Mason Jar Pie for the 4th of July {as seen on Amy Atlas Blog}

Individual pies have become super popular, lately.  What's not to love?  They are portable and the individual portion means you don't have to share!   I made this Cherry Pie as part of a 4th of July spread that I will share with you later this week.  Here's the recipe, just in time for your 4th of July plans!

Mason Jar Cherry Pie  (makes 4 servings)

Single crust pie crust (I used refrigerated pie crust, but make your own, if you'd like)

12 ounce bag frozen, pitted cherries, thawed and drained

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespooon cornstarch

1 tablespoon flour

4 wide mouth half-pint mason jars (I found mine at Walmart, but you can also order them HERE). 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out 1 pasty crust.  To make the bottom crusts, put mason jar lid on crust and cut out circle about 1 inch larger than lid.  Save remainder of crust for star toppers.  Gently place crusts in the bottom of mason jars. 

Combine cherries, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and flour.  Divide cherry mixture into four equal parts and spoon it into the mason jars.  Place jars on baking sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. 

For the star toppers, using a star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out four stars using the leftover pastry crust.  Gently place the stars on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees, until crust is browned. 

After the cherry pies have baked, gently place the stars on top of each pie.  Enjoy!!

You can see more of this pie on Amy Atlas Blog as part of her Fourth of July Round Up post!

FREE Fourth of July Subway Art

I am currently loving the use of subway art style signs for holiday decorating.  It's a great way to add a little holiday touch to your house or party, without going crazy!

I created this subway art sign using the lyrics from "America the Beautiful", one of my favorite patriotic songs.   The patriotic look was completed with a red painted picture frame adorned with a red gingham flower, red roses and white chocolate covered pretzel rods in a burlap and ginghan covered can. 

To dowload your copy of this sign, please click Here.  Stay tuned for more 4th of July ideas later this week!

FREE 4th of July Printable Roundup



There are some great FREE 4th of July Printables on blogs right now.  The following are just a few of my favorites!

1.  The patriotic printables that I created for the Brass Band Festival, which can be found HERE.

2.  Free printables from the Tomkat Studio on HGTV.

3.  Tented food cards, party circles, invitation, banner and more found HERE by Embellish blog. 

4.  Printable 4th of July Invitation from Martha Stewart



More 4th of July ideas to come later this week!  

Dreaming of a Summer Porch Party

Summer is now in full swing.  We have been spending our days swimming, grilling out and playing outside.  How have you been enjoying Summer? 

Fabulous porch parties are a quintessential part of summer.  A couple of weekends ago we went to our friend's house for a wonderful brunch on her screened-in porch.  Our hostess, Heather, made sure we had an absolutely wonderful time!  With our current mild weather, I've been dying to host a porch party.  However, this is what our patio currently looks like:

Hopefully, we'll at least have the flooring of our patio done in the near future.  Then, I plan to host a porch party to celebrate all the wonderful fruits and vegetables of this time of year.  Until then, enjoy these beautiful pictures of a porch party from Woman's Day magazine.  

Woman's Day Backyard Bash



Ruffle Cake with Tutorial Link

Have you seen all the lovely ruffle cakes that have been appearing on party and baking blogs, lately?  From the moment I saw the first one, I knew I wanted to try making one.  I must confess -- I am horrible at icing cakes. Although I can make a cupcake look pretty decent, I've never been good at cakes.  I am just not precise or steady-handed enough.  The draw of the ruffle cake is that it looks beautiful, even if it's not perfect.  Plus, I can't resist something with lots of gorgeous ruffles!

I made this cake for a Father's Day lunch today.  It only took about 10 minutes to do the ruffle icing effect.  If you want to try your own ruffle cake, head on over to Sweet & Saucy for a fabulous video tutorial.  Here is the recipe for the cake I made:

Fresh Strawberry with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Icing


For the cake:
1 Box White Cake Mix
1 cup finely chopped fresh strawberries
1/2 Madagascar vanilla bean
1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened seedless strawberry jam

For the icing:
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 Madagascar vanilla bean
2-3 tablespoons milk
2-3 cups of powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare cake batter according to instructions on package.  After mixing, add the strawberries.  Cut the vanilla bean in half, exposing the grainy inside of the bean.  Scrape the inside of the bean out into the batter, careful not to include any part of the outside of the bean.  Mix batter again for about 30 seconds to incorporate the added ingredients.

Bake the cake batter, according to the package instructions for two 9 inch round cake pans.  (Or, I used two 6 inch pans for the pictured cake, using only about 1/2 of the batter.  They baked for 25 minutes.)  After baking, let cakes cool completely on rack. 

To assemble the cake, spread the jam on top of the first layer, then place the second layer on top.  Place the assembled cake in the refrigerator while making the icing. 

For the icing, beat the butter, vanilla and vanilla bean (scraped in the same manner as described for the cake) on medium with an electric mixer, until smooth.  Gradually add powdered sugar, alternately with each tablespoon of milk, beating on low speed until blended and smooth after each addition.  If desired, beat in a little more milk or powdered sugar until reaching desired consistency and sweetness. 

For directions on how to ice the ruffle cake, please check HERE.  Enjoy!!

FREE Printables - Father's Day Baseball Party Tags

A couple of weeks ago, I shared tennis themed party tags (found HERE) that I had made for my husband for Father's Day.  But, those tags don't work for my dad since he isn't much of a tennis fan.  He does, however, love baseball.  So, I made these baseball themed tags to take to a Father's Day lunch to celebrate my dad. 

To download and print the file, click HERE!  Have a Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day Ideas

How are you planning on celebrating that special Father in your life this weekend?  If you are like me, you are probably still planning your gifts and treats.  Here are a few ideas and inspirations for Sunday!

Starting in the upper left hand corner:
1. Homemade Hot Sauce with Printable Labels at Givers Log
2. Baseball Cupcakes from Family Fun
3. Printable Soda Labels from Whipperberry

4. Retro Father's Day Labels from Martha Stewart

The kids and I created this sign for my hubby to take to his office.  They came up with a list of words to describe their daddy, then they helped me pick out the fonts and style for their sign. 

We just need to print out the sign, get a frame for it and wrap it up!  Here's a cute and easy wrapping idea for your Father's Day gift from Tip Junkie.

Have a great idea for a Father's Day gift or treat?  If so, let us know!

More FREE Father's Day Printables

Last week, I posted Free Father's Day printables for the tennis loving guy in your life.  Click HERE.  

The very talented Crystal over at Sweet Memories Cakery & Designs has also created some Father's Day tags for you to enjoy.  Click HERE to head on over to her site to download and print them.  Crystal has some other designs for you to check out, too!



Hope the Father in your life has a wonderful Sunday!

Red Wagon Contest

It's such an exciting weekend for our little town.  We are hosting a music festival that brings many visitors and some great entertainment.  The whole town gets spruced up for the weekend -- it has never looked better here! 

As part of the festivities, there was a parade this morning.  One of the best parts of the parade is the Red Wagon Contest.  There were so many FANTASTIC wagons this year.  The creativity on display was AMAZING!  It was a great place to get some party planning inspiration. 

Our "Aloha" Wagon

Our Aloha Partners

An AMAZING Pirate Ship!

"Buy Local" Barn

Butterfly Wagon and Royal Wedding Wagon

Picnic Wagon

The boys (mostly my wonderful husband) constructed the wagon.  The girls were in charge of all the decorating, naturally.  My husband cut out the sufboard and attached it to the wood that was wedged into the wagon.  He also built the wave frame out of bendable wire and chicken wire.  My little assistant helped me paint the surboard.  Then we stuffed the chicken wire with ALOT of tissue paper and stapled the metallic fringe on the bottom for "water".  Our little surfer dude had lots of fun riding on his surfboard down Main St. for the parade!



First Birthday Plans

I've been creating some party circles for my dear friend's sweet baby girl's 1st birthday!  The birthday girl's mom and I kicked around a few ideas, but settled on birthday presents and bright green and pink to match the birthday girl's party dress.   What budding fashionista wouldn't love matching a party theme to her outfit?



First birthdays are always special, so picking a theme is important.  For my daughter's 1st birthday, we picked a ladybug theme because she had been a ladybug for Halloween that year.  You might also consider picking a theme based on the child's favorite toy or favorite book character.  You could even build a party theme around a favorite color or food.  No matter what theme you choose, make sure you take lots of pictures to capture the special day!

Tortellini Pesto Salad

Maybe because it is so hot outside right now.  Or, maybe because we have an outdoor activity every night this week.  For some reason, I have been wanting pasta salad for dinner at night, lately.  So, here is another pasta salad recipe for you.  I've been making this dish for years, so I'm not sure where I first saw it.  But, it is always a crowd pleaser.  I'll be taking it for dinner to enjoy during a swim meet tonight.   

Tortellini Pasta Salad

20 ounce package cheese tortellini
10 ounce package of grape tomatoes
8 ounce container of ciliegine (cherry size) fresh mozzarella
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 Tbsp pine nuts
2-3 Tbsp pesto sauce*

*You can buy premade pesto sauce or make your own.  A recipe for pesto can be found HERE .

1.  Cook tortellini according to package directions.  Rinse with cold water.
2.  Toss tortellini with grape tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and pine nuts. 
3.  Add pesto sauce and stir. 

That's it!  Simple and quick -- perfect for a busy summer evening!

FREE Printables -- Great American Brass Band Festival

The following Party Circles and Placecards were designed in conjunction with a tablescape for the Great American Brass Band Festival.  They could also be used for any outdoor concert or even for a 4th of July party.  I use a 2" circle punch or 2" scalloped circle punch to cut out the party circles.  Of course, you could also cut them out with scissors.  They look the best printed out on matte photo cardstock, but any cardstock would work. 

Click on the links below each picture to download your own copy!  Enjoy!  Please do not forget to visit Mirabelle Creations' Facebook page and "like" it, if you haven't already.

Printable Party Circles

Printable Placecards

Free Printables Party Tags -- Father's Day

Good morning, friends!  I haven't had much time to blog this week.  I've been working on a local project that I'm very excited about!  Hopefully, I will have more pictures this weekend!

School is out, now.  For our family, that means lots of swimming and tennis.  If you have a tennis loving guy in your life, you are going to like these party tags. 

You can download the party tags HERE.   And after you download them, please go to Mirabelle Creations Facebook page and like it!