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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Yellow, Pink and Orange Bridal Shower



In 2012, I was asked to help with my nieces bridal shower.  She didn’t have a theme but really loved the colors yellow, pink and orange.  At first I found it hard really hard to come up with ideas without a theme but I worked my magic and was able to create a few really good ideas that made her shower special.

Guest Book:
 

Instead of doing the same old guest book, we came up with the idea of leaving envelopes and having each guest fill it out so my niece wouldn’t have to locate everyone’s address for the thank you cards.  I used a foam poster board and covered it with flowered gift wrap paper I found at the dollar store.  I then decorated it with their engagement picture and random pictures from their childhoods.  We also left the album filled with her engagement pictures for everyone to look at.

Advice Board:
I used another foam board with yellow gift wrap paper for the advice board.  I strung a string from to push pins and hung tiny clips with different color paper so the guests could fill out advice to the bride that should could put in her scrapbook.

Games:
For the games we played several but the best was when each table picked a “Bride” and made a wedding dress for them using only toilet paper.  It was so much fun and we had a lot of creative “dresses”.

Favors:
Creating party favors is my favorite thing to do.  I LOVE the idea of coming up with something and creating it from scratch rather than paying the huge price tag on party stuff.  Plus, if you do it yourself then you can put that special added touch that makes it stand out at any party.  I went with the yellow theme for the favors because of its warm and bright color.  When I think of yellow the first thing that pops in my mind is honey.  I really wanted to create jars of honey but after pricing the jars and the honey, it did not fit into my budget.  My next idea was to use sticks of honey and the Meant to Bee Honey sticks was created.

I ordered 100 honey sticks from amazon, along with the cute yellow ribbon with the bees on it. I created the tag and used glue dots to put the two sticks together.  I then tied the ribbon around the sticks and through the tag.  
I also made He Popped The Question and She Said Yes Bags (pink bags in the background) and added a microwave bag of popcorn and white paper.  I also made smores on a stick and used orange chocolate with chocolate hearts.
Last was my oreo truffles.  Everyone LOVES these and they are so easy to make for any party.  I always have tiny favor boxes on hand that I pick up at Wal-mart (100 to a box) for favors.  I picked up yellow flowers from the dollar store and pulled them off the stems.  I used a hot glue gun and attached to the top of the boxes.  I then used yellow ribbon that I also got at the dollar store to wrap around the box and added a tag made with card stock.  I used a cupcake liner and then added a truffle to each box.  

For my first bridal shower, it was a huge success.  The food was awesome but created by someone else, which is why I don’t have that on this blog.    

Monday, November 18, 2013

Snowman Wine Glasses


With Christmas coming up, I saw this local class on painting snowman wine glasses and grabbed a friends and off we went.  In our town we have a place called Uncork and Create which allows you to bring an adult beverage, snacks and friends for a night of painting fun.  Normally it's a painting you can hang on your wall but this night we painted wine glasses.  

You walk into this room filled with wonderful art work and find long tables in the middle of the room.  Chairs, aprons and all your supplies laid out just waiting to be made into your masterpiece.  There is an instructor that will walk you through each step on how to make whatever the project is that night.  

My friend open her bottle of wine and served it up as the instructor began our steps.  We painted the white first using indoor craft paint.  This is only one coat and I used small circles to get the snowy winter look.  We then put our first coat of paint on the bottom.  I picked green and red to keep with the holiday spirit.  By then the white had dried and we put on the faces and moved on to the second coat on the stem.  After more wine and a few giggles we used our talents to add that special touch to make each one stand out.  I tried for snow flakes and small specs of snow.  I then added eye lashes for my girl and a bow tie for the boy.  After the last of the wine, they were complete.

The instructor gave us instructions for when we got home.  Once I got home, I set the oven to 350 degrees and put the glasses in the cold stove.  I set my timer for 30 minutes and went off to do something else.  Once the timer went off, I shut the oven off but left the glasses inside to cool.  After the glasses was cooled I hand washed them in hot soapy water and served them up with orange Kool-Aid for my kiddo and myself at dinner.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Ella's Paradise by A. Summberbell (Book Review)

I have been following Amanda's work since her first book, It Walked Among Us, and was excited to get my hands on Ella's Paradise. I purchased the hard back copy first but then grabbed the kindle version when she put it up for free just so I could have the extra copy to listen to while I worked.

Ella's Paradise, a treat for lovers of mystery/ghost stories, will have you wondering what will happen next with each page you turn. I'm a sucker for old houses and the history that follows them so this book had me interested from the beginning. The fact that it's around Halloween and the ghosts was an added bonus. Do not be discouraged by the number of pages listed. The paperback has close to 200 pages but the kindle only lists 152.

Leigh is a down on her luck woman who inherited her Uncles house (Ella's Paradise) after he mysteriously dies. Strange things start to happen pretty much as soon as Leigh moves in, from fresh flowers being left in the ballroom, to the sound of a giggling little girl echoing through the house in the middle of the night. With each new character brought into the book, Marin being my favorite, my mind was skipping ahead to see how this would change the story and what part they would each play in the end. Marin is Leigh's best friend and she had me cracking up. For example, "I prefer life among the living, thank you very much. That was beyond a close encounter, okay?" The book is a little slow at first as each new character is introduced but I promise the action picks up fast and you will not want to put it down until the end. The ending had a twist that I did not see coming and had me thinking how in the world did I miss this while reading. I found myself rereading the beginning that I thought was slow only to discover the hidden clues that were there for me to find.

This book gets five stars from me and I can't wait to read her next one. Amanda is going to be one of those writers I will be glad I've followed from the beginning.