paperandglue.net

Last week I participated in yet another rite of wedding season — the bridal shower. A family friend (son of my mom’s good friend, high school friend of my brother, who is in the wedding party) is getting married at the end of the month, and so my mom and I participated in the throwing of a shower for his intended.

I think I can take credit for coming up with the idea that frees us from the seemingly-obligatory and uniformly awful bridal shower games. I just have no interest in any of the following:

1. Making wedding dresses out of toilet paper

2. Playing “What’s Missing from the Tray?” memory games

3. Playing “How Well Do You Know the Bride?” trivia games

4. Anything else called an “icebreaker.”

So here’s what we do. We specify that all guests bring one or two favourite recipes. When they arrive, we have tables set up, laden with patterned paper, stickers, pens and markers, and scissors. Then we get everyone to “scrapbook” their recipe onto a page. I typically lead everyone in this activity, and I stress that it’s a no-pressure kind of thing. You can just glue the recipe card down and stick a sticker on and be done. Or, for those who are comfortable with fancier techniques, you can mat your recipe and draw illustrations or whatever. Basically, these are skills you learned in kindergarten, so just go for it!

At the end of the shower, we gather all the pages and place them in page protectors and put them in a nice binder. The bride goes home with an artifact that’s not only useful (containing many excellent, tried-and-true recipes), but a tangible expression of love.

The other benefit to doing the scrapbooking during the shower is that it truly is a great icebreaker. You give people a project and it gives them something to chat about even if they have nothing else in common but a relationship to the bride or groom.

Another tip for a successful shower, especially one where not everyone knows each other, is to make detailed nametags. This was my mom’s idea — she made simple pin-on nametags that had the individual’s name, their relationship to the bride or groom (“Groom’s grandmother,” “Bride’s friend”) and also put the neighbourhood or town the person hails from. I suppose that might be too dorky for some, but I’m an advocate of name-tagging at these kinds of social events.

I’ll leave you with an adorable shot of the bride (left) and her sisters.

The Spotted Sparrow has a great tutorial on how to make a recycled paper bow. The construction is so simple, I don’t know why I haven’t been making these for years!

A Missouri family, hit by the credit crunch, is selling their amazing cave house. Underground houses have long been a source of fascination (and, if I’m going to be honest, fear) for me, so it’s always cool to get a peek inside one. This one looks phenomenal.

Final Fantasy made an amazing Kate Bush-inspired video for his song “Horsetail Feathers.”

What a fun thing to wake up to on Monday morning! Krissy over at PonyBoy Press has created a free downloadable set of graphics so you can make your own Valentine’s match box favours. I love giving out favours on Valentine’s Day. Normally I just get some kids’ Valentines from the drug store (last year was Hello Kitty) and use a spot of glue to attach a Hershey’s Hugs candy. I think this matchbox idea is way cooler. Thanks, Krissy!