oh, how posh! daily blog

When you’re invited to a friends house for an afternoon or evening for entertaining,  it is proper etiquette and polite to arrive bearing a gift for your gracious hostess with the mostess. To make sure that you show up with a gift that the hostess will absolutely love,  we put together some very cute and stylish DIY gifts that are guaranteed to get you invited back!

For a refreshing and cool hostess gift create a Summer Cooler. Fill a glass pitcher with lemons, then attach a wooden spoon and a stylish dish towel to the handle — the makings for lemonade. Include a simple recipe that doubles as a gift tag.

2.  If your hostess is an avid gardener the Garden Supplies gift will be to her delight!  Give here some flowers that will last longer than a few days. Fill a galvanized bucket from a hardware store with a few gardening basics: seeds, pruners, pretty gloves, and a trowel. We used a cardboard coaster as a gift tag.

3.  The Tote-ally Great Pack offers up some fresh baguettes and fancy olive oil in a personalized canvas tote and your host will have both a delicious snack for later and a cute bag to reuse. Pick up an eco-friendly canvas bag, a letter stencil, and fabric paint at a crafts store.

4.  Entertaining with a wine lover? Consider wrapping their favorite bottles of wine. That’s a Wrap is a brilliant twist on giving the traditional bottle of wine: Wrap it in a pretty summer scarf (we used two easy techniques here) and give two presents at once.  Don’t you love it!

5.  Soap Star, buy a package of inexpensive fragrant bar soap and wrap it in pretty printed paper. Polish off the look by binding the soap together with decorative copper wire topped off with a bead, then place the stack in a lovely vintage soap dish.

Have creating these stylish DIY hostess gifts, which one is your favorite?

Enjoy!

celebrate life in style…

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Bring back elegance, class and flavor to your happy hour with some delightful decadent Three Olives® Vodka Chocolate Martinis. So here’s an idea, change up your cocktail menu for this weekend’s entertaining and add some of these cocktails. You won’t be disappointed by any of these scrumptious martinis, you will probably leave these on your happy hour cocktail menu permanently. Go ahead and make these your signature cocktails!

For the recipes read more… »

I found these delish bites over at David Lebovitz’s website. He has some of the most scrumptious recipes, that you just have to try. To get you started I thought I would share the yummy recipe for theses Chocolate-Covered Salted Peanut Caramel Cups. I love, love love these! How can you possibly resist chocolate, peanuts and caramel? I am not that strong-willed when it comes to chocolate,  which is why I don’t think I can make these that often. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Here’s the recipe

Serving: About 25 cups

This recipe is adaptable to any relatively thick caramel filling. Dulce de leche would work, and some folks fill these with peanut butter. (See links, below.) Don’t melt down chocolate chips, which are formulated to hold their shape when heated, and you’ll find the chocolate too sludgy to work with.

Depending on the size of the cups, and how generous you are, you may get a few more, or a few less, than indicated.

Ingredients

12 ounces (340g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup (125g) salted peanut caramel

Fleur de sel, or another flaky sea salt

Preparation

1. In a clean, dry bowl set over simmering water (or in a microwave), melt the chocolate until smooth.

2. Put a dab of the chocolate about the size of a shelled hazelnut in the bottom of a small paper baking cup.

3. Use a small spoon, or a brush, to move the chocolate around and coat the bottom and sides with an even layer of chocolate. Chill the cups to firm up the chocolate.

4. Once firm, in each cup, put a bit of the salted peanut filling, enough so that it will reach about 2/3rds of the way to the top of the cup. (Don’t have to stress to much about exact amounts; it’s candy and it supposed to be fun to make.)

5. Depending on how soft the filling is, rap the sheet of cups on a folded kitchen towel to level the tops. If the filling is too thick, use a spoon to smooth out the filling.

6. Add enough chocolate to cover the filling, and once again, rap the sheet on the countertop to level to tops and enclose the filling.

7. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, such as fleur de sel.

8. Chill until firm.

Store the cups in the refrigerator until about thirty minutes before ready to serve. They’ll keep for about two weeks in the refrigerator. They can also be frozen.

Note: Left at room temperature for a few hours or more, the chocolate can “bloom.” To avoid that, you may wish to temper the chocolate, which isn’t necessary if you store them in the refrigerator and take them out shortly before serving.

Variation: Use milk chocolate instead of the bittersweet or semisweet chocolate.

Enjoy!

celebrate life in style…

Hi I am Jennifer from Calligraphy by Jennifer and I am beyond thrilled and honored to be a guest blogger on the fabulous oh how posh! site, thank you again! I hope to bring all of you many helpful tips and inspirational findings on calligraphy, invitations and all stationery related topics. So on that note I must begin to tell you my journey as to how I became a calligrapher.

It wasn’t until my own wedding that I discovered the wonderful field of calligraphy. I didn’t even know five years ago you could do calligraphy for a living! Boy was I surprised. After having my very own invitations hand addressed in calligraphy I become infatuated with the idea of learning the beautiful art. I dabbled around with a few calligraphy pens and thought there would be absolutely no way I could ever learn this. I thought it would be so much easier than it was. There were so many tedious things I had no clue about while trying to master the art of hand-lettering. I was definitely in for a long journey of trial and error but I was so determined to learn. I guess this explains how crazy I can get when I become truly passionate with something I love! After several long months I decided it was time to embark the next step. I launched my calligraphy business in 2005 and several months later I took one step further by going Nationwide. It truly has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

Calligraphy is definitely a full time job for me however I don’t view it as a job because I love it so much! I love creating spectacular things for my clients and the custom aspect that ties in with my job. Having the opportunity to add such a special touch to a brides wedding is a true blessing for me. A brides invitations and calligraphy are a very important as they help set the tone for the wedding and show guests how truly important and special they are. The options are endless when it comes to calligraphy for weddings! I will always go beyond my efforts using my imaginative and creative mind to help couples create their vision for their dream wedding.

Now some fun stuff! Are you excited for spring to arrive? I know I am because this snow and cold weather are really dragging me down. I am staying positive thinking about the nice sunny spring weather and all the fabulous weddings that are on the horizon! Spring is such a fun time to get married especially when it comes time to creating your wedding invitations. I recently custom created a fabulous save-the-date (above) and invitation (below) with the help from Cardgirl Designs for an upcoming spring wedding.

The bride chose a combination of fonts some of which I custom created to meet her specific ideas for the overall look she was trying to achieve. Cardgirl Designs then took my lettering and changed the colors to a gorgeous sky blue and pale green which were letterpress printed for the actual completed invitation ensemble. It was amazing! The elegance of the calligraphy with the spring colors made for a perfect invitation.

If you are looking for more of a design I love the Isabelle Lynne Collection. Many of the designs in this series are perfect for a spring wedding.

One of my favorites is the Majestic design I offer. The turquoise flourishes and chocolate brown ink couldn’t be more perfect for spring.

Another fabulous way to make your invitations feel appropriate for a spring wedding is to have them custom hand painted with flowers and birds. My dear friend Michelle Mospens, owner of My Personal Artist came to mind immediately. She is one of the most amazing and talented artists I know specializing in hand painted invitations and so much more! Her tulip and hydrangea hand painted wedding invitations are just spectacular. I also love the hand painted birds she does. The rich vibrant colors and spring images are just perfect, who couldn’t love them!

There are so many routes you can go when creating an invitation for a spring wedding. With all the color choices, calligraphy styles, embellishments you can add, even with hand painting you are sure to find something that will fit your overall theme, individual style and personality. Remember to always talk to your designer to discuss your options. All of our invitations can be custom tailored to meet your specifications with various ink colors and calligraphy styles. Completely custom designs can be created as well for a couple that may have something unique in mind. Remember to get an early start when ordering your invitations as production time normally takes 4 to 6 weeks.

Until next time happy planning and stay inspired!

xoxo,

Jennifer

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