To make snow for the Christmas in July shoot I used white paper stars, they looked just perfect strung from a tree above our table. I also used the stars this weekend in the wedding I styled, coming soon:)

You can purchase the stars HERE in many different sizes and colors. Their creator Lisa has been so sweet to share her tutorial- so that you can make them for your own events, YAY!

Make your own paper stars:

• Take 4 strips of paper equal in length. Fold each in half and weave centers together creating 4 double strips of ‘tails’.
• Take 1 strip per ‘tail’ and fold across center weave. Tuck the 4th tail under the first one.
• Fold 4 tails diagonally.
• Flip star over; fold each diagonally folded tail downward.

• Fold each downward folded tail onto itself creating a point.  Tuck each point into the top layer of center weave.

• Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to remaining 3 folded tails.
• Repeat Steps 3, 4 and 5 to remaining 4 straight tails.
• To create top and bottom points, fold each tail towards the right and tuck into the frontward tail.
• When you have done this 8 times, your star will have 8 tails that will need to be trimmed.

• Trim each tail and your star is complete!

PS. Lisa is also offering the DIY kits for the stars, complete with supplies that can be purchased HERE.

blessings.

It all started with the idea to cool down and cheer up for the summer by bringing surprise Christmas gifts to our neighbors. I think that is just the loveliest of ideas, especially in July & especially if they are tied up with red twine and dragged behind a bike!

Although it is not a normal Christmas occurrence where we live, having snowballs seemed quite necessary. A vintage crate filled with water balloons hold the makings for a summer’s worth of fights that are sure to cool things down!

A dessert table is set up on a reclaimed, painted table filled with holiday treats! Christmas cookies are stacked high on a homemade cookie stand to elicit smiles all around.

To bring home the holiday spirit I planted mini Christmas trees that hung in red painted bird cages + more snow was a necessity! The beautiful white star snowflakes are the creation of Lisa and can be found for purchase HERE. A DIY on them is coming soon.

Peppermint pops made with candy, sticks and a bit of frosting were scrumptious additions.

It brought me great joy thinking through what desserts we could serve! Snowballs, candy & cookies, to drink peppermint shooters (aka melted red slurpees) seemed perfect.

And doughnuts with holiday flags that are super easy to make- see the tutorial HERE.

The bike basket was overfilled with cherries and flowers, a serious cheer bringer throughout the year.

I loved the idea of using cherries throughout our shoot. Perhaps because they bring me so much cheer? A bunch of them hung from the tree as a mistletoe to smooch underneath + cones of them serve as a healthy additions to our sweets display.

An ornament display of baby’s breath and ribbon is just as lovely in the summer as it would be hanging over a holiday table.  Strung from a tree or carried as a bridal bouquet I believe I am equally as smitten about using one of these as a part of any upcoming celebration!

I hope this inspires you to celebrate cheer, and the holidays even amidst the HOT, HOT days of summer!

Photography credits to the very lovely- Chelsea Robbins
Star snowflakes via sponsor- Starcrosses

blessings.

]]> http://thecitycradle.com/christmas-in-july/feed 11 http://thecitycradle.com/doughnut-flags http://thecitycradle.com/doughnut-flags#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:06:05 +0000 Vicky http://thecitycradle.com/?p=12209 A sneak peak at what is coming this week…

(Photography credit Chelsea Robbins)

A delightful variation on the standard cupcake for a dessert table. Doughnuts have made their way into the sweet scene of my life quickly, leaving a trail of powdered sugar loveliness behind them! To top them off I created doughnut flags out of ribbon and string. The flags would give any dessert on your table an easy dose of celebration cheer.

Materials needed for doughnut flags:

• Differing size candy sticks and toothpicks.
  
• Ribbon and string in coordinating colors.
  
• Liquid starch.

How to Make doughnut flags:

• Cut your ribbons and strings to varying sizes.
  
• Dredge in liquid starch.
  
• Place around sticks to dry, lifting up portions of each ribbon to create a natural looking flow.
  

More to come soon from this super playful Christmas in July shoot.

blessings.

but sometimes it happens, and then I find an old issue of Blueprint buried under a stack of papers and I mourn what was my favorite magazine that flew out of my life as quickly as it jumped in.

In the midst of the issue I came across the most lovely party- A summer backyard brunch & play date, entitled “Easy like Sunday Morning“. The perfect weekend inspiration for a relaxed celebration of summer. Find the article with the plan & recipes HERE.

Have a happy weekend:)

blessings.

Printing on ribbon! You can do it & it is super easy-

Although fair warning being able to personalize your ribbon gets quite addicting.

Materials needed for ribbon printing:

• An injet printer (if you don’t have one they are super cheap to pick up thrifted)
• A length of ribbon (I have found flat/ matte ribbons work the best)
• A small amount of double sided tape

How to print on ribbon:

• Print out a copy of the words you would like to appear on the ribbon to check for spacing.
• Cut your ribbon to size and double tape the ends onto your printed paper, be sure to cover the words exactly, text will print on the ribbon exactly where your words are placed.
• Run the paper with ribbon attached through the printer on the heavy paper setting.
• Let dry *Important, do not touch the ribbon for about 20 minutes to insure the ink has time to set.
• Peal off the ribbon and enjoy your creation!

Use your ribbon to adorn a surprise gift, to personalize a birthday card, or to make a stash of exceptionally lovely party labels.

PS. I am so excited to share with you how I incorporated this into our wedding inspiration shoot, soon!

blessings.

My favorite new feature is our party gallery.

In the gallery is a listing of every celebration we feature, organized by event type and laid out to be easy to find, check it out. I hope you will be blessed by it.

Also, I am over the top thankful to Karrie, who has worked with me to design our beautiful new logo:) What can I say, I am a sucker for bunting!

PS. If you haven’t noticed all of our family blog information has been moved. There is a static link now to our family blog on the sidebar under find me elsewhere. We have a new little logo there as well and I promise to begin updating it soon!

blessings.

The inspiration for this shower came from this article, upon seeing it I just feel in love with the idea of a yarn maze- it is amazing! Although not as long or even an actual maze, I was thrilled at how the backdrop for the shower came out. The yarn strung across our sweets table with the word LOVE tied into it was just the perfect starting point.

The backdrop quickly gave inspiration for what became the centerpiece of the room, a yarn spun chandelier. I created it using different size kids bouncy balls & bright colored yarn. I secured one end of the yarn to the ball and roped it around many… many times! I also hung ribbons with buttons to add to the homespun feel. The mid-air yarn ball chandelier really set the stage for our celebration. PLUS, I am convinced this would make the most lovely baby mobile:)

The yarn balls were repeated on the table as flowers. They provided a wonderful pop of color seated in spray painted bud-vases. See the tutorial for these by clicking HERE.

I used a whole bunch of letters in the design of this shower, LOVE spelled out in as many ways as possible around the room.

I am happy to pass on a FREE DOWNLOAD for the banners of love that were placed around the room. Simply click HERE to download your copy. Each template has a small version of knotted in love plus the larger LOVE. They can be cut and re-sized for your showering pleasure!

Along with the scrumptious panini’s, a buffet was also set with a sampling of treats. Chocolate dipped pretzels and ribbon tied cheery pops were a few favorites of the day.

To drink, I served the brunch appropriate Mimosa! Each Champagne bottle is outfitted in a custom label and custom cocktail stir sticks adorn the flutes. I am also offering these tags as a FREE DOWNLOAD for you- grab the file by clicking HERE. You will need to print them out on 8×10 label sheets or simply cut and attach each one with double sided tape.

A random stash of vintage thread spools was spotted and I quickly picked them up to be perfect accompaniment for this shower. We used them to adorn a bulk pack of white buffet napkins. A fun guest book idea- for any upcoming shower you might have, instead of using a guest book we stitched in thread, buttons and fabric swatches creating a whimsical homemade set of dinner napkins for our future bride.

I also used the vintage spools to decorate around the room, they made such lovely vases!

Cheery yellow butter dishes for favors, monkey fist knots with bright pink yarn interwoven and marriage advice flowing freely made for a very cherished afternoon. I am happy to have made a new friend in this bride and am looking forward to styling her wedding very soon!

Photography credits- Jackie Wonders

PS. I have a new flickr stream that I am going to attempt to keep fresh. Check it out by clicking HERE to see the whole gallery of Knotted in love photos.

blessings.

]]> http://thecitycradle.com/knotted-in-love/feed 8 http://thecitycradle.com/a-panini-bar http://thecitycradle.com/a-panini-bar#comments Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:02:49 +0000 Vicky http://thecitycradle.thecitycradlefamily.com/?p=11481 Hello. Happy Monday, I am so glad to be back. I was hoping to share the new site design with you today but alas everything in life takes more time than planned. Soon it will be done:)

I styled a sweet bridal shower earlier this month and for brunch we decided to make panini’s. We set out fresh sourdough bread, lots of veggies & a sampling of cheeses. We cooked each on an old George Foreman grill. They made for perfectly easy + very lovely summer afternoon party food!

The rest of the shower design coming tomorrow, including all the printable labels!  For today see the full shower feature post @ Style Me Pretty

blessings.

PS. Yarn flower tutorial for the shower can be found HERE

I am so looking forward to being back next week- I have three events done this month that are just aching to show themselves to you! Plus the our little site updates will be done soon- Yippee:)

As a preview to our updates- check out the new family blog where the twinsies will be living from here on out and see this lovely 18 month photo shoot that Jackie Wonders shot in the a weed filled field!

Click HERE to be directed to http://thecitycradlefamily.com

blessings.

For instance, desperately wanting to throw a farm party, how fun- anyone have a chicken???

A chicken & egg bouquet via Green wedding shoes.

blessings.