Elegant Canapes for a Sweet Sixteen Party

Dear Chicago House,

Most teenagers would be quite happy with pizza as food for a birthday party ...not Miss Chicago teen. For her recent Sweet Sixteen, Casino themed party she wanted elegant canapes and put together this Casino Party board on Pinterest for inspiration. She pulled together the entire menu and together we had some bonding time in the kitchen. She has developed a bit of a foodie reputation among her friends (check out what she created for a Halloween party last year here here and here) and the food for this party did not disappoint!

Here were some of the favorites

Strawberry Dip

Ingredients

• 1 jar of marshmallow fluff
• 1 tub of strawberry cream cheese
• Handfull of Chocolate chips
• strawberries

In a food processor blend the marshmallow fluff and cream cheese. Place in a decorative bowl and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Mini Pavlova Bites

Ingredients

• 2 ege whites
• 4oz sugar
• blackberries
• sliced kewi
• blueberries

To make the meringue base whisk egg whites until they form peaks then whip in the sugar. Pipe onto a baking tray lined with parchment and bake at 200 deg f for 2 hours.

Plate up on mini plates and decorate with the fruit.

Hummus Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

• Mini peppers
• Hummus ( we used store bought but it is easy to make your own)

Chop the ends off each pepper and scoop out the seeds. Fill with hummus and enjoy!

Mini Mexican Dip

These personal dip bowls are such a good idea...no double dip issues to worry about. We bought the little dishes at Party City.

Ingredients

• 1 can re-fried beans
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• Guacamole
• Sour cream
• Salsa
• Grated cheese
• Chopped pepper and spring onion
• Tortilla Chips

Mix the re-fried beans with the taco seasoning. Layer the other ingredients in your dishes in the following order.

beans, guacamole,sour cream, salsa, cheese, peppers and onion. Top with a chip.

YUMMY!

Tuxedo Cheese Bites

Ingredients

• Circular crackers
• Swiss cheese slices
• Olives

Cut cheese slices into triangles and  make bow tie and buttons from olives

Vegetable Platter

Ingredients

• 1 large green paper
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Celery
• Ranch dressing

Remove the stem end of the pepper and scoop out the sees. Fill with ranch dressing, arrange vegetables around pepper.

Cake pops 

Decorated with melted chocolate and heath bar bits.

 

I am pretty hungry now after writing about all this food!

Love from

Creative in Chicago XX

Categories: Food, Pinterest, teenager

Pinterest Tip - How to Animate your Pins

Dear Chicago House,

Hands up if you spend way too much time on Pinterest?...me!

I have found that Pinterest is the best social network for driving traffic to this site and recently they introduced animated GIF support. Hurray, we can add another dimension to our pins. It is not difficult when you know how so today here is a tutorial on how to animate your pins.

How to animate your Pins for Pinterest

1. Start by putting together a collection of photographs. make sure all the photos have the same dimensions.
2. Upload the photos to http://gifmaker.me/ making sure the order you upload them matches the order you would like to see them.
3. Adjust the canvas size to match your photos and set the animation speed at a level that suits the nature of the animation.
4. Click CREATE and download your animated gif.
5. Upload to Pinterest. The animated Gif will have a small button automatically added. This allows visitors to click and watch your animation.

 Here is the animated GIF of this tutorial on Pinterest. If you click it you will see the button

Enjoy!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: blog, blogging advice, Graphic Design, Pinterest

Going Dotty with Nails

Dear Chicago House,

I am going to let you in on a little secret ... I can not bear to have my nails long. This is about as long as I let them get.

But left to their own devices I think they would reach a monstrous length ... they like to grow, and fast.

Chicago teenager however is dabbling with a more glamorous hand look. Just look what she let me do with her talons this past weekend. Painting is not just for walls or paper. Time for some creative body art.

I have seen all those fabulous pins on Pinterest so I thought I'd have a bash at some nail art myself . This was pretty easy to do and I think would have been even easier if our pots of nail varnish were not so gloopy.

Here is what I did

1. Painted each nail with two coats of white.
2. When the white was completely dry I dipped the head end of a pin ( the sort of pin you use in sewing) in a pink polish then dabbed it randomly over each nail. The pin required a dip per dot.
3. Sealed everything with a clear top coat.

What fun!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Pinterest, Pretty, teenager, Tutorials

I am crazy for pebbles

Dear Chicago House,

My obsession with pebbles continues. Not only have I framed them, mulched my house plants with them , I even have a board on Pinterest dedicated to them.

And look at the lovely orbs of granite you can pick up along the shores of Lake Michigan.

Call me a crazy lady!

Love

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Pinterest

How to Sew Felt Birds

Dear Chicago House,

Do you know, I don't like to sew very much but when I saw these sweet little birds on Pinterest I had to make a trip to Jo-Anns to buy a few squares of felt so I could have a go.

My color choices were inspired by two little fluffy pet parakeets Chicago teenager has and the pattern and tutorial is here.

Aren't they lovely!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Craft Projects, Pinterest, Pretty, Sewing

Candle Transfers: Pinterest Challenge

Dear Chicago House,

I have been dabbling with Pinterest, it is a great source of beautiful things and gives me lots of ideas.

For instance...how to turn dull white candles into something more lovely like here. I had to have a go myself and abracadabra and a little candle transfer later here we go.

I started off by designing a funky pattern in Illustrator and printed it out on tissue paper which I had taped on plain paper. (comment for a free download of the pattern !)

Next I cut a strip of my design and wrapped it around a boring white candle. A quick blast with my hair drier melted the wax enough to make the tissue paper stick.

It was super easy and I can see lots of occasions where I will make these again!

Love from


Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Craft Projects, Graphic Design, Pinterest, Pretty, Tutorials