Lori's Bridal Shower

Yesterday, I helped a friend throw a bridal shower for one of our friends. She's getting married in April on the beach. She's a casual, fun girl so we had a casual fun shower with a nod to the beach. Her colors are malibu blue and yellow. Instead of flowers, I used wheat in sand-filled cylinders to mimic the sea oats that grow on the dunes of our beaches.

Kiera, (who also threw the shower) got this great idea from pinterest. I love the heart idea and the fact that these veggies with ranch are served in glass tea light holders. It's a great way to reuse something you already have instead of finding storage for tea light holders, then buying tasting dishes and trying to find storage for those as well.

I used another wheat sand cylinder at the beverage station and a teal beverage tub for ice. We wanted a fun casual, beachy theme without beating the beach theme to death.

Here are the design elements before I took them to the shower.

This is my favorite one because of the beautiful sand dollar. My brother brought it back from Hilton Head

It was so much fun! I can't wait for the wedding!

February Flowers

I made two arrangements today. One for church and one for the foyer. I decided to simply make one large arrangement for church instead of two on the side as I had for January. I used branches that looked like Spring. The palette was pink, yellow and cream.

For the foyer arrangement, I used deeper colors. The dining room is to the left and is currently a deep sage. It will probably soon become navy so I wanted to go with deep red and creamy white.  The flash washes the colors out, but the colors look great in the foyer.

Fresh January

Many people are depressed by their houses after the Christmas clean up. (Well those that take their decorations down before June at least.) While it's true, the house does look empty, it's also a good time to clean everything and have fresh decorations with clean lines. I don't mind the sparsity of winter but I didn't want the mantel to be completely bare so I made this arrangement. It was an excellent solution for the mantel as well as an excellent use of a Michael's gift card and a Michael's mega sale.

Here it is in close-up. I already had the container and moss, I just bought the orchids (two stems) and the curled branches (one stem had enough for two containers).

More Christmas Decorations

I made a lot of fun decorations this year. I didn't want it to look like Christmas exploded in the house, but I do like having little touches (or even big touches) in different areas of the house. I really love surprise touches like the elf on the shelf idea.

I put our sled on top of the entertainment center with a bubble wreath that was given to us and some lighted garland. The sled doesn't get much use in our temperate climate so it has lasted a long time. It was my dad's when he was a little boy.

I hung ornaments in the large dining room window. There is a lighted glass box in the bottom of the window. As you can see the trim needs to be painted luckily that is a new year's present!

 The stockings get too hot on the fireplace (we aren't so temperate that we don't need heat :-)) so we often hang them on the stairs. This year instead of a large garland, I used ribbon and greenery clippings. I found some very lifelike artificial poinsettias at the pottery that I placed in my polka dot basket. I love the color combination.

 We try these gingerbread kits off and on but always have fallen walls. My family won't let me use hot glue so I decided to make the house over a period of several days. I did the walls one morning, then added the roof eaves that evening. The next day I decorated the house and yard additions. The last day I decorated the roof and finished the yard. So far nothing has collapsed!

 The dining room built-in made a nice place for those little decorations that need to be out of the way from little kitties and little kiddies. The santa and sleigh is from the 1960's and was something my mother grew up with. The ornaments on the green tray are made of cinnamon and applesauce. They are easy to make and make the house smell heavenly.

 In our town, the Ronald McDonald House sells luminarias as a fundraiser. Neighborhoods ask residents to buy them and everyone in town lights them at 6 on Christmas Eve (weather permitting).

 Santa will get an egg nog and a Christmas tree cake this year. We found this delicious egg nog made by Homestead Creamery and have bought nearly 10 bottles since Thanksgiving. Some of that went to parties, but a good portion has been just for our enjoyment. Santa will love it too! Santa's reindeer get some lovely carrots. Hopefully, they will remember that they always get a treat at our house and fly to us faster!

Wreaths, Wreaths, and more Wreaths

I made several wreaths for the house, for the office and for the church. It was a great stress reliever and holiday movie watching activity.

Christmas Mantlescape

One of the first Christmas decorating I like to do is the mantel. I decided on a white, silver, and gold theme this year. I bought these silver cone trees a few years ago at Pier One after Christmas. The silver reindeer are actually stocking holders.

Glitter, sparkle, oh my!

The monogram ornament really glows in the firelight.

Christmas Decorating Beginning

Tomorrow is the first Sunday in advent so my mother and I decorated the church on Black Friday. It was much more enjoyable than elbowing through crowds at 2 am. I made this urn wreath to go in front of the pulpit. I got the idea from Better Homes and Gardens.

I took a plain greenery wreath and wedged it in oasis that filled the urn. I also secured the wreath with dowels and tape. I added the sprig of berries and pinecones. I covered the oasis with moss. It turned out beautiful and I was sorely tempted to keep it for myself. 

I also decided to make "peppermint tea" with my "Cup of Christmas Tea" china. If you have never read the story, it is a sweet holiday short story that I first read in middle school. Warning, it will make you tear up. The china in the background was a dollar store find.

My sister, sister-in-law, and I made this wreath for my sister's house. I love the jingle bell holly picks! If she forgets this in her packing, I won't mind using it at all.