Easter Tablescape

I'm not very happy with my Easter tablescape either (see previous post about my disappointing Easter mantle).  Maybe I'm just not an Easter decor person.  I normally don't decorate in pastels although I do love them.  So maybe I'm just having trouble working with the Easter color palate.  But I thought I'd share my Easter tablescape before I undo it and start working on the next one which I hope will turn out so much better!

I knew I wanted to do an Easter tree.  My aunt got me the fabulous sparkly egg garland and the egg ornaments and I needed the perfect branch to hang them on.  My bf and I went hiking a few weeks ago and I found this one.  I live in an apartment so branches aren't readily available.  So he was sweet enough to carry this one for me for the remainder of our hike.  I used colorful marble rocks (my go-to filler) to stablize the branch.  I had the green and blue polka dot fabric left over from a Pickles and Ice Cream baby shower I co-hosted last summer.  So I put it all on the table and here is the finished product.

Linking this post to:

Easter is Almost Here

I'm finally posting pics of my spring/Easter mantle.  I have to be honest, I'm not very happy with it.  It just didn't turn out like I envisioned.  But I'm ready to start working on my next mantle (which I'm super excited about!) so I'm not going to mess with this one anymore. 

I got this little guy from the Dollar Tree and painted him a springy blue/green color.

The bird basket centerpiece that I was so excited about making just didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to.  I'm not sure what is missing.  I painted a basket that my mom had given me that I wasn't using for anything (see pic below).  My always helpful boyfriend drew and cut out the birds and wings for me out of scrapbook paper I had.  Then I painted a few plastic eggs (and then got tired of painting them so I just put them in the basket) and tied a bow on the basket.

The only thing I bought for the mantle was the vase on the left (on clearance at Kirklands) and the bird from the Dollar Tree so the whole mantle only cost $5. But it still just doesn't do it for me... What do you think?

Linking to: 

     

Cupcake Compilations

My mom is considering opening a cupcake shop.  At this point she's just gathering ideas and trying to get a game plan together.  I think its an awesome idea and I want to try to find some inspiration for her and put together an idea board.  I know how many amazing design and craft blogs there are and I'm thinking there are probably some equally amazing baking blogs.  So I'm looking for suggestions.  If anyone has a favorite blog they think I should check out please let me know.  It doesn't have to be cupcakes, just any kind of decorative desserts!  I'll check them out and post pics of some of my favorites.  Thanks!

Please Follow Me

One of the things that I added last weekend when I did my blog makeover was the Follow feature.  I've always used the Blogger Reading List to keep up with my favorite blogs.  Now I need some followers!  I've linked to Follow Me Friday at the Trendy Treehouse and already found some awesome blogs to follow (when I should be getting in the shower because I have to leave for work in 45 minutes)!  So if you like my blog please become a Follower and I'll do the same!

Blog Sale!

A friend of mine had a "yard sale" on her blog the other day and I thought it was a brilliant idea. Its an awesome way to get rid of some decorating stuff that I'm not using right now and probably won't use again without having to go through the hassle of having a traditional yard sale. So here's how it goes. You'll have to have a verified Paypal account to use to pay for your purchases. If you see something you like leave a comment telling me which item you want and its yours and I'll mark it as sold. Once you're done shopping e-mail your address to me at kris_ham@hotmail.com and I'll calculate the shipping and give you a total. Happy shopping!!!  (You can click on the pics to enlarge them)
*********************UPDATE*****************************
There are still a few things left from the blog sale.  I've removed the items that have been sold so the post would be shorter.  If there's anyting left that you would like leave a comment or send me an e-mail and its yours.

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Southern Living at Home Tuscan Olive Jar-$3 (Sold)

    

Bradford Designs Wall Organizer-$5 (Sold)

Southern Living at Home Container-$1.50

Porcelain Jars-$3 (for the set) (Note-vinegar jar has a small chip on the top by the handle.  I can e-mail you a pic if you want to see it)

Small decorative plate-$1 (Sold)

Canvas Print-$3

Picture-$3

Picture-$3

Picture-$3

Finger tip towel holder-$2 (Sold)

W tile trivet and magnet-$1

Hand soap dispenser-$2.50

Decorative hand towel-$1.50 (Sold)

Decorative hand towel-$1.50 (Sold)

Guest towel holder with 15 disposable towels-$3.50

12 Shabby chic shower curtain hooks-$1.50

W monogram soaps (set of 3)-$2

2 5x7 frames 1 8x10 frame-$2 a piece or $5 for all 3

8x10 frame-$2

8x10 frame-$2

Green metallic wall shelf (this is a little greener in real life then it looks in this pic, the back is unpainted)-$2 (Sold)

Crosses (set of 2)-$2 (Sold)

Waiting for Easter's Arrival

Once again its snowing in Northwest Arkansas.  We are SO tired of the snow!  But I'm trying to brighten up the day some by giving my blog a Spring makeover, posting pics of some Easter and Spring projects I've completed, and working on a few new projects!   My aunt got me a few Easter goodies at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago.  She thought they looked like me.  One of her finds was a pink feather boa with glittery Easter eggs attached.  I decided to use it to make an Easter wreath for my front door.  I used a wire wreath frame from Hobby Lobby and wrapped the boa around it.  She had also got me this fabulous green egg that I tied a ribbon around and hung in the middled of my wreath.  To add just a little fun to it I topped it with a set of bunny ears I bought last year for my niece to play with.  Pink?  Check.  Glittery?  Check.  Love it?  Check!

I'm linking it to the Weekend Wrap Up at Tatertots and Jello.

 

Here is a picture of the inspiration for a project that I'm working on right now.  Its from the Hostess With the Mostess blog.  I'm working on my own variation of it and will post pics as soon as I'm done.  I'm also finishing up my Easter tablescape and will post pics of it later today too (hopefully...).

I'm entering my wreath in Be Thou a Knight's Front Door Decor Blog Hop.

Now What? How About a Trip to Candyland?

I am officially ready for spring. Its snowing here, again. I can probably count on one hand the number of days since Christmas we have had where there was no snow on the ground anywhere. Valentine's day is over now and I'm ready to get started on spring projects but it just doesn't seem right. So I've decided to take some time to work on some posts from past projects and parties that I've done.
Today I'm going to post some pics from my niece's 2nd birthday party last October. She's a huge fan of the Candyland movie so my sister and I thought this would make a super cute party theme. I'm the party planner in the family but I was in the process of selling my house, moving 3 hours away, and finding a new job so I feel like there is so much more we could have done but the time just wasn't there. But the weather that day was perfect and my niece adored it so I guess that makes it a success. My camera battery died right before the party started so my friend Rebecca (who is a wonderful photographer) took pictures and I'm very thankful for them!

The Invitation-This is the invitation that we used. I generally like to hand-make invitations but since we were in a time crunch I found a cute photo invite that I had printed and then I glued the pics on sparkly card stock. The Cake-We always make my niece her own special little cake. My mom is the baker in the family. I like to decorate cakes but I don't like to bake ones that actually need to look good and taste good. So mom made the cakes and the icing (homemade chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting). Last year we used fondant to make the cake. It turned out pretty good but was extremely time consuming. (You can see pics of her 1st birthday party and cake here:
http://anythingthatglitters.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-princess-party-pics.html)
So this year we took the easy route. I sprayed the bottom layer with pink airbrush food coloring and covered it with pink and purple sprinkles. The I covered the top layer with multi color cake sprinkles and places gum drops at the bottom of both layers. Hobby Lobby had some wonderful candy themed Christmas ornaments and that is where the lollipops and the gum drop topper came from. This cake definitely wasn't as professional looking as the cake we made last year but it only took about an hour to decorate.

The Food-The party was on a Sunday afternoon so we mostly had colorful finger foods. My mom made her famous "Crack Cakes". They are the most addicting cupcakes I've ever had! I used the same multi-colored and pink/purple sprinkles on these that I did on the cake. On some of the cupcakes I used the lollipop ornaments that I also used on the cake. I also found some pink and purple castle picks that looked like the Candyland castle so I used these on some of the cupcakes. On the other cupcakes I used gumdrops or decorative candies.

We tried to make cookie lollipops. They were a challenge. The sparkly gel that I used to draw the center was extremely difficult to work with. The cookies also kept separating from the sticks and breaking. They tasted good though! We had a bowl of colored gold fish and I made my signature Marinated Mozzarella.

We filled ice cream cones with chocolate mousse and topped them with ice cream sprinkles.

We served Kool-Aid in my crystal beverage server with a BIG bow on top! The Decorations-I had some much fun with the decorations for this party! Luckily, Hobby Lobby has their Christmas decorations out in August and they had a lot of the pink/purple/green/blue candy color scheme that I wanted. So that's where the majority of the party decorations came from. At one end of the deck I set up a gift table and at the other end there was a Candy Bar (pics on that in a minute). For centerpieces on these table I put large glittery flowers in clear glass vases filled with multi colored glass pebbles. From the branches of the flowers I hung glittery gumdrop ornaments.

On the center tables (the food table and activity table) I used two smaller arrangements with a party hat in the center. The arrangements were from the Christmas pick section at Hobby Lobby. I hung smaller lollipop ornaments from them. The butterflies were also from Hobby Lobby. The party hat was made from cone Christmas trees I found at the Dollar Tree. I also found some purple garland at the Dollar Tree (it was Halloween garland that had to have the skulls removed before we could use it) and we hot glued it to the bottom of the cones.

We made giant lollipops and gumdrops to decorate the deck. The lollipop were created by painting large wooden circles and wooden dowels (both from Hobby Lobby). Then I swirled glue in the center and sprinkled glitter on it. Then we dusted the circle with a clear glitter. We also lined the driveway with the lollipops. The gumdrops were my attempt to get the most decorations for as little money as possible. I got a package of metallic balloons which we blew up (luckily I had a lot of help for this project!). We wrapped the balloons in clear cellophane and tied the ends with curling ribbon. They were super cheap and super cute! The Activity Table-I knew there was going to be a large age range of kids at the party so I wanted to have some things set up for them to do on their own instead of organized games. I set up an activity table with a Candyland board game, coloring pages, and supplies to make Gingerbread people. The gingerbread activity consisted of foam gingerbread shapes, pom pon balls, googly eyes, and glitter glue. It was a HUGE hit!

The Candy Bar-The gingerbread people activity may have been a huge hit, but I think all of the kids would agree that the Candy Bar was the best part of the party. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pics of it. This is just the center of the table. There was a whole buffet though.

The end result was one happy birthday girl!