Henna Flower practice drawing with my new Conté pencils
See more henna designs here
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An Instagram photo by henna artist, Kelly Caroline.
1950s Party Ideas
Oh WOW! I have got to share the photos from my collaborated birthday party with my wonderful sister-in-law. We had a 1950s themed birthday party this past weekend and it was SO much fun! All of our friends really enjoyed it so I thought I would post some 1950s party ideas and tips that helped make our shindig a success!
Retro party ideas
How to throw a DIY Retro 1950s Party
First, we picked a color scheme. Reds, pinks, & black and wanted it to feel like a 50’s diner threw a party. Since it was for both of our birthdays, we collaborated on pinning to our Pinterest board our 1950’s ideas. Everything made visual is SO much easier to envision how the party should go.
What I Bought
1950s party table decoration and diy
We ordered our black and white checkered table cloth from Amazon. It really gave that “diner” vibe without breaking the bank.
black and white checkered table cloth
One of the BEST props we got was the HUGE jukebox standee that was just perfect! If you host a 1950s party, this is the one prop to get. You can find the jukebox on Amazon here.
Jukebox standee prop for our 1950s party
Rockabilly 1950s photo wall
Even though I don’t drink pop (or “soda” if you’re from the South) I just HAD to have Coke in a glass bottle with pink striped straws. The Coke from Mexico has real sugar in it and people really loved them. Get them here
pink and white paper straws
coke in a glass bottle
1950s party table design
I needed a lot of crepe paper so I ordered one 500 foot roll of each color – Hot pink & Candy Pink
magenta crepe paper
candy pink crepe paper
Balloons I ordered online and rented a helium tank locally to fill them. We made our own balloon arch and I used Hot pink, magenta balloons & white balloons
*TIP! Helium only lasts 6-8 hours! Don’t fill your balloons until the day of your party!
magenta balloons
white balloons
Since this was a late night party, we did snack foods – white cheese fondue, pizza bites, veggies, mudslide milkshakes & chocolate mousse cake.
We used this popcorn maker to make our own freshly popped snack foods! So DELISH !
popcorn maker
Things I Made
I made the prop hamburger and hotdog out of air dry clay and paint.
I made some prop candy since candy to fill jars is SO pricey. I used air dry clay for the sugar sticks, let them dry, then painted them. I used my food sealer and a strip of cellophane to wrap them in.
How to make fake candy for a party
For the other candy jars I used wadded up paper and cellophane to look like taffy and balls of aluminum foil for more candy filler.
I cut out the music notes for the walls out of construction paper.
Using photoshop, I designed the 1950s party invitation.
I put it up on Zazzle so you can customize it for your own party, too! Check it out on Zazzle
If you want to make it easy, check out the list I put together of ALL my party supplies for your 1950s party !
outfit ideas for couples going to a 1950s party
drink station for 1950s party
rockabilly party, couples outfits, photo wall
Well there you have it! I hope you’re party goes just as well as ours! Don’t forget to put thought into the music selection- keep it authentic and throw in a few 50’s remixes to make it interesting!
Diy retro 1950s party ideas
Wow! I’m so blessed to have amazing friends – between an adorable outfit & card from @missyeffinfaye & @breepers13 (&liz&kevin) , Patron from vnation, amazing art postcards & magnets & Alice Cooper money from the very talented @miss_shela , im one blessed girl! Thank you
See more henna designs here
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An Instagram photo by henna artist, Kelly Caroline.
Mr. Science balloon head with marker smile – 4 year old art
See more henna designs here
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An Instagram photo by henna artist, Kelly Caroline.
Regram of @shalisabird
See more henna designs here
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An Instagram photo by henna artist, Kelly Caroline.
This is what my husand got me for my birthday!! Watercolor paper, conte crayons, a watercolor book and best of all- Windsor & Newton WATERCOLOR MARKERS that i made that painting with this morning!!
See more henna designs here
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An Instagram photo by henna artist, Kelly Caroline.
A preview of my new project… Coming soon
See more henna designs here
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An Instagram photo by henna artist, Kelly Caroline.
a quick henna paisley design video – just a fun way to practice @hennamichigan
See more henna designs here
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tattoos draw ypsi art sketchbook practice paisley kellycaroline hennainspire ink blue tattoo design ypsilanti artist henna hennaartist sketch video drawing quickdraw
My drawing I was inspired to do by ReKnew
My drawing I was inspired to do by ReKnew – check them out http://reknew.org/
Music tonight #synthesizer #univox #keyboard #ypsilanti #ypsi #music #michigan #synth #techno #beat #art #artist #musician #dropthebeat
We watched the sunrise while listening to Plainsong – an experience I highly recommend. #thankful #thecure #plainsong #sunrise #music #album #love #happiness #beauty #headphones #harmony
Local henna lovers – come get new henna design at the Depot Town Harvest Festival on Saturday. Bring the whole family! #ypsilanti #ypsi #visitypsi #michigan #kellycaroline #henna #mehndi #hennaartist #fall #festival #fun #saturday #harvestfestival #depottown #pumpkins #farmersmarket
MJ is at it again #michaeljackson #dancing #photo #mj #jackson #smoothcriminal #musicvideo #whitesuit #music #artist #best #dancer #sexy #pose #bad #theatre #fedora #necktie #fun #shadow #choreography #awesome
Wanna bite? #clay #hamburger #art #prop #food #retro #50s #diner #meat #vegetarian #artist #ypsi #ypsilanti #kellycaroline #michigan #party #design #decorations #sculpture #paint #painting #fun
Did you say you were making a clay & watercolor hamburger too? #art #artist #clay #watercolor #watercolors #prop #hamburger #50s #retro #kellycaroline #colors #paint #painting #paintbrush #food #design #fun
Baby Belly Henna Design
Here’s a fun baby belly design I did at the salon. Her husband surprised her with a great gift – getting her baby belly decorated with henna for their 3rd child’s birth – so fun! Here’s her baby belly henna design .
She wanted 5 flowers – one for each member of her family.
Brown henna stain after 5 days #henna #mehndi #kellycaroline #hennaartist #michigan #ypsi #ypsilanti #brown #red #indian #flower #floral #design #art #artist #tats #tattoo #tattoos #vines
The pallet art background I built and painted for the Streaming Conference 2014 at Rochester College – it was 12′ x 4′ (so glad I have my 15 passenger van for art like this) more pics here : www.kellycaroline.com/2014/10/streaming-conference-2014/ #rcstreaming #rochester #michigan #kellycaroline #art #artist #conference #pallet #design #paint #painting #stage #background #prop #shading #cross #love #wood #palletart #create
Streaming Conference 2014
This weekend I had the great pleasure of attending the Streaming Conference 2014 at Rochester College . It was an event with great speakers including Richard Beck , Greg Boyd, Sara & John Barton, and Jennifer Rundlett. I found about about the conference through ReKnew.org.
I wanted to be involved so I volunteered to help in any way I could.
The organizers of the event commissioned me to take their logo for Streaming and paint it across wood pallets.
What a great project that turned into! I really enjoyed working with a variety of materials : wood, paint, photoshop, digital projection, my belt sander and of course, a drill!
Here is a picture of the logo :
streaming conference rochester college
This is a picture of a few wood pallets as I was disassembling some and adding boards to the others to make a complete pallet with no spaces
wood pallet art
This is one quarter of the complete piece – it ended up being 12 feet long by 4 feet high so I worked at it in segments inside ((it just happened to rain all weekend))
wood pallet art
and here’s how it came out, installed in the theatre at Rochester College
Rochester College Streaming Conference
Rochester College Streaming Conference
Rochester College Streaming Conference
Here are some photo highlights of the conference.
My Dancing Day book by Jennifer Rundlett
Book by Jennifer Rundlett
Richard Beck covered his book The Slavery of Death
The Slavery of Death by Richard Beck
Also available was selection of books by Greg Boyd : Seeing is Believing , God of the Possible , Benefit of the Doubt , & God at War
Books by Greg Boyd
My lunch my husband packed for me ((since I have a hard time remembering to eat when I’m busy))
my lunch my husband packed for me
Beck’s talk was very moving – his work with maximum security prison inmates is astounding. It is incredible when an individual can resonate with an outcast group of unloved souls.
Richard Beck
Greg Boyd’s presentation was outstanding. He crammed so much theology in 45 minutes that brains were spinning when he got done serving it up! AWESOME
Greg Boyd presentation
And this happened ((2 thumbs way, WAY up))
meeting Greg Boyd
At the end of the weekend Greg Boyd & Richard Beck were available for a discussion group.
Richard Beck and Greg Boyd discussion
It was such a great experience – I’m so happy I was able to attend! If you want to see more images, check out Streaming Conference 2014 and #rcstreaming on twitter.
Honor Courage Beloved henna tattoo on the ribs – at my salon in Downtown Ypsilanti #henna #hennaartist #kellycaroline #tattoo #tats #tattoos #honor #courage #beloved #mehndi #ypsi #ypsilanti #script #words #art #design #artist #salon #hennadesigns #tattoodesign
DIYpsi – Henna Art in Ypsilanti
Hello ! What a FUN Summer it has been! I have been most busy with private appointments lately because Lisse has been our main event artist for the graduation parties and birthday parties this summer.
I usually only do one public event each year and it happens to be coming up ! Summer DIYpsi 2014 is at the Corner Brewery on Saturday August 23 from 11-11 and Sunday August 24 from 12-6 . DIYpsi (dip-see) is a handmade art fair that takes place in Ypsilanti’s Depot Town District . I’ll be there in the beer garden. Come be apart of this amazing weekend!
DIYpsi Art Fair Summer 2014
In other news, here are some pictures of my most recent henna clients :
Here’s a henna mandala design on the upper forearm
henna flower design on the arm
Henna Baby Belly design with a few flowers.
Here’s more henna baby belly designs 
& a new tribal henna design up the hand
for more henna designs check here
Henna Drawing
Lately I’ve been wanting to draw on ol’ fashion paper with a marker so this is what I came up with! Of course, its a henna drawing.
I love to practice henna designs on paper.
I think this design would be so sexy on the back between the shoulder blades or for a baby belly design.
Check out more designs for more inspiration.
flower henna drawing
Safari Party – DIY Food & Decorations
Safari Party – DIY Food & Decorations
My son turned 4 this January – I can hardly believe a year has past since his last birthday party ! Last year we did a Lego themed birthday party. This year he wanted to have a Safari Party (with Lego Ninja Turtles as the accent theme hah ) . With our friends at the Ann Arbor Creature Conservancy , we planned an interactive animal presentation for the kids & adults with food, cake & presents to boot . We had a blast ! Our animal guests were the three-banded armadillos, a sloth, the boa constrictor, a giant tortoise & a skunk . Anyone who lives in or around the Ann Arbor area, I would highly suggest hosting an event at the Creature Conservancy – they are a great non-profit that works with rescue animals and they help you host a great party.
For the food, I wanted the Safari party theme to be apparent so I enlisted my talented sister-in-law & went with all fruit and vegetables since Judah is a vegetarian anyway. Our guests gobbled up most of the food, but the left over fruit and veggies we left and donated to the animals to eat – and they were happy to have it, too.
Here are the pictures we have of the safari party food & event space, food table design, food ideas & easy decorations I set up .
I love throwing fun, kid parties – little people have the best taste xo
food table set up for safari party
safari party food ideas – fruit lagoon
vegetarian kid party food ideas
Snake sandwich – roasted red pepper, mushroom, pesto & mozzarella sandwich – What a hit! Everyone loved that one. The kids had an option of a almond butter and grape jelly sandwich on gluten free bread that we used an elephant sandwich cutter to cut them out which was so helpful because you can get two elephants per sandwich.. brilliant!
snake sandwich and elephant sandwiches
snake sandwich – safari party food
Fun monkey head we made with a cantaloupe , oranges, sliced strawberry and blueberry eyes
Monkey head made of cantaloupe and oranges – safari party decoration
Gorilla grape kabobs with ants on a log with animal crackers
gorilla grape kabobs
The juice bar for the kids . I love those monkey cups !
safari party juice bar
All the kids LOVED the explorer safari hats they received as a party favor .
kids table for safari party and party favors
And of course, it’s so helpful to let them just color all over the table so cover it with a big roll of paper – they are having fun, giving mom & dad a breather & decorating – a win win win.
kids party activity
My cute sister in law and her adorable safari party outfit showing her food labels she made with animal stickers .
safari party outfit
His Lego Ninja Turtle cake made by my cake girl and safari cupcakes with plastic animals on each
Lego Ninja Turtle Cake
Lego Ninja Turtle Cake
We had a great time. I hope this helps you throw your own fun safari party for a birthday party.
*Kelly*
Shit From Pinterest
Have you noticed that Pinterest is filled with things? I bet you have.
Have you ever actually gotten to the bottom of a Pinterest page, where it doesn’t refresh anymore pictures for your to ogle over?
Have you gotten off of Pinterest only to feel like your lazy and uncreative because the only things you did that day involved unglamorous tasks, not just sugar, glitter and paint?
Have you ever noticed that Pinterest is filled with a perfect blend of the most saccharin-sweet treats that cause you to drool on yourself and a super buff woman that looks like she’s carved from marble which makes you hate on yourself?
Have you realized it’s a perfect balance to keep the vicious cycle continuing ? (I made that and ate it, now I have to work out, but then I get to reward myself….)
Well if you’ve said “yes” to any of those questions, then YOU will appreciate this “Shit From Pinterest” poster I made. This was more of a cathartic approach to feeling “lazy” or “unproductive” or to squelch the desire to buy EVERY pretty thing I see.
Hope you can appreciate this, too <3
remember : you are creative & lovely just as you are – Pinterest is just fun to look at, don’t get too caught up xoxo
Mixed Media Watercolor
I have been bitten by the creative bug ! Creative ideas have really been pouring out of me. Also this year I have begun to really embrace mixed media watercolor and other art. Today was the last day for my flowers in my vase. I like to capture a photo or two of flowers that are in my house at one time or another. These green chrysanthemums lasted a long time as cut flowers . What started as just an experiment turned into this mixed media watercolor art piece .
The fun of it – that’s why I do art .
Mixed media watercolor chrysanthemum