Valentines Day Ideas

I know it is more than a month away, but if you want your Valentines day a little extra special, then I found a few ideas  for you from some very creative people.

I just had to share this photo I found on Universal Scraps.com.  Wow!  I am not recommending you bedazzle your lips, but you would certainly catch his attention.

Now this Valentines idea is a lot easier than the lips with crystals.  Red Valentines hearts on your tea bags with a little message written with a white pen.

Photo From Martha Steward

 Okay, so you should know each others name and where to sit, but I just loved the look of the pink table card with the deep red rose.

Photo from Martha Stewart

 Red Tulips surrounded by red hots.  Ahhh the smell must be heavenly.

Photo From Martha Stewart

 How about a larger dinner party for a few of your favorite couples or just a group of friends. 

Photo of work by Preston Bailey

 For more ideas and inspiration, please visit my web site. New England Fine Living.com

Truck Theme Birthday/Corporate/Christmas Party

I know I am a little late putting up these photos, but I needed to focus on a few parties and design clients and this post got pushed onto the back burner.

The event, these unique trucks were created for, was a very special 90th birthday party.  The birthday boy founded a waste management company, hence the truck theme, and since it was near Christmas, I made the trucks look like over-sized ornaments.  I wish I could say I decided to do the sparkle right away, but it was really due to a mishap with the "special" paint I used on the plastic trucks.

Walking out of the toy store with 11 Toy Story trucks was the first fun part of the project.  Once I got them home, I had to remove the little pink bear on the front of the trucks (I ripped him off with pliers... I felt so cruel)  These pink bears talk to you when they are touched, so I has some pretty interesting conversations with them.  I then taped the areas I did not want to paint.  This is when things went wrong.  I primed them with the proper primer and waited the allotted time to paint them again, and the paint started bubbling and cracking.  OMG!  I had to sand them down and tried again.  NOPE. They bubbled and crackled again.  I was beside myself.  Hmmmm what to do?  What to do?  Then I had my "ah ha" moment.  Sparkles.  I was going to start with JUST the back being done in white sparkles, but the blue front looked boring, so I sparkled the front too.  In the photo below, I used glue to put on the sparkles, but when everything dried, I did have holidays, so I went back with blue paint and shook on more of the glitter.

Once the blue was done, I thought now the silver needs some, then of course the red back up lights, then I did the windows with black.  My house, my clothes, my dogs feet, everything had a touch of this magical fairy dust stuck to it.  Since I work on project between going to my store or design jobs, there are times my projects are left out in the open, or I don't have time to clean up.  This was one of those projects, and I literally placed a sign on my front door that said "Warning, glitter zone, enter at your own risk"  :-)  .

For the base, I cut foam boards, then covered them with buffalo snow fastened by floral pins. this was one of two layers.

These were the favors I had created for the party that were placed at each place setting

In the background, the hostess of the birthday party had a dvd created that played on the flat screen tv, and we had shadow boxes created to document her fathers life and how the business started.  

For more party and decorating ideas, please visit my web site New England Fine Living.com or if you have a project you would like to discuss please contact me. E-mail

Hosting a Diva Party For Your Diva Friends

Below are fun pictures of a Diva Party created for a client, but as an edit to this post, I would like to add our latest edition: 

A Diva Cosmopolitan Party In A Box.  

 While Supplies Last - For ordering information you can follow this link to our diva cosmopolitan in a box page. 

Here is a party that I had a BLAST creating.  This is a Diva Theme party that was for about 20 women. I was brought in to create the look, the invitations, the favors, the menu, and then Leanne from Party Accommodator and I  did everything from greeting guests to pouring champagne so that the Divine Diva herself could enjoy her magical evening. 

The invitations created were custom printed for us from The Write Expression, then I embellished them with crystal snowflakes.  In the background of the picture is the large napkin ring that you will see used later, an ornament that was used to close the gift bag, and my boa catalog (doesn't every Diva need a boa?).

Custom Napkins? But of course! And the colors match the sign, I painted, which you will see below. 

Inside these sparkling gift bags are black boas that I ordered from one of my suppliers and a "Bling Ring" that each Diva wore during the evening.  Seeing the women open their bags and hearing them laugh was just the reaction I was going for.  It is hard to see, but the crystal ornament is being used to close the bag, then I tied the top with a hot pink bow. 

I painted and lettered this sign for Santa to greet the guests. His tiara was a perfect fit, and lucky for him, I ran out of time to put on his fake eyelashes.  He was placed out on the front porch the night of the party with a spot light on him. 

 

Using the clients silver service and props purchased for this party, I created a tablescape of white, hot pink, black and silver.  After the caterer dropped off the food, I plated it for the buffet. 

A Diva Party would not be complete without HUGE bling napkin rings.

Here is the dessert and coffee table.  Fresh cedar surrounded the the coffee tray and I since I am not a florist, I created a casual arrangement with Christmas ornaments, cedar, white pine, and sparkly hot pink accents.

Here is is at night with the delicious desserts placed on the table.  

 

Leanne pouring the coffee for one of the Divas

If you would like your own Diva Party, created just for you, send me a note! E-mail

A Farmhouse Christmas Party

 

Sure I love working with my New England interior design clients, but I LOVE New England event and party styling.

Here are some photos of a class New England style Christmas party I styled for a client and their 60 guests.  This particular event was in a private New England home, so I created items they could use every year.  Getting out my glue gun, scissors, and wire, and got to work on this event.  I can't wait to get photos from my client with pictures of the food buffets and bar area.

New England Style Christmas or Natural Theme Party Favors

 For favors, I decided to wrap evergreen scented candles in burlap (burlap was a large part of the decor for this party) with small pine cones.   After they were complete, I attached a note on the back of each one from the host and hostess.  Below, you will see a picture of the favors in a basket that was placed in the front foyer. 

 

The candy buffet, as you can probably tell, had a theme of red, green, and white.  Custom labels were created, for each candy, with cute sayings that had to do with each treat.

  

I am so glad the candy is out of my house now.  Keeping it in my home was such a tease to candy taste testers.  

For the table that was going to be used for the appetizers, I hung a twig, greenery, and berry wreath upside down off of the chandelier.  Tiny checkered bows were used to cover the wire.  

For the dessert station, I found an old sled and embellished it with greens, red jingle bells, pine cones, and a burlap bow.  I can't wait to see photos on how this looked once the caterer placed the desserts on top and around this piece.  My client informed me that many of the guests are going to put sled on their dining room tables now just for decoration.  

Yup.... I used a lot of burlap for this job.  Some was a higher grade from a fabric store and some of it was from a local feed and grain store.

I wished the decorations showed up in the photo, but for some reason a lot seemed to disappear once the flash went off, but this simple tree had pine cones, twigs, red ornaments, red jingle bells, metal stars that I painted an antique  gold, and a burlap bow and cascading ribbon 

For the front hall that was lacking an item on the wall, I found a pair of old wooden skis, screwed them together and added greens, pine cones, bells, and what else?  Say it with me now........ a burlap bow.  the basket on the table is holding all of the candle party favors that I mentioned earlier.

 Two of the mantel in the home were decorated.  Here I added greens,  amber ornaments, pine cones, candles, and sticks.  Note the tall candle holder to keep the flame higher than the greenery. 

 In an older post, you might have seen this wreath already, but it was created for this party.  I found vintage kitchen accessories and placed them on a faux wreath with wire.  Then I added berries and bows to complete the look.

 

This sled was made for a different client, for the outside, but I thought I would share it here on this post.  

Making Sugared Pecans

I was going through some of the older recipes and photos on my web site, and this is one of my all time favorites. I am ashamed to say that this might be the first time in many years that I will not find time to make my sugared pecans.The month is flying by and I am focusing on my clients parties (I have my own coming up and my house and my menu is not ready!)  Last year, one of my friends came over and we made a HUGE batch to give out to all of our friends and relatives. This sugared pecan recipe is so easy.  Just make sure they are not too close to the oven element (top and bottom) unless you want black and burnt pecans.  Ick!