No Vase? No Problem!

My husband has the green thumb that I've always dreamed of having. However very rarely does he bring anything from his garden inside to adorn the house. So I was completely shocked a couple of days ago when he not only cut a small bouquet of flowers for me, he also arranged them perfectly in a martini glass no less! Here's a pic of his handiwork...


The use of the martini glass was so creative, I figured he must have been inspired by Southern Living or one of my other decorating magazines. So I had to ask. In reality he didn't know where I kept the vases and the martini glasses were sitting right in front of him on top of the bar. At least he's honest!

My husband's lovely gesture gave me the creative urge to see what other types of drinkware I could use to jazz up simple floral arrangements in the absence of vases. Here's a couple of attempts that I made with what we had laying around the house:

Grandma's Teacup - I just placed a few sprigs of flowers in the base of the cup and this was the result...



Husband's Pilsner Glass - I cut one long Zinnia stem, removed the leaves and covered the flower with water for this simple look...



I'm off to tell my husband that he's been featured on my little blog - no doubt this will be the highlight of his day!

A Pirate's Life For Me

A while back I was asked whether or not I had posted about the pirate party that I threw for my guys a few years ago. Unfortunately at the time of that party I had a really old camera that took pictures that were incredibly sub par. It turns out that the person inquiring about the party (her name is Traci) was throwing a pirate bash of her own for her little one. I had intended to recreate and post some of the things I used at my party prior to Traci's event, but I missed out...the party was last weekend. Please check out pics from her amazing party here on her new blog.

So here are some of the things we had at our pirate party...

I typically make my own invitations, but an acquaintance of mine graciously offered to do them and I could not resist because they were so darn cute!


Since my guys are still playing with Christmas gifts by the time their birthday rolls around, I have always asked people to not bring presents. Here is the adorable insert (complete with glitter) that went inside the invitation.


I really wanted to have a pirate flag hanging outside, but I was too cheap to buy the nice ones I found. So instead I made one out of foam paper. This was super easy to make - just find a picture online, print it, cut out the shapes and trace it onto the foam.


I also made "pirate ship" platters for all of the food we served. The base of the boat is actually a plastic football container I found at the dollar store. I then attached two wooden dowels and foam paper sails to complete the look.


Now looking back on this party I guess I made a lot of the items...what was I thinking? Here are pieces that I cut out of cardboard to make pirate swords...


To assemble the sword, spray paint the two parts of the handle black and then hot glue the toilet paper roll onto the disk. Either spray paint the blade silver or attach silver paper onto the cardboard (that's what I did). Finally cut a slit on top of the disk and slide the blade into it.


I decorated the chairs by tying a sash around them and gluing a pirate-themed image over the knot. So easy!


I combined two of my sons' favorite foods to make "floating pirate ships": Jell-O and pecan swirls...


I was shopping at Target last week and stumbled upon these adorable sandwich bags in the $1 section. I'm not sure why I continue to buy themed-items for a party that has already occurred, but wouldn't these just be perfect for a pirate party?


Here is a centerpiece that was inspired by the pirate party. I'm in the process of creating an updated version of this item that will be available in my Etsy store soon!



Big thanks to Traci for inspiring me to post about my pirate party - better late than never!