Oscar Party Decorations: Red Curtains for the TV

The first year I hosted my Oscar Party, I grabbed a length of red fabric, draped it over a curtain rod hidden in my TV cabinet and had the most fabulous red curtains on my TV for my party. 

It was so effortless, so easy – no sewing – and what a fun impact. The TV immediately looked more dramatic.

Fast forward and these dang curtains have become one of my Oscar Party banes. I have spent forever fussing and futzing trying to get them to hang just right. So this year I declared, no more screwing around! (I declare that a lot, it usually doesn’t mean anything) I’m going to actually sew a  curtain that I can just drape on there and not have to worry about.

First of all, yes, I have a TV cabinet. I like to roll 1996 style in my house. Get over it. It’s beautiful, it’s solid wood and one day, when a 42″ television just isn’t enough anymore (remember when we were little and we thought we were cool if our TVs were 20 inches even though they weighed about 300 pounds?), I’ll convert it into a fab wardrobe by just adding a proper curtain rod. Until that time. I have a TV cabinet.

Now, if you’re a cool kid and your house is decorated all 2013-style and your TV just hangs on the wall you can make curtains for your TV too. All you need to do is install a curtain rod or depending on the size of your TV, just hang those curtains from the ceiling!

So I don’t have a proper pattern for these curtains, just a method. In reality, it’s all going to be done to your taste, so you’ll have to futz with it a bit when you’re planning it out so it will be perfect for your party.

Ok, here goes. The curtain is made in three parts: There are two equal length panels and one center swag.

To create the panels, measure from your curtain rod to the floor and add 8″-12″ depending on your puddling preference. Cut the two panels to length, keeping the width at just the width of your fabric (or narrower if you don’t want as much bulk). Hem three sides of your panels (->Lazy option, just hem the two long sides and fold the bottom under your puddled fabric….this has worked for me for years, but you feel free to hem if you are classier than I am).

Now for the swag. Measure the width of your curtain rod – this will be your top measurement. Add 6-24″ to the top measurement – this will be your bottom measurement.  For the math nerds out there, we’re creating a trapezoid for the swag. The addition to the bottom measurement depends on how deep and drape-y you want the swag so play with it to figure out it. For those with super large TVs, you may want to break this up and create multiple swags to cover the width of the screen – it’s up to you. Again, I’m keeping the height of the trapezoid at the width of the fabric – decrease the height for less drape.

Gather the top of each of the panels and the slanted sides of the swag.

Now, think about how you want to connect the panels and the swags because they are about to become fixed to each other. Do you want the panels touching?  Do you want some space in the middle? Figure it out then lay the panels right side down. The panels should be placed such that measuring from outer edge to outer edge of the panels is the width of your curtain rod.

Lay the swag right side down on top of the panels (The right side of the swag will lay on the wrong side of the panel). Pin the sides and top of the swag to the top of the gathered panels. It will be a mess of fabric, just do your best – this isn’t intended to be super accurate sewing here. Sew across the top of the panels,

Excellent! Now you have a panel swag-y thing. Drape the swag over your curtain rod, tucking all the yucky edges underneath and you’re almost done!

Now, since I have a TV cabinet (you’re jealous now, right?) I take a little piece of wire and thread it through the hinge on the door and then use that to hang a curtain tie back – in gold cording of course. But if you’re just workin’ with the wall, I think a few strategically placed Command adhesive hooks could work for you.

Tieback the curtains, futz, drape, swag, adjust and voilà!  Instant party presence.

I hope your TV curtains turn out just as spectacular!

–Martta

Oscar Ballot Categories Printable

I’m working on my mystery game for this year’s party.  Well, it’s not really a game, but I’ll have to post all about it later.  Anyway, I found that I needed a little printable of each of the ballot categories.  These are the same size as the wine charms I posted earlier – print them out and punch them out with a 1 1/2″ circle cutter.

Use them as more wine charms or as adorable cupcake toppers… or for your own mystery game!–Martta

Chocolate Oscar Statues: Luster Dust Testing

The chocolate Oscar statues are one of the most memorable treats from at my Oscar Party (You can check out my original post on making them here), they always get lots of oohs and ahhs.  So after years of turning out the same adorable statues, I think it’s time for a little product breakdown. This year I’m testing a few different types of luster dusts that are available at my cake decorating store:

• Wilton Color Mist in Gold
• Wilton Shimmer Dust in Gold
• The Sugar Art: Sterling Pearl Luster Dust in Classic Gold
• CK Luster Dust in Old Gold

The color mist offers great coverage, but the color comes out a bit flat and the gold seems to “pool” in some locations which can make it a bit splotchy.

The addition of the luster dusts on top of the color mist gives a solid color and sparkly appearance.  I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Wilton shimmer dust – the statue still looked a bit flat to me.  But both the Sugar Art and CK luster dusts turned out a nice looking statue.  I think the CK luster dust has a very slight edge because the color seems to be just a bit brighter.

Sticking with just the luster dusts alone gives a real depth of color due to the chocolate color coming through.  However, even after several layers of luster dust, I still can’t quite match the bright appearance of the statues that had a coat of the Wilton Color Mist first.

Overall, I think I’ll be going with the Color Mist and CK Luster dust this year – I like this particular combination of solid gold coverage and bright sparkle.

Now to make 40 more…..

–Martta

Update: My Color Mist didn’t quite hold out for a batch of 40 so you may want to consider more than one can if you are making a lot of statues.

Oscar Party Menu

No Oscar Party is complete without a killer menu.  I’ve put my thinking cap on to refine last year’s menu keeping the traditional favorites and adding in a few new fabulous offerings!

For the dessert table: 

The star of the show - Gold Dusted Chocolate Oscars in milk and dark chocolate:

The second star of the show: The chocolate strawberry tower:

Some crowd tested favorites: Pioneer Woman’s Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt:

Then a bit of Pinterest inspiration with Chocolate Dipped Raspberries:

Individual Tiramisu Shooters: 

This year’s additions include:

Chocolate-Champagne Truffles, courtesy of Martha Stewart’s recipe (I’ll roll mine in gold sanding sugar):

And Individual Chocolate Avocado Mousse from Giada De Laurentiis:

Now on to the savories.  At the main table, I’ll have one of my Oscar Party standards: Spanakopita 

Hummus Three Ways: White, Roasted Pine Nut and Black Bean served with crudities and pita chip ribbons: 

Greek Cucumber Cups, thank you Rachael Ray:  Ginger Soy Chicken Mini Kabobs:

Rosemary Balsamic Mini Kabobs:

Antipasta Skewers Two Ways: Italian and Greek Style:

Then over to the coffee table in the prime time TV viewing location.  Guess what?  I’ll put more food there too!  Starting with Paula Deen’s Sugar and Nut Glazed Brie served with fresh sliced pears:

Classic, can’t live without Dill Dip with Crudités

and finally to round out the table, Cheese, Crackers and Grapes.

But Oscar Party isn’t completed without it’s signature cocktail…..the Twisted Cosmo!

So friends, I hope you’re seriously hungry ’cause I’m already cooking up a storm!  I’ve pinned all these to my Oscar Party board on Pinterest along with a few other party ideas in case you’re planning your own shindig.

–Martta

Oscar Party Decorations: Nominee Posters

Every year I say that I’m going to come up with something else to decorate the house on Oscar Party night and every year I make the dang nominee posters anyway.

When I first started Oscar Party, I would pick up two issues of Entertainment Weekly that had head shots of all the nominees but now that there are such great pictures online, I just grab the pictures there rather than trying to remember to pick up the magazine the one week it’s out.

These posters couldn’t be more simple, just grab some poster board in black and gold, double stick tape, and print up the names for each nominee (I like to use 48 pt. Dubba Dubba font).   

Now, because I’m crazy, yes, I will spray paint my black poster board with a high gloss black paint.  What can I say?  I like a little shine.  Hobby Lobby sells a sensational glossy gold poster board which I pick up with my 40% off coupon or grab when it is on sale.

I’ll mat each of the photos and nominee names in gold (You’ll need 2-3 sheets of gold for this) then put them on the black poster board.  Sometimes, if I’m feeling wild, I’ll do the Best Picture nominees on a gold background with black mats. (You can read that as, I plan to do that every year, but I get in such a groove matting everything in gold that I forget to mat the Best Picture stuff in black.  Oh well.)

A few tips: Hang these up on the day of the party – they have a tendency to fall down or buckle if you hang them early.  You can make these posters weeks in advance (Ha!  I’m always making mine at the last minute!) but if you do, be sure to store them laying flat until the party.

Hope your Oscar Party is sensational!

–Martta

Golden Oscar Party Decorations

Every year I’m trying to add just a little bit more to Oscar Party.  This year design inspiration came from (where else?!) Pinterest.  I saw Hank & Hunt’s giant gold wall decoration and I knew I needed that sparkle at my party.  While I loved the medallion, I really wanted it to scream Oscar and what better way to do that than with a lovely Oscar statue?  

Isn’t he cute? To begin, I used the projection method to trace the outline of my statue onto foam core.  I then spray painted the foam core gold, because I figured a bit of the edge would be visible and I didn’t want any white peeking through. I used the same method as it inspiration post and bought the same gold mylar cord for my Oscar statue.

But since my design had a few more subtle curves than just a circle, I needed to cut the rope pieces a bit smaller – just about 1″ long.

I then taped the pieces down to both sides of the statue.Make sure to only over hang the edges of the foam core a little bit or the statue will come out looking like a giant sparkly blob. You know I know this because I first made a giant sparkly blob and had to go back and redo it.

But he’s all done and I love my shiny gold Oscar man!  I inserted a pin in the top and tied some fishing line to the pin and then thumb tacked it into the ceiling.  He’s right at home with my tissue paper pom poms and ready to be part of a fab tablescape……which I’ll have to take a picture of when it’s all decked out.

But if a tablescape isn’t in your future, I think this would be a great addition to the photobooth prop box.

–Martta

The Baby A Quilt

Well what to do with all that left over pink fabric?  Hilary to the rescue!  Thank goodness she had beautiful baby Audrey, who has already been the victim of a homemade gift (see the buttoned-up baby wrap).  But I couldn’t let the baby wrap be her only present (seeing as I think that’s a one time use kind of gift), so a quilt is perfect!

The quilt inspiration board on Pinterest is just overflowing with ideas.  But there was one that I pinned early on and I’ve been itching to make!  It’s the Color Block Quilt from Bijou Lovely Designs.  Just perfect for all the leftover pink I’ve got – I only needed to pick up the sashing, and two other colors to come up with my version:

And I super duper love it.  It covers all my obsessions of modern clean design, ombre, and adorable baby size (Ahem, Race for the Cure quilt, this is sooooooo much easier than king size!).  But as much as I love it, after I made the top, I just couldn’t leave it at this…..

No, I felt the need to come up with something spectacular for the back as well.  I mean, who says you can’t piece the back too?  And I still had tons of pink!  So I set to work on a monogrammed design that has me flashing back to the pixelated graphics of the video games of my youth: 

The back actually took me longer to make than the front!  That’s a lot of little squares to sew together.  But it’s the perfect pair to the fabulous front and now there can be no stealing of this quilt!  It’s all Audrey’s! 

–Martta