Wedding Burlap Gift Wrap

Another weekend, another Shower! This weekend it was a Bridal Shower.  I am one of those people who enjoy going to Showers,  they are happy occassions!  This bride to be is an eco loving science teacher, so I thought she would enjoy a more natural wrapping for her gift.

I used kraft paper made out of recycled materials, burlap, a doily and some reclaimed ribbon.

I added a simple brown tag and embellished it with a beautiful cluny lace heart that I found in a box of old ribbon my mother gave me.  My mother used to sew a lot and has passed a lot of her boxes of "treasurers" on to me now that she has retired her needle and thread.  

Oh, by the way - this bride recieved the most adorable Kate Spade china at her shower!! I believe there was some envy involved!   Don't you think that after 28 years or so of marriage we should all have another shower?

I have linked up to the party at Thursdays are Your Days at 52 Mantels

Liebster Blog Award

I want to thank All the Pretty Dishes for awarding my blog with the  Liebster Blog Award!

Being very new at this I had no idea what the award was!  After learning what the Liebster Blog Award was I felt honored, thrilled and very thankful.


 The Liebster Blog Award is an award in the blogging community given to an "up and coming"  blog, described as having less than 200 followers. - Yep I definately have less than 200 followers!


The German translation of Liebster is: My Beloved Friend.


The rules for the Liebster Award are as follows:
1.  Nominate 5 up and coming blogs with less than 200 followers
2.  Show you appreciation to the person who nominated you by linking back to their blog..
3.  Post the award on your blog and include links to the blogs you listed in  #1.

Now it has taken me a while to post my Thanks for the Award because I had a very hard time finding Blogs with so few followers, I think I read more wonderful blogs this week than ever! But I have chosen  the following two blogs for the Liebster Award:

Confessions of the Obsessed - Diane does beautiful tablescapes with fun and  interesting inspirations

Alicia Delano Designs - Alicia makes gorgeous cards and gives wonderful tips-she is one of the reasons I am blogging now!  Much thanks to Alicia!

So please visit all three of these wonderful Bloggers by just clicking on their names, I know they would all appreciate it!

Thank you again at All the Pretty Dishes for the wonderful nod of confidence.

Baby Shower Gift Wrap

Twins!  We are all so excited for some friends of ours who have endured some special circumstances to find out they are expecting twin girls this summer.  I wanted to do some special wrapping for the few gifts I had for their Baby Shower.  Using my Cricut, my basket full of ribbon and lace remants, buttons and some paper doilies I was able to put a nice looking baby gift basket together.

Because I had all of these items in my stash of craftdom, this cost me less than going out and buying some ribbon and bows! I used the Cricut Flower Shoppe cartridge for all three of the packages with flowers.

For the odd shapped gift - I used a bigger doily to cover the unattractive folding job and added a bow and a twins tag - hoping that mom might want to use it in a scrapbook in the future

I like to use Easter grass in the gift baskets for filler.  I always take advantage of those after Easter sales when the Easter grass is marked down to twenty cents a bag!

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So I sealed up my card and was ready to go congratulate the parents to be!

I have joined the Pretty Packages Party at the The Blackberry Vine .

Butterflies, Birds and Grapevines - My Spring Tablescape

Welcome to what I am calling my Early Spring Tablescape which is full of butterflies, birds and grapevines!  I started out with a nature inspired theme with the cute little butterfly dishes and went from there.  I always get these ideas and then never know where they are going to lead me.  I loved the idea of weaving some grapevines through the centerpiece, but my spring tablescape was starting to look like a woodsy fall theme  - so I lightened it up a bit with the yellow paisley table cloth and napkins.  Now I think it looks like a peek of spring!

I made some perches for my birds nests and resting places for the butterflies,

and filled a sprinkling can with some sunny flowers.

I don't have a ton of dishes but I am finding a reason to add to my collection now that I have started blogging.  By working with what I have and adding small things here and there I am slowly builing up a stash to work from!  I had the Sorrento Dishes but bought the little butterly plates at Kohl's.  Of course I waited until they went to 50% off and I had a 30% off coupon plus had $10 bucks of Kohl's cash - so they were practically free! I purchased the tablecloth and napkins at Marshalls.

                                         

The sun was shinning today, birds were singing, and my lawn needs mowing.  It's Spring!!

Thanks for taking a peek. 

I will be linking up to the following:
   Between Naps on the Porch Table
   Tablescape Thursday
   Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish
   The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays
There are links to each site at the right. Come see what all the fuss is about!

Spring Mantel

Time to change out my Easter Mantel to a more seasonal Spring mantel.  Inspired by some spring cleaning, I decided to go with a clean white look, something not too fussy.  Ever since I moved my salvage yard window over to my mantel I have had a hard time moving it back to the wall it was hanging on!  So I kept the window and added some white, metal, grey wicker and greenery. 

After the window, the next piece I knew I wanted to use was the new metal ampersand that I could not leave Target without!

From there I found these great grey wicker baskets with clay pots in them at my favorite stomping grounds in Amish Country, they were reasonably priced at $8.99 for the large and $5.99 for the small.  I found the two glass containers with the same kind of greyish wicker at Marshalls - they were $6.99 each. 

I had the greenery and the bunny.  The candle holders, the frames and the bottles were all junk items I had and gave them a fresh new look with a can of spray paint - American Accents by Rust-oleum, Blossom White.  I even very lightly sprayed a grapevine ball for my third candle holder just to give it a little bit different topiary look.

I found these three little bottles for $1.99 each and added some tiny white narcissus flowers.

The two white bottles at the other end were a fun add because my son graciously volunteered to drink a bottle of Yuengling beer while I drank a Mike's Hard Lemonade in the name of art's sake.  After we enjoyed our beverages, I washed out the bottles, soaked off the labels and spray painted them white!

So since my mantel has had some spring cleaning - it is time to get back to the rest of the house.  Too bad I can't just spray paint everything white to give it a clean fresh look!

Thanks for stopping by!

I have linked this to two great  Parties - the Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming by Stepanie Lynn and  Your Mantel at 52 Mantels.    The links to these sites are at the right. 

Loads of inspiration!

Easter Table

My Easter Table is ready! Too bad I am not serving Easter Dinner this year!   To be honest with you, I like setting the table better than making the dinner.

 I went with a pastel theme to match my mantel, adding the pink plates to my collection.  I had remembered seeing these pink plates in a shop in Walnut Creek Ohio last year.  When I went down a couple weeks ago and I felt like I hit the lottery - not only did they still have the pink plates by Entrada but they were on sale for only $4.99 each. 

Using a wreath of greenery and a cake stand I made a nest for my Easter Eggs.  Guarding my Easter Eggs are my favorite bunnies. I bought these bunnies at Marcs years ago for $4.99 each and have used them every Easter somewhere in the house.  This year they are front and center.

My tablecloth and napkins are from Marshalls and the egg cups are from HomeGoods.

And for a treat I topped my placesetting off with birds nests made with dark chocolate, chow mein noodles and Speck-tackular Eggs by M&M's .

I am linking this post to The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday Party, Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish and Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday - if you like tablescapes be sure to check out the links at the right.