I thought today I would recap my own table top design to give you a little more insight on my inspiration and AMAZING vendors I used.

As I mentioned yesterday, Abigail from Paper and Cake designed some pretty fabulous printable paper decorations for us to use.

I was trying to think of non-traditional ways to use these and I think I might of accomplished that!

Pottery Barn Kids gave each of use a $250 credit to use for our table top designs. I just fell in love with the baby rattles right off the bat. To be honest I had selected one to use as a napkin wrap and it ended up being sold out from the holidays. But I think this one was darling sitting on the napkins with the fondant animals by Edible Details (more on those below).

The next item I selected was this wire elephant. LOVE him! I tied a big ribbon bow on him and had him nestled and sitting on top of this old box from my dad.

Lastly, I choose to spread around the table the alphabet wood blocks. They are so classic and timeless in themselves and I felt they really added to the overall animal theme.

Brittany from Edible Details made the most amazing fondant 3D animals to sit at each place setting. I asked her to make them in the colors of the printables but to take it a step farther and add some more defined characteristics to them. I not only placed them at each place setting but had them sitting on the PBK blocks. She also made little leafs that were hanging from the rims of each glass.

I think they MADE the table!

Next I knew I wanted to use Abigail’s favor boxes on the backs of the chairs. I think I might have come up with that idea before I even knew what I was going to do with the rest of the table. I found these raffia fans from Oriental Trading Company and the safari animals in the $1 bins at Target. The ribbon was left over from Lauren’s Butterfly party (yah, I hold onto things that long!). And this is what I got when I was done:

I am such a interior designer way of thinking in the way that I can not start a design without selecting the fabric first. It is a religion for me in the design field. A way I have always started my projects. So over the holiday break I swear I spent HOURS looking for the right fabric. I really did not want to use something that had animals on it (more afraid I would pick something someone else had than anything) and actually had thought an ikat print would be what I wanted. But after an endless search I could not find one that was bright and cheerie without breaking the bank. THEN I discovered Fat Quarter. Have you ever been on Kimberly’s site? It is my new favorite place to shop for fabrics. She has such a wide assortment and very reasonably priced. And of course I settled on something kind of unconventional and a little non-safari related. But that was what I liked about it. Kind of unexpected. I selected this Kate Spain fabric for Moda Fabrics called Terrain Bloom Dahlia.

It went perfectly with Paper and Cake’s printables.

Next I went and did a little shopping- in my house. I had bought these black and white chevron napkins because  . . .well just because! Honestly when I pre-set up the table at my house I used them as stand ins. I had selected a lime green solid linen from the rental company. They just kept catching my eye though. And the more I looked at them sitting on top of the fabric from Fat Quarter, I loved it. So I brought them with me to see if Amy would let me use my own napkins instead of the rental ones. Ask me where I got them! TARGET for $3. I now want to use them for everything.

Some other items from around the house- the milk glass compotes, mercury glass apothecary jar, mercury glass candle holders, and wood crate.

My next go to place was Homegoods. LOVE that place. I swear I always find stuff. The world globe, wood giraffe and  twig balls were purchased there.

Lastly the large lantern in the middle of the table was gotten from Ikea. I have been wanting these for awhile so it was the perfect excuse to nab them.

I really wanted the middle of the table to look like a world traveler that was on a safari adventure. I hope thats what I got!

I can not wait for the next Operation Shower event to be a part of. It is truly a moving experience. If you missed it from yesterday HERE is the recap post of the event.