End of Summer

I've always preferred autumn and winter over summer (whether because I was a winter baby, have fair skin that doesn't get along well with sunshine, or because I always excelled in and enjoyed returning to school for a new year and new beginning), but that doesn't mean a small part of me will never be sad to see the last dredges of summer pass away.

Make the most of the remaining good weather with a final outdoor barbecue. Invite your family and friends over. Drink lemonade. Make s'mores. Partake in a last outdoor game of horseshoes (or Ultimate Frisbee, or crochet, or soccer, or whatever floats your boat) before your lawn becomes too covered in fallen autumn leaves and snow.

Whatever you do, celebrate the end of summer with fun. After all, that's what summer is all about.

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Flowerless Bouquets 10 - Nature

Today's wedding bouquets and centerpieces aren't limited to fragrant blooms. This week, I have two final flower alternatives to show you!

Option 10: Nature Bouquets

Nature has other options to offer besides flowers and the other flower alternatives we've already looked at (feathers, seashells, and fresh produce)!

In spring, use grasses and leafy ferns. In fall, celebrate harvest season with autumn leaves and stalks of wheat and other grains. And in winter, add pinecones and cotton to your bouquet for earthy colors and variety in texture!

In the top left picture, autumn leaves have been shaped into flowers. On the bottom right (second row up from the bottom), pinecones have been spray-painted teal to match a color scheme and dusted with glitter to mimic freshly fallen snow. Pair natural elements with fresh flowers (I love the sunflowers with cotton and grain second in from the left on the bottom row!) or let them stand alone, simple and unadorned (except for a ribbon to tie the bouquet together).

I hope you enjoyed this exploration into flower alternatives as much as I enjoyed scouring the internet for ideas and photos! It's amazing how many creative ideas are out there. I encourage you to explore yourself, or come up with something completely new! Your unique decor ideas may become inspiration for someone else planning their own event... :)

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Flowerless Bouquets 9 - Fruits and Vegetables

Today's wedding bouquets and centerpieces aren't limited to fragrant blooms. This week, I have two final flower alternatives to show you!

Option 9: Fruit and Vegetable Bouquets

Use local and in-season produce instead of flowers for a unique bouquet perfect for destination weddings, autumn harvest themes, farm and orchard venues, and food-centered parties!

Perhaps you care passionately about organic produce, supporting local farmer's markets, eating healthily, cooking with fresh vegetables, or tending your backyard vegetable garden. Perhaps you and your partner shared your first date at an apple orchard or corn maze. Perhaps you come from a culture or family that puts a lot of stock into old family recipes handed down from generation to generation. Whatever your reason, don't neglect produce in favor of flowers if food means more to you! Fresh food can be as visually beautiful as delicious, and a surprising number of fruits and vegetables make for great bouquet staples (in addition to diet staples)! 

Fruits and vegetables to consider: strawberries, apples, cherries, berries, small gourds, citrus fruits (especially when sliced to decorate centerpiece vases and jars), pineapples (for table centerpieces only), leafy plants (spinach, lettuce, cabbage, etc.), string beans, artichokes, peppers, carrots, broccoli, garlic bulbs, small onions, and anything else you want to try!

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Flowerless Bouquets 8 - Marshmallows and Candy

Today's wedding bouquets and centerpieces aren't limited to fragrant blooms. For the next five weeks, I'll be showing you my favorite flower alternatives, from new DIY creations to bouquets rich in history (and heirloom antiques!), from transient arrangements that look beautiful at your event to permanent keepsakes that'll look beautiful for generations to come.

Option 8: Marshmallow and Candy Bouquets

What's more fun, nostalgic, and delicious than edible candy centerpieces and bouquets? Answer: Nothing. Lollipops, candy canes, gumdrops, gumballs, and colored marshmallows make great options for bouquets, and they come in a great variety of bright, fun colors.

Use candy bouquets and centerpieces to inject childhood nostalgia into your wedding or other formal event, or decorate a child's birthday party.

And don't forget the main attraction - a table full of brightly colored goodies in glass jars and canisters that your guests can sample throughout the event!

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Color of the Week - Lime

This week's color is Lime - a bright yellow-green color associated with neon and fluorescent hues!

Lime is a great color for summertime because of it's high saturation. Pair it with another bright color for an exciting color scheme!

Fun facts about Lime:

1. The first recorded use of "lime green" as a color name in English was in 1890.

  

2. Lime is a color three-quarters of the way between yellow and green (closer to yellow than to green), so named because it is a representation of the color of the citrus fruit by the same name.

 

3. To prevent scurvy during the 19th century, British sailors were issued a daily allowance of citrus. Though lemons were more effective (due to a higher quantity of vitamin C), West Indian limes were easier to obtain on Britain's Caribbean colonies, and British sailors thus aquired the nickname of "Limeys" because of their heavy lime intake.

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Color of the Week - Banana

This week's color is Banana - a pale yellow named for the color of unpeeled bananas!

All light yellows work as neutrals because of their similarities to tan and ivory shades, so they look great with almost any color!

Fun facts about Banana:

1. Bananas are edible fruits produced by large flowering plants native to tropical South and Southeast Asia; they are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea.

2. Bananas, like autumn leaves, canaries, and egg yolks, get their yellow color from natural pigments called carotenoids.

3. A person slipping on a banana peel has been a staple of physical comedy for generations, and the popular Nintendo Mario Kart video game series uses banana peels as weapons that cause opponets' cars to spin out and fall behind.

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Color of the Week - Bubblegum Pink

This week's color is Bubblegum Pink - a tint of pink with a hint of orange undertone!

Bubblegum pink goes great with other pastel shades and candy-colored hues.

Fun facts about Bubblegum Pink:

1. The name refers to the first brand of bubblegum, Dubble Bubble, which has been in production since 1928.

2. When Walter E. Diemer invented Dubble Bubble, pink was his favorite color - and the only dye he had on hand at the time - which is why Dubble Bubble's original flavor is and has always been its characteristic pink hue.

3. It's similar in color to Baker-Miller Pink, a hue that was originally created by mixing one gallon on pure white indoor latex paint with one pint of red trim semi-gloss outdoor paint and named for the two U.S. Navy officers who first experimented with its use in the Naval Correctional Facility in Seattle, Washington.

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Color of the Week - Cherry

This week's color is Cherry - an eye-catching, highly saturated red with just a hint of pink!

Decisive and bright, cherry red is the perfect way to add a pop of color to your event or home decor - just remember that a little goes a long way! ;)

Fun facts about Cherry:

1. This color name derives from the name of the popular cherry fruit.

2. Cherry red is similar to the color known as "cerise," though the later is technically the slightly more blueish hue of a cooked cherry, such as those found in cherry pies.

3. Traverse City, Michigan is known as the Cherry Capital of the World and hosts an annual summertime National Cherry Festival to celebrate their production of tart cherries.

 

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Color of the Week - Orange Creamsicle

This week's color is Orange Creamsicle - a pastel orange hue beautiful for spring and summer!

Because of it's pale color and similarities to gold and tan shades, orange creamsicle makes an unexpected but effective neutral, and therefore works well with almost any color!

Fun facts about Orange Creamsicle:

1. The color's name comes from orange flavored creamsicles, popsicle-like frozen desserts with a center of vanilla ice cream and an outer layer of orange-flavored ice.

2. Orange Creamsicle is similar to other shades of pastel orange, such as apricot and peach.

3. Many summertime dessert recipes attempt to recreate the orange creamsicle flavor. It doesn't take much scouring to find dozens of delicious orange creamsicle cake, cupcake, fudge, and Rice Krispie Treat recipes on the internet!

 

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Color of the Week - Avocado

This week's color is Avocado - a darker green shade with yellow undertones!

Because of it's richness, avocado is a great color for autumn - and it pairs great with typical autumn colors, like browns, reds, oranges, and golds. But avocado is also unexpectedly beautiful with pastels (team it up with pastel pink or lavender for springtime!), and looks gorgeous mixed with several other shades of green for a rich nature-inspired display.

Fun facts about Avocado:

1. Avocado is named after the dark green skin of the avocado fruit native to Central Mexico.

2. Avocado fruits are also known as "alligator pears."

3. Avocado was a common color for metal surfaces (including automobiles and household appliances) and shag carpets in the 1970s, along with "harvest gold." Both colors (as well as shag carpets) went out of style by the early 1980s.

 

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Summer Color Combo - Tangerine & Tiffany Blue

Blue and orange are complements on the color wheel, so they're guaranteed to work well together! Choose a bright, sunny orange like tangerine and offset it with a blue that has a bit of green tint to it to call to mind a glorious orange sunset over green ocean waves!

You won't find naturally occurring blue-green flowers, so opt for orange and white blooms instead. You can also use orange and tangerine slices as centerpieces! I love the bright orange parasols the wedding party has in the bottom left photograph - parasols are shaped like citrus fruit slices, so not only do the colors match but the shape matches the theme, as well! :)

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Summer Color Combo - Watermelon & Lime

Take inspiration from fruits for a fun and fresh color scheme perfect for outdoor summer events!

Many flowers occur naturally in these pink and green shades, so it should be no problem finding blooms to decorate your event! Serve watermelon flavored cocktails or fruit punch, use slices of watermelon and lime as garnishes and centerpieces (by piling slices in a clear vase), and include whole limes or green apples in your flower arrangements.

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Color of the Week - Champagne

This week's color is Champagne - a neutral that complements almost any color!

Champagne works with almost anything, from pastels to darker shades, and from highly saturated hues to fellow neutrals!

Fun facts about Champagne:

1. The first recorded use of the word champagne as a color term in English was in 1915; it was named for the sparkling wine produced from grapes grown in the Champagne region of France.

2. This color is often used to describe gemstones or paint finishes (such as in marketing automobiles) in order to imply that one is purchasing a luxury product.

3. Horses may inherit a "champagne gene" from either or both parents; this simple dominant allele creates rare horse coat colors, hazel eyes, and pinkish, freckled skin. In champagne colored horses, any hairs that would have been red are gold, and any hairs that would have been black are chocolate brown.



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Color of the Week - Peach

This week's color is Peach - a light orange-yellow tint!

Peach works best when paired with darker, more saturated colors or neutrals. For spring, I particularly like it with pastel purple (you can check out my lavender/salmon pink color scheme from March to see a similar color inspiration board!).

Fun facts about Peach: 
 
1. The first recorded use of the English word peach as a color was in 1588. The name comes from the pale color of the interior flesh of the peach fruit. Like the color aprioct, the color peach is paler than most actual peach fruits and seems to have been formulated primarily to create a pastel palette of colors for interior design. 

2. In 1962, Crayola renamed their "flesh" color "peach" after the civil rights movement pointed out that this color only represented the average color of the flesh of Caucasians.

3. In Chinese culture, the color peach represents immortality. The mythological peach tree of immortality, thought to be on a mountainside in western China, blooms only once every 3,000 years and is a key concept of the Taoist religion.

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Children's Birthday Party Theme Ideas - Part 2

Still need some inspiration for a child's birthday party, even after last week's post? Here are three more fresh, fun ideas!

1. Obstacle Course Party

Turn your backyard into an obstacle course for kids! Divide them into teams and have each team wear a different color shirt (or a different color bandana). Weave string in between trees for them to duck under or step over or crawl through and use old tires or draw hopscotch squares on your sidewalk with chalk for them to skip through. Include non-athletic "stations" in the obstacle course as well, such as solving math problems, "name that tune," blowing bubbles, balancing eggs on spoons or books on their heads, reciting the alphabet backwards, Pictionary, shaping things out of clay, bouncing balls into plastic cups, etc.

In the end, everyone wins! Distribute gold-medal shaped cookies and hand out awards - "Most Spirited," "Fastest," "Most Artistic," "Best Team Player," "Most Encouraging," etc.

2. Dr. Seuss Party

Set up a photo booth with Dr. Seuss props like crazy wigs, comically big sunglasses, and feather boas. Serve green eggs and ham, and a Dr. Seuss themed birthday cake. Watch a Dr. Seuss movie or cartoon, or read one (or several) of his books.

3. Safari Scavenger Hunt

Distribute cheap plastic binoculars, cameras, and butterfly nets or small picnic baskets and set them off to find everything on their scavenger hunt list. Some items to consider - scraps of fabric or felt with animals on them (like giraffes, elephants, etc.) or prints like zebra stripes or cheetah spots, school supplies (such as cute animal-themed notepads or paperclips), pencil erasers in the shapes of safari animals, rubber or plastic toy insects, and fake plants (such as ivy and other plastic leaves and vines). To eat, serve animal crackers!

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Children's Birthday Party Theme Ideas - Part 1

Need some inspiration for a child's birthday party? Here are some fresh, fun ideas!

1. Messy Party 

The idea of this party is just what it sounds like - to make a giant mess. Throw out the idea that decor has to be just-so and the food has to look perfect - you know those excited children will just make a mess of all your effort anyway!

Serve messy or gross-looking foods (Jell-O, gummy worms, cupcakes splattered with food coloring, etc.). Fill a pinata with an unexpectedly messy surprise (like cooked spaghetti). Cover your lawn or driveway with plastic sheets and let the kids go crazy with (washable) fingerpaints or paint-filled water balloons. Or fill a kiddie pool with potting soil and water to make your very own mud pit. On the invitations, request that everyone come dressed for a mess (i.e. bathing suits), and spray everyone down with a hose before they go home. Hand out towels as party favors on their way out the door!

2. Superhero Party

Serve food with primary colors (like a superhero-themed cake, and all-American red, white, and blue Jell-O parfaits) and label glasses of juice with different superpowers (invisibility, super strength, the ability to fly, the ability to read minds, inhuman speed, etc.) - whatever drink each kid chooses will be their superpower for the rest of the party! Decorate with campy "POW!" and "WHAM!" signage, and end the party with a fun superhero movie and buckets of popcorn.

3. Tiny Party

Give the kids the experience of following Alice down the rabbit hole by making everything at the party tiny, from the decorations (use Tootsie pops for balloons, make tiny flower arrangements out of paper or fabric, etc.) to the food (make cakes the size of cupcakes, and serve food like Pizza Bites or mini hamburger sliders). Play tiny board games (travel games are great, and often use miniature pieces or versions of the typical size board games), and hand out tiny party favors (sample-size mini tubes of lip gloss or nail polish, Hot Wheels cars, Polly Pockets, M&M minis, etc.).


Check back next week for three more ideas!

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Supersize Pastel Inspiration Board

As March draws to an end, I leave you with this - an oversized inspiration board featuring this season's beautiful pastel color palette!

Within this inspiration board are ideas for everything:

- Easter decor (ornate eggs, pastel balloons!)
- Spring fashion (pastel lips, jewelry, clothes, hair!)
- Interior design (a pretty mint green sunroom, and floral wallpaper!)
- Party refreshments (gelato-colored candies and cupcakes!)

- And, of course, spring wedding decor (painted mason jars, bouquets, centerpieces, dresses!)

If you're planning a baby shower, child's birthday party, Easter gathering, or spring wedding, this board is for you. :)

Enjoy!

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Spring Color Combo: Blood Orange & Misty Blue

If you're at all like me, you find blood oranges a little creepy - but even I can't deny how beautiful and rich the color is. Pair it with a pale misty blue for a unique color scheme with a perfect balance between hot and cold colors that works great in the winter and spring.

This shade of blue is pale with hints of silver-gray, while the orange is so red it's - well, practically red. Still, they both retain their core orange and blue so obviously that it's not hard to understand why they seem to work so effortlessly together (orange and blue are color wheel complements).

Impress your guests with a dazzling paper crane display (see the middle picture of this inspiration board's bottom row), add unexpected bursts of dark orange blooms in the middle of a pale blue-and-white bouquet, and serve orange-flavored cupcakes and blood-orange garnished cocktails.

This color scheme is also a great choice for beachfront weddings - just look at how adorable the cake is on the far-right of the top row! Use blood orange to color fish accents in a misty blue ocean.

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Spring Color Combo: Lavender & Salmon Pink

Pastels are always beautiful for spring events, and today's color scheme of lavender and pale salmon is another great example!

Give out fabric satchels of lavender as guest favors at a fancy event like a wedding or dinner party. I just love the small salmon pink pocket tied with twine in the middle of the second row. 

Versatile and calming, this color scheme is also great for everyday fashion, and easily lends itself to makeup (lavender purple eyes and pale pink lips are always classic). These colors would also be gorgeous for a baby shower, baby announcements, or to decorate a child's bedroom or nursery. And don't forget spring holidays. The soft colors and pink accents work great for Valentine's Day and Easter!


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Spring Color Combo: Poppy Red & Linen

Pantone has included both "poppy red" and "linen" in its list of spring colors for 2013 - and its certainly true that it's easy to find both of these colors on the fashion runways! Incorporate this classic color scheme into almost any spring event (weddings, Valentine's Day - even Easter, if you're open to changing out traditional white lily decor for some brilliant red poppies)!

Poppies are easy flowers to fake with crepe paper or fabric, making it a breeze to decorate (under budget!) for any occasion. Play up texture within the neutral beige color to add dimension - string a paper or fabric banner of triangle flags, and use a linen tablecloth with visible threads.

This color scheme would also be beautiful in the fall, or even for winter holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas!

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