DIY Fascinators

I recently went home to Ottawa, Ontario for my sister's wedding.

And for her bridal shower, we went to "High Tea" at the Chateau Laurier, one of the fanciest hotels in Canada's capitol city. (Like the Grand America in SLC.)

To prepare for the British tradition, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought $100 worth of supplies to make our own fascinators!

(They don't have Hobby Lobby in Canada so I actually bought all the supplies in Utah and shoved them in my suitcase for the trip.

 This is two of my sisters and my sister-in-law the night before the shower making fascinators on my mother's fancy dining room table.

At one point there must have been a dozen of us around that table sharing glue guns, lace and fighting for feathers!

I don't care how good my nephew, Jake, looks in a fascinator, there were no boys allowed!!

Here are all the fascinators sitting on my mom's grand piano.

 

 Like I said. Lots of feathers.

My niece Carolyn and my sister Tracy getting ready right before the Shower.

My sister Sheri and my niece Jennifer getting ready.

And here's me all ready for the ball with my home-made fascinator!

I couldn't resist putting these pictures in because you can see all the decor in my old bedroom is still there!

Spice Girls Poster, Moulin Rouge stuff, and the blond is Hilary Duff.

Think this is a messy room?  You should have seen it when I actually lived there!

My sister Tracy getting snapped by the Paparazzi (me).

Five of my nieces and my sister, Victoria, in the middle.

Now here's the fun part.  Close ups of all the fascinators.

My sister-in-law Andrea wins the prize for looking the most British!

Her fascinator definitely doesn't look home-made!

Jennifer's fascinators was one of my favorites because it was PINK!

And I LOVE the veil.

My sister Sheri wins the tallest fascinator award!

My sister Catherine wins the award for putting the most work into her fascinator.

She crocheted the flowers and beaded it herself.

Sure, it may not be a real "fascinator" by definition, but it's gorgeous!

Full disclosure. We did not make my niece Christina's fascinator.  It was the one I bought for $5 at Claire's to celebrate William and Kate's wedding. (Click here to see that blog post.)

I brought it as an extra fascinator for whomever wanted to wear and as inspiration for our home-made creations.

This is one of my favorite pictures ever of Christina.  She looks like a princess!

My niece Julie wins for most colorful fascinator!

Momma Strang rocks the feathers!

You'd think the blushing bride would make a white fascinator, but not Victoria.  She need BLACK to go with her sexy back dress.

Here's my home-made fascinator!  I wanted something BIG with lots of feathers!

My sister Tracy with her blue fascinator again.  I love this photo because it's one of the few I got of someone actually drinking tea at the tea party!

My niece Anngela made a fascinator that was also in the running for tallest fascinator, but her mom, Sheri, already won that title.
Instead, Anngela wins for BEST FASCINATOR.  Hers was my absolute favorite.  I liked it even better than my own!  I'm just a sucker for the mini top hat and the feathers.  (You can find them at Hobby Lobby in the doll section.)

Here are all the girls in our fascinators at the tea party.  People were starting at us the entire time.  They were so jealous!

Oh man, how did this picture get in there?! These are the shoes I bought especially for the bridal shower.

So hot!

Feel free to any questions about how we made our fascinators in the comments.

Baby Shower of the Century

My friend Mallory and I just threw a baby shower for our friend Ashley.

We may have gone a little overboard...

But that's what happens when you have months to plan and a million ideas to fulfill.
Now it's time to show off all our work.

We made all these pom poms over the span of a few months. Every Wednesday was craft night.
The only one we didn't make was the circle lantern in the middle.

Our food table.
The forks look like silverware, but they're actually plastic!
That was one of Mallory's finds for the shower. You can find them at Walmart and most party stores.

Worried about cross-contamination at your party?
Try veggie shooters!
Thin slices of veggies in plastic shooter glasses with ranch dip at the bottom.

Cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off.
So delicious and perfect for our fancy party.
Thanks to Kelly for making them!

Here's the fancy pink cake Mallory made for the shower.
Mallory is the cake-making queen!
This picture of Ashley and Chase (taken by me) was also on the food table.
We put her maternity photos all over the party.
The prize table.

The gift table.

That's Kelly serving drinks for our party.
We bought plastic wine glasses for our raspberry sherbet punch.

Doesn't Ashley looked thrilled with our work?

This is Gaby. She helped us plan, decorate and get everything ready for the party. She was a superstar!

Thanks to everyone who made Ashley's baby shower so awesome!

Crepes Crepes Crepes!

As you can probably guess from the title of this post, one of my favorite things in the entire world is CREPES!
But not just any crepe will do.
I am a crepe snob!

That's why I was STOKED to find a new crepe restaurant opened in Utah County!
It's called Roll Up Crepes.
Studio 5 asked if I would go check it out and take pictures for the show.
Best assignment ever!

This is the Nutella Strawberry Crepe. A staple of mine.
So delicious!

But they also have savory crepes like this one.
It's a turkey pesto crepe with cranberry drizzle.
Yeah, you might need to be adventurous to try it, but so worth it. I absolutely loved it!

The decor of this place also turns heads.
Like the fact there's a giant owl outside...

...Lots of owls inside...

...And a big tree in the middle of the restaurant!

Look closer at the tree and you'll see an engraving.
C&L stands for Curtis and Lexi.
The newlyweds that own Roll Up Crepes.
Guess how young they are!
Lexi is only 19 and her husband is 24.

Cutest couple ever!
They told me they started the business so they would never have to be apart.

Here's my friend Ashley showing off the chocolatey goodness.

And here's me licking chocolate off my knife.

And here's the menu now that you inevitably want to go there.
You'll find it at 1605 S State St, Orem, UT
And www.rollupmycrepe.com.

Other notes:
They have live music on Fridays and Saturdays.
All of their staff can sing (on top of their crepe-making skills).

They are open until 1 a.m. every night (closed Sundays.)