Sunday, September 23, 2012

Vintage Pink Baby Shower

 I wanted to post this shower, even though my participation was more limited than usual. Usually I spend several weeks planning and creating, but since I had been at my mom's house for over a month I wasn't able to be involved as much. However, it was  a sweet, simple shower that was especially fun to help with since the mom is expecting her first girl, after having three boys!
 Sarah came up with the theme (and did most of the work) but I put together the simple pennant banner (inspired by this shower). It was just scrapbook paper with holes punched at the top corners threaded onto pink ribbon. The wire birdcage in the middle is from Hobby Lobby. It was a great deal for $5. The handkerchiefs in the center are mine- they are antique and belonged to my great grandmother!
 I hunted the internet over for a bird silhouette. I finally found this one, but I had to cut out the wing separately so I could position it to point outward.  It's just scrapbook paper, too. The clock actually belongs to Christy and is part of her regular decor, but it worked perfectly with the theme.
 Sarah usually makes the invitations, and often frames one to use as part of the party decor. This one had really sweet lace and pearl beading on.  We draped real pearls over some vintage china pieces she brought. I loved the romantic touch that floating candles add. There is something irresistible to me about the combination of flames and water!
 She wrapped a pink doily (I got those from Target after Valentine's Day for a steal!) around a vase filled with faux hydrangeas. We used scrapbook paper as a "runner" on the buffet, which we covered with a lace tablecloth. Christy, the hostess, even tinted the fruit dip pink!
 I have to say, I have gotten my money's worth many times over from that cake plate. It turns over into a punch bowl, too, so it was a steal at $10-from Walmart! We usually use disposable dishes, but we were able to borrow glass ones from our church that were a much better fit.
I need a cupcake stand! This one is Sarah's and it is definitely worth its weight in gold. Christy and her friend frosted the cupcakes and Sarah added edible "pearl" beads. They were gorgeous, and I had fun tinting this photo in Instagram.

It was nice to throw a shower that wasn't as labor intensive, I will post one later of the one we did this weekend. It was a *lot* more work! However, I think this one is a great example of how you can decorate more simply and still have it be beautiful.

Some things I didn't take photos of were the games. I was in charge of those, and we had fun listing girls' names for every letter of the alphabet (harder than you might think!) and tearing "babies" out of paper held behind our backs. I wish I had photos of that one-it was hilarious!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Ombre+Fall=Love

If you aren't aware with my obsession for making garlands for my fireplace, please see here, here and here. If you are, read on. :)

I made this initial for my door, and realized I was absolutely in love with gray, yellow and black as fall colors. I do also love the traditional orange, reds and browns, too, but I was just ready for a change. Currently the trend right now is yellow and gray, and ombre everywhere! I decided that, since I usually follow all the trends anyway, to jump on that bandwagon!

This is such a great, simple project. From start to finish it took me about an hour. First I enlarged the leaf template I found here, to about 150%. Then I printed it off (I changed my print preview view to just the leaves, and chose to not print the turkey on the bottom of the page). When you are working with felt, you don't want details that are too intricate. I thought the larger maple leaf worked perfectly!

I did not end up using all the felt I bought. If you work carefully, you can use just one sheet of each color! I used two, just to be safe.

-heather gray felt, Hobby Lobby
-light gray felt, Hobby Lobby
-black felt, Hobby Lobby
-"goldenrod", from Michael's
-gold, from Michael's
-gray grosgrain from the Dollar Store (did  you know that gray ribbon is kind of hard to find?)

I toyed with the idea of using the exacto knife. I changed my mind-it was easier to do with scissors! I also opted against using the cream felt, I had enough pieces without it. However, I only figured that out *after* I cut out the cream leaves. Anyone need four cream felt leaves?

Cut out your pile of leaves. If you do not have fabric scissors (I love my Fiskars) I implore you: buy some now! Cutting felt is an absolutely dreadful task without nice, sharp scissors.  I cut out four leaves of each color. This is the most time consuming part, but once it is done, your garland practically puts itself together!

To make the slits to put the ribbon through, fold down the top part of your leaf. This doesn't have to be terribly precise, I did them in sets of two (if you have sharp scissors, you can cut your leaves out two at a time to make the process faster, too) and just eyeballed it.
 
See, how the leaf isn't folded quite in half? I then cut two slits, about an inch long and an inch and half apart. Each leaf needs two to thread the ribbon through.
 
I liked the way that it looked having the ribbon just peek through, so I threaded mine starting from the underside. I didn't secure the leaves in any way, they move freely on the ribbon. I overlapped them quite a bit, I preferred the way they looked like that.
 
I debated about putting them in pattern order, and decided instead to do them ombre style. I know it isn't a true ombre (my understanding is that is just one color gradient) and technically my brighter gold leaves should have come first, but I craft on the fly and I was just happy as a clam with the way it turned out. I love that it says fall without being blatant, and love, love, that it incorporates the gray and yellow combo that I am clearly obsessed with! 
 
I apologize for the bad photos, my living room does not have an overhead light on the fireplace side, and it was late. But you are welcome to come over and see how cute it is in person!;)
 
I'm linking up at: 




Sunday, September 2, 2012

"P" is for Pretty

I hunted the internet over for a "back to school" wreath. I wanted something that wasn't specifically "fall"- because I do that all through November. I didn't want pumpkins-that's October. All I could find were dozens of crayon wreaths and ruler wreaths. The crayon ones would melt-my front door gets a ton of direct sunlight- and the ruler ones weren't really my thing. So, that left me to come up with something on my own!
 
My mom bought me a neat garden flag while I was visiting her last month that had our last initial on it. That got me thinking about trying something different. If you remember, the most recent baby shower I did I yarn wrapped the last initial of the family as part of the decorations. I decided to try something similar for my door.
 

Here is (roughly) what I used. I changed my mind on the colors- I decided to use gray and yellow instead of the red and white. Also, I decided against using the gold ribbon, and chose black. But you get the idea. You'll need:
 
-A wooden letter. I got mine at Hobby Lobby for about $4. I recommend buying one that is essentially flat, it will hang better and require less ribbon.
 
-Ribbon. I used 2 entire rolls of 5/8 by 12 ft ribbon. Again, from Hobby Lobby $3 for both.
 
- Felt in the colors you want for your flowers.
 
-Paint and brush, if you want to paint the edges. I realized later that I should have just used a Sharpie!
 
-Glue dots or a hot glue gun. I thought the glue dots would be neater, but I ended up needing to use my glue gun to get into the tight spots.
 
 

It is hard to tell from this photo, but you will want to paint the thin edges of your letter. The ribbon won't cover these areas, so make sure you choose a color that coordinates. I realized later that using a black Sharpie instead of white paint would have worked just as well-probably better! Let it dry if you painted it, before you move to the next step.

Attach your ribbon at the bottom of your letter. Can you see that I accidentally started on the wrong side? Be sure that glue your ribbon to the *back*, because you will want the front to stay nice! This is the part where I got distracted by crafting and forgot to take photos. Basically you wrap the ribbon around the letter, anytime you get to a curve, you can bend the ribbon and glue it, or cut it off and glue the end the way you need it wrapped.

You can see the two different ways I wrapped it. In the inside hole, I cut it and glued it down so it covered the curve. On the outside edge I pushed the ribbon down and glued it. I think cutting it makes it neater, and if I did another one I would probably do all the curves that way.

The back is NOT PRETTY! I wasn't worried about it though, it will rest against the door, so no one will see it. I overlapped the ribbon on the front, which causes it to skew diagonally on the back. If you want both sides to be equally attractive, you will have to do it differently.

To make the flowers I cut four equal shapes from felt. I actually used a silicone cupcake liner as my template, but you can use whatever you want, just make sure your flowers have an even number of petals.

Fold one of the flowers in half.

Fold two of the flowers in quarters, and stack them on top of the halved one. Glue them just along the bottom fold line. Then fold the last flower in half and glue it along the bottom fold line. You will have the two flowers folded in half with the two quartered ones sandwiched in between.

Then spread the flowers out in the middle, it will look somewhat similar to a box flower, but it will have more "fluff" on two sides. Then I sewed a button in the center of each one. You could easily glue the button, but I prefer to actually sew them. I can gather the flower a little more at the back to make it fuller.

I set my flowers close together and basically formed a triangle out of them to make them stand up. I love the yellow, gray, black combination with the houndstooth. It looks fall"y" without being overt.
And that's it! I tied it with black grosgrain so I could hang it. I think once I take it off my door, it would look great hanging on the wall, too. 

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