A couple weeks ago we were invited to an event at our local Seattle West Elm to check out new arrivals for spring – especially their cool new paper flowers collection. As part of an expansion of their market, they have awesome paper flowers that you can use for seasonal decor but they’ll keep year after year. My favorites are the tulips and the hellebores. Super pretty!

image credit: curator pr

The event was co-hosted by Nick and Aleah Valley from Valley & Co, who gave some awesome tips on spring entertaining including decor using the paper flowers and other organic items. It was awesome to finally meet Aleah since we’ve been instagram buddies for quite awhile now so it was nice to have a quick chat over a delicious mocktail. (Also, how cute is her turq plaid – you KNOW I need that shirt)

In general I’m a little tired of the terrarium trend, but I loved adding in the colorful mixed media for a more modern vibrant twist. Centerpiece inspiration for sure!

image credit: curator pr

I highly recommend you try the High Tea cocktail Nick whipped up (he’s the bartender master of the duo). We couldn’t have the vodka at the event (pouty face), but the base was delicious and I’m sure it would be great for dinner parties with the windows thrown open.

Go check out full tutorials for the Paper Flower Swizzle Sticks and Rosemary Wreaths can be found on Aleah & Nick’s blog.

 image credit: curator pr

image credit: curator pr

It was so nice to get a dose of color affter many months of wintry gray! After the event, Maggie and I went out to chat all things weddings! Our weddings are going to have some common elements so it was fun to compare notes!

[All images with no credit link were taken by me]