Christmas has come and gone, but Santa left an extra present under my tree for one lucky girl. As you may now the Nammoura Dessert plates from Anthropologie are sold out online… and I may have the last four available. As much as I love to give, a little piece of my heart breaks to give these babies away. Here’s to hoping for an encore release of these gorgeous plates.
Drum roll, please…… and the winner is…..
# 7… Melissa. Congrats Melissa… Send an e-mail with your info and I’ll get them out to you ASAP.
I was introduced to Courtney Fernan through Kristen Krason at 6th Street Design School. Courtney is the author of A Thoughtful Place blog where she dishes out creative ways to make your house a home on a budget. I hopped over there last week and saw this post on gift labels, which inherently brought me over to Jones Design Company. Check out these labels that Emily created for all of her readers as a holiday gift. What a great idea! I of course printed some out and slapped them on the wine bottles that I will be giving my co-workers.
Remember those flowers from this post? Want to learn how to make them? They were super easy, and inexpensive too!
Every year for Christmas the Ya’s (minus our dear Claudia who lives in North Carolina) and I get together and try to do something fun together rather than getting each other gifts. This year, it was a floral design class at Helen Olivia. Located in Old Town, Alexandria, Helen Olivia is offers premier floral design to many clients and just recently outfitted the Residence of the Vice President for Christmas.
MJ and I hard at work on our mantle pieces.
Danielle and Lissy showcasing their carnations.
Arranging my mantle piece….There are so many things wrong about this picture (like the sprouting of my double chin)… I cannot wait to cleanse!
Marianne Raub, the owner offers many classes to meet the desires and skill sets of many aspiring floral designers. This week’s class was focused on Christmas. We made a mantle piece as well as the pomanders that you saw on my green console.
I must admit, when we walked up and saw the collection of carnations and mums, I was quite skeptical. But how adorable did these turn out?
Here’s how to do it:
1.) Buy 24 of each flower, three oasis balls and 3 vases of your choice. I found that the carnations worked far better than the mums. I would also suggest roses, however, it will be much more expensive.
2.) Soak Oasis Balls in water for 30 minutes.
3.) Cut each stem about 1/4 of an inch from the base. Always cut stems at an angle to maximize water absorption.
4. )Starting at the top of the oasis ball, push stem into oasis, making sure that the base of the flower is touching the foam.
5.) Continue to fill oasis ball with flowers tightly. You will have about a 2 inch portion of oasis that is uncovered, but that will be where you rest the pomander on the vase. It will not be seen.
5.) Fill vase with objects that you have chosen- Christmas balls, winter berries, candy canes– you name it.
6.) Place pomander on vase and enjoy– these should last up to a week.
They are sold out online, but this little elf shopped ahead and bought a set of four Nammoura Dessert plates from Anthropologie in all four colors. I have decided to make my fourth and final gift in my four weeks of giving something that is a reflection of my style… Classic and colorful with a hint of eclectic. I love the bold Ikat petals on these delicate porcelain plates… it’s just the right mix for a party of pretty! I can’t wait to give them to one very lucky Kiki’s List Follower.
Here are the rules for the contest:
1.) You must be a Follower of Kiki’s List.
2. )To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post between today, Wednesday, December 22, 2010 and Friday, December 24 telling me why you should win. A winner will be selected at random and will be announced next Monday, December 27.
3.) To receive an additional entry, you can link to this post on your own blog (include the url to your blog post in your comment). It is up to you to return to this post to enter your second entry after blogging about the giveaway.
4.)Post about this giveaway on Facebook for another additional entry. You must enter the link to this post in you status update. It is up to you to return to this post to enter your second entry after FB’ing about the giveaway.
5.) Lastly, tweet about this giveaway for one last additional entry.
I am so fortunate to have the very best friends in the world. Supportive, generous and kind… and not afraid to regulate on any faux pas. Nearly 10 years ago, in jest Mike referred to us as “The Divine Ya-Ya Sisterhood of the Traveling Fat Pants.” Well, from that what stuck was The Ya’s. So now that is what we are called.
Though I do not see, or speak to them everyday, I know that they are always there. I am so grateful to have found a group of women who truly get me and are so unconditionally loving.
A friend is someone who gives you what you need, when you may not even know that you need it. I will never forget the day my mom died. After a long day at my parents’ house and the funeral home I came home to a kitchen filled with groceries, flowers and cards from my besties. I still tear up just thinking about it.
So at this time of year, as I reflect on what is important to me, I’d like to toast my dear friends- The Ya’s for always being there, even when I didn’t know I needed it.
I love the look and texture that boxwood provides during the holidays. Every year when we go to pick out our tree, I buy boxwood garland for our banisters and doorways. This year, however, I somehow picked up two boxwood wreaths rather than garland, as illustrated by my hula hooping models below.
CRAP, I thought….When am I going to find the time to return that? Well, I made the time a few days later, and unfortunately, all of our local nurseries were sold out of boxwood roping. So, I decided to take my wreaths and make the best of it. In a 15 minute dash, I ran into my local Michael’s and grabbed whatever I thought could work. Inspired by my Blue Christmas post, I went to town. A mix of butterflies, wicker stars, jingle bells and Christmas balls… I think it turned out pretty cute. The whole thing took me 30 minutes to put together. It’s as easy as 1-2-3… just attach all objects with floral wire and wrap it tightly to make sure your ornaments don’t blow away with the cold winter’s wind!
Because I had two wreaths, I made another one for our friends Will and Aimee and gave it to them when they had us over for dinner. I am still super bummed about the lack of garland on our banisters this year, but I guess if I look at the glass as half full, that’s one less thing that I need to cross of my holiday to do list!
Christmas has come and gone, but Santa left an extra present under my tree for one lucky girl. As you may now the Nammoura Dessert plates from Anthropologie are sold out online… and I may have the last four available. As much as I love to give, a little piece of my heart breaks to give these babies away. Here’s to hoping for an encore release of these gorgeous plates.
