A bird theme was a natural choice for my mother's 50th birthday celebration. After all, her name
is Robin! Held in the autumnal outdoors at
Daingerfield State Park in East Texas, family and friends gathered for a weekend to honor this wonderful woman.
Gift Table | I created this framed 8x10 collage tribute in
Adobe Photoshop, using scanned photographs from my mom's childhood layered with digital scrapbooking papers and embellishments. Going along with the bird theme, the text in the collage is a passage of selected verses from the Book of Matthew, Chapter 6:
"Look at the birds of the air ... are you not worth much more than they? ... Do not worry then ... for your heavenly father knows you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will take care of itself." The wooden frame is from
Michaels. Paired with a simple glass Mason jar full of wild goldenrod and a sea blue table runner on clearance from
Target, the gift table was complete.
Place Settings & Centerpieces | Guided by a color palette of yellows, blues and browns, a gingham fabric covers the picnic table and large glass jars filled with goldenrod and tied with ribbons serve as centerpieces. Small baskets (bought at
Cost Plus World Market on 90% off Easter clearance) were filled with raffia paper and sprinkled with faux robin's eggs. Casual plates--already on hand--reinforce the color scheme.
Dessert | Adapting a recipe for
Hummingbird Cake from
Country Home Magazine, these cupcakes feature cream cheese icing topped with toasted almonds and coconut for the "nest" and three
M&Ms Premium Chocolate Almond candies that mimic the speckled blue of robin's eggs. The cupcakes were displayed on a
Wilton Cupcakes and More Medium Dessert Stand.
Happy 50th birthday, Momma!
I served these yummy marshmallow swizzle sticks along with homemade hot cocoa at a holiday party last week. The peppermint flavor punches up your average cup of cocoa, not to mention they make for a pretty and festive display! I bought the swizzle sticks in the dollar bin section at Target, but regular skewers would work too if you don't mind losing some of the "bling." :) They also make great Christmas gifts for co-workers and neighbors when packaged with a couple of packets of instant hot cocoa and (not-your-cheesy-holiday-type) white mugs.
