Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Garden Wedding and Party


My garden has been a busy place this summer
with a wedding reception and a few days later,
a Mother Daughter Garden party.


Since the Mother Daughter party was just four days
after the wedding reception, I used a lot of the
same decor and ideas.






It all started with this ugly green hutch that was a leftover
from one of our condo project models.  I didn't pick it -
our partner's wife did, and it had been relegated to the basement
to hold plates and things.  


The wedding reception was for my oldest daughter's niece,
and my daughter said we should paint it for the wedding 
reception, and use it for our sign in station.

I decided to paint the interior of the two glass
cabinets a pale aqua.  I used Rustoleum's
chalk paint.


It was our first foray into chalk paint, and I decided to
add a little bling with the crystal knobs that I
ordered online.


Once we finished that, I asked her what she planned
on using for the candy station, so we had to paint
another piece.


 This piece was in my dining room, also holding
plates and things.  It was a brown on brown.
I was looking for something with a lot of
detail and this one was perfect.  It went from
being the ugly duckling to the beautiful swan.

It got a little lavender bling in the crystal knobs!

After the transformations, I said these pieces
were going to take center place in my dining room.
No more basement for the ugly green hutch.


The hutch was placed on the side yard entrance
for guests to sign in. 


 Lavender was one of the bride's colors, and I
had driven into my daughter's driveway and saw
this great lavender bicycle.  I said I had to borrow
it for the wedding and they said the friend was
selling it.  I bought it that day and brought it
home.  






 The wedding was gorgeous and a much bigger
turn out than the bride's mom had guessed, but
the yard handled it well.



I had hung netting panels from IKEA in the gazebo
for the backdrop for the bride and groom.  She
had rose gold runners on the tables, so I purchased
a rose gold tablecloth and took a small seam
on one end so I could hang it too.


The wedding reception was a big success!


The bride has lots of big strapping cousins, so right
after the reception ended, I had them move the
hutch down to the gazebo.  The bride and groom had
stood here for the wedding.  Now I wanted the hutch
to be used for the Mother Daughter party as our buffet.





I was able to reuse lots of my flowers
from the wedding for the Mother Daughter
party, filling the drawers with plants and
little vases of flowers.




The cupboards were opened up to accomodate
all of the food.



We had heart shaped peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches for the little ones and chicken
croissant sandwiches and cucumber sandwiches
with a salad for the moms.



The girls had fun decorating cupcakes as flowers
using marshmallows and sugar sprinkles.


Of course I knew they would love the candy
station as much as the wedding guests, so
I repeated that where the wedding cake
had been stationed.


Both parties were made magical by my painted
garden furniture, but they are too nice to leave
outside.  Watch for my dining room remodel.  
These two pieces will be featured!

I will be sharing these parties with



Monday, July 18, 2016

Lemon Raspberry Wow Cake



Birthday time for one of the Crafty Girls -
that I featured on my last post,
and I volunteered to make the cake.

I decided to make my 
but I wanted to jazz it up a bit.



I played around with some white chocolate
coating, cutting it into triangles, and
making swoops with the back of a spoon,
and then dusting it with pink praline powder
that I got in Paris.



I dolled up some lemon and raspberry macarons
that I found at Costco ($15 for 36) with a little
glitter.




Some pearls and fresh raspberries finished off
the top of the cake.



I love the look of these wing-like swoops.
Just dip your spoon in the white chocolate
and smear it onto parchment paper.  Make
extras in case the thin chocolate at the edge
breaks when you remove it.


The frosting is a lemon whip cream, so we took
a quick picture and then put it back in the
fridge until we served it after dinner.  


Jann's birthday cake was lit off with these amazing

I had seen them years ago in a fancy restaurant in
town, and tried to contact the company to purchase them,
but no luck!  Now you can buy them online!  

They are the perfect topping for this showstopper cake.

Posting this with

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Hometown Roadtrip Tablescape


Let me take you on a roadtrip tonight halfway
across the United States and back to visit
all of the hometowns of my friends in the
Crafty Girls group.

We are gathered for the first time this summer
at Joanne's again in her beautiful back yard and
her huge gazebo.  She has set the table for
us celebrating our home states.


Pack your vintage suitcases and come along.
(Notice the vintage state of Wisconsin hankie that
she has sewn onto a pillow - my home state!)


Each place setting started with a road map
place mat to anchor the stack of plates, featuring
the lady's home state plate.  I love her use of
these vintage state plates.  We had several from
Utah.


Isn't the plate from Oregon great?


The napkin rings were oversized tires tied up with a 
travel ticket.


Chargers were black with gold rim metal platters
from various states.


The centerpiece was filled with fresh flowers - as if
picked along the roadside.  Banners between two chippy
garden towers were made out of postcards from the lady's
states and hearts made from maps.


The back of each garden chair was adorned
with an airplane folded from a map,
and a postcard from that state,



along with a car, so we could travel in style.


Of course, we need to don a pair of sunglasses.

Joanne doesn't miss a detail, so each placesetting
had your initial done up as a souvenir magnet
featuring a roadmap with your hometown.  Mine
happened to be the longest trip!


We each got a cookie featuring a postcard from
our home state too!  They were so fresh, they were
bending in the summer heat.  Amy made the adorable
and delicious cookies.













Of course Joanne decorates the huge shed turned
into gazebo with the travel theme.


I love these road trip hearts made into a banner.



Tonight's party was in honor of Jann's birthday.
Jann has a wonderful blog at
Go and meet her if you haven't already
become friends with her!  So fun to have
a real blogging friend!!!


I made the cake, which I will tell you more about in 
my next blog!  


After the fun and festivities, we sat down to work
on a crazy quilt pin cushion, demonstrated by Brenda.

This is her sample!  We all had fun starting to embellish
ours, but the project will have to be finished at home.

Thanks for an amazing party Joanne.  Everyone 
contributes to the dinner or craft, so thanks to
Laura, Jann, Brenda, Natalie, Karen and Amy too.

Of course the birthday girl doesn't have to do anything
but smile!!  Happy birthday Jann.






I will be posting this with 



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