Teapots for an Unbirthday



We've kept Aubrey alive for almost an entire year. We always said we wouldn't go overboard for her birthday since she won't remember it but I couldn't help myself. So, that theory went out the window the second we said it. I adore her and as incredible as this year of her life has been, a celebration of epic proportions is necessary.

I really wanted something elegant. I completely ran away with the "Alice in 'One'derland" theme. My first venture was centerpieces. I must have visited at least 10 thrift shops looking for the perfect tea pots and tea cups but I wound up with heinous looking teapots. I can't help but wonder who purchased these new. I mean, everyone needs barn animal teapots, right?

I ended up with a huge assortment. Then off to painting. I really don't know why I do this to myself. Every time I have a painting project I swear I will never paint again. Then as soon as I find something I want but isn't the right color, I pick up the paint brushes and my husband shakes his head.

 

These were quite the task. I wanted everything pastel. So I went to the Martha Stewart paints I love to hate. The colors are incredibly beautiful but they take forever to dry. Forever!!! And each pot needed about 3 to 4 coats. It took...days. After I painted them all and they dried they sat for a few weeks because I was so over this project. Then today I realized her birthday was in 2 weeks and I should probably finish these centerpieces.

 

I hit the Dollar Tree. I knew I wanted to do fresh flowers and then I priced them out. For the amount of flowers I needed it was going to be over $100, fake it is. It ended up costing me $21 worth of faux Dahlias and Daffodils (Aubrey's birth flower). I also picked up a bunch of foam floral blocks.

 

I hot glued the foam blocks into the bottoms of the teacups and pots and went to town sticking my flowers in. Davey helped by cutting the flowers at different lengths.

 

Now, on to the cards. I took regular old playing cards and glued 2 of them back to back and sandwiched them around a floral zip tie and then stuck those into the floral blocks.

The last thing to do was attach some vintage keys I picked up from Michaels for $1 each and I tied those on with some twine that I had hangin' around. And THIS is my final product.

 

 

I don't know how to express how much I love these. So, I'm going to go with 'I freakin' LOVE these.' They are so perfect. They were such a labor of love for me. I absolutely hate painting but I am so glad I did because they came out so beautiful. I'm realizing my style is rustic with a touch of glamour and these are exactly that.

 

Until next time...

 

Bear Hugs,

 

Angie