One of the greatest pleasures of blogging is the opportunity to meet new people.
Leigh Anne is no exception!
I am so excited to have Leigh Anne {the creative talent behind
YOUR HOMEBASED MOM}here today as my very first guest blogger!
Her passion for all things family, home, friends, entertaining, crafts and scrapbooking is just the tip of the iceberg. Her ideas and her way of life are both contagious and inspiring.
I was particularly drawn to her blog because of how she INCLUDES her family. They are involved with what she does and they all do a great job of sharing their talents with those in their community. Those of us who are not in her circle of influence have the benefit of reading her blog to glean practical ideas that will encourage us to stop procrastinating, to try a new recipe, and to venture out of our comfort zone and celebrate life!
Today, she came up with the idea of a blog swap. So, you will have to check out her blog when you finish drooling over her Momma's sweet birthday celebration!
Thank you Leigh Anne.
My mom turned 80 a few weeks ago. I wanted to celebrate her and her long beautiful life and include her friends in that celebration..
I love everything vintage and have recently developed a fondness for vintage tablecloths so I wanted to incorporate those into the party.
The luncheon was held out on the patio in our garden. Fortunately we had wonderful weather. After a very rainy spring and early summer I was a little worried but the weather came through and it was almost too warm and sunny. We pulled out the sun hats and sunglasses and everyone did fine.
I also have a little collection of vintage aprons. Since I had to use my ugly folding chairs I decided to dress them up a bit with the vintage aprons. I used a double sided tape to tape them onto the top of the chairs. It worked great.
For the table decor I used my blue mason jars I had picked up last year for the
backyard wedding reception I helped with.
I filled them with flowers from my garden and placed a jar on each table along with a couple of old, vintage books.
The only flowers I had to buy was one bunch of hydrangea from Costco which I used in the arrangement I put on the serving table.
I also used the blue and clear canning jars to display pictures of my mother through the ages. People loved looking at the photos!
I also added some
vintage inspired pinwheels into some of the jars.
I borrowed an old vintage quilt from a friend to use as a backdrop. The serving table was right up against our fireplace and there was an ugly black vent I needed to cover up. I ran a wire line and used clothes pins to hang it behind the table. It worked perfect.
I basically just found every vintage type thing in my house and used it to decorate with. An old shelf from my girl's room that was in the garage, a sign from Tessa's room, books from the family room. I just went around the house collecting things.
My Aunt Pam came down from Canada for the party and brought me this beautiful hat she found at a garage sale. It very quickly became part of the decor.
I like to use signage on my serving table. I always like to know what I am eating and besides that it looks pretty!
The menu consisted of three types of quiche, four salads, bread, cupcakes and cake. For more details on the menu check out the recipes I'll be posting over at
Your Homebased Mom.
The desserts were on a separate serving table. I found an old rusty shelf at a vintage shop that I used to give the table some height. I added more flowers and books.
I also stacked 3 cake plates on top of each other for the cupcakes.
The finishing touch was a pretty girl in a vintage dress and apron to help serve!
Since the party was back in the garden I wanted people to know which direction to go so I pulled out Daisy and added a sign to her so people knew where the party was!
The best part of the party? Was just watching my mom enjoy herself with her friends!
Happy Birthday Mom - we love you!
Leigh Anne Wilkes
Thank you, Michelle for introducing me to her!
