I am loving the bling in this inspiration from The Celebration Shoppe!
Vintage Rudolph Party
I heart this holiday party theme from The Tom Kat Studio...in traditional colors with a twist! It is so bright and fun!
Holiday Photo Booth!
I love the photo booth trend.. and these props from Paper & Cake are perfect for the holidays! They would definitely be fun for a company or family/friends Christmas party! I might even send them to my brother to use in their family photo for their Christmas card :) Did I mention I LOVE these?!
{Baby Shower} Cookies & Milk
How cute is this baby shower idea from With Joy!!...
I love that she used things she already had around the house for decorating...like hanging cookie cutters and a mixer filled with baby's breath. It's always nice when you can make things look cute while keeping the cost down!
Over the Rainbow Party
Check out this colorful, bright & beautiful party by Bird’s Party!
I really love the rainbow ruffles... it was a DIY project... and she tells you how :) I'm thinking those ruffles in light colors, or neutrals for a little shabby chic bridal or baby shower... hmmmmm enjoy!
Giveaway WINNER!!
Thanks for all of your nice comments!!! and congrats to the WINNER of the Thanksgiving banner...
"Dallas Ann said...This would be perfect on the accent wall in our dining room!"
It is all wrapped and ready to go.... so send me your mailing information and it will be on it's way :)
"Dallas Ann said...This would be perfect on the accent wall in our dining room!"It is all wrapped and ready to go.... so send me your mailing information and it will be on it's way :)
Thanksgiving Cornucopia Favor
Check out this cute Cornucopia Favors tutorial from Heather Bullard. Something simple yet memorable to send home with your Thanksgiving guests.
Gift Wrap: Rolled Flower Gift Topper
With the holidays coming up, I've been browsing the web for some unique and different gift wrap ideas. Aren't these gift toppers from Under the Table and Dreaming super cute?!
Photo Booths!
Photo booths are super trendy right now... and rightfully so! They are so dang cute... and a great way to get some memorable pictures of the peeps at your party.
Swap 'til You Drop Party!
Get a bunch of your girl friends together... and have a Clothing Swap Party like this one at P is for Party! It looks like so much fun! You get to spend time with the girls... and come away with some new-to-you clothes! :)
Party 101 with Jeanna Hayes
I am all about sharing pretty pictures, and amazing themes and ideas for your next party...but let's face it, not all of us are professional event planners, so how do we pull off what we see in the pictures? Well, I've found some pretty amazing people willing to share some tricks and tips and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you in the {party 101} series! :) Let's get started shall we?
Remember the gorgeous pictures from this photo shoot? They came from a photography workshop by the talented Jeanna Hayes, a photographer from Las Vegas. When I saw her work, I knew I had to ask her to share some of her secrets... AND she is today's creative guest! :)
~*~
My name is Jeanna Hayes and I am the wife of the most amazing man in the world, mama of an extremely kissable 2 year old, full-time photographer, who keeps an astoundingly clean home, and cooks gourmet meals every night (yeahhhh right on those last two!! :). Basically, I am just a girl who loves her family to pieces, and wants beautiful photos to remember every stage of our imperfect, but happy life! I can't wait to share a few (hopefully helpful) "tips" today!
4 Tips on Getting Amazing Party Photos:
1. Lighting is Everything!
Have you ever noticed that if you step out of the house around noon, everything looks so.... drab? The sun is just beating down on everything (including you!), and pretty much everything in sight has a funky shadow to it? On the other hand, think of being outside in the evening. The light filters beautifully through the trees, and makes everything look gorgeous and romantic. (Sigh... :) So for good and for bad, whenever we take a photo (outdoors, anyway), we are pretty much a slave to whatever lighting is out there! Premium time for taking your outdoor party photos, is about an hour before sunset, and even 10 or so minutes afterward.
Another tip is to avoid taking photos with "hot spots."
The photo above has distracting spots from the sun in the background. All I had to do was wait about 30 minutes for the sun to sink a little lower, and you can see from the bottom photo, that those spots are now gone and it's a much better photo!
The above photos are the exact same floral arrangement, taken with 2 different approaches. The first is taken in direct sun. While it's not a bad photo, I think the more "magical" photo is the second one, with the backlighting. All you have to do with this approach is make sure the subject is between you and the sun. If I can, I always try to get on that side of whatever I'm trying to photograph.
If you are having an indoor party, one more tip is to "bounce" your flash. If you happen to have a flash that can point different ways, point it toward a nearby wall or the ceiling. This will create more flattering light on everything (as opposed to pointing your flash right at your subject). If you don't have a flash that will do that, you can try to crank up the lights in your home and not use your flash, or lower the power of your flash so it's not overpowering.
2. Shoot Wide Open
See that little "M" on your camera's dial? Many of you have that option on your camera. That scary thing means "manual" - yep, it's pretty freaky. That means YOU decide what settings to use. Ahhh! Well, I'm here to tell you that it's not as bad as you think. When YOU are in control, it means you know exactly what kind of photo you want to take. That's a great thing! So when I say "shoot wide open," I mean change your aperture. Put the number as low as it will go. This will let you get one thing in focus and everything else around it will have a beautiful blur.
If you aren't comfy with shooting in manual, then you can turn the knob to "Av" (on a Canon) and "A" (on a Nikon). That will let you change the aperture on your camera (once again, put the number as low as it will go), and then the camera will choose the other settings so you will get a decent exposure.
Just FYI, if you DON'T want that blurry look, like if you want to take a photo of your dessert table and want everything in focus, then make sure your aperture number is higher. Play around and see your results, but it will probably be around a 6 or so. But like I said... play around! What can it hurt?
3. Change Your Angle
Isn't it interesting that this simple concept can change anything?
In these examples, there's no "good" or "bad" photo, they are just different! It's good to get a few varying angles of the same thing. You worked hard to put this party together, so why not?
Another thing to think of, is how something is arranged. In very first photo, the oh-so-cute lemonade bottles were facing forward and you couldn't see the adorable labels this mom worked so hard to put together. So all I did was twist them so you could see the labels from the side. The last photo is the best out of the three because it's cropped in - this gives a closer view of the label, has a focal point because of the middle bottle, but also shows that it was part of a group of bottles.
4. Keep on Your Toes
Or in other words, think outside the box! Keep aware of great photo-taking opportunities.
I was finished taking photos of the desserts at this particular party, but noticed how pretty the inside of this cake was! Just because it isn't "perfect" (it's been cut into! Ahhh!) :), doesn't mean it's not beautiful! In fact, I like this photo of the cake better than the one I took before it was cut into.
This picture was just for pure fun. I decided to raise my camera up as far as I could above my head (pointing the lens toward the table and clearly having no clue what I was taking). It's definitely a "different" photo, but I still like how it turned out! So don't be afraid to do crazy things - they may turn out!
Last but certainly not least.... It is SO easy to get wrapped up with photographing details of a party and making sure everything is "perfect," that sometimes we forget why we're there! Don't forget the reason you're having the party in the first place - is it your son's first birthday? Are your parent's celebrating 30 years together? Is it your daughter's princess party she's begged you for? Don't forget to take candids of the people who are there! These are the photographs you will cherish for years and years to come.
~*~
Baking Party
This cute birthday party from One Charming Party... is swoon worthy for sure! There were stations where they made jam, decorated cupcakes, dipped strawberries and they decorated their chef hats with cupcake wrapper flowers. A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.!
Wool Cupcake Banners by Whipper Berry
Hi everyone! I'm Whitney from
WhipperBerry and I have a passion for creating party displays and dessert tables.There's a lot of buntings and garlands going on in the party world right now, and I thought I would share with all of you how to make a garland out of wool! It's a little more unconventional than your traditional paper garland, and it will definitely last a whole lot longer than paper will (I don't know about your kids, but a paper garland wouldn't last long in my house). Best of all, it's easy and fast!
You'll need:
Wool roving (merino is best)*
Scissors
hand soap
Water... hot and cold
Heavy duty string or twine
A needle for threading the balls onto the string
*You can find wool roving at most any craft store that also sells fabric.
To start, you'll want to take your roving out of the package and cut off the appropriate amount for the size ball you want.
Roving typically comes in long lengths, so for small felt balls, like the one I'm doing in this tutorial, you'll cut off about 2-2.5 inches.
Turn on your hot water. You'll want the water to be as hot as you can stand. Take the felt and hold it in your fingers. Squirt a small amount (no larger than the size of a dime) of hand soap in your palm and start to lightly roll the wool around in your palms, coating it with the soap.
Pass your hands through the hot water and continue to roll the wool into a ball. As the ball starts to slip and slide in your palms, pass your hands through the water again to get rid of the excess soap.
Press more and more firmly on the ball as you roll, you'll want to get it as tight as possible! Keep repeating this process of rolling and washing. When the ball has gotten as small as it will get, turn your water to cold and continue to roll the ball under cold water for a few seconds. This shocks the fibers into shrinking as much as possible. Do one last turn of the tap over to hot water and roll the ball again, then one last turn in the cold water.
Set your ball out to dry and start on the next!
Once you have all the felt balls made that you want, thread your needle with a heavy duty string or twine. Thread the balls through and position them how you want. The balls will stay in place, so there's no need to knot them at either end of the ball.
Use your garland to decorate a table, add as a bunting to a cake or cupcake, dress up a gift, whatever! This fun little garland has so many great possibilities!
