Category Archives: Louisiana + Southern Style

GIVEAWAY – A Rouler Gold Foil Print and a King Cake for Mardi Gras

So this giveaway is in it’s third year and always seems to be a popular one. It’s fun to see people in get so excited about the possibility of winning a King Cake, but honestly who can blame them! In Louisiana it’s a heated debate on who has the best King Cake. From Lafayette to New Orleans people will argue as to who has the best and EVERYONE has a favorite, even in Shreveport people battle it out.  Gambino’s is my favorite (they did my wedding cakes so I’m partial to them), Haydel’s, Randazzo’s are the top contenders around the state but there are many, many more! To celebrate my favorite holiday and this heated ongoing debate, I’m giving away a FREE Gambino’s King Cake shipped overnight, straight to your door and ready for your Mardi Gras party AND one of my new hand lettered gold foil Rouler Prints, in your choice of white or Mardi Gras Stripe to add some flair to your Mardi Gras party decor.
HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY – 3 Simple Ways!
1. Pin your favorite Rouler Print image on Pinterest – 2 Entries
2. Post your favorite Rouler Print image on Instagram – 2 Entries
3. Like the Magnolia Creative Co. Facebook page – 1 Entry
IMPORTANT: Be sure to use the hashtags #RoulerPrint and #MagnoliaCreativeCo in order to be counted for the Pinterest and Instagram entries
The giveaway will end Thursday, February 20 and your king cake will be delivered to you on Monday, March 3 in time for Mardi Gras. 
Good luck and laissez les bon temps rouler!

Louisiana Love: Celebrating the Sweet Potato


Hello! In an effort to expand my blog a little bit I’m creating a new series called Louisiana Love. Here in Louisiana we love a festival, a parade, a reason to throw beads, eat moon pies and celebrate with good food and plenty of drinks. With this series I will highlight a celebration or festival going on in our great state and provide a fun recipe, free printable or a DIY tutorial. I’ve already created the schedule for the year and let’s just say…it’s going to be fun!

So to start off I’m celebrating the Sweet Potato. The North Louisiana Sweet Potato Festival is this weekend in Oak Grove, Louisiana. This festival features a carnival, arts and crafts vendors, food and much more. We won’t be attending because my family will be celebrating Jackson’s 2nd birthday, more on that in another post. I created a fun little recipe to share with you.

Sweet Potato Pockets
Pockets and filling:
2 Packages of refrigerated crescent rolls
3 – 4 Sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 Bag of mini marshmallows (you won’t use the whole bag)

Icing:
2 Tbs. cream cheese (softened)
2 Cups of powdered sugar
2 Tbs. of milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. butter (softened)
2 Tbs. water
Pecans (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unroll your crescent rolls and lay flat on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Place a little bit of the mashed sweet potatoes in the thickest part of the triangle. Place 1 – 2 mini marshmallows on top of the filling.

*Note – some people are anti-marshmellow so you can omit this step. It just adds a touch of extra sweetness.

Place another crescent triangle on top of the base triangle and pinch the edges together, sealing the mixture inside. After all the pockets have been assembled place in the oven and bake for 12 to 17 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

While your pockets are baking prepare your icing. Combine all your icing ingredients together and vigorously whisk. Once mixed you can pour the icing in a squeeze bottle to make it easier to dispense or you can use a spoon to drizzle it over the pockets.

Once you remove your pockets from the oven take them off the cookie sheet and allow to cool slightly. Drizzle the glaze over the pocket. Sprinkle the tops with chopped pecans (again, optional). Serve warm.

Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas

My go to source for recipes, Southern Living, has a wonderful article called 16 Ways with Sweet Potatoes. Check it out for some very yummy treats for your dining table.
Enjoy!





Happy Lundi Gras & FREE Printables

I was honored to be asked to contribute a Mardi Gras shoot for the new Everyday Party Magazine. The recent launch was a huge success and one of my Mardi Gras pictures was selected for the cover! If you have not checked out this magazine you need too. It’s filled with some spectacular parties and TONS of DIYs to help you to create a fabulous party on an everyday budget. You and read the magazine here. 
For the shoot I created some new Mardi Gras printables. They contain invitations, party circles, signs, bead wraps and a banner, just in time for your Mardi Gras party tomorrow. Download them for FREE here and laissez les bon temps router!
Have a wonderful Lundi Gras today and Mardi Gras tomorrow! This is my favorite time of the year and it’s hard to believe it’s over. I hope y’all had as much fun as I did! 

Simple Mardi Gras Décor

It’s no secret that I LOVE Mardi Gras. Raised in the South we bleed purple & gold and then some green. King Cake for breakfast is totally acceptable and “Throw me something mista” is one of the first full sentences you will learn as a child. My house is on the Mardi Gras route in Shreveport and this was one of the main reasons we purchased it. Saturday is the first parade and the first of two weekends my house will be filled with people, which my husband and I love. After four years I’m learning and changing a lot of the ways I’m decorating and entertaining. I’ve simplified a lot of the decorations inside the house. The main reason is because of my little boy is climbing on everything and unfortunately can’t have anything nice in his chubby hands because it will shortly, be destroyed.

I wanted to share with you my simple Mardi Gras decor for this year. I say simple because in previous years everything was decorated, doorways, mantle, light fixtures, you name it. There were even arrangements in the bathroom! This year I decorated my mantle, the top of the china cabinet and a centerpiece on the dining room table. Now the outside party tent will be a different story, more to come on that later.

The mantle is a collection of ornaments and other Mardi Gras decor I’ve gathered over the year. I buy a lot of decorations after Christmas when they are half price – good cost cutting tip that the husband likes a lot! My favorite part of the dining room centerpiece, gold spray painted mason jars (inspired by Jenny of Craft that Party). Before this weekend I plan to add glitter to the bottoms in purple in green!

Some new additions this year is my beautiful ruffled burlap table runner from Sweet Tea and Linen. I love it and plan to use it year round! I also purchased several tassel garlands from The Flair Exchange. I’m saving two for my outside decorations on the day of our big party but I hung the purple, green and gold one on the mantle. Our last fun new party item is our personalized koozies from Cayenne Marketing. They match our invitation logo for this year and I know our guests will love them! The big party is next weekend. I can’t wait to share the details Audie Gras 2013 – Super Hero Bash with you soon! Stay tuned and as always…..Laissez les bon temps rouler!