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1997

JUNE

For some reason, June is the favored month for weddings. Here are a few party ideas for after your mini couple tie the knot!

Garden Reception

• Decorate a roombox to look like a lovely garden. Start with a background...maybe you have a favorite photograph that you want to blow up to the right dimensions? Or perhaps you saw some nice fish tank "wallpaper" at the pet store that has mountains and trees on it. Or faux paint the wood to look like sky, sponge on some green for trees.

• Build your garden out from the back towards the front...trees (painted mosses from railway hobbiest stores, craft stores), rocks (made from fimo), grass (artificial turf!), a path (made with finely crushed rocks (hobby stores) lined with fimo rocks, garden beds with flowers (dry may be very romantic, paper may be a bit more vibrant!).

• Add a birdbath (modified wedding cake trinkets, specifically a column and shell, painted with the texture (a.k.a. fake) stone paint that is available at finer craft stores).

• A painted fence is a nice touch (coffee stirrer/popsicle stick and square stock molding). You can decorate it with bows, flowers, and perhaps a fimo bird can perch there to watch the festivities.

• How about a garden bench for your guests to rest on? I like the wood and cast iron models, so if this is your preference too, you could consider buying one or making one from a kit, but benches can almost be made out of anything (eg. twigs, bits of wood, a fimo "stone" bench).

• Make a small fabric covered table ( the base can be made from illustration board, dowel and old pogs, no one will know what is underneath once the fabric goes on!).

• Add some wedding paraphenalia to the table (gifts, poufs of tule, a cake, etc.). Decorate trees with ribbons, bows, and wreaths.

The Barn Dance

• Perhaps you want a country barn dance to celebrate the nuptials. Decorate a roombox to look like the inside of a barn (wooden floor, wooden slats up the walls, aged timbers, etc.).

• For a table, make or purchase two mini haybales, place a rectangle of wood/illustration board between them. Add a small gingham check table cloth.

• On the table, you will need a centerpiece. Take a very small styrofoam ball, cut in half so it will sit flat. Cut a length of fabric covered wire, and paint it green. Once dry, make a hole in the top of the styrofoam ball (the rounded side) and glue the wire in. Cut a circle of 36 count pure irish linen (tea colored). This can be found in the cross stitch section of most craft stores and will emulate burlap sacking. Place ball and wire in the center of linen (flat surface down), glue. When dry, pull up sides of fabric over ball, and gather fabric around the wire. Tie off with a piece of thread (the objective is to get it to look like a sack). Finish off with a bow, or some thinly cut rafia. Next, cut a circle of brown construction paper (in scale with a sunflower center). Cover with glue, and dip into brown craft sand...this simulates the seeds. Next, cut out small slightly pointed ovals of yellow paper and glue them behind the brown disk. This is your flower head. Bend the top of the wire into a circle, then further down bend the stem again, this time just at a right angle. Glue flower head to the circle. Cut out oval or hearts from green paper, bend them slightly in half lengthwise, then glue them to the stem for leaves. It might be helpful to look at a real sunflower to get the placement of leaves right.

• If this is the food table, you can make "country" dishes...fried chicken legs (fimo shapes, covered with sawdust), potato salad (colored caulking, fimo spuds mixed in, some fimo eggs, and a little sprinkle of a red powder to simulate paprika), buns (crayola model magic (tm) air dry medium, watercolor paints), butter (chunk of fimo), fresh fruits and veggies (fimo).

• At one end of the table, add packages in floral paper, small bunches of rafia tied in the middle, small repainted farm animals (from a farm toy purchase at the toy shop).

• On the wall, hang homemade pictures of country things...cows, cowboys, chickens, horseshoes. Don't forget the hearts and daisies, too! A heart shaped wood piece from the craft store painted with folk art poseys, wooden furniture painted with hearts can give this scene a very homey appeal. Daisies can be made out of fabric covered wire, painted green and a dab of yellow added to the top. Fringe a long strip of paper and wrap just below yellow center. Put daisies into a basket with some moss for a finishing touch.

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