PINCH ME!

My friends from Kernel Seasons emailed me on Friday to let me know they'd just seen one of my Popcorn Bar photos featured on the TODAY Show. 

They were doing a segment on "6 Wedding Ideas inspired by Pinterest" and all of a sudden…there it was…my photo! (the exact spot on the video where my photo is shown is 1:48 - just in case you don't want to watch the whole thing). *wink*

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I shared the news on my Instagram feed on Friday afternoon but if you happened to miss it I wanted to share it here too!

Here's my Popcorn Board on Pinterest - I'd love for you to follow along!

Follow Pen N' Paper Flowers's board Popcorn on Pinterest.

A HUGE "Thank You!" to Kernel Seasons for taking time to let me know they'd seen it - it totally started my weekend off right! If it wouldn't have been for that email, I would've never known it had ever been featured. Kind of crazy, right?

KEEPiNG iT REAL

Was I totally bummed that the original source (ME) was not mentioned in the segment?

Absolutely. It would've been nice to have been contacted by Karson & Butler to give me a heads-up about the feature but regardless…I'm seriously flattered one of my wedding ideas/photos was selected and featured! *wink*

POPCORN | Popcorn Cupcake Recipe, Kernel Season's Giveaway + TRYditions

I've got POPCORN on the brain this week - for several different reasons.

It all started with posting the Restyled Chalkboard Popcorn Bar last week. I received so many emails about how much you all loved the new edition to the original Rustic Popcorn Bar I styled - sweet, sweet emails from brides asking for tips on incorporating this idea into their wedding. I even gave out 3 FREE SETS of the new Chalkboard Style Popcorn Bar printables here on the blog!

All of this popcorn talk reminded me of a recipe I'd been wanting to make. I discovered the recipe in the September issue of Food Network Magazine. There was actually an entire section dedicated to "Fun Popcorn Treats" and the Golden Butter Popcorn Cupcakes recipe was what caught my eye and made me purchase the magazine. Not to mention the cute Kids Mini Mag inside. (there were some ideas in the mini mag I was going to use for Ella's 5th birthday party but I ended up not having time to execute the ideas - a recurring theme in my life).

Needless to say I was very intrigued by the thought of a Popcorn Cupcake! So just last week, after posting the long-awaited Restyled Popcorn Bar - I knew it was time to finally try out the cupcake recipe.

Golden Butter Popcorn Cupcakes

If you'd like to try out the recipe HERE'S THE LINK.
Also, here are some of my recommendations

TIPS:
1. The popcorn topping I used on these Golden Butter Popcorn Cupcakes was made using Kernel Season's Popping Corn and it popped perfectly!

2. I did not crush up the white chocolate covered popcorn to incorporate into the whipped topping as recommended. I didn't think it would look as pretty when I piped it onto the cupcake and honestly, I didn't see any chunks in the photo of the cupcake shown in the magazine. The chocolate covered popcorn was a little on the chewy side for my tastes. I would've liked it to be more crunchy. (Which is another reason I didn't add it to the whipped topping).

3. I think I would wait to add the popcorn topping just before serving. Like I mentioned above, the popcorn tasted a little chewy to me so I'm not sure if it was because of sitting in the whipped topping or if it's just from the white chocolate coating?

4. I personally would add a little fleur de sel to the popcorn topping - maybe just after you've added it to the cupcake just before serving?  I prefer the salty & sweet combination. In fact, I'm thinking instead of adding a white chocolate coated popcorn topping, I'd probably prefer to add some kettle corn instead. (See this recipe) That would satisfy both my salty & sweet craving along with giving it more crunch.

Now that you've got a fun Popcorn Cupcake recipe to try out…it's time for more POPCORN fun!

How about a FUN GIVEAWAY sponsored by the awesome people at Kernel Season's! After posting the Restyled Chalkboard Popcorn Bar last week, Kernel Season's reached out to me to extend a FUN offer to my PNPF blog readers! 

Would you like to be one of FOUR WINNERS 

to receive one of these adorable Party Popcorn Gift Sets?

Kernel Season's is generously offering up TWO of these...

 8 Seasoning Gift Baskets

and TWO of these…

Popcorn Party Packs

Here's a peek at what's inside the 8 Seasoning Gift Baskets
8 bottles of seasonings + 2 bags of microwave popcorn 
packaged in an ADORABLE OVERSIZED POPCORN BOX!

And here's a closer look at the Popcorn Party Packs
3 mini bottles of popcorn seasoning, 1 popcorn spritzer + 1 bag of popping corn
Those MINI seasoning bottles are so adorable!! LOVE them!!

These party packs will be perfect for the popcorn we'll be popping on New Year's Eve!
If you'd like to win one of these Popcorn Party Packs or Gift Baskets

use the Rafflecopter app below to enter.
Each task has a certain number of points associated with it.
Each point represents your name "in the hat". Do one task or do ALL of them. You choose!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And here's one more reason to LOVE Kernel Season's…

Buy any Gift Pack in December and they will send one to our troops overseas!

I just LOVE that!!! I'll be purchasing a couple myself knowing my purchases will allow a couple of packs to be sent to those who sacrifice so much for us!!

Good luck to everyone who enters the giveaway!

And thank you to Kernel Season's for offering up such a fun treat to PNPF blog readers and fans!

One final thought on popcorn…

Ema has requested we do our annual "TRYdition" of stringing cranberry and popcorn. I call it a "try"dition because there are some family traditions I've started over the years that we LOVE doing (or maybe it's just me that loves doing them?) but sometimes we just aren't able to squeeze in every year. So I guess since these traditions don't actually occur every. single. year.  they can't truly be considered a tradition in the authentic sense of the word. So I just made up the word "TRYdition" - anyone else have some tryditions of your own you'd like to share? (because I'm curious and also because I'm looking to eliminate some of the guilt I feel for not being able to follow through on every single brilliant, cute, fun tradition I've ever started - which would be absolutely impossible, by the way). *wink*

KEEPiNG iT REAL

I was really hesitant about what the turnout would be when making the Golden Butter Popcorn Cupcakes. I brought 8 of them to a church activity and let some of our church friends taste-test them.

They all gave them a thumbs up and agreed a little fleur de sel might be a good addition otherwise they had great flavor and the "cake" part was nice and moist.

RESTYLE | Chalkboard Popcorn Bar Collection

At long last I am finally posting the pictures of the re-styled Rustic Popcorn Bar I created for our Neighborhood Fall Family Picnic. (See the original version HERE).

I'm loving the versatility of this new "Fancy Chalkboard" Edition Popcorn Bar.
I've had so many people purchase the original Rustic Popcorn Bar Printables for weddings…
I decided to create this chalkboard version specifically for brides (and party planners) to be able to incorporate this fun idea into the wedding details, (or birthday party, anniversary, family reunion, fall festival), while still being able to tie in the wedding/event colors - or at least have it blend nicely. 

I did a few simple things to alter the look of the original cart...

BEHIND THE SCENES | More good stuff

It's grind time here at my house.
Tomorrow is the big day for our Neighborhood Fall Family Picnic and
I've been working on final preparations to make sure it all comes together nicely.
Which also means there's been no extra time for blogging this week - as you could tell! *wink*

Thought I'd send you off into the weekend with more behind-the-scenes photos into the random bits and pieces of my week:

Adorable Halloween goodies from The TomKat Studio

In love with these items and can't wait to share what I'm doing with all of this. 

Find these items and so much more at The TomKat Studio Shop.

New fave Ditto Dots washi tape from Doodlebug Design, Inc.

Totally perfect colors for Ella's Rainbow Unicorn party coming up in November.

 Halloween Decor for The Pastry Pedestal

The scrapbooking aisle of your local craft store is such a good friend to 

The Pastry Pedestal and the NEW Platforms!! Not to mention so are store-bought pastries! *wink* 

I'll share more deets next week.

New labeling for the Popcorn Bar on Saturday

Loving the new updated "Chalkboard" edition of the Rustic Popcorn Bar Collection.

Kernel Season's Popcorn Spritzer Makeover

It's amazing what a little brown paper bag can do. 

I'll be sharing more details of what else I used brown paper bags to create for the Fall Family Picnic.

New PNPF Branding and Business Cards

You've had to notice the new look of the blog?!

These are my matching business cards I received a few weeks ago. 

I always order the mini business cards from moo.com - They are my fave!

There's more...
but there's no more time! *wink*
Story of my life right now.

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend!
Believe it or not, even though there's still so much more to do for the Fall Family Picnic...
I'm not stressing about it. I've been pretty calm - up to this point.
I think it's just wisdom as I get older - knowing the world isn't going to end if every little detail I dreamed of doesn't play out. In fact - simple is better.

Now that doesn't mean skipping the small details altogether...
it just means picking and choosing the small details that matter most! Right?

KEEPiNG iT REAL
I'm really looking forward to the pie-eating contest on Saturday - it's going to be the highlight of my weekend!
J and some of the other menfolk from the neighborhood are going to be participating
so I can't wait to see how it all plays out!

BEHIND THE SCENES | Fall Family Picnic and Fun Fall Craft

I wish I could give you all a peek into my brain sometimes although that would actually be pretty scary considering how scattered my brain is a lot of the time.

Come to think of it...if I just took a photo of my messy office that would be like getting a glimpse into my brain because the two look a lot alike. (organized chaos). *wink*

I have some fun things coming which means I'm doing prep work behind the scenes to make sure the "fun" actually happens.

Neighborhood Fall Family Picnic

I somehow got put in charge of organizing this for our neighborhood.
All along I have been thinking I'm keeping things pretty simple...
BUT NOW with only one weekend away...all of a sudden things are becoming frightfully overwhelming. Eeeps!!

I'm re-creating the Rustic Popcorn Bar for the Family Picnic and I'm SO HAPPY to say I'm stocked up on things I need to make that happen thanks to this box that arrived last week...  

Kernel Seasons Popcorn Seasonings, Movie Theatre Popcorn Butter, 

Popcorn Kernels and Popcorn Spritzer

Details of this fun craft coming tomorrow...

  A little something I created for a special project at the end of the week.

More details to come - and if you let me know which one art print you prefer...

 I just MIGHT be offering it up as a free printable/download. *wink*

And since we are on the topic of "Rainbows" with the Art Print I just shared...

I'm also working on Ella's 5th birthday party coming up in November.

(FREAKING out that she is turning 5!! Nooooo!!!) *sniffle*

I let her pick the theme about a month and 1/2 ago and guess what she's chosen?

A "Rainbow Unicorn" party!!

(Not surprising since she's obsessed with Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle  

from My Little Pony and she's constantly drawing and painting rainbows everywhere). 

I'm actually excited about it and can't wait to dive into the party preps.

Thank goodness I had already started working on the invitation last month - 

otherwise I'd be FREAKING out right now with all of the other fun stuff I've got going on!

I'll be back soon...

just wanted to give you a quick update on what's going on around here! *wink*

KEEPiNG iT REAL

Talk about coincidence...

The folks at Kernel Seasons reached out me to tell me they still receive tons of customers from the Rustic Popcorn Bar I did featuring their products. They wanted to thank me and asked if they could send a box of new flavors and seasons. I absolutely accepted since I was already planning the Family Picnic! Awesome timing!! Thanks Kernel Seasons!! You Rock!!