entertaining Archives - Darling Darleen

Italian Soda Bar + Free Printable

Italian Soda Bar + Free Printable

We love Italian sodas, and I tend to always include them when I host a party because they are such a big hit. Recently I put together an Italian Soda bar for a women’s painting party at my church, and it was so yummy I decided to replicate it to post it on my site. This post includes all the details of the Italian soda bar and a free printable that you can use for your Italian Soda bar, design by graphic designer Melissa Designs for Darling Darleen. The free printable is at the bottom of the post. Putting together an Italian Soda bar is really quite simple. All you need is club soda (or any soda), drink syrup, cream, and ice. It sounds too simple, but the results are so yummy!

Usually when I have a dessert table or drink table, it’s nice to have a backdrop or something to create height and visual interest. I decided a backdrop would do the trick. If you have a good table, picking up a tri-fold display board from an office supply store to decorate is the easiest and budget friendly. I use wrapping paper to cover it. Adhesive spray glue is fast and holds down the wrapping paper nicely. Next, I used my Cricut Explore to make the vinyl lettering for “Sip Sip Hooray” (and I just noticed I spelled hooray wrong! Whoops!). I had to cut the words in four parts and lay it like a puzzle to get the large size of the lettering. I also used my Cricut Explore to cut the white vinyl words for the drink syrups. So, I ripped off the original drink labels, cleaned the glue off and then put the vinyl words on it. The white lettering brings out the fun drink syrup colors and makes the Italian soda bar sophisticated and whimsical.

Include bite-size dessert treats like these Swig cookies. My friend Tai made them and they are amazing! She followed this recipe and made them bite size for the Italian Soda Bar. So yummy! Get the free Italian soda bar printable below.

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DOWNLOAD ITALIAN SODA BAR FREE PRINTABLE

Fourth Of July Tablescape

Fourth Of July Tablespace

We have been spending our Fourth Of July the last few years in Las Vegas with family. It’s hot and dry and that desert heat is real! But we love it, and we get our swimming fix in for the season. My sister is always so kind to host a Fourth of July barbecue party with family and friends. She has an amazing backyard with a pool and entertaining space. So, we decided to do a Fourth of July Tablespace with a desert theme to prep for the big patriotic holiday. Most of the Fourth of July decorations were from items she had from previous years. So throwing this Fourth Of July tablespace was quite easy and fun to do, especially with a sister who is a best friend!

Here are a few basic items we did to add a patriotic punch to this desert theme Fourth of July tablespace:

Flowers that originate from the area. You don’t think of flowers in the desert but there are beautiful flowers that have a cactus-like look. Also succulents are perfect and budget friendly for desert theme tablespace. The flowers I used for our Fourth of July tablespace are ones that I cut from around the neighborhood common place.
Use a large American flag as a table runner or to bunch around the center pieces of the table. This is a quick decoration tactic for adding red, white and blue without a thought. And it’s budget friendly.
Add an assortment of different sizes of American flags to your Fourth of July Tablescape. Stick the flags in flower arrangements or on the place setting. American flags are a fun party favor for your guests to enjoy during the night long.
Bring the indoor outdoor with red, white and blue pillows or a throw to add to your outdoor table. Place a rug under your table to create a beautiful, comfortable patio. We added candles for ambience. This will make it so your guests won’t want to leave!

Hope your enjoyed this Fourth of July tablespace, and thank you to my sister for opening up her beautiful backyard and sharing it with you!

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Farm To Table Inspired Thanksgiving

Farm to Table Inspired Thanksgiving

I always imagine the first Thanksgiving had in the center of the table a huge wooden bowl filled with fresh fruit, root vegetables and leafy greens. Deep red color palette with pale pinks and soft greens probably covered the table. This year I wanted to create a farm to table inspired Thanksgiving. The best seasonal colors of autumn come from some of the best seasonal foods like pomegranate, fig, pears, plum and grapes. And I wanted to make our Thanksgiving table have some of those elements. A Thanksgiving table that was edible and brought together the family around the table before the main feast–enjoying fresh fruit, nuts and even dried fruits. Thanksgiving can be such a long day, and we usually don’t eat until the late afternoon. So having healthy eating options is a good idea. This farm to table inspired Thanksgiving has a lot of DIYs to keep the costs down. I listed them below. If you noticed from last year, I also reused my black thanksgiving plates and my guests will have a happy saying once they move their name placemat.

1.Marble Tile Name Placemats: The marble tile name placemats are my favorite and inexpensive. Head to the tile store and grab a few 4×4 or smaller marble tiles. Use the gold leaf technique for the sides of the tile for a more dramatic look. (and so they don’t look like boring tile that you picked up at the hardware store.) Then using your cricut, take gold vinyl and cut out a script font in the guests’ names and then use transfer paper to transfer the vinyl on the gold-leaf tile. Don’t have a cricut? No problem! You can still get a similar look using the graphite paper technique.

2. Tassel Table Runner: Dress up your table with a simple table runner. I mostly like to put a runner under the branches, so they don’t scratch up my dinner room table. I had a simple table runner from Ikea and just sewed on some gold tassels. You can always make your own tassels!

3. Metallic Edible Pear: Another DIY favorite. An easy step but makes a huge statement! Do it the night before Thanksgiving! Pick up some pears at your grocer. Make sure to grab the pears that have a stem. Pick up some edible metallic dust and clear extract like lemon extract or almond extract. Mix equal parts of the metallic dust with the extract in a small bowl. Take a clean painting brush (or better yet, a new painting brush) and mix the parts together. Then brush the metallic dust on a wash and dried pear. Let it dry and gently transfer to your thanksgiving table! Add a fun grateful banner tag that hangs around the pear stem.

This farm to table inspired Thanksgiving table was so easy to pull together. The table setting I already had and then it was just a trip to my local grocer (wish it was to a local farm) and picking up fresh fruit, fresh flowers and eucalyptus branches. Hope this inspires your upcoming Thanksgiving!

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Here are some other Farm to Table Inspired Thanksgiving Items:

Indoor Garden Tea Party for a Shower

Indoor Garden Tea Party

I recently helped host an intimate indoor garden tea party and some best outsunny garden furniture would of looked great inside, this was for a friend who is going to have her first baby girl after having three boys. We had every intention to host the party outside under a beautiful oak tree with flower ribbons gorgeously hanging over the whimsical floral table. Fingers crossed every day for an entire week, we watched the weather and then decided the morning of to move the party inside because rain was in the forecast. And what do you know? No rain. And it ends up being quite a nice day. If I had known about Tucson party tent rentals, I would have hired a party tent and we could have gone outside even if it was raining and enjoyed the fresh air. Oh well! That’s the joys of Spring, right?! So, I think with the shuffle and the change of plans, the indoor garden tea party turned out really cute and was still what we had envisioned. My friend was telling me about how they got some of their lovely eco-friendly garden furniture they got from www.kedel.co.uk. It all looks very elegant.

The decorations for the party was planned around the invitations, which was hand painted by my talented artist friend Melissa. We used the same floral watercolor image for the menu. And I lucked out finding flowers from my flower vendor that coordinated perfectly with the floral watercolor theme. The main flowers I used in the arrangements were anemones, ranunculus, roses and daisies. Anemones are my new favorite flower. I just planted a few of them in my garden!

My friend Dana, who also helped host, watercolored and calligraphy the name place cards. The invitations were all sent in calligraphy-addressed envelopes. Such a beautiful personal touch. Since we had an intimate group, we wanted to make the table setting whimsical with an Alice-in-Wonderland feel. So, we used tiny books and butterfly wire sticks to create visual interest. If you are planning to have a tea party, you might as well make a simple floral arrangement in a tea cup.

We had a lot of fun plans for the flower wall when we were planning to host the garden tea party outside. But it looks perfect right behind where baby mom Kellie sat.

We served a light lunch with mostly finger foods of tiny sandwhiches and salads. And of course tea! Thankfully I have a complete tea set from when I hosted Stella’s tea birthday party so long ago. We use it quite often! And all the guests got the memo and wore pretty floral dresses. Very southern indeed!

Such a fun party to host this indoor garden party! And so excited for my friend Kellie!

Want to see more baby shower party ideas?

Little White Cake Baby Shower

Pink and White Baby Shower

Want to get the indoor garden tea party look?

Spring Easter Table Decorations

Spring Easter Table Decorations

Spring is definitely one of my favorites seasons. Mostly because the world becomes alive again with color! I love all the spring flowers that bloom, and trees blossoming with tiny flower buds. Spring pastel colors are everywhere. So for my Easter table this year I wanted it to look and feel like I brought Spring inside my home. Bright pastel colors are perfectly expressed with watercolors! Using watercolor ceramics, watercolor egg placements and bright in-season tulip centerpiece, this Spring Easter Table Decorations is inviting for all Easter guests to enjoy a brunch or luncheon.

Scalloped Plates (old) (similar, similar)

Watercolor bowls (similar) | Gold Utensils | Blue Placemats (similar)

As you can see watercolors is kind of my thing recently. Don’t you agree that this Spring Easter table decorations makes this table look so happy and alive? Colors have that affect on people! The watercolor Easter egg place cards that I posted last week are perfect for a brunch or luncheon. You can use a hard-boiled egg for the place cards and your guest can then peel and eat the egg! The eggs are propped with old napkin rings that I spray painted white. I also painted ceramic cake platters fun pastel colors. I will post the DIY on it, but it is exactly like my watercolor jewelry tray post. Yes! I strongly encourage you to have a nice collection of white platters and serving pieces on hand and then paint them to match your table decorations. You can pick up white serving platters and plates from the dollar store. This Spring Easter table decorations is a simple display but full of so much life and Easter celebration.

Here are some other Spring Easter table decorations you may enjoy.

Easter Table

Easter Dinner

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DIY: Tulip Cabbage Flower Arrangement for Easter

DIY: Tulip Cabbage Flower Arrangement for Easter

For my Easter table this year, I wanted to create a centerpiece that had Springtime written all over it. Using seasonal flowers, this tulip cabbage flower arrangement does just that! Brings the garden to the table, the centerpiece is fresh and alive with colorful farm to table goodness. It reminds me of something Peter Rabbit might bring home from the cabbage field. Don’t you agree? Tulips are in season so this is the best time to enjoy and use them for your Easter table. I bought three bunches (30 stems) for $12 at my local Whole Foods. Talk about a deal! And the cabbage is about $1.50. Easy to arrange and budget-friendly, this tulip cabbage flower arrangement is inviting for all to enjoy and reminds us of rebirth and life during this Easter season.

Supplies

tulips (or other spring flowers like hyacinth, daffodils)

Cabbage with pretty leaves on the outside

paring knife

Wet foam block (or you can use a small mason jar, but I like the look of a foam block to make the arrangement look full)

flower shears

Take your cabbage and make sure the base is flat. Cut the bottom if needed. Separate the outside leaves away from the center. Discard any leaves that are brown or wilted. Using your knife, cut out a hole in the center of the cabbage that is large enough for the foam. Save all the yummy cabbage insides for a large Chinese chicken salad (yum).

Take your larger knife and cut down the wet foam to a small square. Make sure to fully saturate the foam in water and let it soak, so it’s heavy with water. Cut down the corners so it fits perfectly in the cabbage hole.

Take your shears and cut three flowers at a time and cut to the height you’d like. Remove any loose leaves. I like working with flower wet foam because you have ton of control of how you’d like the flowers to be placed. High, low, at an angle. Gently push the flowers in the wet foam, working in circular manner. Spinning the cabbage. You can stay in the center and work toward the outside or vice versa. I alternated colors every three flowers .

Once the foam is fully covered, place your cabbage on a tray or platter to protect your table. Make sure to add a little water every 1-2 days.

Enjoy your tulip cabbage flower arrangement this Easter!

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Valentine’s Party Ideas: Cheesecake and Doughnuts

Celebrating Valentine’s Day is all about LOVE. Spending it with the people you love. Expressing how much you love dears ones with love notes. Or decorating and eating heart-shape love cookies. And who can forget the Valentine candies?! My favorite. So I did a mock-up Valentine Party to show you some fun Valentines party ideas you can incorporate into your Valentine’s or Galentine’s day party. For the Valentine’s party ideas, a cheesecake bar and doughnut (donut) skewers are perfect. Go pull out all your pretty red, pink and white serving plates, bowls and serving trays. And lets get this party started with the Valentines party ideas! (resources below)

Valentine’s Party Ideas: For the doughnut holes, I made the confetti hearts on the end of the skewers. Simple but big statement! DIY coming soon. Get creative with your doughnut holes by covering them with pink or red sprinkles. Use glaze to make the sprinkles stick and create a pattern with the doughnuts. Ready to serve!

A cheesecake bar with toppings is a great way to even please the pickiest eater and right on our valentine’s party idea. What a great way to show love that goes straight to the tummy! I bought a store bought cheese cake and an assortment of toppings. Fruit, candies, sprinkles and syrups. Make a sign for your guests letting them know it’s a cheesecake bar and the fun topping options.

Here are some of the topping ideas we did, along with some other ones:

strawberries and marshmellow syrup
raspberry and white chocolate chips
vanilla wafer and sprinkles
blueberries and lemon curd
cherries and shredded coconut
pecan and caramel syrup
bananas and chocolate chips

Doesn’t that look yummy? I’m drooling as I write this. So good and quite fun personalizing your own dessert. For the Valentine’s party ideas, I stuck with red and pink and white to keep with the holiday theme.

Want to recreate the look?

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