Work Hard & Party Hearty

Did you think we gave up blogging?  I can’t believe it is August already and summer is nearly over.  Here’s what has kept us so busy this summer.

Davis Ranch Craft Show

In mid-June we participated in the Corn Festival at Davis Ranch in Sloughhouse, CA.  It was tons of fun and I had great help from my friend Virginia. 

Un-wedding Reception

My nephew married his soul mate on June 29, 2012 so we celebrated their wedding with an Alice in Wonderland themed “Unwedding Reception” during our family reunion.  Here are some of the decorations we made.  It was so much fun putting this together for them.  They are such a sweet couple and truly are perfectly matched.

Paper Roses

We made tissue paper roses in various sizes to use for center pieces on the tables.  It was so easy.  Just cut 3 different size circles from tissue paper and stack them placing the smallest circle on top then the middle sized circles and finally the largest circle.  Punch a small hole in the center and insert a brad to hold the circles together.  Starting with the smallest circles, pinch each layer up tight to the center then when all the pedals have been fluffed; wire the flower to a florist pick so you can arrange them.  We used oversized tea cups and mugs as well as stacked regular sized tea cups.  These center pieces were very fun & inexpensive to make. 

 Framed Art Work

The drawings from the original Lewis Carroll version of Alice in Wonderland are now available to download so I made “framed”  works of art using small silver serving trays (say that fast three times) that I got at Dollar Tree.  I increased the size of the original pieces using a copy machine.  I centered the drawings on the back side of the trays and pressed down around the edges to create a crease which I could follow as I cut off the excess paper.  The drawings were attached to the bottom of the tray with double stick tape and the decorative edge of the tray created the perfect frame.  Cost per piece was $1.45.    We used these as table decorations along with the tea cup flower arrangements.

 White Rabbit  

This large framed picture was made by my friend Nancy who is so creative.  I gave her a copy of the rabbit which was Felicia’s favorite drawing in the story.  She used black and white fabric as a background and increased the size of the drawing which she mounted on cardstock.  She used a font that was similar to the Lewis Carroll Font to write the words and added some embellishments.  This now hangs in their home as a reminder of their special day.  Thank you Nancy!

 Mad Hatter Hat Party Favors

Felicia wanted the party favors to be in the shape of the Mad Hatter’s hat so I scanned through tons of ideas on Etsy and various party web sites but I just couldn’t come up with something that was pre-made that was affordable so I put my thinking cap on.  I purchased the "Tags, Bags, Boxes & More 2" cartridge for my Cricut because it has tons of different shapes of boxes.  I experimented with several boxes and finally settled on using a trapezoid box which we turned upside down.  We added ribbon trim and an oval paper brim base.  They were filled with sugar cookies that had a white chocolate rabbit on top and a small bottle of juice.  These were labeled with little tags that said "eat me" or "drink me".  We had a ton of fun putting these together the night before the reception. 

Team USA Popcorn

Since our family reunion began on July 27, 2012 which happened to be the opening day of the Olympics I made some special popcorn to show our support for the USA Team members.  It also kept the troops working as they helped prepare the decorations for the reception which was the next afternoon.

It was so easy and I got lots of requests for the recipe.  Here it is:

1.  6 regular size bags of Pop Secret Microwave popcorn

2.  1 bag each of Red, White, & Blue Candy Melts (Chocolate melts usually found in the party or wedding section at Wal-mart or JoAnns.)  Note that they only have a pastel blue so I added blue food color to make it darker.

3.  Pop two bags of popcorn.  Place in an extra large bowl making sure all the un-popped kernels are taken out then set it aside. 

4.  Place a bag of the candy melts in a dish and microwave until they are melted.  Follow package directions.  Stir the candies until they are smooth.  While the candy is still hot pour it over the popped corn.  Stir the candy and the corn together until all the corn is well coated.  The more you stir the more evenly the candy coats the corn. 

5.  Spread the coated popcorn onto two large cookie sheets that are lined with waxed paper to dry.  Let it dry for about 2 hours then break it up and store in an air tight container.  Repeat with the other two colors.  When all the corn is coated and dried you can mix the colors together.  I also added almonds, pecans, & raisins to the mix. 

All in all we had a great time at the unwedding reception and the family reunion.  Now it is back to reality and crafting.