Look…It’s Ice Cream Shaped Like an Avocado for Dessert!

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

Avocado + ice cream.

It’s not an everyday pairing. At first thought, it sounds creamy, slightly odd and interesting.

Well, after experimenting a bit in the kitchen, we can tell you that the combination of an avocado + ice cream dessert is delicious.

We wish we could take total credit for this idea. However, if there are any Triple D {Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives} fans out there like Jessica’s hubby, you may have seen an episode where a Mexican restaurant made an exact replica of an avocado for dessert; except instead of an avocado, it was homemade avocado ice cream in a chocolate shell, and a homemade caramel and chocolate ball inside. Yum!

We would have attempted actual avocado ice cream, but we went with something easier to make {just buy and scoop}, and sweeter {not as healthy}. Plus, the gelato had the word Sicilian in it, and being of Sicilian heritage, it was a no-brainer.

At your next party, surprise guests with an avocado dessert…or at least Avocado shaped ice cream for dessert. It will be a hit!

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

You’ll Need:

Directions:

Make the Chocolate Avocado Shell

  • Step 1: Melt the chocolate wafers. We melted it via microwave in 30-second intervals until it was melted. Stir until smooth.
  • Step 2: Blow up a balloon about the size of an avocado.

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

  • Step 3: Prepare a baking sheet with wax paper or parchment paper.
  • Step 4: Make sure the chocolate is slightly cool.
  • Step 5: Gently dip the balloon in the chocolate, coating the bottom half of the balloon.

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

  • Step 6: Place on the baking sheet. Repeat for as many bowls as you want to make. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

  • Step 7: To release the air from the balloon, pinch the balloon and use a tack or knife to puncture a small hole.

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

  • Step 8: Release the air gradually. If the air is released too fast, the bowl will be more likely to break.
  • Step 9: Carefully peel the deflated balloons from the bowl, trying not to press down or squeezing the bowl.

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

Add Ice Cream to the Shell

  • Step 1: Remove the ice cream from the freezer, and let it thaw slightly so it’s easier to mold without breaking the shell.
  • Step 2: Gently add spoonful’s of ice cream into the chocolate ‘avocado shell’ until it’s full.
  • Step 3: Press a Lindt chocolate truffle into the ice cream so it looks just like the nut inside an avocado.

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

  • Step 4: Place the sweet DIY ice cream avocados into the freezer until you are ready to serve.

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

avocado-ice-cream-balloon-dessert-diy-mexican-pistacio-chocolate-bowl

How to Make a DIY Cinnamon Bear Drink Stirrer

cinnamon-bears-july-4th-diy-drink-stirrer-red-party

Our grandma, also known as Nani to 14 grandkids and Great Nani to 16 great-grandchildren, is one amazing woman. Since we were toddlers, we made monthly trips to grandma and grandpa’s house for sleepovers, homemade biscuits and gravy, hair cuts in Louise’s Beauty Salon {her basement salon}…and artificially-flavored treats.

One thing we could always count on, in addition to all the hugs and kisses, was a full pot of coffee brewing {she loved to spoon-feed us coffee in the mornings}, a bag of Twizzlers in the upstairs cabinet, and a glass jar filled with cinnamon bears in her salon.

To this day, she keeps her treats in the same spot, and everyone makes a beeline straight to the cabinet and glass jar for a sugar fix.

As silly as it may be, we have a special history with cinnamon bears. Even if the memories did not exist, we could not resist the chewy, spicy and sweet goodness of cinnamon bears.

This July 4th, after half the bag makes its way into our bellies, the other half will make its way into our party decor.

First, we made them into place cards. Success!

Now, we transformed them into a DIY edible drink stirrer. We think we can mark this one as a success, too.

cinnamon-bears-july-4th-diy-drink-stirrer-red-party

Materials:

  • Cinnamon bears
  • Red, white or blue card stock
  • Mini red pom poms
  • Toothpicks
  • Drink Stir Sticks
  • Sharpie marker
  • Hot glue gun

Directions: 

  1. Cut out mini flags and punch 2 small holes at the top.
  2. Write a name {for a drink tag}, or fun words on the flag, such as cheers! and yay!
  3. Break a toothpick in half, and then insert the toothpick through the two flag holes.
  4. Cut a mini ‘rolled out cone’ shape from the card stock.
  5. Roll the paper into a cone, and use a hot glue gun to glue the seam together.
  6. Glue a pom-pom on top.
  7. Gently push the hat into the cinnamon bears head until it’s stable.
  8. Push the toothpick with the flag into the hands of the cinnamon bear.
  9. Push the cinnamon bear onto a drink stirrer.

cinnamon-bears-july-4th-diy-drink-stirrer-red-party

cinnamon-bears-july-4th-diy-drink-stirrer-red-party

cinnamon-bears-july-4th-diy-drink-stirrer-red-party

 

10 Creative Ways to Decorate the Wall with Flowers

Spring is nature’s way of saying, let’s party!
~ Robin Williams

We couldn’t agree more, Robin. Nature is alive again. The warmth of the sun, and buds in the trees is rejuvenating for the soul. We’re so happy Spring is here – seriously, we would hug it if we could.

Naturally, we’ve got flowers on our mind…and hopefully on our walls soon with all these amazing floral wall decoration ideas.

10 Creative Ways to Decorate the Wall with Flowers

1. Antler and Flower Wall Art: We’re still obsessed with all the deer heads popping up on walls, so the combo of deer heads, bright colors and fresh floral has us swooning. {via Wedding Chicks}

dessert table-deer-head-floral-wreath-flower-pink-turquoise-spring-party

2. Paper Flower Wall: We heard Oh Joy! speak at Alt, and immediately loved her. She was a wonderful speaker, and she is insanely talented. Look at that DIY paper wall art. {via Oh Joy!}

diy-paper-flower-wall-oh-joy-cascading-flower-display-spring-party

3. Girl’s Room Decor: We are smitten with the paper flowers, teepee and gold pouf in this room! One lucky little lady calls this place home, and she’s most definitely a chic princess. {via honey & fitz}

girls-pink-bedroom-etsy-teepee-paper-flowers-gold-pouf-tassle-spring-home-decor

4. Floral Monogram: With a little Modge Podge and a gorgeous floral print, you can create a pretty floral monogram. This would look great on the wall, and it would make a fabulous gift. {via Homey Oh My}

Floral-Fabric-Monogram-spring-wall-decor-

5. DIY Fresh Flower Wall: Buy some fresh stems from your local florist and hang the stems with washi tape. You can do this on a small-scale, or a large one. And, if you want it to last longer, buy fake stems. {via Green Wedding Shoes}

DIY-Fresh-Flower-wall-washi-tape-spring

6. Party Backdrop: A Snow & Graham print is lovely and a wall to match is even more lovely. {via Snow & Graham}

snow-and-graham-shower-floral-wall-art-diy-spring-dessert-backdrop

 

7. Pom Flower Wall: Lia Griffith impresses again with this Mother’s Day Brunch pom flower wall. {via Martha Stewart}

mothers-day-dessert-table-pom-flowers-pink-spring-wall-art

 

8. DIY Giant Floral Typography Wall Art: We need to make this with a J! It’s so beautiful. {via Paper & Stitch}

flower-typography-wall-art-white-wall

9. Art Print: We love so many of The First Snow’s prints, so it was hard to pick just one. They are so pretty and unique. Plus, she’s in CO and we have major hometown pride!

van_gogh-floral-art-print-quote-wall-decor-

 

10. DIY Framed Wallpaper Art: Make panels of art with rolls of wallpaper. It’s a DIY, which we always love, it’s affordable and looks fabulous! {via Hunted Interior}

LauraAshley-diy-wallpaper-panel-art-floral-decor-spring-wall

How to Throw a Colorful NYE Party with Paper

when the clock strikes midnight

If you blinked, Christmas is over, and a new year is now upon us. The thought of throwing another party can be totally overwhelming, but what if we told you that it could be easy and cost-efficient to #ColorizeYourParty and you could do it primarily with paper?

Intrigued?

Good, because we put together a colorful and fun way to ring in the New Year with Astrobrights Papers that you, too, can put together in less than a day.

Just like Cinderella, we hope year 2015 is a fairy tale for you. However, unlike Cinderella, When the Clock Strikes Midnight, a magical spell will not be broken, but another year will begin. A new beginning. A fresh start. Another chance. A new love. An opportunity for adventure. Travel. Good times {and some bad times too}. Lessons to be learned.

To celebrate 2015 and the magic that happens When the Clock Strikes Midnight, here’s 3 ways you can #ColorizeYourParty

Countdown Clock and Wishes
Colorize Your Party with a large, colorful clock made from paper. Print and cut out numbers, as well as the big hand and little hand, then stick to a wall. You can use a Silhouette cutting tool like we did, or you don’t need a fancy program at all – you can print numbers via Microsoft Word, and then cut. We used DAP BlueStik reusable adhesive putty to stick the paper to the wall, so it’s easily removable and reusable. Every hour, you can move the ‘hands’ as the midnight hour approaches.

when the clock strikes midnight

when the clock strikes midnight

Before the clock strikes midnight, encourage your guests to write wishes for friends, family and loved ones at the party. Your guests will go home with the mason jars as favors, along with heart-felt wishes for 2015. Remember to use colorful Astrobrights Papers to add labels to the top of the mason jars, and 2015 Wishes tags with twine. For extra table height, wrap small boxes like a package with colorful paper.

when the clock strikes midnight

when the clock strikes midnight NYE party

when the clock strikes midnight NYE party

when the clock strikes midnight NYE party

NYE Essentials Wall
Whether you hope for a magical, butterflies-in-your-stomach kiss, a first kiss, an old but favorite kiss, a kiss from your children or a kiss from a friend, this NYE Essentials wall will ensure everyone will have soft lips, good breath and confetti to throw when the clock strikes midnight. We filled 98 cent plastic ornaments with DIY paper confetti {we used a good old-fashioned hole punch to create bright confetti from Astrobrights Papers}, custom labeled lip balm and pink and white tic-tacs.

NYE colorful party with Astrobrights Papers

NYE confetti

NYE party with confetti

To make the wall more eye-catching, we hung tinsel and white twinkle lights with Painter’s Tape, and strung the ornaments on the tinsel. For the big ribbon banner made entirely of paper, we simply printed our sign, added Martha Stewart glitter to NYE letters, glued 3 sheets of paper together, bent the paper and taped the ends to the wall. As for ‘tails’ of the ribbon, we cut the paper and taped it to the wall.

NYE colorful confetti party

NYE midnight ESSENTIALS

NYE party essentials

NYE party essentials

NYE party confetti

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Photo Booth
We thought about doing a glitter photo booth, or even a photo booth with all kinds of paper props, but a simple geometric background with the words This is How G-double-O-D I looked in 2014 seemed like the most honest and to-the-point backdrop for our NYE celebration. You have to own your hotness in 2014 to look even better in 2015, right? We think so.

photo booth this is how good i looked

For the geometric backdrop, we simply cut Astrobrights Papers into 8×8 squares, and then cut it diagonally in half. We used 4 different colors, and once all the triangles were cut, we used a glue stick to stick it to a wood board. For the words, we used a Silhouette cutting machine, but you can trace or print your own letters.

NYE photo booth

We hope you create a unique and memorable celebration using Astrobrights Papers to #ColorizeYourParty, and we wish you a happy, safe and healthy 2015!

Stay inspired all year-long with Astrobrights Papers via Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter.

{images via j. sorelle}

side note about our model: Major props to Jessica’s hubby {the handsome model in our photo booth}, who not only took care of an entire family infected with Influenza A before, during and after Christmas, but kindly modeled for our backdrop despite lack of sleep and rest, when we were too sick to do so. 

j. sorelle received products and/or payment for this post, however we love Astrobrights Papers even if they didn’t send us product, and all opinions are ours, we promise. View all of Astrobrights vibrant colors here

 

How to Host a Winter White Gingerbread Party

The fabulous ladies at The Entertaining Shoppe let us share their beautiful winter, white contemporary Gingerbread House party with Momtastic. The party is adult and kid friendly, plus it’s so pretty!

Get yourself a white apron with pom poms, and invite your friends because this is a winter white party worth hosting.

the entertaining shoppe gingerbread party

 {image via The Entertaining Shoppe}