About Me

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antrim, antrim, Ireland
Hello and welcome to my blog. If you like flowers and gardens, housey stuff, food and banter, then this is the place for you. I am a decorative artist, florist and maker of things. I sell painted furniture, plants and crafts, through a local retail shop, in my native Ireland, and wedding flowers from home. I am married to a lovely patient man and have a smashing little girl. I blog for the fun of it. Thank you for listening.

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Rock 'n' Roll....Part 2

 Following on from my previous post, here are some more shots of the preparations for the party.


The door to the garage and window were painted Duckegg , more blue than the previous colour.

My very tatty fence had to be painted, which was quite tricky considering the weather we have been having.

Ta da! A lovely fresh Duckegg Blue.
At the side of our house, we had some gates made to section off the driveway, we added a fence and a pedestrian gate. I had already painted the fence black and had asked for  the gate to be painted the  same, needless to say it came  'Tango Orange'!!! I didn't get time to paint it properly, so you can still see the dlightful colour showing through. (These things are sent to TRY us!) Arrgh!


I managed to get the Wisteria for the side wall, so let's hope it survives the winter.

The side of the house is South facing and so now we have an area where we can enjoy the sun all day, as opposed to the back, where the sun goes in at about 4.30p.m.. I was able to use Wendy from 15Coast Road's lovely vintage bunting on the fence.

This is the door through to the little yard at the back, (where the Ice-cream Parlour is.)








Inside the garage I decorated with some paper records I made and some great images and words I found on the Internet.


I found some great free printables on the Internet.
Martha Stewart's Peanutbutter Ice-cream and Brownie sandwiches.
Stars and stripes.

Vintage posies.

Roses in ice-cream colours.

We had plenty of music from the 50's to get us in the mood, so there was a little bit of singing and dancing, much to the children's embarrassment! Everyone went to the trouble to dress up, which I really appreciated as it really helped  create the atmosphere.


I had a bit of a drama with my outfit. I had ordered an original 1950's dress from the Internet. It didn,t quite fit, but I couldn't bear to send it back, I so loved the colour and the feel of it. I ended up making it into a skirt, then it was....eeek now what do I wear with it. I took my daughter for a rather frantic shopping trip and ended up with a little black top from Next, but it sort of looked right and I added a belt and a pink corsage. Sorry I have no pics of me wearing it, my sis took some so I will get one for you.

I loved the shoes, even though they killed me!




Lois wore a cute little dress that she got when she was 6, but it still fits!

I made her a petticoat so that the dress sat out. She loved it!

Paul was a little reluctant to dress up, but I found him this Hawaaian shirt and he was happy!

I loved the little planes saying Santa Barbara! Apologies for the crumpled clothes, these were taken the day after the party!
My (heavily pregnant) sister Tracey, with her partner James and 2 children, Lily and Nancy, all ready to party!

My kitchen. I have wanted to paint the wooden floor with this chequered pattern for some time now. I managed to get it done for the party and it really fitted well into the 50's theme.

I hope that I haven't bored you all with too many photos? It was a fun party and I am glad you persuaded me to have it! Have a great week. My daughter is back to school tomorrow,so I hope that I will have more time for blogging! Much love Linda x



16 comments:

  1. It looks so lovely Linda - you went to a huge amount of trouble and it was clearly worth it. I bet you looked the bomb in that outfit too. So glamorous.

    And how marvellous to see the bunting I made in use - made me smile big time.

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  2. Loved your outfit
    and agree with wendz you went to a huge amount of trouble for the party.
    Well done.

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  3. What a fabulous party theme, your dress turned skirt was beautiful. Lots of hard work but what fantastic results, your kitchen floor must have taken time - it all looks really good. Betty

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  4. Wow, you don't do things by halves do you? You certainly went all out for your party. It looked great. I love your garden and the colour of your fence and door. You should be a party planner!!

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  5. Linda,
    You put your heart and soul into party planning!
    It's all great! Thank you for sharing!
    Lynne
    [w/L]

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  6. My goodness Linda....you will certainly remember your 50th!
    All your time and effort certainly paid off and I love the chequered pattern on your kitchen floor that you "managed to get done" in time....you certainly don't do things by halves!
    Julie x

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  7. Hello Linda:
    Gosh, you have transformed the whole house, garden and garage for the party and what fun it looks to have been. We are certain that everyone will have had a marvellous time and we hope that you managed to enjoy it too. Sometimes, enjoying one's own party can be tricky as there are always so many things to be thinking about but we feel that the bright pink skirt must have put you in the party mood.

    We love the duck egg blue colour and feel that it works beautifully in the garden. It sets off the plants so well and is a most attractive background for your seating area.

    Well, all we can say is that the Middletons with their 'Party Pieces' should be very worried as clearly, Linda, you are the party planning supremo!!

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  8. Thankyou all for your lovely comments, I am very touched by them. Love Linda x

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  9. Great photos!!! What a a great event.

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  10. It's all GORGEOUS! A belated Happy Birthday! It looks like you had a lovely, fun time. Cx

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  11. Fun idea for a party... hope you had a blessed birthday. The dress looks great, that pink modified skirt is pretty. Everything looks pretty and well decorated...

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  12. Hi Linda

    Stunning pictures and what a busy girl you have been. I love your kitchen floor and that black door is stunning, I love its shape and the duckegg colour and then when your wisteria blooms it will be all so glorious.
    Thanks for sharing your life and birthday with us.
    Bet Lois looked swell in her outfit!
    Helen xx

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  13. Belated happy birthday and as always you always amazed me with your post:)

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  14. Hello Linda! I so loved reading about your party arrangements and seeing the wonderful photos! I love the striped ice cream parlour, and the new check floor, and all the printables you used...so inspiring! The food sounded delicious too, and your outfit perfect. Wishing you a very happy belated birthday and a wonderful, creative year ahead.
    Helen x

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  15. Hello Linda, I am sorry to be so late with a comment on your post. I hadn't realised this post was part 2 and when I saw it on my side bar earlier in the week I thought it was still part 1! Anyway it is lovely to see more wonderful pictures of your party. You put in so much hard work, but everything looked absolutely fabulous, it will be a party to remember for many years to come.
    I hope Lois has enjoyed her first week back at school.
    Love, Abby xx

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  16. You are amazing. Talented too. I use to live on the Antrim coast so I wanted to view your blog and just say hello from America.

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