By Libbie Summers
Assisted by David Dempsey

Holiday wreath? Sure, ANY holiday with the right colored cupcake liners. I love this for a fun quick craft! 

Cupcake Liner Wreath
makes 1 (12-inch) wreath

What you need:
120 paper cupcake liners in whatever colors you like (I used pastels for this wreath)
1 (12-inch) styrofoam wreath form
scissors
straight pins
Ribbon to hang

What to do: 
Step 1: Prepare the cupcake liners.
Working with two liners stacked together at a time (doubling them up makes them more sturdy when pinning to the styrofoam), make a cut down one side just to the bottom and cut the bottom of the liners out (the circle part at the bottom of a cupcake!). Continue with all of the liners. You should have 60 sets and 120 colored circles (I’ll show you what to do with those later).

Step 2: Attach the liners to the styrofoam wreath form.
Start anywhere on your wreath (this will become your “top” and be covered with ribbon when you hang it). Wrap one set of liners around the wreath and secure in the back with straight pins. You could also glue the cupcake liners with stick glue, but I find them secured better with straight pins AND you can take the pins out and reuse the wreath). Continue adding the liners (alternating colors) by overlapping the previous liners and securing in the back with straight pins. Work your way around the wreath until it is completely covered. Note: The last liner is a bit of a bear to add, but don’t worry, it will be covered up with a ribbon! 😉

Step 3: Hang your wreath!
Cut a piece of ribbon the length you need for hanging over your door or wherever you think would be fun to hang! I hung mine over the side of our mid-century liquor cart from the rum decanter!

PRO TIP: Remember all those circles you cut out? They make the BEST confetti!!!!

By Libbie Summers
Assisted by David Dempsey
Location: The Paxton House

Need a show stopping garland for your staircase bannister? I did this recently for a holiday launch party for my Yum Yum Smile Shop culinary salon line at The Paxton House in Thomasville, GA. Decorating is easy when you start with a beautiful place like The Paxton House –an historic inn that is modern and colorful and cool like its owners Carol and Charlie. The goal was to create a big WOW when guests arrived that was inspirational, attainable and affordable (the three most important things when I set out to design an event). I used solid colored wrapping paper and stuck with pink ribbon to coordinate with the Yum Yum Smile Shop feel, but you could use anything! I’d love this in paper of big buffalo plaid checks or vintage holiday papers or fancy metallic papers. Your imagination is the most important thing you’ll need, the rest is easy. Here’s how I did it.

What you need: 
Yardage of ribbon for bannister wrap and packages (I used two different colors of satin ribbon, but you could use all the same color)
Empty Cardboard Boxes (varying in size), The lighter the box the better!
Wrapping Paper
Fresh Greenery with long branches, I gathered various kinds of greens from the garden. (you could use artificial…but why?) (PS, you’ll need a lot)
Scissors
Tape

What to do:
1. At the top of your bannister, tie one end of a roll of satin ribbon and working your way down the steps, TIGHTLY wrap the ribbon around the bannister. Tie it securely at the bottom of the bannister.
Note: I used satin ribbon so I wouldn’t harm the historic staircase in any way. If you wrap the ribbon tight enough around the bannister, it will stay secure enough to hold the weight of the boxes and greens very easily.

2. Determine how many packages you’ll need for the size of your bannister and based on the size of your boxes. Wrap your packages and tie each with a satin ribbon that has been tightly crossed in the back and brought to the top to tie in a bow. You’ll need the ribbon secure to the package when attaching to the bannister.
3. Cut one 18″ piece of ribbon for each package you wrap. (you may need more for larger boxes, but wait until you get that far)
4. Working from the top and smallest to largest box, use the extra piece of ribbon you cut and thread it through the cross of ribbons on the bottom of the package. Then, thread it through the ribbon you have tightly wrapped around the bannister. Wrap it around the bannister and tie it off in a tight bow to hold the package in place (make sure to tie them off going different directions, they will naturally fall into place). You may see this ribbon, so make it pretty!
5. Continue tying packages onto the bannister (leaving a few inches in between and increasing the spacing as you move down the bannister).

6. Thread your greens through the ribbon wrapped around the bannister in between the packages. Trim any long branches so they don’t stick out. Also, add a few greens to the top of your packages, it will look like the greens are growing all over the gifts! Make sure to go down the steps and look at the greens from all angles. Fill in any holes you see with greenery.
7. As a bonus (which I didn’t have time to do for this event). I would love to see a stack of packages at the bottom of the steps (on the bannister side).
8. Not only was this a gorgeous and inspiring focal decoration, it served as a great “backdrop” for party pics from the event! Here’s my hostess Carol Whitney in her pink velvet blazer. The coolest innkeeper in all the land.

By Libbie Summers
Assisted by David Dempsey
Location: The Loft at Straton Hall Events

When you have a box full of baseballs leftover from a previous event and your “Pork and Berries” dinner needs a centerpiece…you make blueberry baseballs! #homerun

Blueberry Baseball
makes 1

What you need:
1 Baseball
Newspaper
Scissors
Blue, white, and black paint
Masking Tape
White glue
Water
Paintbrushes
Paper Towels

What to do:
1. Mix equal parts white glue and water in a small bowl. While that mixes, cut the newspaper into half inch strips. Then, cut the strips into small 1-2 inch pieces. Use the masking tape to create a “lip” on one side of the blueberry…this will be the top of your blueberry. Paint the mixture onto the baseball, place one piece of newspaper on the baseball. Continue one by one until ball is completely covered. Allow to dry completely.
Pro Tip: We made a “stand” out of rolled up foil for the balls to dry on.

2. Mix white, black and blue paint together to make a perfect blueberry color. Cover the entire baseball blueberry in the blue color. Allow the blueberry to dry completely. Save leftover paint, you’ll use it soon!

3. Mix black paint with a slight amount of white paint. Using a thin brush, paint a primitive star in the lip at the top of your blueberry. Allow to dry.

4. Add a bit more white to the saved blueberry blue paint mixture. Wet a paper towel and dip it into a slight bit of paint and pat the color all over the sides of the blueberry. Let dry overnight.

Thats it! Gather some trimmings from your Blueberry Bush (or any tree outside), lay the branches down the center of your table. Add in your blueberry baseballs and fresh blueberries if you like.

By Libbie Summers
Assisted by David Dempsey

When your event needs a little more POP, here’s an easy and fun removable idea! For this application, I was hosting in intimate dinner party inspired by cherry blossoms. The environment was very organic and I thought I needed to add a bit of a modern twist. Boom. A simple chair decal on a white ghost chair brought it all home…and was so fun to do.

What you need:
1 Plastic chair
Vinyl Sheets (Available at Michael’s Crafts. For this chair, I used one light pink, one bright pink and one copper)
1 piece thick card stock
Pen/Pencil/Marker
Scissors

What to do:
1. Make a Paper Flower Template: Depending on what your inspiration is for the chair (mine was cherry blossoms), Draw a simple outline of a flower, bud and leaf on the card stock and cut out. NOTE: for this application, I did two different sizes of the same flower. Flower were 2 to 2.5-inches in diameter.
2. Cut Out Flower Template: Cut out the flowers, buds and leaves from the card stock.
3. Cut Out Vinyl Flowers, Buds and Leaves: Working on the back side of the vinyl, use the paper templates to draw around onto the vinyl and cut out. Note: for this application, I did a full sheet of light pink flowers and a used the bright pink for buds and flowers. I didn’t cut leaves.)
4. Apply the Vinyl: Do a simple sketch on paper of the the design you want to start with. Beginning with the limbs, cut out strips (1/4-inch wide and various lengths), peel backing off and apply to the chair. Working one at a time, peel off backing from the vinyl flowers, buds and leaves.

Before and After!

The whole process took me 1 hour and was the perfect modern touch the table needed.

By Libbie Summers 
With David Dempsey

Once a year, on Valentine’s Day, Ken takes one for the team.