Bonjour et Bienvenue à Mon Nouvel Appartement

There is no better place in the world than my apartment.  It is my home, my sanctuary and my crafting headquarters.  As with any chateau, mine needed a proper fete to celebrate its awesomeness.

It was hard to find a lot of good apartment-warming ideas online so I have compiled some of my secrets to share with you!

Theme

Picking a theme for your party is super important, it makes everything else much easier because the activities, food and decorations will all stem from here.  Because my place was christened “Chateau la Mere” from the beginning, nothing but a French, Parisian theme would do!  This part was really easy for me, however themes can be hard to invent and decide on.  First and foremost, think of what YOU would like – it is your party and your place, so you get the ultimate say!  I’m sure if I had a Minnie Mouse themed party my friends would have still left full, happy and satisfied (although I would have probably been the only one to dress up for it…)  So what I’m trying to say is let your imagination run wild, and do what is going to be fun for you and your guests.

Invitations

Okay so I had all of these fantastic ideas of cute invitations that I could send out to people.  But let’s face it… not only do I not know any of my friends’ addresses, who wants to pay for postage? Or pay for paper?  Hell, I don’t even know my friends’ email addresses!   Go green, and cheap, and do a facebook evite.  If you have friends that are decidedly “off the grid” then shoot them an email or give them a call, but sending an invitation online is an easy way to make sure that the people who you want included are not overlooked.

If you really cannot completely break away from a traditional invitation, think of making a graphic invite that you can upload to the electronic invitation to give it a bit more personalization.

Decorations & Supplies

I didn’t want to go crazy on decorations, I mean I’m all for going big but this is an afternoon party that I planned to last no longer than 4 hours so I didn’t want to get too invested.  I just bought some simple crepe paper and went to town.  You can buy this at the 99 cent store!  How great!

Crepe Paper Eiffel Tour on my front door

Keep your decorations clean and simple, but also try and tie them back to your theme.

Activities

Although this is a short party, I really wanted to make sure that my guests were properly entertained during their time at the Chateau.  Little activities and prizes make the experience just that much more memorable!  There are a lot of fun, quick games that you can play, but since this was a housewarming party I decided to avoid any cliches and just offer a craft (duha!!) and a photobooth experience.  Both are very simple and easy to set up.

The craft did set me back some cold hard cash because of all of the supplies I needed, so if you don’t want to spend too much you might want to avoid this.  Because of my LOVE of maps, and the fact that my kitchen is pretty much an homage to my obsession, I thought it would be fun for my guests to make their own state so that I could make a friendship map of sorts!

I turned my bureau into a crafting spot for my guests

I provided an array of felt fabric squares, puffy paint, pom poms, hot glue, feathers, beads… you name it.  I made my own state and taped it to the wall as an example as you can see in the photo above.  I also wrote out instructions of what to do on cardstock and posted it on the wall as well – just letting them know what all of the mediums were for, the rest was up to them!  You of course were able to take the states home, however everyone wanted for me to keep them so that I could do something (which I have yet to do!) awesome with all of them.  They are my keepsakes from the day!

SAY FROMAGE! my mocked up photo booth

For the photobooth, I simply taped up a sheet to my ceiling…which was actually quite difficult because my ceiling doesn’t take much of a liking to duck tape.  The sheet formed a barrier around my desk where I set up my macbook.  Guests were able to select their background of choice and then have at it!!  We got a lot of great photos, and afterwards I created a facebook photo album so that everyone could see their lovely faces

Bethany and Carey win best photo, for sure

Food & Drink

The Spread Station

This is where your theme really comes into play.  What would you eat if your theme was reality?  If you’re throwing a Spice Girls party have a station with a bunch of different candies – cause you know those girls were always hyped up on sugar (or life, one or the other…).  So since my party had a French theme I went very simple – I offered cheese and crackers purchased relatively inexpensively at Fresh and Easy; and I also offered home made crepes with your choice of nutella or jams to top them off.  Both options kept everyone full and happy for under 20 bucks!

The Sweet Spot

I LOVE dessert, so of course I had to offer some sweet options.  The cupcakes were both purchased on the cheap as well as home made by a friend, the cookies were sent by Mom (I’m loved, I know) and I bought a HUGE brick of chocolate that I just broke up into tiny pieces.  I had sooo much left over, but that’s what sharing at work the next day is for, right?

Les Boissions!

Fresh and Easy’s Big Kahuna wine is similiar to 2 Buck Chuck at Traitor Hoes, however it tastes better (in my professional wino opinion), is cheaper AND they all have screw tops!!  This was a great way to give the French experience on a budget.  I believe I spent more on the plastic cups than the wine.  I also offered a seasonal apple cider (this was in October, obvi) and a dessert wine.  My total for the beverages was probably around 20 bucks as well.  If you can stick to wine and beer instead of offering a variety of liquors and mixers, you will most likely save in the long run.

Final Tips and Tricks

Everything turned out great, and it was wonderful to see everyone that made it out!  As simple as everything looked, I actually spent a lot of time prepping and was more than exhausted when all was said and done.  I prefer to attend parties, instead of hosting them haha but I learned a lot and had a super awesome time so I’m glad it all came together.  Here is a rundown of some key tips for a successful housewarming party:

• Be prepared to spend money and time, as with any party, but make sure you keep everything under control by setting a budget
• At the end of the day select a theme that you LOVE, but just make sure that your guests will be comfortable with it
• Don’t go crazy with the decorations, just add nice touches to tie in with the theme.  You don’t want to detract people from the beauty of your new place!
• Play music in the background and have little activities for people to do when they fall in and out of conversations
• Provide seating and tables.  If you don’t have these yet borrow some OR have your guests bring them – BYOC, bring your own chair!
• SOCIALIZE AND HAVE FUN.  As the host it’s easy to get caught up in the preparation and making sure everyone is happy but remember this is YOUR party so take time to enjoy it before everyone is out the door!

I’m still alive, I promise…

Hello my crafty loves,

I believe that I do owe you an apology, or about 60 apologies as it’s been over two months since I’ve posted!  To be honest, there really are no excuses, however in that two months I have come in and out of a quarter life crisis, contemplated changing careers, became a bit more settled,  developed a severe addiction to craigslist and dark chocolate, found a new apartment, and moved into said apartment.  I’ve also been graced by a very full summer social calendar with friends.

But as I’ve just started a new chapter in my life, so begins the next phase of this blog.  As I remodel my new apartment, I will remodel the site…slowly, but all in due time.  I have a lot of projects planned: thrifting for furniture, creating a window valance, great ways to live without central air, color coordinating, cooking on a small stove…  I will be busy and I’m excited for you to get in on my adventure.

I will leave you with a few photos of my place when I found it so you can watch the transformation happen!

Crafting Fix #8 – Mixed Media Madness

My shining moment as a painter occurred seven years ago in my high school art class.  While training our fingers the dexterity required to execute an acrylic painting (remember, this was before text messaging – at one time this skill needed to be developed) we were given the assignment of taking an actual landscape and using its elements to create a different world.  By some work of creative cavalcade I turned our school parking lot into an ice skating rink.  That brief moment of painting glory has yet to be relived in my adult life, but I decided to bust out the paintbrushes and exercise my acrylic blending skillz to create a new masterpiece.

Lately I’ve been inspired by mixed medium art.  I love how crafty and kitschy it is.  At our latest LA art walk I saw this piece that really got my juices flowing:

Can you see the map on the main circle?!?

I <3 maps!  My initials spell out MAP.  Therefore, ergo, crafting that involves maps make me beyond happy.  So, I decided to take a crack at it tonight and here’s what I came up with.  Certainly not art walk worthy, but I’m sure it will find its way onto some wall in my new apartment…

I Call it “Through the Smog”

The LA Church of Brunch

Brunching on Sunday morning is not just an activity in Los Angeles, it’s a religion

Waiting in line at the Original Pantry Cafe

The weekend of birthday feasting continued this morning, much to my cholesterol level’s dismay.  My friend and I decided to take it back to where we first met – downtown LA and hit up one of it’s most tried and true dining establishments, The Original Pantry Cafe.  We used to frequent this joint back in the day when we lived around the corner from it, but it had been a good four years since I had visited it.

The Original Pantry Cafe is designated by the city of Los Angeles as a cultural and historical monument.  I know you probably see these signs all over the city, and it basically means that establishment is protected as a historical monument by the city.  The Cafe has been open since 1924 and it has remained opened 365 days a year, 24 hours a day since then.  Because of this they have the slogan “Always open and never without a customer.”

The Pantry is deemed to be a Cultural Heritage Monument

The place is no frills, and according to legend, mostly ex-cons man the kitchen.  There is always a line, but it is always worth the wait.  The breakfast, lunch and dinner menus can be found on the walls which can easily be viewed from any position in the place.  As soon as the line permits you to enter the gastronomic gateway, an overwhelming scent of fried delicousness envelops your nostrils as the clanking of plates and and chit chattering of patrons fills your ears.  The pancakes are a MUST try, we believe that they are sprinkled with crack and flipped with love.  The menu is good ol’ fashioned American food, no doubt about that.

mmmmmmmmmmm yeah!

Yet another delicious way to spend a Sunday with an amazing friend