I'm continuing to work on the decorations for the dinner party in June but I've run into another little challenge with my decorating plans. To add some atmosphere to the dining room I am planning to add a backdrop of organza fabric to my windows which are covered by very stylish shutters. I like the clean lines of the shutters for everyday but for the party I want something with more colour. So the plan is to wrap lights around the slats of the shutters and then drape the fabric over the top of the shutters so that it is dotted with little bud lights. It should look very pretty. So here's the fabric I've chosen - a curtain (Sarita) from Ikea - a bargain at just $15/pair (in the US, just $7/pair). I adore this colour and of course it works perfectly with the theme.... but unfortunately, that's not the colour that they actually are. Here's what they look like in daylight. And at night, they look more like this (without the daylight streaming through, of course!). ......

At the end of May I'll be hosting lots of my family when they all come to celebrate with me. It has been just the push I needed to get some spring cleaning done and also to tackle some repair jobs. Of course, it is actually autumn in the southern hemisphere so technically it's autumn cleaning, but you get what I mean. We've been working on making the spare rooms more guest friendly and adding a few touches to make them feel more welcoming. When three of my children left home last year (ugh, empty nest almost... don't like it at all) but the girls relocated all their personal things to their new homes and there was just no personality left. So we're working on that and here's the first item to get a spruce up. I bought this little lotus votive holder at a bargain price from my local Pillow Talk shop. It had some slight damage (hence the big price markdown) but the colour is perfect for one of the rooms. And it only needs a simple fix. A touch up with Piñata Alcoh......

Yesterday I shared a pic of the luminary I'm planning to use for the dinner table for my birthday celebration.  Sadly, I only have one purple light set and I need several to get the look I want. I've tried the white LEDs with all the other crystal shred colours I have but none of them give off the purple glow like this one does. And I really WANT purple! I LOVE purple..... and I'm determined to have it! And I have a simple solution to get it..... ..... with Jacquard Piñata Alcohol Ink ! This has got to be one of the easiest things I've ever done. A quick coat of Passion Purple on each of the LEDs is all that was needed! And all lit up, the colour is almost identical to my purple set. Yippee! I'm testing them tonight to see that the colour doesn't fade from the warmth the LEDs emit. They don't get hot but I just want to make sure that they will make it through the night. Here's keeping my fingers crossed! 'Til next time..... If you can't get enoug......