Cake Pops!

Ah, Bakerella, we love you! Thank you for introducing us to the wonders of cake pops!

These delicious little pops are fun to make, wonderful to eat, and provide a generous amount of creative outlet. Just look at all that you can do with these gems of the dessert world:

all photos from Bakerella

If you are not familiar with cake pops, let us explain, they are literally a piece of cake rolled up and placed on a Popsicle stick. They are a true delight to eat and make! The creative options for these little treats are endless. The flavor combinations are whatever your heart desires, and the decorating can range from simple to "oh wow!" as you can see from above.

Here is a simple recipe for you to follow. Of course, you can improve on this recipe by making as much of this from scratch as you dare. But to begin, we started with simple.
1. Prepare and bake a boxed cake recipe. Once the cake cools, crumble it into a large bowl.
2. Add a can of pre-made frosting to the crumbled cake and mix it all together with a fork or your hands.
3. Lay wax paper over a cookie sheet and roll the cake/frosting mixture into little bite size balls. Place on the wax paper and freeze overnight at the least or up to a few days. You can place the sticks into the balls at this point or before dipping into the chocolate (next step).

Next day...
1. Prepare your counter top with everything that you will need to decorate your pops. Get your sprinkles, candy, nuts, cookie crumbs, etc. ready because once those pops come out from the melted chocolate you must decorate asap while the chocolate is still hot!
2. Melt chocolate over the stove. For this, we used a bag of chocolate chips and a bit of canola oil. (For melting chocolate, most recommend a double burner. If you don't have this use 2 sauce pans, one slightly large than the other. Fill the larger with water and place the smaller inside... don't let any water get into the smaller! Pour the chocolate chips into the smaller and bring the water to an almost boil. Once the chocolate chips appear glossy, stir them and add canola oil until the chocolate is smooth and fluid enough to dip).
3. As the chocolate is hot (keep the burner on while you do this), dip the pops into the chocolate and cover as desired.
4. Decorate!
5. Place off to the side to cool and let the chocolate harden. We found that if you hold the freshly dipped and decorated pops in the freezer for about 45 seconds to a minute, the chocolate hardens enough so that you can then place the pop down and you won't get a flat edge on your rounded pop.
6. Serve! We placed ours in mason jars with a bow around it. They were cute and delicious center pieces to our dinner table :)

Enjoy!
The ladies of Ellenor

Bridesmaid Gifts- fun, fancy and FUNCTIONAL footwear!

Purchasing gifts for bridesmaids can either be a lot of fun or very stressful for a busy bride. Several factors should be taken into consideration when buying a gift for many, sometimes very different ladies. Another question is how much to spend? When considering the cost of your gifts, ask yourself the following questions:

1) What fits into your wedding budget?
2) Are your bridesmaids doing a lot of travel for your wedding?
3) Are they buying their own bridesmaid dress?
4) Are they involved in many of your showers and pre-wedding parties?

After all the pre-wedding event costs, travel, gifts, lodging etc. a single bridesmaid can easily spend over a thousand dollars by the time the actual wedding comes around. In that case, it is proper for a bride to splurge for a nicer gift. However, for lower budget weddings with less spending involved, sentimental and thoughtful gifts are all that matter. Many budget brides go for the "Do It Yourself" option, utilizing their hobbies or skills. Others spend a lot of time researching and shopping for the most fitting gift at a price they can afford.

One of our favorite bridesmaid gifts are fancy, functional footwear! This gift is great because after your ceremony, the ladies can substitute them for their heels to dance your wedding night away. They can also use them again and again once the party is over. Depending on your budget, you can find shoes/sandals at every price. Below we have highlighted a few of our favorites.

First are Tom's gold glitter shoes. Not only are Tom's shoes incredibly comfortable but each pair sold funds another pair of shoes that goes to a child in need. They come in black, gold, silver and pink glitter! Second are adorable glitter flats by Steve Madden. The shape of these flats are a bit fancier than the Tom's but would still make great dancing shoes! Third are metallic Havaiana flip flops. Havainas are arguably the most comfortable flip flops out there. They are incredibly durable and come in metallic colors that could provide a comfy compliment to bridesmaids dresses. The final pair of shoes are rhinestone sandals by Naught Monkey. These are fancier than the Havainas but again, more comfortable than the heals worn by your bridesmaids during the ceremony. These are a few favorites but shop around and find what suits your bridesmaids best!!








Love,

Ellenor

A Winter Wedding Wonderland

While warmer seasons are statistically more popular, winter can be a truly magical time for a wedding. The season is already filled with feelings of warmth, love, lights, and family. Below is a beautiful winter idea board from the popular blog spot Snippet & Ink.






Stay warm and keep cozy,

Ellenor

Furry Family Wall

Most of us are familiar with the modern “Gallery Wall” in today’s homes. It is the personal gallery that showcases one’s beloved photos, paintings, life mementos, art, and collectibles in a creative and artistic way to create a single visually striking piece of art. Gallery walls have moved out from the hallways into more prominent rooms of the home to become both a conversation piece and a personalized backdrop to our lives.

At Ellenor, we believe that today’s gallery walls should not only showcase photos of dear ol’ mom and pop, grandparents, siblings, etc. but they should also include our “furry families,” i.e. our beloved pets. Because they are as much your family as the two-legged kind!

Even more daring would be a complete Furry Family Wall! A gallery wall dedicated to those photographs of the member or members of your family with the most personality... the one wagging his or her tail at you right now. We recently met up with Kim and Sarah, founders and artists behind Bark Pet Photography. Bark Pet Photography does a brilliant job of capturing the personality and essence of our furry loved ones. These unique images are the stand out pieces that will push your gallery wall from good to fantastic! Just look at some of these incredible images!



Creating any kind of gallery wall can seem daunting, but with the right photos it can be stunning! What are the “right photos” you ask? They are the photos that make you truly happy. You should select the photos that speak to your personality. Without personality to your photos, your family wall will fall flat, so fill your wall with things you love... Your pet included! If you do this, your family wall will be something that makes you happy every time you see it.

With that being said, a few key rules do apply to gallery walls. Whether it be a Furry Family Wall or not, here are the most basic guidelines to creating a fantastic gallery wall:
• Having a good balance between staged photographs and artistic or candid photographs on your family wall is key. Mix in a few non photographed items as well (framed or not).
• All photos should be hung in close proximity to one another, 1 ½” – 2” is best.
• Mixing different frame styles is fine, but don’t select too many frames with “stand out” features (i.e. something very ornate, or colored should be kept to a minimum, otherwise the wall becomes too busy)
• Have fun with it! Lay all your photos/items on the ground in front of the wall and play around with the layout. Something will catch your eye and you'll know when it's right!

Take a look at these great gallery walls…



What makes these galleries so great? Where they all read as a single statement, each wall has those few “wow” pieces amongst the rest. You can achieve an equally stunning family wall by making one or more of your photos into a piece of art. This can be done by printing certain photos on a canvas, taking a particularly artistic photograph and printing it in a larger format, or even varying the balance of colored photographs to black and white.

Bark Pet Photography is able to make these special pieces for your wall by printing “triptych” images of your pet that are reminiscent of the old photo strips. By hanging several of these close together, a very simple Furry Family Wall can be made. If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, hang one of these in combination with other smaller photos. See this sketch for the variations you could do using a triptych image...

There are many variables in creating a successful family wall. You need to have patience, a fun personality, a good attitude, and of course great images to pull from. If you only have one of the listed qualities, then you need to rely on the experts… Ellenor and Bark Pet Photography can help!

Holiday Ornaments, Doggie Style!

Christmas tree ornaments often represent very personal memories or life mementos. They play a critical role in the holiday season and make wonderful host/hostess gifts. There is an ornament for every aspect or object in life, making it very easy to personalize your gift to fit the receiving party to a T. Recently, we have been searching out ornaments to give to a few of our canine loving friends. Right now, the dachshund ornament by Jonathan Adler is my all time favorite and it comes in a gold or porcelain finish. However, the others are equally adorable as well!























You can purchase these ornaments (listed left to right) at: Jonathan Adler, Anthropologie, Barney's New York, and Crate and Barrel

Happy ornament hunting!

Best,

Ellenor

Urban Outfitter 2 Part Pillow Sets!

I happened across these pillow sets online at Urban Outfitters and I have fallen in love with them! They make the perfect pillow set for a quirky, fun loving bedroom. They have approximately 13 different patterns but below are my absolute favorites. Even my husband loves the mustache pillow set. For someone like him who almost never has a design preference, this is impressive! Click here for the link to Urban Outfitters bedding.







Best,

Ellenor

Wedding Food Trucks!

Living in Los Angeles, we have been pretty excited about the amazing food truck movement! Seeing them more and more at events, we are considering this option for a wedding in May. Check out this adorable photo courtesy of Unruly Things. See their entire post on the topic here: Unruly Things