Bright Idea: Holiday Party Decor

The holiday season is well underway & with that comes holiday parties! And while the holidays are a busy enough time without adding a party to the mix, we hope that our decor tips & tricks will help to show you that throwing a party really can be a cinch! And keep reading to the end to catch two wonderful holiday decor DIYs! 

1) Create an inviting entryway. The entryway is the first thing your guests will see upon their arrival, so make sure you make a good first impression. 

2) Create separate areas for your guests to enjoy. It's important to have separate areas to stimulate party flow. You don't want all of your guests crowded in one area. Keep the food table & the bar separate & have both formal & informal seating areas.  

3) Attract your guests to the food table by making it interesting. Don't just set out a boring, old table & place a few platters of food on it. Create visual appeal with different levels, layers, & textures. And don't forget about the space above the table! Utilize this space to hang decorations to link the food table to the rest of the party space.

4) Find your center. Centerpieces are key to create the focal point of a table & tie the overall theme of your party together. For the main food table, we used an arrangement of our bottle brush trees, cloches, moss, & glittery reindeer. For the dessert table, we filled jars with snow & created little wintery scenes inside, to mimic snow globes.    

5) And last but not least: details, details, details! This is something that can be easily forgotten, but details are so important to give your guests a complete party experience. Think of all the spaces throughout your house that your guests will be, from the hallway to the bathroom & everywhere in between! Don't forget to include decorations in these places as well. The littlest details often make the biggest impression!

Holiday Decor DIYs:

For our menu: we took an old frame & fitted it with a piece of board that we painted with chalkboard paint. We then used a chalk paint pen to handwrite the menu.   

This is a lovely & easy way to spruce up an otherwise boring arrangement. We took pheasant feathers (which you can get right here at The Paris Market) & covered the tips first with Glitter Blast spray paint & then a sprinkle of gold glitter to finish them off! They made for a striking addition to the mantle arrangement! 

How-to-Tuesday: Holiday Wreaths

Our spoils from the floral market

An easy but fun way to spruce up your home during the holiday season is by hanging a few fresh, floral wreaths. Now, while the task of making your own wreaths may seem a little daunting at first, we hope today's post will show you that the entire process can actually be quite simple. Being wreath making novices ourselves, we started out by drawing inspiration from a lovely book we carry here at the store, The Wreath Recipe Book by Alethea Harampolis & Jill Rizzo. While we didn't follow any of their tutorials exactly, their book is certainly full of all sorts of wonderful ideas that got us off to a great start.  

Wreath #1 Ingredients: Foraged Sticks as Base, Eucalyptus Pods, Seeded Eucalyptus, Brunia, & White Lysimachia  

Wreath #2 Ingredients: Sandblasted Manzanita Branches as base, Eucalyptus Pods, Assorted Mums, & Wooly Bush

This final wreath is one that we came up with ourselves. What we love about it is that other than the antlers & the ribbon (which you can pick up here at The Paris Market), all of the other materials can be foraged right from your own backyard. And that's the great thing about making fresh wreaths in general, while we used pine, juniper, purple seed eucalyptus, pine cones, & sticks, you can use whatever you have on hand or can find outside around your house. 

Bright Idea: Repurpose Old Crates

How about this bright idea...repurposing old crates as shelves! We just love the feeling of taking something old & making it new again & reusing old crates is a great way to do so. Not to mention, they create such a unique look! And while they function amazingly as hanging shelves, you can take an old crate & make it into just about anything. The possibilities are endless! Keep reading below to see some of the other great ideas we found for repurposing old crates!

How about a coffee table?

A wine rack?

A light?

A succulent planter?

Or even a dog feeder?

So many ideas...so little time! Give some of these projects a try & let us know how they turn out! In the meantime, we'll be busy working on a few projects of our own & keeping our eyes peeled for more bright ideas to spruce up your home!

  

Weekend Inspiration: Jewels

Savannah's Fashion Night may already be a week behind us, but we're still hooked on jewels! The variety found within our collection and the uniqueness of each piece only continues to inspire us more. With so many different shapes and sizes available, the possibilities for creating interesting jewelry pieces are truly endless. Although we love our more colorful jewels, this weekend we're inspired by the subtle beauty found in these simpler pieces. If you're looking to make a necklace, a set of earrings, a brooch, or anything else, these pieces will surely help you create something beautiful!

A Crafter's Guide: Fabric Flowers

 We have dubbed February the month of florals. 

The Paris Market will be offering up a beautiful array of fresh flowers for Valentines Day. Whether a bouquet or single stem, a selection of pretty petals will be available February 12th for purchase.

To start the month out in favor of the flower, how-to guru Jessie, has created a fabric flower DIY for all you crafty spirits. Don that creative cap, grab those scissors, and make you loved one something special this holiday!

Supplies Needed:

Card stock

Ruler

Poly-Blend Fabric

Fabric Pen

Scissors

Needle and Thread

Faux Pearls, Buttons, or Beads

Votive and Matches

Scissors

1. Cut a Series of 5 circles out of card stock in different sizes.

Dimensions:

Circle 1 - 1"

Circle 2 - 1 1/2"

Circle 3 - 2 3/4"

Circle 4 - 3.5"

Circle 5 - 4"

2. Trace circles onto fabric and cut out.

3. Cut five slits in each circle, leave at least 3/4" in the center.

4. Hold each edge over a lit votive and let the fabric slightly curl. Be careful not to hold your pieces too close to the flame as you just want the heat to lightly affect the fabric.

5. Stack each piece largest to smallest (largest on the bottom) and make a few stitches through the center to secure.

6. Decorate the center of your flower by stitching in a few pearls. Want a more crafty look? Try buttons or brooches to make your petals really stand out! 

La fin.

Use these unwilting creations to decorate a gift, add into a floral arrangement or sweeten up your style!

how-to by jessica duthu