cupcakestands for a birthday tea

So I'm nearly done with all the birthday party prep, I went with a super simple mixture of homemade cupcakes and cookies and a shop bought cake displayed an varying shades of loveliness. And so the mini cakestand makes its debut.

As always my craft projects can be summed up in one photo, so here it is:

A little glass candlestick (one with a flat top of a decent width), superglue and a vintage saucer. Because my saucer was so little lining up the candlestick was quite easy, but if you have a larger plate smaller stick ratio you might need to do some measuring to get it square in the centre. Add some superglue and weigh down (philosophy is always a good choice for a weighty tome so I used an Edward De Bono, peruse your bookshelf at liberty). If you're worried about your candlestick slipping hold it in place with masking tape.

Leave for a good 24 hours or as long as your glue specifies and wash well before you use for food. I used tiny saucers as they are perfect for individual cupcake holders and after the party is over I think they may well take up residence on my dressing table to display my jewellery.

a friday link list - doilies extravaganza

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did you guys enjoy my doily bowl project earlier this week? I call it a tutorial but really one photo sums up all the steps!

I hope you've not had enough doily love yet (esp. since all the decor and invites for my birthday party are doily-centric!) Here are my favourite projects from around the blogosphere:

Doily Pillow Tutorial by Rachel Denbow

Plaster of Paris doily bowls

Gilded doily votives from One Pearl Button

frosted doily mirror from papernstitch - p.s. have you read Brittni's 'Handmade for the Holidays' e-mag - if not indulge yourself in some serious eye-candy

cupcake wrappers - such an easy diy, you need to try this

Doily hooplas - can you believe I actually made one of these this week and didn't take a photo before I posted it halfway across the world?! So annoyed, but hopefully the recipient will take a super awesome photo of my handiwork

and next week there will be more doily loveliness and a hell of a lot of party planning going on!

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Blue Skies,
Charlotte xo

wrap it with a doily

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I think I should just go ahead and re-commission this week as official doily week, what do you think? As you know I am a super fan of a brown paper package with a little embellishment be it a ribbon curl, origami bow or recycled Xmas decoration and since I am mega obsessed with doilies at the moment I figured I'd do a little wrap-it round up of doily packages. Thrifted crochet, vintage paper or entirely handmade, I do love a little doily action:

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a doily bowl for a granny chic afternoon

Eeek, just twelve days till my birthday, which means ten days till my birthday party! I am so super excited - I'm hosting a granny chic afternoon tea party - think florals, cakestands and lots of doilies. In my head I'm one of those crazy party planner types who does everything handmade, but this time I am taking it easy. All my diys are low-energy high impact types, I'm buying in the birthday cake (quel horreur), focussing on  sweet treats and fun ways to display everything. Later this week I'll be posting my diy cakestands, but for now a super simple doily bowl:

I would post a real tutorial but it is pretty much summed up in this one pic:

(thrifted crochet doilies + spray starch + upsidedown bowl) x leave over night = doilie bowls

Pretty huh? The starch didn't make them as sturdy as I'd like so I can't put anything too heavy in them. Next time I think I'd use a watered down pva solution or something like these plaster of paris bowls.

If you make these please let me know what you did with them. I think a doily bowl of sweet treats could replace the ubiquitous muffin basket, or you could fill it full of sparkly costume jewellery for your best friend's dressing table.

Keep checking back for the rest of the party projects (or just pop over after the party next week and get your whole fix in one go - though secretly I don't really want you to do that!)

Blue Skies,
Charlotte xo