Creative Oscars Party Ideas + Film Reel Cupcakes

I am a member of the World Market Trendsetter Tribe.  This Oscars Party is brought to you by World Market as part of their Movie Lovers Sweepstakes. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.  #MovieLoversSweeps

Don't you just love watching the Academy Awards?  Whether you watch it to critique the fashion and style on the red carpet, to catch a glimpse of your favorite actor or actress, or to see if your favorite movie wins, there is something for everyone!

I've been busy creating some great ways for you to enjoy the Oscars this year with family and/or friends by throwing an Oscars viewing party!  I'll be sharing tons of fun food, drink, invitation, ballot, and decorating ideas for you party to be amazing and worthy of the red carpet!

To get ready for my Oscar party, I went shopping where I always go to prep for a party- World Market!  World Market so many great dishes and party essentials that are perfect for entertaining, as well as lots of gourmet food and drinks from around the world.  

The first thing you need when prepping for an Oscars viewing party are invitations.  I created these free printable Oscar party invitations for you to download, print, and pass out to your party guests!  

I created them to look like tickets, and in this post I show you how to make a glittery gold envelope to put them in.

Once the invitations are passed out, it's time to go shopping for food and some party dishes!  I wanted this party to look great, but be easy to put together. 

One of my favorite finds at World Market was this retro popcorn maker, which looks amazing, and is just perfect for the Academy Awards since the movies and popcorn go hand in hand.  

World Market also sells some cute paper popcorn boxes that perfectly match the popcorn maker…. gotta' love that! 

I wanted to serve cupcakes to match the theme, so I decided to go with some gold film reel cupcakes made from licorice wheels.   

The wheels look like film reels, especially when you unroll the end just a bit.  I originally saw the idea here, but I swithced them up a bit.  Here's how I made them: 

Gold Film Reel Cupcakes:

Supplies:

• EDIBLE gold spray paint (from the craft store)
• Store bought or home-made cupcakes
• Licorice wheels (from World Market) 

To give the edible film reels some sparkle and shine, spray them with edible gold paint.  Spray the wheels and top of the cupcakes with the gold paint just like you would with regular spray paint.  You might need a couple coats of paint on the licorice wheels.

Place one "film reel" on the top of each cupcake.  I just love the way they turned out!!

Another fun treat to serve are these tuxedo chocolate covered almonds.  They are so impressive to serve, but I promise they aren't as hard as they look to make!  

Simply start with some World Market chocolate covered almonds, and follow the directions in my tutorial to make the cutest little almonds, all dressed up in a suit and tie.  You're basically just painting on a white triangle for the shirt, a tiny black bow tie, and a couple little dots for buttons with chocolate bark or melts and a toothpick.

I found these small tuxedo boxes that were perfect for holding treats for guests!

While watching the Oscars you have to have a little bubbly, so I picked up some of my favorite orange mango passion fruit Italian soda and mixed it with ginger ale for a delicious drink that looked amazing in the Madison champagne flutes.  These glasses look amazing, and would you believe that they only cost $1.99 each?  You can bet that I stocked up!

To decorate make my food table, I spray painted some regular tickets from the party store (originally green) a pretty gold color, and attached them to the front of my cake plate and serving platters with tape.  I also used some metallic gold shreds on a platter to hold the drinks.  Both of these decorations added a lot to the table without taking a lot of time and effort or costing a lot of money.

When your guests arrive for your Oscar party, you can have them fill out this free printable 2014 Oscar ballot and make their picks for the top categories of the Oscars.  

They can do it for fun, or you can always have a prize for the winner at the end of the Academy Awards!  A fun prize would be an assortment of some of World Market's delicious and unique chocolate bars.  Their strawberry and champagne and sea salt dark chocolate bars are soooo good!  The blood orange milk chocolate bar is next on my list to try.

Are you a movie lover too?  World Market is giving away FREE movies for a year ($1600 Fandango gift card), plus a $1,000 World Market gift card!  Be sure to enter World Market's Movie Lovers Sweepstakes for a chance to win the grand prize package.  There are also three awesome runner up prizes which include a $500 Fandango gift card and a $500 World Market gift card!  

You can earn bonus entries for liking World Market's Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr brand pages for more chances to win.  Good luck!

If you liked this project, please follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin', and Instagram.

xo, Laura

Sharing here:  Show and Tell

Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2013

Happy 2014!!  

I love starting a fresh new year.  It feels like opening up a brand new blank book that is just waiting to be written on, and I can't wait to get writing!  2013 has been an amazing year of growth and learning for me, and I can't wait to continue on this journey with you. I wish I could meet all of you and personally thank you for your support!

I though it would be fun to look back at the most popular posts of 2013 on Make Life Lovely, as determined by which posts had the most page views.  We'll start the countdown with #10, and work our way up to the most popular post, #1.  Just click on the title of each post to go to read the tutorials. Thanks again for reading!  Here's to a new year full of possibilities!!

Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2013:

#10  DIY Mason Jar Lanterns

These pretty lacy lanterns were made with some of David Tutera's new line of supplies by Darice, and they are just perfect for adding a little atmosphere to your parties or backyard get-togethers.  You can keep them clear, or make them in any color to match party colors.

#9  How to Grow a Geode in an Egg

These little egg geodes were fascinating to make, and were a fun and educational project to do with my kids.  I plan on making these every year around Easter time!  The end result is just so beautiful, and will really impress your kids!  You can find the tutorial for the geode eggs HERE.

#8  Baby Food Jar Planter

I have always hated throwing away baby food jars, so I finally decided to get creative with them and re purpose them instead of tossing them.  This DIY project can be used as a planter, vases, or even as a candle holder for tea lights!  Check out this post for easy directions on how to make this decoration.

#7  DIY iPad Case Tutorial

This iPad case I created was the winning design in Earth 911's DIY iPad case design challenge, and was made out of my daughter's old worn out skirt and a cardboard box!  It has a very functional design that is eco-friendly and unique, and you can be sure that no one else in the world has a case just like yours!  Easy directions can be found HERE.

#6  Rainbow Cakes Baked in Baby Food Jars

As you can see, I had a lot of fun with baby food jars this year!  These rainbow cakes are unique because they are baked into adorable individual servings, perfect for parties because they can be made ahead of time, and you don't have to cut a messy cake.  Full tutorial HERE.

#5  13 Delicious Pumpkin Seed Recipes

One of my favorite snacks in the fall are roasted pumpkin seeds from my kids' pumpkins that we carved.  I put together this round up post of some of my favorite pumpkin seed recipes, and it went crazy on Pinterest! 

#4  Chocolate No-Bake Cookies Recipe

I was pleasantly surprised that the chocolate no-bake cookies that I grew up making and loving were so popular with others, too!  They are easy, quick, and can be made with basic ingredients you probably already have sitting in your cupboard right now.  If you've never made these before, you've got to try a batch!

#3  How to Fix a Broken Underwire Bra

It's nice to know I'm not the only girl who struggles with underwire that pops out of place on my bras.  As frustrating as this is, there is a solution that has worked really well for me that I shared with you this year.  We pay way too much for these to just toss them out, right?  Easy directions HERE.

#2  How to Fix Broken Powdered Make-up

It is the WORST thing to drop your expensive powdered make-up and watch it crumble into tiny pieces all over your floor.  This easy fix is the second most popular post this year on the blog for a good reason- no one like throwing away their hard-earned money! Check out the easy fix and be sure to pin it for the next time that you drop your makeup.

#1  6 Uses for Silica Gel Packets- Don't Throw them Away!

When I wrote this post, I had NO idea that anyone else in the world even saved these little silica gel packets that come in your boxes of new shoes, vitamins, etc.  There were more than 500,000, over half a million, page views on this post alone!!  My husband saved these to absorb excess moisture from his important things, so I thought that might be helpful to others, too.  I never would have guessed when I wrote this that it would be my most visited post on my blog in 2013.  There were over 100 comments on that post from others sharing how they use their silica gel packets, all wonderful and helpful ideas.  

Well there you have it, the most popular posts of last year.  Did you have any favorites this year?  I can't wait to get creating and sharing more with you in 2014!

xo, Laura

Finding Your Inner Power

Have you ever felt underestimated?  Maybe you have felt like you are full of potential and have a lot of great things to offer, but maybe that's not what others see?  If you've ever felt like that in your life, you know that's not a good feeling!  At times like this, you need to look inside yourself and rise above what others might think, and believe in yourself!

You are in charge of your future, and only you can unleash your true potential and power!  I have always loved being creative and making things.  I can whip out almost anything out of any supply, and I see potential in supplies that others might not.  I LOVE making things, whether it's a craft, food, party decorations of favors, gifts, recipes, etc.

When I started my blog, most people around me were very supportive, although I don't believe they realized the extent of what being a blogger truly meant.  No matter what anyone thought, however, I had to believe in myself.  Even with all the support I was getting from family and friends, if I didn't believe in myself and trust in my inner power and abilities, I wasn't going to be successful.  Because of a strong personal strength and belief in myself (and a lot of hard work!), I have had amazing success with this blog, success I never would have imagined less than a year ago when I first started blogging.

Today I'm partnering with Planters Peanuts and Mr. Peanut himself to get out the message of harnessing your true potential and listening to your inner voice... great advice for anyone!  I've always thought that peanuts were the most underrated nut (which never stopped them from being one of my favorites), so Mr. Peanut definitely has some experience with this ;)



So have you ever felt overlooked or underestimated?  When have you had to rely on your own inner strength and power?  I'd love to hear about it!  Just leave a comment below to share!

xo, Laura

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Reader's Version of my iPad Case

Remember my DIY iPad case tutorial, where I made an iPad case for free out of cardboard and my daughter's old skirt?

I got a comment on my blog a few days ago from Mhairi, who blogs at Sweet Home 565.  She saw my iPad case on Pinterest, and used it to make her own version...

(On a side note, how is it that I'm JUST NOW noticing that Amy from Mod Podge Rocks pinned my iPad case?!?  Eek!!)

This comment and re-creation of the tutorial totally made my day!  I love getting feedback from readers, and better yet, hearing about their experiences with my tutorials.  I put it all out there, and it's so nice to hear what people think.

You can check out here post HERE to see her completed iPad case.  And if any of you make something from the blog, I'd love to hear about it!  You can comment or send me an email- pictures or a blog post or even better!

Who knows, I might just share it here ;)

Thanks for reading!

xo, Laura

Prepping for SNAP!

I am so thrilled to be attending SNAP! this year, a 3 day conference in Utah for creative bloggers.  It's going to be 3 days of amazing classes taught by many of my absolute favorite bloggers, meeting other creative bloggers, reaching out to major brands, and partying with new friends!  I can't wait!!

photo from SNAP!

Did anyone go to SNAP! last year?  Or are you going this year?  I'd love to meet you!

I have been really busy putting my media kit together, designing business cards, packaging up my business cards in a cute, fun way (I'll show you soon!), making 250 homemade suckers to go with my cards for new friends, cleaning, packing, shopping for new clothes (not so tough), blogging... oh yeah, and taking care of four kids, too!

It's a lot of work, but will be so worth it!  Luckily spring break is over this week so with half my kids in school, I'll have a little bit of time to get everything together and ready to go!

Hope your weekend was great!!

xo, Laura