A LOVE-ly Party

The Valentine Swap Party on Friday night was a great success.  My scrapbboking buds and I enjoyed a yummy spaghetti meal, some delicious desserts, and a fun embellishment exchange. 

The table was decorated in several shades of red and pink.  I made the table runner from three pieces of red flocked scrapbook paper.  I punched holes in the corners and attached them together with red ribbon.  It was very pretty and fairly cheap!

A friend loaned me the redchargers, and I invested a little money in the pink heart plates from Target.  They were 1/2 off the day after Valentine's day.  At the back of the chairs, you will see a scrapbook paper holder.  They cost about $1.00 each.  I filled each one with enough supplies to create 2-4 pages.  I kept my cost down by buying sale items that fit my color scheme and by splitting each item.  One pack of paper was enough to give each person 4-5 sheets, etc.

On the back of each chair, I attached sequined heart ornaments from Michaels.  I just tied them into the knot of the chair sash.  They were 50% off the week before Valentine's Day.

These are the centerpieces that I created.  I saved food cans small and large.  The really large ones pictured here came from my school's cafeteria.  I covered each one in pretty papers and ribbons.  They are filled with paper flowers made from dinner napkins rather than tissue paper.  They are more attractive and sturdier that the tissue paper would have been.  I do have to give a shout out to some of my students who donated their time to help me make the last of the flowers.  I fell a tad behind schedule because I had a sick child.  So, THANKS girls!

 

I loved checking out all the little goodies each girl included in her jars.  They included everything from rhinestones to fabric to die cut shapes.  And they are just so darn cute!

The dessert buffet table coordinated with the dinner table.  I made most of the desserts the night before the party.  My buds and I decorated each one the night of the party.  It was fun!  Everyone enjoyed joining in to help!

Miniature Cupcakes

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Ritz Bits

Oreo Cookie Balls

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Miniature Reece Cup Cookies

Chocolate Covered Cherry Mice

I encourage you to host a scrapping party of some type for you and your friends.  Treat yourself.  You deserve it!

Be Mine Valentine Swap Party

I wanted to do something fun and new with my scrapbooking buddies.  SO, I decided to combine my love of party planning with my love of scrapbooking, and voila...the idea was born.  I am hosting an embellishment exchange party.  As an invitation, I decorated a tag and attached it to a gift bag.  The tag included instructions and suggestions for the swap:

 

Inside the bag, each participant received five small decorated jars in a particular color since there are five of us.  I chose red, white, pink, brown, and cream for Valentine's Day.  I decorated 25 jars, five of each color. 

We are each responsible for filling our jars with the specified color of embellishments.  For example, I got the five white jars in my bag.  I have to fill each jar with white embellishments.  My friend Susan received the five red jars and will fill them with red embellishments.  They can include buttons, brads, ribbon, lace, rhinestones, chipboard shapes, die cut shapes, etc.  It just has to FIT in the jar, and they are fairly small.  This helps cut the cost.  You can also cut and decorate your own shapes to put in the jars.  In a couple of weeks, I am going to host the party. We will swap jars so that each person gets one jar of each color.  I am decorating for the party in coordinating colors and putting together some paper sets as favors to go with the embellies.  Check back for photos of my completed jars, the party decorations and the party favors.