Don't Forget Your Mask!

For an Eastern Shore college, what’s a better way to celebrate the school’s anniversary then with a huge blow out for the students, alum, faculty, and staff?

One thing I find to be very cool about this event is that the current students get to pick the theme. For previous themes they have had A Night at the Ritz, NY Club, and more. Last year the theme was Venetian Masquerade.

What I love about this event is that I really get to be creative with the floor plan and décor. The event takes place in the school’s field house. So, I have a very plain pallet to work with.

Because of the size of this event, we start setting up on Thursday. The event isn’t until Saturday! To start, I bring in 650’ of pipe & drape to run around the perimeter of the room. This hides the ugliness of the actually facility. It is an oversized sports complex.

Next, theatrical lighting is installed. There is a large truss structure that is built and flown from the ceiling to light the main event side of the room. For the bar, light trees are constructed to provide a wash of light. While the décor for the event really does bring another element of “WOW” to the night, the lighting is really what does it.

For the décor, let’s start with the bar area.

A 24’ square bar is built using 6’ tables. In the center of the bar, a large decorative display is built. For this theme, we went with a 3’ tall water fountain surrounded by ferns and other greens in gold urns. For an even bigger “POP” the display sat on top of a table to give it more height. The whole display sat about 6’ tall.

Twenty-five cocktail tables are placed sporadically around the bar area. The tables are dressed in linens whose colors compliment the theme. We alternated colors using burgundy and gold linens. For the cocktail tables centerpieces, they are very simple. We used small bubble bowls and square vases. In the vases were colored gems (gold on burgundy linen and burgundy on gold linen) and flowers. To make them sparkle a little more, small submersible LED light were placed in the vases to give them a nice glow.

Off to the main event room!

When I think of a Masquerade Ball, I see long rows of tables for guests to sit at. So, that’s exactly how I designed the floor plan. Again, the table linen alternated in color by row. The colors were burgundy and gold fuchsia. The style of linen that was picked is known as “galaxy.” I LOVE THIS LINEN! The best way to describe the linen is “crushed silk.” The sheen of the silk allows light to bounce off the linen and the crush gives a great texture.

For centerpieces, we had a total of 3 different ones. Centerpiece #1 consisted of varying masquerade masks with decorative ting and accents in an ornamental base. Centerpiece #2 and #3 were two different styles of candelabras.

The 10-piece band played on a 16’ x 32’ stage. The stage was dressed with a 20’ tall by 40’ wide Venetian themed, hand-airbrushed backdrop.

If all that weren’t enough, a 42’ square, black and white checkered dance floor sat right in front of the stage. Talk about WOW!

Each year, a large marquee piece is hung from the lighting truss directly over the center of the dance floor. I saved this for last because it was my favorite part and there are two reasons for that: reason #1 – it was really cool; reason #2 – I am the one the came up with the concept!

What we constructed was a 5’ wide by 7’ tall picture box. On each side of the box was an ornate picture frame with the image of a Venetian mask in it. Hanging below the picture box was a 4’ in diameter chandelier.

The chandelier I was lucky enough to find at a local prop house. As for the picture box, that had to be constructed from scratch. The frames were built in our warehouse. You can imagine my excitement when the first frame was completed. I was actually up on the worktable working of the frame and when the last screw was in place, I actually started dancing on the table to the music we had blaring in the background. It was such an awesome feeling to see my idea come to life!

I sure hope you find this event as awesome as I did! I can’t wait to start planning for next years and share all the details with you. I already have a ton of really cool ideas running through my head!

Cheers, -Vicki

Hold Your Horses!

I know! I know!

I kind of went MIA here for a little while and I'm sorry!

But, I'm back now.

I'm in the process of working on a new post about one of my favorite events that I have done.

If it's not up today/tonight, it will be up tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

-Vicki

Let's Eat!!

When it comes to breakfast time in this house, you better get yours quick or you're out of luck!

With my best friend in town from college, I made our favorite breakfast!

French toast stuffed with cream cheese and raisins

Apricot preserves and orange juice syrup

Old Bay and onion hash browns

For the stuffed french toast, what you need is:

• Bread
• Eggs
• Milk
• Cream Cheese
• Raisins

Defrost the cream cheese to soften it.  Mix in the raisins.

Spread the cream cheese and raisins between two slices of bread.

After beating the eggs and mixing in milk, dip both sides of the bread in the milk and eggs.

Be sure to spray the pan with Pam to keep the bread from sticking to the bottom.

Cook until golden brown on both sides.

For the syrup:

• Orange Juice
• Apricot Preserves

Simply mix Apricot Preserves and Orange Juice in a bowl.

For 1/2 cup of preserves, mix with 1/4 cup of OJ.

For 1 cup of preserves, mix 1/2 cup of OJ.

And so on...

For the hash browns:

• Bag of frozen hash browns
• Old Bay
• Minced Onion

Spray pan with Pam and pour desired amount of hash browns into pan.

As for the minced onion and Old Bay, add to pan while cooking.

It's up to you how much to use.  The more onion and Old Bay, the more of a kick it will have.

I'm sorry to say, I don't have any pictures of what the final meal looked like.  When you're cooking for 5 people, it's gone before you have a chance.

I'm sure I will be making this for breakfast again very soon!  I will do what I can to get a picture next time, but I can't make any promises with the way people scarf food up around this house!

In the meantime,

Bon-Appetit!

-Vicki  :o)

Whoops...

So, I know I have neglected my blog duties the last few days and I'M SO SORRY!

I have been swamped with work the last few days and haven't had much time to do anything other then work and sleep...

But, with all the work means I will have posts coming soon about work that I've done!

In the mean time, I've been going through all the possibilities of crafty projects to get into.

My 2009 & Birthday scrapbooks are just about finished.  So, I will get to start on my Boat Trip Vacation book soon!

I have also decided to make a work/craft station bulletin board to help keep me organized with my projects I'm working on.

It will include a monthly calendar, a generic to-do list, a craft to-do list, a notes area, and maybe another spot.  But, that spot is still yet to be determined.

Along with that, I was introduced to the blog Effer Dares.

http://www.efferdares.com/

This blog consists of different craft dares to take on.  I've been going through them trying to find a few that I want to try.  But, I'm having trouble narrowing it down to the few I want to start with.  Any suggestions on which ones you like the best that I should try?  :o)

I will be sure to post entries on my projects as I am working on them so you can see how they are coming along.

Also, be sure to share with me any projects you are working on.  I'm always up for a little inspiration!

Have a fantabulous weekend and we will catch up soon!

-Vicki

Saving the Best For Last...

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.  I know I did!

I had a post I wanted to do on Friday, but I was so busy doing other things that I didn't have a chance to do it.  So, I know it's a little late.  But, here it is...

In keeping with the centerpiece theme, I would like to share with you the different pieces, themes, and props the company I work for showcased in our Open House a few weeks ago.

Again, my designer deserves all the credit for the centerpiece concepts and execution.  All the themed décor you will see, are pieces that have been created over time for themes we have worked with!

MOROCCAN/ORIENTAL WEDDING DISPLAY

 

 

  

NIGHT CLUB

ITALIAN WINE BAR

VENETIAN MASQUERADE

TROPICAL/TIKI BAR DISPLAY

PARIS

VARIOUS CENTERPIECES

 

 

 

  

Thanks for allowing me to share these last few posts with you.  I hope you enjoyed seeing what I love doing!  It really is a ton of fun and getting to plan parties for a living isn’t bad either.

Next week we will switch topics.  To what, I will let that be a surprise.

In the meantime, have a great Sunday night and we will meet again soon!   :o)

-Vicki