Valentine's Day Door Decoration Feather Cupid Wings and Arrows

I thought that I'd try something different on my front door for Valentine's day this year. Instead of a wreath, I chose fluffy white feather "cupid wings" to go with the DIY gold cupid arrows arrows and quiver that I made a few weeks ago.

Pink and White Sweet 16 Vintage Tea Party Ideas

Today I'm sharing a pink and white sweet 16 spring tea party that I was invited to stage and decorate a couple of years ago. (*Please forgive the quality of these photos. They were taken with an older camera.)
Given that I live in a house full of men, I don't often have the opportunity to have many parties that are  girly. Fortunately for me, I've been blessed to have close girlfriends who have allowed me to stage, decorate, and host parties for their daughters.

As spring approaches, particularly in the month of May, we're given several opportunities to celebrate the special ladies in our lives. Moms, girlfriends, sisters, daughters. Spring is my favorite time for "girl parties" The party that I'm sharing today was for Anne (whose birthday happens to be next week).  Anne's mom, my dear friend Leslie, was one of those girlfriends who was a true southern lady. 

She was a thoughtful gift giver who had a wicked-good sense of humor, boundless energy and just enough "hoarder tendencies" to make us instant friends. Once we found eachother, she was the friend who, for me, was always finding ways to allow me opportunities to stage and decorate her home  and to create vignettes, mantles and planters until finally, one day, I realized that these things are my passion.  This party was no exception.

Anne's Sweet 16 birthday was a vintage high tea. The party was hosted at the home of another of our girlfriends who had a large, sunny room at the back of her home that was just perfect for this event (after her family moved all of the family room furniture to the garage...bless their hearts!)

Anne's sweet 16 tea party was pink and green perfection. The tables, chairs and pink linens were rented. The white "lace" table covers were printed fabric that was like interfacing which provided us with a cost effective way to have "lace" toppers on each table.

Leslie had saved Anne's childhood tea sets and a collection of vintage ladie's hats, purses and gloves which we used as decorations along with yards and yards of tulle and picot-edged ribbon in two shades of pink and moss green.

My sweet, vinage-loving young girlfriend, Anne used chalkboard paint to paint clay flower pots which she personalized with each guest's name and filled with alyssum and moss to serve as placecards.  My silver tea pots were filled with fresh flowers and used on the buffet table.

Each place also had a vintage tea cup, saucer and vintage silver spoon and each table had a different vintage teapot.  The girls dined on scones and finger sandwiches while the sipped tea and pink lemonade.

The centerpiece for each table was a vintage cake stand which held individual slices of lemon pound cake with pink glaze and Anne's monogram. beneath each slice of cake was a ribbon to which was tied a small silver charm representing Anne's interests which the girls took home along with a "tussie mussie" filled with dried rosebuds which was tied to the back of each chair.

There was also a sweet table that featured lemon curd tartlets with edible violets, chocolate dipped strawberries, pink and white heart shaped, monogrammed shortbread cookies, and other favorite sweets which Anne chose.

I didn't stay for the party due to another commitment but I do happen to know that it was a lovely afternoon where memories were made that will last a lifetime and I'm so thrilled to have been a part of this special day for both my friend Leslie and her daughter, my sweet "girlfriend", Anne.

Here's a photo of the birthday girl standing next to a photo of her which was enlarged and mounted for all of the guests to sign.

So, my message to you on this May day is this: Seize the opportunity which the month of May provides to celebrate the ladies in your life! Make a pot of tea, get out a china cup, bake a cookie or two, wear something pink and have a sweet tea party.... whether your 16...or not! 

Happy Birthday, Miss Anne. I love you and I know that your mom would be so proud of the beautiful young woman that you've become. You remind me more of her each day and I'm blessed to have watched you grow and to have you as a dear friend!

Easy Valentine's Cupcake and Cookie Party

I love Valentine's Day!  Heck, let's be honest, I love pretty much any day that gives me a reason to bake pretty food, set a pretty table, and celebrate the people that are closest to me.  Especially when the pretty food consists only of sweets...cupcakes and cookies and, of course, chocolate.

DIY Repurposed Valentine's Day Mantel Decor

This year my Valentine's day mantel is a collection of vintage and repurposed items that I already had on hand.  It was really easy to put together now that our storage locker is empty and I happen to have enough spare house parts and bins of craft supplies lining the walls of the garage to darned near build a second home and make seasonally appropriate decor to with it.

 If you're wondering why, you're not alone.

Easy Valentine's Day Feather Heart Wreath Craft DIY

When is a tutorial not a tutorial? For me, it's when the craft project is so easy that a couple of photos are all you need in order to make it.  So, are you ready for a little more Valentine's Day craft that's so simple that a six year old can handle it?  Well, you're in luck because today  I'm going to show you how create an easy heart-shaped wreath in under ten minutes.

To tell you the truth, I decided that I can't even call this post a tutorial because the materials list consists of a heart shaped Styrofoam wreath form , a couple of rolls of feather trim from Hobby Lobby and some hot glue and the rest is pretty much self explanatory.

Pottery Barn Inspired Valentine's Day Monogrammed Towel

Happy New Year! I don't make resolutions but I have decided that 2014 is going to be my year of doing more for less. For example, I made these monogrammed Valentine's day towels which were inspired by some that I found at Pottery Barn  by repurposing two napkins that I already had on hand and adding a little embellishment..

Valentines Day Felt Wreath and Pillows



Remember the cute felt wreath that my friend, Diane Passi told me how to make?  The hot pink one on the mantel in the prior post? Well, I liked it so much that I made another one! It's red this time, for the kitchen. Since a couple of you asked, here's a recap of the materials and a couple of close ups of the wreath in progress:

Materials: Heart wreath form, 1/2 yard of wide felt cut into 3 inch circles, ribbon in the same color as your felt, straight pins.

 Wrap the wreath form with the ribbon, fold the circles into quarters and pin them to the form...that's it!

Since I had some felt left over and my sofa was looking a little bland after the holidays, I decided to make a few felt pillows to make things a little more "cheery". Here's what I came up with for the family room:



I love working with felt!!!! It is pretty inexpensive, doesn't fray when you cut it, and it comes in fabulous colors! I used the least expensive felt at JoAnn's Fabric and had a 50% off coupon. I think that I ended up paying about $2.50 per yard for 72 inch wide felt. 

These pillows above are a combination of hand stitching and machine stitching but there's absolutely no reason that they could not have been done entirely by hand or using hot glue and/or spray adhesive. I decided to stitch mine since I hope to use them for a couple of years. I downloaded the pattern for the Cherub and made up the rest of the patterns as I went along.

I have a sewing machine that embroiders which I used to embroider the word "Love" on the cherub pillow and the "Be Mine" on the heart pillow. You could hand embroider or even use fabric paint for these.

I'm currently working on the family room mantel. Here's the ribbon and fabric garland that I'm using (it's easy to make. Cut cotton twine to the desired length leaving some on the ends to hang with. Cut 6 to 8 inch lengths of ribbon, felt, fabric, tulle, lace, or what ever else you have around (you may also want to add some hearts and wire "curls") tie the ribbons on the twine and, viola!, "almost instant" garland!

I'll show you the mantel and a few other projects that I'm working on in a few days. Until then, they're finally forecasting some snow for the 'burbs, so I should probably at least try to find my mittens! 

xo,

S