10/24/11

And the winner is...


So happy to announce that Jenn Ordze is the winner of the vintage owl pendant and a vintage button ring of her choice from the DeDe Rose Vintage Revival Etsy store! Thanks so much to all who participated. 

And a very special thank you to Diana of DeDe Rose! Hope you felt some of the love from the Blue Lily fans! 


Love to all,
Tam xo

10/20/11

It's another Blue Lily Giveaway...

Good Evening Lovelies!
I'm super excited to announce this next Giveaway! My sweet and oh so talented friend Diana the creative mastermind behind DeDe Rose Vintage Revival has so graciously given me not one but TWO prizes to give away to you all!

She loves finding old pieces of furniture in bad shape and restoring them, making them new and adding a bit of funk to them for her and her customers. She's a do it yourself kind of girl and recently decided to start sharing her creativity with the rest of the world!

So let's all show her some love and enter this little contest! You will be entering to win the owl pendant below, as well as your choice of one of her vintage button rings from her Etsy Shop!


{cutest pendant ever}


{examples of her vintage button rings below}


 {button ring}


So now that you've seen the goods.. you probably want to know how to enter... 

Here's what you need to do: 

To get 1 chance to win: 
  1. Like Blue Lily Event Planning on Facebook
  2. Like DeDe Rose Vintage Revival on Facebook
  3. Like the contest photo on Blue Lily's Page
To get 2 chances to win: 
  1. Do steps 1 thru 3 that are listed above
  2. Visit the DeDe Rose Vintage Revival Etsy Store and leave a comment on the Blue Lily contest photo telling us your favorite item! 
Easy Peasy Folks!
Good luck to all who enter! Contest closes Oct 24th at 5pm! Winner to be announced shortly after! 


Hope you all have a fantastic night! 
Tam xo

10/15/11

What's on my table... My family Thanksgiving




I love the holidays, really any excuse to cook and have people over suits me just fine, but Thanksgiving is one of my favourites. I try really hard to show the love and appreciation I have for my friends and family all the time, but Thanksgiving is just that yearly reminder that we really are fortunate for all the things we have. For our health, loving family and friends and for having a roof over our heads. 

This year, I invited some of my family over to may place. :) My house might be small (a mere 788 sq feet to be exact), but that didn't stop us from cramming, 10 adults, 1 toddler, and 5 shitzu cross dogs and 2 cats into it! Dinner was great (if I do say so myself) ;), and the company was outstanding. :) The evening was filled with love, laughter, board games and even some friendly competitive name calling. ;) 

I wanted to do something a little special and sentimental this year, so I made each guest a little fall inspired card, and wrote in each one why I was particularly thankful for that person. I placed them at their settings so they could open them when they all sat down for dinner. It worked! It was warm fuzzies, fighting back little tears and lots of hugs and thank yous :) Just what I wanted. :) Even the people that couldn't make it got one with their left overs that were sent home for them. 




So here's the scoop! This is what was on my table and I'll even share where I found all my little goodies and how much it cost me in total! 

Table Decor
  • Ivory Table Cloths
  • Burnt orange napkins
  • Small glass creamers for vases
  • Tealight holders
  • White dinnerware 
  • Wine glasses
  • Plummy Purple fabric made my table runner
  • Flowers were yellow, white and fuchsia coloured Freesia and yellow Silea flowers
  • Little handmade "I'm thankful" cards at each place setting. 
All the rentals were from Special Occasions in Duncan and the flowers were from the Red Barn Market on MacKenzie Ave in Victoria. Fabric was from Fabricland in Duncan. 

Total cost of my table decor was $70. Not too shabby and it looked so pretty when all the candles were lit and my loved ones were around it. :) 



I hope you all had the most lovely Thanksgiving. I wanted to say that I'm so very thankful for all of you as well. Sometimes this little adventure of mine can get a bit hectic and I sacrifice sleep and "me time" to get it all done. I love it to bits, but the encouragement and appreciation from all of you is what really keeps me going. So for that, I am eternally grateful, I couldn't be having this much fun and doing what I love without all of you. :) 

Love to all, 
Tam xo

10/5/11

Jenal's No Fail Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Tart Recipe


I'm cooking dinner this weekend for my family and I was looking for some new recipes to try. They're pretty particular and love the traditional dinner we do, so I don't want to stray too far, but I thought one or two new things would be great. I asked on my facebook if anyone had any no fail, super yummy recipes and this is one that I got back from my friend Jenal! She was such a doll to send it to me (in the facebook comment section no less)! I thought I would share it with all of you! 

Thanks so much Jenal! I'll let you know how it turns out! xoxo

White Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Tart

40 gingersnap cookies
½ cup melted butter

Filling


2pkg unflavored gelatin
¼ cup dark rum (or spiced rum) or water
4 eggs
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp each ground ginger, nutmeg and salt
2oz white chocolate finely chopped
½ cup pasteurized egg white
¼ cup sugar
½ cup whipping cream
2 cups of pumpkin puree (not the pie mix)

Crust

in food processor grind gingersnaps, add butter. Press onto the bottom of cheese cake pan. Bake 350 for 10 min

Filling 

In a small bowl sprinkle gelatin over rum, set aside. In large bowl beat eggs and brown sugar until pale, beat in pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Transfer to sauce pan cook over med heat, stirring constantly for about 6 min. Remove from heat add gelatin mixture stir until melted. Add whit chocolate stir until melted. Scrape into large bowl, refrigerate stirring until slightly colder than room temperature, about ½ hour.
In medium bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks. Beat in sugar 1 tbsp at a time until stiff and glossy.

In a separate bowl whip cream then fold into pumpkin mixture. Slowly fold in egg whites. Scrap on to crust, swirl top chill for 4 hours (better if chilled over night)

Wedding Inspiration... A family tree





























I was recently approached by an ever so lovely couple for some wedding inspiration ideas. I'm keeping their identities a secret so as not to spoil any of their wedding surprises, but I just had to share some of my favourite pics with you! I absolutely love the ideas that they have, and cannot wait until the actual day arrives!

For our theme, we decided on an outdoor ceremony with an open field and a large tree. We wanted a simple and classic feel, with a few fun touches here and there. :) So here you go... everything from Invitations and engagement photos, to ceremony and reception decorations!

Love to all,
Tam xo

Wobbly Wednesday... The Pumpkin Pie Martini



If you're having guests this weekend for Thanksgiving and are wondering what you should serve them to drink, look no further! This yummy Pumpkin Pie Martini is the perfect bevvie for a cold and rainy fall day with friends. :) On it's own it's mild, fragrant, and delicious! If you want to sweeten it up and use it for a Halloween treat for friends (above the age of 18 of course), you can top it with frothed milk and add a chocolate syrup spider web for a spookier effect! 

What you need: 

1.5 oz vanilla vodka plus 1 tbsp for the rim
1 tbsp chipotle powder for the rim
2.5 oz milk
1 oz spiced pumpkin puree
1.5 oz creme de cacao
1/2 oz all spice dram liqueur
2 tbsp frothed milk (if making a spider web)
1 tbsp chocolate syrup (to make a spider web)

What you need to do: 

Moisten the rim of the glass with the vodka. Roll the edge of the glass in the chipotle powder and let dry. 

Combine the remaining vodka, milk, pumpkin puree, and liqueurs in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake like crazy and strain into a martini glass. 

There you go! Thanksgiving in a glass! 

How to make the spider web:

spread a thin layer of frothed milk on top of the drink in the glass. With the chocolate syrup make a dot in the middle of the frothed milk. draw a circle around the dot, then draw another circle around that one. With a toothpick, starting from the centre dot pull the toothpick through both rings from the middle out. There you go! One tasty spider web! 

Have a lovely evening! 
Tam xo