Ornament Decor

Christmas ornaments make very attractive and festive centerpieces during the holidays. These pictures prove that Christmas ornaments don't only belong on a tree:



Simply placing ball ornaments in a glass dish or vase adds a bit of pizazz to any table.



In the picture above, ornaments are used to line the center of a table...kind of like a "table runner".

*Note: above images are taken from Apartment Therapy



Our favorite "Hostess With the Mostess" used "Retro" inspired ornaments (which I believe are the same ones from my previous post) to decorate a holiday table.



*image taken from Grace Amore

The picture shown above is an example of how various ornaments placed in a hurricane vase can make a great centerpiece.



This picture was taken by Erin Hession Photography and was used as a cenerpiece in a winter themed wedding. How beautiful is that?

So, as you can see, there are tons of ways you can dress up a holiday table with the simple use of Christmas ornaments. This is a quick and easy way to decorate at the last minute. You can use clear vases and serving bowls that you already have at home. You can also use Christmas ornaments that you may already have stashed in your garage. Ornament decor doesn't only have to be limited to just the holidays. You can use ornaments all year round to decorate the inside of your house or apartment.

Thanksgiving

The holidays are quickly approaching. Can you believe Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks?! For those of you hosting Thanksgiving dinner at your house this year, I have a few tabletop decorating ideas to share with you.

Better Homes and Gardens introduces several festive fall table settings including this one using a "nature" inspired theme:


Neutral colored candles, autumn leaves and berry sprigs, along with other natural touches work well for a Thanksgiving tabletop setting.


Footed glass bowls make for great centerpieces. Fill them with fruit, like apples or berries. Mini pumpkins can also be used:



Candles and Fruit can be paired together to make an attractive centerpiece:



Fill glass jars with flowers and berries to make stunning tabletop centerpieces:



This pumpkin candle centerpiece is simple and easy to make:


Get creative by wrapping fresh green vegetables around candles and secure with pretty, satin ribbon:



Directions:
Take fresh greens like asparagus, green beans, artichoke hearts and wrap around the candle, securing it with a rubberband. Then hide the rubberband by tying the ribbon around it. This makes for beautiful centerpiece.

Fill a wire basket with Thanksgiving harvest-themed foods to create the following centerpiece:


That should give you a few ideas for your Thanksgiving dinner table. Hopefully you were just as inspired by these pictures as I was.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it gives you an excuse to "pig out". However, one of the things I hate about Thanksgiving is all the left-over turkey. In my household, we would eat turkey for like the next couple of weeks. Turkey stew, turkey sandwiches, turkey salad, turkey, turkey, turkey! It got to the point where I'd never want to see another turkey again. My parents always wanted to prepare turkey again for Christmas and I'd beg them not to.

Here are some delicious recipe ideas for that left-over Thanksgiving turkey. That is, unless you are frying your turkey. In that case, you won't have to worry about any left-overs. LOL, Seriously! Fried turkeys always get eaten down to the bone, literally. If you have never had fried turkey, you are truly missing out. Those of you who have, know exactly what I'm talking about. But, for those of you who are still baking your turkeys, here are some left-over turkey ideas:

Zesty Tortilla Soup:




Corn Chowder:


Turkey Paella Salad:


Cranberry-Turkey Spinach Salad:


Turkey Spinach Toss



Nacho Turkey Casserole



Cran-Turkey Enchiladas

And there you have it! Turkey recipes that are not so boring, and easy to make. So, before you throw out that left-over turkey, try some of these scrumptious recipes. Check back with me after the holiday and let me know if you tried any of these ideas. I'd love to hear all about it. Oh! And I love pictures : )

A Reason to Celebrate

Birthdays, Anniversaries, New Baby, Just Because...these are all happy occasions that are cause for people to throw a big party or celebration. How about inviting all of your closest friends and family out to celebrate earning your Master's degree? Well, that's exactly what Susann did last night. Earning your Master's degree is a BIG accomplishment and definitely something worth celebrating. I teamed up with my good friend, Arnisca Wilson, owner of Li Se' Catering & Events, and came up with decorating ideas for the event. Together, Arnisca and I gathered our thoughts and ideas and put our creative minds to work.

The color scheme we used was Red, Black, and Silver. The event room was very "drab" to say the least. It's one of those spaces where a lot of work has to be put into it to actually transform it into something beautiful. Unfortunately, we weren't working with a large enough budget to completely transform the entire room. But, we made do with what we had, and in my opinion, it came out nice. Let me know what you think:

We used Blumebox centerpieces on the tables. Thanks so much to Michelle with Lemiga Events for coming through at the last minute with the Blumeboxes



We decorated the outside of the Blumebox with a black satin ribbon and a red, shimmery, sheer ribbon on top of that. We also made custom drink menus and sat them on each of the tables. Here are a couple of close ups of some of the different menus:






Each of the menus were decorated differently and added a nice "personal" touch to each of the tables. Special thanks goes out to Cindy, the bartender, for putting together these menus for us at the last minute. Arnisca and I were running behind schedule and Cindy came in and got right to work. Had it not been for her assistance, we probably would not have been able to display these cute little menus on the tables. So "thanks" again to Cindy, "You Rock!"

We even set up a "head table" in the back for Susann and her family to sit:






They ended up not sitting there because they were too busy mingling with all of the guests and having fun on the dance floor. They were definitely not the type of people to be secluded at a different table away from their guests. What were we thinking? Lol! That was alright because the table added a nice touch to the room.

Complimentary alcohol was flowing all night. Cindy did an awesome job behind the bar. She was friendly to everyone that came up to the bar. She was just a fun person to be around. And...she even showed me her "Thug Passion" tattoo on her lower back (No, seriously! She REALLY has one, lol!) in honor of her favorite rapper TuPac Shakur.







Here she is, having fun with her Martini shaker, lol!





Cindy was very attentive to everyone's drink requests and made sure she gave them exactly what they asked for and even added her own little special touch at times.

Susann's guests were a fun bunch of people. They really knew how to party.



Here is Susann (turquoise shirt) and her guests doing the "Cupid Shuffle"

And a party isn't a party without a Soul Train line!



Here is the "Guest of Honor" going down the Soul Train line.



A lot of people "let loose" on the dance floor going down the Soul Train line, lol!
*Please excuse the blurriness of the pictures, the smoke is coming from the DJ booth. He let loose this smoke on the dance floor to give the room a "smokey" effect



A guest doing the "Robot" down the line.



Susann and her friend CJ going down the Soul Train line together as they both had something in common to celebrate. CJ also earned her Master's degree and graduated with Susann. Congrats to both of you ladies!



And this guy just couldn't resist going down the Soul Train line a second time and I couldn't resist snapping another picture of him, lol!

Fun times indeed!

And here is a picture of the DJ, DJ Triple M, who was responsible for everyone dancing and having a good time.



He played all the hot tunes and provided a nice mixture of music that everyone could enjoy. He even took it back to the "Old School" with some of the most popular R&B hits from way back in the day. From Frankie Beverly and Maze to some early Michael Jackson (when he was black, lol!)everyone was reminiscing and just having a good time.