Raven Brunch

I hosted a Poe/Raven inspired brunch for my Tea Sisters. I wrote on the invitation Gothic Attire Encouraged and my friends do not disappoint with their interpretations.

The centerpiece was created with branches from a tree that was cut down the day before next to our supermarket. The small ravens were from the Dollar Tree and the raven plates with quotes from the famous poem are from Home Goods.

I also made scalloped newspaper cutains and funeral wreaths and hung them on the windows for that extra creepy touch.

 

 For brunch I served hot apple cider, puff pastry spinach quiche, pumpkin donuts and fresh berries. I made raven shaped cookies that never got frosted with black Royal icing or black sanding sugar (just picture it in your head) so I gave my guests boxes of scone and muffin mix.

 After the party, my living room looks like this...

 I made the lampshade from linen and vintage black bias tape.

 I covered existing pictures with poster board and pages from books also from the Dollar Tree and I used my Cricut Wall Decor cartridge to make all of the black silhouettes.

 I had to make a fabric cord cover for the chandelier...heehee.

On Halloween, I'll bedressing up as a Disney-inspired Haunted Mansion ghost and stand on my porch and pass out candy under a black light. This year, my daughter is joining me in a matching costume.

Do you have any Halloween traditions?

"My Fair Wedding" Premiere

 I am a big fan of David Tutera , the celebrity party planner and star of "My Fair Weddding" show on WEtv. So, of course, I am also a Facebook fan, too. A few weeks ago, David tweeted to enter your email address to get tickets to his premiere of Season 5 of MFW so I entered and I got 2 free tickets to attend this event.

I invited my friend, Suzie Smith and we headed down to the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. After standing in line for over an hour, we got in. The giant staircase was lined with 2 girls in red dresses and their trains were the red carpet. 2 girls in the center red aisle were wearing bridal gowns from David's line. We were offered champagne at the top of the stairs and there was also a red carpet Press line. Frenchie Davis from "American Idol", "The Voice" and broadway was giving an interview.

We headed into the ballroom which was to be the screening room. Another hour we waited before Frenchie sang 2 songs (such a beautiful voice!) and then David was introduced. He welcomed everyone and introduced his parents who came out from New York and his partner of 13 years.

 Then the president of WEtv came on stage an introduced the couple who was in the premiere episode. The bride's son, a cancer survivor, was granted a wish from the Make A Wish foundation and his wish was for his mom to have a dream wedding from David. He had only 6 days to pull off the dream wedding!

At the end of the show a marching band marched through the crowd because the bride's son (and David) were both part of a marching band.

Then it was for the time for the after party. Unfortunately, there was not enough room for the non-VIPs to get in so Suzie and I headed home without winning a raffle prize, tasting an hors d'ourve or meeting David.

Halloween Ideas on Houzz and HGTV

My Halloween porch from last year was featured on the Houzz.com blog. Also, Kim from TomKat Studios included my bench in her HGTV blog piece. Such an honor! Next Friday, I am hosting a Poe inspired luncheon for my girlfriends. I will post preview pictures this week!

Book Print Pumpkin

 I added a few pumpkins to my Poe/Raven inspired front porch bench. I made them out of Dollar Tree pumpkins and a book.

 First, I gave the pumpkins a coat of primer white paint and let them dry. Then, I ripped up some pages of the book (yes, it killed me to destroy a book!) and then Mod Podged the strips on. Since I didn't want to buy anything extra, I used some gold paint for the stem since I couldn't find any brown in my paint collection. While they were drying, I used Heat n' Bond for the gingham leaves. I hot glued them to paper covered wires and also used the wires to make the tendrils.

I love how the book flower has darkened in the sun. I hope the pumpkins will do the same. I'm working on some indoor decor with the same theme for my tea party for my friends. Usually I host a Witches Tea (here and here) but I wanted to do something a little different. I seems blogland had the same idea I had! I have found some wonderful inspiration this year!