Tag Archives: Stacey Millett Photography

Sea of Love

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I have a small and beloved collection of antique glass bottles. The bottles were my Grandpa’s and when he passed on I was lucky enough to be able to keep a few of them.The bottles traveled with me to a total of 12 homes (man, I have been around), they are precious treasures that have inspired me tremendously in those 12 different homes. This time the bottles sparked  a wedding inspired photo shoot at the beach. The soft hues of my bottle collection served as my color palate and even inspired a few shots (love message in a bottle).

Also, I took a lot of inspiration from walks on the beach collecting driftwood. The oyster candles and garland were made with the oysters shells leftover from my friend John’s party (thanks John). I will share with you later on this week how I created the oyster and driftwood garland, oyster candles and the sea urchin candle holders.The only element that did not work well for the shoot was the super windy evening. Which meant no lit candles and a cold crew, but Skylar, my lovely model was such a happy trooper.

I hope this serves as inspiration for a wedding or party to you or just something pretty on a Monday.

All items created by The Sunday Sparkle.

Thank you: Richard Shay, Skylar Leiss, and The McKinney Family for all those oyster shells.

Cupcake and Cocktail | Coconut Rum

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A few years ago, I was so fortunate to spend a week and a few days on an island off mainland Belize called Caye Caulker, where I was shooting a wedding and the wedding events. The beauty of the island life is going slow and utilizing what is on the island for consumption, if the island has no limes, well there are no limes that day. There were many days just living the island life; swimming, fishing, long leisurely walks, sailing and gathering coconuts and hacking into them with a machete.

Now, I had tried coconut milk before, but there is nothing like scouring up a tree, hacking into the coconut with a machete and sipping the sweet nectar (straw not included). This article made me long for the island life and have a coconut drink and coconut cupcake, but too bad there was no tree to climb or even a store in my 20-mile radius that carried coconuts.

 

Coconut Rum Cupcakes

Need:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
  • 1/2 vanilla bean
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 cup coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/4 cup light rum

How:

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, coconut extract, sugar, and eggs, until fluffy. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients to the creamed ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Finish with adding the light rum and fold in shredded coconut. Pour into cupcake tins and bake for 20-25 mins at 350. Let cool, then frost with coconut rum frosting.

Rum Frosting

Need:

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 – 2 lbs powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup light rum
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla

How:

Cream butter until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, alternating with rum and vanilla, until desired consistency is reached.

D.I.Y | Party : Mini Rosemary Wreaths and Recipe

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A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you an idea for a potted herb plant as a special “name card” for your dinner guests, as well as serving as a gift to take home. Today, I share with you a purpose for using stems of your rosemary plant to create miniature wreaths and a shrimp skewers. I have a few large rosemary plants in my backyard that a household of two cannot keep up with and decided to use them for two creative ways. Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs, the aroma has a bold pine scent that pairs well with a lot of hearty dishes or as an accent to your floral arrangement.

These pint-sized rosemary wreaths are charming and a nice accent for dinning alfresco. I made four in just a few minutes and the best part is the scent that the rosemary oil leaves your fingers. Simple joys.

Rosemary Wreaths:

To create the wreaths you will need to first forage your rosemary, wash and pat dry. Use a 24 gauge floral wire in green, the green will blend with the color of the rosemary. Use your fist and wrap around the wire to create a circle, twist the two ends together to create a circle. Then start forming rosemary to your circle shape, if the rosemary is still slightly wet, it will bend a lot better, use small pieces of wire to secure rosemary to wreath. A small wreath will take about 3-4 stems of rosemary. Finish your wreath with a name tag, if you have handwriting like me, just use letter stamps to create an elegant look.

You can also use lavender, mint, thyme sage and other herbs. When the party is over I  would hang the wreath on a bottle neck and allow the herbs dry out and use them on roasted red potatoes.

Rosemary sprigs are pulling double duty on this recipe, acting as a flavor agent and as a skewer, the results are pretty tasty and the presentation is beautiful.

Rosemary Shrimp Skewers:

Gather rosemary sprigs, a 5 inch stem can hold about 3 shrimp. Wash, pat dry rosemary, and by running your fingers down the opposite direction of the natural direction of the rosemary you can easily remove the rosemary from the stem. Leave about an inch at the top. Set aside rosemary skewers.

Marinate your shrimp. I prefer a little olive oil, sea salt, red pepper, lemon zest, lots of fresh minced garlic, and fresh chopped parsley.

Skewer your shrimp, place on a medium-hot grill and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Serve with grilled veggies, quinoa salad and a Rosé or Shiraz. Delish!

D.I.Y | Party : Cocktail Stirrers #1

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It might be the bohemian spirited side of my personality. Just like Shrek said “Ogres are like onions” meaning we all have lots of layers, but I have a girlie romantic layer of me that adores flowers in my hair, being barefoot, loose braids, and feathers!

Last weekend, I was cleaning up from a girlie champagne craft party and had leftover materials and BAM! I knew I wanted to create offbeat cocktail stirrers for my bar!

The feather stirrers now just need exotic cocktails in jewel toned glasses, then roses, candles, metallic accents, a Moroccan feast, records and friends.

Feather Cocktail Stirrers

Need:

  • Bamboo stirrers or wood dowels
  • Feathers
  • Hot glue gun
  • Metallic string

How:

Glue each feather one at a time to the end of your stick. Finish off by wrapping the base of the feather with metallic wire and then securing your wire with glue at the beginning and end of your twists.

 

 

Wine Wednesday | Photography: A Visual Taste

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We are breaking up our regular feature and sharing with you pretty pictures from wine adventures at vineyards and wineries in various regions of California, Washington and Italy. Traveling and wine go hand in hand.

Back next Wednesday, with a great wine review. Cheers!