A Blue and Yellow Birthday

One of my dearest friends recently celebrated a birthday and some of us took this opportunity to show her some love. This lunch was the result of this group effort.  It was held at our mutual friend, Anne's, beautiful home.

I agreed to do the flowers, and when I arrived, this beautiful table is what I saw!  Our honoree is a blue and white lover, so Anne pulled out this wonderful Blue Danube china, and set it on this Ralph Lauren tablecloth.  Waterford and vintage crystal added to the glamor.  Notice how, placing the china on a blue placemat makes all this pattern work perfectly!

Here's my centerpiece!  I have soooo many blue and white pots of all sizes and shapes, so I brought them filled with all sorts of bright yellow spring flowers.  Easy and pretty!

This worked so well and felt so fresh.

There were primroses,

tulips, daffodils, and gerbera daisies,

in a real mix of pots, including this one flow blue gravy boat.

The star is, of course, the daffodil. 

We even slipped one tete-a-tete daffodil into each silver napkin ring.

Anne added these precious little gifts for each person.  They are made from little left-over bits of clay from a potter.  Mine was this pink smile, and I have it on my kitchen window sill.  It brings a warm feeling to me every morning as I check the temperature and make coffee. 

Beth's was a tiny bunny, as she is a bunny lover!

One end of the table had these beautiful silver and crystal salt and pepper shakers,

And the other had these chubby little bluebirds.

Isn't this a beautiful table?

And isn't this a beautiful meal?  These are all Judy's favorites.  I wish I had a picture to show you of the delicious pound cake with blueberries that Beth made for dessert! 

It's my policy not to photograph my friends for my blog, but I wish you could see and know the incredible woman we celebrated here.  I have this birthday crown for all my friends to wear as we party with them, and it never sat on a more deserving head.  She is so caring, so spiritual, creative, funny, gorgeous, interesting, and just about perfect.  I am so fortunate to be her good friend, and I want her to know how loved she is.  My wish for you is that you all have such a friend.

Photo Shoot for Equestrian Wedding

I was flattered when Seven Barks asked me to do a photo shoot for a spring equestrian wedding feature.  I wasn't clear exactly what they wanted, but I began to play with some items that said spring wedding to me. Here's my path to this pretty photo.

This was the tablescape I started with, but as soon as I shot it, I knew it was too busy and had too many items in it.  After all, that beautiful snaffle bit letterpress place card was to be the featured item, and it was almost lost in the complete setting.  Note: These are totally un-edited photos, just to show my thought process and where I was going.

I got a little closer, but still thought it was still not the star of the show.

Closer still, but now it's out of proportion to the napkin ring.

Getting closer.

Almost there, but something's still wrong.

I added the napkin and ring back to the mix, but.....no.

Here's a close up of that gorgeous silver napkin ring with a setter and pheasant.  I. Love. This.

Well, hello, beautiful!  By tipping the placecard a bit, I had it.  I can't tell you what magazine it's going to be in just yet, but I can't wait to see their spring equestrian wedding article. 

This placecard/enclosure card ( 2" x 3.5" and twelve to a pkg ) comes in many other letterpress designs, and Seven Barks,  Purveyors of Fine Papers, has so many other distinctive items in their line.  Go to www.sevenbarks.com to check them out.  There is an adorable bunny design that would be wonderful for Easter, and so would their Easter party poppers!