Findinggems.net

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How to Make Your Own Raised Platters

So, I made those platters in about an hour for about $5! And I loved how Rustic Hawaiian they turned out!

 

Oh yah, my famous ripped trash bag "apron". Cheap, folks!

At a garage sale about a month ago, I found those 3 dark wooden (nasty) pillar things that probably used to grace the house of any normal 1980's family mantle. I bought them for $2 knowing exactly what I wanted to do with them.
The end product you see last, isn't totally what I had in mind, but they did fine for the Luau. I will probably rip the plastic plates off and hand-paint the pillars for the next party, just saying.

BUT, seeing as these cost me $5+spray paint, psh, I'm feeling good about how cute they looked at Blakely's  Luau

What you need:
+some sort of pillars
+hot glue gun
+plates of your choice, unsure how glass would work, but let me know if it works for you
+spray paint (if you want to change the color of your pillars) or paint and a paintbrush.


All you do is spray paint the pillars, let dry for a couple hours. (Mine look rustic and "messy" because I liked it for this party) Honestly, I'm not sure spray paint was the best option if you want a neat clean tidy look).

After they are dry, get your hot glue gun ready. Position your plates. Glue around the top edge of the pillar and push down for a few minutes.

Let dry... then use for your next party! I will definitely reuse mine for other parties!

DIY (Chemical Free) Foaming Hand Soap

 I have been making my own hand soap for about 8 months now. The only reason I know that it's been that long is I remember buying the Softsoap foaming soap bottles at Target in Florida on clearance. As you can tell, they are very "wintry".  Haha.

I wanted to try this out for awhile before I wrote a post about it and since it has been tried and proven awesome, I will be continuing to use this recipe and also investing in some legit Foaming Dispensers soon!

 The most important part of the recipe is Pure Castille Soap! I have it in Unscented, because I use Essential Oils to provide the Antibacterial part and the perfume part!

 So first step is to take an empty foaming bottle and fill about 2-3 tablespoons of Castille Soap in the bottom.

Next step: add about 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil (or another kind is fine, too). The oil adds an awesome moisturizer.
To be honest, I just wing it when adding this stuff, don't make time for actual measurements. If I add too little soap or too much oil, I try to make a note in my head to fix next time.

So far no complaints from anyone who has ever used it.

Next step: (Oops, sorry no picture!)  Add Essential Oils. Thieves is the best option, but I have also experimented with Lemon alone or adding a couple drops of Eucalyptus along with the Thieves.

I use Thieves for so many things and I will be adding to the list soon by trying a few other homemade recipes! I will blog about them as I try, but read this about Thieves posted on my favorite Essential Oil company, Eden's Garden:

Four Thieves:

• History: Four Thieves synergy blend was created based on the historical account of four thieves in France who protected themselves from the black plague with cloves, rosemary, and other aromatics while robbing victims of the killer disease. When captured, they were offered a lighter sentence in exchange for their secret recipe. Four Thieves oil blend includes Clove, Cinnamon Bark, Rosemary, Lemon and Eucalyptus and has been specially blended to offer the same kind of defense.
• Notes: Four Thieves has been university tested and found to be highly effective against airborne bacteria. This synergy blend contains 100% pure essential oils. We recommend a 3 to 5% dilution for topical body applications.
• Contains: Cinnamon, Clove, Eucalyptus, Lemon and Rosemary

Ok, Next Step: very slowly add warm water until it's about 1 inch from the top. Trust me, do not fill it to the top. Messy. And a waste of ingredients.
Then very gently swirl the container with the lid on. Shake it gently.

BAM, you have soap! No chemicals!!! So easy to make, takes me only about 5 minutes!
Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Fudge Starfish Babies (for a Luau!)

These were the cutest things ever! Best part they were delicious and the recipe is fast and easy and can be used for anything- Peanut Butter Bars or rolled up into Balls, etc. Be creative!

What you need:
1 stick of butter softened
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 cup of Oats
1 cup of Peanut Butter
1/3 c brown sugar


Topping:
Graham cracker and/or brown sugar

Star cut-out
Black edible gel (for eyes)

Mix the butter and brown sugar. Add powdered sugar. Add Peanut Butter and Oats.
Put in fridge for 30 minutes.
Get a small plate and get a big tray ready lined with Wax Paper.
Grab a big handful out of the bowl, leave the rest in fridge.
Start rolling balls and cutting stars. Place carefully on tray.
Once finished with all, put in fridge for another 20 minutes to harden back up.

Mix a bowl up of either brown sugar or finely crushed graham crackers.
Dip your starfish in and cover both sides, then carefully put back on tray. Don't place on top of each other.

Put foil over and freeze or refrigerate until your event.

Right before you want to serve them, carefully put black eyes on all of them.

So delicious, easy and so cute!

Pineapple Palm Tree

This was one of my favorite displays//food art we had at Blakely's Luau! Luckily I had a friend help me get it ready a few days before!
I saw the picture on pinterest and never made time to get a tutorial, just did guess work to get it to look like this!  :)


What you need:
+3-4pineapples
+long skewer sticks
+fern leaves or palm leaves. (We found ours at Hobby Lobby for pretty cheap and plan to reuse them at our house someway.)
+lots of colorful fruit to go around

How you put it together:
+scoop out the pineapples and cut the pineapple up. (We did this 4 days before and they were still crisp and perfect for our party.
+Place pineapple in ziplock and wait to open til party
On day of Party:
+place empty pineapples on top of each other.
+Take Skewer and push them all of them to keep them from toppling.
+Insert leaves of choice and display
+place fruit all around

Not step back and love it! It is so so cute! :)

Shark Lagoon (Jello)

Ok, so this was fun to make!

I first debuted it at my beach themed bridal shower in 2010. I put a lot more detail into that one...because I had more time on my hands.

Basically, what you need is
+3-4 packages of the bluest jello you can find
+packages of swedish fish
+1-2packages of blue sharks (they are hard to find, but sometimes can be found at gas stations or bulk candy stores or on Amazon. Blue Gummi Gummy Sharks Candy 1 Pound Bag

For the simple version, you just make jello as directed. When it's formed and you are prepping for your party, open the 2 bags of fish and sharks and chop up the jello so it's like waves, then place the sharks and fish in the water and on top of the water.

The harder version is to take a platter or 9x13 and do the steps mentioned above, but take a side section and add 3-5 cups of brown sugar, making a beach. then you add whatever! For my bridal shower (so sorry no pics!) My little sisters still had Polly Pockets lying around, so we added them to the beach on beach chairs, with props, etc. It was cute.

Either way, this is a hit with kids and will be an awesome addition to any Luau or Beach Themed Party!

Blakely Turned 1 and we Threw her a Luau!

So excited to finally have the pictures up from Blakely's Luau last weekend. Following this post, will be DIY instructions for several of these crafts/recipes!

                                                    Pineapple Palm Tree! My fave! Go here to find out to do this yourself!

 Hula Skirt turned into High-Chair cover!

 Marshmallow Tiki Guys...

 We gave up on trying to get those to look like Tiki Guys...

 Lei's for err'one!

 Lava Rock Brownies!

 Nutter Butter Flip Flops!

 Crab Dip that didn't turn out so well! However, I loved it in the Coconut Bra!

 Sea Spray Drink!

 Volcano Acid!

 Oh yah, we're so South Pacific it hurts!

 DIY homemade Luau baby outfit- since they do not sell them anywhere for cheap! Learn to make it here

 Watermelon, Pigs n Blanket, etc.

 Sand Pails holding fun snacks! (Baby Whales, Crackers, etc.)

 Shark Lagoon Jello! Scary! You can make it easily with instructions here

 Love!!

Hula Girl Cake! The Fondant 1 topper was melting at this point! So sad, but so cute!

And finally, my most favorite precious picture! Look at her, so sad it's her birthday and she has to wear that ridiculous hat! Love you baby girl! So thankful the Lord gave us you!
More posts coming later with how to do a bunch of this stuff and throw your own Luau for cheap!