Gone Fishin’ Party {as seen on Kara’s Party Ideas!}

Gone Fishing Party by Enchanting Details

Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

I am so excited to have had my first feature by Kara, of the wonderful Kara’s Party Ideas! You can read her post here!

Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

I planned this Gone Fishin’ Party for my brother’s small family birthday party. He and my father are avid fishermen, and spend as much time as possible out on the lake fishing for bass. So I thought it would be fun to create a party with edible details related to fishing! This would also be a wonderful party idea for father’s day, if Dad likes to fish.

Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

The cupcakes are made of chocolate with a milk chocolate buttercream. I crushed up some chocolate cookies for the “Dirt”.

Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

For the “bait buckets” I created a printable galvanized bucket template based off of a cupcake wrapper template. I hooked some craft wire through each side for the “handle”. The “bait” is sour gummy worms.

 Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

For the fishing pole cupcakes I used a pretzel as the rod and hooked on a goldfish with some craft wire. The “water” was made from blue candy pearls.

 Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

The cupcakes are displayed on some unfinished wood crates. I thought they fit in with the rustic lake theme of the party.

 Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

In the buckets beside the banner I set up some “bobber” cake pops in a styrofoam ball covered with goldfish.

Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

I finished off the table with some Swedish Fish and gummy worms in mason jars. The bottles are IBC root beer, a favorite of both my dad and brother. To balance everything out, I filled some apothecary jars with rainbow goldfish.

 Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

Gone Fishin' Party by Enchanting Details

The fish banner includes a bass, trout, and catfish that I designed, printed, cut out, and attached to the twine with craft wire made to look like fishing hooks. I also designed and printed the sign. All of the paper elements- fish banner, sign, cupcake wrappers, toppers, tags, and “bait bucket” wrappers- are available to purchase in my Etsy shop as printable templates.

Posted in Boy's Party Inspiration, Father's Day, Fishing, Party Inspiration

Crepe Paper Rosette Wreath Tutorial

Crepe Paper Wreath Tutorial

Or, as my son Logan likes to call it- “Giant Pink Donut” Wreath Tutorial. Whatever you wan to call it, this wreath is beautiful and will add a wow-factor to any event! In the following tutorial I will walk you through all of the steps- but I want to warn you- don’t save this for the night before your event. Plan ahead- this project will take you several evenings to complete. I recommend catching up on your DVR in tandem with creating this wreath- it certainly helps the time pass by :)

You will need:

Before you start- a quick tip!

It is actually a good idea to cut your crepe paper into strips before you begin. The way I do this, is I wrap a whole roll of crepe paper around two of my kitchen drawers and make one cut at the end. This gives me the approximately 36″ strips, in much less time than cutting them individually. You could also use the back of a chair! After cutting up the strips, crumple each one into a messy little ball (like a bad poem) and toss them into a bin or basket. After doing this with all five rolls, you have all of the pre-measured, softened strips you will need for this project!

To begin:

Plug in your glue gun to heat up. Take your wreath ring, ribbon, and two pins. I hang my wreaths from ribbon loops. So I take both ends, and match them up perfectly. I center them on the ring (I like to start the whole project at the seam of the styrofoam ring) and pin them into place. It doesn’t really matter what color pin you use, as these shouldn’t show.

 

Now, it’s almost time to make a flower. First, while your glue gun is still heating, a brief explanation of my flowers. I didn’t learn how to make these by reading a tutorial- I actually began experimenting in 2008 for my wedding when I wanted a hydrangea archway, but was not pleased with the price quote I received from my florist. I conceived the idea to make one out of cardboard and paper flowers, and began experimenting with different types of paper. Long story short- I didn’t end up completing the archway- but I did figure out how to make a crepe paper flower. They are not quite like the budded rosettes I’ve seen elsewhere- mine are a little bit more “ruffle-y” in contrast- since I taught myself while mimicking the lacy hydrangea versus a closed bud rose. You may find that your flower ends up differing from mine- but since all of the crepe paper flowers I’ve seen have been beautiful, I’m sure it will just make your wreath prettier and more yours!  So, without further ado, this is my technique:

First, take one of your strips, and roll it back out semi-flat from it’s crumpled ball form. Then, take one end, and roll it up tightly:

Next- this part is difficult to explain, so here is a series of photos of how I “wrap” the flower:

 

After rolling the center, pinch the bottom of the roll, and begin to wrap and gather the excess around it. This will result in the bottom of your flower, where you’re holding it, to be smaller, and the top will billow out. It helps to picture a real flower as you do this! The series of steps is: roll the center, pinch the bottom, wrap, gather, pinch, wrap, gather, pinch… etc. I also “fluff” the flower as I go! It is harder to do this after you glue it.

After you have created your first flower, glue it immediately to the wreath. Put a spot of glue on the wreath, hold the flower closer to the top, and press down firmly- Be extremely careful not to touch the hot glue!

I have been asked by observers in the past whether it would be more expedient to glue the flowers in the process of making them, then set them aside to glue to the wreath at a later time. I have tried this method, and found that not only I was a lot more likely to burn myself- the flowers also weren’t as ruffled as I like them. But as always, it is up to you!

After you master the technique of making and gluing the flowers, it is really a process of monotonous repetition (hence the DVR recommendation). Even enough I’m “fast” at this- this wreath took me 12 hours total in work.

After a while, you will discover that it becomes sort of like a puzzle. Certain flowers will be shaped nicely to fill in certain spaces!

It is definitely a time investment, but when I saw my completed wreath in my party set up, it was so worth it. It makes an even bigger impact than the pomanders (in my opinion!).

Please let me know in the comments section if you have any questions about this technique, I would be happy to help!

Posted in Crafts, Tutorials

Mermaid Party Inspiration

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More playing catch up!

This party is from last year, for my cousin Amelia’s birthday party! I had been wanting to do a mermaid party for a long time, and I had a lot of fun putting it together. I stayed with a monochromatic color scheme because I always associate aqua and mermaids!

Vendor Credits:

Styling, Photography, & Baked Goods: Annina Hendrick for Enchanting Details
Cake: Sweet Melissa Cakes & Cookies- Holden, MA
Cupcakes: Cocobeni Confections- Northborough, MA

I had Cocobeni Confections create some of their pretty ruffled cupcakes, and enlisted the help of Sweet Melissa to create a fondant masterpiece inspired by the adorable cakes of Hello Noami- one of my favorite cake artists!

In future posts I will be sharing how I made the faux-macarons and the pom pom- make sure to follow along for the how-tos!

Posted in Girl's Party Inspiration, Mermaid, Party Inspiration

Owl Party Inspiration

Owl Party by Enchanting Details

Vendor Credits:

Styling & Baking: Annina Hendrick for Enchanting Details
Printable Kit: Enchanting Details Party Shop
Photography: Jill Serrano Photography

This was my first professionally photographed table, when I first started selling Printable Kits- It is still one of my favorites! Even though, as time goes by, I’m seeing less and less owl parties- I love the theme (I have loved owls since I first ready Harry Potter as a child), and the touches that make this party special can be applied to any theme!

Make sure to subscribe to this blog, as I will be sharing how I made the fabric pennant banner, as well as tutorial for how to quickly cut out and assemble our Printable items, such as the tags, cupcake wrappers, and cupcake toppers!

Posted in Baby Shower Inspiration, Girl's Party Inspiration, Owls, Party Inspiration

Paris Party Inspiration

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You may have already seen this table- as you may have read in the first post, my entire blog was erased when my hosting expired, so I have to re-post all of the material that I had blogged about long ago!

This dessert table was from January 2012 and was set up for a Valentine’s Day photo shoot in a local magazine. It is very popular on Pinterest! This theme can be applied to several types of events- from baby showers, to birthday parties, to bridal showers… I have seen the Paris theme over and over again!

Vendor Credits:

Styling: Annina Hendrick for Enchanting Details Events & Design
Photography: Jill Serrano Photography
Cupcakes & Macarons: Cocobeni Confections, Northborough, MA
Cookies & Cake Pops: The Cookie Countess
Ruffled Fabric: RuffleFabric.com
Cupcake Stand: Amazon.com
Apothecary Jars: Pier 1

  To make the theme my own, I decided to distance the color scheme from the classic ballet pink and black. When I think of Paris, I am actually more reminded of dreamy but bright colors. I visited once, in the spring, and the gardens of Versailles were my most favorite part of the trip. They were lush, and colorful, but the air was somehow hazy and dreamlike- Jill captured that perfectly in the photos! In fact, all of my vendors were spectacular at understanding exactly what I was going for! The cookies from Hillary, The Cookie Countess, were just incredible works of art. I hope to someday have half of her abilities! The cupcakes and macarons from Cocobeni Confections were both pretty and delicious.

Overall, this was a fun set up to plan and create! In the coming months, I plan to deconstruct some of the projects for you, including this tutorial, which teaches the techniques behind the paper rosette topiaries.

Posted in Girl's Party Inspiration, Holiday Party Inspiration, Paris, Party Inspiration

Starting Over

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What would you do if almost three years of your work suddenly disappeared in the blink of an eye?

If you are a WordPress blogger, and you get one of those reminders in your inbox to back up your blog… back up your blog.

I never did. And now it is all gone.

Although you can imagine what my initial reaction was like- After several days of contemplation, I found I felt something completely unexpected when faced with that blank white page…

Relief.

This is my chance to start over. My chance to have a party blog that I am proud of, with relevant content and a clear mission statement. A literal blank slate.

I was never consistent with my previous blog. I didn’t post very often, and when I did, I couldn’t quite make up my mind about what my business was doing. Was I a local party planner? A wedding planner? A designer? What was my goal?

Now, after taking advantage of my fresh start, I also took the time to reevaluate my entire business. I took the time to find the answers to those questions, and more.

I am, first and foremost, a designer. I absolutely love the design aspect of Enchanting Details. I find a great deal of joy in creating patterns, characters, and themes. This was barely a Big Question that I had to dwell on- this theme has been consistent throughout my life. I remember being a little girl and creating “stationary” with my mom’s typewriter and my colored pencils. I would make the lines with the “___” key, and color flowers along the border. Then I would try to sell it to family members (for real money, even). When we got our Windows 95- our first computer- I spent hours playing around in Paint and the photo editing program, creating and printing things. I should have known then what I should do as a career!

Also, I love the styling. The thrill I get from a completed dessert table is unmatched by almost any other creative thrill for me. I love seeing it all come together, I love seeing the pictures, and then I love taking it back apart step-by-step as I share it with others.

Another creative endeavor that I have always enjoyed is writing. I dreamed of being a professional author all through my teen years, kept a journal, and took as many creative writing courses as my school offered. Blogging is a natural outlet for that passion, and I still dream of someday publishing a book.

An unexpected passion I have discovered since starting my business is baking. I baked with my grandmother as a young child, and baked from box mixes as a teenager. Since beginning Enchanting Details, I have learned more and more about baking from scratch, and I have developed a passion for creating desserts. I have been taking locally offered classes to expand that knowledge base, and I’m really enjoying the journey.

I have finally finished examining Enchanting Details under a metaphoric microscope- and I have determined which parts I plan to carry on with: designing and selling printable party supplies, blogging party inspiration, and media features and appearances.

I will no longer be offering local event services, I have no interest in doing weddings. (Although I will continue to do weddings and events for friends and family.)

Here’s what you can expect from the new & improved Enchanting Details.

Party Inspiration:

Throw a Cookie Decorating Party!

I will be sharing a combination of actual events and inspiration shoots. I will walk you step by step with how I created a party set up, and give you ideas on how to recreate the look at home. I will give you tips and tricks on how to reuse and repurpose, to keep your events as low cost as possible.

 

Party Craft Tutorials:

 Crepe Paper Wreath Tutorial

Since I have made the decision to stop selling physical party decorations (but I will still be selling printables!) I will now be sharing my techniques of how to make various party decorations!

Baking Tutorials:

 Nest Cupcake Tutorial

I try as often as possible to make my own desserts for parties, as it helps me stay within budget. I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes and techniques with you, to help you cut costs when planning your event.

Freebies:

I love to create designs, as I mentioned above, and I look forward to sharing fun free Printables with you!

Also- You will hear me talk about budget and cost a lot. After years of trial and error, I have come to the conclusion that events do not have to be expensive and fancy to be fun and memorable. All it takes is creativity!

Within the next few weeks I will be re-writing posts from past events, as well as sharing some new events. We also have some exciting guest appearances coming up on other blogs!

I look forward to sharing some new fun and creative ways to make your parties pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in About