Party Ideas

Celebrate Spring, Mother's Day, Garden Party, Any Kind of Party You'd Like!

The parties over...and what a party it was! The favors / name'cards' were little tins I bought at Michaels, placed a pansy plants, added a little multi-color Easter grass to hide the soil and if you look real close, I made little shrink plastic butterflies as picks - I used a heat gun - it was so fun and easy! I used the same photo I used to make the mobile, just made it smaller. Later, I added the names to each tin.

The butterfly mobile looks perfect and added a special touch.

What's a garden / spring party without strawberries??? I am VERY fortunate to live in a farming community, so I picked up these beauties on the way to the party site.

I started my strawberry topiary with a cabbage. I priced a Styrofoam ball, but it was so expensive. I later gave the cabbage to my sister for cabbage soup. The topiary is super easy - just place toothpicks in the cabbage and then stick on the strawberrys. I added a little flag that I'd made from fun foam.



I was very happy how the veggie topiary turned out. Everything from carrots, to onions, to cucumbers were used. It was so pretty the guests didn't want to eat it.

Guests were greeted with bubbles - I found blueberry and lemon scented bubbles at my local dollar store - perfect for my spring theme!


My friend's home was perfect for my party - here are succulents by the front door - they are incredible!!!

Everything was set-out for the guests to make cookbooks.

Favors - I found these adorable butterfly cookies at Wal-Mart. They came in different colors and even flowers for only $1.

I had my sister and nephew over for dinner tonight for leftovers. Here's a quicker way to serve strawberries - I placed them in a pot and placed some Easter grass around the base.

Thank you, Mary Clare, for letting me use your home and your continued friendship!!! You are an amazing woman!!!

Happy Spring!

Joan

Party Prep

Butterfly Mobile

The mobile is made from my own photo, but you can use clip art.

What You'll Need

Photo or clipart

Aleene's Crystal Clear Tacky Spray

Posterboard

Computer / Printer

Scissors

1/8" Paper punch

Newspaper

Fishing line

How to Make It

1. Print two butterflies, making one image reverse. I enlarged mine to fit on an 8-1/2 x 11 piece of paper.

2. Protect your work surface with newspaper. Following instructions on can of Tacky Spray, apply on one side of butterfly image. Smooth on posterboard. Cut out loosely around butterfly. Apply Tacky Spray to reverse image butterfly. Carefully line up image on opposite side of butterfly on posterboard.

3. Cut out closely around butterfly.

4. Punch a hole at top of each wing tip and top center of head.

5. Cut desired length of fishing line to go from wing to wing, including enough length to hang freely. Cut another piece half that length. Thread longest piece of fishing line through one hole in wing and knot. Repeat on other wing. Thread second piece of fishing line through hole in head and knot. Tie all fishing line together forming a loop to hang, adjusting length of fishing line so butterfly hangs as if flying.

6. Hang where desired from loop.

Let's Celebrate Spring!

Let the Party Prep Begin!!!

I have been anticipating a party / dinner I'm hosting for months! We're a cooking group and the person hosting the dinner does EVERYTHING from drinks to dessert. The group is an offshoot of the newcomers club I joined when I moved to Morro Bay last August - I have met the most awesome and friendly people!

It is my month to host a dinner party and since my house is so tiny a friend very generously offered her home. The party is Friday night and I'm going to share creativity with my non-crafting friends. They don't know it yet - they think they're coming to a nice, quiet dinner.

Last month, someone mentioned we should have a cookbook to hold all of the recipes, so, being the crafter I am - we're scrapbooking a cookbook - I've done a bit of the prep work and kept the design super easy! I was inspired by my friend Pattie's new book, Cookbooking that you can find on www.Amazon.com.

I have lots of other ideas to share over the next couple of days - a butterfly mobile that will hang from the chandelier over the table, vegie and fruit topiaries, beaded spreaders (another creative projects we'll be making) and some of my recipes.

It's time to celebrate Spring!

Joan

FACEBOOK

FACEBOOK Rocks!

I know I've said in the past that I LOVE Facebook. Today reaffirmed that - I received a friend request from someone I lost contact with 10 years ago. We worked together at Aleene's and our last Christmas together, she made everyone in the department awesome pots and planted a ficus tree in each one. Almost ten years later, mine is still growing and the pot looks fabulous! I have been wanting to get in contact with her to share how her generosity still goes on and how much I appreciated her being in my life...thank, my friend, for contacting me!

Joan

I NEVER know where I'll find creative things...

I was surprised to walk into an office on the Cal Poly campus last week and there was a clock made from a flipper - amazing! I had to laugh.

Another creativity sighting - I walk the beach a lot and was surprised to see a bit of the sand dunes fenced off. The fence is to protect the Snowy Plover I found out. Along the fence were many posters drawn by local children showing their support for the endangered bird.

The kitchen photo is just a pretty kitchen - another surprising place though - it was at a garden center.

I am busily preparing for a dinner party on Friday - my camera is in the shop, but I thankfully found out today that it's a $20 fix instead of the $250 send it off to the manufacturer's fix they thought it would be. I have some exciting food and craft products I'll be sharing - the attendees to the party are not crafters and they do not know they will be crafting. It will definitely be interesting.

Anticipate warmer days!

Joan

Crafting in London

A friend, I will be visiting in London soon, posted about her crafting adventure today where she participated in a wonderful fundraising idea. Here it is:

The Marie Curie Cancer Society had a table set up with card making stuff. You could sit down and make a card which was put in an envelope and then sold by the society to raise funds for cancer research. The cards were selling for £1 each. Only had to decorate the outside of the card, insides were all blank.

Thanks for sharing, Kathy!

Guide to Shrink Plastic by Joan Martin Fee

I LOVE SHRINK PLASTIC!!!

I really must send out a great big, huge thank you to Andrea Garcia. If it weren't for her coming to visit when she was a very small girl, many, many years ago, I know I wouldn't be where I am today!!!

Andrea and her dad came to visit for a weekend and while my then husband and Andrea's dad visited, Andrea and I played with her paper dolls for hours, but we kept getting frustrated when her accessories wouldn't stay on. That set my creative mind into over-drive and I came up with Dress-Up Dolly made from Aleene's Shrink-It plastic and then I applied Aleene's Tack-It Over & Over (it's an adhesive that lets you place things, remove them and place them over and over) to the backs of all of the accessories so they would stay on and then could be taken off when we wanted.

From there, the rest is a fabulous creative history. I submitted the idea for the Sharing portion of the Aleene's Creative Living Television Show and to my surprise I was asked to demonstrate how to make Dolly on the television show.

Here's Aleene, me and Tiffany on the set of Aleene's Creative Living Television Show the day I taped Dress-Up Dolly.

From there I did hundreds of segments on Aleene's, became the Instruction Coordinator editing all of the craft project instructions and eventually became the Aleene's Creative Living Magazine and Book Editor.

I have taken all of those experiences and created a Guide to Shrink Plastic ebook and a how-to video.

Check out the Guide to Shrink Plastic ebook at http://www.lulu.com/content/6325538 - it's 58 pages of exciting shrink plastic projects, instructions and full-size patterns. You can download it right from the site, so there's no waiting to get going on your shrink plastic projects.



The cake decorations are one of my all-time favorite shrink plastic projects.

The video shows you how easy creating with shrink plastic is and it also gives you a little tease as to some of the projects in the ebook.

Happy Shrinking!!!

Joan

Saint Patty's Day

Happy Saint Patty's Day!!!

There was quite a bit of wearing of the green in my exercise class this morning and my friend was feeling a little 'green' so we didn't go for our usual walk on the beach. It's a fabulous day on the Central Coast - looks like it's over 70 degrees!!! I wish I was outside enjoying the great weather, but I'm working on a Shrink Plastic video, that I just about have done, to go along with my ebook!!! I'll let you know, hopefully later today, where you can see the video and find the ebook.

Joan

My Creative World

Here are some quick shots from my cell phone camera. The clay pots make a dynamic wall at a local nursery - rebar held everything in place!

Bottle caps decorate a mailbox in my neighborhood.

Being a farm girl, I was intrigued by this cotton boll wreath at a local shop.

How about a car bumper on a fence as a planter?

Creativity IS everywhere!

Joan

Down on the Farm

I call this one A Peek into the Past - that's the 50+ year old family tractor taken through an opening in the barn.

My Weekend Around the Farm

Celebrations were plentiful this weekend and that meant a trip 'home' to Lemoore. My parents have a 40 acre farm there and it's always a treat for me to take my camera and roam the area. My mom has sent out a search party for me in the past to make sure I was OK since I was gone for so long.

It was my mom's birthday on Friday and my nephew turned the big 13 on Monday!!! With my sister and sister-in-law now working, it's mighty hard to coordinate anything family these days. I organized dinner for my mom using old family favorite recipes. I thought I'd be in the kitchen to coordinate, but my bro, nephew and I got involved in taking out roses in my parent's front yard. It's something my mom has wanted done for many years and it just never got done. When it came right down to it, we only took out half of the roses, then planted some flowers and added bark. Meanwhile, dinner preparations were going on in the kitchen and I had to make a couple of phone calls to ask someone to start a couple of the dishes while my brother and I were out buying bark in a nearby town to finish-up the yard project. Chaotic, but we got the project done and we had a nice dinner.

My sister and I got in a nice long walk and on the way back decided to hesitantly swing on the rope swing down at the canal. It was fabulous!!! They could hear us screaming down the street!!! Now, we can't wait to try it when there's water in the canal.

I'm off to see the movie Taken tonight. Not as light-hearted as New in Town last week - that was so cute! If you're a scrapper, you have to see it!

Joan

Marlene Watson

If you watched even one segment of Aleene's Creative Living Television Show, then you know Marlene Watson. She appeared on hundreds, if not thousands of segments. I wanted to pass along that Marlene had a stroke and is home recovering. She’s using a walker to get around, but is in overall good health otherwise. If you'd like to send Marlene well-wishes, please email them to me and I will make sure she gets them. My email address is in the upper sidebar.

Make it a fantastic day!
Joan

Flowers and Friends

Flowers from Central Coast Flowers & Design

My salad bowl from Ron's Nursery

Delightful Saturday

A friend and I had been planning Saturday for quite some time. Try and get three busy ladies together - it's tough! The day finally arrived and it was fun celebrating a monumental birthday for my friends sister.

They came over from Fresno (about a 3 hour drive) and we hit my favorite nursery - Ron's Nursery in Grover Beach, we had lunch with one of their friends (now a friend of mine!). She just opened a florist shop in Pismo Beach - it's called Central Coast Flowers & Design - it's the cutest shop. It's been in business for 60+ years and we met the original owner who still lives behind the shop. Elisabeth is adding all kinds of beautiful creative things - her husband makes amazing tables and chairs from metal and many other things - he recently won a contest for making a chair out of a wine cork and the wire around the cork - it had to be less than 4". It was truly amazing!!! They've only been open for 2 months, so I can't wait to see where they take the shop.

Friday was a 2-1/2 hour long meeting at the Center for Obesity Prevention and Education. We're laying the framework for the big symposium in October - I am so amazed at the talent, enthusiasm and ideas the team has come up with.

I was super busy last week working on a new shrink plastic book. I'm trying something new - I'm doing it in an e-book format so it's download right then and there. More details later this week when I have it posted. I'm up to 60 pages so far!!!

My week is already shaping up to be super busy! Tonight is Chick Flicks and dinner - we're seeing New in Town. I'm planning my Gourmet Dinner Group menu and creative activities, I have to have some papers notarized (mental list - find notary today!), it's also newsletter week for my newcomers club, board meeting, exercise classes, a hair cut, my moms birthday, a shrink plastic video on YouTube and my nephew's birthday party in Hanford.

Meanwhile, I'm nursing a pinched nerve. It started last weekend and I truly thought I had a kidney infection, but after being in pain all week, I saw the doctor and she diagnosed me. Ibuprofen doesn't help the pain, but she told me to use ice. It doesn't seem any better and it is aggravated by sitting and guess who's been sitting way too much at the computer lately. Hmmm...maybe it's time to get out and move a little more. Must finish book...

Looks like I'd better get busy!
Joan

Cookbooking

I FINALLY got a copy of my friend Pattie's book - Cookbooking. It is so awesome!!! I was acknowledged 'for her marvelous ideas'. I contributed some recipes, some party ideas and there are several pictures of Pattie, me and our friend, Lauren Johnston. It's great to see the Aleene's gals together again, even if it's only on the pages of a book. Love it!!! Get your copy at www.amazon.com and type in Cookbooking.

Last Week's Activities

Potato Shooter, Brandon's Birthday, Academy Awards, Gourmet Dinner Group, Oscar Party, Lunch with Lauren, Newcomers Club, Hot Stone Massage

Last week was a wonderful mixture of family, friends, pampering and a potato shooter!!! Yes, I do lead an interesting life...

Last week was the newcomers club monthly meeting at a nearby golf course and our speaker was Sue McGinty, a mystery writer. I was asked to talk about the changes to the newsletter (they loved the changes I made! I can't do anything half way!!!) and the president and I even put out a 'teaser' about an upcoming contest we came up with. Me, being the organizer person that I am, recruited four ladies at my table to join my Tuesday / Thursday exercise class.

Thursday was a day of Me Time - Exercise class and a walk with my friend on the beach - she'd been gone for a week, so it was nice to catch up on her activities. The relaxation from a hot stone massage sent me to bed early that night.

Friday was the Gourmet Group dinner - yummy!!! My friend's beautiful home has a great view of the ocean and bay and was the perfect setting for what she called the family "Sunday Dinner" - tri-tip, beans, bread, salad. Gulp! Now, I'm up next month for hosting dinner. Being the creative type, dinner HAS to involve creativity, so I'm planning some fun activities for my guests while I prepare dinner - they don't know yet, but it's going to be Creativity Night - no experience necessary. The picture is of the 'beadable' spreaders, pickle forks and wine stoppers I got from Oriental Trading Company. The balls screw off, so they will thread on beads while I fix dinner. There was mention of us starting a cookbook with the recipes from our get togethers, so my mind was swirling thinking about having them transform a binder into a cookbook to hold our treasured recipes. Well, see how that unfolds.

Saturday morning, my sister, nephew and I went to my hometown of Lemoore for my nephew's birthday party - he's seven now and I can't imagine how that happened. I went over to their house early to help Nicki, my sister-in-law, with preparations. She's working as a full-time sub right now while a teacher is out on maternity leave, so life is hectic for the family. Great party!!! The highlight was when one of my brother's friends brought out The Potato Shooter - it was a science project for his son's seventh grade class. Oh my gosh!!! It's made from PVC pipe (not your little stuff!), has an ignitor inside the tube and then they found the best propellant was hair spray. So, the Potato Shooter was loaded with 10 seconds of hair spray and a full-on russet potato - that thing shot the potato out like it was a cannon! As the party progressed and it got dark, my brother, in his 10 year old wisdom (he's really 40) got egged on by his friend to put on his motorcycle helmet and be 'hunted'. Needless to say, my brother now has a welt on his beeeeee-hind from where the potato hit him...Might I say, I don't encourage this and it was done under safe conditions...it was hilarious!!!

Last night was Oscar Party Night! Loved it! The party was my suggestion to the head of our Chick Flicks group - it's fun to come up with the ideas and then have someone execute them. Shary was dressed to the hilt with a beautiful blouse and long skirt. The food was excellent and I took popcorn since it was all about movies! I got the popcorn boxes from Michaels - it made a quick, inexpensive, yet impactful snack. I loved the format of the show and found it interesting that there wasn't a lot of 'bling' so far as diamonds and necklaces and the colors of the dresses were very muted.

I had lunch with Lauren Johnston, from the old Aleene's days, at a restaurant I'd never heard of - evos - feel great fast food. We even had some airbaked fries and topped it off with some Karma Ketchup. It was great to get together with her - there's never enough time to get totally caught up!

This week is in full swing already with dinners out, a COPE meeting on Friday and I have two sets of friends that I get to see on Saturday - I can't wait! One I haven't seen in four years. I was asked last night to be a sub for a Bunco party on Wednesday - I HAVE TO GET WORK DONE somewhere in there too. Yikes!

A friend and I just took a walk on the beach - the weather has been so gray and rainy, we took advantage of some sunshine and I'm thankful to get some oxygen to my brain, so I can get some writing done.

Make it a tremendous week!

Joan

My Home Before

Someone asked about before pictures, so here they are - they aren't pretty...gotta love the 1960's features.