The Ultimate Guide to a Downton Abbey Viewing Party

Who doesn't love those Crawley's and all their oh so British shenanigans?  Which is why, for my birthday, I thought there could be no better way to spend the day than in a hat watching season one with good food, drink and of course, awesome people.

In this post, I want to go through the details of the party and maybe help inspire your own.  Of course, there is no one right way to do anything, but hopefully some of my ideas may spark some new ones of your own!

Let's start with my invitations.  I LOVE getting actual invites in the mail and these days, you only get them for weddings and showers.  I wanted real, actual invites and loving paper the way I do, I knew I was going to be making them.

I used the following pieces all wrapped up with a pretty doily.  Here they are, feel free to borrow the wording:
     -Main Invitation
     -Response Card and Stamped Return Envelope
     -After party card

I needed a hat next and as my head is GIANT, no ordinary chapeau would do.  I find the best place for hats is antique malls or etsy.  Or you can get one from Target and doctor it up.  I took a simply straw cloche and split it up the side to inset to sashes in duchess satin to either side.  Fold it up and secure with a vintage brooch and boom.  Downton Awesome Hat:

Making people wear hats is so fun!

Invites, check.  Hat, check check.  Now time for fun and games.

I included the following fun and activities:  A Downton Lottery Scratch and Win Ticket, A Downton Mad Lib, and a Lady Mary Drinking Game!

Let's start with the Lady Mary Drinking Game.  Generally a group of people will watch for specific things and then take a drink when it happens.  As there are SO MANY things that could be watched for and with a large group, that gets really crazy, I thought maybe assigning everyone a Lady Mary mannerism to watch for would be easier.  When said mannerism appears on the show, the person holding the card can pick someone in the room to take a drink!  The birthday girl got a lot of those drinks, btw.

I came up with a list of 20 Lady Mary-isms (Lady Mary rides in a car, Lady Mary is the subject of her parent's pillow talk, Lady Mary wears red, Lady Mary flirts, etc), printed them on small cardstock and then attached them to playing cards.  Hand out to guests and watch the fun ensue.

As for the Mad Libs, I created a little story and then detracted words.  It turned out so fun!  Feel free to use the wording.  The cream cardstock is postcard size and backed with double sided pattern cardstock.

And finally, I knew I wanted to hand out favors/silly little Downton themed gifts.  So I created lottery cards from this awesome tutorial.  I used paint chips for the base layer as they're FREE and also a good weight.

For the prizes, I used the amazing CitraSolv method of image transfer and made Free Bates Totes, a Haters Gonna Hate Thomas and O'Brien straw cup and a Dowager Countess Apron.  I also mixed it up with a few boxes of tea, and these amazing print out paper dolls from Vulture.

Here are the images I created in Photoshop Elements.

Ahhh, now on to the food.  This is totally my party planning downfall as I'm not so good with cooking.  But I pulled it off and there were some super tasty things.  I tried to get a good mix between sweet, savory and boozy.

For Savory, I served the following:
-Cucumber Cups with Chicken Salad
-Caprese Bites
-Bacon Olive Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches
-Ham and Herb Spread Tea Sandwiches
-Veggie Tray
-Shrimp Salad Served with Melba Toast
-Bruschetta served with Melba Toast
-Bloody Mary Butter with Celery Sticks
-Blue Cheese and Fig Tarts

For Sweet, I served the following:
-Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing
-Fruit and Nutella
-Easy Scones with Devonshire Cream and Fruit Jams
-Shortbread Cookies
-Lemon Creme and Blackberry Shooters with Gluten Free Ginger Snaps
-Marinated Melon and Proscuitto
-Bailey's Irish Creme Fudge

For all recipes and details, go to my pinterest board for everything in one place!  I also hoped that people would want recipes, so I printed up little cards to hand out that sent them to the above pinterest board that has ALL the details.  Best of luck with your own party and if you want any help or have questions, just let me know!

DIY State Typography Art

With my new chest in the entryway, and my New Year's Resolution to finally get my house the way I want it one room at a time (that counts as self improvement, right?), I need some wall art.  And being the sentimental sap I tend to be, I wanted something personal.

I was quite in love with these fabulous city sign panels from Z Gallerie.  But I've never lived in either Seattle or New Orleans (sadly).  I thought, wouldn't it be cool if I could do one for my home state, Virginia, and my husband's home state, Alabama?  I formed a plan to feature names of places and things that were truly indicative of each state but also some of the sites and things that have meant the most to us.

Armed with two wooden plaques, the amazing CitraSolv, laser jet print outs of my designs (we'll get more in depth on that in a minute), gold paint and some Tim Holtz distressing stain, I made it happen.  Read on for the step-by-step and the "whoops, that wasn't supposed to happen" lessons.

In order to make your own, here's the formula I used for each of the lines.  If you notice, each line on the Virginia sign correlates to each line on the Alabama sign.  Plus, I wanted a good mix of places, things, and sayings.

     1.  Line from a state song.  We've all got them and I would LOVE to see one from Oklahoma say "The Wind Comes Sweeping"
     2.  A neighborhood in the capital city.  I didn't specifically want the name of the city...too easy!
     3.  A landmark/place that meant a lot to us as kids and makes us think of good times with our families.
     4.  An iconic or landmark building.  Something that's a "must tour" when you visit or have visitors.
     5.  An iconic structure that is not a building.  Think statue, bridge, monument, etc.
     6.  An iconic roadway.
     7.  A good weather travel destination.  I think because both states have access to the ocean, this was           easy.  Not every state has a beach, so think of some place you would want to visit when the weather is pretty.
     8.  A body of water.
     9.  FOOD!  This was my favorite, especially because it mixed up the endless listing of places.
     10.  State flower or bird.  In my case, I chose one of each.
     11.  A state saying or tourism slogan.  Think "Don't Mess", "Show Me", "Fahgettaboutit" (someone please do a "Fahgettaboutit" and send me a picture!)
     12.  The state.

Type it up all nice-like in a program of your choice.  I used pages on my mac, but you could use publisher on a PC.  Basically, I made a text box and used one font, all capitals.  The lines all had a different amount of letters, so I played with the size until it took up the whole text box.  Hence Dexter Ave. Baptist Church is tiny and The Fan is HUGE.

Mirror the lettering and print out on a laser jet printer.  An ink jet will not work with the CitraSolv method of image transfer.  If you haven't read that post or know about that method of image transfer, take a look at that post and get the general idea.  I'll go over it again below, but this tutorial has more in depth instructions.

Alright, time to prep your surface.  I picked Folk Art craft paint in antique gold.  I wanted it to have a little bit of a sheen, but not be overly metallic.  Paint your surfaces with a foam brush.

What I learned about the CitraSolv image transfer onto painted surfaces:  it doesn't work so great if you soak the paper and rub really hard.  This will be what you get:

Yeah, so I had to repaint that one and start over.  If this happens and you want to start over, stay calm.  Just really soak another cotton pad in CitraSolv quickly and wipe down the entire surface to take off the lettering.  It won't completely come clean, but it will make it a heck of a lot easier to paint over.

Here's what DID work.  I took some sandpaper to the painted plaque.  I roughed it up on the edges and in the center where the transfer was going to go.  That seemed to create a surface the ink could stick to a bit better.  Lay, ink side down, your paper and tape into place so it won't shift around and LIGHTLY soak a cotton pad in the CitraSolv.  Spread it over, patiently, the surface of your paper until all the words show through.  This make take two or three passes with the lightly soaked cotton pad...don't get impatient.  Do not push too hard or get it too wet....the ink will go everywhere like above.  Just do it lightly.  It should look like this:

Now, when you CitraSolv transfer onto fabric, you have to burnish the bejesus out of the wet paper with the back of a spoon to get the ink to transfer from the paper to your fabric.  On this, because a painted surface isn't as absorbent and forgiving as fabric, you need to go easy.  I actually ended up using my finger and just lightly rubbing each of the letters.  That kept the ink from bleeding everywhere and gave the finished product a nice, weathered look.  Before you go ripping off the paper, gently peak under one end to make sure you got all the letters.  If not, lay it back down and go over the missed spots again.

Not it's time for stain!  I used Tim Holtz Distressing Stain in Weathered Wood.  Working on a small section at a time and with a wet cotton pad on hand (wet with water), I spread a little of it on and then wiped it down.  The stain stuck to the edges and imperfections of the plaque nicely, while not messing with the lettering.  COOL!

I'm really pleased with the finished product.  My entryway is starting to come together!

DIY Gilded Animal Place Card Holders

After making my latest knock of Anthro lamp, I've been looking for more uses for the FABULOUS new Krylon Gold Leafing Pen.  And since I'm on a kick to get my house in order and finally finish all those little decor projects I've been dreaming up, it was time to tackle one I've had on my brain forever.

To fancy up a table, I LOVE a good place card and am forever looking for cute holders.  But they're more on the pricey side... and I definitely wanted something quirky and fun.  I was particularly inspired by these little bunnies from Williams Sonoma.

Enter my fav, the Lobby O' Hobby.  I could spend hours in there with an iced latte, just wandering and coming up with ridiculous ideas.  And this time, I definitely did that.  In the actually hobby aisle with all the stuff you need for model trains and what not, I found a great selection of plastic animals.  And there is a sleeve of these bad boys for every occasion.  Jungle, desert, sea creatures, dogs, horses, etc.  I fell a little in love with the farm animals.  You get 12 different figures for $8.99.  But with your coupon, it's 40% off.

The next part gets a little sick.  Using my dremel and a diamond cutting wheel, I made a slice in the back of each little animal.  OUCH!  I did apologize and explain to each of them that I would be quick and that they were meant for a higher purpose.  Have a small piece of cardstock handy to test out the depth of your cut.

Wear eye protection as little pieces of plastic schumtz will go everywhere.  Also, if you notice, there's a little schmutz on the corner of each slit.  Let it cool for a few minutes as all that spinning from the dremel wheel is hot.  You can pick them off with your fingers as you can see below.

With schmutz:

Without schmutz:

Now that you've done the cutting, it's time for the fun part!  Get out your totally awesome Krylon Leafing Pen in your color of choice and just like a paint pen, cover the cute little animal.  It will need a few minutes to dry, so I found it best to do half of the animal at a time so your fingers don't take off any of the paint.

Now, in the cutting process, some of the animals did get nicked.  But don't worry as the pen is going to make these so awesome, you won't even notice.

Hen with nicked tail:

Hen with nicked tail covered in shiny, distracting gold leaf:

After I painted them, I went back and made sure I had all the spots covered.  How cute!  I can't wait to set my table.

I love it!  I can't wait to put the whole set together.  Now what else can I use that pen for?

Adventures in Thrifting: Dresser Refinishing 101

While I love to do tutorials, I also like to share.  And I HAVE to tell you...if you want to know how to refinish old furniture perfectly and all the tips, tricks, and tools you need, visit Centsational Girl and read this post!

I had my doubts that I could bring this back to life.  I mean, look at that huge gash and the top is some seriously shiny laminate.

So I handed Centsational Girl's post over to my husband and we followed it to the letter.  And the result couldn't be more amazing.

So I'll give it to you again in case you aren't convinced.  I don't feel like there was anything missing to add...just follow her excellent instructions.  To refinish beat up old furniture, FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS ON THIS BLOG.  Amazing.

The new knobs are from Hobby Lobby...they're always 50% off so don't buy them anywhere else.  The paint color is Behr Garden Wall.

An extra special thanks to my husband who is a true perfectionist and really, really good at a lot of things even though he doesn't always believe he is.  And I wouldn't have him any other way.

Cute and Simple Fabric Cocktail Napkin Tutorial

I've seen a few tutorials on Pinterest for cocktail napkins and I just had to try some of my own.  While I love the clever paper ones you can find everywhere, I also like the idea of a reusable set just for entertaining.  And with the sweet fabric I found, I had to try!

My favorite method is illustrated really beautifully here on LoLo Craft.  But I knew I wanted to make mine fold like paper cocktail napkins.  So instead of the 6" squares of fabric which will result in no fold napkins, I made mine with 12" inch squares, so they fold into quarters.

Choose 100% cotton fabric.  As these are practical items, 100% cotton will ensure they'll absorb.  I chose muslin for the backing (so cheap!) and my super adorable puggy chair high quality quilting fabric for the front.  You could easily use the same fabric for back and front, but I thought having the option of a plain side might make them more versatile.

And because they will get dirty and need to be washed, you have to pre treat the fabric.  Machine wash with hot water and dry in the dryer on regular heat.  Shrink the holy hell out of it so you don't end up with wonky napkins after you've sewn them.  I find that the napkins I purchased from the store shrunk up on me and man, I am annoyed every time I have to iron them!

Each napkin consists of two 12" squares.  One for the front and one for the back.  If you need a good pattern to cut your squares, a piece of scrapbook paper will be the perfect size.  And as I wanted to see what pattern was going to come through on the front, I used a piece of velum scrapbook paper.  I would say that something with lines would be great to ensure those squares are perfect....I, not being the most exact of sewing enthusiasts, did the best I could

With right sides together, stitch the napkin around the outside edge leaving a hole for turning.  I used a .5" seam allowance which worked perfectly.  Clip the corners.

Time to iron!  Before flipping the napkin right side out, I ironed out the seam to help when the napkin was flipped right side out.  This seemed to make a big difference in getting that square shape just right.

Flip fabric to the right side and pay particular attention to the corners.  Iron down to set the sides.

Now it's time to top stitch!  I did one really close to the edge to make sure the hole that I left for turning was covered.  Then I did a second, closer in for a decorative touch.  I am in LOVE and will definitely be making more.

And how cute for a hostess or housewarming gift?  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get lost on fabric.com coming up with possibilities for these!