Playing Cards:
Pins like these convinced me to incorporate playing cards into my décor (coupled with the fact that card suits match the color theme!).
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I used a combination of mini decks of cards from Michaels and full-sized sets from Dollar Tree for the following décor elements.
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| I used some of the mini cards leftover from decorating my Magicians Game as pennants attached to black and white baker's twine with clear tape. The posters are from the Library of Congress photo archive. |
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| If you look closely, you can see card streamers! My mom whipped them up on her sewing machine. |
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| Regular-sized cards lined the basement stairwell. |
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| I actually just used the pin as a guide, attaching the cards together with Scotch tape. |
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| Finished! The pattern uses all 52 cards in the deck - I chose to display the fronts of the clubs and spades suits. |
I even incorporated playing cards into my outfit! Inspired by an Etsy item, my mom created a bowtie from a five-of-hearts card (symbolic for my birthday! AND her love, of course!), which I attached to a necklace chain using jump rings. Pretty awesome, no?
I also had fun accenting my nails - I just painted a coat of white nail polish, then used a Sharpie to draw on stripes once the polish had dried (my roomie did my right hand for me!). I then layered on a clear top coat, since I knew I was doing some heavy-duty setup before the party.
Food Table Accents:
One more use for the mini playing cards was in a centerpiece for the food table (though it ended up a bit to the side!). I just made little fans of cards and tucked them into a photo holder I had on hand.
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| Mmmmmm... |
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| A strip of Scotch tape on the back held the little fans together |
On the other side of the table (and already featured in my Cirque snacks post) was a three-tiered tray that my mom assembled after I found these instructions on a dollar store craft blog I follow. I opted for three round metallic trays from Dollar Tree and used two 'crystal' candlesticks for supports, like the instructions suggested.
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| My one and only in-progress shot of this project - my mother is fast! |
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| The final product! We spray painted the tops a flat black, leaving alone the metallic undersides and candlesticks. For a better shot of the underside, see this post. |
To hold the goodies, I fancied up some clear plastic plates from Dollar Tree with an easy-but-super-neat method of using Mod Podge to adhere decorative undersides. A central symbol in The Night Circus is a clock, so I found an image of a vintage clock face that I liked through Google Image search and re-sized it to fit my plates before printing out copies in black and white. Once I had all of my clock faces trimmed out and ready, I simply coated the underside of a plastic plate with Mod Podge and smoothed on the clock face so that it was visible from the top of the plate. I didn't do a second coat since it made bubbles in my test run and really, the initial coat was plenty (they were disposable plates after all). Took hardly any time or money (the plates were eight for a dollar), but they were one of my favorite details of the night!
I saved my leftover clock faces, which came in handy - I used one to cover up an unsightly bunch of streamer ends at the center of my ceiling display:
I got the idea from this pin, and when I had to switch tracks from backyard carnival to indoor party, I used the streamer arrangement to help create the feeling of being within a circus tent. I lined the room with lights (we cheated and used the tops of windowsills to support their weight, since I didn't want to mark up the walls) and had the streamers cut off at the light line. It gave a cool effect, no matter how hastily thought-out it was - especially with all the other lights off.
Speaking of lighting, you may have noticed the little lamps on the food table in the earlier picture of the tiered cupcake tray - another Pinterest-inspired project! I originally was on the fence about attempting it, but when I found the mini lampshades at a local thriftstore for 50 cents each, I was all over it! I picked up two glasses for bases at the same store, too, for $1 a pop (I think they might be hock glasses, according to this chart...?). I added a grosgrain ribbon accent to each shade and made a few fitting adjustments to their light bulb clips, and suddenly I had two adorable little lamps!
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| Not the best for resting on a glass rim... |
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| ... but a few tweaks with pliers solved that problem! |
I used LED candles (provided by my brother and featured in my vintage photo displays post and the magicians game post) in these mini lamps, a few porch luminaries, and in decorative table groupings. I used ribbon and the paper outlines left over from punching out my elephant silhouettes to decorate the candles in a non-permanent manner, since I was returning them after the party.
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| I also used these bags to send home food and favors with guests as they left! |
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| Black elastics helped hold the paper in place |
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| Plain old double-stick tape did the trick for attaching ribbon to the votives! |
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| A decorative table grouping! |
I also had a few plastic animals that I picked up at Dollar Tree and Michaels and spray painted either black or white, which I distributed throughout the rooms. It took a few coats of paint to cover up their slightly lurid original colors, but it was worth the effort.
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| From eek... |
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| ... to chic! |
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| I'm in love with this ticket ribbon. |
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| Cutest balloon animal EVER |
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| Wrap rock, secure with wire, making a loop for tying |
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| Rocks from the railroad (shhh!) |
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| Supplies |
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| This was before I found out how expensive helium was, so there are lots of balloon weights... which went unused. But they were pretty, nonetheless! |
Perhaps the most expansive decorative element (well, second to the ceiling streamers) was the paper medallions installation in the basement. Originally intended as a backdrop for the food table in the backyard, they looked even better indoors hanging in front of my brother's backlit closet doors.
See what I mean?
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| We measured out the wall space I wanted to cover to ensure we had enough medallions. Sorry for the grainy phone pic! |
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| I laid out each strand in my parent's backyard (Sadie was curious!). |
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| I spray painted medallions at random, then flipped them over once they were dry to spray paint their backs. |
And of course, some glamor shots of the wall at the party!
We blew up some of the leftover balloons and littered the basement floor with them for added fun. You may ask, "Aren't twenty-somethings a little too old to kick around balloons?" And you'd be wrong. ;)
And with that, the cirque posts have come to an end! Thanks for reading, and I hope you've been inspired!
The walk feels longer in the stillness of the night, no crowds of people heading to the circus along his route as there have been every other evening, when he raced to arrive before the opening of the gates. The stars are still out when Bailey reaches his oak tree, his bag slung over his shoulder. He is later than he’d wanted to be, though dawn is some time away. But beneath the starry sky, the field that stretches out below his tree is empty, as though nothing has ever occupied the space but grass and leaves and fog.