Bridal Shower by Jessica H.

The Bride.

My beautiful friend Imogen is off the market.  (sorry boys!)  To celebrate, my other equally lovely friends, Jessica and Katherine, threw her a dazzling DIY bridal shower in the courtyard of Jessica's complex.  I loved it so much, I just couldn't keep it to myself.

click for larger view

I don't know how they did it, but they managed to dangle strings of Christmas lights and globe lanterns from the high perches of the dinner space.  We dined under the stars.

The color palate was clean and sophisticated.  I'm such a sucker for shades of Tiffany blue and coral.  After apparently chugging a supply of apple juice that could quench an small army, they painted the inside of small Mott's bottles with enamel paint.  FYI, enamel is excellent for such jobs, as acrylic will lift when water comes in contact with it.  Some well selected pink carnations and voila - an economic centerpiece that looks like a million bucks.

Baskets filled with antique roses and lunch bag lanterns helped define the parameters of the space as well as add a little romantic whimsy to the atmosphere.

 

Lunch Bag Lantern How-To

1.) Find white paper lunch bags at your local grocer.  Any color will do, just make sure the paper is thin enough to allow for light to bleed through.                                             2.) With a craft punch (scrapbook or stationary isle), punch a series of shapes into the upper lip of the bag.  Take care to punch them upside down, as you will then flip the lip around the top to create a "hem" around the lantern.                                              3.) Pop in an LED candle as the light source.  I try not to use real candles during parties.  Wine + fire does not mix well.

Playing a game of "Who Said It?".

 

Gettin' it.

 

Jessica has awesome taste in home decor.

I love Jessica's coffee table.

"Cute as a Button" Christmas

As previously mentioned, buttons are awesome.  As previously promised, here is my house covered in them for the 2010 holiday season.

         First things first.  The Button Tree.

I made the buttons from circular pieces of wood and paint from Hobby Lobby.  Don't buy a pre-made bow.  Make one with a stapler and pretty ribbon.  The lights make it look like it's glowing!

A nestling button.

I bought a slew of buttons grab bag style.  Using some handy dandy string, I made myself some fun homemade button garland.

I have a branch on my wall I seasonally decorate.  I made some button and music paper ornaments to keep the tradition alive.

 I cut out different shapes from music paper and gave them a antique yellow wash with thinned acrylic paint.

Cupcake Paper Garland

I have way too many cupcake wrappers in my "pantry" (cubby).  If there were a top five list of things people buy too much of, thinking they probably don't have it at home, mine would go as follows:

Butter.  If I were to die tomorrow, people would find this terribly embarrassing butter stash of mine, and probably think I had some sort of weird butter fetish.  Sounds like a cookie escapade is in order...a girl's gotta have some dignity.
Scissors.  Upon gutting my house during a freak cleaning extravaganza, I have discovered I am the proud owner of FIVE pair.
Lighters.  Which, I believe, has been the main culprit for my candle obsession.  Or perhaps it's the other way around - it's a "chicken or the egg" type situation.
Christmas Lights.  They're good for everything, and I want to put them to good use...but I'm beginning to look like an eccentric undergraduate student with all this bling.
 Cupcake Wrappers.  I mean, when you go on an impulsive cupcake adventure, you always want to "make sure" you've got enough for your endeavors, right?  This gets to be a problem...

So I did a little research in an effort to figure out how I could make good use of these bad boys, and upon stumbling across two wonderful blogs by Creature Comforts  and Pam Garrison, I was inspired.

I found these tiny paper doilies in Hobby Lobby's cake section.

Cut some slits in some for a little added texture.

I love how coral and robin's egg blue look together.

Cut down some brown coffee filters or pattern paper for an antique touch.

How-To:

Mi Madre in the background :)

Collect any color of cupcake wrappers you like.  As I try to do things the Cheap-o way, I grabbed some shinies and some lacies, but used white ones for the coral colored pieces.  Get yourself some paint.  It goes such a long way.  I can't tell you how many times I've busted them out in a pinch.  Poke holes in the middle of the wrappers.  I found a kebab stick to work just fine for me!


A little watercolor 101.  I hate watercolors.  I'm not a big fan of oil paint either.  I am, however, madly in love with acrylic paint.  Why?  It's water based and can be thinned out with exactly that. Not to mention, I'm a total klutz, and if you give me something to ruin my clothes/furniture/life with, I will.  Get yourself a color wheel.  Learn it, memorize it.  You will find you need only 6 paint colors to get WHATEVER color you want.
They are: Red, Blue, Yellow, White, Black, Brown.

If you're in Austin, go to Jerry's Artarama for some killer deals on paint.

Red + Yellow = Orange
Red + Blue = Purple
Yellow + Blue = Green
All together = Brown

White + Anything will Lighten
Black + Anything will Darken

For a coral color, I mixed :
(1/4)Red+(2/4)Yellow+(1/4)White
(For this effect, use lots of water to dilute the color)

Either bake or microwave the wrappers for quick drying and an aged finish, but please...don't put tin foil in the microwave. 

String 'em up on some twine, tying some knots between the clusters for that "piecey" appearance.

Congratulations.  You have made yourself that much more cupcake wrapper light.  Enjoy!  And take care to brag about how you just made something for under $3 (or free if you hoard, of course) that looks like you bought it from Whole Earth Provisions for whatever silly amount they're asking for this Christmas season!  Happy Crafting!

Button Neclaces and Bloody Marys

I have discovered buttons.  This is a funny thing to say, considering how prevalent one might think buttons to be, but seriously.  They are amazing and I am happy to have stumbled upon this new love obsession of mine. 

For one, they're cheap.  And I mean way so.  I grabbed a couple mixed bags from H.L. and have thenceforth covered my house with them for the holiday season.  Let's share.

1.  Christmas Tree madness.  Pictures to follow.
2.  Button Garland.
3.  Button Ornaments.
4.  Filling for my centerpieces.  Think little pebbles in a dish with candles.  FYI, buttons are prettier.
5.  A Necklace.  See below.

The necklace was incredibly easy (and under $10 to make!).  The charms, excluding the flower, and chain were $.50-$2 a piece from Bead It.  I found a sheet of these flowers at Hobby Lobby (scrapbook isle) for $4.  The buttons represent about .00094 of the amount I pulled from those happy little grab bags.

My good friend Katherine dropped by for a crafty visit and a measuring cup of the good stuff.  We had a ball.

I've also discovered a fun new gift wrapping technique.  I have a ton of encyclopedia type books that I have nothing else better to do with but look like a pretentious prat, so I decided to cut them up.

Let's get another shot of that bloody mary, shall we?

 Yep.  That's the ticket.  :)

Turkey Day Charade Boxes

They say that the level of Triptophan (the chemical in turkey that supposedly makes you sleepy) is most likely so minuscule, it is probably not the culprit for after T-Day drowsiness.  I have a feeling it is a mixture of these:

* Drinking a LOT of wine/bloody mary goodness over the HOURS it takes to cook the dang thing.
* Emotional drainage of being around loved ones you probably don't see but a few times a year.
* Eating WAY too much in one day (experts assert around 3,000 - 6,000 calories...woah)
* Did I mention wine?

So I thought it would be fun to draw up a little game of charades after the meal to give us at least an hour more of fun family togetherness before everybody conked.  Here's whatcha do!




1.)  Gather cardboard boxes and spray paint from Hobby Lobby.  Cross your fingers it is not a windy day.  My mother thought a spray paint the color of the cardboard would be a fancy fit....  Haha.

2.) Peruse the scrapbook isle of Hobby Lobby, or find little tinkery things at a flea market or Good Will.  Little things that reflect the likes/personality of the recipient speak volumes to the receiver.  It's a nice, personal touch.  Here, I just got it crunk with T-Day cutouts.  Bag-o-Thanksgiving: $4.00

*I used my super duper typewriting stamps for the names (stamp isle Hobby Lobby)

3.) With your typewriter stamp, stamp out  charade subjects to fill the boxes with.  I find the new full body scanning procedure at your local airport to be quite the fun topic for after dinner conversation.  Cut/tear them out and roll them up so they have to go through great lengths to cheat.

 

4.) For the little ones who have yet to learn how to read, the cut-outs make for great charade topics.  

Happy Thanksgiving!