Here, I put up white gauzy curtains in the enrtyway into the dining room and pink curtains from dining room to kitchen.  I wanted the tea party room to feel incredibly special and transformed – like a little princess getaway!  The table is set in pink, gold and sparkles – it was important to me that an adult could sit at this table and enjoy themselves without feeling like they were at the “children’s table” at a family holiday.  Although the table settings are Disney princess paper products, everything else on the table are the things I would use for a table set for ladies tea. It was a lovely scene!

Tissue paper pom poms hang from the light fixture while gauze covers my (pretty intense) still life paintings on the walls.  I spray painted the candlesticks and serving bowl on the top of the tiered cake plates with a soft gold.  My ridiculous collection of cake plates and serving platters came in handy and every single one was used for this party.  Addison chose the plates and “cutlery” and each party guest received a crown and a a handmade favor purse tied to the back of her chair.  Addie’s cousin Jackson, the only “Prince” at the party, had his own handmade cars tote bag filled with non-princess goodies! Decorative jewels were strewn a top the table and could have been the only decor as far as most of the kids were concerned. Gold doilies between the place settings and the silver sparkle tablecloth were the final touch for the tea party table.

Simple changes here on the buffet…I took away the liquor and added a bunch of pretty! Gold ribbon and spare pink fabric made the piece of furniture blend in with the rest of the pink wonderland.  A bargain priced castle frame found at Homegoods holds one picture from each of Addison’s birthdays to celebrate the special guest.

Each child received a handmade favor purse of pink sparkle fabric lined in fuscia and a handsewn first initial.  I probably could have skipped this project but I really wanted something really special and unexpected for Addie’s friends.  And Addie LOVED “helping” me make them, that, in itself, made all the work worth it!

The “grown-up” side of the party.  Ham and cheese, roast beef with horseradish and crispy onions, cucumber and paprika tea sandwiches took some serious prep time but looked oh so purty.  A delicious ham and three cheese quiche (recipe courtesy of my kitchen saavy little sister, beanappetite.wordpress.com)  rose above the rest with a big ol’ bowl of fresh fruit and tediously decorated teapot cookies rounded out the food for the mamas and the papas.

The drink station was more an excuse for me to use all my pretty things than a place for people to find refreshment! Pink lemonade, two different flavors of hot tea and a pitcher of milk are hidden within the glory of vintage brass creamer and sugar server and a tray of some of my favorite vintage tea cups.

Not a single cup was taken off this tray and I didn’t mind one bit! Sometimes our favorite things can best be served as decoration…and the dishes at the end of the party were much easier to wash without these delicate beauties.

For the princesses (and prince) PB&J and ham and cheese “tea sandwiches”, cupcake cups of popcorn and jello jiggler cubes topped with strawberries.  Miraculously, not a single piece of jello found its way to my floor!

I did not make this cake.  It took restraint not to make her birthday cake but I had to draw the line somewhere!

We rented a helium tank.  Yes, we’re a little nuts.  But Addie LOVED the balloons and we managed to unload a few of them on departing guests so we could lessen the chance of unreachable balloons on our two story high ceiling.

“Pin” the princess on the castle was a fan favorite.  Here are Addie and her friend Sasha in their lovely dresses adding all the extra stickers to the poster!

What a wonderful day! Next time you throw a party do whatever you can to make it beautiful, unique and absolutely over the top! Make it easy on yourself where you can…those little details that just won’t matter in all the glory of the unexpected touches that you will inevitably add and in the end, make sure you enjoy the day.  Celebrate whatever occasion and person you are throwing the party for in the first place and sit back, relax and revel in the joy your creativity has brought to others.

Have a wonderful party!

Decoupaged book pages on canvas with painted quote

Giant canvas of Lemons

How to make a color blocked canvas purse.

Keep an eye out…I’ll try to get on this soon!

Sometimes I think I’m going to get creative and decorate with unconventional colors and textures, but then I realize that requires my buying ALL new decorations.  And I have a lot of decorations.  So red and gold are my Christmas bread and butter…gold has gained more and more of a foothold every year.  My obsession just keeps growing.  The mantle features a length of unlit garland, gold mercury glass candlesticks with red glitter candles, gold beaded trees and some extra little accoutrements (trumpet, snowmen, vintage Santa and red metal star.) The vase is the same textured cream vase I had on the mantle for fall decor only its wrapped with ruby red fabric that is secured at the top back with a chip clip and then tucked at the bottom! The vase is filled with evergreen greenery, gilded leaves and crystal vines.

Our main Christmas tree is absolutely covered in white lights, all different sizes.  I usually use ONLY gold, silver, bronze and red ball ornaments but this year, after moving to Colorado, my mom and dad kindly gave us (unloaded their basement) all my childhood ornaments and the tree features old clay unicorns, angels and preschool apples from 1985.  I couldn’t be happier about it.

Pillow covers were changed from fall florals and browns to large scale buffalo check and red/gray plaid.  A bowl of pinecones took its place on the end table and a christmas JOY plate sits with a cloche covering a bunch of candy canes.  Our second Christmas tree lives on the kitchen counter now…I can’t believe it took me this long to put a giant evergreen behind the kitchen sink!

A silver sparkle tablecloth is topped with a gold tone beaded runner, a trio of emerald feathered trees and gold tapers.

The family room.

My old buddy, the Santa Baby painting, holds court in the foyer.  The floral lamps were replaced by small brass lamps and the glass apothocary jars from the mantle were filled with pinecones, ornaments and candy canes to decorate the table top.  A snowman candle adds a little whimsy.

The Christmas floral ball I made last year found its way to hang from the dining room chandelier.  A berry wreath anchors the poinsettias and is flanked by glass vessels filled with gold glitter pillars and pinecones.  Round candles remind me of snowballs so they earned a place at the table as well.  Cute little buggers.

We have a third christmas tree in the living room, right smack dab in the middle of the front window…

Lit garland starts at the bottom of the stairs and runs the entire length of the upstairs banisters…

Our lit Christmas tree at night…

Aaaaaand, the kitchen Christmas tree lighting the way to doing the dishes…

Merry Christmas to all! Happy Holidays! Jolly decorating!

Have fun and if you haven’t started yet, GET TO IT! Enjoy the season everyone.

First up: Napkins.  Let’s be honest, paper napkins are easy and can be thrown away.  But do you really want to use paper napkins for a holiday get together for your family? I don’t.  And my mom would be appalled (as would I.)  Cloth napkins were definitly the way to go, but plain napkins just weren’t enough for me.  So I settled on two colors, khaki and coral.  I used brown fabric paint and a thin brush to paint “eat” in cursive on each napkin.  They ended up being the perfect pop of color for the table.

Here’s the rundown on how the table decor is assembled:

Layer 1 = Linen tablecloth. I chose a very simple natural linen from the fabric store and had them cut 5 yards (we had our kitchen table at the end of the dining room table, it was rather long) I left the edges raw and didn’t add anything to the fabric, I wanted it to be a neautral background.

Layer 2 = Ribbon.  Three widths and two colors (gold and dark brown) Are adhered to the table cloth with double stick tape.  No pieces, three LONG strips.

Layer 3 = Candles.  I wanted ridiculous amounts of candles.  I bought the ball candles, small pillar candles and tea lights with glass holders at various heights.  The different shapes of candles were then arranged on the table in “artful disarray”.  It was pretty magnificent seeing them all lit up!

Layer 4 = I’ll call them ‘colorful balls’.  These had been bunches on sticks meant to be additional decoration for floral arrangements, but I pulled them apart and spread them up and down the center of the table, careful to keep them away from the candle flames.

Layer 5 = Table setting.  Our everyday white dishes and clear glasses looked pretty happy on the printed paper placemats (why am I okay with paper placemats but not napkins? Who knows, I’m an enigma) My pretty napkins topped the plates and plain ol’ silverware finshed ‘er off.  Boom: perfect Katie table.

When I bought the frames for my produce paintings, I thought the black would work with the wrought iron/oil rubbed bronze look of the dining room chandelier. I was very wrong.

Because I have used gold framed artwork and the large gold framed mirror, the thick black frames were way too heavy and intrusive to the eye.  I lived with them for a while, hating them every time I walked by the dining room.  Should I buy new frames trimmed in gold to bring in all the metallic elements? Should I spray paint them the same gold as all the other frames in the room?

I decided it went against everything I do as a redesigner if I bought new frames when I had two perfectly changable frames right in front of me. And painting them the same gold as the other frames was resourceful but also a little boring and expected.

Out of the blue, I thought of the frame in my parents house that holds one of my grandmother’s (beautiful) paintings. It is an antique and is different from anything I’ve seen in stores. The raised edges are metallic gold but the depression between them is a beautiful shade of green.  Gold and green. How much more ‘Katie’ can you get?

So I painted the center, “depressed” section of the black frames with a mixture of a sage green, a touch of light gold and taupe. I used a sponge brush and kept the colors mottled to show the age/fading I desired.  The inner and outer raised edges of my frames were painted with a mixture of light gold, bronze and taupe to achieve a realistically antiqued finish.  When rack frame was done, I took it outside and gave it three coats of satin finish protective spray. 

Now, the frames are beautiful in their own right, and make the paitings look better and brighter as well. I am MUCH happier when I am in the dining room and am glad I decided to remake the frames rather than spend more money on new frames and let the black ones accumulate dust and take up space in the basement. 

I love the results.

I love it when I’m walking through a store and end up  blindsided by inspiration.  It happened with this pillow in Pottery Barn Kids. 

It’s such a great idea to make a letter to Santa into a cuddle pillow. I totally want to make this, with my own twist of course.

Now I just have to figure out what, exactly, my own twist IS!

I know I’m late posting this little tidbit, but if you like the idea, just bookmark this page for next year!

I needed some cute decorations for our front hall that trick or treaters would see from the street and as they came up our path.  These little guys were super simple, I just used a pencil to draw out easy bat silhouettes on black poster board and cut them out with scissors. 

Once I had a variety of sizes, I taped a few of them on the inside of the window and threaded the others with some black sewing thread and Hung them from the chandelier.  They were the perfect addition to this stop on the trick or treat trail.

I love wearing ballet flats. I have numerous (too many) pairs of them in every texture and color. I would love it if Addie could wear them too, but they always slip off of her feet.

When I found pair of rainbow sparkle flats in her size for $5.50 I couldn’t pass them up. I figured I could sew some pretty pink ribbon on each shoe and we could tie a bow to make sure they stayed on her foot.

Then I realized that if I used ribbon, she would never put on her shoes by herself. So I decided on elastic straps. I chose thin elastic (1/4″) and placed it toward the front of the shoe, but not so far forward it would be useless.

Turns out, it was still useless; the shoes kept slipping off of Addie’s heels. So I cut the elastic out of the shoe.

Next, I tried 1″ wide no roll elastic and moved it toward the back of the shoe. It now hits right at the highest part of her foot and the shoes don’t slip. I made bows out of light pink satin blanket binding and sewed them very securely onto the middle of the straps to make them a little more attractive.

Finished product is pretty darn adorable…I still have no idea if Addison will actually wear the shoes.  But if nothing else, they’ll look great on the floor of her closet!

We’re heading to Disneyworld next week and we are stocking up on princess gear. Addie has every princess dress there ever was but has outgrown her Cinderella dress.  When at Joann fabrics this morning we saw this blue sparkle fabric and we both thought “cinderella!” So I made this layered skirt and caplet then added jewels and she will not take it off! The tiara is her own addition. Oh, those are sparkle tights as well Can’t get enough glitter at our house.