Bistro Menu Boards

Here are my latest menu boards inspired by my recent trip to Paris.  I tried to give these a bit of European charm by using the black and gold.  My husband thought they were for a wedding because of the cake but that was just something I added instead of my usual wreath appliques.  They are touting pastries and cocoa and the like so a cake seemed fitting.  However, he did give me an idea for a wedding reception sign.  My wheels are turning now.

 To transfer the cake image onto the board, I traced a cake image I already had and then painted it in.  I put some swirls on the cake to give it some detail.

 Although much of these are stenciled, most of the creativity comes from designing these signs.  All my work is one of a kind.  I never repeat the same sign twice. 

 The base of these signs are my usual cabinet doors found at the salvage yard.  Then I get to work on an idea for the theme, the design and the background colors.

Thanks for dropping by for a visit.  I hope you are inspired to put your thinking cap on to create a one of a kind something or other of your own.

I'm partying at...


Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy    
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style    
                                           
Thursdays        The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays        Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays           My 1928 Charmer Sunday's Best

C'est La Vie Caddy

Just sharing another quickie small project I worked on this week.  Notching away at all the little things that are taking up space.  This was another little caddy I picked up at a yard sale.  I painted it red and stenciled C'est La Vie on it.  Perfect for toting utensils and whatever.  Not only that, it's a carefree French saying.

I'm partying at...


Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy    
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style         Ivy and Elephants
                                           
Thursdays        Embracing Change     The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays        Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays           My 1928 Charmer Sunday's Best

Spam Galore

No photos today, just a question.  I am getting a ton of spam, about 80 per day, and it is driving me crazy.  It started Friday night, and it is going to two email addresses so I have to manually go through and delete them.  I'm not bothering to read them because I know they are just pointless jibber jabber.  I am raising this question because Barbara Jean at Treasures From the Heart did her post today on the very same problem and one of the comments she received was mean and hurtful.

I noticed the spam is being posted on two of my posts that contained the word "sign" in the title so be careful what you name your blog posts.  The spammers must be targeting key words in titles.  If you are experiencing this problem, please let me know how you are handling it. 

Fairy Tea

The following tablescape is what happens when two grown women  fairies get together and decide to set the table.   I was going through a lot of stuff I needed to take into the shop from past tea parties I had hosted, and I had also just found this fairy costume at a local sale.  Put it all together and you might have a fairy tea.

 Fairies like to eat berries and things they find in the forest like this over-sized nest.  Apparently they also like to eat espresso cake.

 We invited our little squirrel nutkin to join us and, of course, a couple of miniature fairies too.

 We just added the bottle of wine because the color matched our fall fairy theme beautifully.  I'm sure real fairies drink nectar.

 Aren't these fairies cute?  They were perfect for a fairy tablescape.

 My daughter was a very good sport.  She modeled the fairy costume for us and she even baked us this magnificent cake.  Personally I think she's the prettiest fairy at the party!  I'll share the recipe for this delicious cake at the end.

For this cake, Steph used regular Dunkin Hines cake mix to make the actual cake, then she frosted and filled it with this wonderful Taste of Home recipe for espresso filling.  It's made with Marscarpone cheese.  Yummy!

Espresso Filling

2 T instant espresso powder (instant coffee)
1 1/2 tsp. hot water
1 1/2 cups Marscarpone cheese
1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a small bowl mix espresso powder and water until smooth; cool.

In a large bowl, beat the Marscarpone cheese, confectioner's sugar, cream, vanilla and espresso mixture on medium speed until creamy and slightly thickened (do not over mix).  Spread between cake layers.

Stephanie opted to use it as the frosting as well.  This recipe yields 2 1/4 cups.

Thanks for dropping in.

I'm partying at...


Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy    
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style         Ivy and Elephants
                                           
Thursdays        Embracing Change     The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays        Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays           My 1928 Charmer Sunday's Best

Key Rack

This is one of the small projects I am trying to accomplish each day.  I found the key at the flea market.  It was wood.  My husband painted it white for me and I stenciled the words key and locksmith on it.  Then I reverse mod podged a key hole image I found on Graphics Fairy.  Super easy, super quick.  Voila, it's done.  Click here if you would like to use this image.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm partying at...


Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy    
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style         Ivy and Elephants
                                           
Thursdays        Embracing Change     The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays        Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays           My 1928 Charmer Sunday's Best

Christie Repasy Workshop

This past Saturday I got to do one big thing on my bucket list. Well, I started to do one big thing. I want to learn to paint beautiful roses. I have never had any formal art classes and while I consider myself pretty creative, I know I must learn a little about formal painting techniques to advance any further with my art forms.

I attended a workshop hosted by the renowned rose artist of our day, Christie Repasy. Christie paints the most beautiful roses and I consider myself one lucky duck to live close enough (two and a half hours) to attend her workshops. It was a very long drive, but I met three other ladies who live very close to me that drove down to Fallbrook, California to participate in the event and we all signed up for another class in January.

I love Christie's method of painting. She uses very few paints to create the incredible colors she uses in her art by mixing colors which she taught us about in her class. I would love to say bye-bye to all those little bottles of craft paints.

This is Rosemary deep in thought. She is one of the ladies I met. We all came away with a beautiful finished product thanks to Christie's wonderful instruction.

Here are two of the finished roses with a grayish background.

This is the rose I painted. I confess I needed a lot of help with one of my outer petals, but I learned so much I can't wait to practice some more. It was a lot to learn in one day, but I had so much fun. The day was an unforgettable experience. Christie has students who come from as far as Canada to attend her classes. So if rose painting is on your bucket list too, consider a trip to Southern California to attend one of Christie's workshops. I believe she said she is approximately 30 minutes from San Diego. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Sunday.

 

 

I'm partying at...


Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy    
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style         Ivy and Elephants
                                           
Thursdays        Embracing Change     The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays        Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays           My 1928 Charmer Sunday's Best