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Hello, Again!

June 10, 2014

Boy, oh boy!!! The past several months have gone by in such a whirlwind that I don’t even know where to begin…

I have added a new service to “Butterscotch Lady”~ FLOORING!!! I am so thrilled to be partnering with Sterling Carpet & Flooring in Anaheim, Ca. I am working independently as a Sales Consultant and I love it! Flooring fits beautifully into my vision for my business Butterscotch Lady. I now can help you create a beautiful home and party, starting with your floor!

I am able to bring flooring samples directly to my client’s homes, which makes it much easier to choose the right flooring for the space we are working on. My door to door service also helps when you are juggeling work, kids, school…Who wants to spend time in a warehouse?

I have also been busy with the kids and their year end activites, hosting house guests (wait until you see pictures of the “new” Playhouse Cottage Inn! So cute!!!), planning parties, a banquet for Buddy and a wedding! Whew, I need more hours in my day!

As you all know, I am technically challenged and I was getting quite frustrated with my sweet little blog. I am still trying (unsuccessfully, I may add) to make Pinning my pictures much easier. Hopefully, I will be able to accomplish that goal very soon! (Tonight? :/ )

I just needed to step away and really think about what I wanted to accomplish from my blog. I have missed sharing my pictures and goings on with Mr. Cabana, Buddy and Baby Girl. Thanks for sticking around for me!

As a teaser, here is a collage of Buddy’s Academeny for the Performing Arts, Theatre Guild’s Awards Banquet. More pics to follow!!! PROMISE!
Collage

Until Next Time,

Butterscotch Lady

Filed Under: Award Banquet, Lets Party!, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Round Up the Stars!

June 30, 2013

You know that feeling when you have worked for months on a project and finally you get to post the final pictures?

Yea, I am feeling like that right now!

Buddy is in the Academy for the Performing Arts and I agreed to Co-Chair the Theatre Guild End of Year Awards Banquet.  I guess my co-chair (Eileen!!!) and I shocked people because FRESHMAN parents never Chaired the banquet.  We were told by last years chair that basically, we just couldn’t handle it, that is was a SENIOR parent job.

So what did these two freshman moms do?  We put on the BEST awards banquet the Academy had ever seen (Administrator’s words, not mine!).  See here is the thing, by being a new parent and never having attended an awards before, we had no pre-conceived notions of what had to be done.

The first things we felt we needed to do was to take the banquet out of the “rubber chicken/ hotel banquet room” rut it had been in, stay within a very limited budget,  and get 150 teenagers to be excited and want to attend.

First, we found The Red Horse Barn` and  the rest of the planning just fell into place….

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{Save the Date!}

2013 Banquet Save the Date Invite

The picture looks a bit “peachy”, but the paper is actually kraft colored paper.

{The Invite}

2013 Banquet Invite

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{The Entrance}

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Love at First Bite, our Caterer served delicious food that was all “kid” friendly.

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{The Red Horse Barn is such a beautiful venue!!!}

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{Photo Booth}
The teens had a blast taking pictures with their iPhones.
Since these kids are in the performing arts, they were not shy!

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{Our Award “stage”}

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{Senior gift bags}

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{Drink Station}

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{Utensils wrapped with bandanas, pie tins from Marie Callender’s, mason jars with red stripped paper straws}

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{Some of our APA Stars!}

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{Dolly’s Sweet Dreams Cotton Candy was a HUGE hit!!!}

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{APA Seniors enjoying their last banquet}

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{Freshman Stars}

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{APA Stars! These smiles made ALL of our hard work well worth it}

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{Buddy, standing up, and friends}

{For the tables}

We purchased white linens ($12 each- a one time expense and less expensive than renting), kraft paper runners with buckets ($1 each) filled with crayons (.80 cents per box) for practicing stars to practice the art of autographs.

{Center pieces}

Tins (free since I always save my tomatoes, bean…cans), I glued burlap ribbon to can, then tied gingham ribbon over burlap, giant yellow dahlias with excelsior, sitting in a nest of more excelsior (we really wanted mini bales of hay, but our budget did not allow for them.  Total cost $8 each

{Place Settings}

Pie tins rented from Marie Callender’s (we returned the pie tins and received out deposit back, so our tins were free!), utensils wrapped with bandanas (.80 cents each) & tied with twine, mason jars with a kraft tag with a star punch tied to the jar with twine, red and white stripped paper straws.

I can not say “THANK YOU” enough to my FABULOUS Co-Chair and Friend!!!!

{Butterscotch Lady and my FABULOUS Co-Chair Eileen}

{Butterscotch Lady and my FABULOUS Co-Chair Eileen}

THANK YOU to our AMAZING vendors!

The Red Horse Barn

Love at First Bite catering

Dolly’s Sweet Dreams Cotton Candy

Baker Party Rental

Copies4Less

Kelly Paper

Orange County Fast Print

{The Banquet took place on Mr. Cabana and my 18th wedding anniversary. So romantic, right?}

{The Banquet took place on Mr. Cabana and my 18th wedding anniversary. So romantic, right?}

Until next time,

Butterscotch Lady

 

Filed Under: Award Banquet, Lets Party!, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Baby Girl’s Annual Valentine “Tea” Party

February 27, 2013
Remember, I am all about party door decor!

Remember,
I am all about party door decor!

In honor of Valentine’s Day this Friday, I thought I would share with you again Baby Girl’s Valentine Party from 2013.  I am busy preparing for this year’s party which we are having tomorrow.  Enjoy!

As I wrote in last years blog about Baby Girl’s traditional party, I started the party to help foster a fondness of the holiday by showering her friends with love.  We see it as a day to celebrate her friendships with these fabulous girls!  We believe this day should not be just about couples and kissing and holding hands… Can’t you hear the ‘tweens screaming “EEEWWWWW!” But about celebrating our friendships too.

Even though we call it a “Tea” Party, there is no tea.  We have found hot chocolate to be much more popular as a hot beverage with this ‘tween group.  We also served pink lemonade, with a choice of egg salad or peanut butter & grape jelly on heart-shaped bread (made using a cookie cutter), mini donut skewers (very popular!), strawberries (brought by Lilly and her Mama Shannon) and delicious red velvet cupcakes made by our sweet friend Kanani and her Mama Kim.

My photographer friend Tracy (Photograph’s by Tracy) took some beautiful pictures for me.  My iTouch was all I used to take pictures.  I know, I know, WHAT was I thinking?!?!?  Well, I was thinking I have about 1 hour to pull off this shin dig and I was rushing around trying to have it all set up for Baby Girl’s guests (read my blog post “My Kinda Perfect“).  Sooo, you will probably see a difference in the quality of the pictures (plus, I am not a professional like Tracy!).  I am saving for an SLR camera that will help with the quality of  my pictures and therefore, hopefully your enjoyment of my blog!

So without further adieu,

Welcome to Baby Girl’s Valentine party!

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A cut piece of gingham fabric is is perfect for an inexpensive table cloth. I have used this piece over and over for tables and table scapes. I have left the edges raw and it still looks great!

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Lanterns helped to bring the color up to the ceiling and created a focal point for above the table.

Lanterns helped to bring the color up to the ceiling and created a focal point for above the table.

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The girls LOVED the mini donuts on the skewers.

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Shredded, crinkle paper adds a little pizzaz to the glasses with the cupcakes at each place setting.

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How cute are these mini donuts on wood skewers? Another hit with the girls!

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I just adore paper straws and use them every chance I get! Mr. Cabana and I found these perfect red and white stripped straws at Target in their Christmas section. If you happened to come after us, sorry!
We bought ALL that they had!

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Close up our Valentine garland we made by embellishing a chocolate garland found at Shinoda. We used wrapping paper, fabric tape, card board, paper tags and flowers.

Die cuts from Staple's taped onto wood skewers with questions for the girls to ask one another. A BIG HIT!

Die cuts from Staple’s taped onto wood skewers with questions for the girls to ask one another.
A BIG HIT!

Ikea frames (2 pack), wrapping paper from Paper Source, card board and fabric tape. "Instant" table art!

Ikea frames (2 pack), wrapping paper from Paper Source, card board and fabric tape. “Instant” table art!

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This is what I have said to my children every night when they are off to bed. I love that Buddy (15) still says it back to me!

This is what I have said to my children every night when they are off to bed. I love that Buddy (15) still says it back to me!

A little bottle of bubble bath soap in a "champagne" bottle. $1 each @ Target

A little bottle of bubble bath soap in a “champagne” bottle. $1 each @ Target

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{Playhouse mural painted by Timree Gold.}

{ Paintings in the bay window were painted by Baby Girl and me and an art class at Timree’s Newport Beach studio. Stop by her website to sign up for a class.  Also visit her Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/timreeinc}

{Please don’t forget to LIKE my Facebook page and follow me on Pinterest.  Feel free to pin my pictures!

Not on Pinterest yet?  Leave a comment and I will invite to the site.}

Total cost of party $35 (for food).  Conversation sticks were made using supplies we already had.

So new decor items were to be purchased for this party. That made Mr. Cabana VERY happy!

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~Baby Girl and her Gal Pals~

~Baby Girl and her Gal Pals~

We hope you enjoyed coming to the party and perhaps picked up a few ideas for your next shin dig!

Until next time,

Butterscotch Lady

Filed Under: Lets Party!, The Playhouse, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Oscar’s is our Superbowl

February 24, 2013

My family and I love to watch movies both at home and in the theater.  I like just about most genre’s of movies from classics  to scary and all that is in between.  Some of my earliest memories are of watching movies with my parents at the local drive-in (long gone) “Blazing Saddles“, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind“, “The Goodbye Girl“… For me, movies and music are often like date stamps; “E.T’,  I saw it when I was 12 years old as a double feature with “Poltergist” during the summer.  I could tell you who I was with and what we were in to that summer.

Every year, I try to see many, if not all, of the movies that are nominated for an Oscar.  Instead of following a football of baseball team, I watch movies.  Buddy, The Actor, and I like to try to guess which of our favorite movies will be nominated and then watch to see if we were right.  Baby Girl and I LOVED “Life of  Pi” and “Les Miserables”; Buddy was disappointed “Moonlight Kingdom” was not nominated for Best Picture, just Best Screenplay; Mr. Cabana and I liked “Lincoln” and “Django Unchained”; I also liked “Silver Lining Playbook”.  Not sure how I am voting tonight!

My point in all of this?  Tonight is the Oscar’s.  That elusive night for us mere mortals where we can watch through a “looking-glass” as the “cool kids” go to the fancy dance that we will never (ok, more than likely never) be invited to.  The women will be wearing a beautiful (or “what were they thinking”) gowns that are probably worth more than my car, ahem, or house!

So what do I like to do when I am watching the “glamorous” congratulate themselves and peers on yet another year of movie making?

More often than not, I am in my jammies with the family in the living room.  I have prepared a meal that can be finished just in time before the The Host starts their opening number.  We will have filled out our ballots thinking that we will have won the prize for the most correct answers.

Tonight’s  festivities will be just a little different for us.  Baby Girl and I just returned from a visit to Phoenix, Arizona to visit my best friend Kari and her family so I was not home to prepare for the Big Night.  We will still be in our jammies and have our ballots filled out but we are doing take out tonight.

But I do have some Big Plans for next years!  Perhaps it will be the year I finally throw an Oscar Party!  I better go now and put on my jammies so I can watch the Stars walk the Red Carpet.  Oh and I need to gold dip some mason jars too!

Until Next Time,

Butterscotch Lady

Filed Under: Lets Party!, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Anchors Away!

July 23, 2012

This past June Buddy’s 3rd grade teacher retired after teaching for nearly 20 years.  We love Mrs. Setterquist and it will be such a loss for the school!!!  Before she taught, she was a PTO mom like me and she was an incredible mentor and sounding board for me and I will truly miss her on campus.

Mrs. Setterquist and Buddy 2009

So of course for every change in life, one must throw a party to celebrate and that is exactly what we did!

Mrs. Setterquist wanted a beach theme with bright colors, an ice cream sundae station and a dessert bar.  She is quite the traveler so the theme of “Anchors Away” was the perfect choice!  (Thanks Miss Nilsen!) Our main colors were hot pink and apple green.

The party was held in the lunch area of the elementary school, so I knew having a sundae station would be tricky.  We were expecting approximately 120 people and scooping ice cream for that many people made my hands cramp up just at the thought!

Not wanting to disappoint the special lady, we used Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches placed into plastic to-go containers from Smart and Final.

 

Each container had a round sticker that read~

Anchors Away!

Make an Ice Cream Sandwich Sundae

*****BOO!!!  No pictures to show you!*****

I created the round stickers on Vistaprint.com

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 Mr. Cabana and I created the balloon bouquets.  We used an air compressor to blow up the balloons and curling ribbon to tie the balloons onto.  We used 3 of each color (pink, green and yellow) for the bouquets.

1.Cut a piece of curling ribbon approx. 5 feet, fold in half.  (I used white)

2. Starting with the middle of the ribbon, using an already blown up, knotted balloon, knot the balloon onto the ribbon.

3. Using a different color, knot it onto the balloon right next to the 1st balloon.  Repeat the process, keeping the balloons very tight together.

4.  You should have 2 “tails” of ribbon once all of the balloon are attached.  I used the strings to tie onto the poles.

The balloons slide on the ribbon quite easily to move the balloons along.  You can adjust the balloons around one another to keep the colors spaced out.

{The cream cabinet was a freebie that a neighbor gave me.  See the transformation in a future blog.}

I really wish I had more pictures to post from this party, but I was working up until the last-minute!  Everyone had a fabulous time and we sent Mrs. Setterquist into retirement in style!!!

Thank you to my “Teacher Committee”~

Mrs. Benson, Mrs. Crandall, Mrs. Finley, Mrs. Mastropaolo, Miss Nilsen

and to my parent volunteers~

Mrs. Booji, Mrs. Erickson, Mrs. Harris, and Mrs. Cross

Until next time,

Butterscotch Lady

Filed Under: Lets Party!, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Emma’s SURVIVOR Party!

July 7, 2012

~Last Saturday I had the great honor to style a very special party for a MAGICAL little girl, Emma.  Emma is going into the 2nd grade at Baby Girl’s school and that is where we originally heard her story.

Emma will be starting the 2nd grade in September.

Almost 2 1/2 years ago (pre-school) Emma’s Mom found a lump on Emma’s head.  After several anxious tests,  every parent’s worst fear came true for the family.  Emma was diagnosed with Leukemia.  The family started the very long road of treatment at CHOC Hospital (Children’s Hospital of Orange County).

Just a couple of weeks ago, Emma’s long road to recovery was completed when she took her very last steroid treatment and  her last chemo pills (using a Waterford glass no less!).  She has finally been given a clean bill of health and it is time to celebrate!!!

Emma’s mom, Leigh Anne, told me that orange is the color of Leukemia and I just immediately imagined butterflies everywhere.  After all, Emma had just emerged from a cocoon with beautiful blond curly hair!

We took Emma on a field trip to Shinoda Design Warehouse.  Seeing her face light up by the beautiful decor was so sweet.  She nearly filled up her mom’s phone taking pictures of absolutely everything!  We found amazing sparkly, orange butterflies to use for her party.

{All of the balloon bouquets started out the same, but the balloons kept popping!}

The butterflies were on sticks with little springs. Every time the breeze blew, the sparkly butterflies danced! It was so beautiful!

Balloon bouquets are very easy to make and much cheaper than helium. (Plus, there is a helium shortage right now.)

I just love these three colors together! Isn’t the glitter butterfly fabulous?

We used the birdcage to hold gift cards and wishes on mini cards for Miss Emma.

Flowers from Mrs. Correa, a teacher at Emma’s school.

Emma chose this beautiful rainbow butterfly. She will be hanging it in her newly re-decorated bedroom.

The butterfly gift bag was found at Target in packs of 6 for $2.99. They carried out the theme throughout the room for little cost.

The colorful, sparkly butterflies came in a pack of 8 for $13.00. Perfect for sweet little centerpieces.

Emma and friends had a great time decorating the buckets with butterfly stickers.

Paper goods came from Target.

Baby Girl and guest Prudence, writing wishes on mini cards for Emma.

Emma and Baby Girl, how CUTE are they?!?!

Our special friend, Miss Emma!

I cannot express to you how truly honored I am that Miss Emma and her mom, Leigh Anne, trusted me to create a beautiful party celebrating Emma and her recovery.  I will forever remember feeling the love, gratitude and strength that Emma and her family have shown.  It is such an honor and blessing to know them.

~Please leave a comment for Emma. I know that Emma and her family will be reading every one!~

May Emma have every wish and dream come true, ALWAYS!  Continue to reach for the stars and dream big Miss Emma!!!

Until next time,

Butterscotch Lady

Filed Under: Lets Party!, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Let’s Party (Again!)

February 17, 2012

My dear friend Tracy from “Photographs by Tracy” came to Baby Girl’s “Hot Chocolate & Cupcakes Valentine” party to snap some pictures for me.  What a difference to have a professional take pictures of my styling!  I wish I had her in my back pocket everywhere I go!

My MOST favorite stand. In my opinion, you can never go wrong with sparkles!

The black and white photo on the left side of the picture is of my great-great grandmother having a tea party with my beloved grandmother, Evelyn and her sister.

I cut up the wrapping paper I found at Paper Source and attached the picture to card board with a scalloped edge I found at Michael’s. I used fabric tape i also found at Paper Source. I LOVE fabric tape!!! The tag hanging on the left side came from a $1 packet of tags I found at Jo-Ann’s.

My $2 fluted ice cream glass that I love.

My canvas from Timree Gold’s art class. The fabric underneath the picture is an old Christmas dress of Baby Girl’s.

Baby Girl’s favorite~Red Velvet cupcakes and my childhood favorite, Strawberry!

I adore this picture! Baby Girl’s artwork from Timree Gold’s art class is in the background. Isn’t it fantastic? To left is a bottle of Trader Joe’s Sparkling Pink Lemonade. I serve it at just about all of my parties {great label, it is pink, yummy and only $2.99} I also have a “small” obsession with cake stands; isn’t the cupcake covered stand fabulous?

This was Baby Girl’s hat for the soiree. She is a HUGE animal lover and just had to have the dog picture.

One of my “sweet” jars.

Whenever I see party pictures, especially on Pinterest, I ALWAYS want to know how much was spent.  {Maybe because I always seem to be doing parties on a rather tight budget!}  Is anyone else nosy about the “economics” of throwing a beautiful looking party?

Because we are all friends here, I am going to tell you what I spent.

  • Invitations~ approx. $3.  I printed the invite at home on photo paper {the best paper for invites, birthday cards, tags…}.   The envelopes were left over from our Christmas cards.
  • Party hats~ $2 for 16 hats
  • Decor for hats~ $3.  I printed the pictures on my printer and glued them to 2 sheets of sparkle paper I had {found it at Michael’s for $1 each clearance} I had the pink shear ribbon {approx. $4}, paint $0
  • $19 at Paper Source {I had a $20 gift card- so FREE for me!}.  I bought 1 sheet of wrapping paper $3.75, paper tape $6.95, red and white Baker’s twine $7.95 {I ended up not using any}
  • Garland~ wrapping paper, paper tape and card board {5 pack at Michael’s $1}, I had the strawberry and chocolate garland.
  • Table “Cloth”~ Book pages from “Pride & Prejudice” dinner party {book was $7 and I still have pages left to use for another project!}, tags $1, wrapping paper cut outs, printed family vintage pictures at home $4

Treats~

  • Trader Joe’s Sparkling Lemonade~ $2.99
  • Hot Chocolate {my own mix we had}~ approx. $5
  • Red Velvet cake mix~ $1.50
  • Strawberry cake mix~ $2 FREE {part of a Hostess gift I received at my Book Club dinner party}
  • Cupcake liners~ $1 FREE {see above!}
  • Frosting~ 4 egg whites, 1 cup sugar, 1 pinch salt, 1 tsp vanilla, food coloring $3 ?
  • Red and White mints~ $FREE {left over from a candy dessert table} Thanks Gail!
  • Chocolate Lemon cookies from Trader Joe’s, brought by a guest {in a glass jar}
  • Coconut Malt balls~$3 {in a glass jar}
  • Black and white straws~ $4 for a 20 pack {Shop Sweet Lulu} These were left over from Baby Girl’s birthday party last year.
  • Candy hearts~$1
  • Pink wafer cookies~ $1
  • TOTAL COST $58.49 {I added in the FREE amounts I would have spent}
  • OUT OF POCKET COST for ME~$22.99

I have been collecting hostess items for years, so that helps when I am entertaining not to have to buy a lot of new pieces.  The plates, large cupcake holder, small domed cake stand came from Home Goods.  Set of three jars came from Shinoda’s.  Tea cups given to Baby Girl by one of my besties, Pam R.  Mason jars from Smart & Final.

I hope you enjoyed “coming” to Baby Girl’s party.

You were wonderful guests and will be welcomed back anytime with open arms…

Until next time,

Butterscotch Lady

Filed Under: Lets Party!, Valentine's Day Tagged With: , , , , ,

A Hot Chocolate & Cupcake Valentine Party

February 14, 2012

You are Cordially Invited to

Baby Girl’s

Hot Chocolate & Cupcakes Valentine Party

Hand painted party hats for each guest and their American Girl doll.

A little party favor to take home.

Marshmallow frosting recipe I found on Pinterest. Yummy! http://veronicahurly.blogspot.com/2010/09/marshmallow-frosting.html

I have had the strawberry garland (above the bay window) for years and finally “dressed” it up with

Valentine wrapping paper I found at Paper Source.

Cupcakes had not been put on the tiered holder yet.

Baby girl and her American Girl doll “Natalie”

I have posted only a few pictures from the party because my dear friend Tracy from “Photographs by Tracy” took pictures of the party for me.  I know her pictures will be amazing compared to the pictures I took.  Plus, with all of the rushing around I was doing I did not take any pictures once the cupcakes were in place and a bit more of styling I did.  Care to see the pictures of the playhouse just two hours before the girls arrived?  At least my hair wasn’t in a towel when the other moms showed up!

I will be posting more pictures from Baby Girl’s party very soon.

Until next time,

Butterscotch Lady

Filed Under: Lets Party!, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

My Kinda Perfect

February 10, 2012

“Hi!  My name is Butterscotch Lady and I am a Pinterest Addict.”

I am completely, crazily, head over heals in LOVE with Pinterest.  If you are not familiar with this addiction site, you are missing out!  At this point it is an invite only site, but is COMPLETELY free.  Send me your email address and I would be more than happy to send you an invitation.  Addicts like company, right?

So what is Pinterest?  From their site, ” Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.”  I used to buy decorating magazines when the family budget would allow (Wow!  They are expensive and chock full of ads!) and I would pour over the pictures and tear out my favorites.  I had a folder full of “inspirational” pictures that I hoped to use one day.  It was not exactly the most organized system and I could not share the pictures with friends easily.  Pinterest fixed all of that for me.  No more spending money on magazines or overflowing folders with tears sheets.

I have been on Pinterest for about 8 months and I will admit it is completely addicting.  I have rationalized spending WAY TOO much time “pinning” (adding pictures to my boards) in the name of “research” for my business.   I need to know what is happening in the marketplace, right?  I have 95 boards and 1,607 pins.  Ummm, yes, that is A LOT.  I admit it.  It is just that there are so many great, inspirational ideas floating around the web and I WANT TO USE THEM ALL!

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This picture was my “inspiration” for my Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Book Club dinner party last month.

I adore all of the books covered in white paper.  

But how do you tell the title without having to remove the book from the shelf?  I may need to try this and see how “user-friendly” it actually is!

I love this Blog! http://dearlillieblog.blogspot.com/

                                                                                           Source: dearlillieblog.blogspot.com via Wendy on Pinterest

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There is one teensy, little problem.  The pictures I am pinning are more often than not, PERFECT!  Frequently I think, “No way!  Kids would destroy that fabulous room/white sofa/party…in a matter of seconds!  Or, “What in the world was their budget for that kitchen/Master bedroom/ child’s 1st birthday party?” Also, the photography and lighting is amazing.  My pictures?  Not so much…(I hope to improve!)

I don’t know about you, but I have to live in the real world.  And I am styling REAL rooms and REAL parties.  I learned not so long ago that many of the events that  people have pinned are “staged events”.  Sure it is easy to make everything look perfect when you don’t really have guests showing up in 20 minutes and you still need another hour to finish the cupcakes, not to mention your hair is wrapped in a towel!  Now I am not objecting to these amazing events and the pictures that I get to pour over.  But it’s a lot of pressure to live up to!

I was talking to a friend of mine that made the most adorable individual cakes for her daughter’s slumber party.  I asked her if she was interested in getting more serious and selling her goodies.  She said,  “No, because they are not perfect.”    She is also on Pinterest and sees the “perfection” of those beautiful pictures.  Right then, I realized that I am not the only one that can feel a tad “insecure” when comparing what I do, to what a photo shoot has done.  (Think of how you may feel when you see one of those photo-shopped magazine covers with “artificially” perfect and beautiful people.)

 My “Inspirational” Result~

My dining room set up for “Pride and Prejudice” book club dinner party

Most inexpensive “table-cloth” ever. $7 BARNES & NOBLE  Classic paper back Pride and Prejudice book. At first, I felt really guilty ripping into the book. I used it for the table-cloth and bunting.

Tearing into a book. Literally!

Arrange pages in a random pattern so you can read from any seat!

“Chapter” napkin ring, bookmark printed onto photo paper with ribbon, $1 journal

Book pages fanned and stapled together with cupcake wrapper center.

Jane Austen silhouette found on web for free.

My point is, these pictures are an amazing RESOURCE to use for inspiration when I am styling an event or room.  And I  ALWAYS seem to be working with a tight budget and that means I need to be really creative to try and pull off these looks inexpensively, but make it LOOK like no expense was spared.  My hope is that  we can all shrug off the notion of “PERFECTION” and embrace our perfectly imperfect confections, parties and rooms!

Until next time,

Butterscotch Lady

PS.  My dinner party decorations cost a total of $10!

PPS.  Feel free to pin my pictures onto your Pinterest Boards.  I plan on watermarking my pictures as soon as I can figure out how to do that!

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Filed Under: I LOVE Pinterest, Lets Party! Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Baby Girl and Valentine’s Past

February 7, 2012

I have an announcement to make…

My adorable 9 year old daughter has decided that she would like to be referred to here on Butterscotch Lady by her nickname, “Baby Girl”.  I have called her this for as long as I can remember.  I think it started when I would tell her that no matter how old she was she would always be my baby girl.  I kind of thought she would “outgrow” the nickname.  I was even expecting the “Mommy, we have to talk…” discussion where she tells me that she is way too old be called such a babyish name, especially at school-in front of friends!  But, alas, I guess she loves this nickname as much as I love whispering to her, “I love you Baby Girl, forever and always to the moon and back”.

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Last year Baby Girl started a small tradition with a few close friends.  She invited the girls and their American Girl Dolls to a Valentine’s Tea Party.

Baby Girl and her American Girl doll “Natalie”

All set and ready for tea!

Tea sandwiches and my dear friend P.R.’s divine jam tarts.

Who doesn’t love a party favor?

This black dresser was a $15 garage sale find that I refinished and added new hardware.

Baby Girl and I went to Paper Source (Thanks for the gift card Miss N.!) today to pick up a few things for next week’s Valentine Hot Cocoa & Cupcake Party.  It will be a busy week preparing!   I have to admit, I am LOVING that Baby Girl likes to entertain as much as I do!

Until next time,

Butterscotch Lady

(The hubby and son are still undecided about their Blog monikers.  Any suggestions?)

Filed Under: Lets Party!, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

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