Spring Tablescape

Here's a Spring Tablescape I created on Saturday.  It was a pretty calm and lazy weekend.  Oh, and very gloomy outside here in Chicago.  So, why not make a colorful Spring tablescape to forget about the Winter weather.  I also wanted to enter something into the Maddycakes Muse Tablescape Contest and didn't have an entry to submit:)  Anyway, here is what I came up with.

Chair ties with gerbera daisy.

I hung ribbon and flowers over the table.  Colors were lime green, coral pink and turquoise blue.

I found the cute glitter egg stickers at the Dollar Tree.

I was trying to get a pic of what the whole thing looked like together but it came out really dark.  Also, there is too much going on in the background (bookshelves).  I had lime green fabric for a background but for the life of me could not get it to stay up (sigh).  Oh, well you kinda get it.

I used glue dots and glitter for the small votives and food coloring for the votives with the floating candles.

Ribbon on the tablecloth.

DIY Spring Votives

This is a cute idea for a Spring table or to place around a party as part of the decor'.  Gerber daisies come in so many different colors so you can definitely mix it up. See directions here.  Happy Friday!

Spring Color Inspiration

I love lime green, coral and turquoise together for a Spring look.  I found a book of scrapbook paper with these colors incorporated into different patterns today at Home Goods.  The patterns are from the Penny Lane Collection on www.mymindseye.com.  Check out the website.  There are some great paper patterns.  A cute idea would be to make paper birdies out of the different patterns and colors and glue them onto white spray painted branches and put into a glass vase for a center piece look.  Tie lime green, coral and turquoise ribbon around the vase to add detail.

Sigh...Thoughts of Spring Dancing in my Head

I can't wait until Spring.  The pastel colors, flowers blooming and trees becoming green again.  Unfortunately in Chicago we won't see signs of Spring until late April or so....ugh.  Oh well, I can dream for now.  Below is a cute place setting for a Spring/Easter table from Better Homes and Gardens.  I love the pink and blue and the monogrammed egg used as a place card.  The napkin ring tag is made with vellum and an embosser is used to press a message into it.  Very sweet....and there are so many Spring messages that can be used.

It's Fat Tuesday...

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!  If there were ever a holiday more appropriate for throwing parties and decorating with colorful glitz and glimmer it's Mardi Gras.  Eat King Cake, gumbo, jambalaya and drink lots of hurricanes.  "Laissez les bon temps rouler" (let the good times roll)! 

 

centerpiece: prop factory

Pink and Orange Valentine's Day Inspiration

Instead of the typical color pallette of red and pink try changing it up by having a pink and orange Valentine's Day for your sweetie!

Rose Petal Cupcakes - Woman's Day

Flower Lollipop Cards with Names and Treat bags - Martha Stewart

I Heart these Mardi Gras Cupcakes...

I love, love and love these Mardi Gras cupcakes I found here.  These would be perfect on a Mardi Gras themed dessert/sweets table in the colors of purple, green and gold of course.

Conversation Piece

Cute Valentine's Day arrangement.  I love the pastel colors.  So soft and pretty and tulips are one of my favorite flowers.  Check out the instructions at Martha Stewart.

Throw Me Something Mister!

One of the best things about Mardi Gras is all of the trinkets you can get by just going to one parade.  The parades are put together by Krewes which are social groups that practice and celebrate all of the traditions of Mardi Gras.  Every year a King and Queen is selected to reign over the Krewe for the parade and Mardi Gras ball.

A few things you can rack up on when you go to a parade are pictured above.  Doubloons are aluminum coins with an imprint of the Krewe's logo or crest on them.  These come in so many different colors and designs.

Cups are thrown from floats.  These are also designed with the Krewe's logo on them or they come in different Mardi Gras colors.  Another unique throw is painted coconuts.  These are only thrown in New Orleans for the Krewe of Zulu parade.  They're very creative

And of course Mardi Gras beads.  There are so many different types of beads.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  If there is a certain theme you enjoy I'm sure there is a Mardi Gras bead that reflects that theme.  Beads are the most prized possessions during Mardi Gras.  The bigger and shinier, the better!

Mardi Gras Hurricane Cocktail Party

The Hurricane cocktail is a signature drink of New Orleans and Mardi Gras.  The drink was invented by Pat O'Brien's bar (great website) in New Orleans during World War II and was named after the shape of the hurricane lamp.  It's also served in a glass that resembles the hurricane lamp.  Pat O'Brien's is still open today in the French Quarter.  It has an awesome courtyard.  To make this cocktail you can use a Pat O'Brien's mix and just add rum and crushed ice or here are the ingredients.

Hurricane
Ingredients:
- 2 oz light rum
- 2 oz dark rum
- 2 oz passion fruit juice
- 1 oz orange juice
- 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
- 1 tbsp simple syrup
- 1 tbsp grenadine
- Garnish: orange slice and cherry

Shake all the ingredients into a hurricane glass with crushed ice and garnish with a cherry and an orange slice, umbrella and mardi gras beads. 

It makes a pretty presentation to center a mardi gras party around.  Love it!  And they are so yummy too.

It's Mardi Gras Season!

I've been to many'a Mardi Gras celebrations growing up in Louisiana. There is of course the huge New Orleans Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street, the Garden District and the suburbs surrounding the city. But there are also the Cajun and very traditional celebrations that take place in small "Cajun Country" towns such as Mamou and Coteau. I'll explain more about these later.

This will be the first of many posts about facts and history of Mardi Gras until the season is over. It's one of my favorite Holidays. Seriously...it's pretty much considered a religion in Louisiana. I was totally bummed when I moved to Chicago and realized we wouldn't have three days off for "Fat Tuesday":) First fact, Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday.

The colors of Mardi Gras are Purple, Green and Gold. These stand for Justice, Faith and Power (respectively). And of course there is the King Cake. A huge Mardi Gras tradition (see pics above). It's kinda like a rolled brioche or coffee cake topped with icing and sugar in the colors of Mardi Gras. Yum! They also come with different kinds of fillings such as cream cheese, praline, cherry and chocolate. My personal favorite is Cream Cheese..... Oh, and there is a plastic baby hidden inside the cake. Tradition is the person who gets the slice of cake with the baby inside has to buy a cake for next year's celebration.

Success! Football Gumbo Party!

Our Football Gumbo Party was a great success! We had a lot of fun with friends as we ate tons of Cajun Gumbo and drank lots of wine.

I didn't have a huge budget but I was still able to decorate the table and a few other things. I used a green paper table cloth on the table and added white ribbon as yard lines and stuck white numbers that I found at JoAnn's on the table cloth.

I found all of the small footballs online at Toomey's Mardi Gras for really cheap and used these to fill glass vases with. I placed the vases around the apartment and on the table.

I tied pennants to the chairs and made them look like green chalk boards with football plays written on them. They turned out really cute. I purchased the popcorn containers at Target for a dollar a piece and filled these with popcorn and roasted peanuts.

The football lanterns, football suckers and garland were purchased at Oriental Trading.

For the bar area I bought plastic trays at the Dollar Store and found football printed paper at JoAnn's that I stuck to the bottom of the trays. These were used to hold drink glasses. I also made cute glass tags (for the girls) similar to the pennants. I added green rhinestones for bling.

See photos above. Oh, and the football games were great too. The Saints won! Go Saints!!

My First Feature!

My daisies, gingham and bbq co-ed bridal shower was featured on Creative Party Place! So exciting. I've never been featured before. Check it out here:
http://creativepartyplace.com/2009/12/31/co-ed-bridal-shower-bbq/
or you can check out my post from August 28th.

Now if I could just figure out how to add the feature button to my blog....hmmm.