of us.

"Amazing" Bridal Consultants Meeting at the Bodley Bullock House

2010-03-11T08:18:00.001-08:00

Last Thursday I had the privilege to attend and present some of my cake and cookie pops at the Kentucky Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) meeting. It was hosted by two amazing professionals in the Kentucky wedding industry, Mackenzie Spalding of One Fine Day and Melanie Mauer of Melanie Mauer Photography.

When I received the e-mail from Mackenzie, inviting me to bring my treats to the meeting, I was over the moon! Since cloudy winter days marked February, I thought I would try to bring some sunshine with me to the event. I came with a garden of cake and cookie pops to get everyone in the mood for sunshine and warmer weather. I had a marvelous time coming up with these sunny little confections and I hope everyone enjoyed them. My children certainly did!

Martine and Jim Holzmen of Martine's Pastries also brought many of their amazing pastries and I absolutely fell in love with their macaroons. They were so delicious and what amazing colors! They made me want to go home and design invitations to an ice cream social, just so I could serve some at the party. Martine's is the bakery who makes our cake pops possible and she and her delightful staff have been such a joy to work with! I highly recommend them and I hope to delight you with our unique cake pop designs for your wedding day event or party.

The event was in itself, breathtaking. It was like attending a mini-wedding. The Bodley Bullock House, is of course an exquisite piece of Lexington history and was a perfect venue for the meeting. Dupree Catering catered the event and the food was absolutely fabulous! I would highly recommend them if you are on the hunt for a top-drawer caterer. The stunning floral arrangements were compliments of John with Best of Flowers and Purdon's provided the gorgeous chivari chairs.

The topic of the evening was "Creating a Well Crafted Business" and the speaker was the lovely Melanie Mauer, who did an outstanding job. I was very inspired by her talk about a building a business that enriches your life. Her materials and ideas on organization and goal setting have already been helpful to me as I start my new venture. If you haven't met Melanie, she is quite possibly the nicest person I have ever met and so full of joy! On top of that she is one of the best photographers in Lexington. I love her work, just divine! She was so sweet to photograph my cake and cookie pops at the event and when she sent them to me I had butterflies! She made my display look like it was shot for the cover of Martha Stewart Living. Amazing, amazing work! I am so grateful to her for sharing these with me and allowing me to share them with you.

Enjoy the sunshine and the coming of spring!

How Sweet it is! { Cake Pops }

2010-02-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

We are proud to introduce to the Lexington area our sweetest favor yet: Cake Pops! We fell in love last year with Bakerella's amazing cake pops and wanted to bring these delightful treats to the Bluegrass. We are hoping you will fall in love too! What's not to love? Decadent cake, mixed with lip-smacking frosting, dipped in chocolate, decorated with love and placed on a stick. You will be as over the moon as I was when I first laid lips on one of these confectionery wonders!

The Blu Sash has teamed up with Martine's Pastries to offer these custom ordered treats for your special event. Please give us a call! We can design the perfect cake pop for your themed party or that special day. We hope to win your heart with these sweet treats!

Call 859.271.6934 or e-mail: donia@theblusash.com.

Two If By Sea "The Favors" — Cupcake Dreams and Candle Wishes: Part III

2010-02-05T14:02:00.000-08:00

HAVING A BALL!

Two If By Sea: The Favors
My favorite part of planning a party are the favors you hand out! I love giving gifts and I want that gift be memorable useful and fun. That's why most of my favors are handmade, edible delights or at least useful. I prefer not sending mothers home with tiny plastic toys that will easily break or clutter up the toy box. So I try to think of things that children will use over and over again or things will delight the taste buds and the eyes. Mom's go away happy and so do the kids!

To hold West's party favors, I purchased small galvanized pails from Oriental Trading. I had planned on painting them red and then stenciling the sailboat from the invitations on each one. Unfortunately, I ran out of time, but I would love a chance to make these for your party or nautical themed event! If you want to purchase larger buckets that are already painted, try Main St. Supply — very cute!

The various stations throughout the party had little treasures these tiny party goers could put in their buckets:

Sea-fairing Favor Buckets:

• Tiny beach balls (these red,white & blue ones matched perfectly)

• Sea Shells (these can be purchased or gathered yourself)

• Fish, Crab, Shell or Lobster Cookie from the "Go Fish" game (see how-to below)

• Chocolate coins from the pirate treasure chest

• Life preserver donut pops (see how-to below)

GO FISH!

THE COOKIES: First thing you will need is sugar cookie dough. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe to make these cookies, but any sugar cookie recipe will do. You can use store-bought dough, but my experience is that they won't hold their shape as well as the homemade dough.

INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES:

• Sugar cookie dough (homemade holds it's shape better than store bought)

• Nautical cookie cutters

• Red candy melts

• Royal icing (I use the version that calls for meringue powder rather than egg whites)

• Blue food coloring

• Cooling Rack

• Wax paper

• Deep ceramic bowl with wide opening

• Large clear treat bags

• Small white cotton twine (found at a hardware store or the hardware section of Wal-Mart)

A "CRABBY" COOKIE

COOKIE DIRECTIONS:
1) Take the dough and roll it out to between 1/8"-1/4" on a clean, floured surface.

2) Cut out the shapes and bake them until they are just barely beginning to brown. I find that keeps the cookie softer.
3) Carefully remove the cookies and place them on a cooling rack until completely cool.

4) While the cookies are baking and cooling prepare the royal icing. Once the icing is made, immediately divide it in to two airtight containers as it will dry out quickly.

5) Keep one container of the royal icing white and dye the other container a light blue.
6) Once all cookies are baked and cooled you can begin piping the white royal icing onto 1/2 of the fish and clam shell cookies. Pipe around the edges first with a smooth line and then flood the center of the cookie till until the surface is covered. (If your icing is running down the sides it may need to stiffen up a bit or you may be over-flooding). Set these aside to dry completely.

7) Take the other 1/2 of the fish and clam shell cookies and flood them with the light blue royal icing and set them aside to dry.
8) While the cookies are drying take your bag of red candy melts and pour 1/2 of the bag into a deep ceramic bowl with a wide mouth. Then microwave them on the defrost setting, stopping to stir them about every 30 seconds until completely melted. Using the defrost setting is very important as the regular setting can and will burn the melts.

9) Take the crab and/or lobster cookies and hold them upside-down between your thumb and your pointer finger and dip the top of the cookie into the candy melts, so that the top and most of the side is covered.

10) Turn the cookie over, holding it sideways above the bowl and shake any excess off in to the bowl (4-5 good taps of your hand against the bowl should do the trick). Now hold the cookie candy melt side up and shake gently back and forth to smooth out ridges. Carefully place cookie on a sheet of wax paper to dry. Repeat this until all the crab and lobster cookies are covered.
11) Once the royal icing is dry, you can go back and decorate the white cookies with light blue dots or outlines and the light blue cookies with white dots or outlines.

12) The final step is bagging the cookies. My advice is to let the cookies dry for a day before bagging them as any moisture in the bag will cause the frosting colors to bleed. Once the cookies are dry place them in the cellophane bags and tie up with knotted cotton twine for a nautical look. Leave some line on the end of the knot where you can clip the fish to the "fishing pole" in the "Go Fish" game.

A PARTY SAVER

THE LIFE PRESERVER POPS: From the start of planning this party, these life-preserver pops were running through my head and I just had to bring them to life. They were surprisingly harder to make than I thought they would be, but the end result was so cute. I displayed them in a large glass votive and a square glass vase filled with sand. The bagged pops were then stuck down in the sand and handed out to guests as they left the party.

INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES:

• Small powdered sugar donuts

• Red candy melts

• White candy melts

• Sucker sticks

• Styrofoam block

• Small clear treat bags

• Small white cotton twine (found at a hardware store or the hardware section of Wal-Mart)

LIFE PRESERVER DONUT POPS

LIFE PRESERVER DIRECTIONS:
1) Take an 1/8th of a bag of white candy melts and pour them into a small ceramic bowl. Microwave them on the defrost setting, stopping to stir them about every 30 seconds until completely melted. Using the defrost setting is very important as the regular setting can and will burn the melts.

2) Take a sucker stick and dip it about 1/2" down into the white candy melts. Then take a donut and place the candy melt end of the stick up through the bottom ring of the donut all the way up into the bottom of the top ring and stop. Do not push the stick all the way through the donut or it will not stay on the stick.
3) Place the donut pop down into the styrofoam and allow the candy melts to dry, thus securing the donut.

4) While the pops are drying, take your bag of red candy melts and pour 1/2 of the bag into a ceramic bowl. Microwave them on the defrost setting, stopping to stir them about every 30 seconds until completely melted. Using the defrost setting is very important as the regular setting can and will burn the melts.

5) Spoon the red candy melts into a decorator bag with a small round tip.
6) Carefully pipe the red bands onto the life preservers. This will take a steady hand and a little while to get the technique down. If the melts in the bag begin to harden, unscrew your metal tip, place decorating bag on a plate and microwave on the defrost setting for 10-30 seconds until warmed again. Continue piping.

7) Place pops back down into the styrofoam until completely dried.
6) Carefully place each pop into a treat bag and then tie with cotton twine. Knot each end of the twine for a nautical look.

THE LIFE POP DISPLAY

Give The Blu Sash a call if you would like to order these favors for your nautical themed birthday party or wedding. We would love to make your guests feel special! 859.271.6934 or donia@theblusash.com

Two If By Sea "Party Signs, Banners & Activities" — Cupcake Dreams and Candle Wishes: Part III

2010-02-05T13:58:00.001-08:00

NAUTICAL BIRTHDAY BANNER

Two If By Sea: Signs and Banners
This was the first time for one of my parties that I created signs for everything. I mean literally everything! I had signs for the food table, signs for each activity and of course a custom "Happy Birthday" banner for West. I was really pleased with how they turned out and plan on offering all of them on my Etsy shop when it opens this March. I will be offering generic pdf's of all the signs, with the option to customize them. I will also be offering the custom "Two if by Sea" birthday banner not only in paper, but also in vinyl for later use as a decoration for your child's room or play room. I will post links to my Etsy shop as soon as it is open, so please check back!

A CUTE WAY TO DIRECT PARTY GOERS

THE PARTY SIGNS: Each of these signs were printed at a local copy shop and tacked down to 8.5 x 11 tag board for weight. The signs were then taped with clear packing tape to large paint stirring sticks that can be bought at your local hardware store. I used an assortment of stainless steel buckets and navy blue buckets, filled with sand and rocks to place the signs down in. The rocks did a good job of providing the weight needed to hold the buckets down and the sand kept the signs upright.

THE ACTIVITIES: Each sign created corresponded with an outdoor activity or station. All of the activities planned for this party were free play as two year olds are hard to organize for a game. We did plan one game and the kids loved it! We had a "Go Fish" station where the kids could throw their line over and "catch" a cookie fish favor. They had such a good time and lined up quite nicely to catch their fish! Below you will find each of the signs and their corresponding activity:

{ Place this sign out front to greet visitors and provide directions to the party in back }

{ Place this sign on the cake table in a tall,
bucket shaped red vase filled with sand and shells }

{ Decorate a wagon with a sail, some cardboard boat sides, and some waves
for giving rides to those sea-faring 2-year olds. }

{ Load a shelf ( I used a cute boat bookshelf ), with beach towels,
sunscreen and bug spray for guests use. }

{ Fill your sandbox with shells bought at a local craft store or
those you brought back with you from your last beach vacation.
Let the kids dig them up as party favors with their favor buckets and shovels. }

{ Set up some outdoor tents and/or tunnels.
Place a treasure chest inside filled with gold chocolate coins as party favors. }

{ A large tub filled with beach balls for the taking adds fun to pool time play. }

{ Set this sign up by the wading pools for a cute touch. }

{ Purchase a large canvas tarp at your local hardware store
and cover it with bags of play sand for you own personal beach.
The kids will love digging and playing in it.
Afterward you have new sand for your sand box and easy clean up. }

{ For a game of "Go Fish", cover a large chair with a blue sheet or fabric
and drape some fish netting over the front of it
filled with shells and plastic or gummy fish.
Make a fishing pole out of a dowel rod and some cotton twine
tied on to it on one end and a clothes pin on the other end.
Make some adorable fish, lobster and crab cookies
and attach those for your "catch of the day".
The kids LOVED this game! }

CUSTOM BIRTHDAY SIGN: A simple 8.5 x 11 color print out can look adorable placed in a nice frame and can be kept as a decoration for a room or used in a child's scrapbook commemorating the event.

SAILING, SAILING — A CUSTOM BIRTHDAY SIGN KEEPSAKE!

Two If By Sea "The Cupcakes" — Cupcake Dreams and Candle Wishes: Part III

2010-02-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

CUPCAKE "CUTTERS"

Two If By Sea: The Cupcakes
As if a cake wasn't enough, I felt compelled to make cupcakes. Cute sailboat and whale cupcakes. I had to make them!

What you will need:

• White box cake mix (and required ingredients)

• 2-3 cans of butter cream frosting

• Blue food coloring

• Cupcake decorating set or decorating bag and large round tip

• Red gumdrop wedges for the sailboats
• Orange or blue gumdrop wedges for the whales
• Miniature orange or blue gumdrop wedges for the whale tails

• Colored toothpicks

• White fondant or white paper

• Blue star sprinkles or white round sprinkles for whale eyes

The Sailboat Cupcakes: I used a simple white box cake mix and white cupcake liners, (Silver cupcake liners would be really cute though), to make these cupcakes. Here's how to decorate them:

1) Take a can of butter cream frosting, or if you have the energy and time to make the frosting from scratch, by all means dive in! Die the frosting a pale blue.
2) Then using a large round tip, spiral the frosting in to the center from the outer edges of the cupcake.
3) To make the sails you can either roll out white fondant to 1/8 of an inch and cut with a small triangle cookie cutter or you can cut small triangles out of paper. You then take a blue toothpick and stab the toothpick through the bottom of the triangle sail and then back through the sail near the point at the top.
4) Take the sail, which is now on the toothpick, and put it through the center of the gumdrop wedge.

Anchors away! You're now sailing over the cupcake blue!

THE FLEET

The Whale Cupcakes: Repeat steps 1 and 2 above to make the cupcakes and frost accordingly. Here's how to decorate them:

1) Take a large orange wedge, or preferably blue if you can find them, and place the flat side down on the center of the cupcake, leaving a little room to the right of it for the tail.
2) Then take the miniature gumdrop wedge in a matching color and place it at an angle at the edge of the large wedge, so it looks like a tail.
3) To make the eye, take blue star sprinkles or white dot sprinkles and glue them to the front of the large wedge on either side with a tiny bit of frosting.

Here's to a whale of a cupcake — Enjoy!

Two If By Sea "The Cake" — Cupcake Dreams and Candle Wishes: Part III

2010-01-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

Two If By Sea: The Cake
Inspired by a Martha Stewart cake I had been wanting to make for a long time and West's sweet baby voice constantly saying "I see lighthouses", I came up with my own version of her adorable cake with delicious 7-minute frosting.

My version of the cake isn't the vision of perfection that Martha's is, but I thought it turned out well. Here's how to make it:

The Cake: Here's the step-by-step instructions on making this cake: Martha Stewart's Sailboat Birthday Cake
Here's the One-bowl Chocolate Cake recipe she uses: One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
Tip: Martha calls for two 8" square pans to make this cake, but I used two 9" square pans successfully.

I have to say that the chocolate cake recipe used here is absolutely delicious! I will make it again and plan on keeping this recipe as my must-have chocolate cake. It was so moist and so tasty!

THE 7-MINUTE FROSTING

The 7-Minute Frosting: I had never made 7-minute frosting before and I must say I loved it! It reminded me of marshmallow cream, but not as thick. Very light and tasty.

This frosting smooths on easily and is very different from typical frosting. It reminds me of a thicker version of royal icing. I couldn't get mine to peak on top as well as Martha's, but I was in a hurry and the frosting probably needed a few more minutes to set up before I attempted to make the peaks. You will need what is called a cake-comb to make the waves along the side of the cake. These can easily be purchased at a local craft or bake store for under $5.

THE CUTE SAILBOAT

The Sailboat: Now, every good sailboat cake needs a sailboat. Martha, of course, has a downloadable pdf file with the detailed instructions for making this boat. Just go to the how-to-page for the Sailboat Birthday Cake and click on the words "paper sailboat". The only modification I made to mine, was to use a ribbon for the flag instead of paper.

I am still trying to think of a clever way to make these for a party craft or a take home favor. They are just so cute! Any ideas?

The Lighthouse and Island: I wanted a quick way to build a lighthouse on West's cake and all I could think of was donuts, donuts, donuts. Chocolate and powdered donuts, made me think of the black and white striped Bodie Island lighthouse in the Outer Banks. I bought a box of regular sized chocolate and powdered donuts and bags of the smaller ones in both flavors.

Any lighthouse needs an island on which to sit and this is where baking chocolate came in. Big bricks of baking chocolate. I took the bricks and carved them with a knife (Please be careful!) until they resembled craggy rocks and then put them together in one corner of the cake, gluing them down to the cake with chocolate frosting. I also carved rocks to place around the four corners of the cake.

Then the light house construction could begin. Donut, by donut, I built the light house by alternating the chocolate and powdered sugar donuts, using frosting as glue, (Make sure not to use too much frosting, you don't want it oozing out the sides of your lighthouse.). I tried to use the largest donut I could find on the bottom and then tried to find ones that tapered off in size as I went up, saving the smallest donuts for the top. I had grander plans for the light at the top, but had to settle for a large marshmallow and a small yellow gumdrop, cut to size.

THE FISH COOKIES

The Fish Cookies: Martha's sugar cookie recipe calls for smaller fish cookie cutters than what I had, so I opted to use the larger one. I was already making fish, crab, lobster and clam sugar cookies for favors, so I made 5 extra fish, (One to spare!) for the four sides of the cake and flooded them with matching pale blue royal icing. Once the fish were made and the frosting had dried I placed one on each side of the cake or you could place several if you choose to make the smaller ones.

Here's to smooth sailing and even smoother frosting!

Call The Blu Sash if you would like us to design your child's birthday cake. We work with some amazing bakers in Lexington, Kentucky to create exactly what you dream up and we deliver. We also plan children's Birthday parties if you are interested in calling us for packages and pricing.
859.271.6934 or donias@theblusash.com

Two If By Sea "The Invitation" — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part III

2010-01-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

Two If By Sea: The Invitation

For my son's second birthday the theme was an easy pick. We had taken our first family vacation to the beach and aquarium in May and all West could talk about was lighthouses, "crabbies" and octopuses. Every we passed a tower-like structure, we heard "I see lighthouses" from the back seat. He had been impressed, to say the least.

Anything ocean related inspires me to no end, so I was thrilled to get started on the invitations for his party. I love the oceans majesty and wonder! I have always had a fascination with sharks and seashells, lighthouses and coral, sailboats and sand, so West comes by it naturally. Using cute silhouettes of ocean creatures and beach related structures in a pairing of light blue, navy blue and red, I came up with a retro nautical feel for the invites. The invitations were four (4.25" x 5.5"), individual sheets printed on a crisp white resume paper, rolled up and tied off with raffia and then placed in a bottle filled with sand and tiny seashells. These bottles, purchased from sandartsupplies.com, supposedly can be mailed with a label on them. I wanted to ere on the side of caution and mailed them in a padded envelope. The tricky part with these invitations was rolling them up tight enough to get them in the bottle and tying them off just right so they could be pulled out. Needless to say the invitations were a smashing success and an adorable keepsake.

If you are interested in ordering a customized version these invitations from The Blu Sash, please e-mail us donia@theblusash.com or give us a call — 859.271.6934.

Urban Marketplace and Capacity, Inc.

2010-01-13T11:31:00.001-08:00

I just participated in the 2nd ever Urban Marketplace courtesy of Capacity, Inc. If you are in Lexington and have started a small business, I highly recommend this opportunity to you. Nowhere in Lexington can you get the kind of promotion and booth space Capacity, Inc. is offering for the price. Capacity, Inc. is doing great things to help local women get their businesses going.

This Urban Marketplace found it's home at the new Ford Showroom in Brannon Crossing. I had a booth there this last Saturday and it was encouraging to get the kind of enthusiastic response I received. I really hope it will help get the word out about The Blu Sash and aid in my marketing efforts. I debuted my Cookie Pops at this Marketplace by handing out small samples to everyone that came by. I handed out all 64, so turnout was good. My only regret is that I did not take better pictures of the Cookie Pops and the booth. Fortunately Sherry and her lovely daughter Jessica with Capacity, Inc. had taken some pictures and were gracious enough to let me use them.

I hope you will make an effort to come to the next one on Saturday, February 13th. It will be at the Hilton Suites in Lexington Green for the next 4 months. Please come check out all that these businesses have to offer!

Just in time for Valentines Day, The Blu Sash will be debuting and selling Cake Pops in cooperation with Martine's. I will also be selling Cookie Pops and a gift your children will love: "Cookie Dolls". I will also be debuting The Blu Sash Etsy shop to the public where you can purchase custom invitations and other stationery products, along with displaying some creative ideas for your next party or event.

All I can say is I have butterflies! I hope to see you there February 13th!

Wildcat Ford Showroom — January Urban Marketplace

Product shot of Cookie Pop samples & Somewhere Over The Rainbow Invitation

The Blu Sash booth

Animal Crackers "The Party" — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part II

2009-12-10T13:34:00.001-08:00

Animal Crackers: The Party
With the invitations mailed and the cake designed I began to look for affordable favors, fun activities, creative food options and easy decorations. Here is what I came up with:

The Decorations: Keeping in mind that I was playing off all of Avery's favorites things we made sure to tie that theme in with the decor.

1) A STREAMER TENT: Due to the lack of time and help my husband and I had for this party, I did not get the amount of streamers I had envisioned for my "Streamer Tent", but all things considered, it turned out cute. My husband took alternating colors of streamers, that coordinated with the colors we were using, and streamed them from the chandelier in the dining room to the edges of the room all the way around. My vision was wall to wall coverage of streamers, but the time did not allow for it. Maybe you could tackle that one?

THE BARE-BONES "STREAMER TENT"

2) BALLOONS & FLOWERS: What is a Birthday party without balloons? Avery LOVED balloons at the time. A large bunch of multi-colored balloons to coordinate with the parties colors was just the right touch in the kitchen to make it look festive without going to a lot of trouble. I also lucked upon a gaudy $5 bouquet of daisies, at the grocery store, dyed bright colors. They were amazingly perfect for this party and added a wonderful touch to the food table.

VINTAGE "ABC" CARDS

3) VINTAGE ABC CARDS: We lined the dining room chair rail with all her vintage ABC flash cards, which made for cute, quick and easy decor.

4) KIDS TABLE: We borrowed a child-sized banquet table and chairs from church, which fit perfectly in the dining room, while still allowing room for toys and parents. We covered the table with a long roll of brown craft paper and placed stainless steel buckets of various shapes and sizes on the table filled with crayons and chalk for drawing. The kids had a blast coloring and so did the parents. The table was quite artsy by the time the party was over. We topped the table off with large round multi-colored confetti that gave the table a colorful and festive look and mimicked the look of the invitations.

5) THE FOOD TABLE: The food table was covered with a small, simple, white table cloth turned sideways and covered with the same confetti that the kids table had been covered with. I used various pieces from my dishes that were colorful or made of various materials to give the table an eclectic look. To highlight the cake at the center I placed the cake plate on an upturned green planter.

The Food: We served all of Avery's favorite foods at the party which took place over lunch. All of the foods we chose to serve were easy to make and quick as it was just my husband and I preparing the food for the party. Here's the menu:

• Peanut butter & jelly Quarters
• Ham and cheese quarters
• Miniature pigs-in-blankets
• Cheese & crackers
• Relish tray with dip
• Fruit salad: Watermelon balls, cantaloupe balls & purple and green grapes
• Cheddar bunnies
• M&M's
• Animal crackers (of course!)
• Large pitcher of lemonade

HER FAVORITE FOODS AT TWO

The Activities: There is NO way to organize toddlers and play a game. I've tried it. Please tell me if you have - I would love to know what you did! That being said we opted for free-play at this party in a tight space and it worked out quite well. Here is what we did:

1) PLAY KITCHEN: At this point in time our dining room was serving as a temporary play-room, so we were able to rearrange things and leave her play kitchen in the dining room for free-play. The kids loved it!

2) TENT & TUNNELS: We have a pop-up play tent and tunnels with balls that we placed all along one side of the room and the kids had a "ball" running through them.

3) WAGON: You don't have to go anywhere to have fun in a wagon! We placed our new wagon by the window and the kids loved climbing in and sitting together.

3) CHALK BOARD: In addition to coloring on the table we had a small chalkboard and a tin of chalk set up for drawing.

A WAGON IS A LOAD OF FUN IF YOU'RE TWO!

The Favors: I usually like to go all out with my favors, but being pregnant at this time, I opted for affordable, fun and easy. Each child got a $1 tub of sidewalk chalk and a box of the original Barnum's animal crackers I loved as a child. You can't get a more perfect or vintage fit than Barnum's animal crackers for an "Animal Crackers" party.

ANIMAL CRACKERS & SIDEWALK CHALK FAVORS

Animal Crackers "The Cake" — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part II

2009-12-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

Animal Crackers: The Cake
Playing off of the invitations and her love of carousels, I envisioned a tall round cake with two tiers, three layers each, in a creamy yellow with colorful frosting polka dots and topped with a miniature carousel made of animal crackers.

Being 3 months pregnant at the time I looked for ways to save time on this cake monstrosity, by using cake mixes, jams, store bought frosting and ribbon. Even so, I crawled into bed at 3 a.m. the night before the party. Crazy momma! What we won't do for our children.

The Cake Tiers: Each tier of the cake was 3 layers, with each layer being a different kind of cake. I chose a confetti white cake mix, a lemon yellow cake mix, and a decadent chocolate cake mix for the three layers. Layering the cake in the following order for each tier; chocolate, confetti white, and lemon yellow; I placed raspberry jam between the chocolate and the confetti white cakes and then orange marmalade between the confetti and the lemon yellow cakes. This combination of cakes and jams may sound bizarre, but it was surprisingly tasty!
Tip: Make sure to use dowel rods which you can find at any cake or craft store for stability. Place them down in the center of the bottom cake. It will keep a cake this tall from sliding or falling.

THE LAYERS

The Frosting: For the frosting I used a store-bought cream cheese frosting that I had planned on tinting a pale yellow. As luck would have it, it turned out to be the perfect color straight from the can. Make sure you have 4-6 cans of frosting to frost a cake like this. The keys to eliminating the crumbs from your frosting is to spread it on thick in long sweeping strokes and if there is time to do a crumb coat I highly suggest it. A crumb coat is a first layer of frosting that is allowed to dry or set in the fridge overnight. This ensures that the second coat will be virtually crumb free. Sadly, I did not have time for a crumb coat on this cake and it was not crumb free. Fortunately, two-year-olds are forgiving little people. Spreading the frosting on thick with the second coat will ensure a more even surface and will prevent your spatula from sticking to the cake or the crumb coat and pulling it up.

Now, comes the hardest part and that is smoothing the frosting out. I have yet to master this skill, but I hope one day to perfect it. I have found that longer sweeping strokes with the full-length of the spatula smooth better than shorter, choppier strokes with only the end of the spatula pressing the frosting. Another very useful tip I learned in 4-H years ago, was to dip your spatula in a cold glass of water, gently shake the excess water off and then smooth over rough spots. It really helps!

THE RIBBON STRIPPING, LETTERING & POLKA DOTS

The Decorations: As a last minute stroke of, what I thought was genius, I decided to use ribbon on the bottom half of the cake for my stripes rather than frosting. It saves you from having to get the stripes perfectly even, smooth and spaced correctly with a piping bag, which can be very difficult. I was also running low on frosting and wanted to have enough for the polka-dots. I alternated colored ribbon stripes all the way around the entire bottom half of the cake. I measured out the ribbons, cut them all at the same time and then tacked them on with frosting. To cover the uneven spots at the top and bottom, where the ribbons ended, I piped coordinating polka-dots in alternating colors around the base of the top and bottom tiers. This technique saved oodles of time.

I then wrote Avery's name on the top tier at the front in a font similar to what I had used on her invitations. Being a graphic designer and someone who LOVES fonts this is fairly easy for me to freehand. If it's not easy for you, try printing out the letters in your font of choice to the exact size you want them. Then cut them out and carefully arrange them on the cake. Take a toothpick and trace around them in the frosting and then peel the paper letters off the cake. Pipe the letters with alternating colors.

After piping in the name, I placed medium and large polka-dots in the various colors all over the top tier of the cake and piped a very small border of tiny dots in alternating colors all the way around the edge of the cake top. Mine were somewhat sloppy as I was getting very tired at that point!

The Carousel: To make the carousel I took a small hand-held flag that had a finial at its top and carefully removed the flag and staples. Using the pole as the center of my carousel, I placed it down in the center of the top cake to the height I preferred. I then took 5 colored toothpicks and stuck them down in the outer edges of the cake top at even intervals. I took the same colored ribbons I had used on the cake, measured them out and then using a thin strip of teal-colored duck tape, I taped them all to the center pole at the very top, just below the finial by winding the tape around the top of the pole about 3 times to secure the ribbon (Please make sure that the ribbon is spaced around the pole evenly and not taped down in the same spot).

I set up 4 or 5 animal crackers marching in a circle around the pole as if on a carousel and then
strung the ribbon out toward the toothpicks (one ribbon per toothpick), to make my tented carousel. I poked the ribbon through the top of each toothpick to hold it in place. (Make sure there is some slack in the ribbon before you poke the tip of the toothpick through it. You want the ribbon to swag a little between the flag pole and the tooth pick to resemble a tent. Allow about 4" of ribbon to hang down from the other side of the toothpick.) Now you have a miniature carousel. For extra measure stick a parade of animal crackers somewhere around the base of the cake.

THE CAROUSEL

Animal Crackers "The Invitation" — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part II

2009-12-08T09:25:00.001-08:00

Animal Crackers: The Invitation

For my daughter's second birthday, I wasn't sure what to do. Her interests were quite unusual for a two-year old. Musicals. Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music were her favorite movies, with Oklahoma running a close third. We were routinely singing "My Favorite Things" and "Doe a Deer" at bedtime. She watched the carousel scene in Mary Poppins over and over and loved listening to a song we had on CD about carousels. Reciting ABC's and 123's were a daily practice, she was taken with the moon and adored cooking with us at night, so we chose to celebrate the eclectic mix of all her favorite things she loved and was doing at the age of two.

Inspired visually by a vintage set of ABC's flash cards Avery and her father played with every day and a song I couldn't get out of my head "Animal Crackers in my soup..." from an old Shirley Temple movie, I came up with a vintage look. Using eclectic imagery and whimsical colors these vintage invitations, paired with red-orange polka-dotted envelopes from Envelopemall.com, were fun and unusual.

If you are interested in ordering a customized version these invitations from The Blu Sash, please e-mail us donia@theblusash.com or give us a call — 859.271.6934.

Let them eat cake

2009-12-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

This morning I delivered my first commissioned cake to a wonderful friend who presented me with this great opportunity as a way to get my name out to the community.

I love making cakes. I am passionate about cakes, but I have to say, I will leave the cake making to the professionals. It was way too stressful, but it was also a whole lot of fun! If my daughter's cake falls in or that glop of chocolate frosting falls somewhere it's not supposed to be — oh well — I will do it differently next time. If you trip and drop the purchased baby shower cake on the way to the door — that's a whole new ball game.

I was much relieved when I dropped off the package at it's final destination. Everyone was pleased and so was I!

Although The Blu Sash will not be in the business of baking your cake, we do offer cake design services and have local vendors we work with to create the perfect cake for your occasion. Let us coordinate with those lovely invitations and party favors we look forward to designing for you!

Here's to having your cake and eating it too!

Giving Thanks

2009-12-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Today I am giving thanks! I am thankful for the wonderful time I had with my family last week over turkey, mashed turnips and some wonderful pumpkin pie! My parents and one of my two sisters traveled from Colorado, my brother and sister-in-law came from Louisville and my husband's family traveled from Tennessee and Maryland to join us in what I believe was a wonderful day of thanks.

As any holiday goes, my thanksgiving was not without incident. I apparently cut someone off in the Kroger parking lot, unbenownst to me, and was tracked down among the flowers and told I

had been rude. I stood there stunned and on the verge of tears trying to remember how or when I had cut someone off. To her credit, it was the kindest "telling off" I had ever heard or received and she was right when she said to take time and enjoy the holidays, "it's all about family."

I came out of the store crying and made my father drive the rest of the way home while I sobbed. I pride myself on being polite, putting others first, saying a kind word or sharing a smile with a stranger, so to be told I was rude was a crushing blow to my spirit. Even so, it was a good time for introspection and focus on what is truly important during the holidays. Family. There was an additional benefit too — all the crying got my dad in the kitchen with me. We baked the pumpkin pie together — a first for us. I will forever remember my father pureeing the fresh baked pumpkin in my tiny food processor one cup at a time, making sure it was as smooth as could be. It was truly a work of art and love. The pumpkin pie was the best I've ever made and the best I've ever tasted.

Sometimes it's the troubles and struggles in life that help us come up with the best solutions. A sign on the store shelf stating there are no more cans of pumpkin and an incident at Kroger, can result in quality time spent with loved ones and a truly from-scratch, melt-in-your-mouth, mmm-this-is-so-good, pumpkin pie.

Please enjoy these photos, recipes and the Thanksgiving invitation suite I designed for our dinner this year. I will be offering this invitation suite and more in my Etsy shop this month. It is currently under construction, but I will be having an Etsy open house with plenty of freebies and discounts coming soon to a browser near you.

I hope your holidays were blessed with family, friends and a thankful heart!

"Tall Oaks Little Acorns" Invitation Suite:

This year when it was decided that we would have 15 family members in our home for Thanksgiving I decided to come up with a theme and design a suite of stationary for the occasion including invitations, menu cards, place cards, recipe cards and last but not least ... thank you cards. I hope to place these up in my new Etsy shop as freebies during our open house later this month along with other great custom stationary designs that can be printed at home, a print shop or customized for your upcoming event.

My inspiration for this design comes from our own home. We have a large Bur Oak tree that is at least 150 years old, if not older, in our front yard. It provides us with shade in the summer and a home for numerous squirrels in the winter. I've taken my love for that oak tree and the squirrels and made it a subtle decorating theme throughout our home with oak leaves, acorns, squirrels and rabbits adorning much of our decor. I decided to carry that theme on into invitations to our family thanksgiving this year, with various quotes about acorns, trees and thanksgiving on each piece.

"From little acorns mighty oaks do grow" — American Proverb

Appetizers:
• Cheese Ball and Crackers
• Olive Nut Spread
• Relish Tray

Thanksgiving Menu:

• Roasted Turkey

• Honey Glazed Ham

• Mashed Potatoes and Turkey Gravy

• Sweet Potato Casserole

• Green Bean Casserole

• Mashed Turnips with Crispy Shallots

• Fresh Buttered Corn

• Cranberry Celebration Salad

• Deviled Eggs

• Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls (fresh from a bakery in Maryland)

Dessert Menu:

• Fresh Pumpkin Pie
• Maple Molasses Pecan Pie
• Caramelized Apple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting

Caramelized Apple Spice Cake:

Another Martha Recipe I had to try! Click here for the recipe. Wonderful cake - great frosting! I did not have the time nor the energy to make the marzipan decorations with the gold luster dust, although I wanted to ... badly. I even had to have my mother make the frosting and frost the cake as I had been up all night with a sick child, so I have plans to recreate this cake at a later date and give it, it's due justice. It's a delicious recipe — just a word of warning — It takes FOREVER to make and I didn't even make the marzipan decorations. I love you Martha, but some of your recipes are are back breakers. Now that I've said that, I must say I've never made one of your cakes that I didn't like.

Maple Molasses Pecan Pie:
This is a favorite of mine! I make it every Thanksgiving. I basically take Martha Stewart's Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie and add molasses instead of bourbon. Very delicious!

Fresh Pumpkin Pie:

Due to the fact that there was absolutely NO cans of pumpkin on the store shelves this Thanksgiving, my mother and I purchased a small pie pumpkin and made this pie the old fashioned way. We roasted the pumpkin and my father scooped out the insides and pureed them in a food processor. May I say, it was well worth the effort. I am not a pumpkin pie fan. I make it because my husband is PASSIONATE about it, but I could take it or leave it. Well, I must say that I had two slices of this pie. Fantastic!

You want my recipe? Well, my favorite recipe, and I've tried others, is Libby's Pumpkin Pie recipe. Yes, the one on the back of the can. It always wins. Maybe that's why it's on the back of every can? What made this one better, sorry Libby, was the real pie pumpkin. It made this one the best!

"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action." — W.J. Cameron

Lil' Pumpkin — Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes: Part I

2009-11-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Just last month, my best friends daughter, Mollie Kate celebrated her second birthday. Little does she know it, but her mother and I have already decided that she is going to marry my two-year-old son. That way we can spend holidays together!

Rhonda e-mailed me wanting ideas and help with planning Mollie's party, so I wholeheartedly offered my services free-of-charge. Best friends always get freebies for all previous services rendered, like listening to you vent or blubber on numerous occasions. She finally settled on a pumpkin theme and we went with the tag line "Our Lil' Pumpkin". I e-mailed her quite a few ideas for cakes, favors and of course designed her invitations, which I had a blast doing. I am quite fond of pumpkins and the fall is one of my favorite seasons, so inspiration was easy to come by.

She made an adorable pumpkin shaped cake/cupcakes, had the kids paint tiny pint-sized pumpkins and handed out handmade cloth pumpkins for favors. I only have a few pictures she sent me from the party, but below you will find several ideas for this fun and festive party along with instructions for making the cloth pumpkins. There are also pictures of the invitations that she printed out from the pdf I sent her. I think they turned out well! If you would like to order these invitations from The Blu Sash we can customize a pdf for you to print out and make yourself or we can send you customized, completed versions ready for mailing. Please call 859.271.6934 or e-mail donia@theblusash.com for a quote!

LIL' PUMPKIN: The Invitations
The invitations were four, 4.25"x 5.5" cards tied together at the top left corner with several different patterned and coordinating ribbons. The back of each card had a picture of Mollie Kate that family and friends could keep. Three of the four cards were informational and the last card had a recipe for pumpkin spice muffins. I love designing invitations that prove useful in other ways. It allows people to interact with your invitation and connect you to them in a small, but special way. With the photos and recipes hopefully these cards will be kept for some time.

Due to the distance between us and time constraints, I was unable to produce these and ship them to her with enough time for her to mail them out in a timely fashion. We decided that I would e-mail her the pdf that she could then print them out at home or a local shop and produce them herself. I think she did a great job with them as evidenced by her photos.

The final product product — Adorable!

A close up of the invitation tied up with green polka-dotted ribbon.

Cloth Pumpkin Favors:
I suggested this idea to Rhonda for favors — cloth pumpkins. A very talented and creative friend of mine once made me some cloth pumpkins as a gift and I still decorate with them every year. I had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use these as favors and here it was. Rhonda ran with the suggestion and found some easy "how to directions" you can find below. The end product was an absolutely adorable favor that even mom would want to keep around the house!

Just a word of caution. Be sure that the age you are making these for won't potentially injure themselves with the sticks on these mini pumpkins. If you are worried about that, substitute stems made from pipe cleaners (folded in half and twisted down), floral tape or sewn cloth stems. If you have any other ideas for soft stems, please feel free to make a comment or suggestion.

Cloth Pumpkin How To
Materials needed:
• Fat quarters (purchase different prints of orange and green - one fat quarter per pumpkin)
• Dinner plate (for tracing purposes)
• Orange thread and a needle
• Poly fill
• Small sticks from a tree (or other softer stem options)
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Patterned or coordinating ribbon

1) Use your dinner plate to trace a circle on the orange patterned fat quarter.
2) Knot one end of your thread and sew a running stitch around the circle about 1/4 inch from edge, leaving your thread long so you can pull the loose end causing the fabric to pucker and pull it into a bowl-like pocket.
3) Fill the hole in the top of the pumpkin with poly fill.
4) Tighten the top of the pumpkin with the thread and knot it closed.
5) Cut simple leaves out of the green fabric or fat quarters, cutting a tiny hole in the leaf for your stick.
6) Insert the stick down into the hole on the top of the pumpkin. If you would like, you can hot glue the stick into the hole for extra security.
7) Finish it off with a cute, festive ribbon!

Who wouldn't want to take one of these home?

Lil' Pumpkin Party Ideas:
Here are some other great ideas and useful links for your Lil' Pumpkin party:

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes:
Martha Stewart had some adorable Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes on her site. If you want to save on time substitute the candy corn pumpkins for the handmade marzipan pumpkins.

The Great Pumpkin Cake:
I love this cake! I've made it for Thanksgiving before and it's delicious! It's not that difficult either. Martha Stewart has some great ideas and delicious recipes. It could easily be decorated in a more "kid-friendly" manner and would make a great party cake. Instead of chocolate leaves you could easily make sugar cookie leaves, frosting vines and use a cinnamon stick for a stem. Try making your child's name a part of the curly vines that hang down.

Pumpkin Favor Pouches:
I stumbled across this idea when searching for favors and fell in love with them. My thought was that you could stuff the cloth pumpkin favors pictured above with candy instead of poly-fill like they do with these crepe paper pumpkins. These look fairly easy to make and I am sure kids would love them.

Pumpkin Party Games:
What is a party without games? Here are some ideas that ages 2-10 would enjoy.

• Pin the Leaf on the Pumpkin: Cut out a large pumpkin from a pattern and hang on the wall. Use a large leaf cookie cutter or other pattern to make the leaves from green tag board. Vines can be made from green curly ribbon.

• Pumpkin Bowling: Use 4 small, round pie pumpkins you can find at the grocery or local farmers market as the bowling balls. Then collect 10 empty 2-liters, 1/2 filled with water for use as the bowling pins.

• Pumpkin Ring Toss: Choose several pumpkins with large, straight stems in various sizes (large and small) and purchase a set of rings for tossing around the stems.

• Pumpkin Painting: Purchase a mini-pumpkin for each guest and provide paint and brushes for each guest to decorate their own pumpkin. You might think about a washable paint or making sure this activity is done outside or on a well-protected surface.

• Pumpkin Mini-Golf: Carve several golf "holes" from various sizes and shapes of pumpkins. Be creative and you can have a delightful pumpkin mini-golf course for the kids to enjoy. Purchase some small plastic clubs and they will have a blast.

Here's to a great party for your lil' pumpkin!

Cupcake Dreams and Candle Wishes

2009-11-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

Ever since my daughter was born I have been mad about Birthday's. I think it was remembering the amazing cakes my mother would make for each birthday and how special they made me feel, that got me really excited about birthdays. I remember thinking how wonderfully talented my mother was when she replicated the cover of my Little Golden Cinderella book on the front of my "princess party" cake. All the little girls showed up in long dresses. We decorated crowns with sequins and played pin the slipper on Cinderella, (which my mother had hand drawn and cut out). She was a great artist in my eyes and I don't think she knows how loved those parties always made me feel.

Now, I am so utterly crazy about birthdays that I start planning the next one as soon as I finish the current one. It's not that I feel I have to one-up anyone, including myself, it's just that I LOVE, absolutely LOVE, parties! I am passionate about them. They really get my creative juices flowing. I love sweets. I love cakes. I love balloons. I love to watch the shear joy on children's faces at a party. Birthday parties are full of a happiness that always gets me dreaming and doodling about the next one. Yes, I do wear myself out planning, preparing and creating for each birthday, but it's worth it when my daughter's eyes open wide and a smile spreads across her face upon seeing her cake. When my son saw his cupcakes this year he shouted "Oooohhhh, I love it!" in his angelic two year old voice. My heart melted. That's what it's all about!

It has been worth every second to share those moments with my children. I hope they will feel as special as my mother made me feel. For that reason, I thought I'd share my complete party ideas and plans with you for each party in a six part series called Cupcake Dreams & Candle Wishes.

Some of my ideas are my own, some are inspired by others and many are taken from the pages of a Martha Stewart magazine (who can resist a "good thing"?). I hope I can provide you with some inspiration for your next great Birthday party with photos, links, recipes and patterns. Here's to cupcake dreams and candle wishes!

MY FAVORITE THINGS

2009-10-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

This is the debut posting for The Blu Sash's blog, My Favorite Things! I hope to post many exciting tips and ideas for your wedding favors, gift ideas for your bridesmaids, neat ideas for your child's next birthday party or just something I found online that I absolutely love. Think of this blog as my sketch pad for the many creative ideas that float through my mind and I never get to use. Hopefully you will find the opportunity to create!

I'm old fashioned. I like a personal note on a piece of paper. I can touch and feel it. Carry it with me. Re-read it. I love having people into my home. Feeding those I love brings me great joy. There is an intimacy and a close friendship that grows out of these moments spent with friends and family inside the warm walls of our home. I love making something unique for someone. Something that reflects who they are and what they mean to me. Making something by hand makes me a participant in that special place in time. I love knowing that the Dorthy dress my daughter is wearing for Hall-o-ween was made by her grandmother and myself. Every time I see her wearing it I smile and think of that Saturday we spent sewing it and how much she's loved it. I love the look of awe and excitement in my children's eyes when they first see the cake I've made for their birthday. These are all the reasons I do what I do. It's what inspires me to create and to dream.

I start this blog in the hopes that you will see the joy in someones eyes when they unwrap a gift, bite into a cookie, blow out their candles, say their vows or read that special card. It's about what's important in life — LOVE!