Autumn Craft Party

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day,
so I never have to live without you."

(A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh)

Isn't that a sweet quote? It doesn't have much to do with the rest this post, except that we used some adorable Winnie the Pooh stamps courtesy of Angela during the craft day at my apartment this past weekend. My friend Nuree and I planned the afternoon and invited a few creative gals we thought would be interested to join us. If anyone would like to be part of future craft parties, let us know!

Heat-embossed gift tags (Image: Christine M.)

After most of the group left by early evening, my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and baby niece came over for dinner, so I had a full house and a long but fun day! It was the first time having several people over since early September, when some of Sam's medical school friends came to hang out and see our place. (For that gathering, we did a simpler menu of "greatest hits" from our August dinners -- detailed in previous posts -- including the fajitas, sliders, potato salad, onion rings, and ice cream.)

An October Crafternoon
 

I love the colors of autumn, from the vivid oranges and reds of the leaves, to earthy browns and greens, to the lush fashion colors of burgundy and gold. I bought some party supplies to reflect the season.
 

Speaking of seasonal colors, some pretty Pantone palettes for fall events include Ultramarine Green, Honey Gold, French Roast, and Rhapsody, a muted plum; the muted blush tone Rose Smoke and deeper rose Pink Flambé; and don't forget Sunflower, which I posted about last time. (All images below from Wedding Paper Divas.)

Ultramarine Green

Honey Gold

French Roast

Rhapsody

Rose Smoke (my Vera wedding dress in Blush!)

Pink Flambé

The Food

Back to our craft day... On the coffee table was a spread consisting of Parmigiano Reggiano and brie cheeses with dried organic Turkish apricots, crackers, and Trader Joe's pumpkin butter; TERRA Exotic Harvest kabocha squash, carrot, and blue potato chips with onion yogurt dip; a tiered server with some fruit and lots of baked goodies brought by Nuree and Christine; and a glass pumpkin full of Snickers PB Squareds and Milky Way Caramel Apple Minis. To drink, we enjoyed apple cider, coffee, hot cocoa, and spicy chai lattes.

 

My friend Yang Sun brought a sweet little cake that we were too full to eat -- luckily it was enjoyed after the fact -- and my sister brought a lot of amazing desserts when she came over, too!

Cheese, dried organic apricots, crackers, pumpkin butter, and candy bars

Kobucha, carrot, and blue potato sea salt chips with onion yogurt dip

Delicious treats from Bouchon Bakery and Trader Joe's

For lunch, I made an apple mesclun salad (I meant for it to be an apple-pear salad, but the pears weren't ripe enough) of mixed greens, chopped apples, dried cranberries, walnuts, and a homemade dressing of olive oil, apple cider, and apple cider vinegar; Williams-Sonoma's 6-Hour Chili, which I adapted by swapping ground turkey and adding black beans and red kidney beans; and jalapeño-cheddar cornbread.

Lunch is served

Apple mesclun salad

Slow-cooked turkey chili

Jalapeño-cheddar cornbread

The Crafts

Now to the real reason we got together; although for a while it seemed like we were just going to sit and eat and not get around to crafting! I polled the attendees in advance and gave them some options on which craft to feature, and most seemed interested in heat-embossed stationery. Some girls also brought other projects to work on, including a Halloween costume and a knit scarf. Oh, and we watched the Stanford vs. Cal football game on TV.

 

I had learned the heat embossing technique at the Paper Source store in SoHo, and bought a heat tool, embossing powders, and some blank gift tags at Paper Presentation and some colored cards and envelopes at Papyrus; Nuree brought scrapbooking paper and a paper cutting; and Angela brought her stamps to add to the stamps I have.

 

I also placed all of my nail polishes on the table, for anyone to paint their nails at any point. Nail art is definitely a craft.

Nail polish, embossing powder and pad, stamps, heat tool, and paper supplies

Close-up of supplies for heat-embossed stationery

Close-up of some of the stamps

Heat embossing in action

Yes, I have a lot of nail polish! I like OPI, butter LONDON, and essie.

Our littlest craftgirl's glittery nails (Image: Nuree C.)

Amazing handmade spider Halloween costume (Image: Nuree C.)

So what's next: maybe a holiday craft party? I know I'm looking forward to buying our first Christmas tree!

 

A Little About Halloween

I put out my Hug Salt and Pepper Shakers from the MoMA store that my friend Robyn gave me years ago. The ghosts nest together really cutely in a hug... Aww.

"Let's hug it out"

Other than that, the extent of autumnal/Halloween decorating I've done is place some miniature white and orange pumpkins and crab apples around our dining area lamp. NYC doesn't do Halloween the way you see in the suburbs, but Park Slope is certainly more suburban than Manhattan.

Mini pumpkins and apples

Another day, maybe I'll post photos of past pumpkins I've carved -- since it doesn't look like I'll be doing any of that this year -- or costumes I've worn. But for fun, below is a photo of the costumes I ordered for next week! Can anyone guess what they are?

"Fra-GEE-lay. That must be Italian." (Image: Amazon.com)

Tonight we're going to the New York Repertory Orchestra's annual benefit, and tomorrow we're leaving for a weekend in Salem, Massachusetts, which should be really festive this time of year.

{Craft supplies: American Crafts Zing! Glitter and Metallic Embossing Powders in Black, Gold, Red, and Silver from Paper Presentation; Cake Vintage Italian-Scroll Placemat Pad from Sur La Table; Darice Multi-Purpose Heat Tool from Paper Presentation; Emboss Embossing Stamp Pad in Clear from Paper Presentation; Paper Presentation assorted sets of gift tags; Papyrus A2 cards and envelopes in Cement, Red, and Sage / Invitations: Paperless Post Watercolor Autumn Frame / Party supplies: Crate & Barrel Orange Paper Straws; Party City botanical print napkins in Pomegranate Brown; Party City cups, plates, and bowls in Berry}