I love the softness of these wedding photos taken by Heather Curiel. Of course it helps that the details are gorgeous. You simply can’t go wrong with crisp white tablecloths, wildflowers and strings of lights.

images: Heather Curiel via Ruffled

Just another thing to file in your box of cool, Rebecca Baumann’s art installation using 100 flip clocks and colorful paper. Watching it in action is mesmerizing. I’ll take one to hang above my imaginary mantel please.

I’m kind of nuts about Rebecca’s work with confetti, streamers and balloons too.

Automated Colour Field photographed by Andrew Curtis

Rainbow fruit pops layer by layer:
red – blended strawberries
orange – apricot juice
yellow – orange juice
green – lime juice (with added color)
blue/indigo mix – blueberries
violet – grape juice

To all you rainbow elitists, don’t complain that the indigo and blue aren’t accurate. There’s no true blue fruit and my box of crayons never taught me what indigo really looks like.

I love these images from Oliver Schwarzwald’s colors project. I can really get behind any project that involves stuffing balloons into fire escapes and hanging streamers on trees. In fact, will somebody pay me to do this? I’m just trying to make the world a happier place.

images: Oliver Schwarzwald via Minted Condition

After every party I like to rehash the events that occurred and make a list of the good and the bad. With the exception of a mosquito bite the size of a plum, this party was all good.

Here is why I felt it was successful and these three key things can be applied to any party.
1. It was outside – little decoration is needed if the surroundings are pretty. And if kids are invited, there’s plenty of room to run around.
2. Pulling the fun/surprise element – I rented the ice cream bike from Little Man, a local ice cream parlor, and was so happy to have a server so that it was low maintenance. Plus I wasn’t worried about the ice cream melting.
3. Offer one base food and lots of options – ice cream and toppings is what a believe to be a universally liked treat but you could do something like crepes and fillings or fondue and dippers. The toppings list for this party included: gummy bears, Oreos, brownie chunks, frozen cookie dough, mini pb cups, jimmies, waffle cone bits, raspberries and pirouette cookies.

I’m now saving up my money for an ice cream bike of my own. I plan to take it on a cross country tour and hand out fudgesicles and free advice. Those palazzo pants are not working for you.

A couple weeks ago marked the first official day of summer and with it came a party of course. I’m going to share some of the details with you this week.

First up, for the invitation I used 2″ stencils and acrylic paints to print out SUMMER on the front so the invitees knew just exactly what was being celebrated here. Then on the back I used small alphabet stamps to print the party details.  The horizontal stripes inside the envelope were made with washi tape for another little surprise when you opened it up. Once I had sealed most of them I realized that I had never actually stated that it was a party so I’m glad the guests figured that part out.

Look out for tomorrow’s post that includes an ice cream bicycle!

For this patriotic pop of the week, I used vanilla greek yogurt (I like the tartness and thickness) and swirled it with blended strawberries. Then I threw in some blueberries for a little surprise.

Have a sparkly 4th of July weekend!