and fun! Bring on the barbeques, pinics, and sit down soirees. A little red, white and blue can go a long way this holiday. Loving the below window-scape of blue bottles, red poppies and flag, crafty letters spelling out one’s pride, my fav red summertime beverage - watermelon lemonade with a few added patriotic accents, and a berry pie. Pick up a country theme replacing the table setting stripes for bandana squares and using the bandana food flags, which could also be made out of actual bandana fabric cut into small triangles. It’s time to celebrate…happy 4th everyone!

1. poppies in blue vases, Better Homes & Gardens, 2. USA letters, Better Homes & Gardens, 3. drink parasoles how-to, marthastewart.com, 4. flag cake stand, marthastewart.com,  5. celebratory setting, marthastewart.com, 6. food flags how-to, marthastewart.com, 7. pie photo by Susan Sugarman, artistrepinc.com

Watermelon Lemonade, recipe adapted from marthastewart.com

Ingredients:

• 2 lemons, quartered
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 medium seedless watermelon (about 9 pounds), rind removed, flesh cut into chunks
• 1 cup vodka (optional)

Directions:
Squeeze lemons into a large pitcher; add squeezed lemon quarters. Add sugar; mash with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved. In a blender, puree watermelon in batches until smooth; pour through a fine-mesh sieve into pitcher (you should have about 8 cups of juice). Stir to combine. (Refrigerate, covered, up to 3 days.) Add vodka, if using; serve over ice.

Like this… see more July 4th fun here

Rain or shine let your table setting this Easter speak of Spring. Take tips from the experts using found objects like bird cages, pitchers, vases, empty egg cartons, and nests of shredded paper and fill them with flowers, eggs, luminaries, and sweet treats. Let Martha show you how to rabbit a napkin, use lemon wedges to add a special touch to your stemware, mismatch your plates for added variety and use eggs (real or fake, colored or plain) and stick the names of your guests to them.  Even better, if you have children at Easter, they can enjoy racing their spooned egg for a small price. Well go on, hop to it!

1, 2, 7, & 8.  elizabethannedesigns.com, 1, 3, & 6. Speckled Eggs, Cream quail eggs - set of 8 & Blue robin eggs - set of 12, $14, Potterybarn.com, 4. Bunny fold Napkin, instructions on marthastewart.com, 5. This is Glamorous.

Because love shouldn’t be showcased only one day out of the year… throw a dinner party and hand calligraph the menu with care, send love notes as invitations or for any old reason and stamp your way to someone’s heart, his and her scents bring harmony and peace of mind, catch the love bug and indulge, splurge on under garments fit for a queen and capture the feel good moments of wearing them on film, make a memorable monogram, and lastly, smell the roses everywhere you go.

1. hand calligraphed menu, cwarrendesign.com, 2. handmade valentine stamps, set of 6 $3, PS It’s in the Details 3. His and Her candles, $28 each, illume, 4. Love stamps spotted on love jenna 5. Personal photo shoot, haute boudoir photography spotted on snippet & ink, 6. Chocolate stitch hand sewn notes, set 0f 6 $18, Sugarcube Press, 7. Love bug Truffles, 4.86 oz. for $25, Moonstruck Chocolatier, spotted on realsimple.com, 8. My Pink Rose Ring, $10, shopruche.com 9. Phillip Lim lingerie, $75 each, net-a-porter.com 10. photo, spotted on The Posh Blog

Send out some sass this Valentine’s Day…

1. & 4. Single Awareness Day & Kiss Me Already You Know You Want to, $2.50 each, nouveau designs etsy.com 2. Will You be My Valentine, FYI I’m Easy, $4.50, Old Tom Foolery, 3. sad girl with balloons by Red cap & ‘valentine’s should be cancelled pop quiz by Regional, available at Urbanic Paper Boutique spotted via Parcel Post 5. Love bites, created by Amanda Larsen Design, custom printed 15 for $45, minted.com

send your special someone some love…

1. & 2. You Rock, $6 & I Love You Best, $4.50, EggPress.com, 3. Smokin Hot, $4.25, Chewing the Cud, etsy.com, 4. For My Love 2, $3.50, wileyvalentine.com, 5. I Love You, $3, Pistachio Press, available on etsy.com, 6. Owl Love You Forever, $6, nightowlpapergoods.com

Daily Candy dropped into my inbox this morning these beautifully illustrated hat templates designed by NYC illustrator Nicole Killian. Now you really have no excuse to not don one on your noggin this evening.

Download here, here, and here.

Oh Martha! Aren’t you clever!?! Ring in the New Year with a few easy to make decorations and party favors. Hats are a must-have for any great New Year’s party. Make hats ahead of time or lay out sheets of paper (patterned, construction, wrapping, etc) markers and tape and let your guests go to town. Grab all the clocks you have to make a fun mantel or table centerpiece. Counting glasses can be constructed using simple champagne flutes and buying adhesive numbers at any office or stationery store. Make a table runner or fill a tray with leftover metallic wrapping paper. Purchase a 2010 rubber stamp or tape together the numbers if you already have stamps and let your imagination run wild! Stamp balloons, napkins, coasters, placemats, runners, toilet paper (make sure ink doesn’t come off when wet!) I think you get the idea. Lastly, keep the celebration going on New Year’s Day surprise guests or family with 2010 pancakes. All you need is confectionary sugar and cookie cutter numbers or homemade stencils. Let the countdown begin!

marthastewart.com (search New Year’s Eve for even more great ideas)

Backdrop: Ring-a-Ding roll of wrap, 2 sheets 19″ x 27″ $5.75, hellolucky.com

Need to dress up your table, holly napkin holders made of felt and a jingle bell can be just the right festive touch to add to each place setting. Or use larger bells with ribbon tied to the napkins and let your guests take them home as favors. Centerpiece or mantel decorations can be easily constructed using ornaments, greens and a little glitz purchased from a local craft store. Add illumination using recycled wine bottles topped with tapers or fill large clear pillars or vases with cranberries (buy frozen inexpensively) and top them with votives. Stockings not fitting the presents they hold, personalize a canvas tote with iron on letters and hang it instead.

1. marthastewart.com, 2. & 3. realsimple.com, 4. betterhomesandgardens.com, 5. this is glamorous, 6. createmyevent.com

Like most people I still have all my wrapping to do. Oh the joys of the holidays! Most of the time I wrap in recycled kraft paper so when I saw these huge rolls on Whisker Graphics I thought what a great idea!  Buying in bulk - ingenious. What is so great about kraft paper is that you can dress it up in soo many ways, ribbon, illustrations, natural elements like this pine cone, sprig and twine from HGTV - so simple and yet stunning. Also, I love these ideas by Real Simple. Plain boxes closed with colored masking tape in place of ribbon. This would be especially helpful for those that have to ship presents like myself, I learned early on that the packages don’t always look as pretty after being tossed around in the mail. Creative tags like these paint chips, how cute!  Anyone that loves the Pantone series or home decorating would be touched by your cleverness (Real Simple won’t tattle). Also, these wood tags with adhesive letters could be used for your family year after year, what a great way to lessen waste. Lastly, run out of gift wrap, wrap with what you have, newspapers, old maps, magazines. Sometimes these options can actually suit a gift better than store bought paper. Blast holiday music, make some eggnog and have fun, any way you wrap it!

1.-4. reasimple.com, 5. hgtv.com, 6. whiskergraphics.com Great resource for plain boxes in bulk Uline.com