Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Vintage Book Decor ~ Rehearsal Dinner



Our sweet son just got married this past weekend in Chicago and I had the fun of putting together the decor for it!  

The dinner was held at a fabulous eclectic place in Logan Square called JAM.  Please give them a look-see at jamrestaurant.com, and make a point of dining here for breakfast, brunch, or lunch if you are in the area.  We had TONS of comments on the delicious and different foods that Chef Jeffrey Mauro served for our buffet dinner.  The service is fabulous, the building is gorgeous, and it's refreshing and different...but not weird.  :)  Chef Jeffrey is actually going to be featured on the Food Network this Spring in an episode of The Sandwich King!  

Our son loves to read and has alot of vintage books and vintage decor in his Chicago condo, so I found it a perfect match to use vintage books as the theme for my handmade decor.  I barely had to buy anything, as I already had vintage books to use for crafting and others to use for stacking.  So this was a very inexpensive genre to use, and so much fun!  I'll blog about the different things I made in several parts.  
I found this fantastic idea of 'book flowers' HERE...a big thank you to the creative blogger, Sara, who posted this tutorial!! I looked at our thrift store and found ONE vintage book with colored page edges.  For $1, I bought it, removed the cover with a craft knife, and it was rather easy to then do all the tucking of segments of pages.  A rubber band keeps it in place, and the ribbon dresses it up and covers the rubber band.


Isn't it pretty when the colored edge shows?  The spine of this book was too stiff to allow the book to bend completely around into a circle, but it worked GREAT as a half circle.
I made about 50 of these paper tags to dress the favors with, and used one of them to go in the center of the ribbon...the finishing touch.  More on these toppers another time.

Ready to try this project for yourself?!  It makes a great centerpiece for a table, but it's now also standing on my fireplace mantel here at home!  :)  Let me know if you make one!
Come back soon to see some of the other projects I made, including vintage page table runners, buntings, tags, and favors.

Enjoy!


Blessings,

Donna
Linked to:
Beyond the Picket Fence
My Romantic Home
Sunday Showcase
Sew Many Ways
Sweet Little Gals
Shabby Art Boutique
Finding Fabulous
Shaken Together

6 comments:

  1. Beautiful!! And I second your advice! Everyone should go to Jam! :)
    You did such a lovely job on the dinner!

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  2. I am such a foodie and now I really want to go to Jam!! Donna, your decorations look just perfect for the occasion! I LOVE that your book would only bend into a half circle...what a GREAT look that gave!! Looking forward to the rest of your posts! I LOVE how you take the simple and ordinary and make it BEAUTIFUL! :)

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  3. I love books and I especially love ideas on how to use them as a decor item. Great job! I might have to borrow some of your ideas for my next book club meeting.

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  4. What a great idea!
    Love it!
    Betsy

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  5. This is such a awesome idea! So simple and very cute! I just completed this project for my son's high school graduation party. He loves to read! I purchased my reclaimed book at our local public library book sale for .25 cents. I couldn't find one with the pretty colored edges like your green one. I ended up using green food coloring with a drop of red coloring mixed to make the perfect color. I applied it lightly with a wrinkled up paper towel. So cheap and easy! I bought the black silky ribbon @ Hobby Lobby for 40% off. I used a graduation cap in the place of the heart. I can't wait until I can display it for his special day.

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  6. Lovely blog thanks for sharing

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