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Entertaining
I was feeling the need for a sweet cupcake inspired table for my little family's Valentine's Day dinner. I took the remainder of my color story from my wedding bouquet (to be shown at a later date with a DIY tutorial) and added elements from around my house that I already had.
I used 4 silk flowers (counted by the number of stems, since one stem can have multiple flowers) that remained from the making of my bouquet and trimmed 3 of them down to bud vase height. A couple of the stems had more than one flower on them, so I removed the extras and I beheaded the 4th stem completely. I placed a series of mint julep cups (these can be purchased inexpensively, are fabulous as vases and obviously beautiful for drinking out of as well) around the table for that tarnished silver ambiance that I find soooo romantic and added a votive candle to each. If you have never paid attention to this before, take a look at any silver you may have, that has not been recently polished…pinks, browns, greens…its beautiful!
I used the china from my wedding registry, which has a beautiful romantic quality to the design, and mixed and unmatched estate silver at each place setting (also tarnished on the handles a bit).
I keep a silver (yes tarnished) candelabra in the center of my table, most of the time, and two silver candle sticks on either side of it. So other than setting the table and scattering a few added elements a table-scape can come together fairly quickly.
I added 2 jar candles that formerly sat atop my wall piano, and then scattered the leaves and branches from a few of the silk flowers around the center of the table as well.
Then I added cupcakes to each place setting and a few to the table-scape as well and voila…beautiful table!
This table-scape would also work well for a tea party theme or girl's birthday…it's a celebration of pinks, browns, greens and whites.
Entertaining / Home
I was feeling the need for a sweet cupcake inspired table for my little family's Valentine's Day dinner. I took the remainder of my color story from my wedding bouquet (to be shown at a later date with a DIY tutorial) and added elements from around my house that I already had.
I used 4 silk flowers (counted by the number of stems, since one stem can have multiple flowers) that remained from the making of my bouquet and trimmed 3 of them down to bud vase height. A couple of the stems had more than one flower on them, so I removed the extras and I beheaded the 4th stem completely. I placed a series of mint julep cups (these can be purchased inexpensively, are fabulous as vases and obviously beautiful for drinking out of as well) around the table for that tarnished silver ambiance that I find soooo romantic and added a votive candle to each. If you have never paid attention to this before, take a look at any silver you may have, that has not been recently polished…pinks, browns, greens…its beautiful!
I used the china from my wedding registry, which has a beautiful romantic quality to the design, and mixed and unmatched estate silver at each place setting (also tarnished on the handles a bit).
I keep a silver (yes tarnished) candelabra in the center of my table, most of the time, and two silver candle sticks on either side of it. So other than setting the table and scattering a few added elements a table-scape can come together fairly quickly.
I added 2 jar candles that formerly sat atop my wall piano, and then scattered the leaves and branches from a few of the silk flowers around the center of the table as well.
Then I added cupcakes to each place setting and a few to the table-scape as well and voila…beautiful table!
This table-scape would also work well for a tea party theme or girl's birthday…it's a celebration of pinks, browns, greens and whites.
Home
Pictures like this make my inner East Coast Gal or Midwesterner heart sing with covetous joy! Don’t you love just love this garden?
Design
Pictures like this make my inner East Coast Gal or Midwesterner heart sing with covetous joy! Don’t you love just love this garden?
Design / Home
The essence of Coastal Chic can be captured in a variety of different ways and means something different to each and every person. Translation: almost anything goes when it comes to appropriate wall decor for this style. For the look of beautiful custom artwork without the cost, sites such as art.com are a great resource for inexpensive prints, as are your local craft store chains like Michael's.
The images I am posting here are just a few of the many ways that a beachy feeling can be created and all of them are available for purchase on art.com for between $5 and $40 depending on the size you desire. I have chosen these particular images because they depict a coastal image, show a coastal landscape, or evoke a coastal feeling through image or color story. What says beachy to you?
DIY / Entertaining
To be sure, I wasn’t not at all sure this project was going to work out when I began, because I didn’t have the supplies I thought I needed. I was wrong, and this misadventure turned into a happy mistake because what came about was even better than I had planned, and a new lover a Decoupage medium has been gained! Can I say that I haven’t decoupaged anything in years, truly… years… So I definitely fumbled about a bit before finding my footing with this project (even more so with my next project but that is a whole other story)! But what fabulous stuff this stuff is…I know you all already know this so amuse me while I share my newfound friend in Decoupage medium!
Materials
Materials:
6” Styrofoam Egg (any other shape will work, particularly round shapes)
Mossy Stuff – I purchased mine at the dollar store a while back, but this can be found at most craft stores as well
DecoArt Decoupage Medium
Skewer or Long Toothpick – this is helpful for holding your item while you moss it up
Foam Brush – I actually used this as more of a flattening tool rather than a brush so you might use a spatula or your hands…
Step 1
I skewered my egg with these odd little bamboo toothpicks I found in my random drawer of party and entertaining supplies, and it actually worked nicely because of that crazy little knot at the end of it that provided a bit of extra hand hold! who knew…
Step 2
I like to spread out my mossy goodness and fluff it a bit so that it isn’t so clumped up. This makes for easier and more uniform application when you are ready to begin sticking it on.
Step 3
I drizzled a moderate amount of the DecoArt Decoupage medium on my Styrofoam Egg and used my finger to smear it around a bit more evenly. I have found that the foam brushes actually absorb more of my mediums than they spread it, so I tend to defer to the old finger paining technique when I am working on a project like this.
Step 4
Then I actually rolled the egg in the shreddy pile of moss and then drizzled crumbles of it in the areas that didn’t pick enough up. The thing about decoupage medium, is that even though it’s fast drying, you do have a bit of wait time when you use it as I did in a manner that isn’t typical, because you need to medium to dry enough to hold the weight of the moss. Once I let it set a bit, I drizzled a bit more of the Decoupage medium over the top of the mossy layer, as you can see below, and then used my foam brush to smash it down a bit. I wanted to be sure that all of the moss was going to stay where I wanted it to, and so I need to be sure the top layer was equally as decoupaged as the bottom layer was.
Step 5
I continue in the manner around the entire egg, drizzling the decoupage medium, rolling and sprinkling the moss then drizzling the medium again over the top and smooshing it down until the entire egg was well covered. I let it dry overnight, because frankly It was late, but I doubt it would have required that amount of drying time to be completed.
What was surprising was my ultimate result which was a fluffy looking yet well secured Mossy Egg! Because the medium dries in a clear Matte Finish, it’s invisible and when used with moss it did not make it appear glued down (those of you who have done mossy glue projects know what I am referring to!) and yet it is fully glued in place and not going to fall off all over the world as you move it around! It’s pretty incredible actually! Definitely not a typical use for this product, and yet it worked so beautifully that I will forever use it for this sort of thing! Yahoo for happy accidents, am I right?
Home / Shopping
I am so completely smitten with this flooring and it’s organic lines that the details hardly matter to me. Well, that and the fact that I won’t be installing new flooring in my home anytime soon, but a girl can dream can’t she? Right now I am dreaming of a house filled with this amazing splendor, and can you blame me? It’s gorgeous!
Home / Shopping
I am so completely smitten with this flooring and it’s organic lines that the details hardly matter to me. Well, that and the fact that I won’t be installing new flooring in my home anytime soon, but a girl can dream can’t she? Right now I am dreaming of a house filled with this amazing splendor, and can you blame me? It’s gorgeous!
Shopping
There is something quite amazing in the simplicity of a design that celebrates the stripe and the monochromatic patterning like the items they sell at Studio Patro. I love the concept of tea towels, though I don’t actually own any just yet, it’s on my list of things to add to my inventory. If you have been reading my site for some time you know that I have a paperless home (for the most part, except for the obvious necessities like toilet paper, duh…) and I absolutely love that fact. No expensive paper towels to keep stocked, but it does require that for those more formal or event related occasions that I have something a bit nicer to put out for guests to use, and I think a nice collection of some of these fabulous specimens below might be just the thing for me!
It’s no secret that it’s more eco friendly to bring your own bags to shop with, than it is to use plastic bags, and these are such a fabulous version of the BYOBag. Large and in charge, not to mention aptly labeled, just in case you forget what they are for!
Shopping
There is something quite amazing in the simplicity of a design that celebrates the stripe and the monochromatic patterning like the items they sell at Studio Patro. I love the concept of tea towels, though I don’t actually own any just yet, it’s on my list of things to add to my inventory. If you have been reading my site for some time you know that I have a paperless home (for the most part, except for the obvious necessities like toilet paper, duh…) and I absolutely love that fact. No expensive paper towels to keep stocked, but it does require that for those more formal or event related occasions that I have something a bit nicer to put out for guests to use, and I think a nice collection of some of these fabulous specimens below might be just the thing for me!
It’s no secret that it’s more eco friendly to bring your own bags to shop with, than it is to use plastic bags, and these are such a fabulous version of the BYOBag. Large and in charge, not to mention aptly labeled, just in case you forget what they are for!
DIY / Home
This is a project that I posted at the very early stages of my site, and in one of the many moves we have made over the course of the last year, the images were all corrupted. I thought it would be nice to repost this, complete with the images (crazy right) and with a showcase of this project that was created by one of my friends. It’s amazingly beautiful and far surpasses my original! Makes Mama proud!
This project was really fun to do, took less than an hour, cost around $10 and leaves lots of room for you to embellish as you like. For my home, I chose to go without embellishment for now, but I think that a smattering of seashells or sea glass would look wonderful. I love the minimal aspect of the one I created, but would consider adding just a hint of silver or turquoise glitter along some of the burlap edges at some point.
An embellished version of this wreath above, created by my one of my girlfriends! Isn’t it amazing? She puts mine to shame! To shame I say! I am fairly certain every coastal chic wreath now needs feathers!
Materials
1. A Pressed Paper Floral Ring – This can be purchased at your local craft store for around $2. I chose this rather than a wreath ring because of the material it was made of and the color being very similar to burlap. I figured this would require less burlap wrap since it would blend in rather seamlessly.
2. Burlap Garland – I found this in the same aisle of Michael’s as the floral ring and was $4.49 for 10 yards. I didn’t even use half of it for this project, so I will have leftovers for something fun in the future.
3. Hot Glue Gun – Mine is packed for the impending move, so I purchased a replacement Mini Glue Gun (same aisle once again) for $2.99
4. Package of Mini Glue Sticks – I think this was around the same price as the glue gun (I can’t quite remember) and I ultimately used 8 of them. I tend to be a bit glue happy with my projects so you might not use quite as many as I did. Keep in mind that if you are purchasing a mini glue gun, that the mini glue sticks go faster than the regular sized glue sticks so you will use more of them. Still they tend to be more affordable in my opinion (since the gun that goes with them is considerably cheaper).
Step 1
You will want to loosely wrap your floral ring in your burlap to cover it. Tuck the end of your burlap under the starting point and place a hot glue dollop to hold it in place. You will want to glue only on the back side of your ring at all times! When you are gluing you will want to glue the burlap to the burlap and also to the ring (you may need to hold your burlap in place as the glue hardens each time. This will ensure that it doesn’t come undone anywhere. This doesn’t need to be perfect it is just to keep the ring from showing through.
Step 2
Cut your burlap garland into 18 inch strips and cut at an angle(do this as you go along so that you don’t hack the entire roll to pieces). They don’t have to be exact and you should vary the lengths as you go to add more of an organic feel to your wreath. This is suppose to be reminiscent of the sea so you are trying to avoid uniformity.
Step 3
You will place each strip (and this is the tricky part – or the fun part depending on how you look at it) by laying it on the backside of your ring with 1-2 inches of your strip hanging either above or below the
top (outside) or bottom (inside) of your ring and glue it in place.
Once that dollop has dried you will wrap the strip (again either over or under depending on which direction you decide to go) partially around the ring so that your strip is to the front of your ring. Keep it loose and then give it a twist (either direction) to add an organic flow to it. Then continue wrapping the piece around to the backside still keeping it fairly loose. When you feel you have given that strip a nice placement and shape, glue the end of it in place on the backside, making sure to leave an inch or two, hanging down (or up) once again.
Step 4
Once all of your glue dollops have dried you can add embellishment to the front if you like. I would stick to relatively light weight objects so that you don’t smash your burlap down and have to put large glue spots all over the front. Any gluing you do will show unless it is a small drop for a small object.. Think tiny little shells that don’t require major securing to the ring and can be glued to the flowy burlap instead.
Have fun with this, and if you make a mistake or don’t like the way a particular wrap of burlap turned out..don’t worry you can always cut a small strip to hide the portion you don’t enjoy
Design
A color connection I never would have made had I not come across these amazing images. A Color Story with pages full of pale yellow, mustard, black and a windsor-ish periwinkle blue…. To browse other color connection articles, click here.
