NYE Sparkle

This year we hosted a mini get together to ring in the new year. I was so cool I set an alarm on my phone, took a nap, woke up with 10 minutes left to enjoy 2013, Skype-celebrated 2014, then went back to bed. :)

Luckily for me, when it comes to crafting I can always enlist the help of Chrissy. I found a few things on Pinterest I felt I NEEDED to try for our New Years Eve party… and they mostly involved glitter {my favorite}!

We decided to create a little tablescape, some fun treats, and a banner for photo op's:

Happy New Year Banner

{black card stock cut into triangles, letters, numbers, and shapes cut into gold and silver glitter paper}

We used Cricut cartridge George and Basic Shapes 

{This cartridge is retired but you can find it on ebay!}

The star garland hanging under the banner is from Party City. 

Kyle had to work so we snuck in our nye smooch early

Mama and her girls

Strawberries and raspberries floating in champagne, chocolate creme with ganache and whipped cream topping - my idea of dessert

Chrissy and Jared

Glittered Champagne Bottles

{Martini & Rossi Asti Champagne, Krylon Low Odor Spray Glue, Gold and Silver Glitter}

This is one of my favorite bottles of champagne. I stock up for all occasions - SO DELICIOUS! We decided to glitter the bottles and the bottoms of the champagne flutes. The flutes were a great idea in two ways: 1. They match and we got to glitter more things! 2. It bonded the top part of the flute with the bottom so we didn't have to worry about them falling off throughout the night.

We spread out a large, black trash bag in the well ventilated garage and started with the first bottle. We sprayed one side of the bottle {glue comes out white and dries clear} then covered in glitter. {Gloves are a MUST} We did two coats on the bottles and one on the flutes. 

Champagne Flutes from Party City; we did 10 gold and 10 silver.

Red Rooster from the Food Network

{This was probably really good - but we forgot about it, and it's still in the freezer. Whoops!}

It turns into vodka slushy goodness. 

I saw this adorable idea on Pinterest. Since I fell into the category of being midnight kiss-less I knew I had to make it. {and I wanted to practice more with my calligraphy pen}

Cutout stars from the same cricut cartridge mentioned above in black, gold, and silver. Left over gold Mardi Gras beads in the bottom of a small fishbowl, blowers from Party City. 

Napkins from Party City

We did a countdown along the edge of the table on the Cricut too. 

Everyone had a great time ringing in the new year - I think. ;) I hope your year is full of blessings and happiness. 2013 had quite a few ups and downs for me. I know it's so cliche to say 'this next year holds so much promise' but I really do believe that. I've pulled together a couple resolutions for this year. I wrote them down in my journal, tucked them into my bible, saved a picture on my cellphone, and told people around me so now I HAVE to keep them:

1. Spend at least 5 days per week in my bible studying Gods word

2. Exercise at least 3 days per week {I didn't specify go to the gym - exercise can be subjective...}

3. Complete my business plan {good things to come when this happens!}

4. Do one selfless act per week

Happy New Year!

xoxo

J

Pumpkin Patch Perfection

Hello Everyone!

I threw a pumpkin carving party this year for Halloween! It was so much fun. I love creating festive touches during the holidays and I thought hosting a carving party would be a great way to decorate my apartment and spend some time with my friends. I enlisted the help of one of my favorite uncles, Joe! He is the mastermind/ executioner behind my party planning.

There were so many little details that made the entire evening a complete success. Planning a party while juggling a full time job is not the easiest of tasks. I wouldn't have been able to pull everything together without Uncle Joe. So a gigantic THANK YOU is necessary.

We started with the entryway. The lighting was distorted with aluminum foil and the spider egg sacks (gross!!) were made from Epson Salt filled balloons in stalkings (with a glow stick to illuminate the spiders). They were wrapped in spider webbing and hung with tiny nails from the ceiling. Spider webbing was draped from the walls with lots of spiders! [It still freaks me out]. We added in a little something special... the large spider in front of the door is harnessed to a string that pulls open when the door is opened so my guests were greeted with a scampering spider up the door. (pictures below!)

Walking into the living room you're not quite sure where to look first. Along the crown molding is a boarder of black and orange crepe paper, bats, and balloons. Along the walls is a black crepe paper fence with a watchful crow and more bats! Those were fun to cut out- I was inspired by these bats on Paper Crave.

In the windows you'll see 'traveling ghosts' inspired by Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. We used white balloons, drew scary faces, and put glow sticks inside before blowing them up. We hung plastic drop plastic with painters tape and sprayed green glow in the dark paint to be picked up by the black light bulbs.

Over the television hung the ghastly ghost to ensure fright and fun were taking place during the party. In front of the ghost was a table covered in painters drop plastic to keep pumpkin guts from getting everywhere! (We put plastic on the floor too, which made for easy clean up). I created basic center pieces from tall vases filled with glow bracelets for the guests and vampire fangs. Pumpkin carving kits, templates, and goodie bags filled with candy held places for each of my guests.

The food table was quite a spread! Name tags for each of the dishes with fun names informed guests what they were eating. We had Cranium Cheese in the shape of a brain, Witch Digits with almond finger nails, Moldy Mustard, Weiner Worms, Hobgoblin Eggs, Cemetery Crudite, and Devils' Eggs with red food coloring veins to name a few. I also applied some stickers to cover the real bottle labels with more fun Halloween inspired names.

The last surprise for my guests was in the bathroom. A white cloth was hung over the shower curtain with bloody handprints and slashes through the material. The mirror had bloody handprints and splatters, and a message in blood (red paint) explaining the need for carnage.  Red lights and a knife on the counter completed the horror movie scene.

Here are some pictures of the party. I had so much fun putting everything together (with lots and lots of help!) and seeing the looks on my friends faces during the evening.

Food Spread

Batty Behavior

Watchful Crow

Ghost Faces

Pinterest Creation. Click here to learn how

Allison and the Spider Cider (or Captain Morgan)

Lovely ladies

Ghastly Ghost overlooking the carving table

Jack-o-lanterns!

Spider egg sacks. I forgot to take pictures at night but just as creepy in the day.

My Snow White Pumpkin

Thank you to everyone who helped and everyone who attended.