Everyday Celebrating

This week: on someone ELSE'S desk

Yesterday was a day to celebrate Administrative Professionals.  I put together this arrangement to celebrate the fabulous woman in our office who answers all the crazy questions and keeps things straight.  The tricycle planter was found at Goodwill and was originally a dark bronze.  I gave it a new coat of paint for a spring look.  Added a green pot to match the flower stems and not take away from the pop of the pink.  Finished it off with pink and white tulips.

The moss was added to hide the lattice work of the floral tape.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but here is a picture I found of what it looks like.  This is how you get flowers like tulips to stand up in a pot or vase. In this case, I used both wet floral foam and created the lattice design with tape.

Here's to celebrating those that help organize the chaos of everyday!

Give it to Goodwill! (and a giveaway!)

Taking a small break from crafts and parties to talk again about Goodwill (again)!  Did you know that Goodwill is the ORIGINAL recycler?  Sure, the traditional recycling efforts are great (bottles, cardboard, cans, etc) but recycling items that you can no longer use does a great deal for Mother Earth as well!

My local Goodwill is Goodwill of Middle Tennessee and since they were founded over 50 years ago, they have diverted millions of items from the landfill here in the Nashville area.

With Earth Day coming up, why don't you take the opportunity to donate something of yours to a greater cause.  Divert something from a landfill?  While clearing out the clutter!

My son and I recently did.  While cleaning up our yard for the season of backyard play, we decided these two items were great to recycle for other children and it kept the items out of landfill.

We have a brand new Goodwill location that just opened by our house so we drove over to drop off this donation and then go in to check out the new selections.  Like how I donate and then go in and buy?  LOL

The staff at Goodwill is always friendly and grateful for the donation.  They help unload everything out of your car and handle your items with care.  Before you leave, they always thank you and ask if you need a receipt for your donation.  Great people!

In honor of Goodwill's Community Donation Drive, Everyday Celebrating and Goodwill are giving away TWO $10 Goodwill Gift Cards.  

One card will go to a resident of the Middle Tennessee area so they can support my hometown Goodwill.

The other card will go to one Everyday Celebrating reader outside of the Middle Tennessee area.

I'll take entries through next Thursday, April 22nd and announce the winners the following day.

To enter:

1.  Leave a comment about an experience you've had at Goodwill (donation or a good find!)

2.  If you are from Middle Tennessee, make sure you say so!  One gift card if especially for a Tennessean!

For additional entries (make sure you tell me in your comment if you are a new follower):

1.  Join the Everyday Celebrating Facebook Fan page

2.  Follow me on Twitter

ALSO... Tennesseans, my friend Jamie is hosting a Goodwill gift card giveaway on her blog, Savvy Housewife.  Enter there too!  Can't hurt!!!  You may win BOTH!

Goodwill finds and a giveaway!

Super cute shoes found at Goodwill!  Check back next week to see how they end up in a celebration!

hint:  They aren't my size!  

Come back TOMORROW as I host a Goodwill gift card giveaway!  I'll be giving away TWO $10 gift cards. One will be awarded to someone in my hometown area of Middle Tennessee.  The remaining card will be awarded to any one of my readers. Come back tomorrow to enter!

DIY: Easy home decor or centerpiece

I needed a little somethin' somethin' on the corner of a piece of furniture.  Something with a little height, but not huge and something I didn't mind if my 3 year old knocked off and destroyed.   

Enter Goodwill and Dollar Tree items!

I started with this. I'm always on the lookout for urns at Goodwill.  Soooo many great uses! This one is a FTD floral urn.  It was originally a very dirty off white.  You could tell it was pretty old. Cleaned it up, painted it black...and filled it with floral foam.

 

Pulled out some spanish moss I also found at Goodwill some time ago and these moss rocks from the Dollar Tree. (I think I used 3 bags.)

 

From there, I glued down the spanish moss and then started stacking and gluing in the moss rocks. The moss rocks are VERY light, basically styrofoam covered in fake moss.  So you really have to glue it down tightly since they have no weight of their own.

Here's the finished product!  Easy filler for a table.  Two of these would be great to frame a mantel or use as centerpieces on a long table.  In the fall, add beautiful fall leaves instead of moss.

 
GIVEAWAY!
Next week I'll be giving away TWO Goodwill gift cards!  One will just be for my Middle Tennessee people!
Stay tuned!!!!

This week: on my desk

Crazy daisies!

In a beautiful milk glass bowl from... you guessed it... Goodwill.  LOL

I passed up on one of these a few weeks ago and kicked myself ever since.  Luckily, I ran across another one last weekend.  I'd like to find a few more to paint.  I'd love one in black, robin's egg blue and spring green.  It's such a great, classic shape.

Still time to: Have a simple egg dying get together!

Recently, I held a simple egg dying gathering for neighborhood children and their parents.  Nothing fancy.. just a few covered tables, eggs, stickers and dye.  A great way to get to know your neighbors better and spend a fun afternoon together with your children.

Friends thought I was nuts, but really, it wasn't that messy at all.  We had baby wipes on hand and disposable tablecloths.

Started with several eggs...here are some of them... not all...

 

It ended up being REALLY windy and a bit chilly so we moved it into the garage.  We had originally hoped to host it outside in the yard.  This is my husband.. I'll call him Martin Stewart.  LOL He's always so good at setting everything up. 

 

As you can see, tables were covered in disposable plastic tablecloths from the Dollar Tree.  I tied them on since it was originally so windy.

Last year, I had amassed a HUGE bin of Easter egg dying supplies from Target.  I think they were on 90% clearance or something.  So I had TONS of stuff.  We pulled LOTS of it out.  I had egg decorating kits in everything from Hello Kitty to Transformers to SpongeBob.   Plus a few of these to hold the eggs.

 

I had this nest that actually came from a birdcage bought at a yard sale last year.  It was my husband's idea to use it to hold eggs.  He's great, isn't he?

 

This wire Easter bunny came from Goodwill.  Great find!  I believe it was $1. 

 

in progress!

A great time was had by all!  This is a really inexpensive get together to host.  Less than $20!

Right now, Goodwill has lots of Easter egg dying kits, baskets and the like for next to nothing.  Grab some disposable tablecloths and some eggs and you're good to go!  While I provided all the eggs, you can even have each family bring a dozen or so, if you'd like.  One parent brought snacks for the children!

At the end, I dumped out the unused dye, rolled up the trash up in the tablecloths and with the kits being so inexpensive on clearance and at Goodwill, threw it all away!

There's still time to dye your eggs on Saturday for Sunday's big day!

This week: on my desk

Besides my super cute son, who is a permanent fixture, this week I have a dozen red roses in an oversized mint julep cup. 

That mint julep cup came from Goodwill.  It was filled with a HIDEOUS silk arrangement that you can thank me for NOT sharing here.  LOL   Took me a while to dig out the large amount of styrofoam that was glued into it, but the results are simple and very Tiffany & Co.

Sidenote:  I placed a plastic cup inside for the water as this vessel wasn't meant for live flowers or anything liquid obviously.

Just another reminder to see past the obvious at Goodwill.  Transform!

What's on my desk this week...

 

As an event planner, there can sometimes be some funny things on my desk.  

Big jugs of leftover vodka - check.  

BIG homecoming corsages - check.  

Hot glue gun.. xacto knife.. paper cutter - check check check

Stacks of yearbooks we're pouring over for reunion photos - check.

Several half full drinks - check.   (Ask my co-workers, I'm awful about that one.)

But sometimes you find something cute on my desk. I love flowers and I love just picking up a bunch to display on my desk for the week.  Places like Kroger and Walmart cut great deals on flowers while they still have a lot of beauty left to give.

The arrangement above is what currently brightens my day.  Flowers are from Kroger.  Huge bouquet of tulips (my fave) for $12!    They also had a dozen PERFECT roses on clearance for $6!  Lots of them in a variety of colors.

Used as a vase - a pair of children's rain boots.  I had been looking around for rain boots for my son.  He loves to splash in puddles and on the cooler spring days, he really needed some rain boots.  Anyway... I found some for him and I found these smaller ones (above) at Goodwill for $2.  (These are a toddler size 5, in case you're wondering the ratio of how big the boots should be to hold a bouquet.)

If you look closely at the photo, you'll notice that I've wedged 2 plastic cups into the boots.  These are small, disposable cups.  Probably holds 6-8 ozs of water each.  They fit perfectly into the boots and were a great size to hold the flowers/water.

Anticipate spring by adding a bit of fresh flowers into your work space - and don't forget to think outside the box when looking for floral containers.

Comforting serving pieces

Isn't it odd when you have something in your head and then you run across a picture of the VERY thing you were thinking of?

Country Living magazine was reading my mind!

A great idea for winter entertaining!

At Goodwill, find a set of bowls and a couple of long sleeved sweaters with patterns you love (such as cable knit, etc.)  You'll need one sleeve per bowl.  And remember to look for sweaters of any size.  The size doesn't matter and looking in a different size may result in finding more options in colors/patterns.
Also, it would be great to get a half off or 99 cent sweater!

Cut the sleeves off the sweaters.  

Slide the bowl through the sleeve so that the cuff of the sleeve is at the top of the bowl.  Hot glue the edge in place.

Then pull the sleeve to the bottom of the bowl, trim off the excess and glue the bottom pieces to the bowl.

Perfect for a "comfort" theme.  Warm, comfort food served in warm, comfort covered dishes! 

And wouldn't a set of these make a great gift?

Potato soup or mac 'n cheese, anyone?

Sidenote:  This will be an item to be handwashed, very gently.  And you can let the knit air dry if it gets wet.

 

Candy frame decor

photo credit: Better Homes and Gardens 

I love this simple way to add color, dimension and theme to your decor.  Buy an inexpensive square frame at The Dollar Tree or Goodwill.  Glue a cardboard circle onto the front of the frame then glue conversation hearts head to head all the way around the circle.