PaperLark Studio: The House Warming Party

Our house warming party was last Saturday and I've got pictures galore to share!

First, let's talk about decor! Since July 4th was the next week, I wanted the house decorated for it.

I spray painted an old picture frame that has long since been missing its glass. I ran across the print on HMH Designs for free. You can find it here. The flowers behind the picture frame are Queen Anne's Lace placed in water with red and blue food coloring (my mom's brilliant idea!). In Georgia, you can find these simple, but beautiful flowers all along the sides of the road which is where mine all came from. Ha!

In our house, baseball is king and what is more American than baseball?! The game ball given to Coach R.J. after the championship win became my finishing decor item on this side of the mantle.

On the left side of the mantle, you will find more Queen Anne's Lace in two tin cans each dyed their respective colors. I'm in the process of making a July 4th fanned wreath which should slightly resemble this:

I wrapped some of my leftover paper around paper towel and toilet paper rolls to make my firecracker display you see there to the right of my tin cans.

I'm sure you've noticed the bunting hung on the mantle too. I cut 1/2 inch x 6 inch strips out of fabrics left over from various projects. (It sure pays to be a craft supply horder sometimes!) After I had all my strips cut, I tied them in that pattern on about four feet of jute.

Outside, I had two wind socks made from spray painted tin cans and some of my fabric strips from my bunting project.

Of course, your July 4th decor is not complete without some good ole American flags to line the walkway!

I designed a welcome banner (also my mom's idea!) that coordinated with our house warming invitations.

Inside, the food and drink cards also coordinated with the invitations which officially brings me to the food and drink!

Food

(click for recipes)

Triple Shortbread Bites

Holiday Cake Pops

Cherry Crumble Pie Bars

Peanut Butter Truffles

Roasted Garlic Hummus

Gourmet Cheese Spread -8 oz. of cream cheese mixed with 8 oz. of feta cheese

shaped into two logs, rolled one in pepper and one in fresh chopped parsley

Drink

(click for recipes)

Governor's Mansion Peach Tea

Southern Sweet Tea

Sparkling Cherry Limeade

Cucumber Water

When we moved in, we replaced the mailbox. The old one was warped and hanging by one nail to the post. When we replaced it, R.J. put the old one in the garage for me knowing I'd find some purpose for it...and I did! I beat it back into shape the best I could with a hammer and spray painted the outside with what was left over from my wall mirror turned chalkboard project.

Considering I sure don't intend to have another house warming party any time soon, I'm hunting for an idea of what to do with it now. Any suggestions?

Lastly, we had small potted Jade Plants (also known as Friendship Trees) for guests to take home as a thank you.

Our house warming party wouldn't have happened without my mother. A HUGE thank you to her. Seriously, ya'll probably would've been drinking Coke out of a can if it hadn't been for her. Thank you mom!

OH! One last thing! Bentley and Bella would like to give a special thank you to the Bogs family for their present. As you can see they both loved their toys!