Sweet Sixteen Bday Party

My youngest daughter turned 16 Thursday. She loves the Twilight series, so of course wanted a Twilight party. We were doing it on a budget as well, so it's been quite a bit of running around these past couple weeks to accomplish it. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

The color theme was officially red and black. The setting we were going for was elegant, a reflection on the party Edward's family threw for Bella, with candles and glam.  For this party, I was worried about many candles and lots of teenagers, so besides a couple of carefully placed red tapers, I set out a lot of the small flameless tea candles.  I placed several in glass bowls through the livingroom and dining area, which added an elegant sparkle. I don't know why I didn't take pictures of other areas, but I'm sure everyone can sympathize with how hard it is to journal an event when you're in the middle of making it happen.

 Besides the Twilight themed party ware, I had draped some sheer black material over a golden colored tablecloth I had purchased for a fall tablescape. Then we sprinkled rose petals from the dollar store and added some glitter, ala vampires in sunlight. A few pieces of crystal and silver candlestick added to the glamorous look. I also put black and red licorice sticks in a crystal vase.

For cake, we made cupcakes and ran out on a color copier some Twilight images for cupcakes I found on the internet.  Those were cut out and pasted onto toothpicks. They made cute cupcake picks, especially with the red and black tubing decorating the girls did. Then of course we put out lots of snack food and let everyone enjoy the party.

I'm linking with Marty for Tabletop Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life.



Hidden Dreamer

Tucked into a corner of my little patio, half forgotten among plantings past their prime, a little vision of white glows softly.

An elusive being with its own radiance, I must wait for the light to dim to catch its features.

There's the little dreamer, gracing my place with his sweet form as he rests between good deeds!

May all your days be filled with hidden angels and blessings waiting to happen.

I am linking up to Cielo at The House in the Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday.
Jane

Tea Set in Gray Wood

Today I'm looking forward to finally sharing the lovely tea set my mother gave me. I don't know much about this history of this set. I do appreciate that it came from a respectable maker, Noritake china, though the Gray Wood pattern has been discontinued. It is a soft white with silvery and gray leaves in a delicate pattern on it, the lines are I think of a more modern, sleek design. Nothing I would call particulary fancy, not very frilly in paint or style. I have come to really admire its understated elegance and it has great sentimental value for me.

My mother bought this set off her sister, a woman prone to packing up everything she owned and traveling across country to settle where she landed for a few months or a couple of years, until the urge to roam uprooted her again. My aunt collected and purged countless items in her travels, including a few houses and more than a few husbands. On one of her trips back to stay near her family, she had this china set and a full set of Royal Doulton Old English Roses dinnerware. I don't know what my mother paid for it, but I'm sure she got them for a bargain price. My older sister got the Royal Doulton, I got this set. That was over 30 years ago, and the set has remained one of my most treasured items.

Here is the full service for six, so everyone find a seat while I take the scones out of the oven. Heehee, now I'm reminded of a sign I saw today, 'Tea is on me, the gossip is free.'

Do you like my centerpiece I'm using?  It is a lovely Lennox vase my husband and I bought many years ago, in the early part of our marriage, before we accumulated kids and cats and put this and other pretties away behind glass. I brought it out for our little gathering, because you're special. Thank you so much for stopping by for tea. I'm joining this lovely folks at their parties as well.

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Katherine at Lady Katherines for Tea Time Tuesday
Martha at Martha's Favorites for Tea Tuesday

Rediscovered Bird Art

My husband and I have had these bird plates for many years. You'll notice there is one for almost every season. There is a nuthatch plate as well, which represents Fall nicely. It's round frame had broken, and these frames are pricey, especially since we have to special order them. So I need to get a new frame, actually, you might see it used in some of my fall decorating, before being mounted in my bedroom.

These plates have been in several places in our livingroom, until we rearranged our artwork and found we no longer had a place to put them. Don't you hate when that happens? So for the past 4-5 years they've been stacked in my closet, not even packed nicely, I'm embarrassed to say. Then this week, as I was digging for a piece to put on a few spare inches of my bedroom wall, I came across them. I have a rather large area of wall space in my stairway, and had that Eureka! moment, why not place these plates there?  The stairway gets a lot of direct afternoon sun, so I hesitate to put anything there which would fade or age in strong sunlight, but these seem the perfect solution.

Here is the grouping, on the wall leading down my staircase, lower level. It's a very tall wall area, so this just covers the last lower portion, but it gives something pretty to look at on your way. It also takes those lovely plates out of the shadowland of my closet.

I'm linking up to Show-and-Tell Friday with Cindy at My Romantic Home.  Sorry to come to the party late, I want to join every week, and Friday always comes (and goes) so quickly.  See ya there!

Master Bedroom Vignettes

I have the week off work, and I've been promising myself to start adding photos of my home, so I can do like many of the bloggers here and have a gallery of gorgeous rooms. It's that 'gorgeous rooms' issue that's holding me up, they're still a work in progress. So for now I'm displaying a few of the little items which make up my home, with an occasional view at the rooms. You won't mind if there's certain corners which are not quite up for show just yet, will you?

This collection on my dresser contains some of my favorite things. I moved the purse picture frame to align with the silver frame in later shots, but this was the best picture, so it's the one I posted. This vignette includes a picture of my mom and dad with their parents on their wedding day, a few fun photos of myself and my girls, and a couple of items recently acquired from Goodwill, the candlestick and glass jar.

This handpainted tile tray was purchased by my husband on a rare just-the-two-of-us trip to Catalina Island. He wouldn't say how much he paid, so I'm sure it was pricey, but I just love the colors in it. Sorry for the striped glare from my bedroom window, again, it was the best shot I could get. My condo faces west, and the natural lighting is either too little or too much, so photos are iffy at best.

I have to include a closeup of the jewelry box my husband bought me for a wedding gift. Twenty-one years later, I still love it. It has always had a place of honor on my dresser, except for several years when my girls were little. I had a few instances where I would come home from work, and even with daddy supposedly watching them, they'd sneak into my bedroom and I'd find my jewelry either decorating their little fingers, or spread around our bedroom. After that, I kept the box hid until they were older.

I'd made this silk flower bower severall years ago, and still enjoy seeing it at the top of my window, coupled with a sheer sash draped over a curtain rod.

A shabby white pair of birds hold a bundle of pink flowers, and yet another shabby white bird hangs from a bedpost.

It all blends together to make a sweet boudoir corner.

Ignore the little bit of ugly old television resting on an orange towel to protect the dresser. I do still enjoy my shows late at night, and that, along with the fan in the corner, is one corner not really included in this photoshoot. Part of that work-in-progress.