Valentines Banquet

Hello friends!

Just wanted to quickly share a few photos of our Valentine's Banquet a couple of weeks ago.

I know many of you have moved on to Easter already but like always I'm a little behind.

Hubby and I were in charge of putting this banquet together for our church.  It was a big undertaking.  A lot more goes into planning one of these events than most people would think.  Many many details but it all went smoothly.  We had a good turnout and it was a fun time.

 Here are some of the little hearts I was sewing.

I used them as bowl fillers.

 I bought a few of these scarves from the Dollar Tree.  

They looked great on the tables.

They added some much needed softness.

 Another scarf and beads from Dollar Tree.

 I made that heart doily.  I'll show it in a later post.

 As you can see each table was decorated differently.  We didn't have enough of the same things to make all the tables the same.  We just used what we already had at home or could borrow from other people in the church.

 I picked up these little buckets from Hobby Lobby and added the vinyl letters with my Silhouette machine.  Maybe I'll make a post about that later too.

 This heart was an idea I saw on Pinterest.  We already had the frame with the chicken wire upstairs in our flower room.  All I did was buy three packages of red napkins at dollar Tree to create it.  

While I enjoyed planning this event, I really learned a few things.  I learned what to do and what not to do.  I came home that night and jotted down a few notes about what to do differently next year.

I think maybe next year I'll simplify more.  I spent a lot of time and money trying to make everything pretty but I soon found out people don't really care.  They don't care if the tablecloths are real or not.  They don't care how many decorations I hung up.  They don't care if there are chocolate kisses on the tables or not.  Or at least they didn't comment whether they did or didn't.  Last week we attended another Valentines Banquet at another church close by and their decorations were minimal.  It looked like they just showed up an hour before the event and taped some paper hearts to the walls and called it done.  But no one seemed to mind with the exception of me.  I think I care more about those little details than other people do.  I prefer a setting to be pretty rather than plain and dull but I guess that's just me.  So maybe next year I'll spend less time on those things.  

I think also we'll cook the brisket ourselves rather than have it catered.  I think some families chose not to attend because of the costs.  So while catered is better (less work for me), next year we'll probably do a pot luck so everyone can come.

til next time friends,

xx, Beca

Decorative Halloween Plates

Look what I found just in time for the Halloween season.  I was going through my garage yesterday looking for a pretty plate or charger to make a fall centerpiece for my table and I came across these plates I made last year.  They were stacked along with my other chargers and I was pleasantly surprised to see them because I had totally forgot all about them.  I originally blogged about these plates here.  

I don't normally decorate for Halloween since we don't celebrate it in our house but around this time last year I had a new Silhouette Cameo and was eager to play around with it.  I made a total of five plates.  I sold two of them last year and was left with three.  

I still think three is too many for me.  Do I need that many Halloween plates?  If I'd only found these earlier I would have done a giveaway.  I've been wanting to have a giveaway anyway.  This would have been the perfect opportunity.  But alas, maybe I can have a giveaway for Thanksgiving.  

I set up the boo plate in the den.  The witch plate is on my kitchen counter right next to a picture of my three (not so) little monsters.  The trick or treat plate I put in the living room.  

I'm so glad I found these just in time to add a little bit of seasonal fun to our home.  

I need to get back to crocheting.  I haven't started anything in a while but this cooler weather makes me want to whip out my yarn and crochet the day away.  If only there were more hours in the day...

My Vintage Cookie Cutters

When I was a young child, my mother and grandmother would get together and make Mexican sugar cookies.  It was mostly for Christmas but they'd make them for other special occasions too.  I remember my mother having a whole drawer of aluminum cookie cutters that they'd use to cut out the cookies.  

My mom hasn't made sugar cookies in years.  So a couple of weeks ago I showed her my cookie cutter collection and told her I'd love to have hers someday.  She brought over a few but said she didn't know what happened to the rest of them.  I figured she's already given them to someone else or she's not ready to part with them yet.  

So only a handful of these belonged to my mother.   She mostly owned the copper color ones. 

The one in the back with the worn out wooden handle belonged to my grandmother.

I started out keeping my cookie cutters in a small jar but through the years as my collection's grown, so has the jar. 

This is where I keep them now along with a few plastic ones.  In a 2 gallon glass jar.  There's plenty of room for all my cookie cutters plus a little extra room for growth.

I used my silhouette to add the black letters to the jar.

I love having these in my kitchen where I can look at them everyday.  They're too pretty to just be kept in a drawer.  It's important to surround yourself with the things that you love. 

Do you collect cookie cutters?  If not, what do you collect?  Would love to hear from you!

Linking to: Whatever Goes Wednesday, What I Whipped Up Wednesday, Time Travel Thursday, Home and Garden Thursday, 

Christmas Mantel

Hello!  Welcome to my humble home!

I wanted to share with you some pictures of my Christmas mantel and other vignettes I've put together this week around my home.

I used a lot of golds and browns in the family room.

With just a little touch of red.

Red is my favorite color.  

So you know we've gotta have a little red.  :)

This vignette is just to the right of the fireplace.

A couple of years ago I made this sheet music wreath.  

I think it goes well with the carolers I bought at Cracker Barrel a few years back.

Aren't they the sweetest??

Dreamsicles...remember these?

I probably picked up this one at a yard sale or thrift shop.  I still love Dreamsicles.  They make me smile. 

Another touch of red.

And you can't forget the reason for the season.  

This plate actually stays up year round but I thought it was very Christmas-sy.  

Thanks for looking! 

I hope you enjoyed!

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends!

Linking to: A Homespun Christmas, Sunday's Best, 

Oh Christmas Tree

Hey y'all!  I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.   

I managed to get our tree up right before we left town for the holidays.  It was nice coming home and having it all done.

I could not get a good picture of it. 

 

The green mesh shows up much brighter than it really is.  

Red is my favorite color so I used a lot of red.

Gotta have a little green too.

My favorite ornaments are the ones of my kids.

I don't know why but I always feel like I need to put the tree right in front of the window.  

I guess so everyone else can see it.  I always enjoy seeing other people's trees through the window.  Even if it's just the twinkle lights that are showing.  

Til next time,

Linking to:  Seasonal Sundays, Sunny Simple Sundays, Creative Bloggers Party, Sunday Showcase party, Market Yourself Monday, Metamorphosis Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Wow Us Wednesday,