Easter Baskets Revised
Is is just me or has Easter candy gotten really cute? This has been the first year I've ever shopped for Easter treats and the candy isle nearly swept me off my feet. Everything was arranged by color and these little chocolates were too cute to pass up. I found myself in a frenzy, you know what I mean? When a million ideas zap into your brain, it's like a sugar rush without the sugar.
So grabbing edible grass and other treats I rushed to the basket isle. But then I realized I hate baskets. I kind of always have. They aren't simple enough for me, they seem to detract from their contents. So, I found simple egg shaped bowls and they worked out perfectly! I think these will be our official Easter "baskets" from now on!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My hubby and I had family over last night for a small Valentine celebration. Here is a look at some simple ideas for low stress party.

Take a photo of your decorations and use it to design a quick announcement which you can email to family.
As an activity, write a couple of Valentine cards (or letter of appreciation etc.) to friends,family, or someone who has made a positive impact. Purchase a pack of 40 plain cards and envelopes for $5.00 at Michael's. If you want, the photo below shows a very simple way to snaz up a plain card with colored lining and outline. (Works out great for the guys, they don't usually like "girly" stationary.)
While looking at blogs all over the internet, garlands seem to be the "it". So of course I tried one for this party. You can make a garland out of just about anything. The one below is fabric.
Bake and decorate sugar cookies the evening before. If they are kept air tight, they will be nice soft for your party. Yum, yum. Double the recipe and you have an instant party favor to send home with guests.

Flowers! Can't forget the flowers. One $10 bouquet works wonders. Find all your skinny vases and split up your flowers by type. I lined my vases up in a row on the bar . . . pretty, inexpensive, and makes a bigger impact than one bouquet which might not have enough "presence."
. . . plus, you get to enjoy them for another week!
Play games, like this one, called:
It is exacty like the hidden thimble game, only we used a little heart instead. It's a great game for ALL ages. Rules: While everyone closes their eyes and plugs their ears, someone hides the heart—in plain sight. Yes, plain site. They can't move anything to do the hiding.

When the heart is hidden all players begin to search for the heart. If the heart has been hidden correctly, the players won't need to touch or move anything to find the heart. When a player sees it, they quietly sit back down and get to watch the other players with a grin, as they now "know the secret." The last person to see the heart gets to hide it for the next round. (Kids have a great time playing right along with the adults.) Try it, you'll like it.

And lastly, what to do with the fabric from the garland? You probably guessed, make a quilt! Before I began cutting out my flags I made a rough layout of what I wanted the quilt to look like so I knew exactly what shapes to cut:

So now you know what the next project will be! (Don't you just love double dipping?) I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines and a lovely day!

Trees

I spent a bit of time over at MarthaStewart.com and found these trees. . . . Click Images to direct you to site.

I enjoy looking at the base of the trees just as much as the ornaments. It's fun to see how people handle that particular part of decorating when there aren't presents to stack around the bottom.
I've been thinking about doing this (see below). I have a line of ornaments that my grandma started giving me when I was little. My mom has continued the tradition. Now I have several that I would like to display, and I think this idea will work!

Below (Ornaments are made from seed packets.)

Mini tree, ornaments made from pipe cleaners.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Of course, we all remember this gorgeous pink tree from Blueprint Magazine (now out of print) a while back—who would have thought a pink tree could look so UN-kitsch?

Now I am on the hunt for more fun and beautiful trees. So, for the next few weeks I'll be sharing my finds. Enjoy! This first batch is from Country Living (not necessarily my style, but good ideas still the same). Click Here to view all 31 designs!

Holiday Wreaths

Time to start thinking about holiday decor! I am not a fan of many wreaths. But when I stumbled across these on Flickr, I started to become one. (The bottom right would look nice at a wedding too no?)

From top left to bottom right: 1. TibbyGirl 2. Robot Jumping Rope 3. Craftapalooza 4. The Shopping Sherpa