Jewel Box Ballerina $100 Giveaway!

*UPDATE* This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to comment #64, abwinebrenner@yahoo.com! Thanks to all who entered!

I'm very excited about this week's WONDERFUL GIVEAWAY from Jewel Box Ballerina! Win $100 in beautiful fabric & feather flower tutorials! You know that you want to learn how to make these beauties!

Jewel Box Ballerina creates tutorials on how to make fabric and feather flowers that can be used for weddings, party decor and favors, photo props, children's accessories, and even home decor. Her tutorial patterns have full color images and easy to follow step by step instructions that will help the reader create fabric flowers with professional results. 

-To complement the fabric and feather flower tutorials, Jewel Box has made free tutorials on their website on how to use the feather and fabric flowers like:

How to Make Embellished Boutique Elastic Lace / Skinny Headband (with sizing chart)
How to Assemble a Bouquet
How to Make a Fabric or Feather Flower Pen
How to Make a Bracelet
How to Make a Ring
How to Make a Flower Stem
How to Make a Flower Brooch
How to Make a Flower Clip
How to Make Shoe Clips
How to Make a Ring Pillow
How to Make a Fascinator

You can find more details in their shop at www.jewelboxballerina.com

Want to save 20% during the giveaway? Use code 'KARA20' at checkout!

Enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post...

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

You can leave up to 8 separate comments if you do all of the following items below. Each entry will be verified. Please leave your email address if it isn't available via your profile.

1. Visit Jewel Box Ballerina, choose your favorite tutorials, then come back & leave a comment about which ones they were.

2. Like jewelboxballerina on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jewelboxballerina and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

3. Follow jewelboxballerina on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jewelballerina and come back here to leave a comment saying you did so.

4. Follow jewelboxballerina on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/jewelballerina/ and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

Extra Entries: 

5. Share a link to this giveaway on your Blog and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

6. Share a link to this giveaway on Facebook and come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

7. Share a link to this giveaway on Twitter then come back and comment saying you did so.

8. Pin some photos in Jewel Box Ballerina's website & come back and leave a comment saying you did so.

Don't forget to save 20% during the giveaway by using code 'KARA20' at checkout!

*Giveaway ends on Tuesday, February 7th at 11:59 PM*

1950s Happy Housewife Bridal Shower

Today's winning party feature goes to this amazing 1950s HAPPY HOUSEWIFE BRIDAL SHOWER submitted by Kio Kreations!  WOW, Now this is FUN. A bunch of talented vendors came together this past June to create this lovely shoot. Everything is just perfect! You must check out the DIY mini soap bottle aprons {tutorial, etc below}!

Kristen of Kio Kreations said..."Inspired by 1950s housewife meets Katy Perry and Dita Von Teese, we came up with a bright, cheeky bridal shower theme that every Peggy Sue would love to be a part of! And what’s more fun than getting dolled up like a happy 1950s housewife? Making all of your girlfriends join you in the fun! 

Of course, no 1950s wife-to-be would be complete without a scarlet lip! To modernize the look, a cherry red lipstick with a little bit of clear lipgloss was applied to all the guests at this shower. Some flirty faux lashes and winged eyeliner completed their retro look. Soft waves, short rolled bangs and feminine curls that bounce inspired the hairstyles. All of the ladies also dressed in 50s styled dresses and wore adorable vintage floral aprons. 

We put out the perfect spread of vintage cake stands, cupcake trays, and Coke bottles and made faux sundaes with the “IT” flower of the 50’s—carnations! We also included cheerful gerbera daisies in the mix. All of our “desserts” were topped with polka-dot button flowers, which also adorned some of the yummy vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. A few of the cupcakes were additionally decorated with felt polka dot cupcake toppers. 

Button bobby pins with 3-D flowers, rhinestones, and fun stacked buttons served as the favors for the bridesmaids! They also had a blast making little mini aprons for their dish soap bottles to wear.

With all of this cheeky fun, this is one shower they’ll be talking about for decades to come!" 

Thanks for your submission, Kristen! Such a wonderful shoot! Congratulations on being today's winning party feature!

And yes, the most adorable thing ever...DIY mini soap bottle aprons! See instructions below!

DIY Mini Apron for Soap Bottle {aka Bottle Beauty}

As demonstrated by Kristen {Kio Kreations} Janes on HGTV’s “That’s Clever!”

Supplies

Fabric

Apron template (pattern on separate PDF)

Rick Rack/Lace

Ribbon

Buttons/Bows/Accents

Hot Glue Gun

Sewing Machine

Thread

Scissors

Pins

Optional: Paper & Safety Pins 

Directions

1. Print and cut out pattern for apron 
2. Pin pattern to fabric and cut out 2 pieces
3. Pin pieces right-sides together and sew rounded skirt of apron, leaving top open
4. Pull fabric through the top turning it right-side out and iron it flat
5. Hot glue rick rack/lace around skirt part of apron
6. Glue ribbon around top of apron to make neck strap of apron and tuck unfinished part of fabric under and secure with glue.
7. Glue ribbon for waist of apron leaving 2 loose ends that can be tied around apron
8. Glue on final embellishments
9. (Optional if gifting your item) Make up a “clean name” paper tag for your apron and safety pin it to the apron. We’ve used names like “Soapy Sue”, “Clean Cathy”, “Donna Dishwasher”…
10. Put your apron on your dish soap bottle so she is a little lady that can be proudly displayed on your counter next to the sink.

Here is the pattern {again, thanks to Kio Kreations!}. Click to enlarge.

Photography: Redwall Photo http://www.redwallphotography.com

Hair & Make Up: Blend Beauty http://blendbeautystudio.com/

Venue & Beverages: Riccardi’s Red Hots & Soda Fountain http://riccardisredhots.com/

Flowers, Décor & Bottle Beauty Design: Kio Kreations www.kiokreations.com

Hair Accessories, Button Flowers and Cupcake Décor: RBK Creations www.rbkcreations.com

Cupcakes & Vintage-Inspired Aprons: Lillycakes http://www.lillycakes1.com/

Styling: La’Di Events http://www.ladievents.com/index.html, Kio Kreations www.kiokreations.com, RBK Creations www.rbkcreations.com

Models: Kasia Pajak of Definitive Models & Talent http://definitivemodelsandtalent.com/, Amanda Burdick of La’ Di Events http://www.ladievents.com/index.html , Becky Luckmann of Blend Beauty http://blendbeautystudio.com/ , and Tara Etrheim & Monica Simpson of Kio Kreations www.kiokreations.com

Party Tutorials- Fabric Wreath & Balloon Wreath

Welcome to all of you visiting from Studio 5's segment today! Here are the tutorials I promised {wrapping paper favor bag tutorial coming later on this week}. Photography by Lyndsey Fagerlund.

Wreaths are a fun party decoration/accessory. They can be a great alternative to the traditional party banner {and can be given away to the guest of honor, birthday girl, mama to be, etc at the end of the party}!

First up: THE FABRIC WREATH

This wreath is so simple, yet so cute! Match any party theme, baby shower, bridal shower or holiday party using coordinating fabric...

You will need:

1 styrofoam wreath

Approximately 70- 2 1/2"x 15" fabric strips

It really is quite simple. Take your fabric strips one by one and tie them around your styrofoam wreath using a double knot...

Do this all the way around the wreath {alternating between fabric patters if you would like}...

And, viola! 

And now: THE BALLOON WREATH

Isn't this wreath adorable? {Sneak peek at my recent superhero party by the way.} 

You will need:

1 round styrofoam wreath

Approximately 160 regular sized balloons

160 straight pins

Step one: Take a balloon and insert a straight pin into the base of the "bulb"...

Step two: Insert the straight pin into the wreath, attaching the balloon...

Step three: Repeat steps one and two until the styrofoam wreath is covered {alternating between colors if you wish}...

And that's it! Match any party theme using coordinating colors! So fun.