Breakfast at Tiffany’s hen party …

I’ve been a little busy for the past few weeks … helping my daughter’s bridesmaids to organise her hen party (or wedding shower).  The girls got together and decided the events for the day and had lots of fun things planned.  Due to everyone’s busy diaries, the date was set and we had just 2 weeks to put everything together, so the race was on to get everything done in time.  I had lots of help from my best friend, Debs – I couldn’t have done it without her.  She was so generous with her time, spending several evenings with me, until the wee hours, cutting, scoring and sticking boxes and decorations.  The theme was “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” with little black dresses with diamantes or pearls for the evening – so glamorous darlings! – and a vintage hair and make-up makeover during the day …

I booked the hotel penthouse for my daughter and a few friends.  On the morning of the party, her friends took her for breakfast at the Central Perk cafe, and meanwhile I sneaked into the hotel room with the groom and my fabulous husband, who helped me put up the decorations - which were all in keeping with the theme … I used my big shot machine and dies to cut out the bunting from pool party and whisper white cardstock, with a sprinkling of adhesive rhinestones here and there.  The boys left and I gave the signal to the bridesmaids that the coast was clear for them to come back …

My daughter got a real surprise!

I made Tiffany style gift bags as a surprise for the girls who attended in the day – inside each bag was a small bottle of fizz, a chocolate diamond, a bottle of Molton Brown bubble bath for pampering, a pair of sunglasses (like Audrey Hepburn wears in the movie) and a DVD of Breakfast at Tiffany’s… with some diamond confetti too of course.

And I made a wine glass charm with their name on for each of them, using the new soda pop tops from Stampin’ Up…

The maid of honour’s mum, Jean, made Tiffany blue macaroons and added tiny sugar pearls by hand around each one! Beautiful!

And I made a Tiffany box cake, complete with white ribbon and sugar diamantes and pearls …

I added some edible glitter for sparkle …

I put together a memory book asking everyone to send me their answers to the following:

* Describe the bride in 5 words

* What is your favourite memory of the bride?

* What is the secret to happy ever after?

* Send me a favourite photograph of you and the bride

There were a few tears as she read through what they had written, but there was also lots of laughs too.

My favourite reply to “describe the bride if 5 words” was by my friend Marj – she’d simply put

“Gill and Dave’s biggest achievement” – I loved that!

Then it was off to the venue for our vintage makeover – here’s just a few photos of my beautiful daughter…

We had a lovely afternoon having our make-up and hair done, and there was plenty of chilled fizz and cocktails too.

Then it was back to the penthouse to meet up with the rest of the guests and get changed for the evening, and to play some games before dinner.

Laurie got into her designer dress and then her maid of honour announced that she wasn’t quite dressed up enough … there were more items she needed to add, but there was a problem … they’d been hidden somewhere in the apartment, so a treasure hunt followed for her to find all the presents the bridesmaids had bought for her.  Each clue was written on Tiffany blue cards wrapped with white satin ribbons, and there were lots of laughs watching her finding her presents of a tiara, a veil, a sash, a black feather boa, long black evening gloves, cat glasses with diamantes and L plates.

Then came the Mr & Mrs quiz to see how compatible the couple were.  I’d sent the list of questions to the groom and he’d videod himself reading the questions and then answering them.  We all took it in turn to read out one of the 30 questions to her, and then we played back the groom’s answers - it went down an absolute storm!

Dinner was booked in the private dining room at the Liverpool Racquet Club hotel  (Lorraine said she felt like she was in Downton Abbey)

and there were more balloons and bunting – this time saying “he asked, she said yes” …

and each guest had a gift box on their place setting, filled with diamond shaped wedding bubbles, a flashing ice cube and an individually wrapped chocolate – with more diamond confetti too…

The maid of honour (pointing in the photo above) gave a welcome speech to toast the bride to be.  Dinner was delicious and then came my turn to give a speech as mother of the bride.  I wanted to say a few words to Laurie too and turned to the words of a poem to help me.  I knew I might get emotional but her oldest friend agreed to be my wing man if I couldn’t finish reading the words by E E Cummings -

and in Love Actually style, I had made large flash cards which Anna showed whilst I read out the poem.

 Luckily I was able to keep it together until the very last line -

“I carry your heart with me, I carry it in my heart”.

but by then we were hugging and kissing so everything was fine.

We played another game to lift the mood again, and then it was on for after dinner drinks at some trendy bars.

I think it was a day to remember for Laurie, and everyone who was there too.

~~~

Papercraft supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Cardstock: pool party, whisper white, basic black; Inks: basic black; Stamp sets: just believe; Punches: large oval, decorative label, Accessories: adhesive rhinestones, whisper white satin ribbon (retired), stampin’ dimensionals, sticky strip, tombow liquid glue, soda pop tops, window sheets, crystal effects. *a

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Stampin’ Up medallion for Ruby Wedding wishes…

My friend Jill and her husband celebrated their Ruby Wedding anniversary this week, so I wanted to make a special card for them. I started by stamping the beautiful medallion background stamp from Stampin’ Up in cherry cobbler ink onto very vanilla smooth cardstock…

There were some areas that didn’t stamp fully but that added to the look I wanted and gave it a vintage feel. I then mounted it onto a cherry cobbler A5 card base.

I added some gorgeous victoria crochet trim, pleated across the card and stamped the sentiment underneath. The numbers and 2 sizes of hearts were die cut with my timeless type junior alphabet dies run through my big shot machine, and then adhered with stampin’ dimensionals.

Finally, I used 3 sizes of adhesive pearls on the card, giving a luxurious feel.

Jill and her hubby are going on holiday back to where they had their honeymoon… this time to enjoy visiting there with some money in their pockets – bless! But how romantic is that? Still in love after 40 years of marriage – bliss.

Papercraft supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Card recipe: cardstock: very vanilla, cherry cobbler; stamp sets: medallion, sentiment (retired); inks: cherry cobbler; accessories: timeless type junior alphabet dies, big shot machine, stampin dimensionals, adhesive pearls, victoria crochet trim, sticky strip, stamp-a-majig.

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Confetti, celebrations and cupcakes …

My friend, Jon, took his girlfriend to Paris for her 30th birthday – you might remember the 30th birthday card I made for Rachel here. 

One fabulous evening in Paris, under a beautifully lit Eiffel Tower, he got down on one knee and proposed.  How romantic!  And of course she said yes. 

Inspired by the gorgeous projects Jenni Pauli has on her blog, I used the Eiffel tower image from the Artistic Etchings stamp set, and the appropriately named Confetti stamp set from Stampin’ Up! to create this modern looking engagement card in whisper white and pool party, with a little touch of crumb cake too …

I used stampin’ dimensionals to adhere the hearts and the whisper white layer to the card. 

A sprinkling of adhesive rhinestones added some bling, and a tiny bow in crumb cake seam binding ribbon completed the card. 

 And I’ve been doing a bit of baking …

 my daughter asked if I would make cakes for her friend’s wedding

… a large cupcake for cutting … 

and some individual cupcakes too …

Such fun to do and yummy too!

The bride wanted white buttercream icing on the cupcakes, which is really difficult to do as butter is yellow!  So I asked everyone I know – including my cake teacher - and also searched the internet … and the solution?  Goat’s butter!  Not only is goat’s butter really pale (almost white to begin with) but it is delicious too!  And the more you beat it, the paler it gets! 

I added a double layer of whisper white satin ribbon from Stampin’ Up! around the base of the large cupcake.  Stampin’ Up!’s ribbon is not only good for card making, it’s ideal for cake decorating too and is a bargain at only £6.75 for a whole roll! 

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Papercraft supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Card recipe: cardstock: whisper white, pool party; stamp sets: artistic etchings, confetti; inks: crumb cake; accessories: stampin dimensionals, mini glue dots, adhesive rhinestones, word window punch, scallop heart of hearts embosslit, small heart punch, crumb cake seam binding ribbon, stamp-a-majig.

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A charming Parisian engagement …

On Valentine’s day we could all do with a little romance in our lives, no?  My friend, Sarah, had a milestone birthday a little while ago, when she turned 30 – you can see a photo of the birthday card I made her here. 

As a birthday present, her boyfriend took her to Paris for a few days … he took her to the top of the Eiffel Tower and proposed!  How romantic!  They make a lovely couple and are so very happy. 

So this is the card I made for them – I had to wait until we’d given them their gifts, but now that’s happened, I can sharetheir card with you …

I wanted to make something classy and yet modern, and hope I achieved it with this design – what do you think? 

Once again I turned to the Charming stamp set – stamping the background pattern in sahara sand ink onto a piece of whisper white cardstock, which was then adhered to the top of an A4 piece of confetti white cardstock, folded in half to make an A5 card.

A strip of wisteria wonder cardstock added subtle colour across the width of the card, and the sentiment, from the Wedding Sweet stamp set, was stamped to the left hand side using basic grey ink, and a rhinestone added to draw the attention. I applied a line of sticky strip underneath and added dazzling diamonds for sparkle, rubbing the glitter into the sticky strip well. 

I wanted to add some confetti – the card was for an engagement after all – so I used a heart treat cup from Stampin Up, into which I could put lots of little matching heart shaped confetti, punched out from whisper white and wisteria wonder cardstock, using the smallest heart on the heart to heart punch. 

The frame for the treat cup was made by stamping the scalloped heart image, from the Sweetheart stamp set, in versamark ink onto a piece of whisper white cardstock, covering first with heat and stick powder, heating with a heat gun, then covering with dazzling diamonds and reheating to set the glitter onto the card.  Heat and stick powder is so great for adding glitter to your projects in this way as you can add it in exactly the same shape as your stamped image, plus the glitter will not shed as it is adhered closely to the card.  Love it! 

To finish the card, and as an added touch, I punched out a couple of tiny tags with the jewelry punch and wrote their names with a wisteria wonder Stampin Write marker pen. 

I’m really pleased with the way the card looked – I love that the stamped background pattern could be seen through the treat cup and confetti, and I have got to admit – I love the glitter! 

 

All supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Card recipe: stamps:  charming, sweetheart, wedding sweet; cardstock: whisper white, confetti white, wisteria wonder; inks: sahara sand, basic grey; accessories: large heart punch, heart to heart punch, rhinestone jewel, wisteria wonder stampin write marker pen, heart treat cup, sticky strip, heat and stick powder, dazzling diamonds, jewelry tag punch, silver elastic thread (retired), stampin dimensionals, stamp-a-majig. 

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