Baby's Coming Soon!!

It has been a busy week here, trying to get my daughter Rachel's baby bedding done, cause this baby is coming soon!!!


Today I finished the curtains, I did not take a picture of them because they are just a rectangle of fabric with some ribbon trim.  When they are hung and the room is complete I will post some pictures along with some of "Baby E".  


The Quilt top is done.

I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I sort of made it up as I went along,  Log Cabin style, with a center that was not a square.  It was fun to be random, I am usually so afraid to stray from a pattern.


The pieces for the bumper pad are all cut, that is the next project.

Baby E may arrive before this gets done though...


While I was outside taking pictures of the quilt I got some of the flowers on my deck.  

Enjoy today!!

Cindy

$5 Bouquet

Last week I had to stock up on toilet paper and paper towels at Walmart. While I was there I walked past their fresh flowers, turned around and walked back and plucked a colorful bunch. It was only $5 and was quite full and had a nice variety. When I got home I put them in a mason jar. It was exactly what I needed: we've had a L-O-N-G winter and I've got a hankering for Spring something bad! 

Here are a few tips for making grocery store (or Walmart) packaged flowers into a nice arrangement.

1. trim all leaves from the stems
2. always build from the center; select two to three stems to serve as the center hold them up to your vase and decide how tall you want the arrangement to be (remember the taller you make it the more flowers you need to make the arrangement stand straight up in the vase)
3. add flowers around your center flowers, trimming the ends so that the height of the flowers slowly descends to the rim of the vase (as you add flowers one stem at a time the arrangement will start to stand on its own, don't worry if it leans to the side at first)
4. add twigs and greenery for interest (grab whatever you have from the back yard)
5. add water last (I find this easier that way if you have to pull stems out to trim to a different length they aren't dripping all over the floor and countertop)


Bring on Spring!
--Sarah

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My Inner-Interior Designer

Before I became a stay at home mom, I was a high school English teacher, before I became a teacher I wanted to be a Registered Dietitian, before that I wanted to play basketball in the WNBA, and before that I wanted to have a farm and own lots of horses and before that, when I was ten years old I wanted to be an interior designer. 

It started with decorating my room (with horses and pink of course) and then moved to helping with all the Christmas decorations and then got to the point where my mom started asking me to make flower arrangements, dress the mantle at Christmas and "change things around" in the living room to make it look "pretty." Some how interior decorating got wired into me at an early age, so when someone asks me to help with their wedding flowers or reception decor I jump at the chance. I've done the flowers and decor for five weddings, including my own. It's fun, and the time crunch aspect of it is an adrenaline rush--sort of, it can be kind of stressful...but still thrilling, especially when you finish it all and it looks AWESOME. 

Here are a few of the weddings I've done:

 That's me on the left and my friend (also named) Sarah, prepping the tulips. The colors: summer sunset.

Unfortunately this one is black and white, so you can't see the colors of my bouquet (think summer sunset), but you can get the shape. All our wedding photos are currently in storage at the moment--along with all our other things too (this is a long story.)

Photo by Ruth Hayden

 This is my sister Rachel's wedding. I helped with her bouquet, so that she wouldn't have to stress about it.

Photo by Ruth Hayden

She had a bright fall wedding.

And then this fall (maybe you'll remember from the post in October) I did the arrangements for a friend of mine who was having a "vintage fall wedding."

Photos courtesy Deborah Zoe Photo

My youngest sister is getting married in February and she's asked for my help in coming up with the decor and arranging some of the flowers. Fun! I love it! I can't wait!


 My sister is a very Classy lady (classy with a capital C, because she is THAT classy). She has good taste (I'd like to think I had something to do with that). She's a beautiful gal too. So Classy plus Beautiful...you can see why her fiance wanted to marry her. 

We visited their reception venue a few weeks ago to take a peek. It is currently undergoing renovations that are slated to be done by January 1st (we've got our fingers crossed).

 There's both my sisters, Alissa on the left and Rachel on the right and my sister Alissa's fiance, Andy. This is the walk up to the venue, should be very romantic in the evening light of winter.

And this has the potential to be the best "before and after" you've ever seen...remember this place is undergoing renovations.

Here's the hall as you walk in.  It is an old mill building and has a great urban/loft feel to it. 

 Even under construction it's still very cool.

And that's a shower...it's getting removed. So is the toilet. They are in the middle of the room at the moment.

Be sure to stay keep checking back for updates on planning the decor for this winter wedding:-)

--Sarah