DIY Dye Painted Cloth Napkins

June 30, 2014 3 Comments A Well Crafted Party

DIY Dye Painting // A Well Crafted Party — Photo by Motormouth Studios

A really easy way to transform a table is by customizing the table linens to match your theme. For my Forth of July Meet & Greet event at West Elm I wanted to teach attendees a way to customize fabric napkins in a way that doesn’t end up being overtly patriotic so that they might be able to use the napkins throughout the Summer. I chose to teach a DIY Dye Painting craft that creates fabric napkins with almost a water color effect. I liked the effect so much that I chose to create matching printables with the watercolor look too complete the party. Stay tuned this week to see the free printables. (sneak peek here!)

DIY Dye Painting with A Well Crafted Party — Photo by Motormouth Studio

DIY Dye Painted Cloth Napkins

Supplies Needed: (Links are affiliate links. Affiliate link purchases help support this blog.)

Wax paper
Paint brush (medium size worked best for me… though, any size works!)
Liquid Rit Dye (I used Navy Blue)
Salt
Cotton Napkins

Directions:

*Please be careful working with dye. It wil dye your furniture, clothing, etc. It is very important to protect your space and be careful when painting with this dye. If you are worried about getting it on your hands then use latex gloves to protect them!

Make your dye: Mix 2 Tablespoons of Liquid Rit Dye with 1/4 tablespoon of salt, and 2 Tablespoons of water.
Place several layers of wax paper down underneath your white napkin.
Paint shapes on your white napkin using the dye. The napkin will cause some bleeding of the dye. Small, intricate designs are not suggested for this type of fabric painting.
Let the design dry. The drying process can be as quick as 30 minutes. I let mine sit overnight. The overall print will be lighter than that painted. Some of the dye will also bleed during the rinsing process… making the watercolor effect I was speaking of before.
Rinse each napkin separately under cool water until water runs clear. Put in dryer or hang to dry.
Wash the napkins in a separate load and not with your regular clothing in future washings. The dye may bleed in the next few washings and you don’t want to get the dye on other cloth items.

Some painting ideas…

Finished Product…

A Well Crafted Party

{Friday Finds} Last Minute Indpendence Day Ideas

July 1, 2011 1 Comment A Well Crafted Party

Now, I know some of you have been planning your Independence Day celebration for a while now…

(and, I’d love to see pictures!)

But, this holiday always seems to sneak up on me. I’ve been searching for some easy, last minute ideas that I can incorporate into this year’s celebration. I thought I’d share some of the fun things I’ve come across in case you are like me and haven’t planned a thing or even if you are just looking for that final touch to complete your party!

You can find all the inspiration that I’ve been collecting on my Pinterest Board: Independence Day.

Don’t have Pinterest!?!

E-mail me and I will invite you (until I run out of invites)… have Pinterest?

Follow me and I’ll Follow You right back!

Some of my favorites from the board:

Image Credit: Seaside Creative

I love the colors of these free printables from Seaside Creative. Emily, the designer, actually caught my attention with them by e-mailing me the link. I’m pretty sure these will make an appearance in my upcoming celebration! Check out her site for some great inspiration, free printables

and to see her great shop!

Photo Credit: Bakers Royale

Don’t these strawberry treats look AMAZING!?!

I think these are a must do for this year’s celebration (and SO easy).

Although, I’ll be doing it without the vodka infusion.

I found these through Tip Junkie, but they originally belong to Bakers Royale.

Image Credit: Home is where the Boat Is

While almost EVERYTHING about the “Home is Where the Boat Is” party is AMAZING this is one of my favorite details. I love how they garnished drinks with watermelon stars and blueberries! I originally found this party through Entertain Exchange!

Photo Credit: Fiskars

I {LOVE} streamers. They are such a fun, inexpensive way to decorate for parties. But, I really love when someone does something CREATIVE with streamers. These star punched streamers from Fiskars would add so much to a party. I also really like the star punched paper plates that are also featured on the Fiskar’s Fourth of July post!

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart

Oh, and of course you can’t forget about the plethora of inspiration found on Martha Stewart’s website! I love how these are just re-purposed cans yet they look so fantastic filled with tasty snacks. The paper is provided as free clip art on the site and can be used throughout any part of your celebration.I’d love to know if you’ve found any GREAT Independence Day inspiration. Any big plans for your weekend?

A Well Crafted Party

{REAL PARTY} Patriotic Crab Boil

July 1, 2011 No Comments A Well Crafted Party

So, this upcoming weekend is

Independence Day Weekend…

and, I totally forgot.

(Pregnancy Brain?)

Summer holidays have always been hard for me to get into as much as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentine’s Day…Maybe because it feels like all of summer is a good excuse to throw a party I don’t really feel the need to do it on the same day as everyone else.

Yep, I’m a Summer Party Crab.

I do however like Independence Day (even if I don’t often do a BIG shin-dig)…

Which is why last year I thought it would be fun to throw a Crab Boil around the holiday and spice it up with a few patriotic details so that I didn’t feel like I wasn’t celebrating at least a little.

And, since the holiday is creeping up on me again this year I thought I’d share the photos with you just in case you needed some last minute party inspiration.

(If that is you then check back tomorrow for some {Friday Finds} chock full of Independence Day

inspiration including FREE PRINTABLES!)

~*~

Patriotic Crab Boil

Each guest got a hand painted bib along with their silverware.

The bibs were a bit too small for most guests. But, were cute anyways.

I kept most of the decorating quite simple… a few red and white streamers really brought it all together.

The adorable printables were found FREE at Hostess with the Mostess!

No plates needed for this feast! The buckets were filled with rolls.

I wrapped boxes of sparklers up with fun homemade wrapping papers and created Thank You Tags to finish off the favors.

The aftermath… but, hey! I didn’t have a ton of dishes to do at the end of the night!

The Details

Really, I didn’t do a bunch for this party. That is one of my favorite parts of a Crab Boil.

—Decorations—

I put up red and white streamers around the party areas and our porch area.
I also used the Hostess with the Mostess printables to designate the refreshments area.
Using Illustrator I created a few printables of my own
including some wrapping paper and thank you tags for the favors.
My favorite part was the table… To protect the table I put down some wax paper and then covered the whole table with white butcher paper (seriously the best party supply purchase I’ve ever made). I then added the bibs and silverware packs to each place setting. The bibs and silverware wraps I just free-handed earlier that day. I added galvanized buckets of rolls down the center of the table and ramekins of butter and lemon slices at each place setting…. and that is it!
The main attraction happened at dinner time when I dumped the food on the table!

—The Food—

I did a simple crab boil (and, to tell you the truth… at the last moment we decided to save some money and went without the crab and instead did shrimp and clams). I have two really big pots and I filled them with red potatoes, onions, lemons, corn on the cob, sausage, shrimp and clams. They steamed beautifully with a little bit of white wine. I also added in some spices to give it a bit of a kick.
(Check out this recipe from All Recipes or this one from Martha Stewart)

Well, I hope you enjoyed this {REAL PARTY} post and I hope it shows you can throw together something fun and celebratory even at the last minute.

It can be simple and simply FUN at the same time.

We are always so happy when having friends over to our place!

What are your plans for Independence Day this year?