Woodland Theme Baby Meet and Greet

This happy little 10 week old boy is our first grandchild!
Introducing Carson Davis, born to our beautiful daughter Lindsey and her husband Rich.  Carson and his family live 6 hours north of us, so it was a BIG deal when he got to come to Mimi and Papa's house for the first time last weekend.  To celebrate, we hosted a Meet and Greet so that our friends could meet this little love bug and help us celebrate his life!

Mimi (that's me!) had SUCH a fun time planning and preparing for the Meet and Greet.  I made this bunting of his name to hang in the great room.

Pinterest taught me to make these adorable birds, which fit right in with the Forest Friends theme of this shower. This hung on the door to greet our guests.

I wanted to have a little party favor for each family to take home.  I planted these Snapdragon seeds 10 days in advance in little peat pods.  Happily they came up nicely and sat on a square of wax paper inside these cute cupcake liners.  

I had two plates of them on the entryway table, and made cute little scrapbook paper plant pokes to adorn each one.

Carson's nursery is an adorable Forest Friends theme, so I did the food and decor to go along with that.

Do you like the Cheese and Tomato Toadstools?  They are as tasty as they are cute!  Borrowed this idea from some of Lindsey's friends.

I found this idea online as well, altho I used a brownie mix instead of a chocolate cake mix.  And that way only the white part needed frosting, plus brownies are easier to eat by hand.

These Acorn Sweets were soooo cute!  And easy to make, altho a wee bit tedious.  You'll find the ingredients and instructions for them HERE.

I got brown vinyl tablecloths marked down at Walmart, and purchased .59 landscaping bricks to use as risers on the table.  Spanish moss added color and texture, and large slit marshmallows made great food label holders!

I wanted to have a mix of sweet, salty, healthy, and fun treats for the 1:30-3:30pm event.  Texas caviar was mildy spicy and quite healthy.  And boy was it a HIT!  I had requests for the recipe...do you want it too?  Come back in a few days and I'll post it.  I took a recipe from online and tweaked it a bit.

This Chocolate Chip Cheeseball/Spread was also very popular.  I served it with animal crackers and graham crackers.  You'll find the recipe for it HERE.

Grape tomato halves sitting atop an inch slice of mozzarella cheesestick.

The first guests to arrive were both sets of great grandparents, one of whom traveled 7 hours to be here!  This set happens to be my parents who live here in town.  They are enthralled with their first great grandchild!

It's me!  Everything is set up and I'm ready to begin!  See the orange cans holding miniature daffodils?  They are peach cans that I washed and put scrapbook paper around.  Free!  The two candy cans are also just washed cans decorated with paper.

And here come our sweet friends!  We've only lived here in Southern Indiana for 23 months, but God has given us delightful neighbors and friends.

We ended up with about 35 of us!

Lovely gifts!  Carson got diapers, blankets, toys, a high chair, and a whole summer wardrobe!

This little curly-blond-haired cherub belongs to my sweet friend, Kristen.  And her name is just as precious as she is...
Winnie June

Carson is soooo blessed!  He has loving parents who adore him. Two sets of grandparents who both call him their FIRST grandchild.  And two sets of great grandparents who enjoyed him to pieces.

Hope you enjoyed this visit to our party.  I loved showing it to you all!



Blessings,
Donna

Linked to:
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Making the World Cuter
Sunday Showcase

Celebrating Carson

This past weekend, we had our firstborn grandchild here.  His first visit to Papa and Mimi's house!  We had a wonderful time celebrating him and introducing him to our friends.

I had a WONDERFUL time planning a Meet and Greet for him...come back in a  day or two and see/hear all about it.

Blessings!
Donna
"Mimi"

Aqua + Green = Spring

This past weekend, it was out with Winter and in with Spring at my house.  I have so enjoyed my Winter decor on the mantel, in my antique drawer, and elsewhere.  But as soon as I flip the calendar to March, I am ready to 'lighten up' my color scheme and start playing 'Spring.'  You too?!  During the Fall and Winter, our living room/dining room color scheme is green with a cranberry accent color.  For Spring and Summer I take away the cranberry and add aqua as the accent color.

This antique sewing drawer is one of my favorite pieces in my house.  It's so much fun to dress her up for each season.

I found this Fire King tea cup (it also has a saucer) at the Flea Market last fall.  PERFECT for welcoming Spring to my antique drawer.  I raised her up with a little box under the aqua floral fabric so the teacup can be seen.

An antique postcard passed down to me from my Mom-in-Law.  So fun to read the back!

I made this footed hurricane holder by gluing a Dollar Store candle stick to the bottom of a Dollar Store candle holder.  And guess where these beautifully colored Sixlet candies came from...yep...the Dollar Store!

This little chalk board was .50 at Goodwill.  And I was thrilled to finally find a Chalk Pen to purchase!  :)  

I'm smitten with my Coca-Cola crate...a Christmas gift.  I removed the snowman, pine cones, and vintage Christmas book til next Winter.  And added vintage gloves, an antique Atlas jar, and tin cup.

And in honor of the 2 new grandbabies that have been born into our family this year, I put my childhood copy of New Baby by Eloise Wilkens in the front of the stack of vintage Golden Books.  Awwww.

I love the rhinestone buttons on these gloves.

And I couldn't help but add that vintage bunny cutout to the wall...on the back it says in my Grandma's handwriting, "To Donna and Roger"  :)

This is my kitchen corner where I enjoy a bit of pretty among the necessities.  It had snowmen and red/white gingham for the winter.  Now it's aqua and green.

Love this tea towel with aqua rick rack...on clearance at JoAnns last fall.  

Some things don't change...my plant, my hubby and I, and my BLISS!

Sweet little green custard cups along with my biscuit cutters.

And this tea towel which has aqua in it and an aqua tulle ruffle is a NEW find and favorite...on clearance at Marshalls.  Any time I find pretty tea towels on clear or fabric napkins that I love, I buy them.  Super versatile for decorating.

So that's what I've gotten done so far. It makes home feel fresh and new for the new season.  Can you believe we turn our clocks to Daylight Savings Time on Saturday night?!  Unreal.  

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Blessings!
Donna


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Tip Junkie

Pretty Pink Brunch with Recipes

On February 16, I had a Valentine Brunch for some friends.  Valentine's Day is past, of course, but pink is 'in' any day of the year!  This could easily be turned into a spring brunch, b-day brunch, and more.

Miniature German Pancakes served as a centerpiece as well as brunch food.

VERY easy to make and very fun.  Fill with any fruit or even a yummy pudding filling.  Thank you to Laura of Real Mom Kitchen for her idea and recipe found HERE.

Fresh fruit in a pink parfait glass sat on each plate.

Pink tulle is an easy, pretty way to dress up a chair.  And you can reuse it over and over again.

Our favors were a cup of Valentine Chex Mix.  Yum!  I gave each of us a different tea cup, too, in which I served hot teas or coffee.  I often like to let each guest choose their own teacup and then I tell them the story of each tea cup...where it came from or when/why it was given to me.

This pastry was made from crescent roll dough.  I put about 1.5 tsps. of sweetened cream cheese on each triangle of dough and topped it with 6 blueberries.  Then wound the ends of the dough up and around like a scarf around a neck, to make it into a little bread bowl.  Bake til alittle golden on top.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

These savory crepes were the BEST part.  The filling is made from a white sauce to which I added fresh parmesan cheese, cooked sausage, sauteed mushrooms, and spinach.  If you've never made crepes, it isn't very hard.  You can make this dish several hours in advance, then bake at 300 til hot and bubbly.  I used THIS recipe but without the lemon sauce and I switched out sausage for bacon.  Added more milk too, to make it the consistency that I needed.  Leave any questions about this in the comment section and I will answer there.

Our tummies were happy and our hearts were full.
It's so much fun being a girl!  :)

Blessings,
Donna


Linked to:
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My Romantic Home

Pink Froth

If you need a quick, easy, and festive jello salad or dessert for Valentine's Day, here it is!  It was originally made with Lemon Jello and is called Lemon Froth.  Super yummy.  But for Valentine's Day I like to make it with strawberry or cherry jello.

Here is the recipe...requires just 2 ingredients plus water and ice.

1 pkg. jello
3 oz. cream cheese
3/4 c. boiling water
1 cup ice cubes

Dissolve Jello in the boiling water and pour into a blender.  Add the cream cheese and blend until smooth.  Add 1 cup ice cubes to the blender mixture.  Stir until mostly melted.  Remove any unmelted cubes, and blend again for 1 minute.  Pour into one serving bowl or into parfait glasses.  Chill until firm.  A dollop of whipped cream on top is pretty.  And a chocolate heart poking out of the whipped cream would be a beautiful touch.
Serves 4
The recipe is very easy to double.

Making a special dish for your family is this easy!
Enjoy!!

Blessings,
Donna

Valentine Table

Once Upon A Time...I bought a sweet little glass topped side table from Goodwill.

She was dusty, forgotten, and adorable.

The price was juuuuusssstttt right.

She was painted, the glass top removed and cleaned, and the black top made a perfect canvas for displaying treasures from a recent special 25th Anniversary trip.  I always planned on re-doing the top for holidays.  But never did until....

I purchased some SWEET vintage Valentines at a flea market last week.  Three for $1!  Inspired, I took the glass top off, laid a sweet piece of October Afternoon paper out as the new mat, and placed the valentines atop along with a piece of sheet music, a paper doily, and some punched hearts.  Love the way the red pops on the black background.  

And there she is!  I'll put the other paper ephemera in a file folder to re-use again some time.  But I am going to have fun re-decorating this table every season, now that I've taken the initial plunge.

Keep your eyes open for your own little glass topped table.
A great canvas for new decor in just minutes!

Thank you for stopping by!  I'm hosting a Valentine Brunch soon, so come back to see ideas I'll be posting for it.

Blessings!
Donna
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My Romantic Home

Window to my World

Today I made one of my little dreams come true!  I finally got an antique window hung above our bed.  Happy sigh!  I did it all by myself.  No small feat!  I used 3M velcro strips, which means we can adjust it a bit when hubby comes home.  I'm trying to remember if I told him I wanted to put this window here...hmmm.  Hope he likes it!

This window is from Northern Indiana.  A neat little antique shop near Plymouth, IN, in fact.  I can't help but look at it and wonder about its history.  Did a housewife look out this window when it was new?  Or was this window in a shed, garage, or shop?

The cute rag garland was a gift from a very dear friend!  It's been the only thing hanging over our bed these past 1.5 years.  It looks perfect right over the middle of the window!  Thanks Lori!

Another fun thing that happened this week is that I got some personal calling cards in the mail!  I ordered these from Ink Garden...it was a special of 100 cards for only $4.99 shipped!  I have regular business cards for my etsy shop.  But I have often wished for some cards to give new friends so that they can have my phone number and email.
Ink Garden lets you pick your design, words, fonts, colors, etc.
(The black marks are for privacy's sake on the internet.)

And on the back, there was room to put more.  So I just made a little list of who I am.  And put my blog address.

And lastly, I didn't have something wintery to put on my front door.  So I decided to put up a vintage Valentine cut out.  Fun, cute, and different.  This was either from my younger years or my school teaching years.

Thanks for stopping by on this cold, sunny January day!

Blessings!
Donna
Linked To:
My Romantic Home