Gala/Fundraiser Blue Ridge Log Cabins ,Extreme Home Makeover

2011-08-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

Weddings and events

full service, planning, decor, event and floral design

"Fayetteville Welcomes Extreme Home Makeover"

CP Ross Designs, Fayetteville NC was
selected to design the fund-raiser gala sponsor party for The Extreme Home Makeover edition held at the prestigious
Cape Fear Botanical Garden " Orangery" hosted by Blue Ridge Log Cabins, builder for the makeover
titled
"Hard Hat and High Heels"

Blue Ridge Log Cabins has been featured on HGTV
The team of Blue Ridge Log Cabins made Fayetteville home
while they were here and they are a
passionate about there work and community support
http://www.blueridgelogcabins.com/

The Orangery, Cape Fear Botanical Garden ( the venue for the event), stunning architecture, the cupola rising in the middle more than 52 feet high captures natural light that infuses a room. The room is designed with rich wood features, stone tiles and a natural fountain that flows gently down a wall of stone. Upon entering the complex you feel that you have entered a spa retreat with the sounds of nature . This complex truly designed to be echo friendly offers versatility for any venue. This facility located on 78 acres is one of the 10 top gardens in the US.
http://www.capefearbg.org/

Fayetteville North Carolina
An.. All American City

Fayetteville has a slogan :"History, Heroes and a Hometown Feeling". This statement could not be truer when The Extreme Homes Edition selected Barbara Marshall , a fifteen year Navy Veteran for for The Extreme Home Makeover . Barbara, opened Stages of Jubilee, a house for homeless female veterans. Seeing that many female veterans had no place to call home she opened her home to help them get on there feet in her own home and you can see the full heartwarming story and her dedicated outreach to a cause she believes in. A surprise visit for the famous" Move that Bus" was Michelle Obama. Watch for the opening season ABC this fall.
You never know where the path of events will lead you and read in the Fayetteville Observer about Extreme Home Makeover coming to family and that the reveal would be soon.Once the family was revealed and production was a full 24 hours per day for one full week. The building site turns into a virtual city and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of volunteers come together for the build. It takes a community effort to pull this amazing task off and businesses and the volunteers alike welcomed the project with donations and time . Truck loads of supplies poured in with thousand of bottles of water and items needed to make this enormous effort become a reality not to mention generators, concrete truck, power supplies and the list could have been a mile long the overall needs were so many. The builders in this case Blue Ridge Log Cabins took on more than the house project, they wanted to involve the community. They planned events associated with the Extreme Home Make Over and they were a pep rally at The Crown Coliseum, A fund raiser gala, A music festival in the park and a rap up party. The owners of Blue Ridge Log Cabins worked everyday for two weeks hand in hand with the community. I got to know them well during this whirlwind of two weeks. If you plan to have a log home built you have found a builder that has a passion about there work and a love ,for what they do.Sarah, the owners daughter had taken on the task of events and my meeting with her was concerning the gala. Initially I did not understand why she had selected the theme Hard Hats And High Heels for the gala and events because I did not know who the Extreme Home Make Over was for and after the selected family was announced I understood why. In the mean time I had to begin designing around a theme I knew nothing about. The gala was to carry a patriotic theme, budget conscious and trendy, themed" Hard Hats and High Heels ". What a challenging order and in the photos below you will see how that transpired.I had one week to contact vendors, place orders and receive shipments. The perfect mix a creative client , fashion forward full of enthusiasm and the confidence to let me design
her vision .My part though exciting was just a small part in the enormous outreach this show is about.

                                     FOR THE GALA DESIGN
   I wanted something different and in the process I thought why not create fashion out of construction items. A fashion show was part of the evening entertainment and how appropriate fashions made out of construction materials on dress forms for tablescapes. I contacted Molly Hayden an accomplished seamstress who owns a fine fabric boutique, Sew and Sews Place, and asked if she was up to make dresses out of construction materials and she was. I made the dress in the entrance and she fashioned the two leading into the gala. They were made of tarps, drop cloths, garbage bags etc. Jewelry was made from wrenches, washers, springs, wire and beads. Molly made a corset for one dress out of paper from garden architectural drawings which she wove. The red and white striped skirt was overly painted with painters tape and a grid used for construction sites to layer the paint.
The shoes were purchased and spray painted and embellished with items like springs, beads, washers etc. The hard hats were a lot of fun making and they were from some of the same elements designer hard hats what fun we had with this project.

                                 Construction in the fashion place
                             the fashion conscious construction Diva
                                      shops at building supply and
                                             hardware stores

Everything was coordinated on this dress from the hand bag to the shoes.
A must for the construction minded fashionista with matching shoes
jewelry and of course a fashionable hard hat. Molly took a paint cloth and
made stripes with painters tape. The edge of the cloth was made by applying
a grid from construction netting and over spraying. Molly wove paper in and out
from architectural drawing for the bodice and accented the bodice with painters tape.Details further made a style statement on the
back with an outward zipper which is so fashionable

shoes were sprayed and toe adornments were made from springs
washers and faux crystals. The netting the form is on is used in construction and was sprayed red.

Every construction Diva has a hard hat
and these were dressed with the same construction items with a little bling bling. Molly made
the perfect construction purse out of the left over paper and bound it with painters tape.

This ensemble fashioned by Molly lent itself
towards a ball gown made entirely out of tarp and the
belt a garbage bag with some bling bling and adornments were
washers and faux crystal pins.
The jewelry was designed to enhance the
dress and also featured construction accents with
a touch of bling. A must for a construction gala! The shoes were sprayed
and further embellished with construction
items such as springs and washers.

The dress in the reception entrance

I made this dress out of blue tarp. The belt weather stripping. A rose was also made out of the stripping with washers for effect with faux crystals in the middle. The choker a stylish concept with a drop wrench was designed with washers and springs could definitely be a jewelry item! The hat another decorative element using only silver accents to compliment the belt. The shoes not your average construction boots were sprayed and accented with wrench's springs and washers. All construction minded the poof in the skirt came from wire netting.

Events are not always about flowers. The client
a girl with a vision wanted a patriotic theme with a
twist, trendy, masculine and feminine a tall order but an
exciting one of course it was all to be budget conscious.
I utilized a large amount of my inventory to bring the theme together.

It is not always necessary to use something new and in this case containers had been previously used in another event.The vases were all hand applied with faux crystals and led lights in each vase added sparkle to the evening. Red, white and blue is not an easy color combination to work with as it tends to look more like the 4th of July but in this case the combination of colors used in definition brought the event together with an updated and trendy look.

Oriental parasols were were popped into the top of the vases and faux crystals added on the finial to tie the two together. Red carnations were suspended with wire to add more depth. Simple white floor length linens with silver starburst chargers defined clean lines.

The blue parasol tables had silver chavaris with

blue chair cushions and red lamour napkins.The red carnation tables were the reversal. Blue lamour napkins and red cushions in the chavaris.

All table linens, chavari chairs,utensils,chargers and stemware were from Classic Party Rentalshttp://www.classicpartyrentals.com/

More depth is given to a room with a mixture of tall and low arrangements.

Large red carnation balls were mounted on the faux crystal containers with led lights. The color

palette differed on these tables with

the napkins blue and the seat cushions red.

The votive candles? Hand wired

Martini glass accented with decorative beads

and Deco wire to tie colors together.

some of the wires had springs and washers

to carry the Heroes and Hard Hats Theme, to stabilize the candle salt was added to the bottom.

The foil shoes added a touch of whimsy
with the decorative wire on four of the bistro tables.

The remaining four glass containers
were more masculine decorated with
wrenches, deco wire, springs, nuts
and bolts

Using bar back drops as furniture are

trends in special events

The red white and blue themed was
carried out by using red containers
on a white back splash and the blue
came from back lighting

Martini Luge's are fun and great conversation .This one was made into a high heel shoe the martin flowed out of the front of the shoe.

Design by Chef Chris Currie

http://www.crciceworks.com/

I am a strong believer in lighting and the way it transforms a room. The

development of led lighting has brought the special event industry to a new level.

http://www.fivestar-entertainment.com/

The evening began with passed hor dourves , a plated dinner

by The Invisible Chef

entertainment

a fashion show

a hip seventies dance with Denise Strother and Roland Dance Studio

http://www.dancewithroland.com/

The cake was designed by a local artist

and the name of the company

http://www.extremecakedesigner.com/

Members of the extreme make over team came to the gala and sorry I cannot presently provide you with there photographs but they were Tracy Huston, Paul DiMeo and John Littlefield..
                                           Thank you for visiting
                                              I love what I do!!
                                                        best,
                                                       cynthia

Pretty in pink. Behind the scenes of special events. CP Ross Designs

2010-07-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world of special events. Fast paced, labor intensive and time line driven it is exciting and nerve racking. In the end it is a beautiful thing when time lines are met and an event comes together with happy clients. Following my blogs will give you a valuable insight and tips for your events.

Meet my pretty in pink bride. Obviously she loved pink..she said I am artsy and I want something different and tall.. Lets begin with this arrangement. Originally the design plan was for the foliage to be painted white. Design plans do not always work. The white leaves were blah! The tablecloth for the candy table was polka dot and she liked polka dots. I spotted a black can of high gloss spray paint and a star was born! The monstera leaves were sprayed and the aspidistra leaves were also sprayed with high gloss black paint.The polka dots.tabs from the office supply store.. you may need a little glue to make sure they stick. The beads in the glass vases were sprayed with Design Master Paint. We added Black Deco Beads in the bottom. The flowers were comprised of Asiatic Lillies , monstera and aspidistra leaves.

You are always hostage to the weather with any outdoor event and an additional tent was not planned. A last minute change brought the tent in and all layout had to changed. The candy table became the focal point in the food tent. I had not seen the contianers for the candy bar so all of this was built off the cuff. The cross lines at the top were hidden with chair runners and pink lanterns were grouped and suspended. Silver deco wire was woven in and around the lanterns and we formed little areas where the lillies were placed.The lillies were in water tubes. They appeared to be suspended in air and added a whimsical effect. The extra lanterns that were left over were used as chargers for the candy containers. Always remember to add different areas of height in all designs.

Square Containers

Square containers are great design tools. This one was created by designing individual bouquets of hydragenea, peonies and freesia. The hand tied bouquet was wrapped in double faced satin ribbon and silver deco wire. The bouquets create more interest if positioned in different directions when placing them on the tables. This is a great item for guests to take home.

Behind the scenes of a special event

Gala/Fundraiser Blue Ridge Log Cabins ,Extreme Home Makeover

Pretty in pink. Behind the scenes of special events. CP Ross Designs