WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY PREMIER - SIMPLE JOYS PAPERIE

Hello Darlings! Welcome to WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! I am starting a new column for the fall to bring wonderful lovelies of décor and gifts for the holiday season. Each Wednesday I will feature one shop or amazing item, in all their glory. This is a bit different from my usual collections of goodies by theme and I think it will be fabulous. I hope you will enjoy this and feel free to email me (hankandhunt@gmail.com) about any wonderful shops or goodies you think would be perfect to feature here on WONDERFUL WEDNESDAYS! (attn: shop owners, if you want to recommend your own item, that’s okay, too!)

Our first Featured shop is…SIMPLE JOYS PAPERIE. As you may know, I find a good deal of lovelies whilst flitting around Etsy. I adore Etsy, its never ending corral of gorgeous goodness, and while hunting, I found this beautiful (and eco-lovely) shop while looking for Halloween décor. Her hand-rolled vintage paper wreaths are stunning. My jaw dropped when I saw this gorgeous wreath (above) pop up in my search for “brains” (long story…coming soon) and immediately got sidetracked.

There were more…

and I love ADORE each and every one.

You simply must go check out her shop…immediately.

And then there were cuffs made from vintage book spines… One of my favorite things are vintage books. So gorgeous. Brides… how PERFECT is this cuff to get a little dose of something old AND something blue to conjure up some lovely good fortune? I will tell you…PERFECT with a capital P! LOVE!

SOURCES:

1. MAY I PICK YOUR BRAIN WREATH
2. TATTERED HEART WREATH
3. TATTERED ANGEL WINGS (5% of sale goes to Etsy’s Project Embrace)
4. VINTAGE 1942 TIME WREATH
5. VINTAGE 1948 BOOK SPINE CUFF

Devilishly Delish Book Review - A ZOMBIE ATE MY CUPCAKE by Lily Vanilli

One of my favorite things to do with my free hours during the weekend, aka the times I escape and the hubby watches the minimen, is go to the book store.  I love browsing through aisles and aisles of beautiful paper.  I could (and have) spent hours just looking at the wonderful selections.  A few weeks ago, I found this devious lovely by accident and had to snatch it up.  I have just been waiting to share it with you. My boys are still little, but someday I am definately working in some of these delightfully fiendish treats.

"A ZOMBIE ATE MY CUPCAKE" by Lily Vanilli is a book filled to the brim with the most evil cupcakes I have ever seen.  Lily Vanilli lives in London and bakes and decorates cakes in her own home.  You can buy them HERE or visit her blog HERE.

This is the cupcake that sold me on the book.  I know I could have remembered this, but I just loved it.  It's eerie and gorgeous. Perfect.

Here are a couple which are bloody good...and cherry raspberry sauce, extra YUM!

Here's one perfectly safe for the kiddos, incredibly cute, no?

As a lover of zombie movies (even though I haven't seen many since the boys were born, for obvious reasons...) a lover of cupcakes, and a lover of Halloween, I highly recommend this in your decorating book arsenal.  I will make a mild warning...a few of the cupcakes are not for the faint of heart, not sure what that says about me...

PS This one is a red velvet cupcake and red fondant with cherry sauce.  Delicious and gory, but not going to be in this house for a while, but for a teenager's party...can you say wickedest (although slightly morbid) mom in the neighborhood?

Halloween Spooktacular - BLACK + ORANGE

Hello my little darlings, here we have our second inspiration board for Halloween...BLACK + ORANGE.  Simple and cheerful, perfectly classic and EVERYWHERE. I've scoured through the masses and found these pretties. Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend!

SOURCES: (CLOCKWISE)

1 & 5 HAMMONDS CANDIES

2. CUPCAKE FLAGS BY GOAGAINSTTHEGRAIN
3. MINI HALLOWEEN GLASSINE BAGS – LITTLEPUMPKINPAPERS
4. CALDRON PUNCH BOWL AND CUPS BY POTTERY BARN
6. HALLOWEEN TABLETOP PARTY PENNANTS BY POSSIBLYANDPERHAPS
7. VINTAGE OWL INVITATIONS BY LORALEELEWIS
8. MELAMINE TRAY BY POTTERY BARN KIDS
9. CAKE BUNTING PEEKABOO BY KIKILARU




Almond Butter Cookies

I am happy to say my little recipe experiment worked.  Since Hunter is allergic to peanuts, I was wondering if I could use other nut butters in various recipes.  I finally found an almond butter that was not made on the same machines as peanuts, and it happens to be the Blue Diamond brand, which is the only nuts we could find not made with peanuts. **Note - the nuts and butters from Blue Diamond are made on the same equipment as other tree nuts. We tried dipping celery in almond butter, no luck.  We tried it spread on toast, no luck.  Hunter can be incredibly picky at times, and since he's never had a peanut butter sandwich, he doesn't get the whole texture thing, which is a smidge less creamy in the almond butter.

So, I moved on to cookies.  Macarons are made from almonds, we like spritz cookies with almond flavoring, why not try almond butter cookies? It should be easy, and it was.  I took my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and substituted almond butter for the peanut butter.  The hubby and both mini men are quite happy.  I know for sure that the hubby isn't just being nice because he stole the bag of remaining cookies and took it with him.

Here's the recipe, adapted from The Good Housekeeping Cookbook.
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup creamy almond butter
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar (optional, I did this even though it's not in the original recipe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together butter, sugars, egg, almond butter, and vanilla.  In a small bowl, blend flour, salt and baking soda.  Add flour mixture to butter mix. Mix until thouroghly combined. 
Scoop out by rounded teaspoon size and roll in a small bowl of powdered sugar before baking. Press down the tops to flatten slightly. Bake for 15 - 20 mins.  Cool on a wire rack and enjoy, with milk was the preference at our house.

Another option for finishing the cookies is to add white chocolate chips to the mixture.  These were Henry's favorite.

Halloween Spooktacular - BLACK + WHITE

I know it's still September, but I've already started planning, and I bet you have too... With this mini series, I will be making inspiration boards that you can actually BUY!  So to start, a little BLACK + WHITE hallows eve party.  I have been seeing black and white everywhere, and I must admit I am dying for it...

SOURCES: (CLOCKWISE)

1. CROW MOBILE (POTTERY BARN KIDS)

2. ALL HALLOWS EVE SIGN (TUCKERREESE)

3. BLACK WINE GLASS (MARTHA STEWART FOR MACYS)

4. TREE TAPESTRY (URBAN OUTFITTERS)

5. WICKED OXIDIZED CANDLEABRA (ANALOGUESHOP)

6. B/W SWIRL LOLLIPOP (CANDY WAREHOUSE)

7. ROCOCO NOIR (ROSANNA)

8. ALL HALLOWS EVE INVITATION (BLUSHPRINTABLES)

9. LICORICE MINI RIBBON CANDIES (HAMMONDS CANDIES)

10. SIMPLE HALLOWEEN BANNER (TUCKERREESE)

Stay tuned for a Halloween inspiration board each Friday! Have a LOVELY weekend!

Mind your P's and Q's

Hello lovelies! I hope you had a fabulous long weekend! Here we had a fantastic time.  But, unfortunately Henry was sick on Saturday with a cold.  Yesterday Hunter got it, and guess who got it today?! Here's a quick little mini post on some little manners.

ADORE THIS!!! Loving this poster. It is SO something I'd say to the boys. SUBLIMINAL BABY POSTER by SYCAMORESTREETPRESS

A simple and perfect little reminder for the boys, and mama, too. EAT GOOD FOOD by LUCKYBLUEBIRDART

How adorable are these napkins?  Henry is just learning to read, is highly impressionable, and these would be perfect. MANNERS NAPKINS by BETSYGRACE

I love these colors! Perfect for hanging right next to the sink... WASH YOUR HANDS by BELLYBABIES

Oh dear, how many times do you say this a day, me about a hundred...SAY PLEASE by LOUELLAPRESS

With a zillion toys, why do they fight over the same one? This sums it up perfectly.  SHARE POSTER by INKPETALS

new goodies, a DIY, and a GIVEAWAY, too

Happy Friday all! I am really excited to share with you our new MINI PARTY PACK! It has everything you would need to throw a little fete.  It has a fringe garland, a bunting garland (new design) and cake flags! All made from fabric of course! There are more packages to come soon for the holidays, but for now you can WIN one of these party packs over at anders ruff.  I am beyond happy Maureen asked me to be a part of her blog, and her write up of my garlands is so sweet. Don't forget to check out her Etsy shop here (Halloween is half off until 9/15!)

  

In the MINI PARTY PACK, there are cake flags.  These lovelies are easy to make . Do you have random scraps of fabric lying around? (ok, I might have more than most) Swing by the craft shop and pick up some 4" lollipop sticks and a roll of double stick adhesive.  Break out the scraps and some pinking shears and let me show you an easy way to customize your party.

For some strange reason, I have long strips of fabric laying around...

Use the lollipop sticks to measure and cut 4" long strips. The width is up to you, however you would like the flags to look.

Lay out the cut strips and add some double stick tape.  Cut the tape a smidge over half the length of the fabric, this allows a bit of overlap to secure well to the stick.

Peel back the tape, and place the lollipop stick in the center.

Fold over in half and smooth together.

TADA! Told 'ya it was easy.

Feel free to use different fabrics for all sorts of occasions.

Have fun and have a HAPPY WEEKEND! (and yeah, I guess you could use paper for the flags, too!)