Ornate Splendor: 2017

The best book series ever has been made into a TV series. You may have heard of it - Outlander! It's currently on the third season, or book three, by Diana Gabaldon. The premiere of season three was last week, and today I'm sharing my Outlander Premiere Party with you.

There must be kilts, involved, aye? Floating candles are in the glass containers sitting atop a kilted pedestal. The kilted pedestal idea came from Beth at Unskinny Boppy. She has quite an epic Outlander premiere party on her blog. She also has printables for you can download for your own Outlander party. I used several of the printables for this party.

The kilted cracker bowl above is my own idea. I've changed it slightly from the kilted chip bowl I used at my last Outlander Party which you can see here.

The plaid fabric is a sheet set that I cut into pieces to make swags and tables runners and kilts, oh my!

Since Jamie Fraser is a printer in this part of the series - here is his printer's tray!! I found this at a garage sale for $5, and said, "I know just what I'll do with this!" So I printed the 'property of' sign above on a blank page from an old yellowed book. Then I burned the edges and glued it to the front of the tray. Because, you know.... there was that fire in the print shop....

Above we have a 'pocket character' of 'herself', Diana Gabaldon, when she made a cameo appearance in the show in Season 1. The wording above the book is the 'banning of the plaids' that became law in Scotland after the battle of Culloden was lost to the English. And I'll have a close up of those kilt cookies in a minute!

Above I have a druid lantern, deer antlers, Jared Fraser's private stock of wine, and a bottle of water flowing from an underground spring at Abby St. Anne De Beaupre. That idea came from Beth at Unskinny Boppy as well.

I made the Druid lantern from a 2 liter coke bottle and a paper towel tube!! I found a tutorial on Pinterest here. Below is Jared Fraser's private stock. That idea came from Unskinny Boppy also. I just changed the label.

Next up is a funeral ticket for Lord Lovat. I found this on Pinterest as well.

Hugh Munroe's gaberlunzies and Fergus's St. Dismus medal. I found them on Pinterest here.

And here are those kilt cookies!! They were made by Brooke. I found here on FB. She is a cookie maker/baker, and I sent her a photo of some kilt cookies and asked her if she could make them. I sent her a photo of Jamie's plaid for the color scheme. Didn't she do a great job?

To make the floating candle centerpiece below, I cut out strips from the plaid sheet and wrapped them around the glass containers. Where did I get the gold emblems? Well...getting two of them was a happy accident. They came from Diana Gabaldon's latest book, Virgins.

The emblem was on the book's dust jacket, and I cut it out and saved it for the party. I took the book on vacation, and promptly left it on the airplane! So when I got back, I had to buy another one, which, of course, had another dust jacket. So I cut the emblem out of that one too! Voila!

Next up is the kitchen, where all of the yummy food is!

The Silkies' treasure box! I found this wooden treasure box at a thrift store. The white roses are for the Stuarts, of course.

There were lots of gems in the Silkies' treasure, aye?

The label below is a printable from Beth at Unskinny Boppy. See the dagger? My son actually made that for his sister in his high school wood shop class! It may seem an odd gift from a brother to his sister, but she is quite a book lover, and this dagger was in one of her books. She gets my whole 'fan girl' thing about books! (No, she does not read/watch Outlander. She's too young.)

The idea for the label below also came from Beth at Unskinny Boppy. I just changed the frame.

Several memes from My Outlander Pinterest Board.

Follow me there for lots of fun Outlander ideas!

And to travel through the stones to find Jamie, you need the official Time Traveler's Apothecary kit! Prepared by Monsieur Raymond, himself! This idea came from Pinterest. I re-worked the wording a bit. Then printed it & glued it to a leather box from a thrift store. The leather box was kind of new-looking....so I sanded it down to appear aged. You can find the printable for the frame here.

The kilted cracker bowl!! I love this so much! Again, the label for the 'assorted cheeses' was a download from Beth at Unskinny Boppy.

Here's how I got the kilt & belt to stay on the bowl. I wrapped felt around the edge of the bowl. I wanted it to have some height, so I placed the bowl on a pedestal. Then to keep the bowl steady in the pedestal, I added a layer of felt.

Then I covered the bowl in plaid fabric. And the belt stayed on. Then I added some fabric inside the bowl & placed the crackers on top.

Ok, moving on to the kitchen table....

Jamie was a printer in Book Three/Season Three. So here is his street sign! I got the idea from Pinterest, and just reworked the wording with a label from the Graphics Fairy.

Lol, the Jamie doll was a gift from two of my outlander co-horts! They made the whole outfit, boots, kilt, belt and all! They even 'died' his hair red with markers! It was part of a birthday gift. On my birthday, they surprised me with an Outlander Standing Stones themed cake complete with little Jamie and Claire people!

Now let's move on to the mantle -- Yes! There's more!!

Did you know that White Rose Hall in Jamaica is a real place? Diana Gabaldon is just so very well researched! I found this on Pinterest, and when I read the story -- wow! The real lady of White Rose Hall had a couple of husbands die under suspicious circumstances! Yes, really! And apparently, you can tour this place! Ha! More Outlander tours!

A few more fun memes on the mantle....

Oh! The memes entertain me so much!

Ok, still more to come!!

Since I thought this party was going to be in the Spring, I was prepared...then Season Three did not start until September...so I had even more time to come up with decorations!

Moving on to the dining table:

So, a few months ago, my fabulous friends got me an Outlander themed cake for my birthday. On it, they placed a little Jamie & Claire inside some standing stones. Have I mentioned that I have fabulous friends? Look at the detail that they put into making mini-me's of Jamie & Claire!

I removed the people and the standing stones & reused them for a 'standing stone' centerpiece on the table.

Here's how it began. A painted shoe box lid! I used hot glue to attach foam pieces to the box lid. Pressed the stones into the foam to make an indentation. Put hot glue in the indentation & attached the stone into place. Then I just added moss on top and around the edges.

More plaid fabric for the table runner & napkin holders.

Last, but not least, here is how the Outlander Premiere guests were greeted when they came in the front door!!

Yep! A standing stone! Ha ha! I got this idea from pinterest as well, and decided to make my own stone from foam board. I used a heat gun and a heat slicer to make indentations in the 'rock.' Then just painted it. I attached it to the door with duct tape and 3M removable strips.

Whew! It was a lot of fun! And now you have some more ideas for your Outlander premiere party for next year! Email me with any questions, and check out my other Outlander party from Season One Here.

Tulach Ard!

Catherine

Sharing with these fun linky parties:

Amaze Me Mondays at Dwellings
Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House

Inspire Me Monday at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Tuesdays at our Home at Our Home Away From Home

Table it at Rustic and Refined

Let's Talk Vintage Party at Bella Rosa Antiques

Inspire me Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life

To Granmda's House We go (tues) at Abbots At Home

Talk of the Town at Knick of Time

The Scoop at Confessions of a Plate Addict

Wow us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Creative Inspirations (Wednesdays) at Embracing Change

Share Your Cup Thursday at Jann Olson

The Creative Circle (Thursday) at Seeking Lavender Lane

Home & Garden Thursday at A Delightsome Life

Cooking & Crafting with J & J at Julie's Lifestyle

Pin Junkie Pin Party (Thursdays) at The Pin Junkie

Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

The inspiration Gallery at The Craftberry Bush

Create, Bake, and Grow Together at http://shabbyartboutique.blogspot.com/

The Friday Flea

A Morning Cup of Joe Linky Party (Friday) at The Cottage Market

Celebrate your story at Celebrate & Decorate

Share your style party at The Essence of Home

Pink Saturday at How Sweet The Sound

What to do weekends at Crafts a la mode

Saturday Sparks Linky Party at Pieced Pastimes

Happiness is Homemade at The Painted Hinge

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper

Snickerdoodle Sunday at Across the Boulevard

When changing up our seasonal decor, -- let's experiment a little -- it's all for fun anyway, right?

Fall Wedding, Halloween Wedding, Elegant Halloween, Ornate Splendor

Life hands us enough serious moments, doesn't it?

Halloween Wedding, Fall Wedding Centerpiece, Ornate Splendor

Adding a little beauty to our homes is a small pleasure. I keep it in perspective. About this time last year my daughter was hit by a pick-up truck while riding her bike to school. Thankfully she was okay, and only had large scrapes and lots of bruises....She is one of the giant pleasures in my life along with the rest of the people in my family.

PEOPLE at the big pleasures. Decorating is a small pleasure...and yet decorations make our families smile....we are creating an atmosphere for our families....it should be filled with love...and beauty can be a small part of that. And if the beauty that you create makes someone smile....then you, my friend, have brightened the world a little bit.

Things to consider when putting together a Fall Centerpiece:

Rule of three:

Our eyes will draw a triangle between the three objects, keeping the eyes moving over the grouping.

Velvet pumpkins, silk pumpkins, Halloween Wedding Ornate Splendor

Height:

Vary the heights of the three objects, short, medium & tall. Think of a straight line on a graph - boring, right?

Now think of a line zig zagging up and down - much more interesting!

Texture:

Vary the textures. Smooth, rough, wispy, spiky, hard, soft...think natural elements -- pine cones, berries, feathers, wheat, acorns, branches, antlers

I made these pumpkins out of a vintage silk beaded evening gown and real pumpkin stems. They are one of a kind. You can find them in my Etsy shop Here. The proceeds from this sale will go to help people in the Flooded areas of Houston & surrounding towns. The charity I will donate to is called Mercury One. They are a disaster relief organization similar to the Red Cross. They are local here in the Dallas area. UPDATE: These pumpkins have been sold & proceeds donated to Hurricane Harvey relief through MercuryOne.org.