Indiana Jones Party - Satchels

As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm in the midst of planning an Indiana Jones Party for my now 7 year old.

I've been inspired by many blogs I've found...see the list at the bottom of this post.

One such blog, Em-agination, gave a great tutorial on how to make some easy felt satchels for the guests to carry their clues and such around in.

I added cording for the strap (I think she used more felt...doing it over, I'd probably just cut out more felt and sew it on as a strap, too.)

To make keeping up with their satchels just a little easier, I came up with a label for each guest.  Using a graphic from Graphics Fairy, I used various fonts to create a label.  I then printed the labels on fabric.  (How do you print on fabric?  Go here.)

After personalizing (I did leave a few blank for those last minute RSVPs...I'll just fill those in with a sharpie...) and printing out the labels, I simply cut them out and sewed them on to the flap of the satchel.

Pretty cool, huh?!?!?

Oh, and did I mention super easy and quick???

If you'd like to use my labels for your own party, click here.

Inspiration for these satchels and all other Indiana Jones Party ideas were found at the following sites:

Tip Junkie

Sippycups are for Chardonnay

Party Wishes

I'm Topsy Turvy

Paper & Paint

Disney Family.com

The Busy Bird

Roots and Wings

Green Jello

Other Kids Pack Lunch

The Frog and Snail Society

Mom's Toolbox

More Than Mulberries

A Lemon Squeezy Home

Bella Deeva's

Em-agination

Embellishing a Fabulously Flawed Life

If you have an Indiana Jones Party post that is not listed above...let me know!  I'd love to add it to the list to share with others!

Smiles!

Linking to:

Weekend Wrap-Up

Its A HodgePodge Friday

Frugal Friday

Whatcha Got Weekend

Feature Yourself Friday

Not Baaad Sunday

Are You Ready for Adventure?!?! - Indiana Jones Party Invitations

(front of invite)

My Sweet Baby Boy has turned 7! 

It was Indiana Jones or nothing as far as birthday themes go.

Since one only knows when they won't want a party at all, I'm happy to oblige my boys birthday party wishes.

Luckily, there are so many creative moms out there that have selflessly shared their ideas, coming up with invitations and a party have been pretty easy. (For your own inspiration, I've listed some of the sites I gleaned from at the end of this post.)

  (inside of invitation)

I had initially wanted to make them on maps, then roll them up and pass them out at school.

To my surprise, my birthday boy didn't want to invite a few people.   (Those kids may not have cared, but I just hate the idea of not giving every kid an invite for the possibility of hurting feelings.)  Mailable invites it had to be! 

(Unfortunately, because of this, we couldn't send invitations to some of his friends because we didn't have their addresses...sadly when people won't let the school share their information, even with classmates, their children are missing out on parties and play dates.)

(back view of invite)

Materials Used for Invites:

Treasure Map 12" x 12" scrapbook paper from Joanne

5" x 7" craft paper fold over notes by Stampabilites found at Hobby Lobby

adhesive

candle, spatula, cookie sheet

(invites and envelopes)

Cut the treasure map paper into 6" x 10" strips.

Print "Are You Ready for Adventure" on outside using Fedora font.

Using a burning candle, carefully burn edges of paper. (I did it outside over a cookie sheet. I also used a metal spatula to quickly put out any run away burns! This is actually very simple...I even let the birthday boy help! Another tip...fold the papers in half before burning so you can easily adhere it to the craft paper cards.)

Print invitation on the inside of the fold over notes using 1942 Report (free font found at dafont.com)

Print envelopes with address & return address also using 1942 Report

After stuffing and sealing the envelopes, I finished them off with a stamp of a french antique stamp and post mark

(back view of invites)

Inspiration for these invitations & other Indiana Jones Party ideas were found at the following sites:

Tip Junkie

Sippycups are for Chardonnay

Party Wishes

I'm Topsy Turvy

Paper & Paint

Disney Family.com

The Busy Bird

Roots and Wings

Green Jello

Other Kids Pack Lunch

The Frog and Snail Society

Mom's Toolbox

More Than Mulberries

A Lemon Squeezy Home

Bella Deeva's

Em-agination

Embellishing a Fabulously Flawed Life

If you have an Indiana Jones Party post that is not listed above...let me know!  I'd love to add it to the list to share with others!

Smiles!

Linking to:

Strut Your Stuff

Show Off Your Stuff

What Little Boys Are Made of

Hookin' Up with HoH

Lincoln Cake - Recipe & a little history

(please excuse the photo...rush job...bad lighting...etc...)

A friend of mine needed a Lincoln Cake for
  a large debate event.  She checked with several bakeries, but the icing was the deal breaker...my guess is because it had candied fruit in it.

Just in case you haven't noticed, candied fruit is a little hard to come by in June.

She asked me if I could do it...well, you know where this is going...

She gave me a recipe and then I did a little research about this cake on my own.
Kim O'Donnel, author of A Mighty Appetite column of the Washington Post.com, had some interesting information:

The story behind the cake, says Newman, goes something like this: Back in 1825, the esteemed Marquis de Lafayette was paying a visit to Lexington, Ky., home to the upper-crust, slave-owning Todd family. In honor of the auspicious occasion, a French baker, by the name of Monsieur Giron, was commissioned to bake a cake. The almond-scented vanilla cake was such a hit, says Newman (who credits “The Lincoln Table” by Lincoln impersonator Donna McCreary for the cake story), that the Todd women “begged him for the recipe which became part of the family’s repertoire.”


Apparently, the white cake was part of Mary’s seduction tactics while she was courting one Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Ill. in late 1839. Did Abe like the cake? “Well, he did marry her," says Newman. The couple tied the knot in 1842 in Springfield.


Newman believes that the cake remained a mainstay in the Todd Lincoln household in Springfield and even when the family moved to the White House in 1861. “She [Mary] had to do all her own cooking in Springfield,“ explains Newman. “Lincoln was poor, so they couldn't afford servants, and she came from a family that had slaves. So she had to learn how to cook on her own and take care of her house on her own.”
To read more about Newman's book, click here.


The Recipe:

1 C butter
2 C sugar
3 C flour
1 C milk
1 C finely chopped almonds
3 t. baking powder
Whites of 6 eggs
1 t vaniila

Cream butter and sugar, sift flour and baking powder together 3 times, and add to butter and sugar, alternating with the milk.

Stir in the almonds and beat well.
(Just wanted you to see how finely chopped the almonds were...can you imagine doing this by hand?!?  Hats off to you Mrs. Lincoln!)

 Then fold in the stiffly beaten whites and the vanilla. Pour into well greased and floured pan. Can be large tube pan or 2 9x 1 1/2 inch round pans. Bake at 375 degrees for one hour or the cake tests done. The tube pan can take longer. Turn out on wire rack and cool. The tube pan makes a large cake. Then frost with white icing.

Frosting for Lincoln's Cake

2 C sugar
2 egg whites, beaten stiff with pinch of salt
1/2 C diced candied pineapple
1 C water
1 t vanilla
1/2 C crystallized cherries, cut in halves

Boil sugar and water until syrup spins a 5-inch thread (242 degrees on your candy thermometer.) Fold in slowly to the well beaten whites adding a tablespoon at a time until 4 have been used. Now add the remaining syrup slowly pouring it in a thin stream. Beat by hand until all is used and the mixture stands in peaks. Add the flavoring and fold in pineapple and cherries. Spread on the cake.

How to Make Crystallized Cherries

How to Make Candied Pineapple

Linking to:
Prairie Story Recipe Swap
Its a Keeper Thursday

How to Make Candied Pineapple

As I mentioned yesterday, I needed some crystallized cherries and candied pineapples for the frosting for a Lincoln Cake.

Being that it's June, candied fruit is a little hard impossible to come by in the grocery stores.

My only quick option was to make my own.

After scoping out recipes on the Internet, I came up with my own version for about 2 cups of candied pineapple.

Here it goes:

2 (20 oz) cans of pineapple rings in juice

4 cups of sugar

1 cup water

2/3 cup of light corn syrup

In a pan large enough for the rings to fit loosely in one layer without touching, (I used a roasting pan over two burnerss,) combine the juice from the pineapples, sugar, water and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil.  Carefully add pineapple rings to liquid.  It will be hot!!  Bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Occasionally turn the rings over and move around pan. 

You will want to keep an eye on this!

Sadly, I burned my first batch.  I thought I could lie down for just a little while....

Cook the pineapple until the rings are translucent...about 45 minutes.  If the syrup begins to brown, you've cooked it too long...just keep an eye on it.

Turn the heat off and let the rings cool in the pan.

After completely cooled, bring to a boil again.  Let cool in the pan.

One more time, bring to a boil, let cool a little, then drain pineapple. 

Lay pineapple rings out on top of wire rack placed on top of aluminum foil lined cookie sheet.  (This helps with clean up!)

Then place in a 200 degree oven for 30 minutes or so.  Turn oven off and let pineapples dry out.  I reapeated this a few times.  Drying time will take 24 - 48 hours.  Drying in oven should help speed this along.

When dry, chop pineapple rings and store in plastic container.

These will keep for months in fridge!

Want more info on the Lincoln Cake?  Click here.

Don't forget to link up to the Tuesday To Do Party!

Smiles!

How To Make Crystallized Cherries (Candied Cherries)

So I was asked if I could make a large Lincoln Cake.  (Recipe here.)

The group that needed the cake had been turned down by several bakeries because of the icing.  When I first saw the recipe, I guessed it was because the bakery didn't want to make boiled icing.  Boiled icing was no problem for me...my mom has a specialty cake she used to take to every Fellowship Dinner that she frosted with boiled icing.

Happily, I agreed to make the cake.

Then I started working through the recipe, calculating how much of each ingredient I would need, when I came to crystallized cherries and candied pineapple.

It's 2011, the stores probably carry this stuff year round, right?

Oh, you are SO wrong.

After briefly panicking, I realized I COULD make them myself. Duh!  It's 2011! 

So off to the Internet I went.  Candied fruit is pretty easy (just takes some time & space.)  It's basically fruit boiled in sugar water and juice. Not super scientific!

 Here is my version for about 2 cups of candied cherries:

2 jars maraschino cherries, drained, reserve juice

4 cups sugar

1 cup water

Bring juice from cherries, sugar and water to a boil.

Add cherries.  Simmer with lid on for about 45 minutes or until cherries start to wrinkle and become transparent.

Turn off heat and let cool in pan.

Once completely cool, drain syrup from cherries.

On a cookie sheet lined with paper towels, spread out cherries to drain.  (At this point I was a little concerned that I'd be picking of sticky paper towel from each cherry, but they didn't stick at all!  Yeah me!!)  Leave to drain and dry for 24 hours or so.  Store cherries in plastic container in fridge...will last for months!

Don't forget to link up to the Tuesday To Do Party!

Smiles!

Linking to:

Get Your Craft On

Tuesday To Do #14 and #13 List Makers

Thank you for all of your fabulous link-ups to the party this past week!

It makes my day that you share your clever ideas with me each week...you are all amazing!

Here are this week's List Makers:

Aren't these fantastic?!?!

Nifty Thrifty Things shows you how!

The Victorian Rabbit reminded me, again, how much I do want to learn to knit.

Her sweet hats are for a good cause...if you're a knitter, please be sure to stop by her blog.

When I saw that Three Pixie Lane shared this Great Outdoors Party, I had to include it on my List.  My M-I-L had noticed this lovely party a few weeks ago and sent me the link, just in case I might have missed it!  She knew I'd LOVE it!  (I DO!!!)

If you were on this week's To Do List, then please feel free to grab a  LIST MAKER button:

 TUESDAY TO DOFEATURED BUTTON

<center><a href="http://www.blackberryvine.blogspot.com"><img border="0" src=" <a href="<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51243403@N02/5510091012/" title="Tuesday To Do FEatured by jamianntexas, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5253/5510091012_ebe78ff067_m.jpg" width="125" height="125" alt="Tuesday To Do FEatured" /></a></a></center>

Now on the the party...

Link up your creations!  Sewing, crafting, cooking, tips, photography, tablescapes, parties, scrapbooking, collectibles...it all works.  Please save your items for sell, your giveaways and your own parties for those specific blog parties.  You're the best!

(Borrowed these little rules from the Shabby Nest...she's got it going on!)

1. Link directly to your post and not just to your blog.

2. Grab the TUESDAY TO DO BUTTON from the sidebar, and link back the Blackberry Vine.  (Yes, it can be a little time-consuming, but it's the sweet blogger thing to do!)

3. Please visit other participants and leave them some comment love.  Comment, comment, comment!!!

I reserve the right to remove posts that are not in keeping with the spirit of Tuesday To-Do including but not limited to those that link to your shop, your giveaway or your linky party, and those that do not link back to the Blackberry Vine. Thanks for playing fair!!

Pretty Packages Party # 10 Highlights

We had another great Pretty Packages Party this month!

Thanks to each of you who shared your beautifully wrapped gifts!
Let's do it again next month...July 3rd thru July 9th.

Here are a few of this month's highlights!

Delightfully Noted shares not only this super cute idea, but she also shares her retro printables!  Suh-weet!!!

When I saw these, two words came to mind...Mystery Machine!  They would make great favor boxes for a Scooby Doo party! 

Sandy over at Sandy's Space gives a great tutorial on how to make these fun treat holders.

I ADORE this idea for a librarian gift!!!  It is personalized stationary in a book box!!

Alexis at Jac'olyn Murphy shared this idea that is just too clever for words!!!

Isn't this the sweetest going away gift?!?  I love how it is all tied in together!

Jen is the super neighbor/thoughtful gift giver from Twiddler House that put this lovely gift together!

If you were featured this month, feel free to grab a Pretty Packages Feature Button!

Hope to see you all next month!

If you can't wait until then, be sure to join the weekly Tuesday To Do Party!

Smiles!!!