Salted Caramel Ice Cream Cake Shots

Whoa!  Now this Salted Caramel Ice Cream Cake Shots, created by Sugar and Cloth, looks yummy and sinful and I can't wait to give this recipe a try.  I just had to share.

Photo Via 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons caramel sauce, plus a little extra for the glasses
• 4 scoops vanilla ice cream
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• Pinch of sea salt, plus a little extra for the garnish
• 1 vanilla cupcake

Garnishes

• Gold sprinkles
• Whip cream
• Pinch of sea salt
• Caramel sauce
• Shot glasses

Blend ingredients together. Coat the rims of the glasses with caramel, and then dip them in gold sprinkles. Add a dab of caramel to each glass, and then fill with the shake just before serving. Top with whip cream and a pinch of sea salt!

New England Fine Living offers full service Party and Event Planning as well as an in-house interior design studio North of Boston. The parties and events we plan for our clients are small to large and are very casual to extremely elegant. What type of party would you like? We can create it for you. If you want to plan your own party, but would like a consultant, we can do that for you too!

Getting Ready For A Christmas Open House

It's Here!  Christmas time!  I love the holidays and this year will be a little extra special.  We are hosting a Christmas open house with about 60 guests and I have been a busy little elf decorating the house, buying food, and setting up the two bars.  I hope I find time to take some photos with the food set out and bars set up to post later.  

Thanksgiving Table Setting

Happy Thanksgiving From New England Fine Living!  I thought I would take a moment in between baking and cooking to post these photos of a table I decorated.  I actually did two coordinating tables.  One for the adults and one for the teens.  

What fun this was!  Below is where I started.  A beautiful dining room table with the table pad in place. 

Glitter Truck Centerpieces For A Christmas Party

Here is a unique idea for a Christmas party.  Large glittered trucks used as a centerpiece.  Can you imagine all of the other things you can use glitter on?  Oh My!

Here is a video tutorial of how I made these glitter trucks for centerpieces.  

Homemade Apple Pie Recipe

My first apple pie of the season!  I was looking forward to making this and trust me, I barely had time to take photos before it got inhaled by 4 men.  At least I got a small slice!  For the recipe, please go to the Apple Pie Recipe page of my web site. http://www.newenglandfineliving.com/Apple-Pie-Recipe-Homemade.html

All the fixings for the apple pie recipe

Brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg

Fresh squeezed lemon to coat the apples (so they don't turn brown).  You can use bottled lemon juice too.

Apples sliced thin.  Mixing apple types is extra yummy!  Cortlands are a great apple to use.

Since my time was limited, I used a store bought pie crust

Place the apple mixture into the pie crust

Dot the apple mixture with salted butter

Steam holes.... I made mine with love

Brush the crust with a beaten egg to make a golden brown crust and sprinkle with sugar.

The day I purchased the items for this apple pie, my daughter and boyfriend were with me. I sent them home with their own "Apple Pie Kit" and I just received a photo oh her very first apple pie!



New England Fine Living offers full service Party and Event Planning as well as an in-house interior design studio North of Boston. The parties and events we plan for our clients are small to large and are very casual to extremely elegant. What type of party would you like? We can create it for you. If you want to plan your own party, but would like a consultant, we can do that for you too!

Makeup!

I'm in my "It's a new season and I want a new look mode".  Just thought I would share. 

I love this look below.  A slight smokey eye with a smokey eye liner and nude color lips. Also loving the hair color.  I wish I could give credit for this photo, but it was on Pinterest and it had a broken link to the site it came from. 

This eye makeup technique, a bit heavier than above, had a lot more steps and colors than I thought, but I am pretty sure I have most of the colors already and I can't wait to play! 

This tutorial is from Natty:  http://www.missnattysbeautydiary.com/2012/06/step-by-step-smokey-taupe-eyeshadow.html

New England Fine Living offers full service Party and Event Planning as well as an in-house interior design studio North of Boston. The parties and events we plan for our clients are small to large and are very casual to extremely elegant. What type of party would you like? We can create it for you. If you want to plan your own party, but would like a consultant, we can do that for you too!

Easy to create Halloween Decorations

I love Halloween, but this is the first year I am not creating a large Halloween party or fundraiser for a client, nor am I hosting a Halloween party at our home, so I decided to add just a touch of Halloween Spirit (get it... spirit??) by using a few things in my holiday prop boxes.  Who knows, we might plan a last minute bash and I will be opening all of my Halloween boxes, but for now, I went with a minimal approach

Above is a plastic wreath I had painted copper then I added a trick or treat sign.  This is hung over my stove (safe from the burners).

In our stairway, I draped some black and purple garland and plastic chains that I have had for years.  I believe I purchased both items at Michaels Craft Store. Then I attached a plastic spider web, rubber spider, and a rat.

This pumpkin first had a witches hat added to it, then I found a top hat that I liked better.  You will see that in a photo below.  I think this witches hat was part of my dogs costume in years past.  I am sure Chloe is glad the pumpkin is wearing it and not her.

A close up of the web.  I attached it to the railing using thread.

An old rubber skull gets put into a large candle holder and another rat and fake piece of bread are placed on a cake pedestal.

From one of the parties I did in the past that had an Edgar Allen Poe theme.  This raven is placed on a table in our sunroom.  Poor thing has to watch the real birds eat at the feeder.

 The dining room table gets a gauze runner and yes, another rat!  Did I mention that a rat was placed in the refrigerator by my boyfriends daughter?  It was so funny seeing her older brothers get startled when they opened the door.  I have to admit I forgot it was in there and jumped a bit when I went to make dinner.

Just having a little fun with the kitchen light.  I hung a bat from the chain then added black tulle I had and more plastic chains.

There are a few more little Halloween touches in the house I won't bore you with, but thought I would share these.  We are planning a large Christmas cocktail party and I will go all out decorating for that and will share those photos with you then.

Happy Halloween!
Linda

New England Fine Living offers full service Party and Event Planning as well as an in-house interior design studio North of Boston. The parties and events we plan for our clients are small to large and are very casual to extremely elegant. What type of party would you like? We can create it for you. If you want to plan your own party, but would like a consultant, we can do that for you too!

2013 Trending Color For Spring and Summer Weddings Is Mint Green

Top Row: Cake topper with mint green hearts - Cherrytime; Mint green dress - River of Romansk; Mint green wreath - Zsa Zsa Bellagio

Middle Row: Mint green, crystal, and feather hair piece - Exquisitecreations2u; Mint  green tassel -Pomflair; Bridal photo via Style Me Pretty; Hair halo via florabond

Bottom Row: Feather photo via The Lonely Heart; Mint earrings via Kande; Babys breath photo via Shannon Eileen

Photo found on http://www.weddings.banquetevent.com/blog/2012/2/29/get-inspiredmint.html

Mint green cocktail dress - photo from Google/etsy

Mint green cocktail dress with red sash - Glamouradvocate.com

Mint green peep toed shoes from shoeperwoman.com

Mint green butterfly cupcake toppers - Etsy

Mint green straws found on bakersstock.com



New England Fine Living offers full service Party and Event Planning as well as an in-house interior design studio North of Boston. The parties and events we plan for our clients are small to large and are very casual to extremely elegant. What type of party would you like? We can create it for you. If you want to plan your own party, but would like a consultant, we can do that for you too!

A grape and orange martini that tastes like koolaid!

Looking for a fun and delicious drink that might remind you of your childhood?  I created this grape martini which was inspired by how my mother used to make our grape koolaid when I was a kid.  Now you can have a party and wow your guests with this refreshing cocktail.  Not too sweet, not too tart!  Below is a video on how I created this grape flavored beverage that is just for adults "OH YEAH!".  Enjoy! 

For more party planning ideas, please visit our web site, http://www.newenglandfineliving.com 

The items you will need

Grape Pucker

Your favorite vodka

Triple Sec

Sprite

an orange

Linda Smith Davis, owner of http://www.newenglandfineliving.com is an  Interior Designer and Party Planner North of Boston. Classic New England Style or Glam Interior Design and parties have been most recently completed in Middleton, Carlisle, Andover, North Andover, Marblehead, Boston, Salem, Newburyport, Newbury, Ipswich, Westford, Boxford, Topsfield, and so many more surrounding towns!

Bubbling Candy Corn Martini and Creamy Candy Corn Cocktail

I had so much fun creating these two cocktails for Halloween.  My sister inspired my desire to create these since she likes candy corns more than me which is HUGE because I love candy corns.  But here's the thing... I am not one for very sweet drinks, and these are sweet since I infused the candy corns in marshmallow vodka.  The recipe for these Halloween party cocktails can be found on my web site page                                                             http://www.newenglandfineliving.com/Candy-Corn-Cocktail-Martini-Recipes.html

This photo shows the crystallized candy corn wedge that I created.  I did not notice the candle I had going during the video softened it and it slid into the glass during most of the photos.  Minor technical difficulty!

Linda Smith Davis, owner of http://www.newenglandfineliving.com is an Allied ASID Interior Designer in Middleton MA, Westford MA, New England, owner of New England Fine Living, and Party Planner North of Boston. Classic New England Style or Glam Interior Design and parties have been most recently completed in Middleton, Carlisle, Andover, North Andover, Marblehead, Boston, Salem, Newburyport, Newbury, Ipswich, Westford, Boxford, Topsfield, and so many more surrounding towns!

A 50th Anniversary Party For 100 People

I had the pleasure of planning a 50th wedding anniversary party for a wonderful couple.  What made this party a bit more special was that it was held on their actual 50th wedding anniversary.  With colors of white, cream, green, and gold, the room looked beautiful.

Floral centerpieces of white hydrangea, roses and orchids were placed in glass cylinder containers with leaves wrapping and hiding the stems.

Here is a picture of the room before it got decorated when I first saw it in early Spring.  

I created the table numbers with my handy black marker brush pen.

This beautiful cake was created by Cakes For Occasions (they have created cakes, cupcakes, and cookies for a lot of my client's events).  The florist then added roses, hydrangea, and green ivy.  Photos and a photo album of the couple 50 years earlier.

This blurry photo shows where I placed the escort cards for the guests.  We had ferns placed on the marble tables that are inside the front entry hall.

Here they are!  Such a sweet couple and wonderful to work with.  They told me that one of the secrets to their long marriage is to kiss each and every day!

I could photograph this venue all day.  This beautiful chandelier is located in the ballroom.  Here we had the buffet set up and the band.

On the table, I placed favor boxes with chocolates on each bread dish.  Below, you will the piles of chocolate I got to work with.  I loved smelling the yummy vanilla chocolate while putting the favors together.

I love how the lemons add a pop of color to the table.

A simple bouquet of roses are showcased on the dessert table.

A few more photos of the venue space that I took in the Spring

Linda Smith Davis, owner of http://www.newenglandfineliving.com is an interior designer and party planner - stylist in Massachusetts