Five Years Ago....remembering my wedding

Well, if you live in the Northeast, you know it's been a long and very white winter.  We eagerly await Spring and what comes with it - green grass, fresh flowers and warm breezes.  I love the first week of March.  Though it's still Winter, I feel like Spring is just around the corner.  It's also a great time for me as I celebrate both my birthday and my wedding anniversary.  I decided to go through all my wedding photos and couldn't stop staring at all the photos of the flowers!  I have a little collage below of some of my favorite details shots. 

If you can't tell my the name of my shop, I obviously I have a thing for the color green.  I had green hydrangea, ivory roses and bells of Ireland for my most of the my flowers.  For the centerpieces on the tables, I had white and mint green carnations in metal tins.  When carnations are bunched up together, they actually look really nice and not so....well... carnation-y.  I had carnation wreaths hang from the chairs my husband and I sat in.  We had a very small wedding of only about 50 guests.  So no head table and the wreaths were a perfect touch to show where the NEW Mr. and Mrs. would be sitting.

My husband deployed to Afghanistan two weeks after we were married.  We wanted to get married before he left so the wedding was planned in record time (6 weeks!).  Thankfully, it being winter, finding vendors and a venue wasn't too difficult.  But with not much time to get things done, I wasn't allowed the luxury of researching and taking my time to think out each detail.  But I knew I wanted LOTS of fresh flowers and I was not going to go cheap on them.  I found an awesome florist and I think she leaped into my head because when all the arrangements arrived, it was exactly how I envisioned everything. 

When it came to my dress, I wanted to look very simple.  I wanted to look back at photos and think "I could wear that again."  So, after trying on several wedding gowns, I thought, maybe a gown wasn't what I needed...maybe I needed a dress.  So I tried on bridesmaid dresses!  I picked an ivory bridesmaid dress and a very long veil.  Perfect! 

Here's a look at us on that very day.  Happy Anniversary, Danny!  Five years of complete joy!

Valentine's Day Recipe - Sweetie Pie

Need a quick and easy sweet treat to make for your sweetheart this Valentine's Day?  I baked up these little pies with cherry filling for my Vintage Valentine Collection.  As I was baking them, I thought they would make for a great sweet treat for my husband this February 14th.  Pie is really the way to his heart.  But I don't really enjoy making pies.  Especially since we enjoy a slice each and then they seem to sit in the fridge for the rest of the week.  I like small goodies and these mini pies are perfect for someone who doesn't want to make a whole pie...like me! 

You'll need:

pre-made pie crust

heart shaped cookie cutter

parchment paper

pie filling (I used cherry for these)

Directions:

Roll out pie crust and cut out an even amount of heart shapes (1 for top layer, 1 for bottom layer).  Lay out a single layer of the heart shapes on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  Place a small spoonful of pie filling onto the center of the heart dough.  Place a layer of the heart shaped dough on top and use a fork to close up the sides.  Pierce the top of the pie with a few little holes for venting.  Spread some egg whites on top and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 325 for about 8-10 minutes.  

I made a little valentine to go with them!  Cute for kids and sure to please your main squeeze as well. 

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL? Superbowl printables

Football season hits it peak this Sunday with the Superbowl and it reminded me of the sports party I threw for my son this past September.  I knew a sports theme was in order when he would work all day on his dribbling skills.  I went with colors that weren't team specific since neither my husband and I are avid sports fans.  Here a few photos from his party to give you some inspiration if you are hosting a Superbowl Party this Sunday or thinking about throwing a sports for your little all-star!  Oh...and I have some FREE Superbowl Printables at the bottom of the post. 

The full table with cookies, cake pops, popcorn and candy!

rice krispie treats with mini pennant flags

LOVED these cake pops.  They are a party must!

FREE Superbowl Printables available!

Click on the title to download your file!

Water Bottle Labels

Tented Food Cards

Enjoy!

Kid Room Inspiration - The Great Outdoors

I am not one for winter, snow and the bitter cold.  I dream all winter long about sandy beaches and sipping on fruit smoothies on my back porch.  But, winter is here and I'm learning not to wish it away as much anymore.  One thing I'm liking about winter, is that it gives me time to start some projects that I might overlook when the warm weather beckons me outside.  One project I am really looking forward to this winter/early spring is turning my son's room from a nursery into a big boy room.  Oh...wait....time for a real bed.  That will be interesting! 

I have two goals for it.  One, is to keep it a theme that he can grow into for a few years.  The second goal being, to keep the decorating budget under $200.  With those goals in mind, I have decided to go with a camping/lodge theme! 

My son comes from a long line of campers and my dad is a huge fan of Buffalo Plaid (red and black check).  Every year, he looks for Buffalo Plaid shirts that all of his grandsons can wear.  

The idea is to express the theme with simply stated items.  Purchasing some items that can covert into other themes if let's say in a couple years he prefers robots to camping. 

Like a red side table I already purchased from IKEA.....for $4!  How can you pass that up?!  That's cheaper than coffee at Starbucks.  Which leaves some room in the budget to splurge! 

Below is an inspiration board I created with some great finds that would make for a very woodsy little room.  Most of them are from Etsy to boot!  I'll be documenting my way through the decorating process...oh, and the crib to bed transition....fun!

teddy bear - sleepyking

camping sign - jandersonart

woodgrain pillow - maverickjune

log pillows - polkadotmoonbeams

burlap tent - Ruby Ju Blog

woodland chair - IKEA

hedgehog bookend - graphicspaceswood

fox storage bin - land of nod

Valentine's Day GIVEAWAY

I knew I wanted to do a Valentine's Day dessert table centered around something sweet.  The timeless conversation hearts came to mind and being able to use all the pastel colors would be a great depature from the typical red and pink.   Kids and adults adore them just the same and this theme would even be great for a wedding shower.  The lovely Courtney Dial of Pizzazzerie featured my table last week on her site and I'm here to do another giveaway of the printables you can use to host your own conversation heart Valentine's Day party!

One lucky winner will receive over 10 PDF's that you can use to recreate this party yourself!

A cute covered Hershey bar and little card make a sweet little something your kids can exchange with their friends

Circle tags, cupcake wrappers, straw flags and mini Hershey wrappers are some of the other super sweet printables you could win!

I LOVE the conversation heart sugar cookies that Karen from Sugar and Flour makes! I designed three different paper patterns that you can print out and use to make limitless crafts.  Use them to cover paper mache mailboxes! 

Rules to Enter:

1. leave a comment below telling me you would like to win

2. leave a comment below telling me you became a fan on facebook

3. leave a comment below letting me know you signed up to follow my blog. 

Don't forget, to leave a comment!!

Deadline to enter is 8pm EST - Sunday, January 23rd

Winners will be announced on Monday, January 24th

WINNER is #16 - amydianet
-according to Random.org-
Please contact me at katie@greenapplepaperie.com so I can email you the files.
Thanks for all who participated!