There's a Murder Mystery Afoot...

As the founder and president of The Black Hat Society I organize and host an annual murder mystery dinner party - this year is the 7th annual dinner.

I often purchase the game from a site called Host Party.com which is pretty neat with an interactive online game page for participants, but this year I went for something slightly different. I went with a London-based company called Ace Murder Mysteries and got a box set. I purchased a Marie Antoinette Inspired French Revolution mystery entitled Le Mystere des Masques...and drumroll please...today it arrived!! Perfect timing - just in time to give out everyone's secret motive!

Since I didn't have the online page I simply used Pingg to send online invites and even make a webpage for the game- you can see it HERE!!I'm so excited!

This Years Murder Mystery By Ace Murder Mysteries

Stay Tuned this Week for Halloween Costume Fun, Halloween Decor and More Murder Mystery Mayhem!!

-Ciao Amarettogirl

Marie Antoinette Ladies Dinner

Interested in Marie Antoinette?? Read on for major inspiration!

handpainted napkins by my hubs and me inspired by Marie Claire Idees

Marie Claire Idees French Magazine Before the holidays I planned an evening in which I invited some of the ladies from my sewing group in Sugar Loaf NY over to my home for a ladies dinner. I decided the theme for the evening would be Marie Antoinette - of course!

So I got busy sewing a new tablecloth, placemats, centerpiece and... My hubs and I hand-painted some Parisian Patisserie inspired fabric napkins with fabric paint (as seen in image above). We used the French magazine Marie Claire Idees for reference.

For any of you who are so inclined to host a Marie Antoinette dinner I thought I would share some of the results and research with you.

First of all for future reference a good date to host a Marie Antoinette dinner is in November since her birthday is Nov. 2nd.

Some Chocolates on display and my sewing group ladies, Sylvia, Linda and Manon!

A great website to go to to be inspired to design a dinner on any night of the year is a site called DINNER EXPLOSIONS. It takes a bit of time to load but it's beautiful and whether you're a cook or not you'll be happy you went to this internet gem with ideas for music, decorating and food.

My Table

If you google Marie Antoinette QUIZ, you'll get a whole lot of fun quizzes you could use at your gathering for a give away, like I did.

Marie Antoinette Inspired Cookies of corsets, fans and shoes by guest Sylvia Williams! My handmade table runnermy table- click to see larger My centerpiece- click to see Dinner Activity - Kanzashi Brooches

We ended the evening with a sewing activity - ofcourse! I got a book (which I will be reviewing next post so stay tuned) on the Japanese craft of Kanzashi flowers. So we got busy and made ourselves some brooches to commemorate the evening.

The menu: Salad Greens with Lemon Curd Dressing, Apple and Beet side salad, Vegetable tarts, Beef Apricot Stew, Dessert Wine, Sparkling White Grape Juice and Linda's chocolate raspberry supreme and Sylvia's cookies