Autumn Themed Bridal Shower

My beautiful sister in law, Katie, above, is getting married in December.  A couple of months ago, I ran some fun, bridal shower theme ideas by her, and she loved the idea of a cream, gold, white and tan autumn shower.  It was so fun putting all the pieces in place, and I got to plan and prep with my other beautiful sister in law, Sarah.

It was raining, which was predicted, so we decorated and held the event inside.  Katie had a fantastic day, and it was so fun to see her smiling and glowing with happiness as we celebrated her upcoming wedding!

For the menu, we had a "He popped the question popcorn bar" for appetizers as guests arrived.  I made cones to hold the popcorn, which I bought from the Ma and Pa Kettlecorn store. 

After guests had mingled, we served lunch, which was a harvest salad, cornbread muffins and fruit kabobs.  I'll post the recipe for the harvest salad this week.  It is a go-to recipe for parties.

We also had a coffee bar set up in the kitchen and lemonade and water in another little serving area.

Finally, we ended with sweet treats. 
We had a caramel trifle, which I found off Pinterest here.  I will share this recipe later.  I would make some flavor and ingredient adjustments, which I'll share later.  It was still delicious, though.

We also had double chocolate, sour cream, chocolate chip cake pops and cake balls.  I'll also share that recipe soon!  Finally, my sister in law made a beautiful plate of pumpkin bread to round out the autumn theme.

If you have read about my candy bar baby shower game here, we adapted it to a wedding shower theme.  I'll write an upcoming post with those candies and words soon.  Here is the board after we played the game. . .

To end the party, we gave each guest a caramel apple with Heath bar and drizzled chocolate.  I used my Silhouette to make autumn leaves and write a cute little tag that tied in with the autumn theme.

It was a wonderful day and party.  Here are some more pics!  Thanks for stopping by!

My beautiful sisters in law

Centerpieces

I didn't get a very good picture of the pretty banner I made, but you get the idea. . .

New apron

The guests

Marina made a beautiful ribbon bouquet

Katie and my mother in law, Susan.

We love you, Katie!  We had fun celebrating with you!

Cream of Tortellini Soup: Crockpot Recipe

This was a Pinterest find.  The original source can be found at Better Homes and Gardens.  I am a soup fanatic, but, alas, in pure tragedy style, the soup lover married the man who doesn't think soup is a meal.  In order to sway his soup disdaining heart, I added loads of Italian sausage to the recipe and made my broth extra rich and thick.  I won his heart.  Yay!

Next time I will add more chicken broth to my soup (I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth) in order to make this less rich, and I will keep the sausage.  I left off the mushrooms, which would have immediately caused a veto from hubby.  As many of the comments infer, "white sauce" wasn't found at my store, so a packet of Alfredo mix did the trick.  It was a very filling and enjoyable meal--especially on a chilly evening when even the peeps here in Southern California were wearing jackets and scarves.

Enjoy!

Creamy Tortellini Soup

Ingredients

• 1
  1 1/2 - 2 ounce envelope white sauce mix (see above)
• 4
  cups water
• 1
  14 ounce can vegetable broth (see above)
• 1 1/2
  cups sliced fresh mushrooms (see above)
• 1/2
  cup chopped onion
• 3
  cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2
  teaspoon dried basil, crushed
• 1/4
  teaspoon salt
• 1/4
  teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 1/8
  teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1
  7 - 8 ounce package dried cheese tortellini (about 2 cups)
• 1
  12 ounce can evaporated milk
• 6
  cups fresh baby spinach leaves or torn spinach
• Ground black pepper (optional)
• Finely shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Place dry white sauce mix in a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker. Gradually add the water to the white sauce mix, stirring until smooth. Stir in broth, mushrooms, onion, garlic, basil, salt, oregano, and cayenne pepper.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting (in crock pot) for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2-1/2 to 3 hours.

3. Stir in dried tortellini. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 1 hour more or high-heat setting for 45 minutes more.

4. Stir in evaporated milk and fresh spinach. If desired, sprinkle individual servings with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Facts (Creamy Tortellini Soup)

Friday Favorites: 11-4-11

I had SO much fun speaking about crafting/blogging and the holidays with a group of young moms at church this morning.  I was speaking to an audience of over 100 women--some who are crafting experts, and some who have NEVER even seen a craft blog, so I had to keep the ideas general but applicable to everyone.  I think it worked and was a nice morning for all!

Next weekend is the weekend I am throwing my autumn bridal shower!  I can't wait to share the pictures, ideas and tutorials with you!

For now, here are some fun ideas from the week!

On Etsy, I found these pom poms made from doilies on Myhaleygirl!  This actually looks EASIER than the tissue paper poms that are so popular right now.  I have been dreading the poofing of the poms for the bridal shower--maybe I'll try these!



Oh, Crafts! came up with this cute stamp idea for packages and for letters.  Since Christmas is coming, this would be a fun idea for any Christmas Card envelopes you are sending.  Just exchange the pink for gold or Christmas colors . . . If you can't find a tag stamp, just cut a sponge or foam in the shape of a tag!



Somewhat Simple created and shared some free Thanksgiving printables.  print, cut and fold in half on a toothpick or lollipop stick in order to make cupcake toppers, or cute decor for each slice of pumpkin pie!




Armelle--cute blog I just found--love it--posted some cute Thanksgiving table decorations for the kiddie table--or the young in heart.



Sweet Pea's Kitchen shared an awesome sweet potato recipe for Thanksgiving.  Instead of peeling and casseroling the sweet potatoes, how about just serving them in the skin like a twice baked potato?  Fun presentation and easy--win, win!



Catch My Party shared these frree, darling Thanksgiving printables from Love the Day.  I love the non-traditional colors!



The Hungry Mouse shared a pumpkin, brown sugar cheesecake in a chocolate, shortbread crust.  YUMMMM!



The photo completely sold me on this one, but Flickr had a homemade caramel recipe from Betty Crocker packaged in cute little Christmas jars.  My neighbors would be pretty happy to get one of these!


Okay, I am getting hungry (I love yummy holiday recipes). . . and it is dinner time.  We are off to PF Chang to use a gift card and enjoy a treat!  Have a great weekend!

Give Thanks Activity Sign

For years, I hung an Oriental Trading Company "Thankfulness Tree" on the back of our front door.  Each day, the kiddos would list something for which they were thankful on a paper leaf, and we would create a beautiful thankfulness tree.  Well, my now two and a half year old lived up to his name, "Destructo", and he ripped the tree trunk to pieces last year. 

Since I just received my Silhouette Cameo and I needed to create a new thankfulness activity for our family, I got out a spare canvas, some extra fall scrapbooking papers, and I got to work!

First, I sprayed adhesive on my canvas and cut a piece of scrapbook paper to lay on top.

I designed the Give Thanks! lettering and then added 1 Thessalonians 5:18 on my Silhouette software.

I hooked my computer up to the Silhouette cutting machine.

Here is the Cameo.  I love it!

I hot glued 4 pieces of brown ribbon to the bottom, back of the canvas so that each of our family members could clip thankful leaves onto the ribbons.

I made leaves on the Silhouette and cut out 10 per person in our family.

My little Destructo holds up my sign so far . . . I just used clothespins to pin on thankful leaves.

I glued on my Silhouette letters and some ric rac as a border.

I pinned the leaves onto the ribbon--ready for our "thankful for" notes.

Ready to go!

My first thankful note is that I'm thankful for Fall Fest--our church's Harvest Carnival.  It was a fun night!

Here is a close up of the papers I used for the leaves.

Enjoy!  Whether you make a thankful tree or thankfulness ribbon hanger, make sure you practice thankfulness this November!

I linked this to: