Birthday Bruschetta

Over the weekend, I had a few people over to eat and celebrate turning... older.  John and I made a ton of bruschetta and crostini, and they were all so good that I wanted to share them with you :)

From top to bottom:

• Ricotta with mandolin sliced radishes
• Greek bruschetta: combine one can large olives (drained and sliced) with one can artichoke hearts (drained and sliced) with one chopped tomato and one half cucumber (peeled and sliced).  Add a drizzle of olive oil, and top with feta.
• Spread goat cheese on toasted French baguettes.  Top with pistachios.
• Triscuits + salmon + cream cheese = delicious!
• Creme brulee brie: These were a delicious treat!  Recipe at Cheese Talk 

Not pictured: I have to give a shout out to How Sweet Eats for the amazing whipped feta with tomatoes and basil.  It was delicious!

DIY Cupcake Bookmark

I think I have a new favorite thing to make: clay bookmarks.  I really liked how my bumble bee turned out last month, so I decided to try and make a cute little cupcake this month.

To make your own, you will need:

• Sculpey or other polymer clay in purple, pink, white, and brown
• Purple paperclip
• Long pointed metal tool or toothpick
• Small paring knife

First, and most importantly, massage your clay until it is nice and soft, then form it into a ball.  This helps make it more pliable, but also prevents it from cracking in the oven!

Once the clay is soft, take your purple ball of clay and mush it down with your finger to make it cylindrical.  Roll the cylinder on one side to shape it into your cupcake wrapper.  Cut off the narrow end to ensure it is flat.

Use your pointed tool to create indentations up the side of the cupcake wrapper, giving it the accordion pleat texture.

It looks like a purple Reese's peanut butter cup!

Next, take a pinch of your brown and a pinch of the white and mix them together. The goal is to create a nice, tan color.  You can probably buy this shade from a package, but it's a color I just don't use enough to buy a whole brick of it.

Once you've made your tan, mush it into a dome shape and press this firmly but gently on top of the cupcake wrapper to make your cupcake top.

Then, flatten your pink ball of clay into a thick disk.  Lay this on top of the cupcake to create your frosting.

Use your pointed tool to press swirls into the frosting, aiming for a peak at the top.

Finally, go back to your white clay and roll tiny little balls to create sprinkles for your cupcake.

Press your paperclip into the base of the cupcake.  Then, remove the paperclip and bake the cupcake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.  Use super glue to secure the paperclip in place.

I decided on this cupcake because my birthday is coming up :) 

Birthday Giveaway!

For the past several years, I have hosted a giveaway for my birthday here on the blog.  Well, it's that time of year again!!  My birthday is in a little less than a week, and I am so excited to share the prize this year: Kate Spade's Like a Book insulated tumbler!

I am over the moon for this print.  I have an insulated thermos from Kate Spade that says "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" which I love.  So, when I saw this, I knew I had to spread the love!

Now, I also ordered myself an early birthday gift from Kate Spade- the Go All Out bangle.  They shipped the two together, and I couldn't keep myself from tearing into the packaging.  So, while you won't get the super cute Kate Spade shipping treatment, I promise to send this off to the winner with much love and adornment :)

To enter, all you need to do is like Holly Goes Lightly on Facebook, and leave a comment on this post saying that you did!

Good luck to all- the contest ends on April 2nd!

This contest is now closed

60th Birthday Gift

We celebrated my dad's 60th birthday this weekend, and it was a great time!  I wanted to share with you all the gift I put together for him.  It's such a fun way to celebrate a milestone birthday or anniversary!

I did some research online and found events that happened in the year he was born.  Then, I came up with gifts that coordinated with the events.  I tied everything together by using package tags leftover from my Christmas gift tag craft.  The big gift was a Roku, so I listed the movies that were released that year.  I also got him a book published in 1954.

Some of the more creative gifts included artisan soap to go with the first year of the soap opera, "Secret Storm," and a jellyfish paperweight because 1954 was the first year Jacques Cousteau appeared on television (it was for an episode of "Omnibus").

It was a lot of fun putting this gift together, and it was really interesting to learn about the things- both trivial and major- that were happening that year.

Happy birthday, Dad! :)

Beg, Borrow, Steal: Birthday Decor

I had my birthday party last Saturday, and it was great.  Lots of cupcakes and great company.  I also had a great chance to try my hand at some tissue paper pom poms.  I've been wanting to make these for a while, so I popped over to DIY Creative Ideas, where they have compiled the top five DIY tutorials for tissue paper pom poms.  I think the results were pretty cute!

I arranged mine around the table where I had 6 cake stands filled up with cupcakes.  Yum!

Ps, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win one of two DIY kits!

Life Lately

Oh man, has it been an eventful month!  I started student teaching, wrecked my old car, got a new car, and turned 30.  Uffdah.

1) My brand new, 2014 Hyundai Elantra.
2) and 3) My poor, little Honda Civic...

1) Pretty tulips for spring
2) A birthday cupcake- one candle for each decade!
3) Birthday balloon for my granny, who turned 89!

So, my little Civic got wrecked when another driver ran a red light.  Everyone was fine, but I was pretty sad about the Honda, and I wasn't quite ready to get a new car.  But, I have to say that I LOVE my Hyundai Elantra!  I have Bluetooth, heated seats, a back-up camera, and lots of other bells and whistles!

My birthday was pretty nice, too.  I shared a celebration with my granny's 89th birthday the weekend before, and went out to dinner with John on the actual date.  I hope you all had great months!

Birthday Giveaway!

I'm 30 today. 30!  What?

Since it's my birthday, I wanted to have a giveaway.  And, since I've reached 100 followers on Facebook, I decided to double up!  I'm giving away two DIY kits for a few of the DIYs I've featured on the blog.

The first kit is so you can make your own spiked ring and includes:

• Gold polymer clay (so you can skip the spray painting step!)
• Ring blanks
• Super glue

The second kit relates to one of my top viewed pages of all time: DIY bird ornaments.  This kit includes:

• White Sculpey clay
• Rubber alphabet stamps
• Red pearl finish Martha Stewart paint
• Eye hooks (not pictured)
• Red ribbon

Since I'm hosting this giveaway all on my own, I'll have to limit entries to U.S. residents only.  (I'm sorry to my international readers- some day when my blog is huge or I'm extremely wealthy, I'll have a giveaway just for you!)

To enter, you can....

1. Follow this blog on Facebook
2. Follow @goeslightly on Instagram
3. Follow me with Google Friend Connect OR blog lovin'

Leave a separate comment for each of these entry options- you can have up to 3 entries!

The entries will close on April 20th, and I'll announce the winner April 22nd.  So, you've got almost a month to enter.  The first name generated by random.org will get to choose their kit first.  The second name generated will get the remaining kit.

Good luck! :)

This giveaway is now closed!

March Book Club

It's my birthday month, guys!  I'm turning thirty... Wow.  And since I'm celebrating my birthday this month, I thought reading about women who turned some heads would be a good way to go :)

So, I've chosen Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women, by Elizabeth Kerri Mahon.  It features women including Cleopatra, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Gertrude Bell; and promises to be a fun read!

What are you reading this month?

60th Birthday

Hello, everyone!  Happy Monday!  I want to first apologize to all my blog-world friends for being a little absent on your blogs lately.  Life has been crazy busy for me!  I'm beginning a week long teaching experience this week on a course that I designed with a classmate, so I've been up to my ears working on that.  Plus, I helped to plan and put together my mom's 60th birthday party, which was on Saturday.  Happy birthday, Mom! 

Isn't this a pretty centerpiece?!

We got her a red velvet candle and a bottle of her favorite wine, signed by the label artist with a special birthday message, too!

But the biggest gift was a book I made on Shutterfly.  The book was filled with pictures, but in every page, there was also a letter or card from a friend or family member.  It was so much fun to watch her turn the pages and read the birthday wishes!

 And, of course, there was a birthday cheers! :)

So, now you all know what's been keeping me busy- what did you do this weekend?