Glitter of the Season

love this

 

image here

 "The glitter of the season should never
prevent us from truly seeing
The Prince of Peace"

-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 

Pumpkin Carving

I know Halloween was over a while ago, but I was cleaning and found these fun looks that I wanted to save.  They are from the October 2014 Woman's Day Magazine.

So Cute!

Fabric ABC Fun!

Here are some cute sets of fabric alphabet my daughter made for her nieces and nephews.

It all started with this trial set that we have in our family room, created with black and white fabric scraps.

From there it branched out to one set for each of our "married with children" children.


Animal Print

Chevron






Bunting Love

Fish and Flowers

Puzzled
(though I didn't get a finished pic, I'm just using the scraps here)

We had fun choosing and purchasing the fabric for each of these sets - we didn't want to stop.  However, this project does require a lot of time, so for that reason we were happy to be done for awhile since there were other things in need of our attention.

These would make a cute garland in a play room or child's bedroom.  Clip them on some ribbon or twine with clothes pins so they could be played with and rearranged to make names or some fun words.

Teepee Party

This is such a cute set up!  A Teepee Party!

I think the assortment of Teepees is adorable, the greenery swags and rocks and fire around them are perfect for creating an outdoor setting indoors.  It's perfect for outdoors too.  

A Lovely Library

I am not really a reader but I love a beautiful library.  This library is one of those beautiful libraries that makes me wish I was a reader.



image from Ellison Bay Manor Library

I love the library balcony!  It looks lovely even though the shelves are empty - yet how much more lovely it would look if they were full.  I could even fill them with some antique china plates, goblets, and teacups/saucers, and anything else of that nature.  (insert sigh!)

The large windows add lovely light to this room too ... awesome!

And look again ..., is that a secret passage way?  That is way too cool and would be the highlight of the house for my children and grandchildren ..., and for me!!!!

Well, that's about all for this post.  I just wanted to pin it and I couldn't from it's original site, so I decided to post it first and pin it from here.  Take the tour at the Ellison Bay Manor if you wish.  There are some lovely looks there. 

Pennies From Heaven

I saw this and thought it was a great thing to remember.  :)day!

I can't wait to find a penny on the ground!  ;)

 

"Pennies from Heaven

 

I found a penny today

just laying on the ground 

But it's not just a penny

this little coin I've found 

"Found" pennies come from heaven

that's what my Grandpa told me

He said angels toss them down

oh, how I loved that story

He said when an angel misses you

they toss a penny down

Sometimes just to cheer you up

make a smile out of your frown

So don't pass by that penny

when you're feeling blue

It may be a penny from heaven

that an angel tossed to you"

Listen!

"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply."

 

— Stephen Covey

 

--------------

 

"When you talk, you repeat what you already know; when you listen, you often learn something."

image from here

 

Lettuce Heads

This comes from a magazine my husband gets - THE FURROW (Summer 2014).
The article is Plant Talk by Lorne McClinton

I liked the cute look here and saved it ... that's all!

Lettuce heads vs Potato heads ...,  fun playthings!

Don't Worry ...

“Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright”

― Bob Marley

SaveSave

Father's Day Tablescape

I enjoyed creating a tablescape for Father's Day that was simple, masculine (well, at least not flowery and pink), and beautiful.  
I began thinking of what I'd use and wished I had purchased a new cloth and a centerpiece, but quickly realized I had enough and could put something together using only things that I already had.  
So I set out to complete that task.

I pulled out a piece of fabric I have previously used for a table cloth and then chose some linen napkins I had purchased several months ago but never used.  I began placing my most masculine looking plates on the table and then added goblets to match, trying to stay away from the pinks and purples.

My plate did have a pink flower on it, but the edge was a grey/blue color. (Men do need a touch of feminine at their side, and I love being at my husband's side ... insert smile here!)

The colors were earth tones - browns, gold/yellow/amber, greens, blues/greys/silver. 

For the centerpieces I pulled out some colored bottles and set them on vintage silver trays.  

I thought it was complete until I remembered that I had some Chick-O-Sticks and that they have been among my husbands favorite candy ..., so I placed one above each plate. 

Now it was complete ..., or so I thought.  
I realized as we all sat down at the table that it had not been complete until that moment.
  
Family is what made the difference, and having the father of my children, my husband, beside me on Father's Day was what made this day so special.

An End Note - many times we see a family at the table with the father at one end and the mother at the opposite end and all the others in between.  That has never appealed to us, so in our family it has been the father at the head of the table (and our table only has one head) and the mother beside him (see the flowered plate and the empty spot - I'm up taking a photo at this time, but promptly took my place beside him when that photo was complete). 

That is the way it has always been for us - at church or on the sofa or anywhere usually - my husband and I next to each other and the kids sit beside us or around us ..., not between us!  

I love it that way!

SaveSave

Baby Boy Shower

We had a fun baby shower under a tent in our back yard a few weeks ago.  One daughter in law planned it for another and her baby boy.  Here is a quick recap.


Here is the WELCOME sign/board -
It shows the theme for the event.

We purchased a tent and had fun putting it up.

She decorated the inside like this -
She also put some toy lions, tigers, and bears (that were spray painted gold) on the table centers too, but they weren't there when this photo was taken, but one can be seen on the closest table in the next photo.

Guests came and enjoyed the event -
We enjoyed the guests.

And here is the food  -
It's a Brunch!

We love boys!  We love girls too!  We welcome every baby and love our children and grandchildren.

Oh!  Here is our gift to our sweet grandson ...
They are from Amazon.  Can you tell I'm a Prime member?  ;)

BBQ

I saw this awesome BBQ set up on facebook and I can't pin from there so I had to add it here so I could save the look.

A Graduation Party

A graduation party for our daughter ...


If you have been watching this blog for a while, you've seen parts of the look here, here, and here, but there were a few other things I want to share now to help complete the look. 


The food/buffet tables.


















I purchased some black 10x14 inch plastic trays from Amazon to help guests carry their food - we did not use plates.  They were the perfect size for what I was looking for.  They have larger trays like we see used at schools and other buffet lines, but they were too big for what I was hoping for.

               
We added a paper doily to each tray.  Here is a close up so you can see the sample tray we put together at the beginning of the line.

FYI - here is what we served:
wraps (Turkey BLT and Roast Beef Coleslaw),

pasta salad or lettuce/pear salad in berry boxes lined with waxed paper,

individual bags of assorted Sun Chips,

Banana Slush, and ice water. 

For dessert we had Cheese Cake (one of our daughters favorites), candy (including some of those fun rock candy on a stick) and an assortment of Ice Cream Bars and Fruit Bars (from Costco).


FYI - Those cute Rock Candy on a Stick came from Amazon, of course!

Between the two buffet tables we had this pedestal with flowers and B for BrittanyJo - our guest of honor.

The tablecloths (vintage sheets cut up into squares, laid over white cloths) needed some coordinating solid color napkins. 

I have purchased from Table Linens for Less before and liked one set I got (but they don't carry them anymore) but most of theirs are fabrics I don't care for.  My desire was to find 100% cotton.  I found some in perfect colors on Etsy but they were expensive - 2 for $18.00.  I could make them much cheaper but just didn't have the time.  I found a few on Amazon, though the colors were just a little different than I really was looking for, but they worked fine anyway.  I chose from two different kinds so that I could get the correct colors (or closest to the correct colors) -

Cotton Craft Napkins - 100% Cotton - 20" x 20"
(I purchased Lavender at $16.99)

DII  100% Cotton, Oversized Basic Everyday  20" x 20"  Napkin
Prices change by color and count - some come in sets 4, others in sets of 6, and white in 8
(I purchased the black 6ct for $18.00, 6 ct Guava for $24.00.)

FYI:
The napkins by Cotton Craft are lighter weight than those by DII and I liked the softness of them, though both are quite nice.  I washed all the napkins before we used them and there were slight wrinkles in all of them.  After washing them the second time (after use) I noticed that the Cotton Craft (lighter weight brand) were a bit more wrinkled than the DII - mostly around the hem areas.  It will be interesting to see what a third washing will do to them but I don't have time to wash them to find out.  If you don't like the wrinkled look both would have to be ironed, but the DII are a bit less wrinkled coming out of my washer and dryer.  I would buy either brand again and be happy.



At the entrance was this cute little bicycle we painted and adorned with a great inspirational quote -    "Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving."

A few of the gifts were placed on the shelf under the bike.

We have used this tent twice now (the first event will be posted here) and forgotten to take pictures of the tent itself when it was up and complete.  The closest we can come to a full view from the outside is this photo with my brother and his grandchild.  We have enjoyed the tent and are planning on having it up at least one more time this year.  Maybe we can get a full view then ..., maybe! 

We purchased the tent from Amazon too.  We have been pleased with it, though the plastic (rope cinch) pieces have broken - my boys have just tied the ropes instead of using those pieces.  Here is what we purchased, but I noticed before I posted this that it is no longer available.  That makes me sad because it has been a great item for what we have been using it for. There are other sizes and options still available, but this is what we purchased.

40'x20' PVC Pole Tent - Party Wedding Canopy Shelter by Delta
($919.98 = cheaper than a rental + mileage; but I only checked out two places to rent from - and we live many miles from the city that offers them.)

It looks grey or taupe in their photo, but it is white.

We had a wonderful event, thanks to the family and friends that showed up, and to those who helped with all the preps.

An Old Bike RePurposed

This was a cute little bike we got for our oldest son many years ago. 

It was used and worn when we purchased it ..., then it got more love and use and has been kicking around (not used) for the past too many years. 


I have been wanting to do something with it for awhile and decided it would be the perfect addition to our party décor since we had used this quote in our daughters graduation announcements.

FYI -  The "LIFE IS LIKE RIDING A BICYCLE" quote has been used in a previous post (HERE) ..., and something similar or complementary to it (HERE).


So after a can of spray paint this became it's new look.

Everything got sprayed except the handles.  It was a quick spray job since we were out of time, and we ran out of paint too soon too so there are places that could have used a little more.  Luckily it's a vintage look we are going for, so the look fits just fine.  

The paint we used was Valspar, Gloss Exotic Sea. 

For our party it's home was atop a shelf at the front entrance of our party tent.  It's new home will be ... somewhere in our yard ... when I find just the right place.