Thursday, July 31, 2008

Itinerary

This is the book my siblings and I gave my parents when we surprised them with their trip to Hawaii! It's a detailed day-to-day calendar of their activities as well as extra things to do and see. The whole book is handwritten besides the driving directions. The album is 6 x 6...a perfect traveling size!





Guest Sign-In

This is the guest sign-in that I had at my parents 25th wedding anniversary party. I included far away family and friends by having them email me their thoughts to my parents which I included in the scrapbook. Those that attended the party signed it as they arrived!


A few key points:
the scrapbook is 8 1/2 x 8 1/2
I sewed all of the paper (the ones with the letters on them) to the background sheet and then spray glued the pages together.
The cover I pretty much sewed everything on.
The word "together" on the cover is my handwritting.
I used mounting tape on some of the elements on the cover to give it dimension.
Most of the paper I used is Basic Grey...I have found with themed scrapbooks that it always looks more cohesive and complete when the paper and embellishments match!












Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Step 3: Details

Like I said before, it's all in the details. Before the actual party I mapped out the backyard into sections and made sure that there was something going on in every party of the yard to maximize the space. Some of the areas we had included: obviously the tables, we also had a cotton candy machine (a great gathering location), a fire pit where I displayed my parents wedding photos, the outdoor kitchen that had water and butter mints along the bar, and a deck with seating on it as well. Here is what I did for the centerpieces. Lots of candles, buckets with sand and tons of sea shells! Totally simple and cheap! The buckets I got for a dollar each and I got the sea shells at the dollar store and the candles my aunt already had! What a deal! The serongs were also a great way to incorporate color and my aunt already had them. It was very elegant and romanic!
The outdoor kitchen area. (That's my husband BBQing the chicken for the party dinner!)
I hung serongs not only to give some more color, but to hide their yard stuff. It was as great way to stick with the theme and to hide things! And to the left is the cotton candy machine.

We borrowed some surf boards from a friend to really give that beach luau feel! It was a fun touch to add!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Step 2: Signs and favors

I made these signs with the intention that my mom can scrapbook them later. One of my goals with this party was to have it run itself. This helps a lot when you have the proper signage. No one had to stand at the door to answer it because the sign did it for us! Two commonalities in all of these signs:

1. They all are framed with layers of paper in different colors

2. I distress EVERYTHING!!!! This Aloha sign is made from two 12 x 12 sheets of paper. I first made a pattern no scatch paper and then traced it onto the real paper. And as you can see I did layers. It always looks so much better when you frame what you are doing. The letters for Aloha I designed on scratch paper first and then cut out each letter in two different colors to shadow.
I am totally loving my handwritting after reading that handwritting book. It's so fun to play and see what I can come up with.
I love this sign. It took a long time to make, but it was worth it. The letters are from stamps and the 25 is my desing. I used eyelets to lace the three pieces together.

I made a place where I hung pictures of my parents wedding for people to look at! And the other sign went above the guest sign in table.
I placed this sign above the favors as people were leaving.
I love these favors. Chocolate covered raisins. And the "k" is for Kenning(my parents last name). These were so fun to make and cheap too!

Step 1: Invitations

Party Planning Step-by-step
For my parents 25th Weddning Anniversary, I threw a surprise party for them! I was so excited of course for all of the wonderful crafty things I would be able to craft! I had so much fun making the signs and the invitations. I wanted everything to be perfect and it was...the party was a hit, not to mention that my siblings and I surprised my parents with a trip to Hawaii. You're probably wondering why that would be relevant to a craft blog...but there is and you'll see why in just a little bit!

Step 1: Invitations
When planning a party, each detail is important....from the votive candles, to the lemons in the water, to the lighting. And it all starts with the invitations. I wanted to show our guests that this party was going to be special and very nice...we started calling it a reception because that's pretty much what it was! Here are the invitations. I make 70. I played around for a long time before I came up with this idea. I really wanted to be in love with what I was creating and sometimes that can take a while. Now 70 invitations this details might seem like it took forever. There is a secret I used when combining all of the pieces together. SPRAY ADHESIVE. You can buy it at Walmart for 8 bucks. It's called Super 77 - Multipurpose Adhesive.

I was able to get three invitations per 12 x 12 paper. So they were 4 x 12 inches.I used five different prints for the paper because it was fun to see the different colors! The inside...There was a lot of information, so the three sections worked out perfectly. The first was to explain the party, the second the party info, and the third was the RSVP.
Inclosed in the invitation was this insert. I really wanted to include family and friends that were not local. This seemed like a perfect way to do that. You can find the book here.
I love this "handmade" stamp. It seemed like the perfect way to complete these little pieces of art!