winter wonderland party

Hope you're all staying warm! I love looking out the window to see snow, but I'm not enjoying the arctic temps keeping me inside with a stir-crazy toddler all day.

I had the incredible opportunity to style a weekend of parties for my first "real" clients earlier this month. The first night was the "fancy" party for their business associates and older family members, and the second night was for friends and family to hang out. We chose a Winter Wonderland theme, and I got to style their incredible house with birch, metallics, antlers, and branches. You know, just some of my favorite things.

Spray paint was my best friend for this party. I bought some cheesy snow village houses (at the thrift store, on half off day, no less), and spray painted them white. Suddenly they became so much more modern. 

These were grouped on their gorgeous dining table with gold painted toy deer and gold sparkle trees. 

Also in the dining room were the ugly antler candle holders from Hobby Lobby that were completely transformed with gold spray paint.

We grouped three trees in what they jokingly call the ballroom (It's a big room with tall ceilings, big windows, a fireplace, and a grand piano. So until they get furniture, yeah, it basically is a ballroom!). I used the patented Kara Hallead Tree Skirting Technique of grouping lights at the bottom and wrapping it in tulle. I love how it glows and reflects off the floor a little bit.

I used gold beads, gold and silver branches from Joann Fabrics, and these little white birds from the Dollar Store. Two for a dollar! They had ugly red beaks and feet, but a gold Sharpie took care of that.

If you were at my wedding this tablescape should look familiar. I love the shape and shadows that branches make, and the gold spray paint just makes them fancy. I used these same gold and silver confetti dots all over the place. They really sparkled once the candles were lit.

This was my little set up on the piano. Pretty sure "put a dome on it" should become a thing. ; )

 

But the big centerpiece was the hot chocolate bar we set up in their gorgeous foyer. 

The backdrop is made of tons of circles punched out of old book paper, sewn into long strands, and strung on twine. Here's a GIF!

The circles gently fluttered, and sort of gave the effect of snow falling.

We rented this beverage dispenser, but I totally wanna buy one now. So pretty!

So bummed that I can't keep these topiaries forever and ever. I think I'm gonna clear coat them and cross my fingers that they'll last till next Christmas (without attracting critters).

And now, the toppings:

Two gallons of marshmallows, of course

Chocolate dipped spoons. There was also a second tier with white chocolate and dark chocolate and sea salt. Yum.

 

White and dark chocolate dipped marshmallows. On my favorite birch straws, of course!

Candy canes and gingerbread cookies that hooked on the side of your cup; like so:

 

And lots more goodies to doctor up your cocoa. (Notice I wrapped the whipped cream in that super-useful Martha Stewart birch paper.)

The cups, lids, and sleeves were from the Webstaurantstore.com, the napkins were from Joann Fabrics, and the white ceramic trays were from Pier 1. 

The homeowners had already bought the fabulous Restoration Hardware lighted birch trees. They framed out the table so nicely.

Thanks, Jordan and Alicia for inviting me into your home, and letting me do my thing! They also had a great bartender, and an excellent caterer. Chef Marco's food was insane. Seriously. Check him out at Osteria de Giuliano.

And HUGE thanks to my sister, Faith, for being my right hand woman and photographer on party day. Couldn't have done it without you, my dear.

Party Credits

Party Styling: Kara Hallead of karasdomesticlife

Photography: Faith Scheuerman

Dipped spoons, marshmallows, and cookies: Kara Hallead

Lighted birch trees: Restoration Hardware

Hot beverage cups & sleeves: Webstaurantstore.com

Birch fabric, bulap & napkins: Joann Fabrics

oh valentine

I've always loved "scrappy" crafts; collages, decoupage, ransom notes... I'm a sucker for pretty slips of paper, and I tear apart most every magazine I get ahold of. I've even been known to furtively rip out pages in the doctor's office, shhh. So for my homemade valentines I like to go scrappy.

Back in Victorian days the ladies were really into the collage thing. They would sit around gabbing in parlors while they cut apart old magazines, books, and cards. I read somewhere that it was even a thing to trade your really good scraps, as in, "I'll trade you this wicked dove for those dope violets." The Valentines back in the day were especially cool.

This one's kind of intense. Is he seriously touching her boob?

I'm sure this card would've been "tradeable".

I like finding these online, printing them off, then doing what they would've done; cut up old cards to make new ones. I made a bunch this week, using all stuff I had around the house and pictures I've saved for a while.

 Perfect project to do on the couch with your hubby.

It takes a lot of patience. And very sharp scissors.

I went through my old scrapbooking stash, and found some fun paper. A couple stickers, a little glue, and - ooh la la - Victorian Style Valentines.

I was in such a scrapping mood after that, I dove into my favorite resource: magazines. I buzzed through and found all of the mostly red pages, and started folding paper hearts. Here's what I came up with:

I used this pattern to make the hearts. It was fun to try to fold strategically to get the berries, flowers, or gorgeous Persian rugs to show up on the front. Here's what I finally figured out. The purple bar on step three is what will make the front of your heart. Also I taped down all the back foldy pieces once each heart was done.

I even swiped the string off of a Valentine's present I just got. Ha! Completely free holiday decor. I love it. 

This post is featured on My Life, as Mommy & Wife's blog hop, Spread the Love.

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AND on Bower Power's link-up Lovely Crafts Linky Party.

a truth universally acknowledged

I. Love. Pride & Prejudice.

Someone lent us the  5+ hour BBC version when I was in early high school, and I've been bound by this story ever since (not to mention in love with Colin Firth).

Since the novel was originally published 200 years ago last week, it seems only fitting that I share my little collection with you.

I first started collecting copies of Pride & Prejudice in college. I got the idea from Mel Gibson's character, Jerry Fletcher, in "Conspiracy Theory" who manically buys A Catcher in the Rye every time he's in a bookstore. I wanted to be an un-crazy version of that. However, that gets expensive, plus, the vast majority that I see are cheapy copies with boring cover art. So I tried to limit myself to one-of-a-kind copies or to buying them during important events.

This rather nondescript version is actually pretty special since we bought it right after we were engaged. 

We ducked into a little used bookshop right after Zach flew to Philly and scared me half to death 

by showing up on my doorstep with something sparkly.

This one's so pretty. I got it from my sister and bro-in-law for Christmas last year.

They've also given me this one:

 

Tons of fun. Definitely the only bit of Marvel that I'm a fan of.

Then there are the weird ones:

 Don't ever read this. It's hilariously awful. I got it as a joke, but it's just sad. 
It's supposed to be about Darcy and Elizabeth after they get married, 
but it's basically juts a sex book. 
If I had to read about Darcy's burning loins one more time...

 And of course you've gotta have P,P&Z. Honestly, I've never read this, 
I got it for Zach. It combines both of our obsessions 
in one gross, so-far-from-what-the-original-author-intended book. 

 I hadn't added to my collection in quite some time, but with the birth of my daughter came another new addition:

 Starting her off young. ; )

 Cracks me up. But who are we kidding? 

This is Mommy's book, Jaina's just borrowing it for a little while.

 It lives way up on the top shelf. 

She can play with it once she learns that books are for reading, not for eating.

 You can tell just how far I let my obsession get by what I let myself make this summer.

 That's right. That's a cross stitch. Hey, I was on bed-rest. I needed something to occupy my fingers and my brain, and this was perfect. 

Do you have a favorite book? One that you don't mind reading over and over? I hope my baby girl grows up loving to read as much as I do.  

Stay tuned for some fun projects we're doing around the house!