Girls Night Wine Tasting

One of my book clubs has turned into more of a Girls Night Club.  And each host can choose if they want to pick a book, play a game, do a craft, etc.  We were getting a little stale on the books and the group needed a boost.  Theresa was due to host next and picked a wine tasting theme.  Each of us brought a bottle of wine which she put into paper bags labeled with a number.

Then we started tasting and rating our wines using this handy score card that she created. 

She provided an awesome spread of tasty treats to go along with the wine.

This strawberry and basil salad was a big hit.  The recipe is from Southern Living.

Theresa also served veggies and dip (carrots, celery and asparagus) in these glasses.

Dessert was this awesome peach and blueberry cobbler served in cute mason jars.  So good!

It was fun night and something different!  Wine number 2 won...a great pinot grigio.  Currently #2 at Total Wine.  We had so much fun I didn't write it down!  But the concept was great.

Supper Club - Paintin' and Drinkin' Party

After I had so much fun at Wine and Design here in Charlotte aka Sips and Strokes or Paintin' and Drinkin' as I like to call it, the girls in my supper club wanted to do it too.  So we thought it would be fun to do it one night instead of our traditional gathering.  But at $35 or $45 a person and not having the ability to really eat a good dinner, we decided to create our own by me teaching the painting I learned.

So I picked my menu (make your own tacos) and got the house ready.  I served chips and salsa and veggies and hummus for appetizers.  We started out with wine and margaritas inside and then moved outside to paint.

I purchased 12x12 canvases at Michael's and inexpensive craft acrylic paint.  We made our "palettes" on paper plates from the dollar store and got to painting!

Everyone had a really good time!  And they all turned out awesome!

After painting we had dinner by candlelight!  It cooled off and there was a nice breeze.  It was just lovely!

Here we are showing off our art! 

Sweet Rudy not only got Reed down for the evening while I got ready for the party but he also cleaned up when he got home.  I have the best husband!

Great evening!  Can't wait to see the girls again!

Review of Paint By Design aka a Paintin' and Drinkin' Evening

You know those places you go where a group of people all paint the same painting and you drink wine and chit chat?  When my friend Theresa mentioned going I thought it sounded fun but I will admit, didn't think we would create real art.  How could you when everything is the same?  But I loved that I went last night and was proven wrong.

We had a great time and everyone's painting turned out a little different.  Some were pretty darn good actually and really didn't look a thing like the original.

Here are a few photos of our painting progress and finished paintings.  I loved that Rudy gave me a "oh cool!" when I got home.  Isn't it funny that a compliment from your Valentine never gets old?

Everyone started with a blank canvas on an easel with several colors of acryllic paint, 3 brushes and water.  Our teacher went through our supplies and the basic rules - have fun, don't put your brush in your wine and try not to splatter paint on your neighbor.  The teacher was very sarcastic and quite funny...kind of Bridesmaids Movie kind of humor. 

Then we started by painting our yellow part...

And then we modulated it with orange, brown and white...

We flipped our canvas upside down and did the same with our blue...

Here is Ruthie's painting!

 
A close up of her flowers...I love the red one - reminds me of a happy tulip!  Her background is quite moody too which is nice.

Here is Theresa's...

Close up of hers - I liked how she put these on the bottom, little buds or seed pods sort of.  Her background looked awesome too.

Here is mine.  I liked my background and was almost hesitant to put the flowers on there.  I might just paint an abstract sometime of just the background.

We went to Wine and Design in the Dilworth area of Charlotte.  We just did a girls night out but you could do this as a fun birthday party, PG bachelorette shower, couples night, etc.  Check them out here.