Bye Bye Birdie

(I totally hate that musical, by the way). So remember when I shared my ideas for the Widows' reception at our church? Well, today was the big day. I thought I'd post a few of the highlights.

Here's the buffet centerpiece:

The plants are Dusty Miller. They were sold in 6-packs in the Walmart nursery, and they were 50% off, so I paid 84 cents per 6-pack. My original intent was to use English Ivy or another trailing plant, but I just couldn't find any cheap enough and in small enough pots. We cut the 6-packs apart and wrapped the little pots in burlap, then tied them off with synthetic raffia ribbon. We also tied on little "You are loved" tags. In addition to this centerpiece, we clustered several more Dusty Millers in pots on a few of the tables.




We put squares of burlap on the tables, then added a large twig, a next (or a pot with Dusty Miller), a few eggs, and a couple of glass bowls filled with crinkled paper (we put Robin's Egg malted eggs in these bowls).




I even made cute little nest cupcakes. But I forgot to take a picture of them at the reception! Here's a picture of the buffet table, and you can kind of see them:


When I realized I didn't have a better picture, I took the leftovers out of the freezer and took this picture of a few cupcakes on top of the washing machine! And just so you know, after I took this picture, I had to eat one. Oh yes I did. And just so you know, Brian had to eat one too. I love frozen frosting. Reminds me of those little Baskin Robbins ice cream cone clowns I used to get as a kid. But I digress. So anyway, here's a closeup of the cupcakes on the washing machine. The colors are kind of wacko. In reality, the jelly beans are very pale mint green and a pretty turquoise blue. I only made small cupcakes for the reception, but I made 4 large ones because I had a little extra batter.


At the end of the reception, each of the widows received a long-stemmed rose:

(the cute nametags, by the way, were made by another deacon's wife, Rosalyn)

They also took home a Dusty Miller plant and a box of goodies:


We had a good time visiting with these sweet ladies. Some of them are under 45. Some of them are newly widowed. Some of them have been widowed for many years. God tells us to care for the widows and the orphans, but we were blessed today by our time with them.

It was a fun reception, but now it's time to put all the birdies and nests away. I'm going to share one nest with one of the ladies that was there today. But now? Right now it's time for this little chickie to get some rest!

A Little Birdie Told Me...

Our church has an annual Widows' Reception, to honor and minister to the widows in our church. The deacons and their wives host the reception, and this is the first year we've been involved. I am helping with the decorations (along with 2 other lovely & talented ladies). Since we'll be on the verge of spring (it comes early in South Texas!), we decided to use a birdie theme. Here are some ideas I sketched up:

(click image to see it larger)

Next, I created a "palette":

Then I went shopping. I decided to start at Goodwill, as I was looking for inexpensive pottery/ceramic containers. Our plan is to purchase nursery 6-packs of English Ivy or other ivy-like plant, break up the 6 packs into individual "pots", wrap the pots in kraft paper or burlap, tie off with twine and a tag, and place the little pots into a larger pot. Some of the pots will also go on our cake stand towers. At the end of the reception, each lady will receive a long-stemmed rose from a deacon. She will also receive one of these little ivies, and a take-home box of leftover goodies. So I was looking for roomy pots at Goodwill. I spent $9 on all of the pots/planters. After the shopping trip (see what I found, below), I enlisted Brian to help me. We took a walk along the roadsides that surround our neighborhood. I, with a large basket, and Brian with a pair of pruning shears. I'm sure the neighbors wondered what we were up to! There is a greenbelt just outside our neighborhood, and we went and trimmed out creeping vines that are growing in / killing the trees. We also picked up moss balls and twigs. We went home and I started building "nests". It was a messy process, but I think they're pretty cute. I had to make some of them smaller because I was running out of materials, but I think it's good to have variation. So here's what I bought and made:


The little green planter I purchased on a previous trip to Goodwill. The eggs are resin, and hen-sized. They came from our family's store. Here's a closeup of the little white planter in front:

And here's a closeup of the largest nest:


It's going to be a dessert reception, so I'm thinking I may try to get these adorable cupcakes made. So cute!

I'll take pictures at the actual event and share them later. Then I may have a few nests for sale in my soon-to-come etsy shop...stay tuned!

It's like a ghost town around here...

Yep, I've been a little short on posts of late. I blame it on an astronomical mountain cedar count (which makes me congested & sleepy). A high cedar count is 500, but this week we've had cedar counts in the 20,000's! Achoo! Anyhoo, between sneezes, I've not been terribly productive or inspired. But all that is about to change, my bloggy friends. I have all kinds of posts bubbling out of me. Watch out...it could get messy! But really,

I'm not messy, I'm creative!

And hey, I have a spiffy new Valentine's blog design...that counts for something, doesn't it?

Wooly Cuteness

From a $3 wool sweater I picked up at Goodwill I made 15 ornaments for office coworkers. I brought the sweater home and felted it by washing it in hot water and drying it on high heat.


Cut out simple shapes (hats, mittens, hearts, stockings, & trees)and stitched them together, then added a few vintage buttons and some hanging ribbon and voila! I'm keeping the heart and the tree. They make me feel all snuggly inside!

The Holly and the Ivy

Deck the Mailbox
Originally uploaded by thingspondered

Inspired by Meredith, I decided to decorate our mailbox (shared with our neighbor) with clippings from our yard.

We don't have native pine here, and I didn't want to mess with cedar, so I used the holly that Brian had just clipped, some English ivy that grows in our backyard, some sage, and some boxwood to create this little swag. I would have liked to have used more boxwood, but we trimmed them recently, and I couldn't clip too much more off without it being noticeable! I intended to go on a berry hunt just down the road, but then I found these little berry picks in a Christmas storage tub and decided they would work. The swag is weighted in back with a limestone rock to keep it from blowing away. I think it lends a natural and festive touch to our mailbox, and makes receiving Christmas cards that much more fun! And, the combination of the holly & ivy reminds me of this song:

The Holly and the Ivy - author unknown
The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ, Sweet singing of the choir

The holly bears a blossom as white as lily flower
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to be our sweet Saviour
refrain

The holly bears a berry as red as any blood
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to do poor sinners good
refrain

The holly bears a prickle as sharp as any thorn;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ on Christmas Day in the morn.
refrain

The holly bears a bark as bitter as any gall;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ for to redeem us all.
refrain

The holly and the ivy, now both are full well grown,
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.
refrain

I also carried several holly clippings inside to add to the decorations in there. I'll have to remember to ask Brian to trim the holly next Christmas, too! Why don't you take a nature walk and see what God may have planted in your path to remind you of Him?

Christmas Roses

Christmas Roses
Originally uploaded by thingspondered

Melissa at The Inspired Room hosted Creative Inspiration Week this week. She had so many wonderful guest hosts who shared the wonderful creative ideas.

After absorbing the creativity oozing from the ladies at McMaster & Storm, I was inspired to see what I might be able to do with tissue paper. This gift is for my sweet husband. I won't tell you what's hiding beneath the roses, in case he peaks at my blog! I had a lot of space to fill in this package, so the gift wouldn't rattle around ,so I decided to squeeze in a dozen roses. The roses are made with pleated & rolled up red tissue paper. The leaves are just torn scraps of green tissue paper, tucked in between the roses. One rose (middle of second row from top) is red paper with Christmas trees...just for fun.

I wrapped the package the traditional way, but I think my husband will be surprised at the special interior of the gift!

Thanks for sharing, Kara & Darcy!