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.

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.

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/garden-flower-stake-tutorial http://thecitycradle.com/garden-flower-stake-tutorial#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:22:35 +0000 Vicky http://thecitycradle.com/?p=10975 Earlier today I shared with you Susan’s lovely garden party. One of my favorite handcrafted features was the handmade flower stake, filled with the most lovely simple bouquet stuck in the ground. Susan has been so sweet to share the tutorial for these stakes.

Make your own garden flower stakes:

These would be lovely placed around a summer evening BBQ or lined up down the aisles for an afternoon garden wedding. Super easy, simple & purely gorgeous.

• Use a saw or knife to sharpen the end of your stake for easier entry into the ground.
• With the sharpen part of your stake facing downwards, align your glass bottle along the top of the stake. Fasten the twine where you will begin attaching the bottle.

• Loop the twine around the bottle 1-2 times then reverse directions and loop the twine around the stake.
  
• Repeat until tightly fastened and tie a knot at the end.

• Repeat the process with a second line of twine to secure.

Follow Susan’s husband, the handi-man behind this project- Stick firmly in the ground, fill with flowers, sit back in an old arm chair and enjoy!

blessings.

Yarn flowers…

Placing bouquets of these around the room will bring a fabulous dose of color to our little soiree plus they are cheap, easy, and eco-friendly! I spray painted thrifted bud vases to showcase the groupings of flowers.

Make your own yarn flowers

Materials for small yarn flowers:

Yarn
A small (1 inch) foam floral ball, you can find them in packs of 12 at local craft stores.
Glue
Wrapped floral wire

Instructions for small yarn flowers:

Glue one end of the yarn to your foam ball.
Begin wrapping the yarn around the ball, wrap in sections to keep the coverage even.
Continue wrapping until the whole ball is covered.
Stick a piece of floral wire into the bottom of each ball to make a flower, cut down to size as needed.

I promised they would be easy! Easy enough to make hundreds for your next party but also simple enough to make just one bunch to brighten a rainy summer afternoon.

blessings.

One of my favorite touches to the Sherbert & Spice Party was our printable guest book, perfect for any kids event.

We had numbered pages laid out from our printable guest book for each attendee to sign. They read what had been written before and then filled in their page of the story, many colored in the black and white pictures as well. Each guest signed their name at the bottom of the page. It turned out to be a great way to get the whole family involved in the process.

After the party the birthday girl’s mom took the pages of our printable guest book home and bound them together by hole punching the sides and stringing ribbon through them- creating a story book. I’ve been told the birthday girl is having a blast reading her special birthday story over and over again.

Printable guest book

I am handing off this guest book for you to use and re-create. Print out the complete printable guest book template I created by clicking HERE. The book was created using pictures from a compilation of old story books. It prints in all black and white as to work with any part theme. There are 20 story pages included.

Have a table set up at your party for the printable guest book creation- set out the pages & pens or colored pencils to write. Set out a note explaining to all your party guests what to do.

Enjoy watching a riveting story come alive that you and the birthday child will treasure for years.

Photography Credits- Jackie Wonders

blessings.

PS. I have also designed a printable guest book for weddings that will be coming next month.

For today, the perfect picnic printable – a sweet little utensil pouch. A bit sporkish in design, I just adore the vintage charm of this download. Use the picnic printable to give your upcoming outdoor party or backyard BBQ an extra touch of charm for your guests.

The picnic printable utensil bag is a super quick party project, using only your printer and an old brown paper bag you can easily create these in mass.

Make your own picnic printable utensil bag:

• Cut a brown paper bag down the middle, open up and measure to 8 x 10 inches.
  
• Cut the bag around the measurements into an 8×10 paper size.
• Download the picnic printable utensil bag by clicking here.
• Stick your brown paper bag into the printer and run it through as you would paper.
  
• Fold the picnic printable bag at the side crease lines, cut down to size if you’d like your bags smaller.
  
• Seal the sides and bottom of the bag together with glue.

Enjoy having a sweetly hidden spot for your spork (or fork, or knife, or spoon) while you serve your guests under a tree.

See the rest of the picnic here, photography credits to Jackie Wonders.

blessings.

PS. I am really enjoying seeing the wonderful picnic photos that are popping up in my inbox. It will be so fun to share them with you later this month. You still have time to picnic with us and win great prizes- find out how- here.

I am so grateful Brittany sent in this sweet party. A Sip & See is a great alternative to a baby shower because you get to celebrate the new mom, plus have the joy of meeting a new baby. She used one of my favorite themes…

Nest Baby Shower

The nest baby shower featured a dessert bar filled with eggs of all sorts and backed by a “Welcome To The Nest” handmade banner. If making a banner seems too overwhelming our free printable CHIRP banner would be an easy alternative for creating your own nest baby shower theme.

Guests were greeted with this adorable wreath made especially for the nest baby shower by wrapping a foam wreath core with a white boa and hot gluing the coordinating feathers, ribbon and the sweet baby’s name.

Remembering our nest baby shower “peep show” I just adore how Brittany used chocolate and sprinkles to liven up her peep popsicle sticks.

Using Martha’s nest baby shower recipe the eggs and other desserts had lovely resting places. Larger nests were bought at a local craft store and used around the party room.

Brittany also created this homemade cupcake stand and is sharing the DIY with us today. It would be super easy to replicate for any upcoming party. In her own words below:

Homemade cupcake stand

• You will need two cardboard cake rounds (any size you would like–these are 12″ and 16″), scissors, double sided tape, ribbon, scrapbook paper of your choice, 2 cans of vegetables or soup.
• To start, you need to cover your rounds with your choice of scrapbook paper and use double sided tape to secure. This is tricky because of the size of scrapbook paper, but if you buy a pattern that repeats, or a solid color, you should be good to go.
• Next, I covered the outer edges of the cake rounds with a coordinating ribbon, so that the ugly corrugated cardboard did not show.
• Then, secure your cans together by stacking them and then taping them longways and also around the rims. Once you have done that, roll the cans in scrapbook paper and secure with double stick tape. Fold the edges down as you would when wrapping a present.
• Stack the stand together, securing with glue to hold. Wreaths & feathers give added nest baby shower detail to your stand.

Thanks so much Brittany for sharing this wonderful sip & see with us!

Nest baby shower photography credits: Wright Image Photography

blessings.