Brooch Bouquets, Miranda Lambert's new fashion trend!

Ever since Miranda Lambert was photographed at her wedding to Blake Shelton with her brooch bouquet, the trend has gone through the roof!! I have to admit if I were walking down the isle again this is definitely what i would do!

This is the bouquet she walked down the isle with. From what I have read, when she has one of her bridal showers, each guest was asked to bring a vintage or new broach to make her bouquet. What a great idea!

So, I gathered these photos from several artists, all to be found on Etsy, to show you some of the different styles and colors. They range in price from $200-$1200 depending on the size.

I can't think of a better way to recycle vintage pieces of jewelry,

and you'll have the bouquet to cherish always.

I loved this purple one, I can see a winter bride choosing this one.

This vintage piece just leaves me in awe. Can you imagine how many brooches it takes to just make one! It's no wonder they're a bit high. Yet, I hear real flowers are even more, and they'll wilt!

I always think of Irish weddings when I see purple bouquets. 

Something blue.

All the colors perfect for a fall wedding.

Even a button bouquet looks beautiful when accented with brooches and bling!

Oh wow, takes your breath away doesn't it1

These  are mini-bouquets, possibly for the bridesmaids or the flower girl?

You can have all white or every color in the rainbow like this one. It's hard to pick a favorite.

I love this color teal with the red mixed in.

This one had more of a vintage feel because of the gold and muted colors.

What a fun summer or spring bouquet with every color! This way you won't have to chose just one color. Or maybe you have one bouquet for the wedding and one for the reception! Just be careful when you throw the bouquet, this one might leave a bump! If you are interested in finding any of these gorgeous pieces go to Etsy.com and look to your heart's desire. 

Where were you ?

Do you remember where you were  and who you were with? I was with my friend Laura, holding hands, and watching on TV, as the second tower fell.  That feeling of fear and the look of shock on my friends face, will stay with me always. This will remain a lifelong bond between us.
My mother  knows to this day where she was, and what she was doing when JFK was shot. We were in Hawaii and she was giving me a bath.For my grandmother, it was December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, she was in the garden picking tomatoes.
 As we look from generation to generation, there has always a tragedy that our has country faced for each generation to have to remember and relive for the rest of their lives. My prayer for our next generation that there will be no tragedy to remember, no parades to be thrown for victims or veterans, and an end to the relentless circle of violence we face today. 

Valentine's Day "Won't you be mine?" & Safari, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" Table decorations

This is another installment of my table decorations! So, I decided to link up with Naps on the Porch Tabletop Thursdays! What the heck I should share my obsession! 
(Part one is below this one).
 I did this for many years so I have quite a few tables to show you so lets start in this post with my budget table! This Valentine table was done on a budget because the second table I did that year cost me a ton in florist bills! All the fabric for the Valentine table came from the $1 a yard bargain bin at Walmart, as well as the candy, and candles. SO, wa-la a table by Walmart!!!

I built this whole table around these large plates I found at Target. I love Target! And who doesn't love Valentine's Day! The chargers were plates covered in fabric and conversation hearts. I sprayed a clear laquer all over them and the kids still tried to eat them, Yikes! The couple centerpiece is actually part of a fountain and like so many of my centerpieces, weighed a ton!

Since I was trying to keep a cheaper budget on this table, I used carnations and candy, sooooo much cheaper!

I copied old valentines and addressed them to cutie actors, Tom Hanks just says Valentines Day. Can't you just see Tom and Meg doing a movie about Valentines Day?

It looked a little goopy and campy but it just fit. After the night of the event I had conversation hearts and candy kiss wrappers all over the place, I mean a little table manners please!

I found the heart fabric and red satin at Walmart so I used it on everything! This was the cheapest table I ever made which made it even more fun!

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was a pretty easy table to do once I got over the sticker shock of the centerpiece, Yikes Birds of "big bucks" paradise! Once the Rhino was filled with flowers I decided I had to raise that ritzy rhino up so everyone could see him! So I decided to made a thick "pen" made out of books, grass and sticks from a back yard tree. That rhino weighed about 45 pounds with the flowers. I was so afraid it would break the table!

I know you may not be able to see it but each plate has a lion on it. The tablecloth has two layers, the bottom is a velvet I tie-dyed green and the top layer is a greenish chiffon.
I HATE SEWING CHIFFON! It's satan's fabric! It's horrible! Anyway, I borrowed the glasses from Pier One, wasn't that nice of them!

So since my flower was blown on Ralph the rhino I just added a few flowers to the back of the chairs. And wa-la, it only took me three weeks to get this one together! Hope you enjoyed part #2, I have one or two more if you like these. Happy Memorial Day! Be sure to go back to betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com  to enjoy the other tables! (sorry I had that wrong earlier)
And, momnivores-dilemma.com for Creative Juice connections! 

"The Lion,The Witch and the Wardrobe" & "Make Them Laugh" Comedian Table Decorations

I started doing these table decorations for a charity event called Design Inspirations over 10 years ago. I did one to two tables every year for about 8 years. After my attic and cabinets were so full of dishes, chargers and odd decorations that I could not fit any more in, I had to say no more! The sensible thing to do would be to give these things away but I can't seem to part with them. I'll be on the TV show "Hoarders" one day and you can say you know where it all started!

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was my theme for one of the years I did this event. I made the tablecloth from a frosty blue fabric and faux fur all around the bottom. I found the little chest at TJ Maxx, but the lamp post is PVC pipe and a lantern painted black. I have it weighted down with a big dictionary!

I just loved this book growing up and enjoyed the movie as well so I was SO amazed how many people had never heard of it! I had to keep explaining it to so many people! The napkins had snowflakes on them and the place cards were for each one of the characters and an explanation of who the character was.

I made the capes for each chair made out of the same fabric! I had faux fur all over my sewing room for weeks! I kept making that "thspt" sound spitting it out of my face. The cats loved it though, they would hide under the fabric and while I was sewing all of a sudden the fabric wouldn't move. I would peek under the table and there would be these little fuzzy bodies just sleeping away under the fabric.

You can see that in this photo I was in a far corner...the Chairman of the event that year didn't like me much after I refused to "buy" the tickets for the table for $1500. Every year in the past I had decorated one and sometimes two tables for them to sell tickets to, at my own expense! So Miss Crabby Pants put baby in the corner! Of all the nerve!

All I know is that this little blue flower cost a fortune! This small arrangement at each place setting was  $30 worth of flowers! Really? Did swamp land come with that? Oh well, they fit the theme, they were Swiss $omething! I also covered the chargers in the fur, just for fun!

This was the next year when I did a "Make em' Laugh" table with famous comedians. The TV was made by a friend out of a heavy wood and has sliding panels so I could change the pictures! I found the rabbit ears at goodwill, lucky for me! I made the tux chair covers and they almost killed me. I have never strung so many cuss words together in one sentence!

The best Lucy show of all times! I just used feather boas on the martini glasses and as many roses as I could afford. I kind of stuffed some fake ones on the underside of the TV, you couldn't tell unless you looked really close. Roses are expensive and of course the event was in February!!!

Well of course the plate was not on straight! But don't ya' just love Bob. All  those USO tours he did and, all of his funny movies. He just makes me smile just to see his face!

All those old "Road Show" movies with Bing Crosby! There were what, 8 or so movies? Loved them all! 

ARG! Crooked again! Oh well, you get the idea. You would not believe the tablecloths, fabric, chair covers and plates I have from all these table scape's! I have every book by Preston Bailey and any other book I can find on entertaining and table decorations, I know, another collection of stuff!! Just add it to the list! My next table scape will be,"Hi my name is Cindy and I have too much stuff!" :) To go back to the list click here at betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Starry Starry Night, It's 3am and I'm still wide awake!

This is so aggravating, I hate menopause ! I am still wide awake and it's 3AM! I guess I should be doing something productive but I keep hoping I'll get sleepy, HA! 

So, I wonder around youtube and your blogs at all hours of the night. If you ever wondered who that nut was looking at  your blog in the wee hours, it was me!

So for those of you, like me who are awake on these "starry, starry nights", this is for you. I hope this lullaby gets you sleepy and ready to go to bed. Sleep tight sweet friends. :)

"Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On"

I do realize that I haven't shown you anything creative that I have made with my two little paws in quite some time! 

I've been having some "technical difficulties" these past months. Some days it's a challenge to just sign my name on a blasted check.

(Humm, is that a sign not to sign them, nah, I like having electricity and water, and oh Lordy, AC!)

  I'm not complaining  just explaining, as to why there hasn't any creative projects on my blog in so long. SO, I try to supplement with silly things, give-aways and egg salad recipes, and a goofy video here and there. :)

So hang in there with me, please come to visit and leave your sweet comments, I check them every day and always try to go back to your blog to say hi back. 

I am finding new creative ways to get around this aggravation like finding a camera with "visual stabilization"! Who knew! 

So maybe in time I can have better photos, 

ok that's a given I know!

 Next, I'll work on getting around other challenges. For now, my solution is this big piece of chocolate in front of me, yum! 

Love you all.xoxo-cin

I hate Hurricane Irene, but not why you think.....

I do not pink puffy heart Hurricane Irene! My sweet friend LuLu Kellogg is drowning in the effects of this hurricane, but could this stupid storm come anywhere near Texas? Can you say, "OH HELL NO!" 

Not one drop, not one stinking percentage of humidity! We're drying , and dying down here in Texas and Irene drops a million gallons of water on the East Coast, but we got nothin'! Even our cows are trying to leave!

Our lakes look like Joan Rivers before plastic surgery!

Our windmills are still working but there's no water to pump!

The only pet you can leave outside for more than 20 minutes is a Horned Toad who's so dried dried up he can't even squirt blood out of his eyes!

We missed our beautiful bluebonnets,

and our beautiful lake sunsets.

We ended up with dried up cactus and Mesquite trees,

And instead of a beautiful lake we end up with the smallest size of a kiddie pool because we're on water restrictions!
So Miss LuLu I'm with you, Hurricane Irene, you suck!

Super Secret Methodist Mafia Mom's Egg Salad Recipe

OK, I am putting my life on the line to give you this super secret recipe for the best egg salad ever made. If the Methodist Mafia Moms find out I sent this out I am Methodist Mud, so enjoy but never disclose your source!

Methodist Mafia Mom's Egg Salad Recipe

6 boiled eggs finely chopped, (I use a fork to make it really chopped)

1/4 C. Mayo

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 TBS. apple cider vinegar

1 &1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dried minced onion

1/2 tsp. Worcester sauce

1 C. finely chopped celery

Mix Everything together but egg. Then fold in the chopped egg.

Cut the crust off the bread and put a thin layer of the egg salad. This recipe is best for little finger sandwiches. This will make quite a bit!

Cowgirl give-away winners!

Time to "round-up" the winners of the Cowgirl Texas Monthly give-away .The winners are Sarah of Vintage Figments and Nancy of Coeur d' Alene.
Congrats to these two winners! I will be in touch with them asap! More give-aways to come!

"The Rabbit's Wedding"

In 1958 an author by the name of Garth Williams wrote and illustrated my favorite book as a child, "The Rabbit's Wedding." My mother read this book over and over to me and I'm quite sure it's one of the first books I ever learned to read.

It was a sweet love story of two little rabbits, one white and one black, who fell in love and wanted to live in the forest together forever. 

Little did I know that according to some politicians and "worried parents", that this book would  some how encourage or influence a child's mind to believe in interracial marriage! I was a child protester and didn't even know it!

E.O. Eddings, a Senator from Montgomery, Alabama wanted the book to be burned. The book was removed from several shelves and put in the "restricted section!" It just boggles the mind.

But the book did stay on the shelves , the rabbits did get married and lived happily ever after, and this book remains one of my favorite books to this day. 

 So I guess it helps my heart knowing  that in my childhood,my mother was sharing a sweet story with more than one message. I'm not even sure she knew the significance at the time, but maybe she did?

When I have a friend that has a new baby or now in my older years, a grandbaby, this is always one of the first presents I give to them. I Think over the years I have bought well over 40 copies. 
What was your favorite children's book?