Friday Giveaway: Ruffled Streamers

Just a quick giveaway today! Occasionally, as I'm prepping for a party or a shoot I get a little crafty crazy. As I'm sussing out an idea of what I want to create I'll make an abundance of projects, some of which don't make their way into the finished event. For one of my latest shoots I tried my hand at sewing up some ruffled party streamers à la this tutorial from MADE. I liked them, but ended up going with fabric bunting instead (photos to come!).

Wouldn't these be fun for a baby shower? If you want 'em, leave a comment after the post! I'll randomly pick a winner Sunday at midnight and announce the name on Monday! No additional rules, baby!

Friday Giveaway Winner: Handmade Soirees

Congratulations to our randomly chosen giveaway winner, Amandita! You've won a copy of French General's Handmade Soirées: Simple Projects for Special Occasions. I hope you find lots of inspiration here for the bridal shower you have coming up. Enjoy, and happy party planning!

If this wasn't your lucky day, stay tuned for our next giveaway, coming soon!

A Breakfast Birthday Party!

A while back, I put together a fun breakfast party for a friend's birthday. I'm thrilled to share the photos with you!

The inspiration for the party was this vintage Sweet Eatin' Carnival sign. Cereal and stripes, what's not to like?

My favorite part was the pancake tower (do you like my cute little retro syrup pourer?). We served marshmallow cookie treats made from our favorite cereals, plus a cereal bar where you served yourself with a candy scoop. The birthday girl made the invitations herself—I love the fruit-loopy cereal bowl at the top!

You should try hosting your own breakfast-and-birthday themed party! So, any suggestions for what I should make with all that striped oilcloth?

{Photos by Nissa Nicole}

Free Wallpaper Rose Labels

My heroine Cathe Holden from Just Something I Made is up to her usual (awesome) tricks, this time turning vintage wallpaper into gorgeous floral labels designed for WorldLabel.com. Click here to head to Cathe's site for the link.

Banish Your Wrinkles

I have a new tool in my arsenal these days. When I'm staging a photo shoot, rarely am I at home where I can smooth the wrinkles out of a tablecloth in a jiff with my iron. This past weekend, I was putting together a shoot in a commercial space using a tablecloth that had just arrived that day. Straight from the package, it was the most wrinkled cloth I'd ever faced! Thankfully I remembered to pack my Steam Fast fabric steamer. This was its first outing, and I had great luck getting out those nasty wrinkles with its super steamy power. It took a few refills to get all the steam I needed, but I can't complain! If you hate to iron you might consider one for yourself.

Okay, that's it! I don't like to get all product-recommendation crazy on Host-It Notes, unless of course it's something like a cute cupcake maker. Which naturally, everyone needs, right?!

What are your favorite tools that smooth the way on a big day?

Contest Turns Clothes Into Cake

Ever shopped Threadless? It's one of my go-to sites for geek-chic shirts for my man (much love to Woot!, Busted and Snorg, too!). This cool company is doing something even cooler than usual—they're hosting a contest calling all bakers to turn Threadless t-shirt designs into cakes. Readers, start your ovens!

The Gist: Bake a cake based on one of these designs. Take lots and lots of photos. Send them to Threadcakes by 8/15/2011. Brag to others about your baking mastery. Eat your cake.

Find out more at http://threadcakes.com.

Friday Giveaway: Handmade Soirees

I've got a Friday Giveaway today! Want to win a copy of French General's Handmade Soirées: Simple Projects for Special Occasions? If you'd like to add some fun French-inspired projects to your bookshelf, enter to win by leaving a comment below. Tell us what projects you're working on, or just say hello!

Contest ends Wednesday at midnight (PST). I'll announce the randomly chosen winner on Thursday. If you leave a comment be sure to tell me how to reach you if you win!

Cake Stand Love: All Modern

Browsing through the online shop All Modern, I spotted piles of fabulous cake stands. They're all calling my name...

The top three cake stands are all from French Bull—a company that's the bees knees in my book! More goodies sold by All Modern include this Thomas Paul Ornithology Cake Stand, plus the cutie white cake stands below it. Find them all at www.allmodern.com.

Chalkboard China

I love chalkboard paint. So, naturally, I love the look of the vases and place settings created by Chalkboard China. Chalkboard is great for entertaining, because you can personalize it for any event. I spotted this brand thanks to The Foundary, a flash sale site which has Chalkboard China on sale for the next day or two. Check it out!

Free Chevron Tags from TomKat Studio

As though you need another reason to visit the always fabulous TomKat Studio—they've posted free chevron invitations in vibrant 6 colors! Originally designed for HGTV's website, you can print these designs as is, or visit The TomKat Studio shop to have the text customized. Click here for the post.

Blue and Orange Baby Shower

I recently had the good fortune to attend a lovely baby shower! My best friend, Mandy, is expecting a little girl, and I'm so pleased I could join in the celebration! The party was hosted her sister-in-law, Jamie, who put a ton of time and love into creating handmade touches for the event.

The food was a pregnant lady's dairy dream—a nacho bar complete with the classic gooey nacho cheese, a make-your-own sundae bar, and these adorable ice cream styled cupcakes! See the tutorial that Jamie followed to make these here. Aren't these fabulous?

Continuing the ice cream theme were cones filled with melon balls and berries. The fruit was in a muffin paper at the top—hiding beneath them were tasty M&Ms in the bottom of the cone!

Decorations were blue and orange prints and accents including sewn table runners, felt circles hung down the curtains, and lollipop centerpieces, just to name a few! Jamie also painted cups and candlesticks white then glued them to jars and plates to make pedestals and candy stands.

Cheers to a great party, and congratulations to my gorgeous Mandy!

Free Airmail from How About Orange

How About Orange has a fab free download of pink and orange airmail stationery. These thank yous were designed by Amy Lowry of the Thank You Cards Shop just for HAO readers. Go forth and printify!

Cool Curiosities

You might say I'm saving the best for last in my Renegade Round-Up. These are the vendors and products at the Renegade Craft Fair SF that defy categorization...unless that category is awesome.

Up top: Handmade globe art by Wendy Gold. Using recycled materials, Wendy makes gorgeous works of art out of antique globes. Her work is whimsical and adventurous, and I covet these globes! Find Wendy's work at www.artonglobes.com.

Planted offered up a succulent display of wonderful terrariums. I'll be saving my pennies for one of the biggest! Find them at www.chandraabeldesigns.com/Planted.

Notebook "Paper" Embroidery Kit from Leafcutter Designs—You get a fabric sheet that looks just like notebook paper, and you embroider your letter. Stick it in the mail. How cool is that?

Folks looking to snack smarter will want these organic, reusable snack bags by graze™. I love the fruit, vegetable, sandwich, "surprise"—it's all cute. Find them at www.grazeorganic.com, and make sure you take a peek at their lunch bags too!

Do you have more of a black thumb than a green one? Get these cutie crocheted plants you can't kill! Shannon Gerard creates these cuddly cacti. Her store's sold out, but with any luck she'll offer more of these prickly prizes for sale soon.

One last Renegade shout-out to Lemon Bird Handmade Jams. Their jams are delicious, and jam maker Amy Deaver is a pleasure to meet! www.lemonbirddesign.com

Tea Towels and Textiles

I've got nothing but love for these Mi Casa Es Su Casa guest towels from Prozan McGlinn. In fact, I picked up a set while at Renegade Craft Fair SF to stash away as a Christmas gift for someone. I'm not sure I'll be able to part with them though! Also adorable—this typographic tea towel:

Find the full range of fun at Prozan McGlinn online.

I dig these Butcher's Diagram floursack towels from Girls Can Tell. Photographers will click with their Camera Diagram towel. GCT has oodles more in the diagrams theme, from power drills to hot dogs to unicorns. Check them out here.

Bold and beautiful, these Dahlia Coasters and Trivets are lasercut from merino wool felt by Leslie Yang of Feisty Elle. If you've got the cash, you could buy several sets in different colors to create a vibrant, heat-resistent table runner! They'd also make a great hostess gift.

Super Ceramics

My favorite ceramics from the show were those of Heather Dahl of dahlhaus. I'm not sure what I loved more, her striped mugs and vases or her poppy and stem teapots. Not true, I was thisclose to taking home a striped bottle vase. The only thing stopping me was that one wasn't enough to satisfy my craving and I couldn't afford 3 or 4! Check out the dahlhaus shop here.

Right next to dahlhaus was eikcam ceramics, made by Grace Lee. I'm glad I brought my camera, because this darling bunting vase isn't pictured on her website.

A noteworthy contribution from repeat Renegade vendor Rae Dunn: gorgeous ceramic cheeseboards with a faux bois finish. Dunn always has terrific stuff with a slightly stark, neutral look.

These decorative dishes aren't ceramic, but they belong here in purpose and spirit! Sarah Bocket creates hand-painted one of a kind bowls and platters on re-purposed wooden items. I can't imagine how long her perfect dot designs take her to make! Click to visit The Bocket Store.

Prints and Paper Goods

Highlights from Renegade Craft Fair SF:

Victory is mine!...now that I've spotted these insanely awesome prints by Victory Garden of Tomorrow, The Art of Joe Wirtheim. Seriously, you'll love the healthy, organic message and retro/future feel of these illustrations. I'm definitely getting some for my someday "grown-up" kitchen. Find Joe's work at victorygardenoftomorrow.com.

The poster print art of Drywell cannot be missed. Their papercut-style butchery prints are super-fab, this charcoal chicken is adorable, plus they have city maps drawn within animal shapes, celebrating each city's love of meat (shown here on a t-shirt)! Shop them here on Etsy.

There's something about this multi-colored herringbone stationery that's kind of sexy, don't you think? These cards looked even more slick in person. They're made by Supermodule, which also has some groovy plaid patterns to boot. And as you know, great stationery is part of every good hostess' arsenal.

Okay, so these don't quite scream "Host-It Notes," but here's a little insight into me: I LOVE llamas! And I love these prints by Hillary Bird! Find them in her Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/hillarybird