Yesteryear Tea

I found a little violet chintz tea cup for Mom, as you'll remember I was still shopping for Mother's Day.  I know, I am way behind right now.  It makes a really pretty picture.  It reminds me of an issue of Victoria featuring violets.   

I have edited the top two photos with the"yesteryear" texture by Kim Klassen.   This photo was untouched.  Thanks for joining me today!  

I will join these sweet ladies, go and visit them:

Table Top Tuesday  at A Stroll Thru Life

Texture Tuesday  at Kim Klassen Cafe  
Tea Time Tuesday at Lady Katherine Tea Parlor

Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage

Tea Cup Tuesday at Martha's Favorites

Tuesday Tea for Two at The Plumed Pen

Tea Pot and Tea Things Tuesday  at The Silken Purse

Tea Pot and Tea Things Tuesday at Breath of Fresh Air

Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations

A Return to Loveliness  at A Delightsome Life

Bridal Shower & Weekend

My cousin, Jen, is getting married this summer so my mom & I had a shower for her this weekend.  The invitations (above) were from Target and I have to tell you how easy they were to do.  They came as blank cards and I followed the link on the back of the package to an online template that I filled out with our information and printed them out at home.  I truly am not tech-savvy and it was a breeze.  (Except for the fact that I printed them all out with the wrong date the first time- eeek!!  Thank goodness the back of the cards was blue too.) 

{Jen is third from the left and she's standing next to our other cousin, Shelly}

My Aunt Allison made the most amazing bread:

{Seriously???  I want to do this!}

The wedding is in Puerto Rico so my family whipped up some authentic Puerto Rican dishes:

{I can't remember the name but really yummy seafood stew}

...And you poured the stew over these potato balls:

{Again, I forget the name!!}

And seafood salad:

And I not-so-authentically picked up a bunch of sausage-egg breakfast burritoes from Anita's:

For flowers, I filled a few different milk glass urns with pinky-peach roses, tulips, perivian lilies and fresh white freesia:

{smell so goooood}

Jen's colors for the wedding are coral & aqua. 

{loved this "mr and mrs" paper}

Here's a picture of the ladies in my family:

{My Grandmother is in the center with her 3 daughters & all of the granddaughters}

And I loved this cup tower my cousin made.  I did knock it halfway over but she doesn't know that:

{I put it back, don't worry, I'm not evil.}

And my mom baked a rum pansy cake:

{Soooo good and too pretty to eat, but we did anyway.}

Anyway, the shower was great & we headed out that night for her bachelorette party.  I don't have any pictures of that as they were confiscated.  (haha no, totally kidding, I just didn't bring my camera.)

The DC Design House final party was also Saturday evening before the bachelorette and it was at Skip & Debbie Singleton's home in DC.  I am kicking myself for not getting any photos because their back yard is my dream yard:  Pool set right into the grass with some checkerboard slate in areas arround it.  HEAVEN.  I'm so glad to have gotten the chance to be a part of the showhouse and to have met so many great new friends. 

update-  got a pic!! :

{See?!}

And my little sister was confirmed on Sunday!!  I can't believe how old she's getting!! (which means I'm getting even older!  We're 15 years apart.)  I was her sponsor and the Mass was beautiful.  Congrats Morgan if you're reading!!

I'm off to start the day -kids still haven't woken up & how amazing is that?!! ;) 

Hope your weekend was great!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Flowers Around Town

I went around town and took a few pictures of some really pretty flowers.  Do any of you have a mock orange?  It is the shrub on the far left.  It has a heavenly scent.

Thanks for joining me today!
 I will join:
Seasonal Sundays  at The Tablescaper and Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Go and visit their lovely blogs.

Signing Off Early

I've cleared my desk off for the weekend and it feels soooo good.  I'm home with my boys and just picked a couple of fresh yellow roses (well, one's sort of on its way out) and popped them in my favorite orange vase.  (a wedding gift.)

I've been keeping my little "One Line a Day" memory book - which I bought as a prop for the showhouse- on my desk this week and have been writing in it.

We told Christian about the tooth fairy the other day for the first time:

{He was in utter shock that a fairy comes into kids rooms at nights and leaves them money.}

This weekend I'm hosting my cousin's bridal shower with mom and her bachelorette party Saturday night with the other bridesmaids.  Should be a good time & I'll share pics next week.  She & her fiance are such a perfect match and I'm so happy for them. 

Have a great weekend!!! :)

ps- I'd love to do a room with that aqua, orange & yellow color palette!! 

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Home Sweet Home #15

Welcome to the Home Sweet Home party!  I have taken up Tricia's theme this week for her Photo Feature Friday party and I have created a little vignette in mostly all white.   I am  so longing to go to the beach so it keeps showing up in what I am working with.

 I love an urn filled with shells.  It is like you casually placed a collection there each day after you came in from a walk on the beach.  

I have a thing for little model ships.  I have collected several for the boys as they have grown.  Little reminders of the shore tucked around on shelves or tabletops.    

All photographs altered with a layer of texture called Warm Sun by Kim Klassen.
Now, something new for this party I am going to feature a few post that I so enjoyed from the last party.  If you are featured and want a button saying so, I put one in my sidebar you may use.

 First, I have to mention Sherry at No Minimalist Here has a Open House party every Thursday where she features a home, and the home last week was beautiful!  Click the link to view if you missed it.

Second, I applaud Diane over at Magpies and Magnolias for her use of a lovely old time worn buffet just as it is.  Diane even gives a designer example of how furniture like this can be used without a new coat of paint.  Click this link to see this great post including a wonderful verse of prose on time.

 Third, Eileen over at Cottage Beach House has put together an idea for a Memorial Day or 4th of July table that is right for each of these occasions and pretty too.  Love this look!  Click this link to view.

And last, Amanda over at A Creative Beginning created this Pottery Barn Eagan Mirror.  She put massive amounts of work into this and it turned out fabulous!  Click on over to see how she created this.

Now onto today.

I will join these ladies today:

Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Photo Feature Friday  at A Rosy Note

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground
Feather Your Nest  at French Country Cottage

My Favorite Things at Bargain Hunting and Chatting with Laurie

Guidelines for Home Sweet Home Party:

Attention: To link up with inlinkz you must have a permalink back to this party in your post or they will not allow you to link.  If you find your link deleted, add the link, and then try again.
 My button is on my sidebar for the party, if you want to use it.   If you are new here I hope you will become a follower.  No Etsy link ups or direct advertising, please.  Please visit some of the other blogs and get some great inspiration.  Thanks.:)

Now let's see your beautiful homes!

The Arbor!

We finally got our arbor up!!  The wisteria was already waiting for it since I'm an impatient crazy person and put it in last year.

The front of the house looks better too.  We added in more shrubs & hydrangea.

Before:

Now:

Please ignore the toys everywhere, but here's a pic of the arbor leadinginto our back yard:

I'm off for a crazy day but hope you're having a great week!! 

Thanks so much for the kind words about the fabrics.  I'll let you know as soona s they're for sale.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Mailbox Garden

Do you know the coupons packets that come in the mail and in the summer they have a mailbox garden you can order.  I thought it was a neat idea to have flowers that would bloom at stages around the mailbox.  So I have been experimenting with this little mailbox garden for several years.  This is how it looks right now with the first flowers that bloom, the clematis.

Clematis prefer for their roots to be shaded.  So, this arrangement works out really well for this plant because the daylily foliage shoots up first in the spring and covers the clematis' roots.  If I was any kind of gardener I would get outside and train that clematis onto my mailbox, but every spring it is too rainy or too cold and I never do it.  Tending three spoiled children much more than my plants.

Here is the garden when the coreopsis and the daylily bloom about the end of May into June.  I planted that little daisy in there last year, as I have many years, but it never makes it because there is some waste concrete a few inches under the dirt right where I want the daisy to grow.  So, this is my outdoor idea a mailbox garden. 

I will join Centsational Girl for her Outdoor Idea party.

Go and visit for some summery inspiration.