diy party

World Oral Health Day DIY Banner

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

It is World Oral Health Day! My mom has worked for the same dentist for 44 years. Needless to say, oral health care was very important in our household. I wanted to make something special for Dr. T’s office as he has known me since before I was born and has taken such good care of not only my teeth but our entire family’s teeth. My mom and I designed this banner to hang in the waiting room and I am going to show you how you can make this DIY banner with customizable bunting shapes without the use of a cutting machine!

See how you can contribute to a really great cause, Cheerful Heart Mission and my tutorial for your own DIY banner on the Cardstock Warehouse Blog!

CRAFT NIGHT – FELT FLOWERS

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

A Peace of Creativity teamed up with Sara’s Bud Shop for a craft night full of making beautiful felt flowers!

The room was filled with inspirational photos, real flowers, and wool blend felt and poms in gorgeous colors from Benzie Design.

Each seat was set with a floral place card made with Cardstock Warehouse paper, a gold metal macrame ring to make a wreath, a glue gun mat, a goodie bag and their personal felt colors.

I had to include this lemon tart because my best friend made it but mostly because it’s beautiful!

And now for the best part!

These ladies were felt flower rock stars. Sara gave them the basics of flower construction along with some tips and tricks and they took it and ran with it, making each flower and each wreath their own. Some invented their own petal and leaf shapes and one even added an adorable little bee. See if you can find it in the photos above!

I know I say it every time but I always end these nights feeling so impressed and fulfilled. I love that everyone had fun and that they are taking something beautiful home that makes them proud to say, I made that!

Huge thanks to Sara from Sara’s Bud Shop for building out the tutorial, giving one on one instruction and making everyone feel comfortable and confident in their abilities!

 

 

A Metallic Garden Bridal Shower

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

My sister Sara is getting married! The bridal shower kicked off all of the wedding festivities so Emily, our youngest sister, and I wanted to make sure we set the tone right. Not gonna lie, the tone was really hard for me to get a handle on as I kept wavering between a lot of different themes and looks to the shower. Emily set us on the right track when she sent me a color palette that she thought really resembled Sara’s tastes. From there, I was able to base almost every decor decision on that color palette.

TIP: When planning an event’s decor, find one or two inspiration pieces (a color palette, a swatch of fabric, a paper print, a piece of home decor, a bouquet of flowers, etc.) that will be your guide. Measure each decor decision on those inspiration pieces and you will have a cohesive look to your party!

I love decorating my front door for events. For one, it let’s your guests know they have the right house and I think it just adds to the party atmosphere.  Sara’s taste is a sort of classy, minimalist with just a touch of pop whether that be metallic or floral or color. She loves clean lines and simple design and I tried to tailor the look of that in her invites.

The entry way is always a fun place for me to decorate. Emily inspired my cherry blossom banner and doily cut-outs in her suggestion to use circles in the decor. And we found this AMAZING letter board on sale the day before the shower.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the Amazon links below.

The favors were handmade, scented gem soaps, made by Ems! (Tutorial here) Each color was a different scent, rosemary, tea tree, eucalyptus and lavender!

As with any design aspect of our party, the favor packaging was very important. We needed the outside to match the amazing soap inside. I was introduced to Cream City Ribbon and the beautiful ribbons they make. They were the perfect addition to the favors as Sara has a deep love and appreciation of artisanal work and these are made on machines from the 1920’s!  See more here!

The only instruction Sara told me and Ems was “No cheesy games!” LOL! Is there anyone out there that actually likes those cheesy shower games??? If so, I have not met them yet. Sara and Cole love to eat and cook and as Cole is vegetarian, they could always use more options of meals they can enjoy together as a couple. Recipe cards were sent out in the mail with the invite and we asked that they write down their fav dish (veg appreciated) and bring it to the shower. Our other activities included a date night idea jar and the ring game! Aren’t those rings adorable? They are erasers believe it or not! You can find them here.

All of these floral handkerchiefs belonged to our grandmother who passed recently and it was a nice way of having a part of her there.

My favorite party drinkware are the glasses from the dollar store! The best part is that they are all plastic. The little “love” swizzle sticks completed the picture.

In typical brunch fashion, there were a lot of cute, little bites to eat: mini pancakes, egg souffle, cut fruit and mini yogurt parfaits… with the centerpiece being my paper leaf and metallic octagon chandelier. Tutorial here!

Our local Spudnuts donut shop not only has the best tasting donuts but they do custom decorations! They were able to swash these with light strokes of metallic edible paint for me and they could not have been more perfect. Especially with their glitter gem toppers.

Have I told you guys how much I love my Cricut? I mean, look what it does for me! If you have the vision, it can make it!

Custom cut doilies, leaves and metallic octogans hung from the patio lights and decorated the tables.

TIP: Use your Cricut “weeds” or the cut-out parts you are not going to use, as confetti!

Last, but not least, there is a wall in my dining room that I always like to use as a photo wall. See my other photo backdrop here.

TIP: A photo wall not only adds more decor to the event but is a great reminder to take photos!

I covered the painting that was already hanging there in craft paper and Emily found the most perfect colored streamers (teal, peach and grey) and hung them as a backdrop.

Happy to say, that despite the 100 degree weather, the event was a complete success just based on seeing our sister’s face and hearing her reaction when she walked in the door and I hoped she felt very loved! Stay tuned for the next event, the Palm Springs trip!


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Craft Night – Yarn Wall Hanging

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

You guys! I had my very first craft night and I can honestly say that it was a huge success. I wanted to give you all the details as well as some tips if you are looking to put on one of your own!

I have wanted to put on my own craft night ever since going to the one put on by my girl Desiree from Heirloom Paper. It was such a fulfilling creative outlet, a fun night out with friends and a great way to meet others who love/aspire to be more crafty. More than 2 YEARS (!!!) later, it finally seemed like the right time to jump in and do it and the yarn wall hanging was the perfect first craft.




TIP: When picking a craft, make sure to teach something you have done before. I know this seems like common sense, but you really don’t know how involved it can get or how long something will take until you have tried it for yourself. I doubt you or your guests want a 6 hour craft night or something too hard that it becomes frustrating.

The yarn wall hanging I made was on display and since this was my first (aka tester) craft night, I wanted to give a special thanks to all of my guests with these handmade pom pom & tassel keychains. (Tutorial here!)

Upon receiving everyone’s RSVP, I made sure to ask if they had a preference on yarn color. I really wanted this to be something they would love and want to display proudly in their homes. There were also inspirational photos sent out a couple days before the event and up during the night.

TIP: Give your guests lots of ideas and different ways to make the craft their own. Not everyone has the same style, so it is important to give your guests options. I know that if I am tasked with a new craft, I need to see what other’s have done first before deciding on what I want mine to look like. Give them enough time to see some options and make sure to have them available at your event.

Can I tell you how happy all of these colors make me!These next few photos should speak for themselves really. LOL! My secret: good ol’ Trader Joes.

TIP: Have food and drink ready! Now, I love throwing parties, so your spread does not have to look like this, but I do feel like going the extra step just adds to the ambience of the whole night. If you are having a craft night, there is not usually time or set-up available to add dinner in there, so I would suggest light apps and/or desserts.  Just make sure to warn your guest to eat their meal beforehand!

P.S. Check out those adorable (and disposable!) wine and water glasses! See how I made them here.






For the crafting areas, a layer of kraft paper served to protect the tables but also to give the space a more uniformed look. Each seat had a set of tools needed and if you need your guests to share, just put them in the middle for them to take turns. 

TIP: Have seating assignments. I know, I know…this can be somewhat “controversial.” But seating always gives me a little anxiety if I don’t know where to sit and if your guests know their seat is saved, there is no need for them to hover around their area or claim their spot before the event begins. The trick to this is to make sure to place groups that come together next to each other!

After some mingling, drinking & eating time, there was a quick intro by me and a short tutorial to get everyone started.

TIP: Make a somewhat loose schedule for how you want your night to go. This will help you to keep the night on track and to get your guests started doing what they came to do!

I was so happy to see how everyone got straight to it! Some knew exactly what they wanted to do first and the others that didn’t took time to wander around, look at the inspiration pieces or to see what others were doing until they got their spark. I LOVED seeing people ask others for suggestions or opinions and making crafting a communal and social activity. No one was afraid to try anything and if they didn’t like it, they took it out and started again.




TIP: If you are hosting/teaching, make yourself the non-official expert/consultant for the night. This does not mean that you have to know how to do everything. Believe me, I could not remember for the life of me how to macrame that night and I have done it a couple times before! But you should be available to help your guests figure out what to do by giving them options or talking out their ideas with you.

This was one of my favorite parts: being able to help someone fulfill their vision!

Craft Night

Most of all, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED seeing everyone’s makes. They were all SO different and so much like the person that made them. I cannot say enough how impressed I am by how they turned out, especially from those that have expressed to me before that they are “not crafty.” Yea… I don’t think they can tell me that again!

Aren’t they amazing!!! The wall hangings and the women that made them! Not like there was much doubt before, but I am definitely doing more of these in the future. I even have the next couple crafts picked out, so make sure to follow along!





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A Balloons & Bubbly Sprinkle

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

On my husband’s side, between him and his two sisters, there have been 6 grandkids born in 4 years! With the next making her grand appearance this summer, we wanted to celebrate my sister in law and our new niece with a little sprinkle and the theme was Balloons & Bubbly! Two things that are very hard not to love and to decorate for. Needless to say, I was excited to help plan it and my inspiration: rose gold, blush and champagne. The drink and the color!

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the links below.

In the entryway, I borrowed a gorgeous gold sequined table cloth from a dear friend to cover the console table. (Remember A Rustic, Glam Wedding?) Yes, it was gorgeous! It was the perfect place for the favors: bottles of rose champagne and rose gold goodie bags with personalized handwritten tags.

Going with the theme, goodies for the guest included everything that “pops”: bubbly, bubblegum, blow pops and popcorn!

A big thing right now is metallic cutlery and I was able to find these rose gold plastic forks, just perfect to eat the mini blush cupcakes with pearl sprinkles.

I used white melting chocolates to lighten up the pink ones to a very light blush color as well and decorated them with pearl white and gold sprinkles.

Using chiffon and tulle fabric strips, I strung them across the fireplace for a whimsical and feminine tassel garland.  TIP: To give your fabric garland a more modern feel, try to keep each strip a uniform length and thickness. Also cut away any loose strings or frayed edges.

For parties and events, I love creating my own floral arrangements.  I picked up a bunch of blush and light green roses and a bouquet of mixed white and green flowers.  I always have a bunch of different shaped vases in the house and even use my tealight holders for the cutest mini arrangements.

Can you believe these champagne glasses are from the dollar store??? Since the party was on the smaller side (about 12 people), I wanted to personalize the glasses and decided to make custom initial charms.  See the tutorial here!

Hanging over the dining room table, were diamond honeycomb decorations that I added rose, blush and champagne colored ribbon to. TIP: If you purchase decorations, try to find ones in basic solid colors or shapes that can be reused at other events.  Small elements like ribbons can personalize it to the event’s theme.

To go with the bubbly theme, I used lots of clear balloons. I strung some and put them over the sliding doors and windows and also made a balloon wall where guests could take pictures. See how I made it here!

Since it was a “sprinkle” we wanted most of the time for my sister in law to visit with her close friends and family.  We did include a small activity where guests could write endearing and funny messages on diapers for those rough midnight changings.

Honestly, I never really understood the concept of the “sprinkle” as I always thought that having another shower, which is basically what a sprinkle is, was a faux pas.  But now, having had 3 kids, I really think it is not a shower but more of a last hurrah before the baby comes.  A reason to throw a party and celebrate with all of the people closest to you before you become twice (or more!) as busy as you were before!

 

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Balloon Photo Wall

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the links below.

I have always wanted to make one of those super full and bubbly balloon arches and the Balloons & Bubbly Sprinkle was the perfect opportunity to try it. Did you know that you can actually purchase balloon decorative strip just for making balloon arches?  I decided to save the $7 and work with my good ol’ butcher’s twine instead.

You will need:

If you have ever tried blowing up a water balloon, it is nearly impossible! I suggest the party balloon pump for the smaller balloons.  It will save your cheeks! After blowing up the white balloons, tie them to the string anywhere from 3-5 inches apart. It really depends on how full you want your garland to be.

After all of your “base color” balloons are tied on, in my case clear, attach it to the wall in the shape you want it. It will be easier to place the other colors and sizes in the exact places you want them. My balloon garland was used to accent this foil “love” balloon.Roll a piece of clear tape and stick it to the side of the other balloons.  Find the spot you want it to go and stick it to one of the base colored balloons. Some may need more than one piece of rolled tape just to make sure it stays in place.




Continue on with all of your different colors and sizes!

Your wall is ready and just waiting for photos to be taken. Here is the guest of honor and her family of 3 soon to be 4!

Did you see the Champagne Glass Charms for the Balloons & Bubbly Sprinkle? See the rest of the party HERE!




Champagne Glass Charms

| mel@apeaceofcreativity.com

If you are anything like me, at parties you lose your glass.  Sometimes, I spend a good 2-3 minutes circling the room looking for my drink, so thank goodness for charms! I know this one is mine!

I found these beautiful plastic champagne glasses for the sprinkle I was helping to throw for my sister-in-law but did not have enough wine charms for all of them. I wanted to reuse them so permanent marker was not an option. That’s when I decided to make my own.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation if you make a purchase using the links below.

You will need:

  • Scrapbook paper (cardstock thickness)
  • Circle cutter or paper punch
  • Wine glass charm rings (these are not the ones I bought but are similar)
  • Pearl seed beads
  • Scrapbooking letters

Using the letters, I personalized each circle with the guest’s first initial.  These letters added some extra glitz with the sparkles.

If you have two people with the same first initial, I added a small cursive last initial. If you have two with the same first and last initial, you can always add a distinguishing feature like a small star or sticker embellishment. After stringing the charm hoops with the seed pearls, I punched a hole at the top of each of the circles and attached the hoops.

Annnnnnnnd, that’s it! Perfect for the Balloons & Bubbly theme.

Did you see the Balloon Photo Wall for the Balloons & Bubbly Sprinkle? See the rest of the party HERE!

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