Entertaining with Style: Paper Ave parties with paper flowers!

It has been too long since our last Entertaining with Style feature! I am so glad to have more hosting and party inspiration for you, especially as we approach the holidays. Today creative business woman Donna Tran of Paper Ave shows us how she decorated her most recent party, a 2 year business anniversary celebration! Paper Ave is a company that sells artistically created crepe paper flowers as well as hosts fun flower making workshops. Here is a peek at her recent event. 

My name is Donna Tran-Corona and I am the artist and owner of Paper Ave, a business that specializes in colorful and cheerful handmade crepe paper flowers.  The business was officially established in October of 2015 as a side-hustle and after getting married and moving to Huntington Beach a year later, I decided to pursue the life of a creative entrepreneur full-time and what a ride it has been!

When my friend Deanna from Smoke and Brine Co. Warehouse reached out to me to teach a workshop at her new venue, we decided that it would be a ton of fun to celebrate Paper Ave's second birthday there by hosting a celebratory workshop to mark the occasion. Here's how I planned this exciting event!

Having a design background has really helped me be comfortable in working with colors and I definitely wanted to use bright colors to create a fun, colorful and festive environment. Our guests included long time college friends, new friends who I have met from past workshops (this was their 3rd one with me for a few of them!) and a few vendors who have been such a crucial support within my business. 

Each attendee at the Paper Ave workshop was provided with their own kit that included the templates, crepe paper, floral wire, vase, moss and additional supplies. Our paper flower kits are always packaged with a labor of love to make opening each kit an enjoyable experience on its own.

For party decor, a colorful bouquet with various handmade paper flowers including peonies, roses, dahlias, and little wildflowers were used as centerpieces, paired with white vases to allow the colorful flowers to pop. Custom cookies inspired by the workshop were made by Jennifer Tee based out in Irvine, CA and they were the cutest keepsake for everyone (almost too pretty to eat!).

What's a birthday party without some delicious bites and drinks along the way?  Deanna from Smoke & Brine. Co provided the most beautiful and colorful platter filled with various cheeses, fruits, and nuts and it was a perfect match with our DIY mimosa station (champagne, sparkling cider, orange juice and some fresh blueberries and raspberries). 

Loren of Four Things Paper provided the 'Gather and Graze' calligraphy signage as a beautiful backdrop for the food and drinks area. Some fresh florals and a number 2 gold balloon were used to celebrate the occasion as well. I also paired live greenery with my colorful paper flower hoops, which made a great backdrop for people to gather in front of for photos. This party was so much fun to put together and a great way to celebrate 2 years for Paper Ave!

Here are my top 10 tips for your next festive celebration:

1.  Don't be afraid to use colors!  Colors have always been an inspiration for me and I just think it can be used to create a fun, festive and happy environment!  There are many places to bring in color, from the centerpieces, decorations and food to name a few!

2. Simplicity goes a long way.  It also makes it easier for yourself, and cleaning up afterward as well!

3. Have a DIY drink station so people can control how much alcohol they'd like in their drink.  Also provide non-alcoholic alternatives.

4. When working with a colorful set of flowers for a centerpiece, use a contrasting lighter vase so that the flowers can really pop.  Wooden slabs can be used to help create levels for the various centerpieces.

5. Create name cards for guests so that groups can be seated together.

6. Decorative paper plates help provide a nice pop of color and makes clean-up a cinch as well.

7. Adding a touch of greenery by each setting makes a great decorative detail!

8. Grazing platters allow attendees to have something to nibble on throughout the event and party.  

9. Have a fun backdrop so guests have a place to take photos at. You can even assign a unique hashtag for social media so you can use it to look back on photos that your guests take!

10. Provide a fun and unique keepsake that guests can bring home with them.

Interested in having your next event or dinner party featured in our Entertaining with Style series? If so, email me with details of your event!

Paper Flowers: Paper Ave // Venue: Smoke & Brine Co. Warehouse // Grazing Platter: Smoke & Brine Co. // Calligraphy: Four Things Paper // Photography: Rachael Smith Photography // Custom Cookies: Jennifer Tee // Paper Plates: Harlow and Grey (purchased from Happily Ever Etched)

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Entertaining with Style: Cooking Sous Vide and with a Blow Torch!

Today's Entertaining with Style post is all about cooking sous vide and we're featuring the Sansaire cooking brand. Sansaire's technology is changing the way people cook at home, making traditionally professional-grade cooking tools available to the home chef. Valerie Trask, Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of the company, shares one of her recent culinary adventures with Interiors by Jacquin blog. 

What is sous vide... 

Sansaire makes a sous vide precision cooking device and a Searing Kit with a blow torch and searing tray. While fancy restaurants have been using this technology for years, we helped make it accessible to home chefs. This method takes the guesswork out of preparing perfectly cooked meals. By maintaining a constant and exact temperature, Sansaire sous vide device makes cooking time less important. Not to mention it's ideal for hosting because with a sous vide device all of the preparation work can be performed well before guests arrive. Hosts can finally focus on their guests instead of meal preparation, which helps us all to be the relaxed hosts we truly want to be.

"Sous vide" is French for "under vacuum" and refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food and cooking it in a temperature controlled water bath. The intent is to cook the item evenly, ensuring that that the inside is properly cooked without overcooking the outside, all while retaining the food's moisture.

A Tradition of Entertaining:

Every summer, myself and a group of 10-20 hyper-urban Seattleites flock to a cabin in a small town to play like the locals and eat like the kings. While cooking is not officially competitive, we divide and conquer meal preparation and people go big. To add to the challenge, our combined food allergies and preferences along with the sheer volume of people is a feat for us all as cooks. Typically my dinner parties are no larger than eight guests, but for a group of our size we alternate hosting the meals on fun trips like this one, which allows time for relaxation in between preparations. 

Like any proud co-founder, I wanted to show off the breadth of Sansaire’s cooking devices while preparing a meal that anyone could enjoy, which meant that I had to be sensitive to vegetarianism, lactose-intolerance, and gluten allergies. No problem! My menu and advanced cooking tools made this complicated task completely do-able.

On the menu: 

• Sous vide vegetable hash with colorful fingerling potatoes, beets, carrots, and onion (meat-, gluten-, and dairy-free)
• Sous vide egg with a velvety yolk (meat-, gluten-, and dairy-free)
• Buttermilk biscuits with homemade blackberry jam (meat-free)
• Brûlée peaches (meat-, gluten-, and dairy-free)

The Setting... plus making the most of limited resources:

This year for our group dinner we rented an adorable home on Orcas Island, in northern Washington State. They say that constraints breed creativity, which was certainly the case for this trip. The ferries to the island were overbooked, so our group maxed out our ability to carpool, therefore, forcing us each to pack modestly. For me, that meant I wasn’t able to bring tableware and table décor. Instead, I was forced to wing-it and rely solely on what I could find.

I was pleased to discover that the outdoor table was nestled into a small clearing in a gorgeous garden of lavender and roses, which was all surrounded by wildflowers and tall grass. Bingo! In addition to a colorful bouquet of fresh flowers from the garden, I was able to use lavender stems as napkin holders, a sheet as a tablecloth, and wildflowers as a decorative plating accessory. The white tablecloth, the colorful foods, and the bright flowers came together terrifically. Everyone was blown away by the presentation, especially knowing that it had been pulled together with limited resources. Quite the success!

Preparing the meal:

I prepared a sous vide veggie hash the night before. This way, the morning of I could enjoy a more relaxed pace. I worked with a wide array of brightly colored vegetable colors ––each of which I wanted to maintain its own integrity––so I prepared beets, carrots, onions, and two different potato varieties all separately. In an effort to maintain some textural diversity, I left the red peppers raw and crunchy, but used the Sansaire Searing Kit to blacken the skins.

Aiming for sweet-but-seasonal, I used the Searing Kit to brûlée the peaches. It was a simple way to incorporate fresh fruit, yet show creativity. As a 5’1 girl who wears dresses daily, I always love busting out a blow torch at dinner parties! Making the brûlée peaches was the easiest aspect of the meal, but it garnered me the most style points. Using a searing kit really adds wow factor to your meals, especially when you want to impress guests.

Cooking eggs for twelve people would normally be a stressful task, but I prepared 24 eggs by simply cooking them sous vide in their shells for 23 minutes at 72 degrees C/161.6 degrees F. The result was a medium firmness velvety texture, which is harder to achieve than expected without a sous vide device.

I don’t usually venture into mixology; but there’s a first time for everything so I expanded my horizons with a unique breakfast cocktail. I sous vide cooked and blended lychees, combined with sparkling wine to make a phenomenal mimosa. I made fresh buttermilk biscuits with my grandma’s fresh blackberry jam to round out the meal.

Here's how to make my Brûlée Peaches!

Cut the peach in half, remove the pit, sprinkle with raw sugar, and torch the top until you reach the desired crispy amber color. Serve as is or top with vanilla yogurt or ice cream and a dash of cinnamon. It's that simple!

If you're looking to impress your family and friends with gourmet quality meals, Sansaire's cooking devices will certainly assist you. Visit the Sansaire website to learn where you can purchase Sansaire's Sous Vide cooking device and Searing Kit. 

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Entertaining with Style: featuring We the Birds Macarons

Summer weather is finally here and that means it's party season! I'm excited to launch the summer season of my "Entertaining with Style" series, which is on schedule to be an epic summer of featured parties! If you have a party or specal event that you'd like featured, be sure to send me an email. Today we're popping over to Dallas, Texas to get a glimpse at the chic and intimate brunch of hostess Natalie Knowlton, blogger and macaron baker extraordinaire at We the Birds.

My name is Natalie Knowlton, owner and macaron-maker behind We the Birds Macarons and co-curator of We the Birds, a sister-duo fashion and lifestyle blog.  Coming from a transient background, we called ourselves “birds” because we were always on the move.  Our blog continues to embody our zest for traveling, fashion, and food - mostly macarons. :-)

Natalie's party theme is "Bucket List Brunch"! Check out how to make these DIY placecards at the bottom. 

I am an adventurous food and travel lover.  My recent trip to Hong Kong inspired the theme for this Bucket List Brunch.  The Bucket List Brunch featured an international breakfast buffet and included a fun destination trivia game highlighting everyone’s bucket-list destination.  I invited my two sisters, mom, aunt, and three close friends.  I adore everyone that came and loved that all my favorite women were able to meet and mingle in my home.

My apartment style is minimal, simplistic, and chic.  I love to mix modern and traditional elements and re-purpose glassware and dried flowers to decorate my apartment.  With my minimalist style, the food and company stole the spotlight at this brunch.

Try this recipe for Smoked Salmon Blinis!

Making guests feel at home is my number one priority when hosting.  This includes: prepping as much as I can days in advance so that I can be at total ease when my guests arrive; lighting candles in each bathroom with a delicate bouquet in each room; welcoming each guest with a hug and offering them a beverage, and as my mother says, “it is better to have more food than not enough." 

ENTERTAINING TIPS

Time Saver Tip: Prepare ahead of time! This includes grocery shopping 3-4 days in advance, cooking and freezing menu items 2-3 days in advance, making gift bags, prepping/setting the table 1-2 days in advance, and making flower arrangements the night before. Leave a very small to-do list for the morning or day of the event. 

Money-Saver Tip: Make your own flower arrangements. Start by choosing an accent color then add greenery and one or two complimentary flowers.  I chose fuchsia pink as my accent color. My apartment consists of “cool colors” including grey, white, wood, and metals.  The fuchsia added the perfect “pop of color” to my neutral aesthetic. Another great way to save money is by re-purposing empty glassware as vases. I used a combination of mason jars, wine bottles, and glass milk bottles. Place the arranged bouquets throughout your home. Flowers bring life to a room and serve as a cohesive element in every room.

DIY TIP: Gift bags are the perfect take-away for your guests and can double as place holders on your table setting. For this Bucket List themed brunch, I found cute luggage tags for each guest and customized each with their name on the tag. I wrapped them in small muslin bags  and adorned each with a pretty name tag. See below.

To learn more about Natalie Knowlton, her blog, or these delicious macarons, head over to the blog We the Birds. Thank you for reading!

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Entertaining with Style: Sweet Lulu's Colorful Margarita Party!

Welcome to Spring and Happy Friday! When it comes to personal style, hosting and entertaining is the perfect opportunity to showcase your own unique style. As a thoughtful (and stylish) hostess, I always take care to ensure that the food is excellent, the decor is fabulous, and the guest list is filled with amazing people at my events! It's this level of care and style that I look forward to bringing you wonderful readers in my Entertaining with Style series.

Today I'm bringing you a colorful margarita party hosted by Shop Sweet Lulu, an online boutique specializing in high-quality & on-trend partyware sourced from around the globe. There are so many great ideas here! Enjoy!

I've interviewed Shop Sweet Lulu's proprietress, Jesse Senese, to get the details on this fun fiesta!

Jacquin: Hi Jessie!  Thanks for chatting with me today!

Jessie: It's my pleasure! 

Jacquin: What inspires your fun party decor creations at Shop Sweet Lulu? 

Jessie: We're inspired by so many things, and they're always different - it can be a color combination, a product, or a theme.  This particular party was inspired by the drink we served!  The margarita!

Jacquin: I love that Sweet Lulu has thrown a margarita themed party!  I've been wanting to show that brightly colored parties with all of the fun decor can still work for an adult get-together.  Sweet Lulu's party is the perfect example!  Share with us a bit about your inspiration for this particular party.  

Jessie: Once we knew that we wanted to serve margaritas, the menu and décor sprang to life.   We took a little field trip to a Mexican grocery store and stocked up on colorful cans of beans and other ingredients, which we used as containers for our flowers, and paired those with pretty pieces from our shop in vibrant colors.

Jacquin: How does your personal style come through in the parties and get togethers you host?

Jessie: For the margarita night, for example, I found a vintage wicker peacock chair (above) at a resale shop and created a flower 'crown' for it.  I also fancied up a bunch of glass jars with glitter - we hung these from the trees and used them as votive holders on the tables.  I always try to include a handmade element.

Jacquin: Share with the readers the decor elements featured in your party.

Jessie: We brought my kitchen table and chairs outside, and covered it with a fabric table runner and lots of potted flowers.  I also cut some fresh flowers from the garden and placed those in the glittery glass jars that we crafted.  As the night wore on, the big bulb lights hanging from the trees highlighted the tissue streamers floating in the sky and it was all magical.  We also tied little strips of fabric around these sticks DIY style to make drink stirrers (shown above). We wrapped the chic gold utensils in matching strips of fabric, as well.  A great way to customize your party!

Jacquin: What was the menu at the party?

Jessie: The Paloma Margarita was the star of the show!  We also had fresh guacamole and chips, and a few different salsas, but the evening was definitely about the margarita! I used this recipe for the Paloma, which varies from other margaritas I've seen in that the glass is rimmed in sugar instead of salt.  It was delicious!

Jacquin: For my last question, would you mind sharing one great party hosting tip with us?

Jessie: Keep it simple.  Don't over-think things, and execute a couple of things really well.

Want to source Sweet Lulu's colorful party supplies shown here?  I have all of the information for you!

• Square Dessert Plates in Pink, Green, Orange, & Hot Pink
• Colorful Napkins in Pink, Orange, Hot Pink, & Green
• French Bistro Glasses - Set of 4
• Wooden Candy Sticks - Decorate these with colorful strips of fabric like Shop Sweet Lulu did!
• Swing Top Bottles - Love these! Serve you beverages with style!
• Corrugated Geometric Dishes - Perfect for individual food portions.
• Pretty Plastic Utensils in Shiny Gold - Shabby-chic at its finest!
• Unique Tissue Paper Streamers in Yellow, Pink, Teal, & Magenta

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