Archives for: September 2006

Fall has officially arrived and the grapes are being harvested. Time for a special Wine Tasting Party, gathering family and friends, to enjoy favorites and share new discoveries.

Whether you plan on a simple or more elaborate event, from invitations to environment are important to set the tone you want. For example, you might choose to be the vineyard - including invitations that include "Hosted by the Vineyards of YOUR NAME". Designing your special wine label - including crest, vintage - can be as easy as accessing Make your own personalized color wine labels. Your label can be personalized to include the time and date for your tasting. Including your label on carefully chosen paper, sealed with a faux wax wine glass seal, can make your guest invitations as special as your event. If you want to be more elaborate, hand deliver your "invitation," with your label on a bottle of wine.

As your guests arrive, if they're bringing a bottle of wine, separate the reds (uncorked and served a room temperature) from the whites (chilled before opening). Each guest will need at least one glass for tasting, the bowl of which should be 3" tall by 3" wide. When arranging the glasses, include a small, white, lint-free cloth to be used between tasting to clean the water from the rinsed glass, preparing for the next sampling. In addition, a large pitcher of room temperature water for rinsing both glasses and palettes will be needed. A spittoon for "used" wine should be nearby.

Begin your tasting with the more simple, light wines before enjoying the more robust, dry wines. If you're tasting many samples, having notepads and pencils for your guests to jot down their responses to the color, aroma and taste for each wine will help with learning and discussing the characteristics.

To taste wine:

• pour about a third of a glass of wine into a clean, dry glass
• hold the glass to the light to see the color - cherry red? deep purple? clear? cloudy?
• if the wine is red, tip the glass, rolling it back and forth - as the wine settles to the bottom, look for the "legs" - signs of a wine that will hold flavor and aroma
• swirl the wine, hold the glass to your nose, inhale, then move the glass away to consider the aroma - acidy? earthy? fruity? grassy?
• take a sip, gently swashing around your mouth - your first impression of the taste - bitter? fruity? smoky? sweet? simple? complex?
• if you want a genuine wine tasting - spit your sip into the provided spittoon, rinse your palette and glass from the pitcher of water and take a few minutes between tastings to savor the aftertaste.

Between tastings, a simple fare of unsalted crackers, small pieces a good, crusty bread and breadsticks should be offered to cleanse the palette; but, not to interfere with the subsequent samplings.

When all the tasting is completed, have fresh coffee perked and tea brewed for your guests. Fresh fruits, cheeses and pies served with a favorite dessert wine will add a special touch and taste, while you savor what you've sipped and sampled.

Tags: wine tasting party, wine tasting, wine-tasting, wine tasting events, wine labels

If you are looking for an excuse to start an invitation project using a selection of beautiful autumn colored paper, here's an invitation idea for you. Throw an intimate party and invite each guest with a little work of art from you. Each line of your invitation wording is printed on a section of different colored paper that will be cut out into a leaf shape. These leaves are attached with nylon thread to a spiral cut out of black or dark brown paper. A few tips: keep your thread long until you've decided on the placement of your leaves and gently attach the thread to the spiral with seals cut into leaf shapes. When you've finalized the placement of your leaves, press the stickers down firmly onto your spiral. A perfect sized envelope to hold your mobile invitation is the 9 x 12. Place your finished invitation on a sheet of paper and easily slide it into your envelope. Visit our specialty paper, accessory and envelope section to get started on your autumn leaves mobile invitation.

Tags: fall invitations, invitation ideas, fall crafts

As September arrives Mother Nature will soon be decorating the outdoors with leaves so brilliant and spectacularly shaped they look like she cut them out of rich papers of bold reds, oranges and yellows, and scattered them about in light-hearted celebration. Taking your cue from Mother Nature, consider bringing the beauty of these leaves into your wedding celebration. Preface your walk down the aisle with flower girls scattering autumn leaves. Display richly colored autumn leaves over table centers lit by hurricane lanterns. Write names on a leaf at each table setting for a unique place card, and tie them to wrapped gifts for your wedding party.

To set the stage for your leaf-themed wedding, invite your guests with handmade wedding invitations featuring preserved leaves. The wide variety of leaf specimens available for collecting outdoors, as well as colors and styles of preserved leaves available on the market, is sure to inspire you in any season. Your guests will appreciate the personal touch of your handmade invitation which captures the intimate detail and beauty of the leafy landscape.

For those nature lovers who would like to collect and preserve their own leaves visit www.treesforyou.org</a> for directions on the drying and glycerin preserving technique which results in a soft and supple preserved leaf. You can also find autumn leaves for purchase at a number of Web sites such as www.preservedgardens.com</a>.

Below is an example of a folded card made of deckled handmade paper embellished with a preserved autumn leaf. A vellum insert for your wedding wording is secured inside with a gold elastic loop. See a wide selection of folded cards, invitation accessories and vellum inserts for making handmade invitations.

Here are some ideas for using leaves in imaginative ways:

*A leaf can be a canvas for paint or calligraphy. Experiment with metallic paints, brushes and spattering effects on your leaves to transform you leaf into a unique art object reflecting your personality or embellish your leaf with initials in gold or silver calligraphy.

*Use leaves in unique colors. For summer imagine cool mint green leaves against a bright white cardstock. Or get even more imaginative with color with dyed skeleton leaves in pinks, teals, or lavenders at www.unicraft.cc</a>. (Skeleton leaves are those that have just the veins left creating a delicate, sheer leaf. If you would like to make your own delicate, dyed skeleton leaves, see directions at www.science.edu</a>.) In the invitation below a pink skeleton leaf overlays a coco brown band with white calligraphy. The inside of the folded card is printed in a matching color.

*Leaves in winter are beautiful too. Don't forget the beautiful evergreens of winter can make a gorgeous winter wedding. Preserve winter greens with the glycerin method and even dye them rich colors such as burgundy. Or look for papers with leaf patterns such as this Japanese Chiyogami paper silk-screened with abstract pine leaves. Here the paper is accented with a vellum overlay, white ribbon and snowflake metal charm.

*Combine leaves with other elements suggestive of natural materials. This invitation features a pewter linen cardstock and a gold metallic spiral clip. The linen paper has a unique groove pattern similar to the stalk of a plant and the spiral clip is shaped like that of a spiraling vine. These elements and the gold and pewter hues reinforce the natural quality of the leaf motif.

*Preserve your leaves through photography. Begin your inspiration with your own photos from a beautiful autumn walk. The invitation below can be created by printing your photo on cardstock then attaching a vellum overlay and securing with a leaf-shaped brad.

Tags: Handmade invitations with leaves, handmade wedding invitations, autumn weddings, wedding theme ideas