ElegantKB

KB asks What Does Santa do on the Night Before Christmas?

Tomorrow is the night before Christmas.  Here we call it Christmas Eve.  It's a special night for children who believe in Santa Claus.  As a child I would sit with my great grandmother that night. Nannie would read Moore's poem before tucking us in.  Santa is one part of Christmas festivities that I adore.  After all, doesn't everyone want to believe in magic and a generous spirit?

I hope you enjoy my photo of this vintage Santa Claus.  His image is on a box made by a local artist.  What I love about this image is Santa's cheeks are so round and merry!  The toys in his sack are detailed and alive, like an old time toy story.  I find this delightful.  I love Santa and toys!  Well, I am sure whatever Santa does on the night before Christmas is a big secret.  If I were Santa I would go on a fast so that I could easily squeeze down the chimneys and eat cookies guilt free!  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a Merry Christmas!

Happy Gingerbread Houses covered in Candy, make KB smile!

I hope these photos of our amateur gingerbread houses make you smile.  My skills as gingerbread house decorator have improved slightly over last year.  My daughter is really good at it. Her house has a bright orange, red, and yellow color scheme.  My goal was to fully cover the house in the brightest, least expensive candies I could find.  These include: M & M's, Mike and Ikes, Red Hots, Necco Wafers, Gum drops, Dots, Pretzels, Licorice Whips, Candy Coated Coffee Beans (which tasted terrible!) and Swirly Hard Candies.  My girl also used Wafer Cookies and Candy Canes.  She made hearts with the canes.

I tried gingerbread house recipes before without much success.  But my good friend and neighbor is a real professional.  She made the houses and the frosting this year and had a wonderful house making party!  Before I found out she had a knack for this our gingerbread house projects always ended in emergency repairs with hairdryers and glue guns coming out!  Well, it's all in the consistency of the frosting and the cookie has to be hard like a biscotti.  I won't be able to give advice on this but if you can, please comment for my lovely readers.  As you can see the results are colorful and happy!  I can say - you should keep them up and away from the dogs!  My puppy already ate my pretzel log pile!  Have fun.

Happy Halloween! KB shares Felt Pumpkin Pillow

Happy Halloween!  Here's a photo of my pumpkin cat Halloween pillow. This is a handmade pillow I picked up years ago at a crafts fair.  It's made out of soft, felted wool. I like the fall colors and faces of Jack o' lantern and the kitten!  I collect vintage buttons so I'm always drawn toward household items that use buttons in fun ways.  My thinking lately is to decorate for the holidays without creating waste that goes into landfill. I'm really trying to avoid plastic.  I like to bring out special, handmade items like this pillow.  I also like to use natural items like fruits, leaves, feathers, dried beans, and nuts for fall displays.  I hope you enjoy the photo and have a great Halloween!

KB's "Pay it forward quiz game" free download - What do you know?

Do you know what color ribbon raises awareness for people with HIV/Aids?  Do you know what the V in the V-sign (peace sign) stands for?  Do you know the name of the foundation that awards a Peace Prize?  These are sample questions from my Quiz.  I call it the "Pay it Forward Quiz Game" because even if you know all the answers you might pay your quiz sheet forward.  Get the free PDF download for answers and instructions on how to play this party game.  We played it at our Soup Bowl theme party to raise community involvement and to get people to think more about social activism.  I hope this post gets you thinking.  Let me know if you have any more ideas or great questions for the quiz game.

Free illustration of a Soup Bowl from KB's party invitation!

A simple party idea needed a simple graphic to set the tone. See below for the invitation I designed for the 2009 event.  Each year I host this party with a team of fabulous friends who have a flair for entertaining.   This year the theme was based on a different idea- to do something nice for our community.  So we came up with the Soup Bowl party.  I also invented a quiz game- we asked everyone to put in $10 donation to go towards a good cause. It ended up being a lot of fun and it inspired some heart felt conversations. I'll put up my quiz in a another post in case you want to use it for an event.   I took out my favorite Prismacolor felt pens and made the soup bowl illustration.  I'm attaching the soup bowl graphic art free for you to use- click herefor PDF.  Here's the wording inside the invitation:

Sunday evening, March 22

5:00 to 8:00 PM

hosted by __________

A selection of delicious soups and breads will be served

At ________ house, address

RSVP

Phone number

*****************

Play our "Pay it Forward" Quiz Game

To join the fun bring $10 donation

We will "gift" the donation pot to your favorite charity if you win!

Bring with you:

A spoon and a bowl

Optional- a beverage to share.

And for you foodies... here are menu ideas- we had 3 soups on the stove and we served each person using their personal bowls.  A veggie red pepper and fennel, creamy cream of mushroom, and a hearty white bean, kale and sausage.  Each soup was garnished and special. People came back to try seconds on their own and the whole atmosphere was comfy and yummy.

 

Girls Night -Salut to Summer! KB's Wine Tasting Party

Here's my invitation design for the 2008 annual girl's night event.  I'm sad to say my blog has been hampered by a vicious mal ware attack to my pc. I'm just getting back on track.  I've spent way to much time lately on the phone with tech support...  I'm really ready for some fun!  I am the co-host of this event.  My friend's second career is catering and she is doing all of the food for this party.  My job is creating the theme, invites, and wine tasting cards. I also get to oversee the "blind" wine tasting game.  I picked out 2 white wines for the party.  I'm not a white wine drinker.. but the friendly guy at Trader Joe's made these suggestions:  Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc and Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay.  The food is Al Fresco Appetizers with an Italian theme such as an antipasto platter, marinated and grilled items, frittata, eggplant rotini and figgy cheese bruschetta. The bonus is that my friend's husband is also a fabulous mandolin player so we might get some live music too! I will blog later about how the party game went and which was the favorite red wine.  For the invite I used an image from one of my favorite books-- the Dover Old Time Travel Posters and Luggage Labels. 

Pretty Thread Easter Eggs by KB, and a display tip!

I'm really late decorating this year.  Fortunately last year we made these pretty thread-wrapped eggs and they held up very well.  This idea was inspired by an old issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine.  It's a lot harder than it looks to wrap embroidery floss around the Styrofoam egg using glue to keep it in place.  The glue gets stuck to your fingers as you wrap so you must be very patient.  My other comment is that this process takes a lot of thread.  I also tried out some vintage trim and I think it's very cute with the little button anchor at the top.  Here's a link to other MS egg decorating ideas.  I didn't see this project at first glance but I am also in a rush to get to the grocery store soon. 

My display tip:  We only made 4 of these eggs.  So I positioned the branches in a tall vase and placed it in front of a mirror for extra impact.  You can probably think of many possibilities using the mirror such as eggs, candles, and glass for some nice effects.

Folk braids and trims make wonderful egg displays from KB’s collection

These are solid trim eggs.  These eggs were created by winding the trim into an egg shape.  Yes, I have lots of it.  I have an incredible collection of vintage braid, trim and lace.  The wider varieties don't make egg shapes very well.  I love bringing out my trim eggs around Easter.  This year I set some in glass cups, parfait dishes and even an Italian yogurt jar for a casual display on my mantel.  I also like the way the bright trim eggs look in my natural baskets.  These eggs never break or go bad.  Every once in a while I think about making something else with them.  I hope you enjoy them too.

Vintage Elegant Lady Gift Box created by KB

Here’s a wonderful way to put those elegant ladies on display.  First, I created a collage of some of my vintage lady images in my favorite photo editing tool, Adobe Photoshop.  Then I painted some blank papier-mache boxes using acrylic paint.  I chose a jet black for the outside of the box due to my philosophy that a touch of black makes things more sophisticated.  I chose a deep royal blue for the box interior.  I made 2 boxes using this square collage.  The other box was larger than the one shown here.  I measured the boxes and used Photoshop to get the size just right before I printed them out on matte paper.  Then I used artist's adhesive spray to mount the paper on the box lid.  The final step was a coat of shellac. The box made a perfect container for my friend’s gift.  I secured it with a fancy black ribbon.

I want to make more of these boxes using different images.  The only trouble is that when I went to the art supply store I had a hard time finding blank boxes that were up to par in quality.  If you look for papier-mache boxes be sure to test out the lids and make sure they fit properly on the boxes.  I'm picky about this.  I wasn't able to find more than 3 at one time that met my standards. If you know any stores in the S.F. Bay Area that I can check, please leave me a comment.  My other idea is to make my own box!

Vintage Elegant Lady Images, Hats and Gloves like KB’s Grandma

Every month I get a FREE! image from the Vintage Workshop.  All you have to do is sign up for the newsletter.  I have been inspired by their images and product designs from time to time.  I haven’t had a chance to try out any of their products yet.  But I can tell you what I want to try.  That is …the ink jet printable fabric so I can create a hand bag or one of the memory quilts I’ve come across lately.  I have a multitude of ideas! Now I’ll have to wait until after tax paperwork is done.

I think this is a great resource if you are into vintage and retro looks.  I also enjoy the greeting cards site, too. 

My grandmother was quite a fashionista in her day.  She had a grand collection of hats, gloves and costume jewelry.  She hand tailored many of her own outfits.  I still have quite a few of those treasures.  The ladies in this months image reminded me of pictures of Grandma Vivian in her cloche hat.  I love that look!