Speakeasy Party Part 2: Decor

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Speakeasy Party Part 1

Speakeasy Party Part 2: The Decor (You're Reading it!)

This weekend, my fiance and I had a Speakeasy Party at our apartment. Here are the fancies:

Hand-stamped labels on alcohol and food

A full Do-It-Yourself Speakeasy Bar

The tools to make yourself a Prohibition-era cocktail

Hand-cut Orange Twists

Meats, cheeses cut with alcohol, and macaroons

And now that I've (hopefully) intrigued you, here's a play-by-play:

On Saturday morning, we had a delicious breakfast at Meli Cafe and then got some errands done to prepare for the party. Perhaps most importantly, we blew our life savings (okay, not really, but it always feels that way) at Cost Co. Remember when I mentioned that my fiance loves Cost Co? 

We stocked up on flowers, because a party isn't a party without flowers everywhere. We got home and I immediately started breaking apart the white roses and blue hydrangeas to place in small jars and vases all over our apartment.

My cousin, Clara, showed up around 1pm, and we got to work on the details. I busted out my chalk board and stamp sets and we started transforming my apartment into a 1920s, Prohibition-Era Speakeasy.

We served our guests an assortment of prohibition-era-inspired foods. Slices of various cheddars cut with alcohol (wine, whiskey, porter - see above) were a hit, as was the goat cheese, chorizo, and coconut macaroons.

Clara taught me how to cut orange twists. Basically, you start at the top and spiral down toward the bottom. I used a short cut and went ahead and cut them really thick, then used kitchen scissors to cut down the center of each of the thick twists to make them thinner (this also meant there were more strands, which is good for a party). I felt totally classy doing this. Like, I'm a bona fide bartender now. Except that my cousin is the one with the true bar-related talent. 

We set up a Do-It-Yourself Cocktail bar that included Gin, Whiskey, Scotch, Rum, Sparkling Water, Grenadine, Maraschino Cherries, Lemon Ginger Syrup, Lime Wedges, Lemon Wedges, Orange Twists, Angastora Bitters, and a few flavors of NuNaturals Stevia Syrup (the orange flavor was a big hit). We also used stamps to label the alcohol and cocktail items.

It was quite a spread and people seemed to adore the small details we added to the set up. Everything from hand stamped labels to striped paper straws.

As the arrival of our guests neared, we also whipped together a delicious 1920s Champagne Punch. I found multiple recipes online that claim to be Prohibition-era recipes, and they all seemed to include tea. Not sure why that's the case, but my cousin mentioned that a lot of the drink recipes during that time had to mask the intense flavor of home-brewed alcohol, so perhaps that's why there was so much tea presence in those recipes.

1920s Champagne Punch Recipe coming tomorrow!



To set the mood, we had old 1920s black and white films playing on the television (pictured is the movie Metropolis), and played music from the Pandora station for Big Band Jazz.

Not bad, eh? :)

DIY Vintage Chic "Let It Snow" Christmas Decor

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Christmastime is here, and I'm in good spirits because I love my apartment. I'm a bit biased against the traditional Christmas colors, though. I have a strong preference for cooler tones that mimic the weather outside -- no, not "frightful," but the colors of sky and snow. Blues and silvers, glitter and shine, those are the colors and textures that make Christmastime special for me.

So when it came to decorating my apartment, I was determined to do it in a way that fit for me. Which meant it had to fit my color scheme and, of course, it had to be a DIY project. Here's one of the projects I came up with:

I've got to say, I'm quite happy with it. The bright globe lights feel like shining stars, and the phrase is one of my favorites. I considered something like "The first Noel," and almost chose to go with "Emmanuel" (might make a second one that says that, actually). But, alas, I decided to go with the extremely catchy line, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."



Supplies:

• Brown paper (I used paper cut from brown paper grocery bags)
• Light paper to cut out letters (I used light blue paper that is lined, to add some extra detail. I would also suggest using light colored graph paper)
• Scissors
• Glue Stick
• Twine

Directions:

First, cut out rectangles for each letter, as well as one to place in between each word so that the letters don't run together. "Let It Snow" has 9 letters and 2 spaces, so I cut out 11 pieces. Make sure the pieces are roughly the same size.

Next, trace letters onto your lighter paper. I chose to do all uppercase letters. If you want things to look perfect, you could choose a font on the computer and type the word out (making sure the letters are large enough to fit nicely on your background sheets, of course) to use as stencils. Personally, I enjoy the handmade flair, so I drew my letters freehand. I went with all capitals, and added hand drawn serifs.

Once you've drawn or traced your letters, cut them out and glue them onto the brown background. 

Use scissors or a hole punch to poke two holes on each of the pieces. Keep the holes on the top left and right, but be sure not to get too close to the edges (because the closer you get with the hole, the higher likelihood there is that you'll accidentally rip through to the edge as you assemble the project).

Finally, string the twine or string through your pieces. I came in from the top on one side, threaded it around the back, and popped back out on the other side. If you want more string to show, begin at the back, then thread it through to the front so that the string spans the center top of the paper, then back out to the back. Whichever method you choose, keep it consistent on each piece.

When you're finished, hang your wonderful creation!