50th Birthday Celebration!

Hello my friends!

I have been so enjoying the beautiful spring weather here in Iowa, but it seems this week has brought a little more of what I would call Winter.

 44 degrees is pretty cold where I come from.

 I should not complain though, at least there is no snow!

I have a difficult time deciding what to wear.

One minute I am putting winter clothes in storage bins and getting out dresses and sandals.

Oops, wait a minute, it's cold again.

Better go get those boots and leggings.

It is a whole lot of back and forth to the basement.

Oh well, it's good exercise, right?

I am so thankful we had nice warm weather

for my darlings 50th Birthday Celebration.....
the high for the day was 76!!

It cooled down later and we had to get our sweaters out but
I am good with that :)


You might remember me sharing some of the things
being made and boxes of secret items.

I made the invitations and quickly mailed them out only

to realize I did not take any pictures of the finished cards...:(

I had been trying to decide on a theme...something other than just putting the number 50 all over everything and calling it good.

This is a milestone birthday and I wanted to make it very special

for my man...how about Vintage Masculine!

I just made that up :)

His favorite place to be is in the garage.

Luckily my darling is VERY neat and organized and we can always park both our vehicles easily in this 2 car garage.

Remember those gumballs?

I filled the gumball machine for him. He has a weakness for those things and finds it hard to pass them up when leaving the store.

Yes, I know, all that sugar is bad for the teeth so I only fill it for holidays or special occasions. 

I found these balloons online and that is what started this

"vintage" theme.

The cupcake stand turned out really well. I made it with scrap wood pieces, wrapping paper and hot glue to hold it together.

It is displaying coconut and chocolate cupcakes with mustache toothpicks.

I priced cupcake stands but they were all round and not very masculine. So, I discreetly shopped the garage as it was being cleaned and set up to make room for guests and that's where I gathered the scrap wood.

 

After a good cleaning they were wrapped, sorta like you would wrap a gift.

Hot glue was applied very generously to hold the pieces together and very, very carefully it was transferred to the table where the cupcakes were added.

 After the party just unwrap and store the wood pieces for another project or maybe another cupcake stand.

 

Lemonade and tea were served in vintage style dispensers.

I purchased the one on the right from Bed Bath & Beyond several years ago. The one on the left I just happened to see at Wal-Mart. It was just under $5.00

 My darlings brother and sister both live out of state and could not make it here this time around. So...the 3 of us secretly communicated and planned a surprise of old family photos that would be sent along with some written fun memories.

Much to my surprise, those 2 did way more than that!!

They sent the pictures in to a photographer and had a hardback book made.

To make it even more special they also had a VHS of a family reunion approximately 20 years ago converted to DVD.

Included was some video of my darlings father before he passed away.

The surprised look and smile on his face was definitely a gift to me :)

Brother and sister will be receiving pictures of their little brother and his happy face as well.

As for my BIG gift to him?...

Those pallets I showed y'all awhile back?...the ones that were to be a part of his birthday gift? 

Well....that did not happen. Those things are put together very well!

I was able to get one taken apart on my own, and that's as far as it went.

The wall hanging is still my plan but it will require some time and assistance.

I will admit defeat in round #1...

round #2 this gal will be better prepared.

We got a quick photo of the last few of us before we wrapped things up for the day.

Yikes!! I guess too quick. Sorry about the door pull blocking Ted's face.... he was and always is our comedian so it's fitting :)

Thanks for visiting today and have a wonderful weekend!

Karen

Tea Cup Exchange

 

Being a new blogger this was my first time participating in the Tea Cup Exchange! 

It was so much fun that my calendar will be marked as soon as the next one is announced.

I received this beautiful package of goodies from Lauren @
My Wonderfully Made

The tea cup and saucer are adorned with roses and a tea infuser was included to hold the yummy organic ginger tea!

A book of hand painted tea cup illustrations.

A lovely plaque handmade and signed by Lauren.

A dainty lace trimmed napkin and card hand stamped by Lauren.

This brightly colored basket will be great to store some of my sewing and crafting supplies.

Thank you again Lauren for all the pretty items you so thoughtfully put together.

I love everything!!

Special thanks to Stephanie @

 The Enchanting Rose

for her creative ways in allowing all of us to make some new friends :)

Karen



Welcome Spring!

Hello friends.

I have been out of the mix now for a few weeks.

The weather is getting so nice here in Iowa and we have been getting outside a lot more (and away from the computer) Those walks after supper are not possible with my thin southern blood during the winter!! I just can't handle the cold. Well, it's not so much the cold but that WIND!

It just cuts right through me and I can't get warm afterward. So, I stay indoors and hibernate like a bear.

I know it's pretty late (shame on me) but here are a few pictures from the very little Easter decorating I did.

This basket was in our office holding various items that really don't have a home and I thought it would look nice on the coffee table in the living room. I filled it with shredded gift paper from Dollar Tree added a small dessert bowl and then some M&M eggs. The doily underneath is another my granny made long ago. It adds some color to my otherwise very neutral living room.

Next was creating a nice table setting with what I already have.

This tablecloth was crocheted by my Auntie Thelma and presented to my darling and I as a wedding gift. She made it to fit the dining table when the leaf is in but this time it seemed better to keep the table round as it was just 4 of us for dinner. I did some creative folding to make it fit and....ta da!!

The china was something I found packed in a corner of the basement shortly after moving in... it's service for 4 and perfect for Spring! The set has dainty gold trim so my gold chargers complimented them very nicely.

The pink goblets were Mama's that she received at her bridal shower in 1962! She gave them to me as I always loved looking at them in her lighted china cabinet when I was growing up. Plus, she said that her entertaining days are over and thought they would get more use with me. She is right, they get used quite often. There are also little matching dessert goblets that will be part of the table setting for a later holiday or celebration.

Some candlesticks with linen scented candles were added... they just smell fresh and clean like spring.

I found this dainty birdhouse many months ago at Goodwill. It has a vintage feel and needed nothing but a good dusting and a place to fit in. My stash of silk roses and hydrangeas were easy to tuck under the edge of the birdcage and two flameless tea light candles inside finished the look I wanted.

So... that's pretty much the extent of my Easter decorating.

It was easy to set up and easy removal once dinner was finished.

In case you are wondering, we are still working on the pink bathroom remodel.

 Yes STILL!

 I am sure many of you know that with older homes come all kinds of wonderful little surprises along the way. Those little surprises sometimes stop us dead in our tracks, but not for long as we keep pressing forward and learning patience. I will show you some of the accessories and hardware that are almost completed soon.

 We have made it to the point the bathroom is functional again but there are still a lot of finishes to be done and I want to reveal it completed.

I have also been working on some surprises for my darling. He will be turning the BIG 50 next week! Keeping things hidden and trying to work on them is TOUGH! He is like a small child at Christmas.

I am making invitations since there were none like I wanted.

His big day will be done in a vintage theme and maintain some level of masculinity so that means ONLY one vase of flowers :)

Party supplies and gifts from family are coming in the mail and I have let him know he is not to open or ask about anything addressed to me...LOL!

Yeah right, like he won't ask. So far though, I am the only one breaking this stuff open...and yes, that is bubble gum. I told you he is like a kid!

I am so looking forward to this big day for my love. I will let ya'll know how it turned out.

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting today :)