11/30/12

Event Planning 101 Infographic

I am trying out Piktochart this week, and I made you all an infographic! Meet my Events 101 Infographic! I designed this infographic to share the most basic planning steps for throwing a party for friends, clients, customers, or potential customers. I know it is not the prettiest infographic in the world. I am still learning! Here it is, click for larger:  



Toys


Why can't I just have interesting and beautiful art all around me instead of furniture?
Orange granny, silver figurine, and lilac wall sconces are from the coolest Etsy shop.
The knitted sea urchin and owl are from Ravelry. You can make them yourself!
The green book is from another Etsy shop, the Nib and Quil.
The wolf and dino plaques are from Snew.

I think I can probably make all of these things at home if I set my mind to it, but I guess lately I have been focusing on work and not so much on crafts. I had 11 events this month. Five in Austin and six in Chicago. I don't even have curtains in the house yet, and I think that should be step one. I'm tired, and all I can do is look at toys and art on the internet. 

Iceland

(Iceland Pics from Flickr)

A plane ticket to Iceland is $800. There are some beautiful Airbnb places there for $300 per week, in nice-looking towns, one on a tiny island with a single tiny town on it. It looks awesome. If I had 3 weeks in iceland, I would paint and hike. Maybe I'd try to paint while hiking.

Sometimes when I'm stressed I want to get away and not be responsible for anything or to anyone. I don't even want to get to know new people, only to experience life as an observer. 

11/28/12

Cranberry

1. Better Homes and Gardens
2. Panettone boxes from Carluchos
3. Red barn from Per Ivar Somby's flickr
4. Inspiration from Alisa Burke's blog
5&6. Pinterest

A great event can come from a simple theme. I love the idea of putting a bowl of halved cranberries in the middle of a big table, and some different colored inks and handmade papers, and letting guests create their own art to take home.

If I had Panettone in the house I would probably make bread pudding with it.

The red barn picture was taken in Norway, and if you click on Per Ivar Somby's flickr link you'll see his photos of the Northern Lights, too. It makes me want to visit Norway!







11/10/12

What to Do the Morning of an Event


This is my pile for taking to the cooking class today. Thank goodness I'm taking a cab. I'm bringing extra pots, pans, measuring cups, bowls, and cutting boards for the chef. I'm also bringing branded pens and notebooks for people to write notes down during the class. The pile in front is small napkins, just in case, a pile of gift cards for the venue owner, who is giving us the use of his space for free (I also bought him this), a blue sharpie, some extra twine, the sign in sheets and a little picture frame with the company logo in it, and the mini-menus for the table (more about those later). Whew. Now for some useful information: The best way to make your morning stress-free when you have an event later that day, even in the evening, is to complete everything the night before and set it out in organized piles by the front door. 
Here are the only things you should be doing the day of the event: 
  1. Re-confirming meeting times with staff, vendors, venues or calling people to tell them you are on your way
  2. Working out
  3. Getting ready (clothes should still be picked out the day before, ideally)
  4. Eating a healthy meal
  5. Calling or scheduling a driver or cab
That's it. Does it require super-human organization? No, just regular-human organization, and a good support system. 



11/9/12

Crafty Time: Gold Makeup brush holder and box for holding stuff

When I don't have much to do on Sunday mornings I decoupage, among other things. Last Sunday I decoupaged the heck out of a Republic of Tea container and a box from the thrift store. 


Now I keep the box on my bedside table with Chapstick and marbles in it. It's a good box to dig around in when you can't sleep due to lack of marbles and Chapstick. My bedside table is very small so I can't really keep anything there but this box, a lamp, and some books. If you want to do an awesome job at decoupage, get some paper that is already pretty crinkly, like this one
And some Nori glue, which is a paper glue from Japan. It can be found at Blick.  Every time I use Nori glue, I am reminded of how lovely it is. 

Cut your pieces of paper to the size of your surface by setting your piece on it and tracing every surface. Some surfaces are not square or easy to cut out accurate pieces for. That is what the crinkly paper is for. It makes all your mistakes look invisible.

It's Friday night, and I'm watching QI and drinking wine, and waiting for my boyfriend to come home. QI is the best show. Informative and funny!

11/6/12

Crafty Time: Printed Recipe Tags on Vintage Christmas Mugs


My assistant printed these little baby tags with a logo on one side and a recipe for the drink on the other side. The drink was a hot toddy, yum! I bought these vintage mugs for between 40 cents and 90 cents at the thrift store and washed them. People could pick out their favorite mug, get it filled up, take it home with them, and make the recipe on the tag at home! It makes events really fun when there's something for someone to experience there, take home, and then make or do again later with friends. 

A piled-up triangle banner with the logo on it, and a second one made from pretty origami papers. They are for a super-cute photo booth idea (photos later). It's super easy with origami paper, and you can use them over the top of another backdrop, like a vintage map, or in front of a fire place or across a whole room:
  1. Mark the center of one side of the paper, and draw a line from the center point to one corner, then the center point to the other corner, making a triangle.
  2. Grab some twine, i-cord, or string, and some clear tape.
  3. Tapey-tapey the triangle to the twine, making the tape go from the top of the triangle all the way around the string to the back of the triangle.
  4. Use pushpins to secure on the walls or ceiling
I bought my mason jars at the thrift for $2 each. They are neat and perfect for Hot Toddies, a whiskey-based drink. I filled them with cinnamon sticks, honey, lemon juice, and whiskey and let it meld together for a few hours. When the party folks started to arrive, we boiled water in a kettle and started pouring hot teas, then adding the whiskey mixture. Yum and super easy. In these pictures you can see my coworking space, The COOP. I'm opening my own coworking space.

Next I want to try making Hot Buttered Rum for a crowd.