Monday, March 07, 2011

burlap feed sacks


I LOVE BURLAP!
And not because I jumped on the burlap band-wagaon decorating craze.
I grew up on burlap.
Burlap reminds me of summers on the farm.
Every week Mom, me & my brothers would take a truck load of corn & oats
to the local feed mill.
The mill would grind up whole cobs of corn and raw oats for feed.
And then fill burlap feed sacks with the ground feed... that would later be fed to the cows. 
All this took well over an hour... and we'd spend that entire time
playing across the road... in the little Lutheran cemetery.
And let me tell you, I knew that cemetery well.
I knew where the youngest baby was buried.
I knew where the oldest headstone was.
I knew where the soldiers were buried.
And I knew where generations of local families lay.
My Mom taught us proper cemetery etiquette, and we would do our best to comply.
To this day cemeteries are a peaceful, calming place for me.

Ok, so how did I get from burlap to cemeteries?
And now weddings back to burlap?
Stay with me...


So this past weekend we attended a wedding at a new venue outside Phoenix.
Chad & Erica could not have found a more beautiful place to marry.


As the ceremony ended we all became aware that we were surrounded by hot-air balloons!
Talk about the ultimate in wedding decorations! And at no cost! ha!


But as we walked into the reception hall, we saw a wall of these...
oh my gosh, have you ever seen anything so adorable!
And the burlap bags were filled with seeds!


And could these tags be any cuter! (lovin the lowercase r & e)
We were tickled to be assigned to the Mt. Rushmore table. We love Mt. Rushmore.


Anyway, this morning I set out to find 8 yards of burlap.
I've been looking online and not too thrilled with the cost,
not to mention the shipping charges.
And I was set on a more vintage darker color burlap, rather than the lighter color you see everywhere.
So I went to SAS in Tempe and found THE color I wanted! (bottom of stack in pic)
AND $1.99 a yard!!
I am decorating tables for the Hand in Hand Reunion we're having in April.
Hand in Hand was a concert ministry back in the 70's 
and the stage we performed on was decorated in old barn board and burlap.
I could not be more thrilled to have found the perfect burlap
 to recreate the ambiance from those years.


The old Hand in Hand building was located at 26th St. & Fairmont in Phoenix.

I'm linking my burlap treasures with TUESDAY TREASURES!

8 comments:

Dianna said...

Glad you found your burlap. Burlap has always smelled like a horse stable to me....????

That sounds like a very elaborate wedding: hot air balloons?!

Ceekay-THINKIN of HOME said...

Those little bags are so cute. I love the way simple is coming back into weddings. I am trying to remember some of it incase either one of my kids EVER think about getting married. I tell them to hurry up....I want to walk down the aisle not hobble on a walker!!!!

Cindy (Applestone Cottage) said...

What a neat wedding Linda!
We did the exact same thing with the burlap seed sacks except there wasn't a cemetary nearby.
Love the bottom pic, too cute!
Hugs to you,
Cindy

Mindy said...

Loved the burlap bags for the wedding! Amazing! Makes me wish I knew someone who was getting married.

My mom had me make flowers when I was a kid by unraveling the burlap strings and looping them onto wire with green floral tape. We used yarn for the centers.

I am so curious about the table decorations...if you sat at Mt. Rushmore table, did they decorate the table according to the name?

Looking forward to seeing what you do with burlap.....pictures please!

Fishtail Cottage said...

Fantastic wedding touches! love those little burlap tags and bags...so sweet!
xoxo
~tracie

Natasha said...

Linda- check with a local coffee shop. A couple years ago I several bags free. Plus they have cool writing on them.

The wedding looks wonderful and you are right those bags are adorable!!

{northern cottage} said...

ahhhh yes burlap is the best...your blog is darling so glad I found you via whisperwood.

come on over for a visit sometime -

www.northerncottage.blogspot.com

Southwest Cottage Designs said...

Fascinating blog! I look forward to visiting again. I found you over at Kristin's My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and am your new follower.