Tea Time

There is something so magical about brunch and girlfriends - two of my favorite things, especially when they are together!  I decided to throw together an impromptu pot luck brunch to break up the winter doldrums.  Even though it was last minute, I still started a Pinterest board to help me visualize the 'feel' I wanted as I pulled out my serving dishes and tea towels while keeping my eye out for a few special touches.  I settled on a Spring palette to inject a little cheer into the cold winter day.

I invited everyone over on a lazy Sunday afternoon and asked them to bring their favorite brunch dish to share and offered a variety of fragrant loose leaf teas.  To keep the potluck organized I pre set my table the night before with designated spots for dishes so that when they arrived there was no question how or where it would fit on the table and it resulted in a beautiful (and delicious!) tablescape.  Since it was close to St. Patrick's Day, I used mini pots of clovers for both decoration and a little parting gift for my ladies.  They make me feel so lucky to have such great friends!

Fancy Flowers

I went down to my old stomping grounds of Philadelphia for the weekend and enjoyed their annual Flower Show with some great friends and family.  Every year the show gets bigger and better and this year was no exception.  The theme was British with displays that ranged from the wild countryside to the posh parties!  All of it was brilliant inspiration...

English Daisy - one of my new faves!

Soft flowers and Hard brick

Swoon!  My favorite display of the day!!!!

Minimalism to the MAX

My kind of Tea Party!

Leave No Milestone Left Unturned

A garden brings life and beauty to the table. - Alice Waters (via Talula's Garden)

This past weekend I had the honor of hosting a milestone birthday celebration for one of my best girlfriends!  The birthday girl chose the venue and then tossed the reins over to myself and another co-conspirator to run with it.  We were immediately inspired by the farm to table menu and cozy atmosphere at Talula's Garden in Philadelphia!

After deciding to incorporate floral elements, we developed a modern palette of lilac, peach, and crimson with golden highlights to pop against the weathered garden setting.  I wanted to create some party elements while keeping it simple since we would be in a restaurant and not have a lot of room on the communal table or a lot of time prior to our seating to set up...

The solution was bright tissue paper flowers wrapped around colorful 'seed bombs' in gold flower pots that performed double duty as table decoration and party favor... and with the swipe of a paint marker could have served as placecards too!  Similar instructions can be found from Martha Stewart.  The whole table was visually tied together with a roll of gold web ribbon and pre-made dimensional flower stickers running down the center.

As pretty as the party table turned out, we still needed to highlight that this was no ordinary birthday - this was the big 3-0!  So, taking more cues from the garden setting, I created a pair of 3-0 topiaries out of styrofoam wreaths (dollar store!!) and adhesive backed sheet moss.  I modified one of the wreaths into a three with some strategic cuts and toothpicks to hold it all back together.  I spray painted some dowels with the same gold paint used on the flower pots and inserted them into the wreaths and a block of styrofoam in a flower pot. (psst! would make great table numbers too!)  Lastly, I added some more moss and fairy critters to the base and some ribbons in the party colors to the topiary stem!

The Birthday Girl has a soft spot for all things magical!

Another way to celebrate my friend's special birthday, we displayed some photos of her as a baby and growing up!  Some were framed in gold frames while others with coordinating lilac and crimson floral scrapbooking papers and they were all tucked in amongst the restaurants existing display of found objects. 

Both the guest of honor and all of the guests got a kick out of seeing the birthday girl on the day she was born, her 1st birthday, her college graduation day, her wedding day, etc. which made a great conversation starter!  We all had a great time and great food - including the birthday girl's favorite: donuts and s'mores!

Happy Easter!

Enjoy your celebrations!!  As a hostess gift, I created a simple Easter centerpiece from a basket ($1!!), two pre-potted mini-daffodils, a cute green flocked bunny pick (that I thought looked like a mini topiary!) and some paper shreds to cover the pots!  After the holiday, the flowers are ready for replanting!

Bunny

Happy Spring!

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~ Robin Williams

 "Weeds" + Empty Bottles = Instant Centerpiece!

Winter Cocktail Fete

Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake… - Sir Francis Bacon

This winter we gathered some friends and threw a cocktail party at our little apartment.  I love extending the sparkle of the holidays into the New Year to help brighten the darkest days of the year!  We have lots of great things to look forward to this year and this was a fantastic way to kick it off!

For a frosty effect, I pooled together my most sparkly Christmas decorations and my white and metallic everyday items.  This included my ever expanding mercury glass collection comprised of candlesticks, vases, and ornaments.  I used the pieces in little groupings on the food table.  To continue the winter effect into the living room, I created a tall arrangement for the coffee table using found sticks and white carnations.  It was very easy and was inspired by this post from Gibson King!

Outside, we lined the driveway in luminaries to greet guests and lead them to the back entrance.  They were simple to assemble: LED tea lights from the dollar store in white paper favor bags from the party store with some sand from the beach to weight them down.

Our tree features more of my Mercury Glass collection and glittery snowflakes plus some ornaments inspired by our beach side home.  This year I upped the frosty feeling by weaving in white feather boas among the branches - it was a beautiful glowy snowy effect!!

Awhile back I had scooped up some beautiful multi-tiered serving dishes from Home Goods and couldn't wait to use them for a beautiful dessert display.  For this party, I was very excited to use them to create an all winter white Dessert Bar!  I paraded them 3 in a row down the center of a runner so they could double as decoration!

Here are some "Winter White Dessert Bar" Suggestions...

• Sugar Cookies
• Mini Vanilla Cupcakes
• Powdered Donut Holes or Mini Donuts
• Merangues
• White Chocolate Covered Pretzels
• White M&M's
• White Chocolate Truffles
• Kettle Corn

My latest cocktail obsession is St. Germain liquor!  For the feature cocktail of the evening, I poured up glasses of chilled Champagne, topped them off with some St. Germain and dropped in a few raspberries!  The drink was refreshing and a huge hit!  While sipping cocktails, nothing is better in the winter than a cozy fire!  We don't have a fireplace, but my boyfriend was excited to get the bonfire pit going for guests to gather around!

Garden Party

Daisies are like sunshine to the ground. - Drew Barrymore

Friends of mine had a wonderful joint birthday party this weekend held in a community garden on the Upper West Side. It was the perfect afternoon under the trees, surrounded by brick buildings covered in ivy! The party colors were sunny yellows and bright whites and the invites proclaimed their combined ages. I took these cues and created some festive bouquets of daisies for the birthday girls. Here are some of the tricks behind these arrangements...


One centerpiece used a large square glass vase. To keep the flowers from clumping together or flopping over, I used clear tape to make a grid on the top of the vase. (About 3 strips across each way.) Then simply slip a stem or two in each grid opening!


Another centerpiece used two plastic cups of water tucked inside of a square bamboo box. The plastic bends to fill in the corners of the box!

Two Lips

Earth laughs in flowers. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everyone will tell you that the #1 easiest way to spruce up your home for company (or just yourself!) is to set out fresh flowers! I'm going to tell you how to maximize the impact... either choose flowers all the same color or all the same type - or for a bolder statement, choose both. Another key is to use a few large, bold flowers such as 3 Gerbera Daisies in individual stem vases or a whole bunch of small, dense flowers such as a bucket-full of Aster Flowers. My absolute favorite flower is the Tulip for its graphic shape and intense color.

*Pretty*

*Gorgeous*