Creative, custom cake...from a box!

For our glamping extravaganza this past weekend I wanted a unique birthday cake that didn't cost a fortune. I'm a self professed baker-wannabe, I def don't know my way around a scratch cake mix, I bake from a box - there I said it. So, I had to pull out all of the other stops I could think of to make up for my baking inadequacies; a theme, edible custom topper, a friend with mad icing skills and food colouring! 

Do you love that my GF matches the cake? 

Nothing says fashionable-great outdoors like Canada's chic Hudson's Bay Co. I dreamt up the idea to colour each layer of the cake to match the brands signature stripes (many a rainbow cake have come across my Pinterest feed lately...an idea was born).

Of course I went right to my fave resource Etsy, to seek out a creative genius who could recreate the Bay's logo (with a small tweak to the date to represent the year the hubs was born) and add in a birthday message. The TopACake shop turned my logo around in hours and it was a flawless match! I was nervous about the application of the frosting sheet, but this sheet was sturdy and literally peel n' stick.

Cutting into the middle was the most exciting part! The reveal of these multicoloured layers was a fun surprise - TIP: for rich colour use food colouring gel, I used the drops and didn't quite get the dark colours I was going for.

I couldn't have been more pleased with this custom cake masterpiece, and the best part is the total costs was less than $30 (custom cake topper was only $10!!).  Not bad for this Betty Crocker connoisseur.

WEDDING WEEK || champagne slushie recipe

Nothing says celebration quite like champagne.  I absolutely had to have bubbles at our wedding, but I wanted to do something a little different; my second favourite drink in the whole wide world, is anything slushie!  So… what do you get when you put ‘em together, a champagne slushie! Divine right?  

Here’s the recipe (via) for this pretty concoction, this can be modified with whatever flavour you fancy, we went with cherry and it was to die for!

INGREDIENTS
2 cups cherries, pitted (frozen is ok too)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon agave

DIRECTIONS

- Place cherries in a food processor and pulse until almost puréed. A few chunks is ok 
- In a small bowl combine lemon and agave with a whisk
- Add cherries to bowl and stir together
- Pour mixture into a shallow metal dish or pan
- Freeze for 1.5 hours scraping with a fork every 15-20 minutes

Now the fun part (not part of the recipe above)...scoop a couple tablespoons into your champagne flutes and top with the bubbly goodness, serve and enjoy - trust me you will!

WEDDING WEEK || custom homemade cookie favours

With my 2 year wedding anniversary just around the corner - July 24th for those of you who would like to send gifts ;) - I thought I 'd take you on a lil walk down memory lane. To clarify, "wedding week" is more like "wedding couple of weeks", I have lots to share; tips, DIY's, a couple delicious recipes, oh and about 1500 pictures from our special day, JK!!! only a few fun pics, hopefully I didn't lose any of you there :) 

chowing down on street meat, I was sooo hungry: this pic makes me giggle 

I want to talk favours; I know favours have been getting a bad rep lately; they're becoming synonymous with tacky, cash sucking, junk. I totes agrees if you're ordering random trinkets online that are meaningless to you or your groom.  If you're giving a favour, which personally I think is a nice touch to thank your guests for coming, they must be meaningful. We customized ours in a way that related to our theme AND had special meaning to us.

Our favours were little brown bags, stuffed with each of our favourite cookies, homemade by our moms the day before the wedding, we included the recipes too.  For me this was the perfect combo of  cost effective, meaningful and custom.  We (and by we I mean I) customized them by hand stamping each bag and fastening them with mini chandelier buttons that I had made to fit.

FETE || chic canadiana party

Happy Canada Day eh! My long weekend was pleasantly packed full of family, food and fireworks; my fave things ever...and in that order.  We hosted a Canada Day party on Sunday in our backyard; I had an idea to honour this special day in a way that included more than just red and white paper flags. Chic Canadiana was the theme, think woodland wonderful, beavers and moose, beer and bacon, all things coined classically Canadian. I get ridiculously excited by any occasion that allows me to let my inner party planner, crafter and hostess rear its' obsessive head, and this patriotic celebration was no exception. 

I dug out my wool Hudson's Bay Co. point blanket, with its iconic stripes, and used it as the inspiration for my master plan, bwah ha ha ha.

I prepared a food and bevy line-up that was quintessentially Canadian; Canadian Bacon Burgers, Poutine,  and Moose Tracks Ice Cream with a Maple Cookie topper.  We sipped on Canadian beer from our famed cottage country in Muskoka and cocktails infused with fresh Ontario strawberries.

I also got my craft on; I ordered some of these cute moose gift tags from Etsy and glued them to red take-out boxes from Michaels (I also raided Michaels for scrapbook paper, glue and string), made a catchy celebratory banner and wrapped vases with scrapbook paper to add a little oomph. 

I wanted to keep the classic Canadian red and white colour palette alive, but I freshened things up by using some pretty patterned paper. We handed out maple suckers and sparklers as party favours.

After the feast, we headed out the beach to take in the annual fireworks show, it was a lovely way to cap off the evening. 

The party was a success, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we all left feeling uber proud to be part of the true North strong and free.

FETE || stylish outdoor entertaining

Hi lovelies, just wanted to share a few quick pics with you from last night's Palm Springs inspired dinner party; it was the first time we've used the new backyard to host a dinner (promise pics of the yard are coming soon).

We were celebrating summer and couldn't have asked for more perfect weather, although I did ask the weather gods several times to please keep the rain away, it worked.

This was the scene...

Black, white and yellow with a splash of pink was the palette I played with, of course. The table seats 8 but was set for 6 and still a tight squeeze, but it seemed to work. I ended up making a table runner from fabric I had leftover from our wedding (cheated a little and only ironed the edges flat, it actually held together well, great shortcut if you don't like to sew).

Any excuse to craft, I'm on it, so I picked up these cute anchor stamps and some scrapbook paper from Michaels and made these little cards to bring some pink and whimsy into the table setting.

The flowers were meant to be bright and have a California feel to them. The market I go to didn't have the billy balls I desperately wanted, so I grabbed these nifty things, thought they fit the bill.

The menu was simple but risky; don't ask me why I decided to try 3 new recipes in a dinner party setting, I usually test them before hand to make sure they're up to snuff.  This time I just went with it and everyone seemed to like the food, and drinks of course were cold and plentiful :)

The menu; Citrus Marinated Shrimp Skewers with Grilled Pineapple to start, Arugula, Potato and Green Bean Salad, a Smitten Kitchen recipe (so amazing, it was totally delish) and Teriyaki Flank Steak (a fave amongst the group). 

For dessert these super refreshing, light and flavourful Strawberry Paletas I saw in Sweet Paul . TO.DIE.FOR! 

We laughed, we chatted, to be honest most of us were tired from work, but it was a relaxed evening and always great to get together

At the end of the night we lit up the fire and toasted marshmallows; our friends brought over a s'mores kit that came complete with sticks to put the marshies on, genius.

This was first of many summer backyard dinner parties in our household. Now, I'm on to the next, Canada Day party planning; was there a hostess badge in Girl Guides? I would have totally earned that one ;) ! Have a wonderful long weekend!

NIBBLES & SIPS || mint iced tea

Hopefully you enjoyed some of the same fabulous weather we had here in Toronto today. It was a quintessential summer day and we shared a wonderful afternoon on a friend's new sailboat. I couldn't show up empty handed, so I whipped up a batch of this refreshing, virgin bevy and hit the harbour. Here's the super simple recipe.

Ingredients:

3 tea bags - I used orange pekoe but you could also use green tea

1/4 cup of sugar

4 cups of boiling water

2 cups of cold water

bunch of mint leaves

lemon slices - if desired

First, boil 4 cups of water.

Then steep the tea bags for 10 mins.

Once the tea has steeped, remove the bags and transfer to a serving pitcher. Add sugar.

Stir the tea using the bunch of mint until sugar is dissolved, drop in. Pour in the remaining 2 cups of cold water. 

If you like, you can add a few lemon slices, this time I went without.  It's best to let it sit for a couple of hours so the flavours meld.

Pour into a pretty glass and serve over ice.  Do you have a favourite summer beverage?