If you have a 1M pastry tip and bag, you can create THIS! Isn't it beautiful? And wouldn't it be beautiful for Easter in a pastel? Or in white for a bridal shower?
I Am Baker gives a photo tutorial of just how it's done. Definitely one of those amazingly simple things that doesn't have to be perfect to be gorgeous!
Looking for some easy decor for your Valentine's gatherings? Make a cupcake liner topiary!
These are perfect for classroom parties or home decor!
Find the tutorial here on Craftomaniac!
Need MORE ideas for Valentine's Day? Join me on Thursday, January 20 for a Valentine's Day chat over at Blog Frog! We'll be chatting at 9 EST about all things Valentine's Day! If you need ideas for food, decor, gifts, treats... c'mon over!
So Christmas is THIS WEEK! Have you heard? As with every year, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to roll like a runaway train and before you know it, you're smack dab in the middle of Christmas week and may have forgotten a gift or two.
And who doesn't like to receive something fabulous delivered right to their door?
Recently, I was sent some fabulous gifts by the lovely team over at 1-800-Flowers and I want to share with you that these gifts are not your everyday fruitcake. These are amazing gifts that not only make an impression... they are amazing in taste as well!
First up, Cheryl's cookies. Yes, they are a box of cookies, BUT... they come beautifully wrapped and taste wonderful.
I opened the box to find the cookies presented in this. Beautiful, right? A sparkly box. I guarantee you will want to keep the box, even. It's THAT beautiful up close.
Open up the box... each cookie is wrapped individually! Buttercream frosted! yum!
Cheryl's cookies are a perfect and affordable gift. And, Cheryl's has a cookie club! Send someone the gift of cookies all year!
The next item I received was the sleigh gift basket. I wanted to show you how this arrives because don't you always wonder when you order a gift, how it's presented and if they take enough care in packaging it?
The sleigh basket is rather large. And the above picture is what it looked like when I received it. It came in a large box and inside the box, the basket was braced with dividers. This basket wasn't going anywhere! (Just how you want it!) The basket itself was shrink wrapped and draped with a beautiful gold and red bow. It literally looked JUST like the photo on the website:
The sleigh is beautiful and can be reused as hoilday decor for years to come. It would make a great serving piece! Drap a beautiful napkin inside and serve holiday rolls or Christmas morning cinnamon rolls out of? Or reuse it for a wonderful holiday centerpiece!
If you're stumped over what to buy someone, feel like you're running out of time but want something special and beautiful? Just hop over to 1-800-Flowers or 1-800-Baskets. They will be shipping even on December 23 to get them to your loved ones on for the holiday. Below are the order deadlines. Make it easy on yourself and order NOW and know that something beautiful will be delivered straight to their door!
And guess what? MyDaily.com is offering 25% off code that can be used before December 31. Just use the code "Daily25deal" for 25% off your order.
1-800-BASKETS.COM (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 1 p.m. EST Dec. 23)
Fannie May Fine Chocolates (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 11 a.m. EST Dec. 23)
Cheryl’s Baked Goods (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 3 p.m. EST Dec. 23)
The Popcorn Factory (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 3 p.m. EST Dec. 23)
I love this raffia vase! Amanda at The Hand Me Down House shows how to make these beautiful textured vases out of mason jars, raffia and Mod Podge.
I love the colors of the raffia and how they create such a great texture! These would be nice for a rustic fall wedding. Make the vases ahead of time and give them to your florist to fill.
And remember.... Goodwill or thrift stores for the jars!
Do you have a Halloween display but need something with height or need something to fill in the end spaces? Make this easy urn with only 4 items.
The urn: Originally beige. Bought at Goodwill. As you know, I buy these whenever I see them at Goodwill. Just add spray paint! They are perfect for floral arrangements.
The sticks: I bought these at Goodwill as well. They were in a large bundle. They've been in my garage for a LONG time and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them (until now.) They were originally brown. You don't even have to buy any - just use sticks you find in your area.
The Spanish Moss: Dollar Tree! Only used 1 package for 2 urns.
The Helper: My son, Keaton.
You can see where the sticks were brown. Just drop some floral foam into the urns. My son had a ball poking in each stick. Then I spray painted the whole thing black. When dry, fill in the urn with spanish moss and you're done!
These would make perfect Thanksgiving pieces too. Just paint GOLD or maybe cover the sticks or urn in gold leaf!
So easy, this pennant centerpiece from Embellished Life is perfect!
Attach triangles of scrapbook paper to sticks using twine. Want something more fancy? How about mixing a pretty brown/turquoise damask with the sticks? Tie on the paper with a nice brown or tan satin?
Or, make it a children's centerpiece. Use character or themed scrapbook paper and attach it with curling ribbon? Even spray paint the stick for more color. This would even make a great non-spooky Halloween centerpiece. Use candy corn as the vase filler.
Love the use of popcorn kernels as vase filler. Inexpensive and it adds another color and textural depth. Perfect for a fall centerpiece.
The time of year is perfect for an outdoor dinner party! Julie of A Reason to Get Together took advantage of the perfect weather and her love of Julia Child to put together a French dinner party in her back yard.
Julie had each of her guests bring a dish out of a particular cookbook as well as the wine that complimented the dish. For invitations, she used Evite which kept track of what everyone was bringing and avoided duplications.
This party was extremely budget friendly and Julie shopped her decor from previous parties as well as her local thrift stores and yard sales. For example, the ties on the backs of the chairs were strips of sheets she found at yard sales.
She created 60 YARDS of bunting herself that draped from the fence and trees. The same patterns of fabric were used as napkin rings.
I love the fabric flowers!
Drop in to Julie's blog to see more photos of this fresh vintage design!
A simple large glass fishbowl filled with coffee beans and several large white flowers...
add in an LED tea light ...
and it turns into this at night. Beautiful.
photo credit: life in the thrifty lane
If you read this blog much, you know that I shop Goodwill quite a bit. For me, and I know how corny this sounds, it's a place to clear my head and flip the creative switch. I've told this to people before and many just don't understand. Or, I've had several people write in saying they just never "see" things at Goodwill or can't find anything good. With these comments as well as a few people asking what my thought process is while shopping Goodwill, I thought I'd start a series where I show things I find and the logic of how I'd use it. There are many times that a theme is seen and decor pieces are put together AT Goodwill.
Let's get started. These photos I'm showing today came from one store. During one trip.
First, I always find many many items that jump out as inspiration pieces. Here are a few:
Polka dot box. The famous disco dot pattern. Michael Miller revived the disco dot pattern and I'm so glad he did. It's everywhere! When I saw this, I thought it was perfect to design several occasions around. Baby shower, young girl's birthday, bachelorette party, summer girl's get together, to name a few. Uses for the box? It would be beautiful to sit a large carnation ball in as a centerpiece or line with tissue paper and use to hold favors, etc. Of course, just the box along is adorable and would make a great gift box. Throw in some Bath and Body Works products and a note for a friend who needs a pick me up?
Children's art. This was a poster size piece of children's art on canvas. Absolutely adorable! You know how I talk about backdrops a lot. This would be a great backdrop or focal point of a table for a baby shower. Especially if the theme of the shower or the baby's nursery is something included in this art. This is an amazing piece for party decor because it has so many common themes included: airplane, animals, firetrucks, robot, rocket, etc. A great piece to tie into!
Tea cup. Looking at it now, I should have put it against something to really get the scale of this thing. It was HUGE. First thing I thought when I saw it was spray paint it! Secondly, I thought 2 things: either using it for an Alice in Wonderland party or a fun tea party either for little girls or older. Uses for it may be holding a floral centerpiece or using as a punchbowl (seriously, it was THAT large). Of course, you'd have to line it with another bowl if you spray painted it to make it safe for food/beverage. Or, place a large round piece of wood on top and use it as a themed cupcake stand or serving piece. Lots of uses for this but it definitely needed to be painted first.
Then there are items that I see that already have a theme. Like these three things:
Firetruck boots. No transformation needed! Add them to a firetruck theme child's birthday. And do what with them? Create a floral arrangement or fill them with floral foam and stick in long all day suckers. Another idea is to stick something in the bottom of both of them to elevate a cup and fill the cup with fun striped straws like these from Garnish.
Chairs. Snow White and Cinderella. Very common children's themes. When I look at these, I see cupcake stands or a great place to hold a platter. In using them to serve food, you won't be covering up the characters and can use them to really add a larger decor piece to your party inexpensively. Plus, you can give them to the guest of honor afterwards! These needed just a bit of touch up paint on the edges and they would be perfect!
Dragons. I instantly think something like Harry Potter. This could easily be in the center of your table on a stand or an easel.
Now there are many times that the Goodwill stars align and you find several items that fit one theme.
Like during this trip, I saw this. A massive margarita glass. I'm thinking margarita party featuring various flavors, or a gathering of friends before a Jimmy Buffett concert to create a margaritaville concept. Luau, pool party... tons of themes.
How would you use it? Floral arrangement? Or place 3 regular size margarita glasses inside this one to create a graduated stand to display margarita cupcakes? Or, if you're serving margaritas on the rocks, it's a great serving piece.
So, in the next aisle over, there was this sign. Perfect to use in the margarita theme. You can't tell it from the photo, but the actual margarita is 3D in that it is raised and has depth. Really cute! Place it on an easel to add additional theme and color.
Need dishes to continue the colorful occasion? Again, one aisle over....
The great thing about Goodwill is that, more times than not, you can find whole sets of dishes.
Then you're well on your way to a party!
So there you have it! A small glimpse of how my mind works while shopping Goodwill. For those of you that wrote in, I hope it's useful. :) Email or leave a comment below! I'm happy to make this a regular feature!