Party Tip: Coffee Filter Utensil Holder

I love finding different uses for everyday items.  I've seen coffee filters used for party decor, like wreaths and flowers, but I love this idea of using them as utensil holders.  Especially now that the warmer weather is approaching, this is a good idea for outdoor parties, since coffee filters are so disposable. These were painted up pretty fancy.  But, you could simply tie a bow around each set of utensils and display in a pretty basket.  Find the original post at Papery and Cakery.

Book Club Party: Cook the Books

I'm so happy to finally share the photos from the "Cook the Books" potluck party I hosted for my book club last Friday night.  I love getting together with these women.  They are so smart and inspiring–and book club is a really productive way to spend time together. Their creativity was exemplified by the dishes they brought!  You can find my notes on all the details after the photos.  :)

THE DECOR:  I was on a tight budget, but the theme of the party let me make all the decorations pretty cheaply.  The backdrop is just torn book pages Mod Podge'd onto foam board.  I designed all the printables with the exception of the food labels–that I will share with all of you in another post.  Since everything was in black and white I could easily use my home printer.

THE FOOD:  Each lady brought a dish inspired by a book. Only I knew what the ladies were bringing. Keeping the dishes hush-hush was part of the fun.  The ones featured above include: Appetizers from Bridget Jones's Diary, Guac Salad inspired by The Tortilla Curtain, Chocolate Pie inspired by The Help, Goat Cheese and Sundried Tomato Pizza inspired by Devil Wears Prada, The Broken Wings (which was my lame contribution) inspired by a book of the same name and little cakes inspired by Alice in Wonderland.  Don't you love the presentations?! I told you these ladies are creative!

BOOK QUIZ:  I put together a quiz testing the ladies on opening lines from famous books.  We were so busy chatting, that I don't think anyone really tried it out.

FAVORS: I put together small bags of gummy worms to take home "For Your Little Bookworms."

It was a fun night and we actually did manage to talk about our book of the month, too.  If you belong to a book club, I totally encourage you to use some of these ideas to host your own potluck.  Let me know if you do!

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Super Easy Book Plate Wine Charms

The "Cook the Books" potluck Friday night was a success! There were some really creative dishes that I am excited to share with you later this week.  I still need to go through and edit the photos, but for now I wanted to share this quick DIY I did for the night–these book plate wine charms.  They were a really cute addition to the book club theme.  All you need is laminate sheets, wire and color photocopies of the book images.  

I used images of books we actually read in the club.  I made them 1 1/2" tall.  All you need to do is place your images in between two laminate sheets, smoothing them all in place with your hands.  You'll need to be careful when cutting out the book images.  Make sure to leave a border around your image so the laminate stays sealed around the image.  Once they were all cut out, I used an exacto knife to puncture a hole in the corner. Cut pieces of wire and twisted the charm around the glass stem.  Ta-da!

Easy Jelly Bean Tree

It's funny–there are so many beautiful elaborate parties out there, but it's always the simple DIY projects that I gravitate towards.  I guess I'm always impressed by the simple ways people make such a great decor statement.  And it's especially gratifying when it doesn't cost that much... like this great jelly bean tree from Crafty Sisters.  Pick a few branches from your backyard and hot glue some jelly beans onto them.  So pretty, you don't even have to wait until Easter to make one.  Find the original post here.

St. Patrick's Days Past

If you follow me on Facebook, you might know that I had some exciting news this week: PBS Parents featured my St. Patrick's Day necklace craft! I don't know how they found it, but it was great that they reached out to let me know!  The project is a bit old so I thought it would be a good idea to re-share it and a couple of my other St. Patrick's Day ideas here.  You can find the direct links after the photos.  Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

St. Patrick's Day Playdate
Shamrock Necklace Craft
Pot of Gold Game