A Side of Sweet

Polka Dot Serving Platter DIY

When you hear ‘Mod Podge,’ you might assume the project is a bit outdated. My first Mod Podge DIY was way back at age 8, during my 4-H days. I decoupaged floral paper napkins on the back side of a clear glass plate. I proudly displayed them at the local county fair. Although it was a fun project, you can probably guess it wasn’t at all trendy. It was definitely more appropriate for a dusty sitting room from decades past.

This is decoupage in a whole new way. In just a few steps, you can upcycle an old platter to make it way more fun. I got my platters at Goodwill for about $4 each!

Because I was creating these platters for my colorful confetti party, I chose to do a bright colored polka dot design. I think it would also be fun to do a chevron pattern or even a two color polka dot pattern…. Read More »

Colorful Stuffed Vanilla Cupcakes

Hooray! We’re continuing the confetti party awesomeness today. I’m sharing my third post from this fabulous colorful party that you first saw in this post. I’m just so excited about all of the recipes and DIYs that came together to make the spread that I just can’t wait to share them with you.

In the words of Julia Child, ‘A party without cake is just a meeting.” I couldn’t agree more, and I wanted the cupcakes for this party to be super fun.

I’ve had a lot of fun making stuffed cupcakes in the past. This time, I wanted to have a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting with a fun colorful center that is revealed with your first bite…. Read More »

Easy Colorful DIY Cake Platters

As I mentioned in my last post, over the next few weeks I’m going to be sharing all of the recipes and DIYs from my recent colorful confetti party! Today’s DIY is crazy easy and will cost hardly anything. You can make these beautiful party platters and cake stands with materials found at your local thrift store.

Get the DIY for these colorful cake stands after the jump!

Colorful Confetti Party + Accordion Fold Backdrop

Happy hump day! I know I’ve been sharing mostly recipes lately, but it’s time to switch it up. Behind the scenes lately, I’ve been working on a true labor of love – the colorful confetti party tablescape that you see above.

I love DIYs and putting a bunch of them together in one big project made me feel like I was planning my wedding all over again! Over the next few weeks, I’m going to share all of the recipes and DIYs that came together to create this party concept. You will find everything from cupcakes with a colorful surprise inside to easy colorful party platters made from thrift store items! I can’t wait to share everything with you.

The first DIY I’m sharing today is for a gorgeous colorful fan backdrop. You won’t need any special skills for this one – all you need to do is resurrect those accordion folds you learned in elementary school. You can use the fans for anything from a DIY photobooth backdrop to the background for a wedding.

Get the DIY Accordion Fold Party Backdrop after the jump!… Read More »

Lemon Lavender Tarts + Bouchon Pâte Sucrée

Lemon Tarts get a fragrant upgrade with the addition of lavender oil to the lemon curd. Bouchon Bakery’s Pâte Sucrée tart dough makes the perfect tart shells.

Love them or hate them, food blogs have changed the way we cook. Everyone I know has at least one or two food blogs that they go to for recipe inspiration. As with anything that has such a massive impact, they are going to come with their critics. Two such articles caught my eye recently, talking about food bloggers and their cliches.

The New Yorker published a humor piece last week that was written in the voice of a food blogger. It touched on a lot of blogger cliches, from our intent to use cauliflower in every dish imaginable to the practice of providing ingredient and step-by-step photos. It portrayed food bloggers as silly, morally-superior, red wine-guzzling sentimentalists. It’s hard to know if the writer was laughing with, or laughing at, food bloggers, but I have a hunch she was laughing at us…. Read More »

Prettiest Pickled Onions

This recipe for pickled onions are absolutely the prettiest and easiest thing imaginable. All you need are onions, vinegar and peppercorns!

I really want to pickle everything right now. I’m a huge sucker for the tangy vinegar taste of pickled veggies – everything from cauliflower to carrots! No need to constrain yourself to cucumbers, there are so many other options for pickling and they are all delicious! We have been getting the most gorgeous red onions in our CSA this month and we had the rest of the ingredients on hand, making this a quick and easy recipe. They are so delicious I’ve literally been eating them straight out of the jar! I’m sure they must be lovely on things like burgers or salads, but I haven’t really gotten that far! I’m going to have to whip up an extra batch for our upcoming Memorial Day barbecue because this batch basically devoured…. Read More »