Tissue Paper, Spray Paint, Fabulous!

Last week, my church had a "tea" party. (We don't drink tea, so I'm not really sure why they wanted to call it that.) All I really knew about it is that we were supposed to wear hats.

So I went big.

I'd just been perusing pictures from this year's Ascot, so I knew exactly what I wanted to do:

Princess Haya of Jordan, Sheikha of Dubai
via Order of Sartorial Splendor

But since the craft stores only supply straw hats, it felt a little more like:

I wanted my hat to be a little lighter, so I went for the good old standby, spray paint.

Two coats on each side left enough variation in the color to make it look natural.

Then Mom and I worked on the flowers. Mom made an accordion flower, and I made a big twist flower.

Accordion flower

Twist flower

Secure the twist with wire, trim to round the corners and you're set to go!

We combined our flowers, with Mom's according flower forming the center of for my big twist flower. I poked the wires from Mom's flower through my tissue paper and tied the wire below.

Rather than worrying about attaching it to the hat, I clipped the stem of the flower in my hair and put the hat on at an angle. It did fall off once, and the breeze was a problem when shooting photos, but it was also nice to be able to take it off to fit into my car without worrying about messing up the flower.

I also discovered my new life motto:

Just get me some spray paint and tissue paper, and I'm fabulous!

What makes you feel fabulous?

Tea Party Birthday

My good friend, Anne, threw an amazing party for her daughter's first birthday. The theme was Marie Antoinette "Let Them Eat Cake" tea party. I got to help a little with the decorations and food. 

Here are all the photos

Huge balloons greeted the guests

Inside, they had their choice of lace crowns (tutorial here)

Here's part of the spread. Food included: Cucumber sandwiches,  croissants, cheese and crackers, mini chocolate shells filled with chocolate mousse, cookies, deviled eggs, quiese, fruit and vanilla sauce, veggies, candy, tea, meringue with lemon curd, prosciutto wrapped dates, and quiche. 

Vintage silver tea set. Inside the pot there was milk and the small pitcher had strawberry syrup. I had some in a tea cup; YUM!

The hanging pom ball/balloon/lantern display above the food table. Huge impact for really cheap!

Here's the birthday girl, enjoying the mousse I made. Isn't her ensemble amazing?

These are the individual smash cakes for each child, topped with a marzipan fruit. The frosting was so tasty!

The table in the backyard, perfect place to smash your cake and make a mess. More huge balloons too!

Isn't this a great picture of Anne and the birthday girl? This is right after we sang to her. 

These were the dainty favors for each of the guests. Inside were cookies. 

I can't wait for the next party!