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Recipe Card: Chive Blossom Butter

Growers of herbs know... chives are plentiful! But what is there to do with all of that bounty, especially those gorgeous chive blossoms? Whip 'em up into some butter! Chive blossom butter is great on baked potatoes, melted on top of steaks, used as a gourmet treat to your favorite breads, and so much more. Here's a simple recipe that I'm sure you'll love!

Pick blossoms at their optimal state: when they are bright, fresh, and have not seeded. Wash and dry your blossoms in cool water.

What you'll need:

Butter

Chive Blossoms

Food Processor (a blender should work well, too)

Jars/container to store

Simply pop those whole blossoms into your food processor and whip 'em up until nicely chopped. This part smells SO good! 

Cut up your stick(s) of softened butter so they whip evenly and easily with your blossoms. Whip until blended well. Using a soft spatula put your butter into containers of your choice. They can be stored in your freezer for up to a year until ready to use.

Other great blended butter ideas:

Garlic Scape Butter

Garlic Scape & Italian Herb Butter

Chive Blossom and Garlic Scape Butter

Lemon Basil Butter

...have fun experimenting! Share your recipes and ideas here!

Final Clearance Sale Jewelry

In an effort to clear out and revamp my etsy shop I am having a final clearance sale on all of my handmade jewelry! The available pieces are all in this album on my facebook page. Simple hop on over and there's something that strikes your fancy just comment/message me for buying info! All orders have a flat rate of $5 shipping within the USA. Grab some goodies now before they're gone!

What's happening in my etsy shop?

Glad you asked! I'm revamping my shop to include wedding and party favors and decor! More on that coming soon!

Mint Matchbook Wedding Party Favors

Wedding favors can be something that sends your mind whipping in circles. It can be difficult to find that one something that not only thanks your guests but also celebrates your event. Our mint matchbook favors are 100% customizable and a great way to give your guests a little treat and a special memento of your big day. Have a selection of them at each table or at each place setting as an easy way to distribute your favors.

I recommend ordering at least two mintbooks per guest so everyone gets to eat one and keep one.

You can order either the bunting design in the color selection shown above or you can fully customize your favors like below.

In a hurry? Have too much to do already? Just not a crafty bride or groom? Let me do the work for you with a fully assembled order! Just open the box and start giving them away!

Have a limited budget? You're a crafty craftster? Order a DIY listing like the ones below. You get the same customizable designs but will receive a printable PDF to assemble yourself and stuff with your favorite treats.

View an array of custom designs before ordering!

Also great for business cards, like the one shown above! With full customization your choices are endless!

Visit my shop today for more galore:

You've Got Mail...

Picture this... I was working at a company last year bringing in over $25,000 in revenue per month and for Christmas my boss gave me a tiny silver charm (no chain, even) that was a computer, circa 1993, that said "You've got mail"on the screen. I couldn't find an exact replica of the charm online and it was too strange in the moment that I didn't even take a photo of it. A strangely small token of appreciation for five years of hard work but... that's another reason why I'm not at that job anymore.

Anyway... so I had dinner with my friend Jennifer Lisa who is a jeweler and I showed her the charm. It was too comical. She offered to make it into something fabulous and I was all for the reconstruction project. Luckily, the charm was actually silver (kind of a shocker!) and she was able to transform it into a sweet little bee pendant. She even included a chain! 

Jen is a great friend... she later made the wedding bands for my wedding. I've blogged about her a few times but you know... you can never have enough of a good thing! Visit her website here:

http://quenchmetalworks.com

Colors, leaves, weddings, and rings

Looking back at our wedding photographs I can hardly even believe that it was real. Time really does fly by the day of your wedding. We had so much fun (and many tears and frustration) planning the wedding and it's difficult to imagine that it's already passed. But, of course there is a huge beautiful future in front of us!

My sweet husband and me in our getups. Bryan got this gorgeous Robert Graham embroidered shirt on eBay! The hat is from a fabulous hat shop called Darling Delisle in Damariscotta, Maine.

Our custom made gold wedding bands were made by our good friend Jennifer Lisa of Quench Metalworks. Bryan's ring had a stamped bee on the inside, which is his nickname for me. *cute!*

We are in love!

Photographs are courtesy of our amazing friend and photograher Laurie O'Neil.

Wedding Decor

It's been three months since our wedding and I'm just now resurfacing enough to start posting some images of the big day! Having a backyard wedding was absolutely a dream!!!

Photographs are courtesy of our amazing friend and photograher Laurie O'Neil.

Our wedding cake was made by our friend Terri Lynn and it was AMAZING and delicious and more than we could have ever dreamed of. It's her special Swan Island Pound Cake... ooooh!

Cake Toppers: Han Solo and Princess Leia Pez People by artist Kelly Weingart of Spindleworks Studios in Brunswick, Maine.

I had the insane idea to made pickles and wine jelly for the guests. Making 100+ cans of goods was pretty tiresome for the bride-to-be to do at the end of a long summer of wedding planning, gardening, and more... but I'm so happy with our guests' reactions to the homemade favors. Well worth it. I would highly suggest having some good buddies on hand to help!

Thank the heavens for an amazing mother-in-law-to-be and bridesmaids and friends who helped sew about 100 yards of bunting! It was exactly what I was hoping the tent to look like and we were able to lighten our load of fabrics that my sister and I were hoarding for the last 15 years or so!

I turned an old suitcase into our card collection box. This was a fun and easy way to add some fun to the decor and to tie into our registry wish for a dream honeymoon fund!