Suzanne Carillo Style Files

DIY Thanksgiving Table Decor - Easy Tapas Recipes & Free Printable Gift

I rushed Thanksgiving this year. Last weekend when I went grocery shopping they had a nice looking organic chicken and I picked it up and decided to make our whole "traditional" meal of roast chicken, tons of roasted veg and a pumpkin pie...a week before Thanksgiving.

So when this weekend rolled around and it was actually Thanksgiving I didn't want to repeat what we'd had just a few days before. Instead I decided to go with tapas, small plates - aka...appetizers. 

The good thing about about tapas is more variety and no overeating. 

  

The recipe I followed for the gougèrs was off. It should have had 1 cup of flour, not 3/4 of a cup (maybe even a bit more). Oh well, they still tasted good even if they weren't as puffed as they should have been. Thanks Martha!  

The endive appetizer is my own recipe, super easy and very tasty. Also...it looks impressive.

Win win and win! 

Cut off some of the endive spears, rinse well and dry.  Mix 2 tbsp honey with 1/3 cup soft seasoned goat's cheese and spread a bit of the goat's cheese in each spear. Top each spear with a roasted pecan half and a dab more of honey. YUM!

The stuffed bacon wrapped dates turned out wonderful. I highly recommend them. A great blend of smokey, salty and sweet. Normally I don't eat meat, but sometimes I eat a little bit of blackened bacon. I cooked it for almost an hour in a slow oven, 350 F and then 90% of the fat melts away. 

I make this hummus all the time. It is my own recipe.

Suzanne's 3 Minute Hummus

Throw 2 cans of rinsed cooked chickpeas, 1 large peeled garlic clove, 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, pepper to taste, 2 small jalapeno peppers (tops cut off), the juice of 1 lemon and the grated rind of one lemon, and 2-3 tablespoons of honey into a food processor. Blend until smooth. If it is too thick just thin it down by adding some water. You may need to add a bit more salt depending on your taste.

I made the "Today I Am Thankful" printable for my table decoration. As a thank you to all of my readers (sorry Canada, I wasn't speedy enough for you to use it this year...) you can download it and print it off here. It comes 5" x 7" so it will fit nicely into any photo frame and would be lovely framed on a wall as a reminder to each of us to be thankful every day.

I was taught how to make the homemade shrimp cocktail sauce when I worked in Scotland at a secluded private hunting lodge. My husband's stomach thanks that Mrs Stronach every day for developing my interest in cooking.

I don't usually measure anything out when I cook, so I'm guessing at the exact amounts of the ingredients. You might need to adjust it a bit. As any chef will tell you, you always need to taste and adjust to your palette. I've adjusted the recipe to my tastes over the years. 

Suzanne's Spicy Shrimp Cocktail Sauce

1/4 cup (light) mayonnaise
3 tbsp  (light) sour cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
rind of one lemon grated
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp (or less if you don't like spicy) sriracha (Chinese hot sauce)
a bit of honey if not sweet enough

Mix it all in a bowl with a whisk and season to taste. 

For my tablescape I just pulled out items from around the house and grouped them together using books or upside down vases for some extra height. 

I made the bouquet as well. I had to go with what was available at the grocery store as far as flowers were concerned but I'm happy with the mix of colours. 

A little tip when you are arranging your own flowers at home...use clear tape to make a grid across the mouth of your vase. It will allow you to space the flowers correctly in the vase.

I didn't care for the glass vase I was using so I wrapped it in newspaper and tied it with twine. You can also use wrapping paper.

It all turned out lovely. I found that making this type of tapas meal meant I was able to do it all in the morning and then just relax and enjoy the rest of the day. 

For dessert we ate the pears that were part of the table decorations with some fresh raspberries and ice cream. 

Tomorrow I'll be showing what I wore and on Thursday what my husband wore.

All I can say is, "Damn my man looks good!"  

 

Do you have any favourite super easy appetizer recipes or party decorating tips that you'd care to share? 

Linking up with: My Girlish Whims Your Whims Wednesday

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! A Shout Out To My Readers

Special thanks to all of you, my beloved and much cherished readers.

Without you this whole "bloggy thing" wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

bisous

Suzanne

Butterfly Floral Wall Treatment & Home Office Decor Ideas

Some of you may have seen these photos from this post...

When I first showed off my first half of my home office rennovation.

 Now I invite you to the other side of my newly (almost) finished office...

 

I plan on replacing the awful light fixture (which I didn't even photograph it is so terrible) with an antique chandelier. That is the last piece of the puzzle. 

This butterfly floral wall treatment is so simple and so pretty. Buy a bunch of silk flowers at your nearest craft store (try to get ones that look as realistic as possible) pop off the heads and mount them on the wall with sticky tack. Some of the larger flowers had to be attached with a push pin. 

I ordered the butterflies from Amazon. They also mount with sticky tack.

What do you think?

I know the two sides of my office are radically different from each other, but I like the contrast of the contemporary next to the vintage.  

The best thing I like about the new wall? No matter the temperature outside, it'll always be spring in my office : ) 

If you like the illustration wall art I made they will soon be available in my Etsy shop. 
 

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If you are stuck for a card I have a few in my Etsy store and some printables to make your own cards too.

 

 

 

 

And how about these simple Easter decorating ideas & recipes? 

Egg flower planters

Easter Cupcakes 

 

Bunny Napkins

Easter egg & flower centerpiece

 Easter Table

Easter egg votives

Easter Candy Parade

Make these dark chocolate coconut macaroons instead of chocolate eggs...they are divine!

And finally some free printables for you...enjoy!

 Spring Will Come Free Printable Graphic

Choose Happiness Free Printable Graphic

 Liking up with: Favorite Things,  My Girlish Whims

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Friday's Top Fashion Favourites Mar 10-29th 2013

I Thought I Spotted A Zebra - DIY Painted Sweater

I made a Polyvore set a while back that had this lovely sweater in it...

 

Dorothy Perkins sweater 

This was the set I'd made...

Anyhoo... I decided to DIY a zebra sweater myself. 

I started off by making a pattern I drew by hand onto some craft paper.

I inserted some cardboard behind my sweater to make it flatter and also to protect it from paint bleeding through.

Then I cut out the pattern and trimmed it to fit on the sweater.

 I decided to cut around some of the pencil on the pattern so that I would be able to trace the image onto the sweater better.  This can be a bit fussy. I didn't do it everywhere...just enough to trace some of the image details onto the sweater. Then I pinned the cut pattern onto the sweater and traced the image with a paint pen. I just sort of slid my paint pen inbetween the slits I had cut in the pattern.

After I painted in the black with acrylic paint and a brush.

I went back in and filled in some areas and added a bit more detail free hand.

The one thing about painting on a sweater is that because it is a knit it was a bit harder to control the edges of the image. I would recommend just going slowly and using a paint pen for the finer details rather than a brush. I found it easier to work with.

et...voilà!

skirt - Anthropologie, sweater - TJ Maxx & then altered, shoes - Nine West, bag - TJ Maxx, necklace - by me : ) 

Linking up with:  Visible Monday , Sunday Style, Yolo Mondays, Watch What I'm Wearing   Monday Mingle   GFC Collective Blog Hop  My Style  Thursdays Favourite Things

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DIY Tie Sweatshirt

Well I probably shouldn't really call this a DIY since I'm not providing photos of a breakdown of steps as to how I created this little number. 

I was inspired by this

 

Old Navy Boys Necktie Graphic Sweaters (clipped to polyvore.com)

And then made this

 

 

I call the look my office appropriate sweatshirt.

Shoes - Nine West, Jeans - Ethanol, Sweatshirt base - TJ Maxx

A very Reader's Digest version of what I did is:

I used two different fabrics, created a pattern by tracing a tie of my husband's onto paper, then used fabric transfer paper to piece it together and iron onto the sweatshirt and finally stitched all around in red thread.  

The reason I didn't even bother taking photos of each step was that I was flying by the seat of my pants the whole way, making it up as I went along. 95% of the time when I do that the DIY doesn't work out.

Of couse it's Murphy's Law that when you don't take the photos the DIY will actually work. I should have known.

I will post another version of this same DIY that I spent almost an entired day working on that didn't turn out as I'd hoped...the one I have photos for. Oh yeah.

Linking up with:  Visible Monday , Sunday Style, Yolo Mondays, Watch What I'm Wearing   Monday Mingle   GFC Collective Blog Hop  My Style 

Send a Little Love

Husband...don't look at or read this post any further! 

Okay...whew...don't want to spoil the surprise. 

This is what I've made for hubby for our upcoming "when we met" anniversary. I always hide a note or card in his suitcase every time he is away on business, so it was handy to design quite a few at once. Some are funny, some a little more racy and I've left one open so I can write my own little love note. 

I also had the idea to put them together onto a little binder ring so it could be given all at once as a mini booklet. Sweet right?

I think it is fun to hide these somewhere for your lover to discover in pockets, lunch bags etc. It's such a nice little gesture. Sometimes when Robert goes away he will tape love notes to my bathroom mirror. I keep them there until he is back home and sometimes longer. 

The other option is just to make 8 regular type cards simply by mounting them on cardstock with some pop dots.

Since our anniversary falls 2 days after Valentine's Day this works out great as I'm able to offer this as a printable in my Etsy store. 

I could really see these all cut out and placed into a frame. I need to pick one up next time I'm at Ikea. 

 

Linking up with, My Whims Wednesday

 

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Well here I am with try #2 on my DIY project and I am much happier with the final result. 

I've painted with acrylic paints on jeans and t-shirts before but this was the first time I'd tried it on a sweater. You need to pounce a bit more with your brush to get in between the knit, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm relieved since I have plans on making another painted sweater in the future. 

You will need: a pink sweater, red acrylic paint, red sequins, red embroidery thread and a red or pink sharpie.

Cut out a heart shape from a piece of paper and center it on the sweater. Pin to sweater.

Place a piece of cardboard in behind the heart in the sweater to protect it from bleeding through. Then take a sharpie in a colour close to what you will be painting with and outline the heart.

Remove the paper and you will have a heart like this.

Start painting your sweater. I just used acrylic paint that was thinned with a bit of water but you can add acrylic medium so that you won't need to paint 2 coats, otherwise adding water will dilute the saturation of the paint. 

Allow to dry completely.

I chose to outline my heart using embroidery floss and then I added some sparkle by stitching on some sequins.

You can see that the edges look a bit like watercolour which I like. 

Success! 

Linking up with - Casual Friday Link Up

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No I don't like to go around bragging about my failures but I'm just keeping it real here folks. Sometimes an idea in my head is much better off left in my head. Case in point, this lovely sweater project. The great idea I had was to make an applique like a rag rug. A rag rug is simply pieces of cloth knotted through some kind of grid base to create a relief effect. 

Initially I thought about knotting the strips of fabric directly through the knit of a sweater but I was worried I might ruin the sweater by stretching it out so I decided to make an applique and then stitch it on afterwards. 

The theory sounds great right? The reality of the finished product isn't as great. I have succeeded in making myself look larger and possibly like walking piece of carpet. 

The applique is very heavy and weighs down the sweater. Also it puffs out... lots right over my boobs. Overall it just seems awkward which is too bad because I like the look of it. It is very disappointing when a DIY doesn't turn out as expected since so much time is wasted on it.

Now I am going to remove the applique from the sweater and possibly put it on a pillow instead. It's a shame, but I know I won't wear this as it is.

Linking up with Whatever Whenever Wednesday, The Pleated Poppy, Transatlantic Blonde ,Wardrobe Wednesday, Rae Gun Ramblings ,  Random Wednesday  The Style Sessions  My Girlish Whims

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I've been wanting to try my hand at applique for a while now. Here is my first try. As you can see it's of my favourite subject, my baby Zoe.






This shows you the drawing I made first to create the applique.

If you want to try your hand at making this cute shopping tote, these are the materials you will need:

my free printable pug pattern
2 different fabrics (one light, one dark)
embroidery floss in black and white
steam a seam applique fusing
black felt
black tote ( I bought this one at Michaels ) 
2 black buttons
spray on starch

1. Print out the pattern below and get your fabrics ready by ironing them.

2. I sprayed my fabric with some starch before ironing to make sure that it wouldn't fray before pinning and cutting out the pattern from the fabric. When cutting out the pattern leave about 1/4" around the edges.




You could at this point actually pin this onto your Steam-A-Seam as well and cut out the pattern from the fabric and the Steam-A-Seam at the same time. I did it in 2 steps.

3.  Pin onto Steam-A-Seam and cut out. Then follow Steam-A-Seam directions ironing on to adhere one side of the Steam-A-Seam to the wrong side of the fabric. 

4.  Adhere the ears and face by ironing on (you will need to remove the backing of the Steam-A-Seam so that the sticky side will glue onto the other fabric).  You should have something that looks like this now.



5. Put the eyes on where you think they should be and then trace around them in a black pen. I also sketched some lines on the pug for the mouth, nose fold, paws and back of leg.

6. Get your embroidery floss and use white to stitch the whites of the eyes. You can stitch the nose fold as well. 



 7. Cut out your nose from some black felt. This could be attached with Steam-a-Seam as well but I ended up just using the sewing machine to attach it. 

8. Add on your black eye buttons. You can add some extra details with black floss around the eyes. 




9. Peel off backing paper of Steam-a-Seam and place onto canvas tote. Iron on per Steam-A-Seam instructions.

10. Stitch all edges and sketched lines with the zig-zag stitch on sewing machine. 





Cute right?