beve! party inspiration and happenings

You may have noticed that here at beve, we're big fans of fabric and textiles. It's no surprise then that one of my favorite ways to finish off a wrapped gift is to use yarn. Some great things about yarn are that it doesn't flip over like store bought ribbon and it can be reused more easily. Personally, it's something that's convenient too as I always have yarn hanging around my house. I'm going to share two pretty ways to adorn a wrapped present with yarn.

TIE A SIMPLE BOW

First, tie your yarn, ribbon or twine around your gift. Knot it at center or wherever you'd like it to hit. Second, make two loops with your yarn, as shown.

Third, tie these two loops in a basic over/under knot (like at the base of your shoe laces) and pull tight. Finally, make sure your loops are evenly sized and pull the loops to the top of your bow and the strands to the bottom. This "bunny ear" method allows for the loops and strands to be positioned more easily than a traditional tie allows, so the loops stay at the top instead of having a loop, strand, loop, strand orientation. This bow is great for a simple bow that hangs nicely, whether on a present or the back of a dress.

HOW TO MAKE A POUF or POM POM!

Do you love the look of gorgeously wrapped gifts, but struggle to make yours as lovely? I have a few tips I can share on how to polish your wrapping skills.

I am a big fan of wrapping presents. My mom has this huge, glossy black military "suitcase" that holds all of her wrapping paper and accoutrements and I always loved pulling it out for Christmastime to wrap presents. I don't recall being taught how to wrap presents, but I'm sure my mom is to thank for my wrapping skills. With the holiday season around the corner as well as some big news from beve, I wanted to share some tips on how to wrap a present prettily and efficiently.

How to quickly and easily gauge how much paper you'll need:

LONG SIDE: Referencing the photo below, cut paper a bit longer than two times the gift's girth (the length AND width of the gift). A simple way to do this is to line up the gift/box at the edge of the wrap, then flip the gift over while keeping a corner on the gift wrap, flip again and again and again (ex. long side, short side, long side, short side). Be sure to add an inch or two to this measurement to allow for ideal alignment of pattern, if applicable, and folding over raw edges.

SHORT SIDE: To get the appropriate paper width, cut the gift wrap wide enough to accommodate the width of the gift and an extra inch or so if you'd like to have the flap wrap to the back of the gift. Otherwise, you can leave off the extra amount and have the seam on the edge; be sure the amount left is at least three quarters of the gift's width. I prefer wrapping to the back if it’s a thin gift like this example.

And how to wrap a gift beautifully...

Last summer, I was thrown a lovely baby shower by my sister with help from family. The theme was more color-based with a pink grapefruit feel and lots of fun beve details including our printed and jumbo balloons. All were hung without using helium which is a great conservation of resources! Above, you see our argyle, chevron and confetti dot prints and jumbo balloons. The printed balloons are 12" balloons, but as you can see, they can be inflated to be larger.

Pink and orange is one of my favorite color combinations and I love how adding in the golden yellow on our chevron straws softens the combination some while keeping it fun and punchy. This golden yellow can be seen in our balloons too - a golden yellow is a favorite stand alone color for me.. I have two awesome yellow coats to attest to this! Missing washi tape flags and decoration? My shower occurred before beve started having our washi tape made.

 Here, my cousin had the great idea of using disposable table cloths to act as fabric to flow into the balloon bouquet to create the focal point in the room above the chair I opened gifts in. Bits of the table clothes were also used to create little pouf decorations on the chairs (which you can see a bit of below in the cake photo).

 A cousin took the left over paper straws and made fun marshmallow pops with them. So fun! Also, she filled the containers with sugar to utilize a simple, theme-appropriate and reusable base for the pops. What a great idea!

Inspiration:

I came up with this first birthday activity after doing a little searching on Pinterest. I came across this party decoration photo wall and thought it was very sweet. When I searched for first birthday activities, one that resonated was creating a time capsule of sweet notes that would be opened on a child's 18th birthday. While I don't have space to keep a time capsule around for 17 years without being able to enjoy it, I thought I could tweak it. Photos of Lennox's first year were displayed and guests were asked to write a little birthday note on the back of the photos. After the party, I put them in a special photo album so we could look through them throughout the years. 

Materials:
Clothespins
Washi Tape
Photos
Yarn
Command Hooks
Scissors
Pens
Album

Process:
I chose about forty adorable photos of Lennox from the past year and ordered them when a 101 Free Print offer came around on Shutterfly. I tried to include a variety of photos, especially some that included folks who would be attending her party.
I purchased a set of forty clothespins and then used various washi tapes on hand (you can imagine that I have quite a collection!) that fit the pink/red/green color scheme of the party. I had a mix of maybe twelve designs, but you could certainly get this same effect with a smaller number.

I "measured" the tape length necessary to cover a clothespin and then used that as a guide for the other pieces of tape.

Don't you just love how you can stick and re-stick washi tape?

I then applied the tapes to the clothespins. I found it simplest to line the edge of the tape up with the side of the pin that the spring sticks out of and then have the excess tape fold down the edge without the spring. If you want to, you can cut down the tape, but I didn't think this fold over was obtrusive or sloppy looking...

Our little girl celebrated her first birthday this month and we had a sweet little gathering for her. I resisted my urge to do pink, orange and yellow (like her baby shower and nursery) and went for a simple, country feel with a bit of strawberry and watermelon inspiration. My sweet in laws were gracious enough to let us have it on their awesome 40x10 front porch, a perfect setting. (Looking for a lovely, historic home in Virginia? Theirs is for sale! Take a peek and score this sweet entertaining spot for yourself.)

We lucked out and had an absolutely GORGEOUS day - August days in Virginia are rarely this lovely. What a great present! I'll have a few posts on creating the party later and will just focus on the day of here.

A fun confetti of pink and green party colors for Lennox's first birthday invitation. You may note that the "1" was pulled from the candle we used for Lennox's cake (see below). Next year I'll have to get invitations out earlier - August is a busy month for birthdays and some cousins had two other parties that day!

We kept things pretty simple and sweet. I combined a few Pinterest ideas to create a display of photos from the past year, all washi-clothespinned on to pink and green yarn. Friends and family were asked to select their favorite photo and write a message to Lennox on the back of it. I have a special album for these and am contemplating making this an annual activity. The notes written by Lennox's "big" cousins were particularly sweet!