Seven Swans a Swimming Holiday Party

Every year at work, we hold a holiday party for all of the employees.  A year before I started in my department, they started following the 12 Days of Christmas for the theme.  We are now on year 7 and I wanted to share what I did this year for Seven Swans a Swimming.

This is the invite that I designed.  I looked all over for ideas for this particular theme and most of them had something to do with Ballet.  So, I just decided that I would use rose gold, white, silver, roses and feathers.  The invite really helped me pull everything together! 

Here are the centerpieces.  I used the rhinestone covered vases from this years gala.  The white feathers that I put around the vase came from our 2018 gala and I covered the base of the feathers with sparkly rose gold ribbon.  I then hot glued greenery and a frosted pink rose to the middle.  Inside the vase was a strand of twinkle lights. 

We decorated a tree with some icy white garland, gold ornaments and rose gold pink snowflakes.  I made a sparkly rose gold bow for the top.  We wrapped boxes to put around the bottom of tree and everyone who came signed their name on a gold ornament. 

We hung curtain lights in this window wall and hung icy white wreaths with rose gold ribbon.  We dined on delicious food as always! 

Since this party was held in our brand new library, we used the furniture there to create lounges.  We brought pillows and blankets to drape on the furniture and it was such a big hit with our guests! 

This centerpiece had some soft lambs ear in it.  I bought these napkins at World Market years ago and this party was the perfect place to use them! 

It's very hard to see, but we put garland and lights on the banister going up the stairs.  A Happy Holidays sign that matched the invite greeted all of our guests. 

We hung a rose gold snowflake ornament on each of the lights on the study tables and put a centerpiece in the middle of each one.  It looked so stunning when the day turned into night. 

I don't have any pictures from last year's Six Geese a Laying Holiday Party, but here is a link to previous years parties.  If I come across last years, I will have to remember to save them.  Next year is 8 Maids a Milking and I already know that buffalo check will be a part of it!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Linking up with:

Love Your Creativity

Inspire Me Tuesday
All About Home
Make It Pretty Monday
Talk of the Town
Keep In Touch
Winter Blue's Wednesday
Anything Goes Pink Saturday

Super Faux Shiplap Wall

I have been wanting to add shiplap to a wall in my living room for awhile but we have so many other projects going on that we just haven't gotten around to it.  Yesterday I decided to give it a very faux shiplap look while I wait for the real thing to happen!

I read about this technique on the Wicker House Blog.  With a yard stick, a level and a mechanical pencil, I did my best to make sure the lines were even and straight.  They aren't perfect but I love the way it looks! 

The above picture was taken with my phone so it is not very good quality but you can kind of see the shiplap lines.  Since we were already making changes, I had my husband build me a rustic shelf to hang on the wall and I decorated it with some of my Decor Steals goodies.   

This is now my favorite wall in the house!  I have more things that need to be added and I think it will be fun to incorporate holiday decor into it as well.  I love when I get an idea in my head and then I get to see it come to reality! 

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, especially since I am such a slacker when it comes to my blog these days!

Linking up with:

Love Your Creativity

All About Home

Inspire Me Tuesday

Make It Pretty Monday

Talk of the Town

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The Homemaking Party

Fall Into Fall

Pink Saturday

Dining Room Table Makeover

I just had to share the makeover I did on a dining room table and chairs that was recently gifted to me.  I had a dining room table that I loved but the leg was broken and we couldn't fix it.  So this was perfect!

I had the week of 4th of July off of work so I knew there was no time like the present to get this done.  I started by stripping off the stain that was on the table top, sanding it and staining it. 

Next I made my own chalk paint and painted the table base and the chairs.  It took 2 coats on both to get the cover I wanted.   

 Next, I recovered the seats with a drop cloth and painted on some stripes in my favorite color.  I then put 2 coats of polyurethane on the table top.  I could hardly wait to get this in my dining room! 

I didn't get a before picture of the whole table but here is a chair and the leaf that I still need to finish so you can see where I started.  Such a huge improvement! 

And now that it is in my dining room, I just had to play dress up with it! 

 Aqua is my favorite color so I set the table to match the stripes on the chairs.  

 Doing this makeover was a lot of work but seeing the final result made it all worth it!  Now I want to do this to all the things!

 It's amazing what a little imagination and work can do to make something beautiful!

Linking up with: 

Dishing It & Digging It
Make It Pretty Monday
Inspire Me Tuesday
Talk of the Town
Sizzle Into Summer
Anything Goes Pink Saturday

A Very Creative Weekend

I gave myself a much needed 3 day weekend.  This is my busy season at work and this was the one weekend that I could take 3 days and enjoy it.  And enjoy it I did!  I started out Friday by attending my very first Paint 'n Sip with my mom.  We painted the cutest cow picture!  It turned out pretty good but I am definitely not quitting my day job to take painting up!

Next up, I created a new sign for my living room.  I found a Target framed print at the thrift store and although the image was cute, I knew I could use it to make something even better.  I painted it white and added lines to make it look like ship-lap using a pencil.  The P was free-handed and not at all perfect.  After Christmas, I purchased some greenery from JoAnn's and it was exactly what I needed to make the wreath around the P.  Now I wish I would have bought more.  I am loving this sign so much! 

We went to a few estate sales yesterday and I found two wood cutting boards for 25 cents each.  The metal tray was found at a thrift store and then I shopped my house for the other items to create this vignette that looks perfect on my kitchen counter.

I love it when inspiration strikes me, especially when I have time to see my ideas come to life!

Linking up with: 

Amaze Me Monday

Dishing It & Digging It

Inspire Me Tuesday

Make It Pretty Monday

Keep In Touch

Talk of the Town

Swing Into Spring

Dollar Tree Mason Jar Wreath

My newest obsession is watching YouTube videos of crafters creating the most amazing things using stuff from the Dollar Store.  I have recreated a few of the things I have seen and I have shared them below.  But this Mason Jar Wreath is my own creation and I love it!

Everything that I used to make this wreath came from the Dollar Tree.  I took a wreath form and covered it in jute twine.  That took a little bit of time because the twine is so thin.  I then took some of the DT lace ribbon and wound it around the wreath.  The wired burlap ribbon made a perfect bow for the top.  The little Mason Jar I found a while ago and when I spot them, I pick up a couple of packs of them because they seem to run out fast. 

I used a permanent marker from DT to color the jar the perfect blue color!  I used the twine to wrap around the top of the jar and tied a little bow to finish off the jar.  The white hydrangeas are from Dollar Tree as well.  You could leave the jar empty, fill it with flowers and have fun changing out what you put in it for each season and holiday. Right now it is hanging on my pantry door but I kind of like it on top of my hood above my oven.  This Mason Jar print is from DT too and it is perfect for my kitchen.

Here are a few of the other Dollar Tree creations I have made, thanks to the inspiration of some very creative crafters out these.  The fleurs tin is perfect for holding soaps at my kitchen sink.  It's painted white and black sharpie accents make it look like real enamelware.  The little feet are pawns from a DT Chess set!  The vintage scale is an oil warmer, some chip board from an Easter decoration all painted white and black paint accents.  The scale face I printed from the internet and fit it in a jar lid.  I just love these so much! 

This is a placemat that I cut down to fit into an 11x14 frame.  It's the perfect piece for my dining room and only cost $2! 

They have so many fun prints and canvases at Dollar Tree and when I saw this little windmill canvas, I knew I needed it.  It is perfect under my cow picture. 

I just love this little print.  It says: Bless this house with love and laughter.  The roses and white washed wood background are so pretty.  I hung a swag over the top to really make it a statement piece.   

Wow, Dollar Tree is really stepping up their game these days and I love trying other people's ideas and coming up with my own!

Linking up with: 

The Fabulous Party

Dishing It & Digging It

Amaze Me Monday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Keep In Touch

Swing Into Spring

Homemaking Party

Feathered Nest Friday

Anything Goes Pink Saturday

2019 Scholarship Gala-Puttin' on the Glitz

I don't blog much anymore.  Doesn't seem like many people care what I am doing so I stopped.  But I want to keep track of what I do each year for the Gala at work and this is the perfect place to do it.  Maybe I will take up regular blogging again one of these days!

This year's gala theme was Puttin' on the Glitz.  Coming up with what to do for centerpieces took me a bit of time and brainstorming.  I finally figured out what to do and we all went to work getting things ready for our big day on March 1.

We went to every Dollar Tree in the valley and bought all of the 7 inch and 9 inch tall vases as well as 3 inch candle holders.  We had 57 tables and each table had 3 vases.  Did you do the math?  That's 171 separate pieces!  I ordered rhinestone ribbon from Amazon and covered each and every piece with it.  And black and white striped ribbon around each one and a rhinestone on each one.  This was all done ahead of time.  

On the day of the Gala, we made 171 separate flower arrangements for each one.  It was a lot of work but they turned out so pretty! 

We have a very generous grocery store chain who donates all the flowers.  I just ask for what I want and I get everything I ask for and more! 

Leading up to the day of the Gala, I create posters for the Live Auction, name cards for the tables, raffle tickets, certificates and so many other little details.  All of that work pays off in the end because we hit our goal and more! 

I got to take home so many flowers after we were done.  I filled up my sink with them and then made some arrangements for myself.  I wish I had this many fresh flowers all the time to play with! 

Here is a look back at Gala's past:

2018

2017

2016

2015