Joyful Weddings and Events » holidays

Happy Valentines Day!

courtney.toney — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:33:35 +0000

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day! Though it is an over-commercialized holiday, I think it is always good to spread some love.

If you are looking for some last minute Valentines ideas, here are some fun finds from around the blog world:

Twig and Thistle always has the most adorable pdfs to download and print yourself. Cute goody bags:

Matchbox candy boxes from Brides.com, found on Inchmark: (There are lots of other fun ideas on Brides.com as well!)

My sister in law made some cute last minute Valentines, which you can see over at The Pleated Poppy:

Having a Valentines Day party? These cute water bottle templates from Blonde Designs would be such a sweet touch.

Also found on Blonde Designs Blog:

I am in love with these sweet & simple Valentines, found on Design*Sponge:

Another super cute idea from Blonde Designs:

Some sweet treat inspiration by Amy Atlas (via Hostess with the Mostess and a million other blogs):

Cute & Simple for kids, via the Marta Crafts Department blog:

The best Valentines Day flowers

courtney.toney — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:36:45 +0000

Did you realize that Valentines Day is next weekend? If you are located in Southern California and are looking for a special gift to give someone- we’ve got you covered. My friend Carissa from JL Designs has launched her Valentines Day line and she hit it out of the park! Look at how beautiful these options are:

My personal favorite, The Romantic:

She has some more masculine styles as well, which I love.

The beautiful photos were taken by The Modern Type.

All of her designs are available for local delivery and pick up next week. To see the full line and for information on ordering, please see Carissa’s blog.

Joyful Joyful #18: Merry Christmas!

courtney.toney — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:35:15 +0000

I hope that you all had an amazing Christmas weekend!

Photo by Rachel Denbow (via Ohdeedoh)

Joyful Joyful #17: Our Christmas Decor

courtney.toney — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:52:23 +0000

A few snippets of Christmas at the Toneys:

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Joyful Joyful #16: Greetings

courtney.toney — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:24:42 +0000

This year, I got more ambitious than ever (read=crazy) and decided to hand make two different sets of Christmas cards. One set for my clients and one set for friends and family. They are finally all out and in the mail, so I am excited to show you what I came up with.

My husband and I record a 4 song Christmas album every year to send out as a little gift to family and friends. It is a fun collaboration- he works on the music and CD design and I come up with the card design. This year, I wanted to combine the CD case and card and here is the final product:

We found a CD envelope template online and chose some digital scrapbooking graphics and my husband worked his magic in photoshop (I am helpless when it comes to graphic design). We popped in one of our favorite photos from the youngrens and voila! Well… not really. Each had to be cut out by hand, folded and glued together. Time consuming, but I love the result.

**Good news! If you are interested in hearing this year’s CD, you can download it for free here: www.davidtoneymusic.com**

For my clients, I wanted to do something simple but pretty. My intern and I designed the card and then I cut out sparkly Joyful letters. My original plan was the card on the left- to create a mini banner. After making one, I decided that would not be very time efficient, so I ran the letters through my xyron instead and just stuck them on.

Joyful Joyful #15: Gift Tags

courtney.toney — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:18:05 +0000

Found a toy vacuum. phew.

A few more gifts and I am all set to start wrapping. To help you with your last minute wrapping, I’ve compiled some great free gift tags downloads from around the web.

Starting off, these cute orange and blue reindeer tags by Kristina on Creature Comforts:

Creature Comfort also posted these today- you have a choice of three colors:

Cute reindeer tags from Eat Drink Chic (via Twig and Thistle):

Another fun Creature Comforts find, by Sweet Jessie:

Mae Mae Paperie, who design the darling paper goods for the gift wrap we shared yesterday that was featured on Style Me Pretty, is offering a page of super cute, clean and simple tags. You can download it here. A couple of the selections:

For your handmade gifts, Sew Mama Sew has a free download for these tags:

And looking for a last minute photo holiday card? The lovely ladies at Wedding Chicks have this free template, which they featured with one of our favorite 2009 couples, Lauren & Scott:

Speaking of Lauren and Scott (not Christmas related, but hey), Lauren and her gorgeous veil were just posted on the Blush blog)

Happy wrapping and gift tag writing! Coming up next, my Christmas cards and holiday decor

Joyful Joyful #14: More Gift Wrap Ideas

courtney.toney — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:17:46 +0000

I just realized that I completely forgot to include photos from a great gift wrap article that Country Living Magazine put together. You can see all of the photos on their website.

And a few favorites from Martha Stewart:

Joyful Joyful #13: Wrap, Wrap, Wrap

courtney.toney — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:55:59 +0000

Did you know that toy vacuums are a hot Christmas gift? I do now that I have been looking all over town for one.

Today I am finishing up my shopping and that means I can get to the fun part: wrapping my gifts. I love it! Here is how I wrapped my gifts last year (please excuse the terrible photos):

If you have not seen the jaw drapping beautiful wrapping ideas by Grey Likes Weddings, featured on Style Me Pretty, you must check it out. Here is a little sample:

It’s just all so lovely. You can see all three posts here, here and here. Photos by Jenny Liu.

I am also loving these felt bows from Twig and Thistle, made using How About Orange’s paper bow tutorial:

I’ll be back later with some free printable gift tag resources. Happy shopping and wrapping!

Joyful Joyful #12: Vanilla Peppermint Cupcakes

courtney.toney — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:46:43 +0000

Need a fun dessert to make for a holiday party this weekend? Those who follow me on twitter or facebook may remember the Vanilla Peppermint Cupcakes that I made earlier in the week. They were so absolutely delicious that I decided to share the recipe with you!

The recipe was created by Candace Nelson, who owns the super popular Sprinkles Cupcakes. I found it on Oprah’s website. It is fairly easy and was a definite crowd-pleaser. I am going to make them again this weekend but, this time, I am going to use a bit less butter in the frosting.

Vanilla-Peppermint Cupcakes

Recipe created by Candace Nelson, owner of Sprinkles Cupcakes

Vanilla-Peppermint Cupcake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 cup whole milk , room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. peppermint extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter , room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg whites , room temperature

Vanilla-Peppermint Frosting:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter , firm but not cold
1/8 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar , sifted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
1/2 tsp. milk

To make cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together milk and extracts; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

To make frosting: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Reduce the speed to low, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until incorporated. Add the extracts and milk and beat until smooth and creamy. Do not overmix or the frosting will incorporate too much air; it should be creamy and dense, like ice cream. Add additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, if frosting does not have a spreadable consistency.

To frost: Scoop a generous amount of frosting on top of a cooled cupcake. Hold the cupcake in one hand and with the other hand use a small offset spatula to smooth the frosting over the entire top of the cupcake. To achieve the Sprinkles look, use the length of the spatula to create large swirls around the circumference of the cupcake. Or for a more homespun and rustic quality, use the tip of the spatula to create small ridges and waves in the frosting.

Be careful to handle the cupcake with care and not grip it too tightly, which can crush the delicate cake. In general, the less the cupcake is handled, the better. An experienced Sprinkles froster can frost a cupcake with only a few turns of the spatula!

Top with crushed candy canes!

Happy baking!

**I got my cute cupcake liners and tinsel tree toppers from Layer Cake Shop.

Joyful Joyful #11: Put a Ribbon on the Wreath (put it on the wreath, put it on the wreath)

courtney.toney — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:50:17 +0000

Okay, this is funny: I just wrote: “Anyone know what song the title is from? First one to comment and tell me gets a high 5″ and then I shortly thereafter realized that I said pretty much the EXACT same thing on last year’s post about wreaths. Oh well, it’s a good song

One of my goals this Christmas season was to make a new wreath. Along with making an advent calendar (never happened). However, friends, my wreath was made last week and I LOVE it!!! Here it is in its black and white beauty:

I cannot take creative credit for it, because I basically copied Rachel Denbow’s that I saw last year on her blog (Smile & Wave). I added in a little of my own flair, but it is 99% her design. It looks super cute in my entry way, don’t you think? Super easy to make too (not as fast as I thought it would be though).

Enough about me and my wreath, here are some other wreaths that I am loving this year:

Country Living

Domestifluff (She’s got a DIY tutorial up if you want to make it)

Country Living

Smile & Wave

Country Living

Etsy seller whiteserenade

Country Living

Terrain on Design*Sponge

Living with Lindsay (also has a tutorial up) found via Twig and Thistle

Twig and Thistle

P.S. I Made This (also in ReadyMade Magazine)

Craftapalooza (has a tutorial)

Etsy Seller Haru