that's a wrap

 Looking for a fun gift topper?  This time of year there are so many beautiful flowers blooming everywhere you don't need to look any farther than your own garden! It's so easy to stick a fresh stem on top of a gift.  You can stick the flower in a florist tube (which can be found at the grocery store florist) or place it on the gift right before you head to your party.  Just don't forget to dry off the stem or the wrapping paper will get wet.  For the gift below I went monochromatic and tried a stem of Hyacinth which smells divine, but for a pop of color a daffodil will do the trick too.  The possibilities are endless!

My daughter's seventh birthday is tomorrow and I am up to my eyeballs in Hello Kitty!  Please come back after the weekend to see all the fun details from her party!

irish flowers

 

I love fresh flowers in the house and when I saw freesia at Trader Joes this morning I couldn't resist.  I also found the perfect vessel for them, an Irish Oatmeal tin!  I hope everyone has a fun, happy and mischeveous St. Patrick's Day on Sunday. 

teacher appreciation

When I turned thirty my friend and colleague, Hope, had each of my 15 students bring in two flowers for me so that by the end of the day I would have a beautiful arrangement of 30 flowers!  Hope provided the vase and put it in my classroom first thing in the morning and I was surprised and delighted when each of my students came in carrying beautiful flowers for my special day.  It was one of my favorite gifts and when I went home at the end of the day I had the most beautiful arrangement of flowers.  I thought this would be a great idea to use for teacher appreciation which is celebrated next week.  Since I am the room mother for my daughter's kindergarten class I bought the vase and asked each of her classmates to bring a flower to school on Monday for their teacher.  I got the vase at IKEA for only $2 and filled it with some wooden alphabet magnets that I found at the dollar store.  I asked the parents to send in a flower from their garden or one that they could purchase from the grocery store.  I didn't want it to be a lot of work or cost a lot of money.  But, I know that this small gesture will certainly make their teacher feel appreciated.  Do you have any fun plans for teacher appreciation next week?

cake

Look what I got today!  A gorgeous cake made entirely out of flowers!!  Thanks so much to my friend's at BLUSH for making this arrangement for me.  I love it!!!  It's perfect for my b&w dining room and as the centerpiece to my table for my big birthday this week.

it ain't easy being green

I was going to throw away these froggy boots.  They have a rip in the side and are now to small for my son to wear.  They were to cute to let go off so instead I decided to plant some pansies in them.  It was so easy to do that five year old did the whole project all by herself.  Now we can enjoy these guys for a little while longer!

pretty in pink

Yesterday was my mom's birthday.  She is so sweet and thoughtful and does so much for me and so I wanted to make her birthday extra special.  However, I am finding it a little more challenging to get out of the house to run errands with three small children!  So all of the ideas I originally had went out the window and I was left to improvise with things I had around the house like candles, napkin rings, and ribbon.  I was able to get her some plants (you can read about another gift idea using impatiens here) and a funny little metal sign that I thought was a perfect sentiment sitting in a pot of impatiens!  Although I wasn't able to get helium filled balloons I blew some up that I had leftover from my daughters party and tossed them on the floor.  I added some pink ribbons to an Eiffel Tower and wrote a message on the chalkboard.  It was a lovely evening celebrating a lovely woman.

impatiens

Today is my mom's birthday! Last year she turned 75 so I had fun putting together a variety of surprises for her. One of them was for her garden. I bought 75 impatiens plants and put them in small pots along a stone wall on her property. I typed up this quote: "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience" by Ralph Waldo Emerson and cut out each individual word, put them on sticks, and placed them in 12 of the pots. As my mom walked passed the wall she saw all of the beautiful flowers and read the quote in its entirety. I thought this quote was perfect for the impatiens...but, this idea can be adapted by using different flowers (or even herbs), and a quote that pertains to the occasion or flowers. This idea can really work for any special occasion.

easter flowers

I just wanted to share the simple flower arrangement I made for Easter this year. Fresh orange tulips in a vase surrounded by jelly beans! The bunny topiaries are actually candles that I bought from a boutique years ago. The carrots perched on teacups are also candles. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday and may the bunny bring you something sweet. Next week, I'll start posting the details of my daughter's upcoming birthday party and I am planing another giveaway for my 100th post. So stay tuned!

mmm,mmm, good

I got this idea from my friends at BLUSH! They used tomato cans for vases at this gorgeous backyard wedding. I thought iconic Campbell's soup cans would be the perfect vessels to display flowers for our soup party. They make these tall "family" style cans in the supermarket. I simply cut the tulips to size and voila.... a simple, inexpensive and whimsical arrangement!