marvelous mini

Bakerella...you have done it again.

I realize that these tasty treats are for Father's Day but they would be equally adorable for a mini party.   Who can resist little things...puppies, kittens, little food that can be devoured in a bite?

For the how to on these click here.

once upon a time

My family reads - we read a lot!  

My oldest daughter dreams of working at Borders just so she can smell the books - weird, huh?  But really she loves the smell of new books.  You should see her face light up when she steps into a book store and takes a deep breath. The other indicator of her love of reading  is that she was supposed to read 900 pages this semester in her advanced high school English class but instead she read nearly 2000 pages for the semester (that's not counting the required books she had to read - the 2000 pages were her free reading)

The husband just got a Kindle for Father's Day (yes, I gave it to him early) so that he could have 1000's of books at his fingertips.

We all spend time each day reading and loving it so imagine my thrill when I saw this table top design today on Once Wed.  The table was designed by the creative folks at Flush Designs. 

The book pages vase has me grinning from ear to ear.  It reminds me of the lamps I saw in an Anthropologie display a few months back that I have been wanting to recreate.

I love all those pages of words displayed so beautifully.

Back to the table...this idea can work not only for a wedding but would also be great for a book club dinner, a book release party, a book lovers birthday, teacher appreciation luncheon, graduation party - do you see the possibilities?!?!?

Now I'm off to snuggle on the couch with a good book.

last post for tonight - i promise

Love these!  Can I possibly get married again (to the same perfect man of course)?  I want these as my place cards.

a "sweet" chandelier

I am now obsessing over Once Wed.  There are so many fun, new, creative ideas. I continue to find photograph after photograph.  Check out this little object of desire...

a DIY Rock Candy Chandelier - I know, right?  It's awesome.  Directions can be found here. This would be a great addition to a candy/dessert display.  Its also beautiful enough to serve as decor throughout a party area

jacob

Yes, this and this are perfect - and now they are filed here and in my too easily distracted brain.

DIY...under the sea

I found this DIY napkin ring today and I love it.  The red coral would add just the right punch of color to a beautiful neutral colored beach themed table.  You can find directions at Craftstylish.

sippin' cider through a straw

photo via Oh Happy Day

I fell in love with these straws when Jordan posted them at Oh Happy Day for her old fashioned soda bar post.  If you haven't seen that post head over and check it out - adorable!

Today she posted the link for these fun straws.  You can find them at Kikkerland.

thumbs up

This party idea is along the lines of the staring contest party I posted about yesterday.  I found these....

while browsing the Paper Source website.  

Wouldn't his be a fun head to head competition?  Go all Lucha Libre and serve a mexican fiesta to your guests.  

never underestimate a balloon

I'm not big into balloon decor for parties but I fell in love with the balloon ceiling used for this Winter Wonderland party that I found at P is for Party.

Did I say yet that I'm loving the ceiling?

I was also excited to find Christi's blog, P is for Party.  Christi is a fairly new blogger so if you haven't visited her before stop by and tell her hi.  She has some great ideas and parties to share.

can i be invited

to this lovely outdoor party?

via Wide Open Spaces

you looking at me?

I love this party by Studio Number One that I found over at Cup of Jo.  I love a fresh new idea for a party

I am so planning this for my friends as well as for my 15 yr old daughter - what a fun end of school party.  I can only imagine the competition that would ensue between all the 15-17 yr olds.

Love, love, love new ideas!

take a bite out of these

For me the thrill of parties tends to be in the planning and not the actual party itself - I love the planning.  I love the party too but I get the most enjoyment out of letting my imagination go wild and coming up with creative party ideas or finding others creative ideas and incorporating them into my own parties.

I have been focusing my energies on the planning of a New Moon release party the last couple of days.  I love searching the internet and finding ideas but after so many hours spent searching the beloved computer I'm starting to find the same ideas and websites.  

So I was beyond excited when I came across a new idea that I hadn't found yet.  Check out these cookies that I found at Baking Bites.  I love them!  

I don't think I'm going totally vampire for the party - I just want some subtle vampiry-ness so I love the simpleness of these cookies - they're not so over the top vampire.

For those not big on Twilight these cookies could be made for a number of other party themes - Halloween being the obvious one.  These cookies would look great on a Halloween dessert bar.

This find has given me a renewed desire to continue to dig through the internet in hopes of finding even more ideas that I haven't seen yet.

fathers day

Wouldn't this be a cute way to fold your napkins for a Fathers Day feast?  Find the directions here.  You could also hit up Goodwill, The Salvation army or other thrift stores in search of old ties and incorporate them into your table decor.

movie madness

We all know I love a good party based on a movie or book.  My favorite movie/book themed party to throw is hands down Harry Potter - gotta love the wizard.  I'm still trying to decide if I want to move past my muggleness and throw a party for the movie this summer.  Part of me wants to wait and go big for the last movie.  My last HP shindig was for the final book release a couple years ago and part of me thinks it may still be too fresh in peoples minds.  Any thoughts?

But Harry Potter is not the only thing I'm here to wax philosophical on.  Let's move on to Twilight.  Is it evident yet that I'm not really into serious Academy Award winning movies? Bring on the fantasy and let me create a party based on it.

With two teenage daughters sharing my space you can only imagine the Twilight jive I have occupying my home.  There are at least 10 Stephanie Meyer books keeping residence on book shelves in our home - 4 of them being copies of Twilight - 3 of them because everyone has to read the book at exactly the same time and the 4th because my husband forgot to bring one of the copies with him on a family vacation (after we, the girls, begged him to read it) so of course we had to buy a 4th book.  The cool thing is they are all signed by Stephanie Meyer

The Host book signing where they allowed us to get copies of all her books signed.   

Surprisingly happy girls considering we spent hours waiting to get our books signed.

I'm getting seriously side tracked - back to parties.  So here are my thoughts...hold off on Harry and the crew until the last movie and focus my party planning skills on the November release of New Moon.  I've been wanting to throw a soiree in honor of Bella and Edward for awhile and this November seems to be as good a time as any.  I have to say I love that the movie is being released in November as opposed to a Summer release date - November is a more vampir-y month, don't you think?

While doing some planning and research I ran across this blog today, Tara's Twilight Party. I was excited to find her blog and got an extra bit of yippee when I noticed on her side bar that she had a list of other sites that were Twilight party focused.  I love me some good inspiration.

If you have any good Twilight ideas please feel free to share.  I'm still undecided on a direction to take for the party - do I go vampire?  How about modern like the Cullens home?  Do I set the scene in a meadow?  Do I fly myself and a hundred of my closest friends to Forks and have the bash there?  So many choices.  I'd love to hear what others have done or what you would do if you were throwing a Twilight party.

yarn yumminess

Is it bad that I want to book a flight to Paris just to go to this store?  Be still my heart - this store is amazing.

What are all those balls of happiness you ask?  Creative, beautiful balls of lights.  I love them - I want to marry them.

Can you picture a party with these?  I can and now I want to have that party.  If the party heavens are listening...please, please let me get my hands on these lights - I promise to throw a shindig that will match the splendor and glory of these balls.  Have I mentioned that I really love these?!?!?