Fall Comes Knockin'

First things first...there's a giveaway going on over at The Restyled Home for 20 copies of Matthew Mead's latest book, Entertaining Simple. From what I hear, this is a fantastic book filled with great ideas for entertaining on a budget and also with a lot of style. She's also giving away TEN Homegoods giftcards valued at $25 each. Now, that's a great giveaway!
Go and visit Matthew's website for more on this wonderful new book Entertaining Simple.
Check out The Restyled Home for more information on how you can enter the giveaway!

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So what do you do with a tired arrangement that has been around for awhile?

Why, you recycle it all for a new wall pocket for the frontdoor...a welcome to Fall. That middle tin planter has been in my house for quite awhile and since I'm paring down some of the fakes now, it's been out of my diningroom for months and I took out the best things in there to reuse, some pretty sprays of artichokes and eggplants. These will be perfect for my Fall arrangement on the frontdoor! You may remember that black cone wall pocket I found at a yardsale last year. It was filled with summer flowers last year and now will be remade for Fall. And last, the black urn is filled with some dried and nice silks, but since I already have too many fake arrangements already, it's coming apart too.
So, now I have these....
Which, within a few short minutes of playing around with them, turned into this.....
I love this mix of colors and textures.
Perfect for a little Fall inspiration on the frontdoor, don't you think?
Luckily, I bought some nice quality things over the years and they can easily be recycled again. Feathers are a must around my house! Recycling at its best.
And I love artichokes too...
Eggplant and artichokes...can't get more Fall colorish than that. And the best thing was...I didn't spend a penny on any of this!

Enjoy your Fall and catch some inspiration!

Birmingham girls: If you missed it, I'm having a yardsale on Saturday, October 11th at 8:00 a.m., so email me if you haven't already & are interested in coming by. I'd love to meet you! My neighbor is having one too.

I'm also in a little contest over at One Project Closer. I sent in my patio project & was featured earlier in the summer and they have several other great projects during the summer that have been featured, so now they are voting on the best Before and After. If you liked my patio project, please go & vote for me!

Stay tuned later this month for a giveaway too!

Spring in Alabama

Clematis on my mailbox

As is usual this time of year, Spring has arrived in the South. Last week was just about peek and I took a walk through my neighborhood to show you what is blooming around here. In spite of our severe drought last year, it doesn't seem to have affected the show of flowers. We have had lots of rain lately, so that has helped a lot. Foliage and blooms are pushing their way up to the sunshine and giving us a grand show that only happens this time of year. This is my very favorite season!
Azaleas are a staple in the Southern garden and they are tried and true bloomers. Our neighborhood is 10 years old, so many yards are well established (ours, not so much, but that's another story).
I won't attempt to name everything I've taken pics of, but what I do know, I'll share. This is especially for all you gals up in the frozen north who will have to wait another month or so to see a show like this. I'm so sorry for you!
I love this bunny planter at a neighbor's already filled with tiny petunias that I think are Million Bells.
Lady Banks Roses on a mailbox.
Pretty purple iris
Don't know this one.
More azaleas, the colors are spectacular this year.
White dogwood in full bloom
More azaleas
Such gorgeous colors. Not sure what tree this is, but the blooms are amazing.
I think this is a snowball bush with one crazy limb climbing up to the sky.
Snowball closeup.
Pink dogwood
More coral azaleas.

I love this color azalea! My favorite pink.
These tulips were so pretty!
Ahhhhh.
Pink azaleas and pink dogwoods.

Red Japanese maple, you can't beat their foliage for beauty.
We always called this Thrift and I can't remember the real name of it.
More azaleas.
Lilac perhaps??
Carolina jasmine at the end of the blooming season.

And then I ran into these cute little guys in one yard. They were happy to have some company and came right over to be petted.
I've been by to see them before and they're very friendly.
Aren't they cute?

Pink and white azaleas right next to each other. I'm determined to get some in our yard. We have no azaleas right now and have lots of landscaping work to do. I miss having all these blooms in my yard, as my yard in GA was full of them. Now here's what's been blooming in my yard. I fell in love with Lenten Rose (or hellebores) several years ago when I saw them at Callaway Gardens in Georgia and vowed to have some one day in my own garden. I planted 3 little plants two years ago and they are rewarding me now with some beautiful blooms. I actually took these pics back in March and they were in full bloom then.
I really don't know all that much about Lenten Rose, except they bloom in late winter and have the most delicate flowers and colors.
Isn't this a beautiful flower?
Just thought you'd all love a little shot of spring to cheer you up, just in case you are still stuck in Winter where you are.
Hang on, Spring's coming your way too!

I'm chillin' out in Florida, literally. They've had a little cold snap this week and the nights are a bit chilly and highs for a couple of days around 70. We walked around the lake last evening and I was freezing! I'm going to do a little shopping and browsing at some antique stores and if the sun is out some this week, I'll sit by the pool and read my books. I brought plenty of reading material so I won't be bored.

Wedding Florals

What's a wedding without beautiful flowers? My friend, Angie, has been a floral designer for many years and now mainly doing weddings. She works out of her house and does several weddings a year. She asked me if I'd be interested in helping her out with some of her weddings, so it looks like I may have found a little part-time job helping Angie with her flowers and setting up for weddings. Saturday was my first time helping and it was quite fun. We started on Thursday at her house, where I helped her prepare the stems, cutting off the leaves, and wiring them for the bouquets and arrangements. I even spray painted some hydrangeas with floral spray that changes the color slightly (to a limey green). Then, on Saturday, we headed out to the church to get everything arranged. The wedding was downtown Birmingham at Little Five Points at the Highlands United Methodist Church. It's a beautiful and stately church and perfect for a wedding.

Elegant architecture.

And sits right behind the fountain at Five Points, a very popular spot in Birmingham.

One of the 5 streets that converge at Five Points, hence the name.

Inside the church, beautiful stained glass and classical architecture. It has a stunning round ceiling.

Front of the church.

One of the lobbies....now on to the flowers!

Angie worked her magic on the maid of honor's bouquet. The bride chose green and pink as her colors and the flowers were just breathtaking. I'm including Angie's business info in case anyone in the Birmingham area needs a floral designer. Angie's business is called Designer's Choice, so check out her website for more! She's a sweet lady!

The bride's bouquet. Aren't they pretty? She added stargazers to the bride's.

Roses and stargazer lillies, what a combo.

The bridesmaids' bouquets.

These 2 urns were on a table at the back of the platform.

Creamy ribbons and fresh greens adorned the front pews for family.

And two urns flanked the front steps where the ceremony will be.

Beautiful job! It was fun watching her work.

I know everyone was very happy with these 2 arrangements. Who wouldn't be?

Gaaawwwwgus!

Then it was on to the hotel where the reception was held. The groom's cake was wondrous. I'm sure there is something significant about the cards, but I have no idea what. Have you ever seen a cake like this?

Creamy, dreamy perfection for the wedding cake. I met the cake designer and her name is Jan Moon with Dreamcakes (dreamcakes9@aol.com), so I'm putting in a plug for anyone in the Birmingham area who might need a wedding cake. Jan does awesome work!

It was truly a heavenly cake!

I forgot to rotate this pic, but you get the idea. This was the top of the cake.

We set out large glass dishes for candles and fresh roseheads for the table centerpieces, along with a springy green ribbon. Beautiful reception!

I hope to work with Angie much more if my schedule is free. Nice to do something creative and make some extra money too. And one of the perks is I get to bring home leftover flowers. I brought home some pretty pink roses for my breakfast table. It was fun! Hope you enjoyed the wedding!

Some other exciting news is that I have met another designer through a friend of mine who has been doing redesigns for several years. She is going to hire me as an assistant for some of her jobs too, so I'm excited to be able to learn some new things from her. Not sure yet how much she'll need me, but I'm open for it and we'll play it by ear. I'll still be pursuing clients of my own also, but things are picking up for me. It's all about networking!