For the Love of Bunting
April 11, 2011
Is it Monday already? While I didn’t quite have time to relax with coffee and the morning paper, I did get a chance to read the May issue of Canadian House & Home magazine while the kids were at swimming lessons Saturday morning (multi-tasking again!) and was so excited to see The Old School Market mentioned in the upcoming events section! Rachel and I have been busy bees, organizing our little market while keeping up with the shop and blog, not to mention daily life and all of the little hiccups along the way. I’m thinking we’ll have to reward ourselves with a good spa day after we make it through market day on May 28th! It’s all been a lot of fun and we’ve learned so much along the way but I know we’re both really hoping to fine tune and streamline our process one of these days!
Through all of the busyness of the last few weeks, I was somehow caught off guard for my son Gabe’s 8th birthday. His actual birthday is this coming Wednesday but my husband’s work schedule suddenly booked up and we decided (5 days ago!) that yesterday would be the best day to throw Gabe, not one, but two birthday parties! Crazy though it seems (and is!), I prefer to clean and decorate once and get both the friend and family parties finished on the same day. It seems to keep the festivities from dragging out over the entire week. That being said, I usually start preparing several weeks in advance and I was feeling a bit panicky late Wednesday night. I came up with these recycled map invitations and they ended up setting the tone for the whole decorating scheme. I simply printed the text onto old atlas pages using our printer and then Gabe and I folded them into paper airplanes to hand out to his friends. They turned out even better than I expected, were totally free and super easy to make…
Gabe loves looking at globes and maps so the theme was perfect. It also happens to coincide perfectly with our schoolhouse theme for The Old School Market so we’ll likely be able to reuse some of the decorations…bonus! I received this Supah Fly print from Yellow Heart Art on Thursday (perfect timing!) and added it, along with some skateboard art painted by Gabe when he was 2, to our brick chimney wall. More maps were used as place mats and to make paper airplanes and straw flags and Rachel donated some map flag bunting that she made for her husband’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. The rain held off and Brad entertained the boys and their skateboards outside with some ramps that he and Gabe made out of wood pallets…who says a party needs to cost a fortune?
The easiest birthday “cake” idea, besides good old Betty Crocker cupcakes, that I could come up with in a pinch was homemade ice cream sandwiches and they turned out to be delicious! I simply made up a batch of our favourite Triple Chocolate Cookies and sandwiched cookies ‘n cream and mint chocolate chip ice cream between them…what a hit!
Some quick furniture rearranging after the kids’ party to make room for 12 adults…thankfully Gabe only wanted pizza for dinner! I had a few ice cream sandwiches left for dessert and made my go-to Flourless Chocolate Cake, served with whipped cream and strawberries. It’s gluten free but is so moist and fudgy, you would never know. Good thing I’m getting a 10km training run in this morning!
Wedding season and summer party weather is almost upon us and I still never tire of bunting and garlands. There’s something so light-hearted and celebratory about these colourful flags, isn’t there? I especially love the feather version, so romantic! Not just for parties, bunting looks just as cheerful in children’s rooms or around the house…
Green Wedding Shoes. Photos by Steep Street.
Love Made Me Do It. Photo by Otto Schulze.
Toast (Christmas 2010) via Emmas Design Blogg
While simple and affordable to make yourself (free, if you have an addiction to vintage atlas’ like I do!), if you’re planning ahead and are pressed for time, there are plenty of crafters out there ready and willing to do the work for you. From garlands to cards to needlework and more, bunting is a trend that seems here to stay…
1. Sara Tops 2. Ink Whimsy 3. Kiki La Ru 4. Earmark
Do you have any celebrations planned in the coming months? Do you plan far ahead or decorate in a pinch, like I did this weekend? Please share!
