Royal Fever

You may not be aware but there's a Royal wedding today! I rose promptly at 1:00 a.m., yes, A.M., to watch it live. I am Canadian, after all, and the Queen is our Sovereign. It's only proper that I watch her grandson get a ring on his hitchin' finger, right?

Out came the teacup (Royal Albert of course) and teapot. It goes without saying that I had to dress for the occassion, and have a bit of fun with it (what you don't see are my Pooh pj bottoms).

And we officially have a new Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge, how delightful!

Congrats Wills and Kate!

Sincerely,

(a Royal junkie)

Birthday Party Fun

As I mentioned last week, Mr. Mel's Granny turned 75 years young over the weekend. Her family hosted a come and go tea, which was so much fun!

In keeping with the theme of her party, I used teapots and teacups in the centrepieces. Everything was so hectic that day, and I was so busy running around like a loon, that I didn't get many pictures of the tables, but here are a few I managed to snap.

BONUS! Not only was it a 75th birthday party but the evening was spent celebrating my mother and father in-law's 40th wedding anniversary! Yep, two parties in one!

It was so much fun celebrating with Mr. Mel's family They are such a lively bunch and there is never a dull moment.

Mr. Mel's awesome family (minus his big bro who couldn't make it)

Time for birthday cake!

Granny's 12 kids + their spouses + grandchildren + great-grandchildren  = alot of people to share cake!

Granny, Mr. Mel...amd me (looking not too glamourous after a whole day on my feet).

She loved her corsage!

A Birthday Corsage

Okay lovelies. Today I am going far off the beaten path and showing you how to make a corsage. I know, I know, it's so not at all decor related, but I love to play around with flowers and I have done flowers for a handful of weddings and special occassions, so I wanted to share. Just a disclaimer that I do not claim to be a floral expert! I do my best, though!

This weekend is Mr. Mel's grandmothers 75th birthday. Her kids (all 12 of them) are throwing her a birthday tea and asked if I would do some centrepieces and a birthday corsage for her. I LOVE Granny, she is an amazing woman, so I was only too happy to help make her day extra special!

I will show you the finished centrepieces next week but, for now, here is how I made her birthday corsage.

You'll need:

• floral wire
• floral tape
• wire snips
• sharp scissors or floral sheers
• a corsage pin (you can also use a regular pin with a round top)
• flowers and filler
• ribbon

Because Granny is seriously the brightest personality I have ever met, I wanted to use fun flowers for her corsage. I chose Gerber Daisies, and will use baby's breath as filler.

I started by cutting the stems to the desired length (1" - 2" depending on their placement). I cut two 4" - 4 1/2" lengths of floral wire. I inserted the floral wire through the daisy stem so they criss-crossed each other.

Next I bent the wires so they were facing down. This will allow you to bend your stem slightly so the bloom faces forward from the corsage.

Next step is to cut your filler to short lengths and prepare any ribbon accents that will be used. Ribbon is a great accent, and I use it alot in flowers. For this corsage, I simply wrapped a very narrow ribbon around my fingers and then tied it off with a short piece of floral wire.

Great! Now we get to put it all together! This can be a finicky process, but once you get the hang of the floral tape, you are off to the races! Floral tape is not sticky, but it sticks to itself - does that make any sense? The trick is to stretch it slightly to get a nice tight wrap.

I start with my main flower (the one with two wires in it). I wrap it with tape from the bottom up, inserting my filler and ribbon as I go. Last step is to curl the bottom. I use small pliers and spin it to get a nice ringlet.

Stick the pin in the back and you have a lovely corsage for the birthday girl!

Thanks for visiting and have a Happy Easter!

Itchy...But Worth It

Our last home had heated underground parking (le sigh) which I miss terribly. In the new house we are not so fortunate. However, the builders were forgetful kind enough to leave behind nearly enough fibreglass batt insulation to completely insulate the garage. You may not think so, but three packs of R40 insulation take up a tremendous amount of space in one's garage...ha ha. For over a year this rather overwhelming project had been on my massive "To Do' list, but I kept putting it off. Last November, though, Mr. Mel and I finally installed insulation in the garage!

 

 

 

I've gotta say that, considering I am terrified of heights, the 14' high walls didn't pose a huge challenge. We did end up having to pick up a little extra insulation to finish the walls but, even with the poly and acoustical sealant, this entire project cost less than $150!

We were so lucky to have November weather nice enough to complete it to this stage but, before we knew it...BAM...winter hit and I didn't have warm enough temps to do the poly. Now that the warm weather has returned, it's definitely on my radar to finish this up!

I still plan to insulate the ceiling, but it'll have to wait until my dad can bring over scaffolding and lend me a hand. Hip hip hooray for a toasty warm garage!

Please indulge me while I toot my own horn for a minute: I did 90% of this project BY MYSELF! Ladies, don't be afraid to tackle these kinds of projects! Do your research, plan your project, and ask ask ask if you wanna know how to do something. I can't tell you how satisfying it was to see what I was able to accomplish! Yay me!

Spring Cleaning: Coin Clutter

If you are like me, you have various collections of random clutter. Over time, I forget all about it, and it kinda becomes part of the household landscape.

One of the things that piles up in our house is loose change. We put it any spare container we can find; old margerine containers, mason jars, decorative boxes. Once one container is full, we move onto the next. When we moved into the new house I packed the containers filled with change in a box and there they stayed, for a year and half!

Time to get rid of this unecessary clutter!

I hit up a local office supply store and bought an automatic coin sorter for $40, and some bags of paper coin rolls.

It look about an hour and I turned this...

Into this:

And wowie, wow...it's over $180!

Stretchy Bracelets

Stretchy bracelets seem to be popping up everywhere these days. I find myself drawn to the ones that are all one type of bead, with one standout bead or clasp.

While perusing one of my favourite jewelry websites, Stella & Dot, recently, I found these adorable Mini Soiree stretchy bracelets ($12-$18 each). I wanted them, immediately. Problem? They are for kids, and are insanely a tad too small for my wrist. Seriously, can these get any cuter?

They have a grown up version, but they don't come in the fun colours that the kidlet ones do. Bummer. Major bummer. Not to mention that these will cost you $36 each!

I hit up a local craft shop and found some glass beads on clearance that I love the colour of. I couldn't find any crystal beads so I picked up some cute twisted wire beads instead...they were sparkly enough for me. After a trip to grab some stretchy string and crimp beads from the Dollarama (hello!) and I was set. After 20 minutes of work I ended up with three super cute bracelets for less than $18...TOTAL!

I am so excited to wear them, they are perfect for summer! C'mon summer!

And here is my little Butter, totally wiped after a long evening of catching up on her favourite blogs!



Out of My Comfort Zone

Ok, so I am known to be a bit stingy. I am not ashamed to admit that I like to save a buck...or ten.That's why I am always game to try and recreate something I've seen online or in a catalogue. And I don't limit myself to furniture, I have an affinity for jewelry, too! Problem is, I don't really now the first thing about making jewelry....so it's really a trial and error kind of process. Mostly error.

My first foray into creating jewelry was when I saw this ring on Etsy. I loved that it was quirky and unique, but I wasn't about to pay $89.00 for it.

Unfortunately, THIS was the result of my attempted recreation. We didn't do an officially weigh in but the 'guesstimate' was 2 lbs. Yikes! Failure!

Kristel G

Even though my first go didn't work out as I'd hoped, when I saw this necklace from Grace Jewelry, I thought I had to try to redeem myself and avoid paying the $45 they were asking for it by making my own.

I found some beads and chain online at Artbeads.com and ordered what I'd need. I eagerly waited for the postman and, two weeks later, my package arrived. Right away, I knew I had made a massive miscalculation. The beads I ordered were only about half the size I thought they'd be, and one of the chains was also much more dainty than I figured it would be. Anyhowdydoody, I was determined to make it work!

Here's my version of the necklace...and it only cost me $23!

I like it. It's not as chunky as my inspiration, but that's okay. For half the price of the original, I can totally live with it!