Frugal Friday - Fabulous Floral Arrangements

Happy Frugal Friday, Islanders!

Confession: whenever I say, "island" I can envision myself with a smoothie on the beach playing tag with beads of sweat on my brow... the salty taste of the sea in the back of my throat... a good book screaming for my attention beside my beach chair... Shooooot, I might start using that word "island" more often. Anyways, I'm back from my much-needed momentary vacation... Maybe... well, for now.

Let's get to today's frugal tip, shall we?

FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS... ON THE CHEAP!

I was asked to create baby shower floral arrangements for a client/friend on a next-to-nothing budget this past Saturday.  The only requirement was to keep in mind these were for 6 small tables so I knew vases could not be large... Off I went on a hunt for narrow vases only to realize they were in the $5-$10/each price range.  WHAT?! I mean, my entire budget would be BLOWN on 3 or 4 vases alone... NOT AN OPTION! I considered purchasing the vases and just going crazy crafty using things OTHER than flowers but the labor-intensive option was not worth it in this case... SO, I looked around at what I had and I made it work!  Here's what I came up with:

From this:

Just a can of tomatoes with the label removed.

To this:

Covered with purple card stock.

With flowers:

How'd I do it? Here goes...

Supplies

- Containers (I used a can and other random jars from around my house and pantry).

- Coordinating card stock and scrap booking paper

- Embellishments (ribbon and buttons)

- Hot glue gun

- Hot glue

- Scissors

Steps 

1. Measure the circumference of your bottle.  You can use a ruler OR, do like I did, and just wrap the paper around the bottle making creases so you know where to cut.  Here's a pic of my fancy "technique" ;) 
Lazy crafter, I know but how about I'm all Idon'tcare.com about it?!



I just cut above the creases...

 2. Glue the paper to the container.

3. Add embellishments.

For the can, I used 2 sizes of circle punches. I glued the larger paper punch to the container. With the smaller punched paper,  I got fancy!  I balled it up, pinched the center to make it look ruffled, then glued right on top of the flat circle.  I added a button and BOOM SHAKA-LAKA!! Pretty paper flower embellishment is born.

4. I added ribbon to unify the look of every arrangement.

5. Add flowers. I purchased various floral mixes from my neighborhood Wegman's and combined them to ensure each container had a similar arrangement.  Note: I typically prefer a solid color if the vase has a lot going on but in this case the client wanted a little more variety.

6.  Do a victory dance, call yourself your hero and yell "TAKE THAT" to the stores who almost got your money! OR you could quietly enjoy the beauty you created from what you had... As for me, I'm still snappin' and 2-steppin' because I saved $40 - $60 and the mommy-to-be LOVED them!

Check out the other arrangements:

Mason Jar

Small Mason Jar

Spaghetti Sauce Jar

Salsa Jar

Small Mason Jar

Seeing these images reminds me to save jars.  What an affordable and fabulous way to place small arrangements around your home or event space.  Other uses for jars include: Soap dispenser (they sell lid kits at your craft/hardware store), desktop office supply holders (ribbon would make my paper clip holder fab? DONE!), bathroom supplies (Q-Tip, cotton balls, bobby pins, etc.) organizers and so much more.  So, before you trash (or recycle) it, think of what else you could do with it! 



All together...



 How do you turn trash to treasure or re-purpose in the name of making something fabulous? 

Southern Charm Bridal Shower Wrap-Up

The long and VERY overdue Southern Charm Tea Party wrap-up is finally here! As a heads up, this is photo-heavy post but it kinda needs to be for you to get the full event experience, right? RIGHT! :) 

"Soon to become Mrs. T, come shower the bride-to-be.
Hats, gloves and tea party wear, we're sure Tamara would love to see you there!"

Let's just walk through the space first, shallllll we?  Here's what guests saw as they arrived:

  

I lined a walkway with pinwheels and made the floral T (for Mrs. Tamara TURNER-to-be).  Want to know how I made it? Check out the post here.

Flowers? Yes, of course! I used arrangements for both decor and gifts as it was Mother's Day Eve (don't even give me the side eye like you don't stretch your holidays out... I have a birthday eve, a Valentine's Day eve, an Anniversary eve...).  I purchased white pitchers and filled them with floral mixes to match the decor.  Who needs more random vases? Get creative and put flowers in anything that can hold water! Aren't they fab?

Tammy's Grandmother's Arrangement.

I got a lot of questions about how to achieve the look of sliced fruit in such a wide vase.  I recommend, the vase inside of a vase technique(I bought a dollar store vase).  The closer the vases are in size, the easier to achieve a neatly stacked look.

Groom's Mom Arrangement



Bride's Mom's Arrangement.

The pergola was built BY the bride's MOM... OMG! IT HAD TO BE A FOCAL POINT... We hung tissue paper poms and I made a pillow case pennant banner to give it some drama. This area housed the large teapot-shaped planting pot (guests signed it as the guestbook), the recipe station (guests brought yummy ideas for the bride-to-be) and the gift/card area.  

 

That fabulous card box is a planter I "borrowed" from her mom's garage and placed lavender tissue paper in the bottom.  She used it for the wedding because it was really THAT beautiful!

Other decor items:

Dessert display centerpiece.

Food was kept on the balcony close to the house.

 Let's talk food, shall we?  We kept to theme by offering southern comfort food in bite-sized portions. So, mini mac-n-cheese, sweet cornbread muffins, fried party wings, chicken salad sandwiches, and so much more was well received.  We also created a dessert display with mini eclair pies, mini sweet potato pies, mini chocolate pies, sugar cookies, cupcakes, blueberry bread, etc.

Sweet tea was served from my Wal-Mart drink dispenser and placed on decorative columns.  The columns are for more than just wedding aisles folks and cost $15 at your neighborhood craft store.  Also, guests LOVED the Mason jars I splurged on for drinking... i made an easy tulle topper to ensure guests had their sweet tea bug free! Wanna know more about it? Click here. 

Bottomline, it was too much good food not to put guests in a great mood for loads of fun. 

Yes, Munch is dressed like a piece of decor, what of it?! LOL.

 

Speaking of fun, let's get things started.  First the bride's entrance...

She LOVED the floral letter!





 Time for games...

Game 1. Bridal Walk off.  I made up this game to keep with my recipe for successful events.  SHAKE SOMETHING! So, Tammy isn't our average bride and will not have our average walk down the aisle. It was up to our guests to come up with a diva-appropriate walk for our bride-to-be.  We blasted Beyonce's "Single Ladies" and I demonstrated first:

 

Guests lined up and got ready for fun!

That's my mommy starting it off!

Our top 3 finalists - My mommy, Jamica and Munchface (you see her arms and face).

AND THE WINNER IS??
 ZION!!

I love this picture by the way, OMG. Who was on camera duty? O wait, it was me!  LOL.



Can I just say she was SO excited  Here's how it went ALL that night around our house:

"O mommy, did you see me? I was doing this *pose* and THIS *pose* and *face* and *pose*" Then she'd runway walk her naked butt to the bathroom for her bath.

Of course the bride had to walk the runway to show us how it was REALLY done... Note: this game made for a fab photo-op for all of the guests. I made a small collage of each guest's walk for the bride.

Game 2. Are You an Avid Learner About Mr. Turner.  10 questions about the groom were asked to guests and the bride. For every one the bride got wrong, she had to hold a Tootsie Roll in her mouth.  The guest with the most correct answers won a prize.

Game 3. Do You Know It All About Ms. McCall? 10 questions were asked about the bride and the guest who had the most correct won!

Game 4. Name that tune: Bridal Edition.   After playing snippets from 8 songs, the BONUS round started.

Me: "OK, we've done the title/artist and given a point to whomever could sing the next line but do you know the moves to THIS SONG??"

*insert cha-cha slide* and guests got up dancing... So cute. Auntie was into it so I had to cut the music right at the "how low can you go?"  part.

2 of the guests tied so we had a bonus dance round. Next song? R.Kelly's "Step in the Name of Love"... SINCE they couldn't do it alone, they did it together... Please note, the bride was supposed to be judging but couldn't sit still - LOL.

Game 5.  Tulle Kit. I split the group into 3 teams, handed them a bag of supplies and they had to come up with a diva veil for the bride.  Note: we combined this game with the toilet paper dress game.

Other activities included: mingling, giggling, dancing, eating and...

POSING! We set-up a photo booth area with boas, glasses, wands, hats and even a hoola hoop.  As you can see, Munch was ready to GO with her pose.

Finally, the affordably delicious CAKE:

Wal-Mart bakes their own cakes (if you didn't know...). I had 2 layers of each size baked and frosted for around $25.  I added the ribbon and fresh flowers right before the event started. It was gorgeous and really gave the simple southern elegance I was looking for.

All-in-all, this was a TYPICAL Tabby event... Equal parts fun and fabulosity for all who made it.  I don't just make my events pretty... I make them pretty awesome!  P.S.  I got a little conceited and I admit to toot-tooting my own horn... Every now and again, I have to be my own super hero and if you don't do that, you're missing out.  Nothing like being able to make yourself feel good :)

Linking Up:

Southern Sippin' Bug Free!

Yes, it's another tutorial from the fabulous Southern Charm tea party...

We hosted the tea party bridal shower OUTDOORS... Unsure of the bug situation and refusing to change my vision for fabulous little mason jar drinks, I set out to find an affordable solution.  Here's what I came up with:

I purchased several yards of white tulle for one of our games (wrap-up post coming soon, pinky promise) and used 1 yard for the following project:

Easy Mason Jar Covers Tutorial

Supplies

- Mason Jars with lids (sold for less than $10/dozen at Wal-Mart)

- 1 yard of Tulle

- Scissors

- Straws

Steps

1. Lay your tulle out on a flat surface.

2. Remove 1 lid from the mason jar. Place 1/2" from corner of tulle.

3. Cut around the top (square or circle shape).  *Be sure to account for the side of the lid.

4. Remove the canning (metal circle) center from the rim of the Mason jar top.

5. Replace with the tulle

6. Use your scissors to poke a small hole through the tulle.

7. Insert straw

The best part of this topper is that you can refill your jar without removing the top; the juice flows right through the tulle!  I ordered paper straws like these for the event:

Photo Source

(they didn't come in time for the party) but these jars were still a FABULOUS addition to the event!  Some guests even asked to take their jar home!

Happy Hosting!

Linking up:

Scents of My Yesterdays

OK so a few weeks ago my dad was preaching and he told a story of my Grandmother, Edith Gibson.  There I e-said it.  UGH.  Excuse me but just typing her name makes me cry.  ANYHOOOOO.... "MaEdy" (crying again, dangit) was a funny, busy for no reason, West Indian woman who married my father's grandfather.  My father and uncles were placed in a boys' home after his mother passed away.  She was the family member who searched until she found them and she took on the responsibility to raise 3 knuckleheads in the heart of NYC.  She is the reason my father is who he is and, for that, I am eternally grateful. 

:::

She graced heaven with her presence when I was 10 years old and, let me just tell you, that tiny woman forever transformed my life...

I remember how she would cook and not eat until everyone was just about done.  Almost like she wanted to watch her food warm our souls.... AHHHHH curry...MmMmMMm.  I can still smell the choking scent of gas as we entered the hall of her o-so-typical NY apartment... I remember the only walls of that place were to divide her bedroom and bathroom from visitors' view; open floorplan. Like. Her. Heart. And her kitchen :)

To this day, when I smell that gas-y, somebody-cooked-something-yesterday-and-it's-still-lingering-today smell, I think of her.  When I reach for the curry in my cabinet, I think of her... When I fix everyone's plate and lose my appetite (for a little) because I'm filled with the joy seeing my family eat food I MADE, I think of her... An integral piece to my childhood puzzle is my MaEdy... Our bonding over episodes of Arsenio Hall (we'd WOO WOO WOO fist pump together)... The way she'd tuck the side of her quilt under the mattress so I'd "sleep safe"... How her kitchen decor consisted of an industrial shelf with her pots piled neatly according to their function... The miracle of her little arms grabbing (and lifting) those cast iron pots...

I appreciate the scents of my childhood.  They allow me to close my eyes and, if only for a second, be somewhere else.  They serve as my daily escapes...

Some of the scents of my yesterdays include:

- Coffee... Reminds me of Sunday mornings when Daddy would brew a pot.  1 whiff and I can hear the rustling of newspaper and Daddy's church shoes clicking around the kitchen and Mommy singing along to Bobby Jones Gospel while curling her hair.

 

- Red Door perfume... My Mommy's scent of choice.  She used to wear it so much that even AFTER you wash her clothes you still smell it... I can smell it a MILE away and catch myself actually LOOKING for her sometimes BECAUSE, I mean, CLEARLY no one else knows about it, right? LOL.

- Lemon Sweet tea... My Mom used to make old school tea where she put the jug (you know the glass one with the yellow top, spout and lemons all over it) with the lemons still in it to sit in the sun so the flavors could "settle on it."  That tea is right up there with Popsicles in the freezer downstairs for my Summer memories. I'd check it often so I could let her know when it was brown and I always wanted the FIRST and the LAST cups of that tea 'cuz... well, those were the 2 BEST cups to get.

 

- Beans... Cooking all day... with the bones of yummy dinners before bubbling inside the pot for flavor. I LOVE BEANS and their smell reminds me of SO many dinners... I can hear my dad starting his rhyme after we were all patting our tummies because we were STUFFED to the brim, "beans, beans good for your heart...  the more you eat the more you fart!"  Mom usually smacked his arm and my brothers and I would giggle...

 

- Bleach... I'm a bleach girl, you already know!  The smell of bleach reminds me of Saturday mornings when EVERYONE had to get up and get moving.  Mom was always up early mixing up her cleaning concoction of bleach and dish washing liquid.  Sometimes I wash a load of whites just to calm my soul.  Funny how waking up Saturdays would make me so grumpy and now I'm excited for family clean days - LOL.

:::
I'm sure there are many more... These are just some that I hope I never forget... Scents of my yesterdays make me remember to make new scents for my today. 

MaEdy left a LEGACY of scents for me to remember... I promised I'd never forget some of the funny things MaEdy would say like her response when I asked about the lines (or wrinkles) on her face,

"don't worry chil', you'll get some too... These are from my good laughs!" 

I laugh out loud... until I pee a little as often as I can.

 

Or how she called those long-time-no-see moments,

"another country heard from!"

 

I promised myself at 10 that I'd never forget anything about MaEdy and... well, the evidence of being human has proven that to be impossible... When I dream, I can no longer see the details of her face... but I can STILL smell and almost taste her food almost 20 years later... I want to leave a legacy of smells that soothe my family's souls one day too...

So, let's reminisce together... What are the scents of your yesterdays?