You Say It's Your Birthday...

All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much - George Harrison

My mother in law likes to celebrate all things (one of the many things I love about her) and her 60th birthday was not exception!  She 'hired' me to throw her a surprise party so I dreamed up a fun 'Beatles Bash' for her!  The MIL is slightly obsessed with the Beatles so it was great they could help celebrate her special day with friends and family.  I started with creating a custom party 'logo' to use on the invite, party decor, and favors.  In the traditional Fab Four font it featured 'The Birthday'.

Another element I wanted throughout the party was color, so I chose black and white with pops of yellow to reinforce the mod 60's Beatles theme.  Everything from linens to balloons to flowers to records to cupcakes carried the colors.  The flowers were a special touch, handmade paper flowers using Beatles sheet music.  Simply download and print previews of any sheet music and punch out with the largest scalloped paper punch you can find, then layer and fold with a solid color.  Add a smaller punch out or fringe for the flower center.

Guests had a great time eating yummy food, dancing to Beatles tunes, toasting the guest of honor with a signature cocktail, and taking photo ops with their favorite Beatle.  Thanks to the internet, I found life size cut outs and used an instant camera to encourage guests to ham it up!  For the real fans there were song references in all the signage, vintage button pins, and album cover playing cards for favors.  To prove that my MIL is a true #1 fan, we photoshopped her into classic paparazzi shots of the British invasion and posted them around the room.

Thanks to all of the family, friends, and the Beatles for making my MIL so happy on her special day!  Special thanks to my dear friend and talented photographer Joan Tsen of Applesky Photography for all photos!!

Play Ball

Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too - Yogi Berra

One of my best friends was married recently in of all places a baseball stadium and I had the honor and privilege of serving as a bridesmaid.  Since the venue was so outstanding, all other details could be a little more spare.  Whether it was finding the perfect pink and navy groomsmen ties or helping tie ribbons around the flower vases, I was there for her.  One fun, unexpected, element I helped with was the programs.  We turned a basic paper item into a part of the ceremony by creating program 'pendants' that everyone waved from the stands after the 'I dos'!  I was able to print 2 triangle shaped programs per 8.5" x 11" and mounted on a larger triangle for contrast and stability.  Then I punched two holes and threaded a basic cake pop stick through. When put together, one side was the program, the other side was the couple's monogram.

I always enjoy any chance I can help a friend celebrate a special occasion.  As a surprise, I made an extra special two pendants for the bride and groom for a cute stadium photo prop!  All photo credits are the wonderful Joan Tsen of Applesky Photography who made running around a baseball stadium snapping photos look easy.

ICFF

Recently I attended the annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair at the Javits Center.  Its open to "the trade" and I found some great inspiration for not only my day job as an Architect but also for my passion for Event Design and Art Installations.  Some great ideas from all over the world below...

corrugated cardboard lanterns... create a canopy of light and texture!

(greypants, inc.)

corrugated cardboard animal sculptures(!!!)... can define space and style!

(d-torso via mira design corp.)

playing with light and shadows... small concept with big impact, love it!

(jiin kim design / absolut lighting)

balloons and inflatable walls... always festive and attention getting!

(inflate products, ltd)

paper "softwalls"... so fun and modular for infinite possibilities!!

(molo design, ltd.)

Cheers to Another Year!

"Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new."  ~  Sammy Hagar

For my birthday celebrations this year, I decided to scale back the fanfare from the last few years and planned an intimate dinner party with a small group of my oldest friends.  I noticed as I've gotten older I truly enjoy small scale gatherings where you can really get into the conversation and soak up the moment!

Locked Up!

Small does not have to mean boring though - so I reserved a cozy and unique private dining room at an excellent seafood restaurant, Fish Urban Dining, in the ever evolving Asbury Park, NJ.  The building is an old Post Office and we had the pleasure of dining in the former Vault!  The space proved the perfect setting for lingering over good food, wine, and friends.

Cheers!

Since I can't resist adding extra festive touches to things, I crafted a "Happy Birthday!" Banner from vintage post card scrapbook paper and vinyl letters.  As a surprise for my guests, there was a party favor at each place setting which doubled as a place card.  For the favor tags, I used the same vintage paper from the banner and tied them to Voluspa candles for the ladies and Oliveros cigars for the gentlemen.

Favor Tags/ Place cards

Tip: Use favor tags as an easy tool for creating a seating chart... prior to tying to the gifts, lay them out on a table so you can arrange and re-arrange until you like the layout, then snap a picture.  Reference the picture when you get to the venue for placing the favors/ place cards at each seat.  For this party I chose a traditional set up by seating couples across from each other and alternating genders next to each other, with the host/ hostess at either end of the table.

A Good Vintage

Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words. - Plautus

One of my best friends is getting married and this is cause for celebration! Her bridesmaids and I threw her an intimate shower at a rustic vineyard for a wonderful afternoon surrounded by friends and family. The color of the bride's beautiful engagement ring, aquamarine, was inspiration for many of the little handmade touches.  Photo Credit: My good friend Joan of Applesky Photography took all of the beautiful photographs for the day including a mini engagement shoot of the happy couple in the vineyard after the shower!

For contrast and to soften the rustic setting, we created some simple feminine decorations. Swinging from the rafters were tissue paper puffs in multiple shades of aqua. Create a puff by cutting 3 layers of tissue paper in half and stack for a total of 6 layers, then accordion fold the layers - about 1" folds. After folding, tie at the center with wire or ribbon, and cut the ends into a point or half rounds. Pull up each layer one at the time, fluffing into a ball.  Hung on the walls were faux vintage pendant banners, instead of messing with fabrics and sewing, I went to the craft store and selected a few fabric print scrap-booking papers, cutting them into triangles. I attached the paper triangles to an aqua ribbon with some brass fasteners. I used leftover papers for labeling the buffet food (held up by wine corks like in a previous post) and for custom cupcake wrappers to tie it all together.

As guests arrived and mingled, they were treated to a wine tasting. One of the little activities at the shower was a "Guess how many corks in the jar" game with the winner receiving a bottle of wine from the vineyard to take home! Every guest received a keepsake wine glass with the name of the vineyard filled with custom chocolates made by one of the bridesmaids.

On each table was a custom labeled wine bottle accompanied by a silver paint marker that doubled as a guest book. Each label (printed by one of the bridesmaids to match the invites) said "One Month Anniversary", "3 Month Anniversary" etc. for the newlyweds to open throughout their first few years and read the well wishes written on the bottles from their loved ones.


I printed up some custom stickers (as described in a previous post) to match the invites and with the Bride and Groom's initials to make the desserts extra sweet!

An Elephant Never Forgets

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know. - Groucho Marx

Sometimes life sneaks up on you, including parties! A friend of mine was set to hostess a baby shower in her back patio on a sunny weekend in DC but only got as far as picking the theme and menu when the party was suddenly upon her! I was up in NJ so I couldn't run around and do the shopping for her (as much as I would have loved to!) plus there was no time to order or ship anything. So instead, I whipped up some simple printable decorations that I could email and she could print and assemble to create an adorable baby blue elephant baby shower!


Items like these are readily available to purchase on sites like etsy but you can also make your own with programs like Adobe PhotoShop or Illustrator and Microsoft Office Word. The simplest item I made that had the most impact was custom stickers the hostess used for everything from food picks to napkin rings to customizing favors. I downloaded a template from Avery to layout the images and had the hostess purchase the same sticker sheets (Avery Round Labels, 20 per sheet - Product #8293) from an office supply store.

Other items included a coordinating pendant sign - just cut out the triangles and tape to some ribbon and little pop up centerpieces - just cut out, 3 folds and a piece of tape!  These custom touches allowed the hostess to just pick up some simple solid color items found anywhere to tie it all together!

Sweet Dreams

Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is!" ~ Mark Twain

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone rang in 2011 surrounded by loved ones and lots of bubbly! My New Year's resolution is to further challenge myself creatively in both my career as an Architect and in my love of party planning showcased in this blog! While I'm at it, I'm going to be trying out for HGTV's "Next Design Star" so wish me luck! Here's one of my portfolio pages featuring my hand painted bedroom wall:


Thanks for all the love and support!

Paper Party

"My own experience has been that the tools I need for my trade are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky." ~ William Faulkner

'Tis the Season for Holiday parties!! This past week, I felt as though my annual work party needed an extra festive touch... despite no budget and no time, its amazing what you can do with a pile of scrap paper, a lunch break, and enthusiastic coworkers!

Besides traditional snowflake cut outs, I did a quick internet search for paper crafts and found a few that could be whipped up in a snap... paper rosettes and paper ornaments. For the rosettes, cut two long rectangles, accordion fold them, and fold in half. Open up the accordion halves, making a fan and staple both fans together to form a whole circle. For the ornament, cut two long strips of paper, to medium length strips, and one short. Stack the strips together, long, medium, short, medium, long and staple the one end together. Bunch up the strips to align the other end and staple it as well. We had a lot of fun as we transformed the plain white scrap paper for a wintery look but you can use colorful paper such as wrapping paper scraps, magazine pages, etc. for any occasion that needs dressing up! Once they were all hung by rustic jute string, I added some white twinkle lights, and the company library was finally ready for a party!

*Rosette*

*Ornament*

Sassy Soiree

Birthdays she believed, were no time to exercise restraint. - Ann Taintor

One of my best friends is a real firecracker, so when my girlfriends and I were hosting a birthday party for her, we were inspired by artist Ann Taintor and her retro women with their sassy thoughts! What’s more retro than the clinking of glasses and the sampling of treats at a home-spun cocktail dinner party?  We decided to incorporate Ann Taintor’s style into the décor but with a personalized twist: we would make posters featuring our best friend’s picture in place of the 40’s women! Through Adobe Photoshop, one of my fellow hostesses was able to doctor up the photos to make them look more like retro illustrations and we matched them with A.T.’s funny quotes that reminded us of our feisty best friend!

To help my apartment look even more festive, I wanted to craft something with very little effort and a lot of impact. After Googling vintage party images, I re-discovered paper chains! I flipped through my stack of outdated magazines and picked out the most color saturated advertisements and articles. A few hundred recycled strips and staples later, and it looked like a party!

We knew we wanted to serve our guests dinner, but we also wanted to maintain the cocktail party vibe. So we scaled down some classic dinner foods and combined them with retro hors d’ oeuvres! A major source of recipes and ideas was http://www.epicurious.com/ which features great menus and a wide range of recipes for all skill levels and tastes. Another factor for us to consider in our menu selection was that this party would be on a chilly fall evening so we wanted to provide hearty fare as well as seasonal produce. One of my other fellow hostesses combined all of these ideas into one fantastic menu: We served Mac & Cheese Cupcakes, Swedish Meatballs with Cranberry Compote, Velveeta Salsa Dip, Spinach Onion Dip, Deviled Eggs and a delicious Fall Harvest Salad with a variety of apples, pears, grapes, pomegranate seeds, sunflower seeds, and walnuts! When serving up our feast we used lots of crock pots and pretty dishes. We also provided fun (pom-poms!) cocktail picks and Ann Taintor cocktail napkins for an added retro cocktail flair!


One of my favorite things to do is create a Signature Cocktail for parties. This one was inspired by both the retro theme and the Fall Harvest menu. I modified Martha Stewart’s recipe and combined 1 part chilled Sparkling Apple Cider, 1 part chilled Pear Nectar and 1 part Spiced Rum. An apothecary jar with some ice provided the perfect dispenser! For how to set up the perfect party ready bar, check out this past post: Raise the Bar For extra fun, I picked up some old time hard candies that reminded me of the ones my Grandmother always had out and filled up a vintage candy jar (garage sale find!) for guests to enjoy!

Creepy Chic

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble. - Shakespeare (Macbeth)

A good friend was planning to host a Halloween Party at a local bar and we were coming up with some simple yet festive ways to decorate the room. We didn't want the typical black and orange theme so we decided to go "Creepy Chic" as if the party were held in an abandoned, haunted bar. This would be easy to pull off with the bar's large windows, exposed brick walls and dim lighting. All we had to add was some stylish details and a healthy dose of cobwebs!

A fun project for the occasion was to create a pair of candelabras to flank the bar top itself. I started with large sheets of black foam core (make sure the core is black too!) and a stencil. To create the stencil: fold a large sheet of paper in half and draw half of a candelabra including the swirling arms, candles, and base. Cut the paper while still folded to create a perfectly symmetrical silhouette. Next, trace the stencil onto the black foam core and cut out with an x-acto blade or utility knife.

After cutting out each silhouette (my cat Herbert helped supervise!), measure halfway down and cut a slot the width of the foam core material. One silhouette will have a slot on the top half, and one will have a slot on the bottom half. Then, just slide them together and voila!

We brought the candelabras to the bar and set them up with cobwebs and creepy crawlies to complete the look! This is a great project for any occasion: use hot pink foam core and feather trimmings for a swanky birthday or bachelorette! Use silver or gold foam core and rhinestones accents for a glamorous bridal shower or New Year's Eve dinner party! For the really ambitious, enlarge the scale even more and create a hanging chandelier!

Destination: Wedding, Part 2

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. - Mignon McLaughlin

So excited to leave for our big trip to Asia this month! As a bridesmaid, I've been busy helping tie up loose ends and last minute details... including making some fabulous peacock feather boutonnieres for the men and fasinators for the ladies. I love the non-traditional twist on classic flower options, and I love how they came out!


They were a bit of a challenge but once I figured out the right method, they went pretty fast! I cut a strip of felt as a backing, then arranged and hot glued the feather stems to the felt. Next, I wrapped a piece of ribbon around the felt/ feather base and hot glued the end to secure it. I can't wait to share these with the bridal party!

*Boutonniere*

*Facinators*

Destination: Wedding Part 1

When I design a wedding dress with a bustle, it has to be one the bride can dance in. I love the idea that something is practical and still looks great. - Vera Wang

I will be going away this month to Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore! My friend is getting married and redefining "destination wedding" by inviting us to her hometown of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia! I am honored to also be a bridesmaid for this occasion and am happily helping the Bride with all the special touches... including perhaps the most special of all: the Bride's veil!! The Bride envisioned a vintage "birdcage" veil with beautiful ivory flower and feather accents.


We went shopping for supplies at a craft and fabric store, picking up ivory Russian-style netting, which has larger openings than typical tulle. The Bride also selected two ivory flowers and a gathering of long, delicate white feathers that I arranged and sewed onto a small piece of cream colored felt. I then glued another matching piece of felt to the back to cover up all the threads and attached it all to a standard metal hair clip with a few strong stiches. Originally the intention was to sew the netting to the clip as well, but instead I sewed the netting to a seperate clear hair comb. This way, the bride could place the veil exactly where she wanted it (with the help of a couple bobby pins on the ends) and then remove it later for the reception, keeping the beautiful flower and feather accents in her hair! Make sure to cut the netting about 1.5 to 2x the width of the Bride's face and gather it up evenly as you sew it to the comb. Then, the nature of the materal will naturaly curve down, creating the "birdcage" effect. Also, as an extra festive touch, the Bride glued small crystals to some of the netting intersections! The result is a lovely, custom piece for her wedding day that reflects the Bride's fantastic personal style!