Throw a Book Party!

I thought I'd share this idea I had to create centerpieces using pictures or artwork. You could adapt this for any type of event: favorite artist, books, sports, personal photos, or just about anything! Here's how I made these using a few things I bought, a few computer tricks, and a few things borrowed from around the house.

I created mine for my book club meeting, and we'd just read the book The Art Forger by Barbara Shapiro which was about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, one of the biggest art thefts in history, still largely unsolved. So I wanted to pay tribute to the missing art and the dramatic Isabella!

Print out 2 copies of your images on card stock, sized about 3 x 2 inches

Trim your pictures using a paper cutter or scissors....

...one for the front, and one for the back so the centerpiece looks nice from all angles.

Flip one of the pictures upside down and apply strips of double stick tape to the top and bottom.

Get your floral wire ready...

Bend the wire in half gently.

Stick the wire's bent end onto the upside down picture allowing it to stick to the tape.

Sandwich the second photo on top and press where the tape is.

You'll have a whole bunch done in a jiffy once you get the hang of it.

I took some old crystal vases, mardi gras beads, and feather picks to glam up my centerpieces.

I used the beads in the bottom, anchored in my picture picks, and then fluffed it up with some feathers.

The table, with white linens and purple napkins.

When the party's over, all of the centerpiece parts can be reused in other ways.

 

Here are some variation ideas:
Kid's party: use plastic cups weighed down with sand, cartoons or kid's books, ribbon curl bows attached to wires to spill over the cup...
Wedding shower: pics of the couple, rings, cakes, etc, maybe sea glass or shells in the bottom of a vase, feathers or flowers to fill it out...
Garden party: little stones in a mason jar, greenery, seed packets or printed vintage seed packet art...

A Mysteriously Fun AHA Night!!

Here are a couple of pictures from my last event, on AHA Night on April 11, 2013 at the New Bedford Free Public Library sponsored by the Early Literacy Consortium. Thanks to Patrice T. for the photos!

I read my second Floyd book, Floyd and the Mysterious Night Time Noise, and the audience did a great job finding the mystery words in the story. The Early Literacy Consortium also gave away 4 copies of Night Noise to attendees, so I hope they love their books! We also made some artistic creations with Floyd coloring pages.

What a fun night-- and  I'll be back for the December 2013 AHA Night, reading Floyd and the Irresistible Cookie, so mark your calendars for Thursday, December 12!