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Tonight I got to enjoy a fabulous night as a guest with Field and Vine events for dinner with my good friend Bee from The Spicy Bee. I’ll chat more about the event tomorrow soon… But, I wanted to share a few snapshots of the fun. Poor Bee got in on a lot of photos because I was wielding the camera!

All photos are from my iPhone 4 other than one that is an iPhone 5.

The Spicy Bee, Chef Pascal, and A Well Crafted Party
Bee, Chef Pascal, and myself— blurry photos are totally in, right?
Mt. Hood Rep and The Spicy Bee
Annie from Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory and Bee
Meat Platter
An amazing starter for an amazing meal
Bee, "No Pictures Please!"
Bee loves my camera… she really does.
Iverson's Farms Dinner in the Field
Lovely Olive Oil Cake for Dessert

Paper Flowers with West Elm and Lia Griffith

Paper flowers by Lia Griffith

Cutting out the paper flower templates

Paper flowers cut out

Curling the paper flowers

finished paper flowers

finished paper flowers

West Elm invited me to check out their Paper Flowers workshop with Lia Griffith last week. I’ve been really impressed with the events at West Elm thus far and was excited to join in on another one. Even more excited because I had met Lia a few other times and really wanted to see how she did paper flowers.

I’ve made hundreds of paper flowers for different projects. But, I’ve never had a pattern and no two flowers ever looked alike. It was a lot of fun seeing the ways that Lia did her flowers and how she made them more accessible to everyone by creating printable patterns. Her website has a TON of paper flower tutorials with easy to follow images for each step—Check out one of her Paper Rose Tutorials. She also has printables available so you can print off and make flowers that look exactly like hers. She will be adding videos for the tutorials soon too!

My mother-in-law and my brother-in-law’s girlfriend went to the class with me to try their hands at making the flowers. All three of us came out with gorgeous looking flowers… and, I’m still in awe that you couldn’t tell the difference between our three roses in the end!

One of the big secrets to making beautiful paper flowers? Curl the paper with the back of your scissors! Similar to curling a bit of ribbon, put the back of your scissors against the paper with your thumb lightly pressing the paper to the scissors. Then, pull your scissors back quickly, pulling the paper down as well. Try not to rip the paper, but you can do this several times until your paper has curled a tad. (Hard to explain, easy to execute.)

WestElmEventAbout West Elm: If you haven’t heard of West Elm, then you are missing out. West Elm is a modern  home decor store affiliated with Pottery Barn. The store does SO many awesome collaborations with artists across the world and different local vendors. I’m sort of in love with a ton of their furniture, everything from their new Market section (think old school general store), and many small home decor items. But, I also love that they have events like these that work hand in hand with local artists and bring something more to the community. I mean, West Elm sells paper flowers… they certainly didn’t have to host a class on how to make them. But, I liked that they thought it would be a fun idea to bring this skill to customers so that they could make their own flowers for their home and mix and match with the flowers in the store. Portland locals can check out the West Elm Portland Facebook Page for updates on future classes. This weekend West Elm is hosting “Get Creative with Color” a fun class on how to decorate with color.

About Lia Griffith: Lia is a DIYer that shares her projects on her blog, “Lia Griffith: Handcraft Your Life.” She does so much more than just paper flowers… though, her tutorials for those are pretty amazing. Lia got started in the paper craft world (the business side of it all) with her Papier Couture  (wearable paper!) dresses. Seriously gorgeous work. Check it out and follow along. She posts party crafts as well as home crafts. Lia will be doing more of these fun classes in the Portland area, as well as possibly more in the PNW. So, keep updated with her blog for more information if this is something that interests you!

Disclaimer: I received free entry into the $10 Paper Flowers course.  All opinions and thoughts are my own.

pretty paper flower gift topper

Disclaimer: I was invited to join one of the upcoming events as press , complimentary. No further compensation was made. The choice to post about the event was my own. All opinions are my own! Enjoy!

If you’ve followed my blog at all you might have noticed that I’m a big fan of wine, food, and Oregon. So, when Field and Vine Events contacted me about Dinners in the Field, I had to say YES immediately. And, I’m telling the absolute truth when I say… I can’t wait! I promise to share my experience after the event. But, I wanted to share a little about the Dinners in the Field events and the upcoming schedule so that you have the opportunity to sign up if you’re in the area and love food and wine as much as I do!

Dinners in the Field Oregon Events

About the Dinners in the Field: An Oregon Dinner in the Vineyards Event Series

The Dinners in the Field events are a kick off to the new venture in catering & events by chef-owner Pascal Chureau of Allium Bistro in West Linn dubbed Field & Vine Events. Field & Vine has partnered with Oregon Farm Loop for the dinners. Each diner will have the opportunity to either arrive at the field on their own OR ride the vintage school bus to the vineyard. (I totally opted to ride the school bus!) As guests stroll through the vineyard with glasses of wine in hand they will arrive upon community tables filled with candles in the middle of the vineyard! Then they are served a 6-course dinner made from native ingredients of the Northwest, and as often as possible, sourced straight from the host farm or surrounding farms.

Are you as excited as I am!?

Here are the upcoming Dinners in the Field Dates & Locations:

July 20, 2013 | 530p Iverson’s Farm ‘Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm,’ Woodburn
August 10, 2013 | 530p AlexEli Vineyard & Winery, Molalla
September 14, 2013 | 530p King’s Raven Winery, Oregon City
September 22, 2013 | 530p Morning Shade Farm, Canby

Cost: $75 per person, including six course, wine and gratuity (additional $5 for bus from Allium)
Advance Tickets Only by contacting Field & Vine Events: 971-258-8389 or infor@fieldandvineevents.com.

For more information check out the Molalla Farm Loop website or the Canby Farm Loop website.