Table Decorating (x 50!)

We recently celebrated our annual Ladies Brunch at our church. It is a wonderful afternoon, filled with great food prepared and served by our well-dressed husbands, uncles, sons and guy-friends. We eat, gab, and hear an inspired word from a woman of God. But the highlight (at least for me!) is all of the incredibly unique table decorations that fill the room. Each table is purchased by separate women or groups of women and decorated any way they like. Each year is different and fun!

In between all of my mingling and gabbing I managed to get a few pictures. Sorry if they're a little blurry or not as close up as you'd like. I was too busy having fun!

Our table's theme was vintage treasures. Remember when I showed you this picture here? One of my decorating partners in crime had incredibly beautiful goldware and china that absolutely made the table. I made the place cards in Illustrator and printed them off on regular ol' copy paper. At the end of the afternoon, our guests got to take home the flower brooches as favors.

The treasure chests are pieces my husband and I have picked up on our honeymoon and other trips we've taken together.

I designed (in Illustrator) little placards that read "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" from Matthew 6:21 to place around the table. We filled each chest and sprinkled the table with items that represented the treasures we have in our lives (like the baby rattle my friend Micah chose below).

My treasure chest was filled with a sonogram of my son.

Vintage love letters, wooden toys, black and white family photos and lots and lots of jewelry filled the rest of the table. We had fun decorating our table - especially in a way that meant so much to all of us who were seated there!

Want some more ideas? Here are just a few of my favorites from the afternoon. Hope they inspire you!

My friend Jessica came up with this apple harvest table idea. I L.O.V.E. it!

Everything animal print!

Christmas is coming! Ornaments and greenery on each plate. So cute.

Remember this is Texas, y'all! A bluebonnet table with seeds as favors for guests.

Cupcake table! Such a great idea. A garden pot painted pink and filled with fabric. The best part of being seated at this table was that the hostess brought cupcakes for everyone! See the adorable cherries on each glass?!

Do you see what makes this fish-themed table so special?

REAL fish swimming in trifle dishes!

My friend Jan even tinted the water blue! Such a great idea.

Black and lime green always looks great.

Military sisters!

An easy-to-replicate centerpiece with feathers, votives and scrapbook paper-filled frames.

Harvest time!

This was an absolutely stunning table. We were seated behind it though, so once the speaker took the stage we had to sheepishly ask them to disassemble it. It was tall!

I hope you found some inspiration along the way!

What do you think? Did you see any ideas you want to copycat? I'd love to see if you tackle any of these ideas! Happy table decorating!

Linking to these lovely ladies:

Making the World Cuter...Skip to My Lou...Today's Creative Blog...

Singed Flower Tutorial

I'm in love with my golden flower brooch. The possibilities are endless. I've worn them on my shoes (see above), my jacket... My belt... (this skirt was one of my very first sewing projects a few years ago...*sweet memories*)

Made them into hair accessories...

What is my obsession with red shoes??

I even made a precious little girl's headband using leftover fabric from this project.

I've made them in varying sizes.

I just can't get enough of them.

To make your own you'll need:

polysatin fabric

tulle

coordinating thread

needle

scissors

votive candle

coordinating beads

clasp for securing (jewelry pin, bobby pin, elastic)
sewing pin(s)

foil

big ol' cup of water

Create your work space by lining the area with foil. This safeguards against any mishaps. Also keep a large container of water within arm's reach. I used this several times (not to put out any fires, but to toss my burning matches in). Can I just say pretty, pretty, pretty please be careful. Don't do this when kids are around. Don't do this if you can't chew gum and walk at the same time. Don't do this if you at all think you might burn your fingers off. For goodness sake, please be careful! {And don't say I didn't warn ya, if you do burn your fingers off! (But please, don't burn your fingers off...)}

To start with, cut imperfect circles in varying sizes. I started with my pin holder as a guide. For reference, the largest petal on my largest flower brooch is bigger than this:

Using a votive candle, oh-so-carefully singe the edges. You'll see the tiny loose threads disappear and melt, and the edges will curl.

You'll need to turn your fabric over to get the desired curl. After my edges were singed, I turned my fabric over and put the flame about 1/4 inch in. This helped make a more petal-like curl.

Don't try this at home...

Do this with varying sizes of fabric and layer about 10-15 pieces on top of each other. Then cut out 3-4 pieces of tulle to match the varying sizes of your petals. I like to put one in front of the largest petal, one in the middle, and one on the very top. It softens up the look and adds more texture. {Don't singe tulle!}

Then, to secure it all together, use a sewing pin and catch all layers, including your tulle. It will look like this:

Thread your needle, knot one end, and start from the bottom. Go all the way through the layers, pulling taught, then back through near where your needle's entry point was. Do this 3 or 4 times before you take out the pin.

Secure underneath the bottom layer with a knot for extra stability. Without cutting your thread, make one more pass, through all the layers, to the top again. This time, thread your needle through a bead or decorative item of your choice, and pass the needle back through all layers until the needle and thread are taught under bottom layer. Knot. Repeat if desired with additional beads.

For my large and medium sized flowers, I like the look of three beads best. For my smallest ones, I use only one.

To add a clasp or elastic or bobby pin, pass your needle through only the bottom layer of fabric. Secure the clasp.

See how I didn't take the needle and thread to the top while adding the clasp? Only the last layer is necessary, and it allows all of those wide stitches to remain hidden.

Follow the same pattern for almost all clasps. The key to stability is lots of stitches.

You made it to the end of this tutorial?! Wow, you deserve an extra reward. Here's a sneak peek at one of my very favorite uses of the singed flower, that I'll be highlighting later this week...

I helped decorate at a Ladies' Brunch and I've got table decorating ideas (with pictures!) like you wouldn't believe! Come back soon!

Linking to these lovely ladies:
Today's Creative Blog .. It's a Blog Party .. Topsy Turvy .. The Creative Itch .. Skip to My Lou...Kojo Designs...Tatertots & Jello...