Mad Men Season Six Withdrawal

Well, folks, season six of Mad Men has ended and Don Draper is not the only one having the delirium tremens. HOW, I ask you, HOW am I to carry on living until season seven comes??? And let's not even talk about what survival looks like when the show is actually over; I am quite sure that residential rehab will be required to treat my Mad-diction.

So here I sit, with Zou Bisou Bisou playing in a never-ending loop, and I thought I'd finally share the rest of the pics from the season six shindig we threw back in April.

In my last post, I shared that our Mad Men season six premiere party had a luau theme, inspired by the fact that episode one was set in Hawaii: 

Back in the late winter and early spring when our party plans were coming together, I was totally on the prowl for a perfect late-60's hawaiian muu-muu. I knew that I found my dream frock when I stepped into a thrift shop in Woodstock, NY named Castaways (which is apparently so retro they don't have a website!) and spotted this little beauty:

I loved the colors, I loved the pattern, and I loved the fit, but I was not feeling the super-long length. Fortunately, I knew that could be fixed easily enough, so fourteen bucks later, this baby was mine.

The dress is a Ui-Maikai brand muu-muu, made right in Hawaii. If you want to snag one of these for yourself, a quick etsy search will lead you to heaps of them.

To get this thing party-ready, I set about chopping off all that excess fabric at the bottom. The faint blue dotted line on the left of this photo was my cutting line.

Whenever I want to shorten a dress, I always pull out a dress that already has a length I like, and use that as a guide:

Once the excess fabric was safely tucked into my fabric stash (and I can't wait to figure out what I'll be doing with it!), it was a simple matter of pressing the raw edge under:

...and stitching the new hem in place:

Now, before I reveal the after shots of the dress, I have a few other party preparations to share with you!

We knew we'd have some very hard-core fans at our gathering, so a Mad Men season five trivia quiz was created:

...and season five-themed prizes were procured for the trivia quiz winner:

In our goodie bag of prizes, we had Heinz Baked Beans, a bag of Bugles, and a mix of our favorite tunes from season five.

  

Since we were throwing a luau, of course there were leis for all:

As everyone knows, if you're expecting the gang from Sterling Cooper Draper Price to come over, you better stock up on booze:

...and going along with our tiki motif, we knocked back Blue Hawaiians and Mai Tai cocktails:

And here's how I pulled my newly shortened dress together with my refurbished earrings and some big, teased and hairsprayed hair:

Steven and I snapped a couple of selfies before our guests arrived:

We had an absolute blast welcoming season six in with a bunch of really wonderful friends. I cannot believe that the entire season is already behind us!

I don't think it's too soon to start dreaming about season seven, and to start pulling together our final premiere party ideas, do you? 

I can hardly contain my excitement over the fashion options for next year's big soiree! (Will somebody please alert the local vintage/consignment shops to expect a run on polyester pantsuits?)

Owl-themed baby shower!

I haven't blogged a thing in over two months! 

Between a crazy period at work and a computer on the fritz, pulling together crafts and writing about them has taken a back seat for a bit.

But I was working on one big project that I pulled together a few weekends ago: an owl-themed baby shower for dear friends Maureen and Laura. 

It was a lovely day and I'm thrilled to share some of the crafty details here.

It started with the invitation 

(with thanks to my graphic designer hubby, 

who turned my scribbles into something presentable):

I decorated with an orange, yellow 

and green color scheme:

(By the way, these Martha Stewart tissue pom poms 

are super-easy to make!)

These silk flower arrangements were the 

first craft project I pulled together for the big day:

Parties make Sassy a little grumpy. 

Everyone knows I've caught the owl fever that's going around, 

so I was pretty psyched to make these felt owl brooches 

as shower favors for our guests:

We had some special little girl guests at this shower, 

so there were felt owl barrettes for them: 

Guests were invited to note some words of wisdom 

for our expectant moms. 

I think the wisest contribution came 

from one of our little well-wishers: 

"Give the baby chocolate milk each morning."

Words of wisdom were hung on this little tree I fashioned 

from branches from around our yard, a little floral foam, 

some spanish moss and a yellow bucket from A.C. Moore:

We played the baby picture guessing game:

 Here's the growing pile of baby gifts:

 Of course it wouldn't be a baby shower without some yummy cake. 

Our wonderful friend Patti contributed this gorgeous carrot cake:

I didn't get around to snapping my own photos 
of the other things we noshed on, 

but here are the links in case you want 

to sample them for yourselves:

Emeril Lagasse's spinach, mushroom and four-cheese lasagna 

Ina Garten's turkey sausage lasagna 

One pot kale and quinoa pilaf

Martha Stewart's pumpkin chocolate chip bars

Here's our lovely group while presents were opened:

I can hardly wait for June when the guest of honor will arrive!

Quickie wine glass tags from felt scraps

I hosted a brunch for some friends at our house about a month ago. Shortly before everyone arrived, I remembered that I had intended to whip up some wine glass tags so that everyone could keep their drinks straight throughout the day.


I already had the little round wire thingees in my craft stash. I don't remember where I bought them, but there are lots of etsy sellers who stock them:

wine charm rings via etsy seller ShantiSupplies

I didn't have time to make anything elaborate, so I decided to do something simple with the felt scraps that I had laying around in my craft room. I used my pinking shears to give the scraps a pretty edge, poked the wires through them, and voilà! 

I hope you're planning to do some fun holiday entertaining this month as well. L'chaim!