Paris Themed Party Games

Hello and Happy Spring! There are many of Paris-themed party and shower ideas on the Internet, I wanted to add my 2¢ worth, since I thought some of the ideas were worth sharing.  Recently, Fun-Sized Chick had her 14th Birthday party.  Here's a rundown of what we did.

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Invitations:  I was going to order customized photo invitations from Etsy, but the date of her party kept changing, so I took matters into my own hands. I think we got a really cute result.

We purchased a beret and Paris themed scarf from eBay.  A friend went outside and shot a few photos.  I then used Picasa to add the party details.  They were printed within an hour at our local Walgreens.

Games:

Paris Bingo - I used landmarks, etc., and hand drew individual bingo cards.   They were topped off with a pink Paris stamp (which didn't scan).  When I called each symbol out, I had the explanation/history (copied and pasted from Wikipedia, mostly) that I briefly told the girls, i.e., a brief sentence or two on Marie Antoinette (1st picture, 3rd row down).

Pin the Beret on the Birthday girl - I sent one of the photos from the invitation shoot to Staples.  (You can do it through copy and print, choose an engineering print.)  We ordered the 24" x 36" size, at $3.49 and used sticky tack to adhere it to the wall.  We cut out pink and white berets before the party and the girls tried to stick the beret on Fun-Sized Chicks head.

Clothespin Butterflies - The girls made butterflies by folding a 3" x 5" index card in half, then cutting out a butterfly body.  Then they used markers and colored pencils and made their own creations.  Most of the girls made more than one butterfly.  The butterflies were then hot glued to clothespins.

Butterflies on the Eiffel Tower -

The girls added them to the Eiffel Tower (This wasn't a game, per se, but an activity.)

I cut out the Eiffel Tower using my jig saw and a thin piece of wood that was lying around the garage.  I tried to measure everything out, but ended up kind of free-handing the template as you can tell, if you look closely, that it's not really symmetrical.  Artsy Chick did all of the intricate painting.

Lastly, we did a "photo booth".  Nothing new here...Fun-Sized Chick made the lips, moustaches and eyeglasses.  We used an empty frame I had around.

I didn't go all-out, eye candy decorating, but I hung pom poms on the chandy and kept to pink/black/white accessories.  And, we finally conquered the cupcake icing!  All this time we've been experimenting and have had flat icing.  I Googled a recipe and found one that worked perfectly from Taste of Home.

Fun-Sized Chick made all of the picks using our die cutter and Paris-themed stamps (found at JoAnns, they are Fiskars, 12 Simple Stick, Paris motif), she also piped all of the frosting.

There was a lollipop bouquet that was part of the centerpiece.  I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Flower die.  I have made this before doing all freehand flowers, seen HERE.

Lastly, Treat Bags - We used plain white lunch bags, used rubber stamps on them, filled them with nail polish and candy that was part of the centerpiece, and the girls were able to clip them shut with their butterfly clothespins.

Thanks for stopping in, I hope I've inspired you!

 

Christmas Home 2012

Hi all!  I wanted to pop in and show you my Christmas decor this year.  I'm really rusty at posts, so please bare with me.  I'm adding blues to my living room, so it's looking nice and fresh to me.

 

I almost, almost, donated the Santa to the thrift store.  The wreath is just refaced with blues and Martha Stewart owls--Tip:  The ribbon was from florals, not the Christmas section at JoAnns.

You have not seen this trumeau.  It's done in chalk paint, and although it's been up since summer time, I haven't waxed it yet--oy!

One of my favorite new aquisitions, a jewelry holder from Target, festooned to resemble a Christmas tree.

Similar to what I've had here in the past--another NEWBIE--dark brown paint on the wall.  Vintage ornaments from the thrift store are in the glass vase.

Although, homemade tool boxes are all the rage, I broke down and purchased one (I know, "Gasp!", right?) from Home Goods.

For those of you who have hung out here before, you may notice that we've moved into the family room area.  This is my favorite new display this year--ornaments in  BIRD CAGE!  I got this idea either from a magazine or online this year, I forget.

This area suffered a little since I was getting ready for a party and ran out of time--there is now an oversized bow draping the boxes.  I'm going to make a note to make up wrapped gifts for the sleight next year.  This sleigh has been tucked away for who-knows-how-long? in a box in the garage marked "linen closet" that I opened up this summer to see what on earth was in it.  It was all Christmas decor.  The deer were a new purchase from Lowes.

I just love this little set up. I was going to give the sleigh basket away as a door prize, but found this little deer at Home Goods and used oversized candy canes for the runners.

I didn't mean for this post to be an ongoing commericial for Christmas products--I just wanted to let you in on my freshening up of the house.  Coming next...

This is a sneak-peek of my tree topper (hint:  Made from a sliced off oatmeal canister!).  The tree has been redone in blues, and since I didn't want to spend much, I hand made almost all of the ornaments.  I'm really excited to share one, in particular, with you, as I think you'll be able to use it for your own homes in the future.  Another hint:  I used the last of the coffee sack I won from Marty long ago!

Restoration Hardware Wanna-Be Chair

We are heading off to vacation tomorrow morning--so what am I doing on the computer?!  I thought it would be a great time to share my Restoration Hardware Wanna-Be Chair with you -- finally!

Mine
(Okay, I guess I could have scraped even more paint off)

Theirs
Sells between $595 and $790

I bought two of these burgundy chairs (from Craigslist) and it only took me until 2012 to finish the second one!  Inspiration had to strike, I guess.   It just got all of the double welting finished last week.  The fabric is a linen-look blend.  Plus, I'm telling ya it's really comfortable, maybe because it's a Thomasville.  (I will probably be selling this chair.  If you are in the Tampa Bay area and are interested leave me a comment or email.  Crazy, I know, but I'm trying to weed out my furniture, um, collection.)

(I made the welt cutting about 2 1/4" bias strip of the fabric, then folded in a single piece of cotton welt and stitched, then added the second welt piece folding the remaining fabric over and stitching with my double welt presser foot.  Here's a double welt tutorial at Much to do With Nothing for you to check out.)

To see the first chair and how I got to this point, click HERE.

I'm so out of practice for blog posts, I barely know how to compose one, anymore.  I'm making changes in my living room and hope to be able to show them to you before long--hint--I'm making it less formal and adding a pretty aqua blue.

 

A great-big shout out "Thanks!" to my friend, Kathleen, at Charm Bracelet Diva for cluing me in that I would have fewer problems if I switched over to Google Chrome!

Quick Bench Turnaround

No matter when I sign into Blogger, it boots me off and gives me all kinds of problems.  (Obviously, I haven't switched over to WordPress.)   It tells me I need to update my browser.  Darling Husband will have to take care of that for me.  Meanwhile, I'm just going to complain, although that's not very productive.

On to what I am planning to blog about---one of my quickest redoes ever.  Friday night, whilst I was surfing Craigslist, which has become quite the hobby, I found a bench.  My mom was using an over-sized leather ottoman in her foyer area to sit and put her shoes on.  I finally got that big monster out of there and to the consignment store, but she still wanted a bench to use in that spot.  (Never mind there is a kitchen chair on wheels about one step away.)  Anyway, a bench showed up not too far away and was part of an advertisement for a Saturday garage sale.

My Darling Husband and I went out to get coffee Saturday a.m. and I asked him "pretty please" if we could go check it out.  The woman was selling lots of furniture.  At first I didn't see the bench, but it was hidden back in the recesses of the garage.  Phew! 

The top photo is how I bought it.  Notice the gray spot in the upper right corner?  It looked like someone used spray paint and it bubbled up.  The middle photo is test-driving a fabric leftover from a former slipcover.  The last photo is the finished project, of course.  The gray spot was sanded and then I used black gloss paint and lightly feather-sprayed over it.  You'll probably notice, too, that I left the welting right on the fabric, as it's at the ends of the bench.  You'll see a closeup of it in the very first photo.

Hmm, interestingly enough, it "just happens" to go with this table runner.  Seen at THIS post.

I'm so glad I'm finally getting this post up.  I've tried several times on my computer, but happen to be on the "big" family computer this afternoon.  Go me!  I'm so happy to be here remotely connecting with you all!

Hugs!