After all of the fun we had putting together some DIY details for Thanksgiving, Julie from Posh & Prep and I got crafty and created a few fun handmade elements to add your Christmas parties and celebrations. Julie lent her fabulous hand-lettering to create the easiest place card favor: a classic christmas ornament personalized with gold ink calligraphy in each guests name.
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This is our very first year with a full-sized Christmas tree! I loved my little apartment-sized bookshelf trees we had in years past, but gosh is it fun to decorate a big tree in our new home — it feels just a little more like the holidays seeing it in our breakfast nook. One challenge with upgrading from a mini-tree to a 7ft tall tree is we never really owned full-sized ornaments. I have been on the hunt for the perfect colored glass balls to fill in the gaps between our smaller, more sentimental ornaments. Of course, I gravitated right to bright-colors and expensive price tags (like these and these), but couldn’t justify breaking the bank when I knew I needed lots of them. So I DIY’ed my own in the simplest way possible!
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We’ve been in our house for exactly one month now, and are starting to finally feel settled (yay!), but aren’t in a place yet to be hosting a massive Thanksgiving dinner. I dream of this though! Maybe in the next few years we’ll be ready to host on our own, I mean, it’s basically the Super Bowl of entertaining and eating and I think I’d be a pretty strong contender at that game (ladies and gentlemen, the first time a sportsanalogy has ever been used on this site!). Even though I’m not hosting, I still have lots of ideas for a spectacular Thanksgiving tables to share, so I worked with Julie from Posh & Prep Calligraphy to come up with a few special details that are easy to translate to your own turkey day celebrations!
If I was queen of anything, I think I’d probably be the queen of the last-minute DIY. I wish I was one of those bloggers that plans her awesome ideas months in advance so I could just hit publish a week before an event, but my best inspiration always seems to pop up the day before a holiday! Case and point: my derby day DIY epiphany popped into my head earlier this weekend. The good news is that this DIY concept can be used in dozens of different ways for many holidays to come, using gold clay and wooden skewers to make some horseshoe drink stirrers.
The instructions are simple: roll out modeling clay to about 1/4″ thickness and use an exacto-knife to cut out your shape — in this case, a simple horseshoe. Next, use a small wooden toothpick or dowel to add details before popping the pieces in a 275 degree oven for 15 minutes. Once the pieces have cooked, hardened, and cooled, use a tiny drop of hot glue to affix to a wooden skewer. Let the glue set and you’re ready to pop them into a mint julep or cocktail of your choice!
Why is it that of all of the party wares you can buy, that drinkware is always the most plain and boring? I mean, what’s more fun than DRINKS people? I have found it quite tough to find fun, festive options for disposable glasses, so I decided to come up with a way to make them more festive on my own — this is such a simple idea that I’m kind of kicking myself for not coming up with it earlier. I purchased simple clear plastic cups from the party store and then used printable colored labels from Paper Source to write out a fun phrase (since these were for a morning event, I wrote “good mornin’ sunshine” on the stickers). After printing them out at home, I simply adhered the stickers to the cups before serving a tasty rosemary lemonade in them. I’m positive I’ll be replicating this idea for many parties in my future!
I think we all deserve a little extra perk of Spring-y goodness in our Easter celebrations this weekend after the winter that we’ve had, right? So I thought up a fun party detail: bunny straws! The assembly is simple: cut out a small white outline of a bunny head; using a glue stick add on small nose and pinks of the ears. Finish them off with a hand drawn set of eyes and whiskers. Then glue the bunnies right to the striped straw (I chose pink and green ones!), leaving enough room so that they’ll pop out of the glass, but don’t touch the top of the straw. I can’t wait to pop these cute little guys into a mimosa this weekend!
Over the weekend the lovely team at Jonathan Adler invited me to host a little Holi-DIY party for some of my best Boston bloggers buddies in their Chestnut Hill store. Our project for the day was a felt-monogram gift tag that doubles as a keepsake ornament once your friends and family open their gifts! I used a simple tutorial to create the monogrammed felt tags and everyone crafted up a bunch in bright jewel toned (and Jonathan Adler-inspired!) colors. Honestly, what’s better than a chilly winter morning working on holiday crafts with your girlfriends? After popping a little champagne, the JA team sent us home with some festive holiday swag — the perfect ending to a Holi-DIY fete! 
Those that know me well know that I like to brunch, and brunch hard. Among my favorite brunch elements is the Bloody Mary. I love a Bloody Mary for a few reasons: first, they always give me this little burst of nostalgia reminding me of my when I was a kid and my dad would order them when we were on vacation. Every time I order one I get transported back to the porch of the Spring House Hotel in Block Island and think about my dad sipping one on a sunny summer day. I also love them because I’m a sucker for any sort of savory, salty drink; I also love the garnishing options — a big spear of green olives for me please! One of my best buds also has this same affinity for Bloody Marys, so this year for her birthday I made her a little Bloody Mary kit as a party favor. A small jar of Bloody Mary mix, a pair of vodka nips, and teeny-tiny tabasco bottles for a little bit of spice made up a Bloody Mary-on-the-go! I think it’s a perfect idea for a little hostess gift, or favor for a post-wedding brunch!
I don’t know about you guys, but this past weekend felt like a summer weekend to me — we had our first warm night out on the porch with friends and sipped on some warm weather beverages. With Memorial Day coming up this weekend, I partnered with Seagram’s Escapes to put together a little DIY to get you in the summer entertaining spirit! I am a fan of all things nautical, and decided to customize some koozies to keep my cocktails cool as the temperature rises. Read on for instructions to create your own nautical drink koozies.
To start, use painters tape to mark off the stripes at consistent intervals on plain white drink koozies (I use the width of the tape to mark off where the next one starts to space them evenly). Once the stripes are taped off, paint the space between the taped lines and let it dry completely before removing the tape. Next, use a pencil to mark off your design — I used a stencil to draw an anchor for a nautical motif — and paint inside the traced shape. You may need to use two coats of paint when using a lighter color over a dark stripe. Be sure to let the koozies dry completely before using!
If you’re interested in getting into the summer entertaining spirit, head over to the Seagram’s Escapes Facebook page and enter to win a Seagram’s Escapes party kit!
This post was sponsored by Seagram’s Escapes; all opinions and DIY ideas are my own.
To make your own custom koozies visit: Imprinted Koozies
There is no better day than Cinco de Mayo to add a little extra flair to your cocktail, am I right? Which is why I made some pinata-inspired drink markers for our margaritas this year. Here’s how you make them: first, trace the bottom of your margaritas glasses on a piece of card-stock and cut out the circle. Then cut into the center of the circle about halfway, and cut out a smaller circle a little bigger than the circumference of the glass stem. Using strips of colored tissue paper, use fringe scissors to cut fringe. Cover the card-stock circle with glue and then start to wrap the fringed tissue paper around the outside. Repeat and layer on each new color until you’ve covered the full circle, and tuck the ends of the inner layer underneath the center circle to finish. Then slip your little pinata-inspired drink marker on to the bottom of your margarita and get ready to fiesta (think about making them in different colors to help your party guests identify their drinks!).
