Real Weddings: Annike's Bouquet

Annike's bouquet featured birds of paradise, free spirit roses, lisianthus, stock, hypericum, zinnias, and dusty miller.

The bridesmaids featured lilies, free spirit roses, lisianthus, hypericum, zinnias, larkspur, and dusty miller.

I snapped a picture of her dress while I was dropping off the flowers.

Sneak Peek: Christophersen Wedding

Supper Club: Asian Theme

Goodbye Morgan and Brian!  We had our last Supper Club with the Points who are moving down to Santa Barbara.

We made Rachael Rae's Chicken Lettuce Wraps.  These were good - but some cashews would add a really nice crunch.

Sake - really not a fan, hot or cold.  I am a fan of my Gurgle Pot though!! I really think I need one in every color...

Crab Rangoons (without any crab)  My sister-in-law makes these and they're delicious and easy.  While we were shopping Mike asked me if I got the crab. I replied that we didn't need any because, in fact, they don't call for any.  He looked at me  and repeated the name, "Crab Rangoons," then googled it and proved me wrong.  When I called her up to ask, she explained that she just prefers them without. So really these are Cheese Rangoons - still delicious.

Sweet and Sour Chicken by Rasa Maylasia.  This was probably my favorite dish of the night.  It definitely had a spicy side!

Morgan made Steamed Coconut cakes.  They were very spongey and light.  She also brought some amazing loose leaf tea and Pocky Sticks (those things are addicting!). Brian made his version of Mai Tais and we did fried and white rice. (Katie's little girl was sick and we missed their amazing additions.)
Bye Morgan and Brian!

DIY: $2 Frame Chalkboard

So many people seem to be able to find a really fun ornate frame at the thrift store for under $5. I, however, am not one of those people! Our small town thrift shops just don't seem to stock those. I settled for this really large frame for $1.89 (can't beat the price right?!). I felt a little bad when the worker said, "ahh so neat painting huh?" only for me to respond with, "well I'm turning it into a chalkboard." Clearly I didn't think it was such a neat painting.

This took about five minutes while Asa ate his lunch.

1. Clean the glass and remove the frame.

2. Use chalk spray paint directly on the glass and flat white (or anything) on the frame. (Rustoleum is my favorite!)

3. After a few coats - voila!

4. Make sure to allow the chalkboard paint a good 24 hours to dry. I didn't and some of it scraped up while I wrote and I had to re-do it.

5. Once it's dry, take the chalk sideways (no sharp edges) and rub it gently all over the board. Gently rub it off with a rag. And now it's good to go.

My husband put it back together and I now have a chalkboard hanging up in the pantry. It's already been helpful in preventing me from forgetting to buy key pantry supplies!

Inspiration Board: Pink and Green Gerbs

Inspiration Board: Black and White with Lime Green

Real Weddings: Lenora's Bouquet

Lenora wanted a very natural feel for her wedding and so she wanted all of her flowers to come from the cutting garden. I love the cutting garden but it always makes me a little nervous just because I never quite know what will be blooming and cutting garden flowers don't have the same life-span as greenhouse or specially cultivated varieties (especially on hot days). But she was laid back about the colors, just so long as it was colorful and contained sunflowers. The bridesmaids and I trekked on out there and picked and picked (it was hard to get some of them to stop picking and believe that we really did have enough!). There's always one more perfect bloom you can't pass up! (A really fun bunch of bridesmaids!)

I was thrilled with the colors when we got out there. We opted for snapdragons, sunflowers, chive blossoms, lavender, solidago, bupleurum, and rudebeckia. The navy bridesmaids' dresses set them off perfectly! I'll show you the professional shots when I get them.

Real Weddings: Hui/Fowler Wedding

Kena Helen Photography shot Cecilia's wedding and did a fabulous job!  Cecilia wanted soft flowers with warm tones of creamy white and accents of butter yellow for the bridesmaids and red for hers.  Even with our late spring, peonies weren't available in July so I used hydrangea, dahlias, ranunculus, freesia, roses, and gladiolus (for the stage arrangements only).  

Cecilia had me attach bracelets to the top of each of the bridesmaids' bouquets and an old brooch on hers.

Here's the inspiration board for Cecilia's wedding.

Feature Flower: Free Spirit Rose

Free Spirit is one of my favorite orange roses! It has a large head with slightly ruffled petals that smell amazing! A lot of greenhouse roses don't have scent since they're bred for size, color, life span etc.. but these have a great scent along with a decent life span.

Inspiration Board: Teal with Vibrant Orange, Pink, and Purple

Vacation!

We're headed out to Lake Michigan this week!! Time for a lot of relaxing, eating, reading, and enjoying family!

Inspiration Board: Teal with Golden Sunflowers

Boutonniere Details

I love detailed boutonnieres! (Even though I use that word ALL the time, I still have to double check my spelling on it!) They're like the appetizer of flowers - one perfect bite. The classic rose is definitely fine but I'm a fan of the unique.

Lenora was really easy going and had so many colors in her flowers that the bouts had endless possibilities. While we were at the cutting garden one of her bridesmaids spotted the chive heads and that's exactly what I wanted to use! I found some poppy pods and we were set to go! I added a sprig of lavender to mimic the bridesmaids and also to mask any scent that the chive might give off. The twine suits it perfectly don't you think?

Any pictures of favorite boutonnieres out there?

Bassinet Makeover

Here's another post that's just taken forever for me to blog!  At the end of last summer I found this Eddie Bauer bassinet for $5 at a yard sale.  It was in great condition, just missing a wheel.

BEFORE - this is what it looked like before.  It just didn't match the plans for Ida's room and I wanted to have fresh bedding.  So we painted it white and after searching all over for new bedding I decided to venture out and make some! And here's the result! Just don't look too closely - I had to fudge a few things.

I didn't attempt to re-create the canopy.  I used coupons at JoAnns for the fabric so the total makeover cost was $35 for paint, fabric and notions plus an extra $20 for the baskets which I got on sale at Michaels. My husband had some spare wheels that he put on there and voila! $60 - great sewing challenge and fun project! (They retail over $100)

This storage space has been invaluable on those late night feedings and diaper changes!  Everything's right there.

She's been pretty happy with it.

Just love those chubby cheeks!

Watermelon Shark Head

We get really excited for Discovery Channel's Shark Week every year - our two-in-a-half year old is also very excited to watch "the sharkies." (He picked that up from LeapFrog Numbers Ahoy.)

I saw this posted on Pinterest today! How fun is that?! Don't know that we'll do it this year but someday we'll throw a shark week party.

DIY: Tree Branch Arch

For the wedding this past weekend the bride wanted some kind of tree arch. After being inspired by this arch from Martha Stewart my fantastic husband helped me construct this. It was incredibly hot and the building wasn't air-conditioned but it survived!

Here's our how-to:

2 large heavy urns (I found the large urns at Michaels on sale! Make sure they're heavy.)

2 bags of sand

tree branches with two at least 7' or more (depending on the size of arch you want) We used maple branches from our backyard. You don't want anything too bendy as it won't hold itself up.

wire (I used bind wire which is a paper wrapped wire -you can get from a florist or Michaels sometimes)

crowning glory (again you can get this from a florist)

Position your two tall branches in each urn. Have someone hold them in place while you add sand. Lean them together and attach with wire. Trim off odd branches. Add short branches to fill in the base.

I sprayed the whole thing with tons of crowning glory, which helps maintain moisture.