how to throw an impromptu party

I had my friends over for a bonfire/sleepover Friday night, and at the spur of the moment, I decided to make it a mini surprise party for them (mini because it was only the three of us!). We're finally done with school, we're graduating in less than a week, and it was time for a celebration. It wasn't that hard, I mean, pretty straws and good snacks automatically make it a party, right?


Party favors also give an air of festivity, so I wrapped up a few small things I got from the store; nail polish, lip balm, a mini notepad, and a tin of mints.


These San Pellegrino lemon sodas are delicious, and they look so pretty! They are perfect for a party. For food, I made hummus, and got a few other snacks like cut-up veggies, pretzels, and popcorn.


How adorable are these straws? They are actually what inspired me to throw the mini party. I saw them at the store and decided I would come up with a reason to use them (I had to justify the frivolous purchase).

So gather all this together, light the firepit in the backyard, put on some good music,  and celebrate summer!

cake for mother's day

As promised, here is the recipe for the cake I made on Mother's Day! So I was inspired by this charlotte recipe (from the blog My Little Fabric), but it was written in French. I'm not familiar with French baking terms (or metric conversions) so I wasn't going to kill myself trying to translate it. I didn't want to risk misinterpretating it, and end up with a bad dessert.

So I decided to make something that looks similar. I started with the actual cake. I followed this basic cake recipe from Sweetapolita, but I made some changes:

• I left out the almond extract and added 1tsp of rose water (although next time I would add a little less rose water, it wasn't as subtle as I had hoped for)
• I used coconut milk instead of whole milk
• I made a raspberry puree (handful of raspberries + little bit of sugar + blender) and added that in (and since I was adding a liquid, I left out a little of the milk)

I made two round cakes with the batter. After they baked and cooled, I shaved the top off to make them flat, and put them together with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream in the middle (using this recipe). I saved some of the buttercream for later.


Next I made lady fingers to wrap around the edge. I used this recipe from Cupcake Project. I piped them to be about an inch taller than the cake. They weren't hard to make and they tasted good, but they didn't turn out as tall and fluffy as I wanted them to. They all kind of melted together on the baking sheet. If you know any tips for making lady fingers, let me know!

I used the rest of the buttercream to stick the lady fingers on the edges of the cake. To finish it off, I made whipped cream to fill in the cake. I didn't use a recipe, I just combined heavy whipping cream and sugar until I got the consistency I wanted. I decorated the cake with raspberries and flowers!

If you have any questions about the cake, just let me know!

mother's day

I began Mother's Day by making my mom these french breakfast puffs from The Kitchy Kitchen's blog. I changed one minor thing in the recipe, instead of regular milk I used coconut milk (simply because I don't like regular milk). They turned out delicious!


I made a cake for my mom in the afternoon. I combined a few recipes and tweaked them a bit to make the cake how I wanted it. If anyone is interested, I can post how I made it


I also made my mom a card and wrapped it in a kraft bag, sealed with washi tape and twine.


I painted a floral watercolor design on the front and wrote a message on the inside with gold ink.


And of course Mother's Day wouldn't be complete without a bouquet of flowers!

Today is my last Monday of high school, it's crazy how fast time is going by! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

penpal letter

I'm taking a break from studying to show you the latest penpal letter I sent to Gwen! I decorated this one with a doily, gold paint and stars, and my favorite floral washi tape.


I absolutely love writing and creating letters to send to people. I think it shows your love and appreciation better than just sending an email or text.


I included a package of my favorite rose tea and a instax photo of some roses in our garden.

Log off your email and try writing a letter to someone this weekend. ♥

the beginning of the end

I know I've been slacking on posting lately, but it's that time of year where I'm finishing up work for my classes and frantically studying for AP exams. In fact, my next to weekends are completely devoted to studying. Fun.

But as soon as all of this is over, I will be free! I have some new blog post ideas that I am itching to make, but right now my priority is school. But you can look forward to those soon, I only have a month left of school!

In order to keep myself sane I've found the time to take a break and write a few letters to people. This is the mail I've sent out recently! It was an accident that all my envelopes followed the same color scheme. :)  Oh, and that last envelope was an adorable printable from Ishtar Olivera. Go print one out and surprise a friend with a cute letter!

 

I hope everyone is having an amazing start to May. ♥

ps. Even though I won't be on my blog much for the next few weeks, you can always find me on pinterest!

18

Today I turned 18. It's strange saying I'm 18, because it was always such a far away age to be, but now that's how old I really am. It's like when you start high school for the first time, it almost doesn't seem real that you've gotten that far. (Am I making sense?)

But I am very excited about being 18. It's the beginning of the end, but also the beginning of a new part of my life. High school is ending, but soon I will move out and start college and everything will be different. I can't wait for a new adventure to begin.


So today, since it was my birthday, I wore a twirly, pink lace dress that I've been saving to wear. I also wore this charming little necklace that looks like a perfume bottle full of pearls.


I came home from school today and these pretty flowers were on my dresser. (Thank you mom!)


My friend Loli gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses. (Thank you thank you Loli!)  Everyone knows how much I love flowers. ♥

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, and thank you for all the gifts. Today was wonderful. ♥

{for your journal}

{for your journal} by stellaire

dream list
sketches of things seen from your window
dried flowers
 torn paper scraps
list of your favorites {music, feelings, etc...}
polaroids
things you wish to do
fragments of sweet memories
lovely quotes
stories of beautiful people