How Ladylike!

Oh, how pretty.  Camellias are just gorgeous, and they come in a wide array of hues between white and red.  Camellias bring back memories of our Great Grandma Steigenga, who had several camellia bushes growing against her sweet little house when we were kids.  On Sundays, after church, we'd often go to Great Grandma's for coffee and cake, and us kids would play outside.  Many times, we'd bring fallen camellia blooms into Great Grandma for her to float in a teacup.  They were pretty then, and they are just as beautiful now!  If you have a camellia bush growing, you can use these sweet blooms en masse or alone to brighten up a table or a corner of the house that just needs a little special something.  (If you don't have a camellia bush, you might consider now to be a great time to go to your local nursery to pick one up.  You can easily grow them in the ground or in containers).


Camellias really get our vote for one of the most ladylike blooms out there.  Now is their peak performance time as camellia bushes are full of pretty flowers.  These blooms make for the prettiest little arrangements.  You can bunch them together in low-lying vessels (see above) that are otherwise too short for other flowers.   Or, you can float a single bloom to make a different kind of arrangement (see below).

Glitter Initials

Here's a little "tutorial" on how to make these fun glitter initials.  Pardon the photography---the project is much prettier in real life!  This project is very inexpensive, yet it yields a beautiful keepsake.  In these tough financial times, it's fun to handcraft things that are inexpensive, unique, and much more appreciated than something storebought.  

First, you'll need to print out your initial.  This one was made using Photoshop.  A fun black and white background and a dark initial.  If you aren't Photoshop-savvy, you can duplicate this look by going to the craft store and buying some scrapbook paper in a fun pattern.  Make sure the pattern has good contrast of light and dark so it will photocopy well.  Then, use your computer and print out your initial.  Cut the scrapbook paper into a square (whatever size you desire) and also cut out the initial.  Paste the initial on top of the scrapbook paper and use a photocopier to make a black and white copy.  To make this project come out a little more luxe, we recommend using watercolor paper.  Watercolor paper goes through a copy machine safely and it provides a little texture and heft to the project, which makes the final outcome look more expensive.

Next, you'll need a glue pen.  These can be found at craft stores in a multitude of sizes.  You'll also want to purchase some glitter.  We recommend the Martha Stewart line at your local Michael's.  This glitter is a higher quality than most glitter and will help to make your finished project look more high-end.  For our initials, we used Martha Stewart coarse crystal glitter and Martha Stewart fine white gold glitter.  We mixed the two glitter colors in a shallow bowl and used them together to create a vintage look.  

Carefully outline and fill in the initial with glue and then coat with glitter.  Let that dry for a few minutes and then outline the border of the patterned square with glue and coat with glitter.

Here is a close-up of one of the letters we did.  Again, they are so pretty in person---the photos really don't do them justice!

One tip:  We recommend working in sections because the glue pens tend to dry very quickly.

You can do these large or small!  They turn out great!

The next step really finishes these off:  framing.  Find simple square frames to showcase the initials.



These make wonderful gifts for hostesses, brides-to-be, Christmas, birthdays...whatever!  You could also choose a more casual background and use a pretty colored glitter to do the initial and give it as a gift to a mom in honor of her new baby!  If you don't want to frame these, think of doing small versions and adding pretty ribbon and using them as luxe gift tags, placecards, ornaments...whatever!  Happy glittering!

A Very Important Day...

Please join us in wishing our Dad and Mom (Dave and Babs) a very Happy Anniversary!  We are so glad they got married.  :)  And we feel especially blessed that Dad and Mom have been such amazing examples of what marriage can be when  it's based on loving God first.

Dad and Mom are best friends who still like to hang out with each other more than anyone else.  They are on a big adventure together, as last May they moved to Liberia to love kids and serve through the Rafiki Foundation.  We hope they are finding something fun to do today in Liberia to celebrate their marriage.

We love you, Dad and Mom!

We Love Fishs Eddy!

One of our very favorite places in New York City is Fishs Eddy.  This store is so much fun to peruse, especially if you enjoy entertaining or setting a pretty table!  We are bummed that this store (and New York City) are so far away from our California homes...

Luckily, Fishs Eddy has a website!  No, it's not nearly as fun as perusing the NYC store, but it's nice to know these fun pieces are accessible, even if New York isn't always close by.  Check out the pictures below to get a small taste of the goodies that are available at this fun store.  Jill is rather partial to the glasses and dishes with dogs (she's the consummate dog-lover!) on them and Kari can't help but love the floor plan dishware (because she's up to her eyeballs in floor plans at school!)  Which would be your favorite?

"Honey, I've got to run to Target..."

Oh, those words are common in so many households, aren't they?  You "run" to Target for toilet paper, a prescription, and new socks and, $200 later, you're done.  Target just has too many good things and it can be difficult to show restraint!  The three photos above show a few of the too-cute home items being offered by Target right now.  The designer is Orla Kiely and she has quite a fun flair!  Orla Kiely has long been envied in the design world for her fresh designs and youthful uses of color...and now, her designs are accessible through Target!  The price points are quite good and we would recommend stocking up on a few of her pieces for your springtime parties OR to keep on hand as hostess gifts that will be sure to get you invited back!

Your Easiest Party Ever...

Spontaneity rocks.  Being spontaneous enables you to enjoy something without over thinking, over planning, or over discussing it to death.  Let's apply that same thing to parties...be spontaneous.

Your easiest party ever will be the one that is relaxed, spur-of-the-moment, and casual.  Consider this:  it's Monday today.  What if you decide tonight to throw an after work happy hour on Friday to celebrate the end of the work week?  Tonight, email your friends---a big group of 'em---and tell them that Happy Hour is at your place on Friday.  Tell 'em to come over anytime after 5:30 or so---or, tell them just to drop by whenever they get off work.  On Thursday, head to the grocery store and get a few blocks of cheese, some olives, crackers, some fresh fruit----all easy stuff.  (If you are ambitious or can enlist a willing husband, you might pick up some sausages to grill quickly, slice up, and serve with mustard).  Then, on Friday, put it all out on a table for people to graze on.  Choose only things that don't need to be kept hot or refilled.  Put it on the table and walk away...let your guests munch at their convenience.  Your only responsibility is to put a cold drink in the hands of new guests and point them toward the food.  Since you called it a "Happy Hour," you can figure folks won't stay too long and the atmosphere will be a casual open house-type event.  Easy to throw together, but it serves the important purpose of getting friends together and starting the weekend off on the right foot.  :)

Double-duty Flower Arrangements

Have you ever tried to come up with centerpieces or flower arrangements during Valentine's week?  It's all red roses!  Very pretty, but maybe it's not what you're looking for.  This week, one of us had to come up with some flower arrangements for an upcoming shindig.  It was a little discouraging to find red, red, red and pink, pink, pink...all Valentine's Day themed flower arrangements.  Even the grocery stores are heavy laden with red roses.  

So, it was time for Plan B.  Off to Target to see what the garden department had in store.  

At Target (that wonderland of all things inexpensive and stylish), the garden department is full of spring flowers to plant.  

So, some daffodils and some tulips and some Iceland poppies were purchased....  

This bright yellow Iceland poppy was planted in a large glass vessel and mossy rocks were put around the base:

This orange Iceland poppy was set in an ice bucket:

These daffodils were planted in a white pedestal bowl and then were topped off with some sheet moss:

These white milk glass vessels were each planted with a bulb (daffodil and purple tulips) and then topped off by some polished stones:

This cheery Iceland poppy was given a home in this fun yellow vase:

So...now there are several fun floral arrangements to set around the house for the party.  The best part is that they do double-duty:  when the party is over, all of these plants can go straight into the flower beds outside to bring a little cheer to the outdoor landscaping.  Also, this little "Plan B Project" ended up being less pricey than buying bunches of flowers at the grocery store or florist.  And aren't the colors fun?  Consider doing this the next time you need fun centerpieces.  Another great thing about this idea is that you don't have to be skilled at arranging flowers to make these look great.  You just plunk the plant into a good-looking vase and stand back to admire your work!

Paper Flowers = Mood Lifters!

Happy Weekend!  

We thought we'd leave you with something cheery for the weekend, until we resume blogging on Monday.  And what could be cheerier than paper flowers?  Okay, we admit, we detest fake flowers of the silk variety.  Or plastic variety.  Or basically anything in the faux floral section of your local Michael's, Jo-Ann's, or Hobby Lobby.  But there is something about these hand-crafted paper flowers that is happy and, dare we say, chic.  The photo above is from Ms. Martha Stewart herself.  We think these are quite fabulous and would be great for either baby or bridal showers.  You can click on this link for the how-to, or you can head on over to Michael's and buy a Martha Stewart paper flower kit.

Below are some more paper flower ideas, kits, and how-tos.  Enjoy...and happy weekend!

Find the how-to on these colorful paper flower here.

The how-to for "Mexican Paper flowers" (like this cheery pink one) is here.

We love this fun bouquet of white paper posies.  Check out the easy how-to for this bunch here.

These paper roses are a cinch to make!  Check it out here.

Last, but not least!  We are crazy about anything that comes from Paper-Source.  These fun flowers come in color-coordinated kits, making them easy to put together.

The Teasing Tree.

Hi, everybody.  Kari here.

This is my third winter in Visalia.  On my first winter in this sleepy little California Central Valley town, I noticed something peculiar.  It was the middle of January, and along one of the major roads in Visalia, an almond tree was pushing blossoms already.  Jill and I were raised on an almond farm and we know that those blossoms are supposed to wait until well into February.  Someone forgot to tell that tree, though.  I thought this tree was a terrible tease as I longed for my favorite season of the year, spring, to hurry up.

Last year, having forgotten about the little tree trying to rush spring, I was out and about doing errands and I noticed the same phenomenon.  It was the middle of January, and that almond tree was trying desperately to make it spring.  Blossoms were starting to poke out all over the tree. 

Well, this year, I actually looked for the tree.  Sure enough, a couple weeks ago, I noticed my faithful little almond tree trying to push his buds into blossoms.  Today, I drove past my tree and saw him totally engulfed in fluffy white blossoms.  It's raining today, so he'll probably not be keeping his flowery show for long, but he is, at this very moment, mocking the rain with his spring suit on.  :)

I love this tree.  It's one of my favorite things about Visalia, a town I have been slow to fall in love with.  (No offense, Visalia, but you took a little time to warm up to!)  I imagine the reason that this tree stands alone is that he was kicked out of an orchard for being a rogue.  He, like me, wants spring to get here much faster than it usually does.  He's a rule-breaker.  :)

I like the idea of always seeing blossoms toward the middle of January, when I know I'm not supposed to see this until the middle or end of February.  To me, it's a little sneak peek of my favorite time of year and it's like this tree is telling me, "Hang in there!  Spring's a-comin!"

I know that some of you who read this blog have had a dreadful, cold winter that doesn't seem to have any end in sight.  I hope there's something around you that is reminding you that spring is, in fact, just around the corner.  We only have a couple more months to wait...

:)

We Heart Estilo...

Throwing a party and looking for that little extra something?  A good resource is Estilo Weddings.  From laser-cut cupcake wrappers to fun lanterns to cake toppers/details to candles, Estilo has lots of fun, hard-to-find items at reasonable prices.  If you are throwing a Valentine's Party, this site would be a good one to check out for some fun, unexpected details.