Party Planning- What I LOVE the most!

Wow, I havent posted in ages- seriously, everything has been flying by. By the time I post this, it will only be 8 days until I am 18!! eeeeeek!

I'm busy arranging my party. Never being one for simplicity, Ive opted for a Tim Burton themed tea party, and then transporting twenty two of my friends into Guildford to go clubbing. In full costume. This is going to be brilliant.

I met Tim Burton once, at the London premiere for Sweeney Todd. I didnt even know it was on, but I was walking through Leister Square and there was a massive crowd, so I thought i'd go and have a little peek. And I got to the front, and Tim Burton was walking along, and I actually had a pretty good conversation with him considering I was totally starstruck, for about two or three minutes. He was lovely, really nice and funny, and everything someone in the spotlight should be :) So im glad I can finally have a party in his honour, as a mini-homage to him and his awesome films.

On Sunday I went to a carboot with zee mother && zee boyfriend to look for things for the party.... hmmm, what to call these items? Decorations? Props? Ahh yes, that's it- 'props'... so theatrical :)
Rob and I usually go to the Country Market Car Boot Sale on Sundays, where we each come home with bags and bags of bargains having only spent 70 pence. But this carboot was at Burpham, so it was nice to have a change of scenery. It was slightly crowded and disorganised, but I picked up loads of fancy mis-matching tea cups for the Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. Mum particularly fell in love with this teapot, which we got for 50p!

Its definitely someone's crazy Great-Aunt's that theyve just found and gone 'euuurgh!', but you know what? We love it :)

I know I dont look a thing like her, but I intend to dress up as Alice. BUT please bear in mind she was originally brunette, and I guess its my Wonderland that i'll be creating so if I say I'm Alice, I'm Alice :D (i do so love birthday girl priveledges)

Theres so much stuff out there on the internet about different ideas for Alice-In-Wonderland style tea parties, and not alot on Tim-Burton-themed ones, so Ive decided to sift through it all and put together some tips and ideas that I believe are generally useful/ cool/ interesting/ amazing/ etc.

Invitations
I believe invitations are really important- especially for creating hype and excitement about the event. Yes, making an event page on facebook is easy, but it lacks originality and can too easily be forgotten.
I was stuck between writing on playing cards and putting them in cute pastel envelopes (possibly with a silhouette of a teapot, clock or rabbit ghosted in the corner) or making full-on 'drink me' vials with rolled up paper inside with the details on.
If my friends lived further away than they do, I would definitely go for playing cards in a cute envelope. Its cheap, simple and can be posted easily.
However, me being me, I decided to go for the more difficult option. The problem was that I would then have to hand deliver the invites, but it was made easier by meeting a whole group of people in town at once.
I went on ebay (this was the first time I have ever bought anything online and it was actually not too scary) and ordered 25 glass vials from someone who calls himself The Science Geek, for only about £12, postage and packaging included.

They remind me of the bottles we used to use in secondary schools, to put different chemicals in. And to make them into really stunning little invites was so easy!
I printed out the invites onto normal white paper, in a small, classy font. They were in thin strips, so they would fit in the bottles when rolled up. (Note: the paper needs to be taller than the bottle so a little can stick out, so you can pull the paper out easily)

I then poured in some confetti-glitter-sprinkles type stuff into the bottles, to sit at the bottom. I used red and red hearts, and black stars, because I felt this matched the spooky Tim Burton theme. Oh, and these were really cheap too- 99p per bag, and theyre really big bags :)

I then hand cut out pieces of black thin card into label shapes, hole punched them and threaded them through the loop of a bow made from this cute ribbon Rob found in Elphics. Again, the ribbon was super-cheap, only £1.05 for 5m of it.

So this is the finished product, ta daaaaa!

And my friends were thrilled with them too- they make such lovely keepsakes!

Decorations
To combine the conventional Alice in Wonderland tea party with Tim Burton i'm basically going to mix fancy, mis-matched teacups and pots with Halowe'en decorations.

Im going to show you some of the teacups and saucers I bought at the carboot- most for 50p or less. This one is my favourite and will definitely be mine at the table.

I got three like this for £1 at the carboot. I love the spiked red rose on the saucer- its like a motif striaght out of one of Burton's films.

I bought five of these teacups, along with 8 matching saucers, 10 matching sideplates and 8 matching full size dinner plates for only £3!!!!! Ridiculous value!
Oh, Im also planning to tie a small red ribbon around each of the teacups' handles, just to bring them all together.

I plan to have a long table running down the middle of the marquee, covered in as many tablecloths as I can find. I want to use as many layers of table cloths as possible, so all the colours and patterns clash and add to the mis-matched-ness. Cos that's where its at ;)

For the Halowe'en input (mainly inspired by the Nightmare before Christmas) I will put up that fake spider-web stuff all over the place, along with pumpkins and those tiny fake spiders.

Other things to think about including:

•  Piles of books on the table
• Playing cards everywhere, perhaps even pushed into flower arrangements (black or red flowers only)
• Candles in jamjars everywhere, as well as long thin ones dripping down onto empty wine bottles
• fairy lights everywhere too, wrapped around flower pots, draped to make a ceiling, in flowerbeds etc.
• incense/ perfume (I believe scent is very important and truly allows guests to be fully immersed into the scene you are trying to create) I have decided to have a 'chill out area', much like the lair of the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. I will lay cushions and blankets and beanbags down, and light incense everywhere to give a hazy, comfortable atmsophere.

Okay, Im tired.... I have so much more to say on this subject, so i'll post another blog tomorrow with my suggestions for food, drink, music, costumes and everything else I can think of :D

Please let me know if this was helpful
Sammie
xoxo

Catch Up

So I haven't posted in a while... a week and two days I believe. But in my defence, I have been an very incredibly busy person.
Here is an example of what I have been doing: Today and yesterday was our 12 hour textiles exam, and here is the dress I made (from scratch, from my own pattern) :)

Its not completely finished, I'm going to sew more beads into the flowers, add a corset fastening to the back, and put fairy lights into the skirt... but I am pleased with it :)
My theme was the metaphorical 'alliance' between Catholicism and the city of Florence, and I was particularly inspired by John Paul Gaultier and Florence and the Machine's stage costumes. The flowers look yellow in these photos, but they are actually gold.

So the outfit I'm posting today is the one I wore to Mum's birthday dinner, which was a few days ago.

I really like the dress, and I've had it for years! I find I wear it to smart/casual events, such as dinners and exhibitions, and it was £7 from Primark!!!
The jacket is also from Primark, and is fairly new. I like it due to the cropped length, and it just seems to go with everything.

 I bought this bracelet from a carboot sale. I had been looking at these bracelets for ages, and got this one, with all the beads shown here, for only £6!! Bargain- yes. Was i happy- totally :)

In terms of makeup, I just kept it simple. No foundation/ concealer/ blush etc, just eye make up. I used Barry M black liquid eyeliner for the flicks, and mascara from Rimmel (I think?)
I just coloured in my eyebrows with a cheapy old black lipliner, and viola!
Looking at this photo, I can see I did a bag job on my eyebrows, but hey ho!

Watch this space ;)

Weekend, Oh sweet weekend!

So I havent posted for a few days, but to be fair, these past few days have been pretty busy!
First things first- The Apprentice. As to be expected, a bunch of ignorant, big-headed, overpaid idiots are chosen to fumble their way through pretty simple tasks. I thought the girls should have one that task because a. their design was much better and b. they seemed to put alot more effort in. And seriously, the boys were charging £15 for a small teddybear with a union jack tee shirt!
So then came the boardroom... although the team leader was obviously first to be blamed, she definitely didnt deserve to go home (also, i think Sir ... sorry, Lord Alan is trying to kick the habit of firing the first project managers). So that left Katie and Bilyana. Although Bilyana was a loudmouth and really annoying, he was going to fire Katie for doing next to nothing at all. So as he was about to (clearly) tell Katie that she was fired, Bilyana pipes up, interuppting him and begging for another chance, so Lord-Sir-Mister Alan then decides to change course and fire her.... lol!
I know that The Apprentice is getting repetitive, but I will keep watching it each year as I genuinely love it. And I may even consider auditioning for the Junior Apprentice :)
Yesterday, I went to London with the art department from college. Although I had to be on the train at about 10am, I got dropped in town at 9am ish, so I had a hot chocolate in McDonalds and got a few chapters of Wuthering Heights read. (Although I didn't really find Wuthering Heights interesting, I'm now completely absorbed into it... and I'm beginning to find that I'm also listening to Kate Bush's ridiculous song more and more too- seriously, I cannot get to 9 seconds before I laugh at her voice and dance moves in the video)

But yes.... as I was drinking my hot chocolate in McDonalds, or rather waiting for it to cool down for half an hour, then quickly drinking it before it gets cold, this couple came and sat down in the booth next to me. When 'Don't Lie' by the Black Eyed Peas came on, the sang along to it, the guy rapping and the girl doing the girl parts.... honestly, it was the cutest thing I have ever seen whilst waiting for a stupidly hot drink to cool down.
I then got on the train, didnt get lost, met up with my friends and was slightly late meeting the other art people under the clock at waterloo (it was only like 4 minutes late though, which wasnt too bad at all).We visited the Saatchi gallery, which had so many cool, contemporary pieces in. There was a gallery with huge pieces with probably at least £1000 worth of paint just splodged onto each of them by Andre Butzer , who refers to his work as 'Science-Fiction Expressionism'- I JUST WANTED TO TOUCH IT ARGHHHH. Here is one of his pieces...
 
There were so many things around the gallery- sculptures, paintings, installations that were just there, without barriers around and they were just so... touchable. It truly drove me crazy.
 Unfortunately, I had to leave early for a waitressing job, but I spent the last half an hour I had in London doing 'street photography'- taking pictures of random people who are unaware that I am taking photographs of them. Loads of people around the art and photography department do this, and its so much fun! I swear it was like pringles- once you start you just cant stop!
........so yeah, I filled up Rob's memory card with pictures of randomers walking along..... oops....
Last night, I saw Hayley again (yay!) and we did a waitressing job in Petersfield, serving the annual national trust dinner. It was very posh, so we had to look smart (minimal, clean makeup, hair tied back, black shirt and apron etc). We did many things, but the one task I dreaded was collecting plates back from the tables. The others kind of left me to this, so I basically collected 175 dirty plates whilst constantly hoping that I wouldnt dump a half eaten roast dinner or greek salad on an expensive suit or dress. I actually did pretty well, I mean, I dropped a pretty much clean knife onto a lady's lap but she just laughed about it. I think the worst thing that happened was when I was collecting the mayor's plate, and the stack of dirty plates in my hand wobbled really badly, and there was nothing anyone could do but watch. Luckily, it didnt fall, but I swear that I nearly had a heart attack!
So I got paid £40 and bought home some delicious leftovers of roast potatoes, beef and turkey (unfortunately, I dropped more than half of the potatoes in the nice lady's car who was giving me a lift home- but tbh i'm more disappointed that i lost loads of the potatoes more than i felt sorry for the car - I did get them all out of the car though! ). I also bought home 6 bottles of sweet, expensive wine that I actually like as its so sweet :) So yes, I think I got paid pretty well :D
Today, i hope to see my dad and get some art work done... i'm thinking of making a triptych with lots of overlayering and embroidery for my next development piece for art.
Tomorrow, I have Linda's (Rob's mum's ) birthday party at Sam's. It's going to be really nice to see all of his lovely family again and perhaps play poker.... and I'm looking forward to seeing Macy again, his cute little neice who is obssessed with pepper pig and toy story.
TTFN
Sammie :)
xoxo