Rustic Bridal Shower

My brother in law is getting married at the end August and we recently had a bridal shower for my fabulous future sister in law at the same place where they are getting married. They are having the wedding at this fabulous farm a few miles from my parents house. Mom and I had a lot of fun decorating the barn.

Here's the entrance:

 

We used lots of burlap and lace for decorations. The wedding will be using some of the same decorations as well.

We had a sangria bar set up.

Yum!

 

I made an easy fun little banner by putting gold stickers on a premade set.

 



I made some delicious cupcakes from recipes I found here and here. They were super delicious!

Here's some more pictures of the barn and the various decorations:

Cowgirl Themed Birthday

My little girl turned four on Saturday. We had a super fun cowgirl themed birthday party for her. I'm going to share a lot of pictures, so be aware that this is a pic heavy post!

I made a deco-mesh wreath for the front door with burlap flowers:

I decorated the magnetic photo board for the occasion:

That picture is from last year. Maddy is growing so much!

I made a rag garland from pink and turquoise bandannas, burlap, tulle and cotton fabric to hang on the china hutch:

I made Maddy a tutu overall dress combo with some of the same fabrics:

I also bought her these cute boots on clearance as well as a hat, but she only wore both for about five seconds. (go figure!)

I knew she wouldn't wear the hat very long, so I made her this hair clip as well.

Here's one of her in the outfit (minus the boots and big hat)

Then there was the food spread.

My mom made the rope sign with Maddy's name.

I may have went overboard on sweet stuff.

My mother in law made the cake, as that is her specialty.

But I did make some cupcakes with chocolate and/or peanut butter cowboy boots on top.

Yum! We had hot dogs and hamburgers for the main dish (no picture of those!) I served pink lemonade in mason jars (sorry for this blurry pic).

I also had glass bottles of root beer on ice in a galvanized wash tub, but seem to have not pictures of that. I made a bandanna banner for above the food table:

I had goodie bags for the kids. I cheated on the bags and just used paper bags I found at the dollar store that had Woody and Buzz from Toy Story on them.

I also had plastic cowboy hats for the kids that had sheriff stars on them. Whew! That was quite a lot of making and decorating. I had so much fun doing it though. I love themed parties. I may have gone just a touch over board on this one. Maddy had fun,although opening presents was a bit overwhelming for her with so many people watching. I was surprised how many people dressed up with western shirts and hats (my hubby included)! I'm glad however, that Maddy's birthdays only come once a year.

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Planning to share at: Metamorphosis Monday; Give Me the Goods Monday; Made by You Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party;  Whatever Goes Wednesday; Wildly Original Linky Party; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Serenity Now Weekend Blog Hop; 

Pinspiration: Make it already #2

I've been seeing great button art all over Pinterest. Like this super cute cupcake from It's Written on the Wall:




So I decided to make my own button art finally (I know, I know, I just made that pumpkin button art the other day, but this is more...buttony). Here's what I came up with:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas:

I can't seem to stop myself now that I've begun gluing buttons! Have you ever done any button art?

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

*Planning to share at:
Metamorphasis Monday; Give Me the Goods Monday; Time To Sparkle Tuesday Linky Party; Trash to Treasure; The Power of Paint Party; Wildly Original Linky Party; Transformation Thursday; What have you redone?; Shabbilicious Friday; Start at Home Paint Party; Funky Junk Interiors' Party Junk; Clever Chicks Blog Hop; Serenity Now Weekend Blog Hop

Burlap Planter Liner

I had a problem. I have a planter on my deck rail that has one of those coconut liners. But after a couple of years it looked like this:

Try as I might, I could not find another liner that would fit in the basket. I started thinking about the materials I had around the house that might do the job. That's when I thought of this:

A pile of burlap left over from various furniture projects. Aha! I took lined the basket with several layers of the burlap and filled it up with dirt:

Time for the flowers!

I put in some alyssum, pansies, and blue ageratum. I wasn't too sure about using the burlap, but shortly after I planted this, I saw this post over at Penny's Vintage Home where she lined an entire shopping cart to use it as a planter. I wish I had that shopping cart to use as a planter!

I planted this a few weeks ago, and it has filled out some. I will post an update pic after awhile to show how the flowers are doing.

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

What Did I Do With It? #3

Last time on What Should I Do With It Wednesday I posted this. I was thinking about making into a lamp or pendant light some how, but after the suggestions in the comments, I decided to go much simpler.

A little burlap with some stenciling and this is what I got:

I got the image from Karen at The Graphics Fairy here. I printed it out as is, laid the burlap over top of the printout and traced it with a black fabric marker. Here's a close up of the bird:

I just tied the piece of burlap with a string I pulled from the burlap itself. I think it turned out great. What do you think?

Don't settle for dull, live a refinished life!

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