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Sendomatic is having a Design Contest! Create an image (700x400 pixels) that can be used in our design library. Image may be for the upcoming holiday season - New Years, Hanukkah, Christmas and or Kwanzaa. Prizes include fabulous product from 2Modern.com and Sendomatic.com gift certificates. It's easy to win!
To enter upload your artwork here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sendomatic
Enjoy!
Sendomatic & 2Modern
5 recipes to make use of the leftover turkey in your fridge that ensures you maintain your status as the host/hostess with the mostess this holiday.
With the big day just around the corner, some libations are in order. Here are some great cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages for all your guests. Not Just a Mommy!
Mocktails
Pilgrim's Punch - recipe courtesy of About.com
Create enough for any sized group by keeping the ratio at 3 parts each grape and cranberry juices and 4 parts water.
3 oz grape juice
3 oz cranberry juice
4 oz cold sparkling water
lemon twist for garnish
Pour the cranberry and grape juice into a highball glass with ice cubes. Add the sparkling water, stir well, garnish with the lemon twist. 
Apple-Ginger Sparkler - recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart
Our all-time favorite drink, I made it last year for a party, and now it's a regular on the party circuit.
1/4 cup ginger syrup (recipe below)
4 1/2 cups sparkling apple cider
6 cinnamon sticks
6 pieces crystallized ginger
Ginger syrup - Allowing the ginger to sit in the syrup, refrigerated, overnight really makes it strong! Then it's perfect. This recipe makes 2 cups.
2 cups sugar
1 six-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, and finely diced
2 cups water
Place sugar, ginger, and 2 cups water in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook about 1 hour, until ginger flavor is quite strong. Let cool; strain before using. Store in an airtight container, refrigerated, up to a week.
Place 2 tablespoons ginger syrup in each of six glasses. Fill glasses with ice cubes, pour in cider, and stir to combine. Garnish with cinnamon sticks and crystallized ginger and serve. 
Cocktails
Gobble-tini - recipe courtesy of CocktailTimes.com
1 1/2 oz Smirnoff cranberry twist vodka
1/4 oz Chambord
1/2 oz cranberry juice
1 tsp lemon juice
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with 3 cranberries on stick.
Cranberry Punch - recipe courtesy of CocktailTimes.com
2 cups red wine
1 cup vodka
1/4 cup spiced rum
1/2 cup Ocean Spray Ruby Tangerine Grapefruit Juice Drink, chilled
2 cups Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry Raspberry Cranberry Juice Drink, chilled
1/2 cup green or red grapes, sliced in half
1/4 cup fresh cranberries
1 lemon, lime, orange and apple, each sliced
1 cup sparkling water or club soda
Combine wine, vodka, spiced rum and juices in a punch bowl. Add fruit and chill. Add sparking water just before serving. Makes approximately 10 5-ounce servings.
Apple Cinnamon Toast - recipe courtesy of CocktailTimes.com
1 1/4 oz. Smirnoff Green Apple Twist vodka
1/2 oz. Goldschlager
Dash of Green Apple Jell-O
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass rimmed with cinnamon. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and apple slice.
Pumpkin Pie - Recipe courtesy of NYMag.com
2 parts Absolut Vanilla vodka
1 part pumpkin schnapps
Splash of cream (or substitute a splash of orange juice)
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with nutmeg and cherry.
Here's an easy and quick way to decorate your Thanksgiving Table!
This free download includes:
menu, placecards, food label tent cards, napking rings, wine glass charms, canle or vase wrapper & recipe card...
just download the pdf here, print out however many copies you need on colored cardstock and cut-out! Voila, the table is set.
Happy Thanksgiving from Paper & Cake!
Instead of letting Uncle Bill talk incessantly about football during Thanksgiving this holiday, ask everyone to participate in a little trivia discussion. You can gather more information and create more questions at wikipedia.org.
1. Who celebrated the first recorded Thanksgiving ceremony in 1565?
a. Spaniard settlers
b. British settlers
c. French settlers
d. Canadian settlers
2. Thanksgiving day was originally set aside as a day for______:
a. Plentiful food and drink
b. Celebrating the end of harvest
c. Prayer and fasting
d. Rest and relaxation
3. The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in what year?
a. 1590
b. 1650
c. 1777
d. 1910
4. Which United States President proclaimed a national Thanksgiving holiday to occur on the last Thursday of each November?
a. George Washington
b. John Adams
c. Franklin Roosevelt
d. Abraham Lincoln
5. Turkey has been the staple menu item since the inception of Thanksgiving?
a. True
b. False
Answers: 1.a., 2.c., 3.c., 4.d., 5.a.
It's a fun way to get everyone involved and to get Uncle Bill to talk about something other than the game. Have a great Thanksgiving!
Best,
Meghann
Stumped on ideas for a dazzling Thanksgiving tabletop? Here are a few easy and stunning ways to glorify your tabletop.
When I saw this absolutely fab table from cb2, I had to order the bark and orange comma plates, plus, they're on sale! I love the leaves and the runner on the table, so clean and mod, and easily duplicated.
Here are some other great tabletop ideas....what can be simpler than a candle surrounded by dry corn? Line up a set of appetizer plates intriguingly garnished with large sunflower heads. A white-pumpkin shell becomes the vase for a colorful arrangement of roses, daffodils, ranunculuses, and other flora in fall colors. Smaller pumpkins and votive candles in orange-glass holders fill out the centerpiece. This luscious table arrangement of wheat and other dried grasses can be made weeks ahead. A pine cone place card on a bed of leaves. Make a "Thankful Tree” - Insert a branch into a terracotta pot filled with stones or rice. Cut out leaf shapes and have guests write on them what they are thankful for, and hang onto the tree. Use magnolia leaves to create a series of glowing centerpieces with large white pillar candles in glass vases. Use your menu as decor. Set pears, mini pumpkins and other seasonal offerings as place settings, and group bread sticks in drinking glasses. Not Just A Mommy!
Even modernly designed homes need a little help feeling festive during the holiday season. Too many homes go undecorated every year due to lack of time, money and because you sometimes feel you don't have any place to decorate. Don't have a spot for a huge christmas tree? No problem! You don't have to go overboard to feel like you've gotten into the holiday spirit; there are a few hubs in the home that you can pay extra special attention to and that will pay off big in the end!
1) The mantel If you're are lucky enough to have a fireplace, then you know that during the colder months this important fixture because a major gathering point in your home. Spending just a little time and money on the mantel will immediately give your home a major holiday feel. Candles in holiday colors, greenery and a few items of the holiday (like gourds and pumpkins for Thanksgiving or ornaments for Christmas) are quick and easy ways to give your mantel that holiday feel.
2) The dining table More than likely this will be the site for lots of family and guest eating and enjoying, so it will pay off to create themed tablescapes to go along with each holiday. Don't feel like you've got to go crazy, simple details that relate to the holiday will suffice. Many online home decor magazines will have ideas for tablescapes this season; investigate until you find a method that works with your own home decorating style
3) The entryway The first place your guests see of your home, but also the last too! Greet your vistors with a burst of holiday cheer and surprize yourself each day with a bit of holiday cheer before you leave for work. Consider festive wreaths, both indoors and out, and also consider using this location for your collection of greeting cards you'll get this season.
Remember, these are only a few hubs in the home, but lots of other decorated spaces in your place can help feel like your home's in the holiday spirit. What are the places in the home that you love to decorate the most? What are your favorite sources for modern-inspired home holiday decor ideas? Let us know!
Adrienne breaux - blog.2modern.com
Paperless Invitations & Greeting is the trend this year - no cutting down trees, no gas for delivery. Holiday invitations & greetings from Sendomatic.com allow you to add a photo, track responses and even let your recipients send reminders to thier phones, email or send voice reminders to themselves. Sendomtic synchs with Outlook, iCal & Google Calenders. Go Green this holiday season!
So, whether you are going to have a kid's table at your Thanksgiving feast or if you just have a few kids at the party, it is essential to help keep them entertained. One idea is to use place mats made from paper that the kids can draw on to their heart's content.
Here is a place mat that you can Download and use if you would like. It features a silly turkey and some other fixin's that are traditional during a Thanksgiving dinner. Just grab some white card stock and print. The "place mat" measures 8.5 x 11. All you need now is some crayons and you are ready to go. This will hopefully keep the little ones focused long enough for you to enjoy your dinner and adult conversation.
Meghann
www.urbanitystudios.com
Spice up your Thanksgiving table this year with Organic Hemp Placemats from Amenity Home. Mix and match napkins to create timeless designs for your Holiday Table. $25 for Placemat, $42 for set of 4 organic napkins.
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