Vision of Grandeur

I think of myself as a frustrated perfectionist.  Or, more accurately a lazy perfectionist.  I think I've told you this before.  I was asked last Spring to head up a big fund raising dinner at our church for this Fall. It was a Capital Fund Raiser to help raise money for some remodeling we need to accomplish.  We are getting too big for our britches, which is a good thing and our building is showing wear and tear which is not so good.  

I have never planned a function for so many people, we had 200 signed up. I had a wonderful team helping me out. Thank goodness! There were the normal headaches. There were some big, huge problems that we didn't find out about until we were setting up.  All in all, I had to let go of my "ideal" and embrace what could be accomplished in the time and with the resources we had.  There's no Martha Stewart here! I did try, however.  

 I bought some beautiful varieties of pumpkins and gourds for the centerpieces and decor.

 We packed my car to the gills, twice!

 We set up 25 tables of centerpieces.  I wanted to incorporate fresh vegetables also, which was fun.  It made for some beautiful color and variety.  This is bugging me because the beets should've been laying off to the side.  Hmmm, I should try to roast those this week.

 I added a red-veined kale to my trophy.  Someone fiddled with this arrangement and it's not set up right.  But, I didn't know about it until I saw the picture.  Just letting it go. . . 

 My girlfriend bought these beautiful fabric pumpkins from her friend. They were meticulously made.

 She and I both had matching lanterns.  They were a little tall, but were fun to use anyway. 

 This is why I made an apple pie yesterday!

I barely got these pictures taken, that's why they aren't the best.  We worked for hours setting up with several people helping.  It's amazing how long this can take.  I learned a lot.  

Here's one last perfect picture for your viewing pleasure.  This would've been my ideal for every table. 

If only.  

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A girl can dream can't she?

Women's Retreat - Chocolate Style

I've been recuperating this week from all the work and implementation of our Spring Women's Retreat last Saturday the 8th.  If you've been here a little while, you might remember our Spring Woodland Retreat last year that was a big success with the women from our church.  I blogged about it, of course. We had such positive feedback last year, that we decided to use the same format again.  These are basically a "retreat in a box" from Group Publishing.  They give you all the material and music you need to have an amazing retreat WITHOUT a speaker.  It is basically a small group format.  It gives the women a chance to get to know someone they may not already know.  I HIGHLY recommend these.

We've been preparing for quite awhile.  And, you know, we don't do things by the book or in a simple way.  I showed you some of our inspiration previously here. The theme for this retreat was Café Chocolat and the topic was God's Abundant Grace.  My inspiration began when I found this pdf from Claudine Hellmuth.

These are designed to be cupcake boxes.  Our ladies were going to have some AMAZING cakes for dessert (see below), so we ended up using these as gift boxes with a bag of mixed candies inside to take home.  I've learned that if you want a great event with minimal expense, you have to use a lot of labor.  We divided these up between our council members and lightened the load a little. In the end, we had such a great turnout, that I ended up having to make 10 more the week of the retreat. I think we made 53 café boxes in total.

The take the color palette even farther, we used these Martha Stewart Rosettes that I found at Michaels. I made a few fans to go with them.  We also made banners and an "awning".  We covered bookshelves from the children's department with faux wood corrugated paper and a sweet scalloped top.

Teacher stores are a great place to find materials for the decorations.  My friend, Renee, painted the awning on a flat piece of paper.  Doesn't it look great? It really set everything off.

Here is most of my team in our matching Ikea aprons.  One did a bunch of work but had to be out of town for the event.  

Our centerpieces were made from thrift store tins and cake pans.  

Which we transformed into beautiful cakes.

We also used the little cafe boxes in the centerpieces.

I made coffee/cocoa cup wrappers with a design from The Graphics Fairy. 

A lovely woman in our church has her own baking business and makes the most amazing cakes and cupcakes. We enlisted her help and she was astounding! Look at these cakes! I gave her a little box to work from and she made two cakes and a dozen cupcakes. They taste as good as they look. Truly amazing!  

I was so busy that I really didn't take that many good photos. There were many details that I did not get a picture of. I should be receiving copies from others soon. So you may see another post on this. Hope you don't mind. I just wanted to give you a glimpse of the amazing retreat we had. The material in this kit was really good with a variety of object lessons, a charity project and quiet time. One of the things that I thought would be unpopular, became one of the most moving sessions of the day. I could tell that a lot of prayer went into the event and am so thankful that the ladies had a wonderful day.  

Snooping On The Neighbors

This past weekend was my birthday. We went to dinner Saturday night at PF Changs to celebrate. We had so much fun talking and eating that I only took one picture. The husbands didn't even get in it. Also every April right around my birthday, our neighborhood has a huge Garden Walk. I'm just positive it's the same weekend for good reason. The money made benefits the educational programs at a local preserve. Every property here has a minimum of 5 acres, some have many, many more. I posted pictures last year as well. This first home was also on the tour last year. They've added more features. Including an amphitheater for watching movies and this "room" with a fireplace below. They have a hillside with several waterfalls going down, filled with lovely places to sit.

 Can you see the little bubbler coming out of the rock?

I loved the next house. They had built this little room, that is not screened.  It's called a music room and they had a cello case sitting with two chairs.  There are beautiful chimes hanging around the perimeter. It sits in an Agave garden.

 This house had 50 varieties of fruit trees.  Mostly citrus and it smelled A M A Z I N G!

 There was a nice long Bocce Ball court for entertainment.

They built a cactus rock garden, where the rocks are from the property.

 Lastly was the vegetable garden. 

Somehow I didn't photograph the Deer Grass Meadow or the Zen Garden.

This house had a beautiful pool and was nestled against many large boulders with trails in and around them.

 The hummingbirds were very busy.

The next location was an organic farm with a spring fed pond.

 You could feed their catfish.

The last location raises miniature horses. This little guy posed for just a second before he realized I didn't have a snack for him. What a wonderful day! 

Lovely Weekend

I know, I know. It's Wednesday already! I have to say, though, that my mind is still reeling from my fun weekend at The Art of Craft workshop at French General. Monday and Tuesday were also busy for me, so today is all about S L O W I N G down and savoring the day. I thought I'd show you some fun pictures from the event. And, some not so good, because, I have to be honest, I was busy crafting and talking and crafting some more.  

I feel like it's always lovely to take a gift to the hostess when you're going to a party. And well, this was definitely a party. So, I took four little wrapped strawberries to the three teachers and Kaari the hostess.  

 The shop did not disappoint.

 The snacks were delicious.

 The teachers were wonderful and genuine. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of Pam.

 Rebecca Sower

Charlotte Lyons

These table mates were from Indiana and Texas.

 Nancy Soriano was encouraging.

 We all made wonderful connections.

 I've finished Rebecca's cuff bracelet project. It looks pretty on my new vintage German feed sack.

Sending love your way! Come back for the giveaway!