Hostess Jo at Home

What happened to April?

April has flown by!  Sorry I have not posted in awhile!  I do have some pretty exciting updates for you.

Yesterday I attended a creative women's brunch.  It was for creatives like bloggers, artists, shop owners, photographers and many other female entrepreneurs. 

The venue was right up my alley.  Exposed brick and old chippy walls!  It was held at The Nest in Birmingham.  The perfect spot for a gathering like this.  The wood table tops with the white metal chairs made my heart skip a beat.

The brunch was hosted by Natalie from 11th Thread and the name of the group is Dream Catchers South.  So cool that dream catchers are so popular in décor right now too!  She put this whole thing together to help and inspire creative women to chase their dreams!

She did a beautiful job on the table settings!  The greenery just popped against the natural wood and white with a little sparkle from the mercury glass candle holders.

We each received our own mason jar of delicious Piper and Leaf tea that we got to take home with us.  I love mason jars and they fit right in with the décor.  Even better we got to sample from a local company.

There were so many incredible sponsors and creative women all pursuing their own small business goals (I'll have a list at the bottom of this post for you to check them out)!  They filled our goody bags with awesome samples and coupons.  We also had a great speaker named Bill Todd, President of o2 Ideas.  He really taught us a lot about marketing and stepping out with our ideas.  Which leads me to a few updates for Hostessjo.com!

I've been wanting an updated design for the blog and I think its time to move over to Wordpress.  I keep hearing great things about it and I think it will be great for both you and I.  So, I'm in the process of doing that.  Hopefully everything will be good to go in May.  I've also started my photography classes and really enjoying them.  Reese's room redo is complete so please check back for that! 

Also, my husband and I have purchased a lot and will be building a spec home this summer!  I'm so excited to pick out paint, flooring, lighting etc.!  I'll be blogging about all of our choices along the way and answering any questions you may have.

I'd love to hear from you about what you'd like to see more of on our new blog!  More diy?  Home décor?  Crafts?  Styling?  Please send me an email or leave me a comment here!

xoxo,

Jo

Check out these cool small businesses and sponsors from our brunch: 

Naughty but Nice Kettlecorn,

Wholesome Soda Co.,

Dixie Fresh,

See Jane Write

Harp of Birmingham,

Piper Vine,

Baby Cakes Birmingham,

House Peace,

Down in the Ham,

Nikki Blakes 

Elizabeth Jaimes Boutique and Salon

If I left anyone off, please leave me a message and I'll be happy to add you!

Fruity Cups

As promised, here is the recipe for the fruit cups from the "Love in Bloom" shower.  They have such pretty color and taste great too.  Perfect for your Mother's Day brunches this weekend.

Fruity Cups

1 can peach pie filling

1 can mandarin oranges-drained

1 large can of pineapple chunks-drained

1 large container of frozen, sliced, sweetened strawberries thawed

1 green grapes

2-3 red delicious apples chopped

2-3 bananas chopped

Mix everything together the night before except for the apples and bananas.  Mix those in before serving.  You can also substitute any fruit you like.  
 

Mother's Day Special

Hostess Jo has FREE SHIPPING this week on all orders in honor of Mother's Day!

Wouldn't a pretty apron make cooking so much better for Mom?

Summer Lemons Apron

Nesting Details

My dear friend Ashley sent me a couple of pics of the decorations she is working on for my Nesting Baby Shower in June.  I just had to share them with you- of course!

These birds are just spectacular!  I love all of the plumes.

You know how I love butterflies!  So cute.

These are already so adorable I can only imagine what everything will look like that day-beautiful! 

I am a lucky girl. 

Stay tuned...
  

Love in Bloom

This weekend we celebrated the upcoming wedding of our two friends, Bonnie and Paul, with a lovely cherry blossom themed bridal shower.  My friend Ashley styled the event-I was in charge of drinks this time ;) 

This theme was light and airy with spring blooms and shades of pink.  Perfect for spring and perfect for LOVE.

Enjoy some pics from Saturday....

 

The pretty invitations that gave a sneak peek to guests of what was to come.

The all important food table with a pink cherry blossom centerpiece and pink accents.

Adorable cupcakes Nicole made.  She also made the circles-I keep telling her she needs to start selling these!  The "B" was for the bride's soon-to-be last name, and of course more cherry blossoms.

Delicious fruit cups that not only taste great but look so pretty displayed.  Recipe to come in a later post-they are so EASY.

  

A close up of the coordinating pink cherry blossom ribbon that added a special touch.

More cherry blossom accents for outside. 

Hope this shower will inspire you to try something new for your next celebration!  This is a great example of how carrying through a color or item can really tie everything together!  This theme would also work well for Mother's Day or a spring party.
  

An Edible Dozen

These rose cupcakes caught my eye right away because they are so pretty.  Then I was curious if the petals were fancy icing or some sort of topper.  You'll never guess what it is! 

Ok, I'll just tell you.

Rose Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 12 mini cupcakes
• White icing
• Scissors
• 6 rolls of Fruit by the Foot fruit leather in Cherry Rage or strawberry flavor
• 1 roll of Fruit by the Foot fruit leather in Color by the Foot flavor

Instructions

1. Frost 12 mini cupcakes with white icing.

2. To make a rose, unroll a piece of the cherry or strawberry fruit leather and divide it in half along the wavy perforated middle line. Take one of the halves and roll up about 5 inches to form the flower's center. Set the rolled strip wavy side up in the middle of a cupcake, as shown, and continue to loosely wrap the remaining fruit leather around the center at a slight angle until the flower is completed.

3. Repeat this process for the remaining flowers. (You should be able to get 2 mini roses out of each roll of fruit leather.)

4. Cut leaf shapes from the wavy edge of the Color by the Foot strip as shown, then tuck the leaves under the roses.

Can you believe it's Fruit by the Foot?  Now everyone can "ice" fancy cupcakes!

 

(photo from familyfun.com)

 

Shimmering Dessert

There will be a lot of champagne flowing over the next few days!  Whether you are toasting on New Year's Eve or sipping Mimosas at your New Year's Day brunch, it's always fun to serve and drink.  

Here is a tasty twist on the traditional Mimosa. 

Mimosa Granita

Yield: 8 cups (serving size: 1/2 cup)

Ingredients

• 1  cup  sugar
• 1  cup  water
• 3  cups  fresh orange juice (about 10 oranges)
• 2  cups  Champagne or sparkling wine
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lime juice
• Lime wedges (optional)

Preparation

Combine sugar and water in a large saucepan, and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and cool completely. Add orange juice, Champagne, and lime juice; pour into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish. Cover and freeze for 8 hours or until firm. Remove mixture from freezer; let stand 10 minutes. Scrape the entire mixture with a fork until fluffy, and garnish with lime wedges, if desired.

I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year's!  Welcome 2010!  

I am taking a short break for vacation but will be back very soon!  See ya next year!

(photo and recipe from myrecipes.com)
 

A Setting Fit for a Mom

I just love this Mother's Day table setting from Chris at Celebrations at Home!  The colors are so bright and cheerful.  This would be great for moms of all ages.  Best part is- it is budget and time friendly! 

 

Here's what Chris had to say about her design:

Are you looking for an easy, hassle-free, inexpensive way to dress the table for Mother's Day? I put together this setting with inexpensive, or free items from around the house, which is based around the color scheme of hot pink and orange(which I am so loving these days). Felt cut-out mats, feathers, floral paper, and butterflies from Hobby Lobby were about $5. The "placemat" above is doubled, but you could use one for each place setting to save cost.

 

See more photos of this setting here and be sure to check out the rest of Chris' celebrations on her fabulous blog!  You will leave there with a wealth of inspiration and unique ideas!

I hope everyone has a wonderful time celebrating the mothers in your life this weekend!  And to all the mothers-Happy Mother's Day!

Food from the Heart

Show Mom how much you love her Sunday with these heart shaped foods!  These would also be great for Valentine's Day, wedding showers or any occasion you want to show your love.

Heart Pancakes

 

Heart Shaped Egg Toast

 

A Heartfelt Message

 

Cucumber-Turkey Mini Sandwiches

 

Raspberry Almond Financiers

Interesting Arrangement

I love how everyone is filling their flower vases with all kinds of objects these days.  You can use basically any kind of candy, we found out at Easter.  All you need are two similarly shaped vases (one narrower than the other) and a little creativity and you've got a one-of-a-kind arrangement!  The one below uses Mother of Pearl buttons in water to appear like baubles.  This would be a pretty idea for Mother's Day don't you think?

 

Small iridescent seashells would look nice too. You could also coordinate the button color to the flower color.  The smaller the interior vase the larger your objects can be.  What have you used to fill your vases lately?

(photo from marthastewart.com)