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Porcelain Wedding Favor

Project Wedding has been running a wonderful contest called “Budget Savvy Bride” that’s full of great inspiration for throwing a fabulous wedding on a budget. I was honored to be part of the judging panel, and along with 4 other guest judges, we narrowed the entries down to 5 finalists. Now it’s time to VOTE for your favorite!

My finalist pick is called “Joy’s Plan for Our Wedding“. It’s actually a “wedding in the works” plan – but I was floored by all of the creative DIY ideas, unique fashion elements, eco-friendly elements, and attention to every little detail. I also loved how the article was written from the groom’s perspective (very cute!) and was impressed by the fact that they’re having a friend make the rings (at materials cost) and Joy is even making her own wedding dress… talk about a crafty bride-to-be!

Of course ALL of the finalists are fantastic though! Click here to check them all out, vote for YOUR favorite, and just be INSPIRED. =)

Porcelain Wedding Favor

Cambria Cove’s Surprise Giveaway was definitely a hit the first time around, so I’m guessing you’re REALLY going to love having them back – with DOUBLE the prize value this time! That’s right… this gorgeous online shop (that features everything from stylish entertaining essentials to spa products to personal accessories) is back with a $200 Shopping Spree giveaway this week!

The {very lucky!} winner can spend their $200 however they like at CambriaCove.com – but since we’re mid-June and this is HWTM after all, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight some favorites from their Summer Entertaining section in particular today. Here goes…

I scream, you scream…

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HOW TO ENTER:

• Post a comment here telling us which item(s) from the Cambria Cove website you think are especially fabulous – or would love to get if you win!

• Giveaway ends Tuesday, June 23rd at midnight PST. Winner is chosen randomly and will be announced Wednesday, June 24th. Good luck!!

Porcelain Wedding Favor

You might remember Michelle Schobert from the colorful, Tinkerbell-inspired party that she created for her daughter’s birthday. Well, she’s back with a gorgeous, adult-friendly soirée this time! Read on for the details, as told by Michelle…

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“Here is the first official event planned by the newly established Six Chicks Designs. With Interior Architecture degrees under their belts and an eye for design, two chicks set out to find something they would love and that would give them an outlet for their endless creativity. Inspired by their daughters, Cassidy & Courtney (Michelle’s daughters) and Madison and Emma (Jennifer’s daughters) the designers and best friends launched Six Chicks Designs, a collaborative design company specializing in interior, event and graphic design.

“Dinner Among Friends” was an intimate dinner party for six dear friends featuring a black and white theme accented with bits of sparkle. The idea of the party was inspired by a fabulous set of black and white dishes handed down from a family member.

Utilizing digital scrapbooking materials, the graphic was created for the invitations, place cards and menus. They were simply printed out on cardstock with a home printer.

We also printed elegant saying to help set the mood and placed them in small rhinestone picture frames. Black velvet ribbon and silver wrapping paper was wrapped around a clear flower vase, topped off with an additional festive saying and a few more rhinestones for a little glitz.

The meal began with floral shaped French bread (baked in fluted Pampered Chef bread tubes) and Italian spread. The main entrée consisted of grilled chicken, whole fresh green beans and roasted red potatoes.

The highlight of the evening was definitely the dessert bar…

Double chocolate fudge cupcakes, Hershey bar cupcakes, white and milk chocolate covered cheesecake pops, “rollo” turtles from HWTM and chocolate martini’s were just a few of the tasty treats on the bar.

The tall cupcake/cake stands were a fantastic find, half off at a local craft supply store (Hobby Lobby). The stands were also dressed up with black velvet ribbon, printed tags and rhinestones.

Favors included small silver tins filled with Hershey kisses and small bags of glazed sugar cookies tied with black and white polka dot ribbon.”

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Thanks to Michelle and all of the Six Chicks for sharing these ideas. There’s so much great DIY inspiration here!

Porcelain Wedding Favor

Here’s a sneak peek at the invitations I just finished for Tisha & Duane’s upcoming “French Circus” baby shower, which will be mailed out in Stardream’s shimmery Onyx Metallic envelopes. (All personal info has been changed in this version… although it would be pretty cool if the venue was really on “Ringmaster Road”!)

I just gotta say that it’s been so much fun working on this theme!  Still in the preliminary stages, but so far the plan includes black & white striped fabric, brightly colored feathers, crystals, damask prints, mod animal shapes, and vintage-circus-inspired elements (with lots of playful ideas like appetizers on sticks and “magical, floating” popcorn cones a la Amy Atlas. More planning details coming soon… stay tuned!

Porcelain Wedding Favor

So the summer has been off to a VERY busy start! I know the posting has been a bit lighter the past couple of weeks but promise it will pick back up soon… I just found myself in the middle of an insane start to June that can only be summarized by the following: Goodbye, sleep…hello, [lots more] caffeine. (Sorry, Mom – I promise to be better in July!)

Anyways, I wanted to give you a quick rundown of what’s been going on the past couple weeks… and what’s coming up!

June started off with a fun collaboration we’re working on with Chambord. I created some custom party themes for them, which we staged and did a 2-day photo shoot for here and at another location in LA. This was my first “full-blown” photo shoot – with a lighting team, production people, 14-hour days, etc. It was really fun, really tiring and really special to me because some of my friends were in it too! The first party theme will be running this holiday season, starting in September. Hint: there will be Peacock feathers! =)

Then this past Saturday I styled a party for Nancy O’Dell at her (gorgeous!) house in Pasadena for her daughter’s birthday. We did a Sesame Street theme featuring lots of bright colors… and a Sweet Factory CANDY BUFFET! I was really happy with how it turned out – especially given that it was planned & pulled it together in less than 2 weeks and there were nearly 100 guests!

Here’s a link to the facebook photo gallery with some pics from the birthday party taken by Gina Lee. I’ll be posting details, shopping resources, and “how-to” info for everything we did for this theme later this week, just as soon as I can catch up on my regular client work.

Also coming up this month at HWTM:
• a fabulous summer giveaway from Alice White Wines (next week)
• lots of new Real Parties and recipes (which my wonderful new summer interns, Sara and Robyn, are lending a hand on – hooray!)
• several new posts over at Real Simple
• an interview with Mindy Weiss
• behind the scenes details leading up to 2 big events we’re working on next month:
1. a co-ed, adult-friendly “French Circus” inspired baby shower for Tisha Campbell & Duane Martin
2. the SocialLuxe Lounge – the “pampering party” I’m co-hosting in Chicago the day before BlogHer ‘09 starts.
• Amongst other things. Phew! See you soon!

Porcelain Wedding Favor

HWTM got a little mention in the new People Style Watch issue (June/July 09)! Just saw it while checking out at the grocery store early this morning. Good start to the day! =)  Lots of fun, summery ideas in this issue, too!

Porcelain Wedding Favor

I’m co-hosting a baby shower for a friend next month and having a hard time deciding which way to go with the theme, so I thought would be fun to see which theme YOU guys would most like to see all done up & photographed for future inspiration.

Ginny is having a boy (Max) – so my first thought was to do some sort of “We’re Going Monkeys for Max!” theme. The first 2 inspiration boards below are variations of a monkey theme: Mod Monkey and (traditional) Sock Monkey. The third concept – Woodland Forest – is inspired by an adorable Colorbok scrapbook collection called “Friendly Forest“, which I’ve been antsy to use in a party setting for a while.

Anyways, here are my 3 “starter inspiration boards” – which theme do YOU like best?

Theme A: MOD MONKEY

Theme B: SOCK MONKEY

Theme C: WOODLAND FOREST

Once the theme is chosen, I’ll work on a more extensive idea board with all the little details. I’m open to any suggestions you guys have as well. Thanks so much for your help!

(P.S. Shopping resources for everything above will be added to this post tomorrow.)

Porcelain Wedding Favor

I don’t know what it is, but I’ve just been loving BRIGHT green this year – from lime to kelly to grassy hues!  Here are a few favorites from Z Gallerie… and – added bonus: they’re all on sale! I just picked up the Green Giraffe Tray ($19.99) recently and it’s just downright fabulous in person… especially when “topped” with French Martinis!

Also pictured here: Kai Lanterns ($12.99 -$29.99), Bird Napkin Rings (so cute! – $2.99 ea), and 10″ Casablanca Lanterns ($7.95 ea).

(TIP: – Even if something is sold out online it might still be available in stores. I saw lots of stuff in-store recently that’s listed as out of stock online – including the Casablanca Lanterns!)

Porcelain Wedding Favor

I’m so excited to share this new “Real Party” with you! Courtney Toney from Joyful Weddings & Events is back with one of her fabulous seasonal get-togethers. This time the party is all about Spring, but I think this look would translate quite nicely to summer bridal showers, birthday parties, and celebrations as well!

Read on for lots of photos and all the party details, as told by Courtney herself…

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“Some of you may remember me from Jenn’s post on our Fall Party. If not, I am thrilled to introduce you to our little tradition. At the beginning of every season, my husband and I host a party to celebrate and capture the essence of that season. The fall party was the first, followed by our winter soup party, which was amazing!

To celebrate spring, our immediate thought was to have a picnic. And picnic in style we did. We held it at a neighborhood park on a beautiful May Saturday.

I made a cute banner (pictured at top) to designate the party space and attached it to a bundle of sticks I found at Target.

In addition to blankets, I found those adorable floor pillows at Target to use on the grass for seating. I placed trays and plates in the seating areas for guests to place their drinks on (and just to look cute!).

For lunch, each family was given a gable box filled with picnic goodies. Boxes and food containers were purchased from Paper Mart. I added a little paper, some cricut letters and voila!

Lunch consisted of the most delicious potato salad I have ever had (and I do not even like potato salad) strawberries, carrots and a homemade cookie. I had guests bring their own sandwiches to save on cost.

Round labels and cloth ribbon were purchased from Paper Source. I used wrapping paper from Target and Paper Source to wrap bottles and napkins.  I purchased little baby water bottles for the toddlers and kiddos. I also had mini sparkling lemonade bottles available.

I made simple flower arrangements with flowers purchased at Trader Joes and clipped from my sister’s rose garden. The paper flowers hung from trees are from Cultural Intrigue (available for purchase through us).

What I loved about this party the most was that it was so mellow. We just relaxed, ate, blew bubbles and the guys played basketball and frisbee. Such a great day! The decor from this party can easily be transferred to a shower or birthday party as well.”

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Thanks so much for the inspiration, Courtney! Wonderful party as always – can’t wait to see what you have in store for summer!

For more creative ideas from Courtney, check out her blog!

Porcelain Wedding Favor

In the world of entertaining, the arrival of summer often means bringing the party outside! This fabulous Venezia Pavilion from Z Gallerie is definitely a fun excuse to do just that.

If you’ve got an extra-special celebration coming up like an engagement party, milestone birthday, or wedding – or if you just love to entertain outdoors – this super stylish striped pavilion is guaranteed to be the talk of the party! Use it for an intimate dinner party, as shown above, or as a special area to highlight the cake table, wet bar, guest(s) of honor, etc. ($599 at Z Gallerie – sold online only)

Pictured above: these cool black & white accessories look fabulous as accents to the Venezia Pavilion – or all on their own! Clockwise from top left: Venezia Umbrella ($199); Elephant Umbrella Stand ($89.95); Winslow Vase ($49.95); Winslow Canister ($49.95); and Winslow Pillar Holder ($29.95).