This Year's Festival of Trees Contribution

Once again the Sweetwater Daughter and I were privileged to participate in the Auburn Homes Festival of Trees.

Our mission was to create a specific look using a white flocked tree.  

Our color scheme needed to be red, black and green.  

The theme was " I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas".....but I would add "Oh what fun it it....!"

How to get this look:

The oversized ornaments came from (would you believe) Costco and Menards. They didn't cost much so we could use a lot.  Some of the ornaments got a coat of black spray paint.  (Finding oversized BLACK ornaments just wasn't possible.)
The plaid ribbon is woven deeply into the branches...it came from Tuesday Morning.
The "Christmas Crackers" were constructed from a piece of pool noodle and some black and white wrapping paper.  The red bows added a bit of color.
The glittery red and green sprays were probably the most expensive thing.  We found them at a wholesale place, but you could do glitter free branches for next to nothing.
The top hat tree topper was a real find at Pier One.
Faux packages wrapped in our color wave took the place of a traditional tree skirt.

SO FUN!

It has been so much fun to create these trees over the past few years.
One of my favorite parts of being a blogger is being able to go back a look at projects from past years.

2013
The Mitten was the theme....
Big Woolen mittens and plaid ribbon....
Slices of wood with the book characters modge podged on them. 

2014

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Full sized records....
Black and White checked ribbon....
Cardboard Jukeboxes and Classic Cars....
A Poodle Skirt tree skirt.....

2015
And All That Jazz!

Gold and Glitz...
Big Instrument ornaments....
Jazzy Black Top hats....
Piano Key Fleece tree skirt....

2016
A Walk in the Woods

Lots of Gnomes....
Woodland Creature Ornaments....
Big Sugar Pine cones....
Resin Antlers....
Rustic floral accents....

























Wow...looking back makes me anxious to get started decorating at home...
BUT...
NOT until after Thanksgiving!  MY RULE!

Have a Wonderful Day!

April Enchantment

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. ― Benjamin Franklin

You may (or may not) have noticed the absence of new posts on this blog.
Here is my list of good excuses!
We have been traveling....20 days in Mexico...poor us!
I have been busy catching up for all the missed time with the Sweetwater Grandboy!
I just didn't feel like writing!!!!

In keeping with "MY ONE WORD" challenge it is time to share the things I have found enchanting in the past few weeks.

Children First....Isn't It Enchanting?

It wasn't hard to choose what I am enchanted by this month.
I had the pleasure of attending an "enchanting" event this past week that was the epitome of finding enchantment in a disenchanted world.

Children First is an amazing community initiative.

• It is a philosophy rather than a program.
• It focuses on positive character-building traits.
• It targets all St. Louis Park youth, birth through 18 years old.
• It calls everyone to support our young people.
• It is a partnership among the business, city, faith, health and education communities bringing the community together to support youth—intentionally making connections and building assets.

I am proud to be a trained asset champion in the Children First program.  Learning how to foster assets in our young people has been very rewarding.




Now....on to the 25th Anniversary Champions Breakfast celebration that was so enchanting.
Imagine a room filled with a virtual community wide "who's who"....all in attendance to support kids!






Take a moment now to watch this video clip that tells the story of Children First!





Now...you have to agree that this is truly "enchanting"....as were the other speeches and stories that were shared.  The result was some pretty amazing contributions to the cause.

Sweetwater Floral was proud to provide the decor for the event.  Check out these photos....

Here is your homework for the day....Check out the 40 Developmental Assets that are proven to help kids....then think of a some ways that you are already providing these....even better....do something to develop more assets.

It truly does "take a village"...or in the case of SLP...a community!
Hats off to all involved.

Have A Wonderful Day!

Finding Enchantment First Installment

The first month of 2017 has passed.

Regardless of your political views, there is plenty of disenchantment surrounding us.

I challenged myself to find enchantment in a disenchanted world this year.

I discovered that it wasn't so hard to do this.
I discovered it is just taking the time to look for those enchanting moments and things and RECOGNIZE them.

Here are a few things that enchanted me in February! 

Spending days with our Sweetwater Grandboy has to top the list! 

This Grandma is constantly enchanted by watching him grow and change.

When I figured out that when he walks in the door and says "BOK", what he really means is "I'm BACK".  Truly enchanting!