Homefront: Vintage Cafeteria Serving Trays

Vintage cafeteria lunch serving trays have been popping up all over Etsy lately. I love their weight, and their smoothness. The compartments make me remember to serve fruits and vegetables (no empty spaces here). I just adore them, but they are a little costly online, especially with shipping.

So, when I found these salmon pink trays at Goodwill the other day for 99 cents a piece, I grabbed them up. They are a little lighter weight then most, but who cares, my house is not an industrial kitchen.

I love how they contour to one's body, perfect for maneuvering through a crowded lunchroom. No wildly clapping students for dropped trays with these.

They are so cute... they even make me forget that I burnt, errr 'blackened' the salmon. (it was still good though, and the asparagus and mangoes, divine!)

Camp Auction Night

Our church's camp themed auction was tonight. It was to help raise money for the youth to attend camp this summer, and members donated items they had/made or services. You may remember the centerpiece idea postings I had here, those had more of an elegant feel, but what we did was perfect for the event.

The little lights were made of tea lights with the plastic flame and wrapped in a red cellophane. They were very cute!

 For the centerpieces, we kept is easy and simple. We made little tents out of poster board, We got 2 regular and 2 mini sized tents per board. Using foam board worked the best, we just scored it with a box cutter for it to bend, then spray painted them. Then, we taped the bottom sides so that it would stand. At the center of the table, was a piece of burlap, a tent, a flashlight, collected leaves, acorns and pinecones and little fake ants.

The pinecones were huge and perfectly shaped! So pretty. The ones I find always seem to be smashed.

I like how they used the igloo coolers and a camping lantern for the drink table. Very camping authentic.

 In the front was a real tent and sleeping bag, with a faux fire, some nice logs and pine trees and little woodland creatures figurines, but I didn't get a picture. The scene was so cute!

We placed assorted lanterns with the nature trimming around as well. I scored 2 things for the auction for $12 that are super cute, though I maybe the only one to feel that way. But oh well, I'll show you soon!

Geometric Ethnic Red

alloy clothing ethnic print shirt, the color, the ethnic geometric pattern, it calls to me

My dress is usually influenced by my surroundings. I have talked about in the past, if I am wearing red, for example, then when I go shopping, I automatically gravitate towards anything red.

fantabulous geometric red and blue art featuring deer ~ parasol mag issue 6

Whether my mood was attracted to red in the first place, thus prompting me to wear red, or I am simply influenced by my clothing color and match everything I see to it is a tough question to answer.

amazing vintage mirror I found on craigslist... if only I had $150 to spend!

But I feel it is most likely a little bit of both causing this shift in my slightly ocd world. But, I like this quirk. It gives me balance and predictability. It foreshadows my moods and my decorating. I dictates my blog posts!

christie chase's red buffet and munny collection via designsponge

Tonight, I must be in a slightly ethnic, geometric, red and navy, ecclective, romantic vintage mood. You?

garden love vintage heart necklace ~ jeweled ambrosia {me!}

Homefront: My Very Own Frame Wall

Remember my frame wall rant post? I bought tons of frames with the intention of painting them white and doing a nice gallery wall, and the pile sat there collecting dust, stressing me out, so I got rid of most of them. Here is what this space above my couch looked like before. I love the wrought iron circle I painted in a distressed aqua, and now it's over the tv.

Well... while I was at Goodwill the other day, I saw this lovely painting of this little Native American girl by Bettina Steinke. Really, isn't she just a precious doll? It was in some obscure aisle, and I picked it up and put it in my cart. I walked around some more, and decided, what am I going to do with it? So, I put her back in another obscure aisle (shame on me, I know).

An hour later (yes, when I go to Goodwill, it takes a few hours) I stumbled across this girl in another part of the store and I walked by. By the time I got to the frames, she had been brought back there. By this time, it kept getting harder to walk away, so for $3.99, I brought her home, and my son has named her Sammie.

I also brought home the embroidered flower photo, oil flower vase painting, raccon sketch and the automobile photos. I even put several things back, they just had tons of great vintage finds! Some frames I already had, so I filled them with bits of vintage maps and bookplates of flower sketches. I really need to add more family photos, but since this digital camera age has sprouted, I haven't printed photos off in ages! (sorry Grandma).

Since we will most likely be leaving this apartment in a few months, I figured, why hesitate on the frame wall? If we don't like it, we will be moving so who cares!

All I did, was lay the frames on the floor until I liked the arrangement. Then, I took a picture of it. I picked up the pictures from the ground and brought them up to the wall one by one and nailed them in. If I forgot how one went, I referred to my camera screen. Easy.

But... I love it. I'm so glad I did this. And when I showed everyone my frame placement floor layout ideas, you all persuaded me to make it grand instead of a smaller grouping like I intended. And really, with these high walls, the larger grouping looks best. Adding in the wood letters and smaller pieces helped close in odd gaps and hide nail holes I used when trying to get the placement right.

 

This post is linked to A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day!

Camping Theme Party

 snippet and ink ~ click to enlarge

I am helping do some centerpieces for a camp themed activity this weekend. Materials we will use include anything we can find on a nature walk or already own, with some little handmade paper tents,  (and here) Sticks, moss, river rocks, pine cones, nests, woodland creature figurines, feathers, little compasses, lanterns...
 The boys will have fun going on a nature walk, and I will enjoy preoccupying my mind from other things going on in our lives I would rather not obsess over.

The City Cradle

Smores trees how to

I was thinking of taking plain soup/veggie/fruit cans, cleaning them out and filling them with sticks topped with marshmallows, like so smores-y, right? The budget is pretty limited, so we'll see how it turns out, but I think this could be cheap, easy and cute. But for now, some more lovely ideas.

Merci New York and Oh Darling via Green Wedding Shoes

Daisy Dreaming via Creative Hostess (visit here for larger image)

More woodsy theme ideas and menu ideas here.

I'll try and remember to take pics of what we come up with next week! Any other ideas would be helpful.

Family Time: The Cookie Man

Allow me to introduce you to my husband's famous chocolate chip cookies. He has been making me these since we were newlyweds. He and I both follow the same recipe on the chocolate chip bag,  but mine always turn out small, round, regulation sized thinness, but always a little too hard. Something seems to be missing from my cookies.

His, turn out crazy thick (sometimes an inch or more in the middle), dollar pancake sized, never "cookie shape" round.... But, oh, they are glorious. They have the perfect softness, perfect size for sharing, perfect for milk dipping. The chocolate chips are never too gooey, and never too hard (like mine are).

Let's just say, he is the designated cookie man 'round these parts. And it makes us all happy.

Homefront: Withered Life

My sons go outside to ride their scooters and play. But they cannot come back inside without bringing me flowers. Sometimes, the stems are so short that I float the blooms, but this morning glory specimen wanted a little bottle of her own. I love using my little vintage apothecary bottles for life baring purposes.

My little jar and crystal window vignette looks so much prettier with a pretty pink wild flower, don't you agree? Some of my glass bottles have sold, but I hope to replace them soon, for my own enjoyment.

This flower died. I was *this close* to throwing the flower away.... but I remembered those two green buds and let the crumbled bloom stay around for a few days. Not thinking much about what would happen.

Then soon enough... Two new blooms and one spent one.

 Patience pays off. When one thing withers away, an opportunity is lost, there is always something else in the works. Some say it is fate, others say it is God preparing a way, others say that's just life. What say you?