Monogram themed Baby Shower

Happy Friday! And I am sooo looking forward to the gorgeous 80 degree weather we're lucky to have this weekend! It's good to be a Carolinian :)

A good friend, Logan from the Sullivans Isle blog, got lucky on St. Patrick's Day and won my Clover Charm giveaway! Logan is a very lucky girl for many reason, and one of those reasons is because she's so excited to new baby girl coming into her life very soon! Logan's friends threw her a great shower a while ago and I know you all love a good shower, so I wanted to show of the gorgeous details for you! Enjoy :)

Love the monogrammed embroidery on the bloomers and onsies! What a great way to display a gift as a shower decoration. And that custom ABC painting on the mantel is so precious.



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Go Steelers! {Superbowl inspirations}

You won't see any Jets ideas here, LOL! I married a Steelers fan, so I'm married to the team too. Well not really, but I don't mind accepting them as my NFL team on his behalf. Check out these great ideas I've found from others. Can't wait for game day!

{by Entertainment Exchange}

{printable party templates from Paper&Cake}


{football field table runner & football coasters from Martha Stewart}


{awesome SuperBowl recipes from PioneerWoman}

Fall dinner party pics

Here's my #21 on the bucket list - Have a 'just because' party in the fall. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to. I can say that it was a wonderful evening. I did a full menu with 8 people. We used the dining room and china that rarely get used. I even made little placecard settings for each person. The menu consisted of apple and gorgonzola stuffed porkchops, fresh green beans, mashed potatoes, butternut squash soup and pumpkin crunch cake ... and wine of course!



Here's a close up of the table scape. I love these huge pinecones that Michael's grandma sent us from her farm!

Directions for wine cork placecard holders:
1. Cut a flat edge on one side of the cork so it won't roll around.
2. Cut a shallow slit along the top.
3. Slide in the card.
SO EASY!

Perfect Placecards

'Tis the season for dinner parties, holiday soirees and family gatherings! Set your table beautifully and don't forget a nice added touch with placecards! It might seem a little out of date, but is true to elegance no matter how formal or casual a gathering. Here are some great display ideas for your table placecards.

I had my calligraphy class at Paper Source last night, so I'm looking forward to doing placecards with some fancier handwritting now!

Favorite Fall & Thanksgiving Invitations

Did you know that Christmas is only 59 days away now? And Thanksgiving is only 30 days away?!? If you're hostessing any sort of holiday soiree then it is time to think about your invitation!

Here are my pics for favorite Fall & Thanksgiving themed invitations, perfect for your November celebrations. All of these can be found on PaperConcierge!

Thanksgiving Feast by Hicks

Fall Suziana Invitation by Whitney English

Fall Tree Invitation by Hicks

Pumpkin Invitation by Whitney English

Bridal Shower - Going to the Chapel

I had the pleasure of co-hostessing a bridal shower for a coworker/friend. Ashley & Ryan were planning a wedding Viva Las Vegas style! The week before their trip to sin city, our office surprised Ashley with a Going to the Chapel themed shower. It turned out awesome, and so much fun!


The shower was full of Vegas fun, complete with monogrammed cupcakes & a custom cupcake tower (courtesy of my create co-hostess), and tables decked out with cards, dice and poker chips. The red, white and black motif worked so well. And I loved the invitation I did to set the theme from the start.

Fall Party Theme - OKTOBERFEST!

I've seen lots of fall party themes floating around, but I have yet to see one for Oktoberfest! So here's my take on a great time.


Start with a festive invitation and create unique wording that will show your guests that this will be a great time!


Turn this fall invitation into an Oktoberfest party invite with a creative choice of wording!

Dust off your beer stein,
loosen your lenderhosen
and join us
for an Oktoberfest Celebration!

Get ready to drink some good hearty beer,
eat Keilbasa and 'krout
and dance to Polka music!








Drinks like the Germans! Stock a beverage tub with all kinds of imported & seasonal brews. Even some pumpkin flavor varieties and Woodchuck Cider!

Stuff yourselves silly!
Check out The Local Cook's beer brats here
German Potato Salad
Buttery Soft Pretzels
Wiener Schnitzel
Cabbage & Kielbasa

Drink Up Witches!

beverage napkin, $5.95

Swoozies is the BEST for holiday entertaining! And they're celebrating Halloween already. Here are some of the very fun tabletop products that they have out this season. Enjoy!

stadium cups, $12.95 for 10

spider boo serving bowl, $24.95

pumpkin wine glass, $16.95

I love me some Trader Joes!

I'm heading off to my local TJ's in a minute and checking their site for any new featured products. Look what I found? It's a Guide to Party Planning, the Trader Joe's way! They're so smart and thorough, thinking of every last detail. 

Click for the full Guide to Party Planning

"Trader Joe's was once known as a party store. Before most of us bought eggs, bread, produce, meat, milk and vitamins at TJ's, we came for cheese and wine. Now that we offer so many interesting appetizers, desserts, cheeses, quick meals and sauces for everyday meals and entertaining, here are some ideas to help make entertaining fun, easy, tasty and stress-free. Now matter what your budget or space allowance, Trader Joe's will help make your gathering a huge success."

Throw a Fiesta

Do any of you use The Nest website? They have all sorts of things on there. It's mostly articles and forums geared toward newlyweds, with topics like home decor, fitness, money, travel, crafting, food, fashion, etc... They send out newsletters too and I recently got one featuring party ideas for a fuss-free fiesta. Here's the party plan.

Send a bold invite to get your guests in a fiesta mood. They suggest an online invite to keep it easy, but if you're a paper freak then go for a great printed invitation (below invite by Boatman Geller).

Serve 'ritas on the rocks. As soon as guests, arrive put a cold margarita in their hand.

Make a create-your-own-chalupas buffet. Or DIY nachos, tacos, fajitas. Have fun with it! Check out The Nests collection of Mexican recipes here.

Throw in a fun curve ball. No one's too cool for a pinata!

Play Latin tunes. Download high-energy hits from the Gypsy Kings and Santana.

Set the mood with lighting. Slip a votive in a colored paper bag with pebbles or sand, and presto: lounge lighting that will last all night!

Use creative serve ware. Try something original by using cactus or palm leaves for a no-cost serving platter.

End with tequila tasting. Use a quality tequila (one that's made from 100 percent agave - your hangover-free guests with thank you the next morning!) Ole!

Five for Friday

TGIF! I hope everyone had productive weeks. As soon as 5:00 gets here, productivity is OVER for me. Where's my Corona? It's 5:00 somewhere right?!?! 

A small update on my 30 before 30 Bucket List ... I haven't made any major advances this week. But I did stick to my 2 workout classes per week schedule. This week I went to Monday night Group Power and Thursday night Spin. I need to stick with it and be sure to do something, however small, on days in between. My #1 excuse is how hot it is outside. But I can still wait till 8:30 or so to take Ruby out for a walk. I went to the doctor yesterday and realized I had gained 10 lbs since my visit this time last year!!!! Now its not necessarily a horrible thing because last year I wasn't all that healthy and had a lot lower appetite. Now that my healthy appetite is back I need to start watching what I put in my mouth more.

I'm finally working on my 2nd newsletter blast for PaperConcierge. If you'd like to be apart of it, email me at kburch@paperconcierge.com  I'm doing a freebie giveaway for my newsletter peeps this time! and I'll be doing a blog giveaway soon too, so stay tuned :)

Here's my 5 for Friday. I think I stole this idea from Design*Sponge. I'm linking 5 blogs that I found particularly interesting this week. enjoy!

#1 - College Prep giveaway! This company, Niko and Lala,  is news to me and I'm loving them so far. Hope I win something ... or I hope you do by entering College Prep's giveaway.

#2 - Confessions of a Paper Freak's post series You're the Boss. It's really motivational to an aspiring entrepreneur like myself.

#3 - Rock Paper Scissors fashion inspiration boards are the best. Check out this sailor inspired board called Hook Line & Sinker.

#4 - Chelsea's Wedding Watch posts from Martha Stewart Bride. I kinda feel bad for the poor girl. Will she even be able to hear her own vows with all the helicopter noise? Wait a minute, why would feel bad for a girl who is having a 3 - 5 MILLION $$$ wedding?

#5 - I hesitate in even saying this, but lets pretend for a minute. Someday in the not so near, not so far, future I will have a baby (hopefully). And I've always joked around saying that I want my baby delivered by the stork in a basket on my doorstep, bypassing all the woes of pregnancy & childbirth. So this shower idea is really cute and funny to me. Check out Tiny Print's Stork Themed Baby Shower.

Cornhole & BBQ 2010

Last Saturday we had our annual Cornhole tournament party. I think this was the fourth year for it. About 25 friends and neighbors came out and had a great time! I'm so mad at myself, I forgot to take pictures :(  I love reading other peoples' blogs where they document their cooking, display and party decor, etc... and I had every intention of doing that, but got too distracted and forgot about taking pictures. I'll just have to try my best in words then. And the below food pics are borrowed from various online sources.

Here's the invitation I chose from Hicks Paper Goods. Available at my PC store HERE.

My menu turned out like this:

Appetizers (brought by friends)
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Mexican layer dip
- Homemade salsa
- Veggie Tray

Main and Sides
- Catered BBQ, made into mini pork sliders
- Cole slaw
- Cooking Light's Potato Salad with Grilled Squash
- Baked Beans
- Scalloped Pineapple (i have to get this recipe from my neighbor. it's awesome!)
- Tri-colored Melon Salad

Dessert
- Kentucky Bourbon Pound Cake with Strawberries
- Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

For the cornhole tournament, we selected guy/girl teams by drawing from two different hats to pair them up. It was a lot of fun! Michael actually got lucky and won with his teammate. I really need to come up with a good winner's prize next year. And maybe a funny losers prize too :)

Red, White and Blue - Fun with Friends at the Beach!

Happy 'belated' Independence Day Y'all! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. Filled with fireworks, summer BBQs and great friends. We spent our 4th with the Sullivan family in Wilmington. My friend Logan and I realized that each other blogs, so now I'm checking out her happenings, complete with pics of all her cooking adventures.

I didn't even get my camera out over the weekend, so I'm cross posting from Logan's blog Sullivan's Isle today to share all the fun we had (thanks for letting me mooch your pics, Logan). First things first ... FOOD! We fattened ourselves up on beach snacks, a great seafood dinner at Bridgetender, American flag cake, all American BBQ food (dogs, beans, slaw, potato salad, etc), Paula Dean's friend okra salad (YUM!!!), awesome blueberry muffins, a nifty spin on ham & eggs and of course Firefly and Coronas! Check here for some of Logan's recipes.

Wrightsville Beach is about 4 hours from where we live in Charlotte. It's a must when going to Wilmington. And we hit it up all 3 days since the weather was perfect!

The BBQ was followed up by cornhole, a neighborhood mini-parade (very cute!), fireworks and the most fun of all ..... Karaoke for about 4 hours!!

Fun times and good memories! Next time it's our turn to entertain them in Charlotte.

Innovative table decor

Happy Summer everyone! Is anyone hostessing a 4th of July party this year? I'm not, but I do look forward to other home entertaining this season. I was reading through the July 2010 issue of Better Homes & Gardens and loved this clever idea for a table runner.  Those are paper cocktail napkins! Use as many coordinating patterns as you like, just tape them underneath.

I attempted to put this nifty trick to use. My napkins are from Target's summer collection. I put this together very fast with other things from around the house. My favorite summer accent are these starfish :) I had planned to make a nice Sunday breakfast for just me and DH so this effort was not put to waste.

Mother's Day Brunch

Left to right: my mother-in-law "Skeeter", my mom Lori, one of my 2 sisters-in-law Wendy, and me

Mother's Day is this coming weekend and it sounds like my wonderful mother-in-law will be in town, along with Michael's dad, sister and nephews.  We rarely get overnight weekend company since our families live further away, so of course this gets my hostess wheels turning with all sorts of ideas. If there's one thing The Burch Family loves ... it's good food! So we'll be planning for a nice Sunday brunch for Mother's Day! And, weather permitting, it's a great opportunity to dine al fresco on the mac daddy of decks that my husband and father-in-law built last year :)

FOOD -
I'll have to take into consideration any special breakfast requests, but right now I'm thing about - Stuffed French Toast, Scrambled Eggs (a must have for kids!), Bacon and Hash brown Potatoes. The feature dish definitely being the Stuffed French Toast (pictured below) that I found on Pioneer Woman's blog. If that doesn't make your mouth water, then you're nuts!

TABLE & FLOWERS - 
Mother's Day happens to be at the peak of spring flower season. So take advantage of the colorful blooms in your garden and set a beautiful table to complete your brunch. Get creative with containers. Try mason jars or old soup cans wrapped with colorful scrapbook or wrapping paper. Or continue the theme into your gift with potted flowers that can be transferred to her garden. Found in blog Snippets of Wonderful, try Erica's easy DIY Tin Can Vase project (pictured below).

And I have to show off the amazing deck since I mentioned it before. Isn't it pretty? I hope the weather is nice for our Sunday brunch! I'll have to follow up with pics and results of the stuffed french toast later :)

Let's Fiesta!

My favorite snack is great chips & salsa. My favorite beer is Corona with a refreshing lime wedge. And my husband says that I must have been Mexican in a past life! It’s my favorite cuisine! So in honor of Cinco de Mayo, I’m featuring my top fiesta party ideas.

Michael and I in Riviera Maya, Mexico last year

FOOD – “Salsa has now passed ketchup as America’s favorite condiment. Isn’t that amazing? You know its bad when even our vegetables are starting to lose their jobs to Mexico.” – Jay Leno, on the Tonight Show

By far, one of the most unique Mexican restaurants I’ve been to is Mercaditos (link here) in NYC. My sister worked here part-time and took us there for dinner & brunch. You can see their different menus (link here). I want to try to recreate many of these at home.

If you find yourself low on time and need a tasty treat to serve for guests, why not try my ’10 minute salsa solution’. You really don’t even need a recipe. Just mix the ingredients to your liking.

10 Minute Salsa Solution


Ingredients: 1 can black beans, frozen corn (thawed in microwave), grape tomatoes halved, chopped red onion, diced jalapenos, fresh cilantro, and lime juice. The flavor really comes together with the lime juice. I used 3 limes!

DRINK – 1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila …. Let’s not go to the floor!

Skinny Girl Margaritas by Bethenny Frankel (link here)

        2 oz of clear premium Tequila (count 1, 2 while you pour, no need for measuring)

        Tiny splash of Orange Liquor


        Juice of 4 fresh lime wedges

       Combine all ingredients over a glass of ice and garnish with a lime wedge

Fiesta Inspirations  - Top: gorgeous inspiration board by My Island Wedding blog; Sombrero Invitation by Hicks Paper Goods found at Paper Concierge; Crate and Barrel's Raya Pitcher.