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How to look Chic in that Ugly Christmas Sweater

How to look Chic in That Ugly Sweater!

Cheers! To a fun Party

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

How to look Chic in that Ugly Christmas sweater……

I don’t know about you but I never really wanted to look UGLY or dorky! (I always wanted to be something pretty or cute for Halloween!) Really …..Wait for it… I really never loved Halloween! I love getting dressed up Pretty for a party, dance or Black tie event….But costumes No!

The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party has become more and more popular and like “Halloween” for Christmas! At least at my Girlfriend Kjirstin’s Annual Sweater party! Don’t get me wrong it’s a hoot of a party! we’ve had the Griswolds, Whoville’s and some crazy ugly sweaters! It’s a great night and really fun to see what people come up with! As for me…. I’ll take the Chic route:)

Easy way to “CHIC” up that Christmas sweater…is A ..pick a cute one, Wink! Snowman sweater was Nordstrom last year… A cute choice here B wear you festive pants= red jeans or like shown above Silver Kut from the Kloth jeans or Black Leather pants! C wearing a fun pump or a stylish bootie D Statement earring!

I hope you liked my tips on How to look Chic for a Ugly Christmas Sweater party, OX D’Arcy

I would love to help you with any Styling questions… Just leave a comment!

Bar Cart Friday! Fun way to Entertain…

Happy Friday Beautiful’s!

Just a quick little post for Friday Bar cart Beautiful!

Today I wanted to share with you a fun little date night or even Boy’s Game night idea for your bar cart! Super easy & quick to throw together idea for a fun Night. Just a couple Items to throw this look together! If you’ve been following me you know I love to entertain and have been a collector of thing’s I think will make for good serving pieces or fun props that you can use over & over! Here’s some tips on what to look for to make your carts come together with easy….

I love the Word BAR I picked up at Homegoods and use a ton! Look for words you would use like EAT & Yum if you don’t drink! (Bar can be used for…. Candy BAR, Coco BAR, Cup cake BAR) You get the Idea! I love trays and consider this Coke Cola crate a tray (found mine on etsy) Collect fun Cups that can be used for multiple occasions. These lidded Mason jar glasses work great for picnic’s, Ice Tea, lemonade and perfect for game or movie night! I save cute bottle or cool soda cans and use as props. Glass jars are great to serve food and treats out of! Use things around your house…Like games, silk flowers, real plants, candles, books for risers Etc.

Collecting serving pieces & glass ware that can serve multiple occasions is smart… Don’t get to caught up in a theme you might not be able to get multiple looks out of it! Think Glass, White, solid colors or a pattern if you can use it for multiple seasons or holiday’s! ( I collect black and white stripes and polka dots) Which can be used for many occasions!

See my other Bar Cart idea’s Here…… BBQ, Tropical, Cinco de Mayo, Vacation ready, Girl’s Movie night, Summer weekend

Hoping you are enjoying My Bar cart Beautiful Series!

Have a great weekend Beautiful’s! Ox, D’Arcy

Friday’s Bar cart Beautiful= Summer Weekend

Hello Beautiful’s!

It’s time for Friday Bar cart styling = Hot summer night’s Nautical theme & Watermelon Moscow mules….

I hope your having a wonderful Summer! It’s been a really HOT summer in Utah! All anyone wants to do is float in the water or do something indoors! So I hope your staying cool!

We live in a lake town in Utah and I am a California girl at heart! So the nautical themed bar cart for Summer just feels perfect! This would be cute by your pool or a cute Summer Birthday party theme.

I don’t know if you remember a couple months back, when I decorated the Junior Leagues annual Gala? It was ” A night at the Cape”…. Which had me collecting a ton of nautical decor! (I had to do something with it!) Another inspiration for our Summer Bar cart! I hope this inspires you to have fun with your Bar cart and decorate it for the seasons!

My Favorite Drink these day’s is my Watermelon Moscow Mule cocktail creation! Yum! You can make a Mocktail by leaving out the vodka..

A copper cup ( I think it’s a must)

Ginger beer (our fav is Fever Tree) 1 bottle makes 2 drinks

club soda

vodka (leave out if making Mocktail)

lime

mint for garnish

3 slices of watermelon

ice

Fill your copper mug with Ice, pour 2 shots of vodka in mug, squeeze in the lime add to side for garnish, use 1/2 of the ginger beer in each mug….set aside!

cut up 1 water melon slice into 2 for garnish and other 2 watermelon slice’s put in plastic bag and smash into juice…

add juice to both mugs you set aside & stir top off with club soda and finish garnishing with watermelon slice a sprig of mint! YUM…If you try it leave me a comment and tell me how you liked it!

Hope your enjoying your Summer loves! OX, D’Arcy

Friday=Bar cart Beautiful

Hello Beautiful’s It’s Friday Yippee! If you’ve been reading my Blog for awhile, you know I love to entertain and any reason to throw a party! With that said I started Doing Friday’s post on Bar cart Beautiful. (I have been slaking lately on my blog! Sorry!) I have been posting a pic or two on instagram and I promise I am going to be more consistent here! Bar Carts don’t just have to be for cocktails or BAR drinks! They can be used for any type of serving and make a great statement piece for a party theme! ( I have even posted using 1 of mine for for a vanity or a fun desert cart!) Really the possibilities are endless! This is why I own over 3 carts….(Making a teethe gritting look!!)

Bar car beautiful this week was inspired by the First day of Summer! Yippee!! Summer Flamingos, Palms & pineapples, YES PLEASE! Styling a perfect bar cart is about balance but really it’s about picking a theme! Once you have picked a theme you keep it balanced by working in ODD numbers! Yes… Odd numbers not even! This is a interior design trick. Never work in even numbers, people think that’s the balance but truly it isn’t! Note: Top shelve has 11 items including palm mats and bottom has 5 items (pink flamingo stirs count as 1) So when your shopping or going through your house to collect items keep that in the back of your Mind!

I also let a cocktail be my inspiration! Say…Champagne float=Girl’s Night or bridal shower. Bubbly Coconut Rum=Vacation cart, Whisky and soda= Game night You get the picture….

Check out some my Past Bar Cart Beautiful’s Cinco de Mayo , Vacation Ready, Girl’s Movie Night, Memorial Day BBQ

Enjoy your weekend beautiful’s! Ox, D’Arcy

Detail’s= Cart= Vintage KSL, palm leaves, sign,flamingos, umbrellas, napkins, glass tassel’s and stir sticks= Target $1-$3 bin, Gold pineapple= Home Goods, Cocktail glasses with Pink base= Zgallery ( years ago) glass decanter= gift, Beads=etsy, pink candle=chic style utah by voulspa, glass bowl with gold stripes= Vintage etsy, small gold pineapple (candle)= Target, flowers= homegoods

Friday Bar cart Beautiful= Memorial Day BBQ

What’s better then Friday? A 3 day weekend! Kicking off Memorial weekend with this Friday’s Bar cart beautiful=BBQ ready! A fun way to use and style a bar cart! Use it for serving…We have a great menu ready and looking forward to having friends over to celebrate this fun Holiday! Memorial Day is the perfect way to kick off BBQ season!

I let the Menu be the STAR of this Bar cart styling….The tried and true favorites of BBQ season! Pull out your patriotic decor, your favorite foods and serve it up fun!

Hope you have a wonderful and safe Holiday weekend! OX, D’Arcy

Details= Menu board= Potterybarn, Vintage Coke create= Etsy, Barn wood flag= My Hubby made for me, Glass mason jars with lids= online years ago, Striped jar= Secret Haven boutique, Red bowl= Create Barrel, red, white & blue garland = Ti Pan

Friday=Bar cart Beautiful, Girl’s Movie Night

It’s Friday Beautiful’s and you know what that means….Bar cart Beautiful! This weeks styling was inspired by Girl’s Movie Night!

So gather up your girl friends and have a fun movie night at home.

Here I played up the color of my popcorn boxes and snack tin! Red just screams Movies and popcorn to me! I let good old Coke be the lead for a cocktail (Rum and coke) but for my non drinkers just serve a old fashion glass bottle of Coke Cola! Nothings better with popcorn then a yummy COKE!

Grab a bunch of Chic flick’s and some candy and call the girl’s! This Friday is gonna be fun!

Details; Ribbon garland I made, Roll of heart tickets I had in my craft supplies (scrapbooking day’s) popcorn boxes= Target’s $1 bin a long time ago, popcorn bowl=Rock loft, Snack Tin= General store a cute little boutique that went out of business years ago, Movie picture=Hobby lobby, glass Mason jars with lid & straw= Online years ago before they were cool:)

Cinco de Mayo= Friday Bar cart

Cinco de Mayo bar cart styling!

I don’t know about you but this California girl loves Mexican food! By now you know I love styling my bar cart for parties and social hours! So having Cinco de Mayo on a Friday was pretty exciting to me! (I know doesn’t take a lot to get me excited for a party!)

I drew my Inspiration from this photo above while on a photo shoot a couple weeks ago! I loved the bright colors of the paper flags and knew I had to mimic for my Friday Cinco de Mayo bar cart! Bright colors Margaritas and chips & salsa….Well and Maybe a shot of tequila! Is whats on our cart for tonight! We’ll be serving nachos and a taco bar as well and I am so hungry I can’t wait!

Have you tried Skinny Girl mixers? Yummy, pour or Ice add a shot and a twist of lime! Super easy and great on the calories! YAY!

If you have any questions on the above items or on How to style your Bar Cart comment below and I’ll be happy to help! Otherwise Look for next weeks Mother’s Day cart….

Have a wonderful weekend! Ox, D’Arcy

Bar Cart Friday….Vaction Ready & A Sparkly Coconut Lime Cocoktail

Happy Friday Beautiful’s! A great time to share with you My Bar Cart = “Vacation Ready” and one of my Favorite Cocktail’s, Sparkly Coconut lime cocktail! A Super easy Cocktail recipe perfect for Summer entertaining!

I love a fun Bar cart Styling, Just the perfect little space to “play” with pretty things! Here I did a Summer theme, Pineapples, sunhat and sunglasses make this festive for a warm sunny day! Perfect to enjoy a cocktail….. Here’s one of my creations you’ll enjoy on any Sunny day!

Sparkly Coconut lime

You’ll need :

1 glass, Ice, Bai bubbles in coconut lime, coconut water or Pellegrino, Malibu Rum or Vodka, 1 lime:

Fill glass with Ice, 1 shot of Vodka or Rum, Equal parts 1/2 Bai ,1/2 Coconut water or Pellegrino twist of lime and stir garnish with lime

With this basic drink you can get creative and add Watermelon, or any Berry fruit and it taste delish! Enjoy Your Friday! OX, D’Arcy

Freshen up for Spring Bedroom redo

Hello Beautiful’s! Today I am sharing with you my Master bedroom Spring make over. One of my favorite thing’s is to change my bedding and little touches in my room for the seasons in an affordable way. By having good furniture and a Color pallet that allows you to change accessories and make little changes for BIG impact!

You can see what it looked like before for Winter here . With some of these easy to do tricks you can switch your room up too.

For Spring I like to lighten it up…In all way’s, bedding, curtains and color. My Tip for being able to change the whole look of a room with just switching out accessories is to use a wall paint you love and can work with ALL the seasons. Our walls are Revere pewter by Benjamin Moore its a great go to Gray! (Gray’s work well with every color!) If gray’s aren’t your thing, shades of Cream and greens are great for bedrooms as well as working with all the seasons.

I love our White bedding from Anthropologie I bought a couple years ago, A similar bedding here . White I know is brave ( specially with a black cat that likes to sleep at the foot of our bed.) Switching out your bedding seasonally helps to keep it in good condition and easier on the wear and tear. Tips for keeping white’s white Here from a post I did last week. I have 3 bedding sets in different seasonal weights and colors that ALL work together. Whites, gray’s and blacks, which All of these colors can be accented with any POP of color. ( You could have 2 sets 1 for Fall/Winter- Spring/Summer) Living where we have 4 seasons it’s important to have 1 heavy set & 1 lighter set.

I added a pop of pale pink with a couple of throw pillows a blanket and some candles. Bringing in pink books at the end of the bed also helps tie in the pop of pink without having to go buy another item. I always and I mean always have fresh flowers on my nightstand. It’s my splurge that puts a smile on my face. Waking up to flowers being one of the first things you see in the morning is just a blessing. How could you have a bad day? I will keep various shades of pink for the Spring season. (note Little Miss jumped up onto the Nightstand/desk just as I snap photo’s!) NOTE the small amount of pink… I could easily change out the pink items for a different color say Tiffany Blue items for a different look and not having to spend a ton of money. (2 pillows 1 blanket a couple candles and go through my books)

Changed out the Winter wreath and deer head for a Frame and our monogram. I keep seasonal items that I can trade out for a fresh look. I also move things around in our home to freshen things up and give spaces a new look. TIP: I suggest buying Items you love and things that can go in multiple spaces. This way you can move objects from room to room. (You’ll always find a space for something you love!) So give it a try…Move stuff around!

Taking the curtains down and just letting the plantation shutters shine. Spring Sunshine is just the BEST!

Sorry, I didn’t really make any changes to our sitting room or dresser areas so I didn’t add new photo’s of those spaces.

I hope I inspired you to do a little change up in your bedroom for Spring. OX, D’Arcy

Junior League Gala….(Decorator Chair)

My outfit and accessories

A couple of pictures of mt hubby and I…

Junior league Member’s that could attend…We have 80 member’s

The center pieces for 30 Tables

The entry into the venue ….Is in the details, You should have seen the face of the venue manager as I was pouring sand! (I promise we cleaned it All up!) The glow of the lanterns walking up and the detail of sand just set the tone.

A little facebook message from our President, after the Gala! I was excited she loved how it turned out!

Another Junior League Gala in the Books…If you just starting reading or following me, I have been in the Junior League of Ogden for 3 years and the last 2 I have been Decorating Chair for the Gala. The Gala is our biggest fundraiser of the year needless to say it a big event! If you haven’t heard of the Junior League, in a quick response… it’s a wonderful organization across the country that helps empower woman through charitable work in your community. I love being part of such a wonderful organization that really GIVE’s back while building friendships. This year’s theme was LOBSTER UP… (there is a whole story behind it) The President each year picks a theme, which is normally something they feel strong about and sets the tone for the year! This theme set the tone HUGE for this years Gala (a Night in white at the Cape) A Fancy way to have a Nautical Themed GALA!

A big challenge in many way’s… You don’t want it to be decorated to casual (it’s a Gala) The budget is close to 0 and it’s a party for 300. Beach party wasn’t the goal it’s not a Luau or birthday party. So my goal was to feel like a dinner party at a house on the cape, on a summer night. Knowing we asked guest to wear white ( we knew we would get casual white to fancy white attire) I didn’t want it to feel like a casual Beach party. SO sticking with white linens Layered with Natural colored Burlap and fish net. Then accents of gold, natural’s and blue & green sea glass. Helped give it the feel of the Sea without the Bright primary’s of Beach balls. Another challenge was we don’t live near the beach so finding objects to barrow was basically another 0… SO I did a lot of DIY projects! The center pieces were bottles & jars I have been collected for years (knowing I would need one day!) 93 bottles total, 30 of which were wine bottles a fellow member had saved. I will share my DIY project with you at another time… I think they turned out Darling for 30 centerpieces on a major budget!

I have told you guy’s I love to collect item’s ( I am not a hoarder..HAHA) I love to entertain so I have a pretty big collection of items for party’s…. I really didn’t own much for this type of party…But I did have Longaberger Basket’s, Vintage Ice chest, Vintage Ironing board, Adirondack chair’s , Vintage coke crate and bottle’s, succulents, white flower pots, A big Boat book shelf and some outdoor lanterns, fire pit, 2 wooden pallets, Burlap and Burlap table clothes. 30 table frames (TIP: look to see what you could use to help with the theme even if it doesn’t scream the theme!) This really helped fill in a lot of area’s at the venue. Then I only had to purchase some key Item’s to really help tie it ALL together. SEE it does help to collect!

Items I did purchase: At Homegood, TjMax, Michael’s, Amazon, Lowe’s….

Fishnet, shells, sea glass, pebbles, white flowers, anchor, nautical flags, nautical flag banners (4), rope… lots of rope, 2 posters & frames, rope knots, fishing bobs, Lobster pillow and beach towel, 30 big battery Candles and 50 votive candles, Ribbon, Strands of lights, Taffy for Party favors!

Donated or loaned: White linens from Model linens & Large tropical plants J&J nursery …..

Above I showed groupings that I placed through out the Venue to have a pop of THE CAPE everywhere you looked. Have any questions or need tips on planning a party with what you have on hand? Leave a comment I will be happy to help

My love of entertaining and decorating is how I can give my time and give back. This is how I use my talents to help others. Being able to Do something I love helps this charity raise money to give back to the community. We ALL have a talent or a gift that we can use to GIVE BACK…I Hope I inspired you to use your talent’s & time in a way that can help others. OX, D’Arcy

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