I don’t know about you, but I tend to keep designer boxes and bags and even candle jars that are pretty in hopes to use them for something.  In fear that I become a hoarder {bahaha ok not really} I decided to grab a few and do something oh-so-pretty with them.  So this is what I came up with.  Let me show you how to beautifully repurpose empty candle jars and designer shopping bags.

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The Inspiration Behind The Ideas – Fashion Artwork

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I love all the artwork that inspires the kind of designs that I’m sharing today.

How To Beautifully Repurpose Designer Shopping Bags

You gotta know…
When you’re paying for anything “designer”, you’re not just paying more for the high-quality item. You’re also paying for the label, or their name.  So why not keep the packaging and repurpose it?

I have several Chanel bags in my closet, as well as other designer bags and boxes, so I thought I’d put them to good use.

I wanted to do something fun in my blush pink office with a floral arrangement recently. I brought one of my favorite trays out, this luxurious leopard-print tray, and added two smaller glass cylinder vases with pink roses and baby’s breath and then placed them carefully in this Chanel shopping bag.  I thought it looked very chic on a stack of Megan Hess books (especially the Coco Chanel book and Paris book), with a vintage string of pearls and another designer candle.  Isn’t that so pretty?!  The possibilities are endless!  You can really get creative with your vignettes.

I also had a couple of gifts to deliver and wanted to use some bright pink, so I pulled out my Victoria’s Secret bags and Kate Spade bags.  Tiffany bags would be cute too and Louis Vuitton….so many different ideas!

I dropped off some fresh flowers, sparkling cider and rose lemonade to a friend in this Victoria’s Secret shopping bag and she just loved it.  It was so bright and happy and perfectly pink!

Another fun gift idea was delivering some flowers in this Kate Spade gift bag, or shopping bag.  You can put a small glass vase in there with a small amount of water if you want OR you can just wrap the bottom in plastic wrap and tissue paper to keep the bag from getting wet and tearing.

Helpful Tip: If the flowers are going to be out of water for a while (maybe you’re taking it to a restaurant to give to someone or driving a ways), you could put some water in a ziplock bag and put the stems in there and then rubberband around it, to keep the water from leaking.  I’d also add some tissue paper around it.  But it’s a really good ideas because you don’t want your pretty flowers to die that you’re gifting to your friend.

Do you love this idea but you’ve thrown away all your designer shopping bags and gift bags?  Try looking on eBay or Etsy.  Here are a few I found that are available for sale at the time of publishing this post.   Click on the arrows to scroll right and left.

 

How to Beautifully Repurpose Designer Candles

Diptyque Paris Candles are all the rage these days.  I’ve been a fan for several years now.  I have them in the largest sizes, the regular sizes, and I’ve purchased and received several of the mini gift-set sizes as well.  They’re really nice-smelling candles and they are also great to use after they have been burned.  You can use them as vases, like I did above with this large size.

After burning and using all the candle, you can freeze them for several hours and then pull out the wax and clean it out!

 

This empty “Roses” Diptyque candle jar was especially cute to use at Valentine’s Day in my entry as a vase.

This was another cute vignette I made at Valentine’s with this vase but is perfect for year-round decor.  So cute, right?!

It’s cute alone but I especially love it stacked on a beautiful set of fashion books or also beautiful floral books, like these favorites of mine, Dahlias and Vintage Roses, by my dear friend Georgianna Lane.

In the little corner of my butler’s pantry, I used a mini size candle jar from a Diptyque gift set as a vase and created a cute little vignette.

Another darling idea for the empty Diptyque jars in the mini size is to use it in your office to hold little things.  I am using it to hold my jumbo brass paper clips.  Cute, right?!  You can see more of my glam blush pink office HERE.  I made my own “Press for Diet Coke” faux door bell.

I use the standard size empty Diptyque candle jar on my perfume stand on my vanity to hold a few of my favorite lipsticks that I use constantly (and have duplicates of because I can’t live without them).  I like using the large size (this is a rare Roses one I bought off eBay) to put all my Scentbird scents in.  It’s not only practical and functional but it’s also very stylish and chic!  Oh, and it’s environmentally-friendly too so that’s a bonus!

Other fun uses for empty Diptyque Candle Jars can include holding the following:

Cotton rounds

Q-tips

Rings

Other makeup like lipgloss or lip and eye pencils

Nail polishes

Makeup brushes

Pens & Pencils

Matches

Bobby pins or hair clips

Small toiletries

Washi tape

Hot glue gun sticks

Sewing notions (safety pins, etc)

Office supplies

Do you have any other ideas?  What else could you use your empty candle jars for or what DO you use them for?  I’d love to know!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I would love it if you could subscribe at the top of the page in order to receive my weekly emails of all my latest blog posts and see everything I’m working on!  You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to see what I’m up to in creating a home and lifestyle of inspiration!

xoxo,

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The post How To Beautifully Repurpose Empty Candle Jars & Designer Shopping Bags appeared first on Summer Adams.

Lemons are so lovely, aren’t they?!  On a table, on a print, in a recipe…I just adore them.  I decided to set a lovely little lemon tablescape for my little family of four while it’s still summer.  This can very well take you into the fall and even be used at spring!

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here to read my
full disclosure policy and here for my privacy & cookies policy.  All opinions are my own.

It all started with our usual Saturday trip to the local Farmers Market when I found this gorgeous flower farmer and these bright yellow blooms.  I hand picked a few different stems and asked them to put a bouquet together instead of pink roses or peonies or something I would usual buy.

I also picked up some lemons for my lemon curd parfait recipe and my homemade pink lemonade recipe and set most of them aside.  I sliced up a few for garnish and drinks.  I also pulled out the lemon napkins I bought earlier this spring that I used to serve my luscious lemon curd parfaits but I also wanted to use them for this tablescape.

This was such a simple tablescape to throw together and you can do it too!  You can pull out a white tablecloth if you’d like.  I pulled out these darling ruffle table runners that I already had and placed them across the table as shown.

I used these cute little faux lemons from a lemon stem I bought and also used for my pink lemonade outdoor tablescape for some girlfriends.  I loved getting more use out of them. They can also be put in a small bowl or apothecary jar for decor.

I already had these lovely chargers, gold flatware, goblets.

The lovely flowers and adorable lemons and napkins really stole the show but everything was so simple.  I made some lemonade and sliced the lemons for additional flavor or garnish.

With all of the beautiful sunlight coming in from our windows, it just made such a lovely and cheerful tablescape that took no time at all to put together!

You know I’m a pink girl and always have some pink in my kitchen but this yellow has been such a beautiful way to change things up and has brought such a smile to my face!

I wish you could all sit down at this lovely table and visit with me!  But since you can’t, please know that you can create the same or similar tablescape with almost no effort at all.  Try to use what you have but you can always buy cute accents and charming little lemon napkins to add a touch lemon.

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Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I would love it if you subscribed at the top of the page in order to receive my weekly emails of all my latest blog posts and hear about digital printables & freebies, as well as sales or new items in My Online Shoppe.  You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to see what I’m up to in creating a home and lifestyle of inspiration!

xoxo,

The post Lovely Little Lemon Tablescape appeared first on Summer Adams.

I love fresh flowers!  They can be the focal point of a table, a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, a foyer, even a hotel lobby.  A group of fabulous home decor bloggers and I are getting together today to share all the different ways you can create and display a floral arrangement in your home or any space.  I’m not sharing just any floral arrangement today.  I’m sharing how to create a fruit and floral arrangement with limes and white flowers.

Welcome to those of you from my talented friend Oscar Bravo’s blog and may be here for the first time!  And thanks to all my regular readers….I adore you all!  If you’ve been on this blog hop, I’m sure you’ve seen all the gorgeous arrangements so far.  My friends are ridiculously talented, if you couldn’t already tell.  Now, if you’ve been following me regularly, you’ve probably noticed my love for green as I style my home this Spring.

In THIS post, I shared how I used green apples, limes and white floral to grace my kitchen countertops.  I liked it so much that I decided to keep my Easter table this Sunday going with the same theme.  Fresh green produce, white floral, and lots of crisp white.  I immediately had an idea….here’s what I did.

I’d seen on Pinterest how you could take a vase and stack it in a larger vase, filling the space between with citrus slices and water and then adding the flowers.  So I did this on a larger scale by taking my glass and gold hurricane and putting a bowl upside down in order to put my glass vase on top of it.  It needed height.  I sliced the limes thick enough to get about 4 slices out of each lime and disposing of the ends.  Start lining them around the bottom.

I dropped the vase inside to create a space for the limes.

I removed the flowers so that I could see better.  Dropping slices down the in-between vases like a game of Plunko, I used a spatula to move any slices where I needed to.

As you get to the top, you can use a fork or tongs as well to move slices around.  I added 3 huge hydrangeas to the inner vase so that they were just covering the very top of the hurricane, vase and lime slices.

Then I added just 2 bunches of white hyacinths in the middle so that they stood taller above the hydrangeas.

Since my hurricane top is removable, I didn’t add the water to the limes but if you’re using a vessel that won’t leak, make sure to do that before you add the flowers.

Isn’t that such a fun and vibrant arrangement?!

And to make it even more refreshing…..fruit!

And don’t forget your veggies!

With these lovely magnolia napkin rings, this would be the perfect Spring table.  But….

….this cost of levitra at costco is my family’s Easter table.  So I added a few Easter touches.

I used these adorable Bunny place card holders that I shared last week in my Kids Easter Table.

I added some gold foil bunny straws, also from the Target Dollar Spot.  It adds some fun to this elegant table and I think my kids are going to love it.  The rest of us at the table are going to be “boring adults” so I think the bunny straws are a nice touch, ha!

And of course, I had to add a bit of sparkle and glitter!  This glitter Happy Easter garland from Pottery Barn (purchased a few years ago) was another fun addition.  I wish they still carried it but they have a couple of other fun ones.

I’m so glad you could join me today!  Do you have any fun floral ideas pinned yet from our blog hop?  Make sure to save them for later. Here are some shopping links for your convenience below.

I would love it if you subscribed at the top of the page in order to receive my weekly emails of all my latest posts and to receive my monthly calendars and freebies.  You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to see what I’m up to in creating a home and lifestyle of inspiration!

Now, please continue on to see what my friend Amy at Crazy Chic Design has in store for you!  And don’t forget to stop by each of my fabulous friends joining me today to see what they share!

Happy Happy Nester |  Citrine Living | Crazy Chic Design | Styled With Lace | Inspired By Charm
Maison de Cinq | Meme Hill | 2 Ladies and a Chair | Lindsay-Hill Interiors | Dwellings by Devore |
Oscar Bravo Home | 

xoxo,

The post How To Create A Fruit And Floral Arrangement appeared first on Summer Adams.

Next week, many of you have children going back to school, if they haven’t already.  There are a few very important things we do to prepare for this event.  Clothes shopping is so fun this year because we moved back to Texas and there are NO MORE UNIFORMS!  Woohoo!!  Besides the back-to-school shopping, there are a few other things that I’ve had on my “list” that I’ve had to tackle and plan for.

First, if you have a daughter around the age of 10 like mine, you know how big of a deal a cute lunch bag (they were called lunch boxes back in my day) is to her.  I don’t know why, but out of all years that it’s most important, we have had the HARDEST time trying to find something she loves.  I feel like all I’m seeing are “Elsa”, unicorn, or character lunch bags.  That doesn’t work for her, or for me!  Our usual big stores have left us totally disappointed this year.  After a couple weeks of looking and complaining and finding nothing, a couple of friends were on Facebook sharing their same dilemma.  One had a solution for us and I’m soooo glad she did!  She asked if we had heard of Pursebox.  Nope, we had not.  We visited PurseboxShop on Instagram and on their website and WOW!  How adorable!!

This was the one!  We’d found a lunch box that looked like a purse.  Pursebox!  Brooklyn and I were both squealing with excitement!  Although pink is her favorite color, Brooklyn also loves aqua so she picked that one.  I love the pink, aqua and blue colors that it comes in.  Isn’t it just the cutest?! You can take your lunch back to school in style or take it to a friend’s house for a play date. Thank you, PurseboxShop!!  You’ve solved all our “tween” problems….for now, ha!

This year I kept it “simple”.  Simple to me, at least.  No balloons, no streamers or banners…just the food, a nice place setting and lovely floral arrangements.  We had one of our favorite drinks, Strawberry-Kiwi no-calorie drink, rolls, a large fruit platter (forgot to take a pic…eek!) and a fabulous chicken pasta salad (see below).  A friend reminded me that I had not pulled out my Kate Spade Flamingo Placemats all summer! {GASP!}  And every girl knows, Kate Spade is not meant to be kept in a drawer so I pulled these babies out and decided they were just the way to start planning my tablescape.

I knew immediately that I wanted a lovely pineapple/floral centerpiece. There were no large pineapples at the grocery store, so I grabbed 4 mini pineapples for around $1 on sale and used them for my “end of summer/back-to-school floral arrangement”.  I cut off the top, carved out the middle with a knife and spoon (takes just 2 minutes each pineapple, so it’s quick) and added a short, small glass cup.  Then I grabbed some pink roses that matched the pink flamingo placemats, white hydrangeas, and some green filler for the middle.  Easy peasy and very inexpensive.  I placed each one at the head of each place setting.

Being the end of summer, it is still HOT here in Texas and I wanted something light but filling. My friend shared this fabulous Chicken Teriyaki Pasta Spinach Salad years ago and I’ve loved it ever since.  You serve it cold but it is soooo tasty and hearty and everyone loves it.  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 lb raw baby spinach
1 lb. farfalle (bowtie) noodles
2-3 chicken breasts (or 2 cups rotisserie chicken)
2 cups honey-roasted peanuts
1 cup dried cranberries
1 small can water chestnuts, sliced and chopped
1 large can mandarin oranges (14 oz)
1/2  chopped sweet onion
3 TBSP finely chopped fresh parsley

Dressing:
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup vinegar (either rice, white or apple cider vinegar works)
3 TBSP brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Instructions:
Prepare dressing by combining all of the ingredients well.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain water and add noodles to a large bowl. Toss the cooked noodles in about half of the teriyaki sauce and refrigerate until cooled.
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and grill until cooked through. Shred chicken or cut into small pieces.
Combine the spinach, cooked chicken, peanuts, dried cranberries, sliced water chestnuts, mandarin oranges, parsley, and chopped onion in a large salad bowl. Add the pasta to the bowl and toss to combine. Add additional dressing, if desired.

For dessert, I wanted to keep it light still.  I grabbed a sour cream angel food cake from my local grocer bakery.  At home, I make homemade whipped cream and diced strawberries and folded them in.  Then I smothered the cake with it AND even added another dollop of leftover strawberry whipped cream after slicing and serving each piece.  The perfect summer treat!  We enjoyed all the strawberries we picked the other day.

And you know what?  They absolutely LOVED it!  Just taking a minute to display something in a special way can make all the difference in the world.

What are you doing for the 1st day of school or what traditions do you and your family have?  Leave me a message and let me know.  I’m curious as to what others do and love to be inspired by your ideas!  Good luck, mamas!  And good luck to your kiddos, too!

xoxo, Summer

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