Bubble Bath Bash Alt Summit Mini Party

Party sponsored by Joann. Unless otherwise noted, all photos by the amazing Sarah Deragon.

This last week, I went to my third (!) Alt Summit in Salt Lake City, but this particular Alt experience definitely wins out over my previous ones because I had the amazing opportunity to co-host one of the Friday night mini parties with my friends Jessica from Oh So ANTSY and Nic from The Roc Shop. I'm not sure I love many things more than decorating and throwing a good party.

Back in October, Alt offered up the opportunity for folks to pitch party ideas for a chance to win a ticket to the conference and to co-host a Joann-sponsored mini party. Jessica, who I met at Alt last year, and I teamed up to submit our "Bubble Bath Bash" idea. A little weird? Yes. But we had a vision. You can check out our submission photo here. We were actually pretty shocked to find out that we won a spot and completely thrilled to bring it to life this last week.

Our vision was pretty simple: balloons, balloons, and more balloons. We inflated more than 700 balloons, and added in about 20 pounds of pillow fill from Joann for accents of "soap foam" around and on the furniture.

Not gonna lie, it was a lot of work, and if we had our druthers (i.e. more time), we might've inflated another 500 balloons just to drive the point home. Who knew you needed so many balloons to make a statement?!

We had a DIY station for folks to mix up their own bath teas using Himalayan pink salt, epsom salt, jasmine green tea, lavender, and red rose petals. You can find a tutorial for making your own on Jessica's blog here. We used vases, sachets, and cork-top bottles from Joann for display and packaging. Our logo was created by Nic.

Nic and The Roc Shop created all the amazing acrylic signage, which made for great photo props.

Read on for a few more pics of our pretty little party in action.

New Craftcourse, New Partnerships, New Shop

Part of the reason that I've been so sparse around Fabric Paper Glue for the last year has been Craftcourse. In 2014, we focused largely on throwing craft parties, and we had such a good time doing it! Well, with a new year comes new perspective. We were lucky to get to do a little event design work last year, and we loved making our own things so much that we decided to make that a more official part of what we do this year.

So, last week, we launched a fresh look and a new website. Our tagline: "We make cool things." It's been hard to nail down a traditional term for the kind of work we're good at. Quite simply, we love making things...for events, for window installations, for photo booths... So, hop over and check it all out!

Another great part of 2014 was all of the many amazing partnerships we were able to forge with all kinds of businesses here in Nashville to throw our craft parties -- everyone from Hester & Cook to the Skillery. We'd love to continue collaborating this year in new ways - which, of course, could include YOU! If there's a way we could work together, any cool thing that we could make for you, let's find a way to work together! Just shoot me an email at mandy@craftcoursenashville.com to get this conversation started!

Finally, one of the amazing projects that we were honored to work on last year was creating custom decor for Nashville's Porter Flea Holiday Market. You can see what we came up with on the Craftcourse blog, but we made dozens and dozens of giant geometric baubles. It was definitely a mountaintop maker moment for me. The response was so positive that we decided to make a small run of our baubles for sale on Etsy. We'd love if you'd take a moment to check out our shop!

So, with that, happy 2015! Can't wait to see what this new year holds!

Cinco De Mayo Tablescape Inspiration

Later this month, we're dedicating an entire Craftcourse workshop to making piñatas because...well, piñatas are awesome and Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner. To get folks jazzed up, we did a little inspiration shoot using a quartet of cacti piñatas that we made (which were totally inspired by the amazing cacti artwork Helen Dealtry did for Design*Sponge).

I'm sharing a little taste here, but hop over to Craftcourse Nashville for all the eye candy...including some of my best .gif handiwork to date!

Our First Dinner Party

True story: We've never hosted a dinner party. That is, until this time last week. Last Wednesday, we gathered Michael's whole family in our dining room for dinner, and I snapped a few pics of the table. Read on to see them all.

Shower Favors: Chocolate Cake

All this week, I'm sharing inspiration for shower favors to show your guests how much you appreciate their coming.  So far, I've done cinnamon sugar, scones, and even cheese.  What's better than all these things?  Chocolate cake!



Read on for the details and more pictures.

Shower Favors: Cheese

Since this season seems to be rife with showers of all sorts, I'm sharing a little shower favor inspiration each day this week.  Today's treat is cheese!



Read on for more info and pics.

Shower Favors: Scones

This week, I've put together four little favors to inspire all those shower hostesses out there.  Today's project is inspired by Restaurant Eve, a local Old Town Alexandria favorite we visited on our last anniversary.  For the occasion, they sent us home with a bag of scone mix, and it was such a treat the next morning! Why not give your shower guests the same little treat?



Read on for the how-to and some more lovely photos.

Shower Favors: Cinnamon Sugars

Fresh off last weekend's baby shower and on the threshold of that time of year that seems to be full of all types of showers, I have favors on my mind.  Inspired by the season and all the little mini eatables and kitchenwares at World Market, I thought a whole week dedicated to DIY favors was in order!  This week, I'm sharing four adorable favors that will enamor your guests without breaking the bank.  First up, we have mini cinnamon sugars to give your guests something as sweet as they are.



Read on for the how-to and more lovely pics.

Try This: Hot Air Balloons

Try This: Hot Air Balloons

Yesterday, I shared pictures of the hot air balloon-themed baby shower that I co-hosted over the weekend. I worked with Alison, the mom-to-be, to make sure all my shower decor could pull double duty in the nursery.  In fact, she even shared scrap fabric from some bedding projects that her mother-in-law is taking on to integrate into my projects.  Today, I'm here to share the full how-to for making the centerpiece of the shower's decor -- the hot air balloons themselves.

Read on for the full tutorial.

Hot Air Balloon Baby Shower Recap

I got in late last night from my 48 hour trip to Tennessee to help co-host a baby shower for my childhood friend Alison, who is expecting her first child Marnie in July.  I shared the invites for the shower a few weeks ago, which featured some precious little hot air balloons -- the theme Alison is using in Marnie's nursery.  With some direction from Alison and scraps from the bedding that her mother-in-law is making, I made up a few decorations for the shower that will transition right into the nursery.  It was a great day filled with smiles and laughs, and I  have to say how touched I am that I get to share these special times with my friends.

Read on for more pictures and come back tomorrow for a full tutorial on how to make those hot air balloons!

Try This: Hot Air Balloon Baby Shower Invitations

Try This: Hot Air Balloon Baby Shower Invitations

I am in the midst of planning a baby shower for one of my very best childhood friends Alison.  Alison's got big plans for a hot air balloon-themed nursery, so I'm hoping some of our shower decor can pull double duty as nursery decor.  Keeping with the theme, I DIYed some invitations that are maybe the single cutest thing that I've ever created and set me back a whopping six bucks plus postage. Such success calls for a tutorial, no?

Read on for the full step-by-step and a bonus pic of Alison and me on our first day of high school.  Trust me, it's worth it.  The awkwardness is priceless.

Try This: Easy NYE Piñata

Try This: Easy New Year's Eve Piñata

Visit Luri & Wilma today for my step-by-step to creating the easiest ever piñata perfect for a New Year's Eve celebration, and hop back over to my tutorial for last year's NYE piñata to see the ideal piñata goodies.

  
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If you've ever given one of my tutorials or cocktails a try or you've just been inspired by something you've seen here on Fabric Paper Glue, be sure to share a photo. I'd love to feature it!

2nd Annual A Very Boozy Christmas Recap

This last weekend, we hosted our 2nd annual A Very Boozy Christmas party. Not much craftiness to share; although I was pretty freakin' proud of my evite!


...which carried right into our cocktail list for the evening.


At last year's Very Boozy Christmas, we offered something stupid like 12 different cocktails. Um, that was, well, stupid. So we kept it super simple this time, and it proved successful. I could not recommend those first two punches enough.  Beyond delicious (and dangerous) and perfect for making ahead.   Both are Food & Wine magazine recipes: Mother's Ruin Punch and Philly Fish House Punch.  We also did a little home infusion for the Honey Bourbon Toddy.

I took very few photos and mostly blurry ones.  Read on to see some of the shots I did get...including a touching moment between me and a piece of barware.

A Fabric & A Font

The perfect combo for a Merry Modern Christmas.
a fabric: Christmas Time Joy in Black and White by Alexander Henry available from Pink Chalk Fabrics
a font: Antrokas by Roci available from Dafont

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If you've ever given one of my tutorials or cocktails a try or you've just been inspired by something you've seen here on Fabric Paper Glue, be sure to share a photo. I'd love to feature it!

A Fabric & A Font

a fabric: Ombre in Green by Riley Blake Designs available from Hawthorne Threads
a font: Echinos Park Script by Måns Grebäck available from Dafont

find me elsewhere


If you've ever given one of my tutorials or cocktails a try or you've just been inspired by something you've seen here on Fabric Paper Glue, be sure to share a photo. I'd love to feature it!