Monday, October 12, 2015

Showcasing Idaho, my home state!

Last week was a big, busy week but I have some fun stuff to show you!  The College I work for inaugurated its 13th President who also happens to be its first woman president.  We started out with Founder's Day on Wednesday, which also happens to be our 125th year.  There was cake and a sparkling cider toast.  No, I didn't make this cake but I did make the topper!
On Thursday we had the actual inauguration during the afternoon.  After the very formal ceremony, there was a reception for the public.  I made very simple centerpieces using the new stemmed glasses from The Pioneer Woman's new collection at Wal-Mart.  The purple glasses were perfect for us and I am sure we will use them for many other things. 
Yellow carnation and babies breath were inside the glass and a pretty gold garland went around the base.  I also made the programs pictured below. 
But my most favorite thing of all of this is the centerpieces I made for the Inauguration Dinner.  The new president wanted to highlight our beautiful state of Idaho as best we could.  She wanted Idaho Salmon, Idaho potatoes and local veggies on the menu.  I was in charge of making sure the centerpieces were Idaho-centric as well! 
I thought of a lot of different things and finally settled on this.  They turned out amazing!  I found vintage labels from fruit orchards right here in our town.  I scanned them and printed them off in different sizes.  Everyone in my office was tasked with saving all the tin cans they could.  Once I had all 39 cans collected, I went about pasting the labels onto the cans.   
I ordered succulents off of Amazon which I highly recommend!  They came perfectly packaged and ready to plant.  We took a Friday afternoon to plant them in the cans which was really fun.  We also needed table numbers so I took small pieces of tree stump, hand printed the letters and asked the boy in the office to drill holes and insert paper straws in to them.  
Last but not least, I put all of this on a slice of Idaho wood, went around campus clipping some leaves and berries off of trees and set it all up.  The centerpieces were perfect and the new President loved them!  This was such a fun project and I felt so happy to help show the out of towners just what an amazing state Idaho is.  We also served all Idaho wine and gave out wine stoppers as party favors.  

My first Inauguration was a huge success!

Linking Up With:

7 comments:

NanaDiana said...

Trisha---What a perfect way to honor the new (first woman) president..and I am sure she noticed the decor (which most men would not). You did a great job and I love your centerpieces and everything you did. That cake is gorgeous, too. Good job on the topper. xo Diana

Unknown said...

I've never been, but this post is great! :)

Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

Donna said...

Wow, your work is amazing, Trisha! I do believe you have your dream job! How fun to be able to create for so many events. Love your idea of using the vintage labels. And those purple vases are gorgeous!!

JES said...

The vintage fruit crate labels were the icing on the cake! Thank you for sharing with us on the Art of Home-Making Mondays! :)

Julie's Lifestyle said...

Wow Trisha, how creative of you to make the cans with the pretty vintage labels and adding the succulents. I can't believe you ordered them from Amazon. How easy is that.
Thanks for sharing this at Cooking and Crafting with J & J.
Enjoy the rest of the week.
Julie xo

Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces said...

You did a great job with the decorations, Trisha...love the label idea!

Angie @ Knick of Time said...

You did I wonderful job! I love the tin can planter centerpieces. Thanks for sharing at the Vintage Inspiration Party!