Ruffle Tissue Backdrop



I made this cute little backdrop for the upcoming Hello Kitty bridal party I am having. I know you want it, so here is a post on how to make it!


You will need:
-A large box (flattened)
-Packing tape
-wrapping paper
-Tissue Paper
-glue
-sponge brush



Instructions:

Tape box flaps so that they are held together




Wrap cardboard box using the white side of the wrapping paper. Here I used Christmas wrapping paper I had laying around.






Prep: fold pieces of tissue paper in half, have glue and sponge brush handy




Put a line of glue on the wrapping paper and glue down left edge of tissue paper.. also put a line of glue where the top of the tissue paper will lie.. then fold tissue paper over itself to make ruffles and place on board. Press with a sponge brush and add glue as needed.




Layer another color overlaping the first layer to hide glued edges. Make sure to let the tissue to hang over far left edge to cover cardboard completely



Continue with layering alternate colors.. I used pink and white.



Then stand up and show it off!!


citrus cornmeal shortbread cookies




I felt like some cookies the other day.. so I looked in my Martha Stewart Cookie book to see what sounded good. I found these lovely gems. I chose this recipe because we had all of the ingredients, as the list was short, and usually the roll and slice cookies are easy. Well never underestimate a Martha Stewart recipe like that. These were not difficult, but took some modification. First note that it says to make the dough then roll into logs and place in plastic and put it in the fridge. Well my dough came out much to soft to roll into logs.. maybe it was because it was 85 degrees and 80% humidity, or maybe the dough just comes out
soft.. so I modified this step (see below). Then it came to the chill step.. it says an hour.. at an hour my logs were still mush, not suitable for slicing. At this point it was 9:30 pm and the bake time alone was estimated at 30-35min .. so i decided to let them chill over night.

Good idea.. they were nice and firm after work the next day. So i took them out, preheated the oven and continued on my way. The results were well worth the wait!! Here is the "modified" recipe, actually its just modified instructions. Modifications are in ()

I made a double recipe.. so dont be disappointed when your logs are not as big

Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies


  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
  • 1 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions

  1. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and zest. Mix until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, and salt; mix until well combined, about 3 minutes. Halve dough; shape each into a log (plop spoon fulls down onto plastic wrap, then wrap and form into a log) about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.( I chilled mine overnight)

  2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place remaining 1/4 cup cornmeal on a sheet of parchment paper (or just on the counter). (Roll logs into a much more pleasing log shape, as they come out of the refrigerator with one side flat) ..Roll in cornmeal to coat. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and space them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until pale golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on sheet on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Bridal Party Inspriation


On the 30th of this month I will be hosting a bridal party for my good friend Jodi. Jodi is really in love with Hello Kitty, so I decided to do a Hello kitty themed party. Here is my inspiration board for the party. As parties go this will be small scale, it will be an intimate group of 6, but sure to be fabulous and fun.

Re-Vamp

Today I decided to revamp my blog. I have been away for quite some time, still baking and taking pics, but not adding them to the blog. Well I have lots of events coming up this summer so I thought I would revamp the page. I also thought I would add my parties and crafts to the blog and not just baked goods.. but we will still be heavy on the baked goods here.

So here is it a fresh start!