Friends Deserting Us

We have some friends that our moving to Madrid Spain. We put on a farewell party for them and served desserts and coffee!

I made a floral arrangement and put their photo's in the vase. It really made the flowers personal. I gave the flowers to the guests of honor after the party was over.

I put all the plates, napkins and silverware in an old vintage suitcase. Decorated with other suitcases on the table as well - going with the whole travel theme. I put luggage tags on the suitcases and put sayings on the tags like "life's a trip, wish we were going with you", "we'll miss you", etc.

Used a new spanish style rug as my table cloth, of course the napkins coordinated perfectly!

Placed floral arrangement on top of a mirror and put mini cakes on the mirror. The cakes were all decorated in festive Spanish colors.

Each mini cake had Spanish sayings on them "Buen Viage", "Adios"

I had Spanish music playing and served Sangria - fun was had by all!

Happy New Year - Fresh New Start

The new year is a great way to start fresh in your home. This doesn't need to be expensive, it just takes some time. Give yourself one goal to accomplish in January to make your house more like a home. Some ideas to get you started:

Clean out cluttered drawers

Get rid of furniture or accessories you don't like or don't need anymore - de-clutter. Only keep things you LOVE.

Paint an old piece of furniture to make it "new" again

Make a family wall with pictures of this past year - use all matching frames but different sizes.

Start using your china and crystal weekly instead of once a year

Change an old lamp's lampshade -pick a great shape or a fun color

Add a new finial to the top.

Have what you want and want what you have

Take some chances on wall colors and be bold

Update old floral arrangements - add a few "all natural" pieces and it will make it look so much better. If the arrangement is dusty, either clean it up or get rid of it!

Get rid of old candles that are sitting around never being used. Find large pillar candles with amazing color that you can burn all year around.

Add new pillows to your couch or a chair - choose down filled pillows, they are luxurious!

Enjoy!

Sister's Christmas Present

I always think that the best gift to receive is one that someone has made especially for you. This year I decided to make my sisters present and this is what I came up with. I first put burlap all over the canvas and then painted the acrylic paint on top of the burlap. It matches her dining room perfectly.