"Ooh La La Lingerie" Bridal Shower

Ah - June! Love is in the air and there are loads of weddings!  But before the weddings, come the bridal showers. After my posting "Before and After: Patio Table" I had numerous emails asking me to reveal the rest of the shower so . . ..  At the request of my readers, I am sharing the "Oooh La La Lingerie" Bridal Shower I held for my niece!

These invitations were full of surprises!

The little lingerie card slide out the top of the gift box and the colors set the color palette for the party- Pink, white and black with a sassy french twist!

First -decorate the mantel! My Flea Affaire wreath, made by my friend Deidre,  with "Je t'aime" - the french words for 
"I love you" hangs in front of the mirror. Perched below it, two lovebirds with miniature silver vases, filled with white roses.

More candlesticks flank either side of the mirror with pale pink candles - the candlelight will add a bit or romance to the evening shower!!  A 'Congratulations" banner hangs below.

 

Next - set up the dessert and drink buffet table.  A black and white square tablecloth was layered over a pink damask table cloth to cover the table.

 I placed one of my small patio tables on top to create height.

A black satin decorator tablecloth was draped over the patio table.

Wine glasses, champagne flutes, some pink tumblers, crystal wine charms and a darling shoe bottle opener were placed on top.

 

My patio table converted into an accent table for the buffet! A bow, made with pink sparkle tulle, gathered around the extra fabric finished off the look!  I placed my silver punchbowl filled with the champagne, wine and lemonade bottles just to the left of the glassware table.

 French sparkling lemonades are great to offer your guests who would prefer non-alcoholic beverages.  Find them at Cost Plus or Bev Mo!

 

 

A vintage oval mirror placed in the middle of the table 

reflects the candlesticks and cupcake holder as the  centerpiece.  

I love using mirrors as part of my tablescapes!  They add so much glamour and their reflective surface adds that extra bling to the display.  

My grandmothers sterling candlesticks sit alongside some glass and mercury glass candlesticks, filled with various shades of pink candles.  

The silver shell dish, and the crystal candy dishes were some of our wedding presents.

The pink two tier serving dish was a treasure found at TJ Maxx years ago for $3!  

It had a little crack in the glass at the top tier but I didn't care- it was darling!

The black tiered server has been used for years and the cupcake display under the plastic I just received from my sons for Mother's Day this year.

The black chandelier seemed a bit undressed after I got the table set up so I decided to swag some pink organza fabric around the arms to dress it up!  This chandelier with the crystal bobeches was once of my 'finds' - it only cost me $5 at a thrift store!  

I loved the crystal accents and the fluidity of the arms, but it's bright gold color quickly got a coat of satin black spray paint when I got it home.
Voila! A perfect chandelier for my french themed dining room!

(I did have some help from my son, Alex, who took it apart and reassembled it 

when I was done painting - he was always good with puzzles!)

 

I glittered this "love" cutout of wood, and hung it from the bottom

of the chandelier for a special touch.

The 'hardscape' was complete - it was time to move on!

With all the rain in our area this year, my roses were more beautiful than ever!  I was running out of time and wanted to have lots of fresh flowers arrangements so I asked one of my adopted daughters, Lyndsey, to come over to do the flower arrangements for me.

  Lyndsey is one talented young lady and had competed 

in flower arranging in FFA (Future Farmers of America) in high school.  

I showed her all my vases and where they would be, showed her around my garden, 

gave her some clippers and a work area and she went to work on the arrangements.   Lyndsey did a fantastic job, adding a bit of greenery and the flower buds from my ornamental bamboo plant.  

This one large mercury glass vase arrangement needed to be a little higher on the table, so I placed the vase in a crystal pedestal bowl and filled the bowl around the vase with more kisses- now it was the perfect height!

I placed a quilted, toile runner down the middle of my kitchen table, added the vintage pedestal mirror, and a small crystal dish filled with various pink flavors of Jelly Belly jellybeans. Lyndsey filled my silver Revere bowl with more roses from my garden.

Roses frame the vintage candy dishes, filled with pink candies, 

on top of a vintage mirror to decorate the coffee table.

 This Lenox vase was just the right size  to use on my kitchen island.  It looked beautiful filled with roses atop another dainty vintage mirror!  The pair of salt and pepper lovebirds were another Anthropologie find. This display holder was meant to hold a photograph and is perfect for menus or in this case, an invitation!

Ecstatic!  That is what is felt when my shopping excursion brought me to this  lingerie!  What could be a better gift for my niece than lingerie that matched her bridal shower invites - especially since it was a lingerie shower?!  I found two pair of boyfriend panties - this pink one with the black lace trim and an all black pair, so I added them to her gift as the camisole only came with the little thong you see in the middle right of the picture!

I made three kinds of cupcakes for the dessert bar: Super Lemon - a lemon cupcake with lemon frosting, Mochachino - a chocolate cupcake with chocolate chips inside, with Kahlua infused frosting accented with a piourette cookie, 
and a Lemon cupcake with Raspberry frosting.  

I found these bride and groom cupcake picks,in a little Meri Meri kit. complete with liners, at Sur La Table.  Pink and white candies filled various dishes 

to add more pink to the buffet.  The Pepperidge Farm Raspberry cookies fit the bottom tier of the dish well with Jordan Almonds on the top. 

 The layered strawberry cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries was enjoyed by guests as well but I didn't get a picture of it!  

My niece's name is Jordan - what would her bridal shower be without a sweet little silver dish filled with Jordan Almonds?!

These sweet little favor bags matched the invitation and theme perfectly!  Filled with Hershey's Kisses, each guest went home with 
a little "Oooh La La" from the shower!

Jordan - the beautiful bride!

Corn Husks and Fur Stoles

One pastime I cherish is shopping for treasures! Finding a special piece at a incredible price gives me a great sense of accomplishment. Doing this with my sister or with friends makes this pastime all the more sweeter. I love to refinish old furniture, create one of a kind gift items or repurpose my treasures for my home or to sell in my space at Melange, a unique vintage store in Historic Folsom, California.

Out by myself one day, I ventured into the back room of a furniture store and spied this bust. Dress forms and busts are a hot commodity at Melange and whenever we get them in, they fly out the door, especially unusual or vintage ones. But my heartstrings were tugging at me to get this even though at the time I didn't know why - there was something about this one that I did not want to give up! A past season accessory, it was on sale!

This bust was covered with corn husks, and me being a farmer's wife, the raw earthiness of it appealed to me. Unfortunately, there was black mold growing underneath the husks so I decided to strip them off. Armed with a spray bottle of water, I attacked it for days, peeling and scraping. After three days I only got about half off! So I decided to soak the whole bust in my laundry tub!
After two days of soaking, I managed to get off all the husks, but now the bust was filled with water - there were hairline cracks in the fiberglass form so I maneuvered the bust into position in the sink to drain the water. If someone had peeked in my laundry room window they would have wondered what kind of sick experiment I must have been doing with this body in my sink! Every time I walked into the laundry room, the bust surprised me, just as if there was someone in a room that you didn't expect!
With so much time invested now, this bust had to take a special place in my home - but where?

There was a knock on the door - it was my friend returning my grandmother's black stole she had borrowed for a costume party. The glamorous accessory popular in the 1930s and 40's, is not one which can be worn often and it's scale looked about perfect. I draped it around the bust's shoulders and tied a square knot in the front, then draped a set of pearls around the neck. As I looked at the assemblage, I thought of my grandmother and all the places she must have worn this stole. Its funny how things work out sometimes - there could not have been a better match! Destiny brought that bust to me. As I gaze at it all dressed, my mind races thinking of my stylish grandmother in that stole - cherish memories.

Dress Form and Stole - Brought together by destiny!