Wedding Decor Round-up

I've been helping to gather some ideas for my brother-in-law's upcoming wedding—specifically centerpieces and decor for the luncheon. These are ideas that you could use and customize to many different kinds of parties or gatherings.

1. Mason jars—or any mixture of collected jars in varying sizes. Pickle jars, jam jars, baby food jars, salsa jars, etc. So many ways to pretty them up. Wrap them in lace, in twine, in old book pages or sheet music (which could be photocopied by the way), dye them, put candles in them, put in sand and candles, glass stones and water, put in flowers, simple mini daisies, etc.

2. Tissue paper pom-pom flowers.  These are everywhere, of course, but there's a reason for that. They cost little and make a big impact. You can hang them from the ceiling, do half flowers and attach them the to walls, make a variety of sizes and create a centerpiece (using the half spheres). Throw in some white Christmas lights and tulle for added flair.

3. Flower filled boots. For this particular wedding the bridesmaids are wearing cowboy boots. If the family happens to own a lot of boots, they could cut off the top of some 2-liter bottles and put them inside the boots, fill with water and then flowers. Short boots might work for a centerpiece, tall boots could be a nice touch if they were flanking the entrance or maybe even a buffet table.

4. Japanese lanterns filled with flowers. I believe Costco sells some battery powered tea lights, and those could be the light source inside. And you can be sure those Japanese lanterns will get future usage for party decor.

5. Rolled paper tubes. Print something lovely on white paper or translucent vellum and roll it up and put a battery powered tea light inside for a warm glow.

6. Balloons on the wall. You need to make sure they are nice balloons. This is the kind of arrangement I was referring to with the tissue paper flowers on the wall as well.

9. Another wall idea—wrapping paper pinwheels. I'm not sure if thats what it's really called, but here they are. A good, inexpensive way to cover a lot of surface area and fancy things up. These papers were bought at XPedX, I believe.

8. Book page/music sheet heart garland to string across the room using twine (in this case).

9.Lace doily bowls. Form them around balloons, bowls, etc. Fill them with... candy? mints? anyone have any ideas?

10. Branch and leaf. Get some 4x4's at the hardware store and drill small holes in the top. (Probably want to sand and stain it too). Branches with or with out leaves could be cool. Spray paint them gold, or in your colors.

11. Glass in glass with colored water. These large vases have a narrower vase inside them holding the candle. Between the two layers they have been filled with colored water.

12. Layered paper plates. The top plate has been cut around with decorative scissors, then punched with some fancy punches.

13. Tin can vases. I love the simple flowers in these. You could also wrap them in butcher paper (maybe trimmed with decorative scissors?) and wrap with twine or thin leaves as seen below.

14. Paper flowers. These might take some time, but wow.

(Some of these images have links, some do not—sorry about that.) Pin It

DIY Reversible Headbands

Soon I will have a week at Lake Powell followed by a week of Girls Camp, which means desperate times for my hair. I wanted something to help mask the bedraggled look I usually sport for each of those hairdryer-lacking weeks. These headbands are a perfect use for small scraps from the fabric stash and a great way to add style. Plus they are super quick to make (like 20 minutes). I'd like to make 100 of them! I'm obsessed with this first fabric. It has a fabulous subtle sheen to it. I'm planning to make a maxi skirt with it too.

I wish I had a better picture than this. Photography is my weakness. Or maybe it's modeling.

And guess what. I'm going to share the pattern with you! Just click the picture below, then right click on it to save it.

And here's a little tip: If you don't have elastic, you can use the elastic from an old bra strap! If you look closely you can see that each of these 3 headbands has a slightly different type of elastic (all the same width though).

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Birthday Boy: Kabob Cupcakes

Last week Ezra turned one. For our weekly family dinner with my in-laws, I brought some cupcakes in celebration. I found this cute idea on Pinterest for some grill-kabob cupcakes and I decided to make those.

The frosting is yellow and orange "flames". The grill is made from melting black candy melts and using a pastry tip and bag, tracing over a circle template placed under some parchment paper. The kabobs are cut up gummy bears on toothpicks. You can find instructions here.
Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera and I only have this terrible quality phone pic of him eating it. Shame on me. (And shame on my phone for being a piece of junk).

I was planning a real birthday party for him with a shark theme, and I have some fun ideas, but I'm not sure I have the energy to go through with it all. My kids haven't slept for a month, and so neither have I.  But perhaps I will share my ideas anyway, in case you want to do a shark party!

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Peasant Top

A few weeks ago I made a peasant top for Ava. I used a basic peasant dress pattern and shortened it and added a sash tie at the bottom. We only got a handful of photos before the lawn sprinklers came on and she ran away screaming!

I wish I had made it about and inch shorter and narrower at the bottom, and the sash an inch shorter too, but I think next summer it may fit just perfectly. I'm too busy with other ideas to go back and fix it!
Happy Independence Day to you all! I hope you are able to enjoy some fireworks where you are. We've had such a terrible fire season already that most cities around here have banned them this year. But we can still enjoy the pool with all this hot, dry weather!


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