As I mentioned on Friday, it’s been party season around here. Along with my friend, Jenny, I hosted a baby shower for another dear friend of ours. Early on, we divided jobs – Jenny organized food and a fun craft while I organized my house to host people. :) The Mom-to-Be loves coral, mint green, gold, and burlap. Here are a few things I created:

I completely bought out all the ribbon in these colors at Michaels to create these chandeliers and…

this ribbon garland.

I also sewed three simple table runners out of burlap. Everything looked so festive that I kept the decorations up for days after the party.

Then last weekend, I hosted another event for the board of BB’s preschool. Still loving the chandeliers but wanting to use my favorite tablecloths, I switched out some of the ribbons. You can see I had to take off my princess shoes to work on this project. :) Mothers, do your children have these shoes? Do they love them as much as BG does, and do you loathe them as much as I do? Seriously, the way she runs around in them, I just know she’s going to break something. Like an arm.

For the baby shower, I borrowed folding chairs, but when I was looking to host another large group within a few weeks, I decided it might be time to invest in my own. (And thus began my new Craigslist addiction. Seriously, I’m like a stalker. First, folding chairs, now armoires and vintage rolling carts and daybeds. Obsessed!) I got a great deal on 12 of these vintage folding chairs. I’m thinking about spray painting them a fun color (or three fun colors), but the bronze is totally fine for now.

Here’s the table, all set up for dinner. Did I mention it was 106 degrees that day? It dropped to a “cool” 100 by the time dinner started. It was hot, but at least the patio is covered. We survived, but we moved it inside after everyone had eaten.

I made three chandeliers, one large and two small. I love the way they turned out, so I’m keeping them up for the rest of the summer.

Here’s what I used to make a smaller one:

• 9 inch diameter embroidery hoop (or macrame hoop)
• 12 ft ribbon for hanging, cut into 6 ft lengths (white)
• colored ribbon in varying widths (I used 8 ft yellow, 16 ft teal, 16 ft turquoise, and 8 ft white.)

Begin by cutting the colored ribbon into 2 ft lengths.

Fold it in half, and then loop it around the hoop as shown:

Repeat until you fill the hoop. Attach two 6 ft ribbons (tying at north-south and east-west compass points for hanging).

And just for kicks, I thought I would try to figure out how to animate these photos. It took about 5 seconds – with the help of MakeAGIF.com – but I was still feeling pretty good about myself.

Me: Hey, come see what I just did.

Husband: I hope it’s awesome.

Me: Oh, it is.

Husband (upon seeing said GIF): You don’t think people could figure it out?

Me: Yeah, probably. Too much?

Husband: No, it’s GIFeriffic!

This is why I love him.