Soft Mermaid Etsy Treasury

We were included in another Treasury by jupiterdesigns! Thank you so much for including us!!!

Rainbow Party Collection

I'm going to start showing what I love to do. I created this rainbow collection for a little girl turning 2.5! A friend of mine asked if I would donate a gift certificate to her Daughter's fundraiser at school. I created this vase filled with a sample of my collection, and also donated a matching shirt to which ever collection the lucky winner chooses.

So today I put together a collection of party ideas.

You can purchase my DIY Rainbow Paper Party Collection here.

Here is an up close picture of the collection printed and assembled for the give-away.

Assemble balloons in the rainbow colors around the party, and make an arch over the table. Photo courtesy of Care2

You could totally tint chocolate, and cover oreos in the rainbow colors. Dipping stuff into chocolate is a fun and inexpensive way to make your party look posh! Photo courtesy of The TomKat Studio

Can you imagine how amazed your guests would be by this table. I mean, come on, the table cloth is a-mazing!!! Photo courtesy of Mama Loves To Shop

Roxanne's Vintage Anthropology Inspired Green Wedding

Last year my Cousin got married, and her ideas for her wedding were a vintage "Anthropology" inspired green wedding. Well my Mom's wheels started turning, and you will see below what she came up with. Below is the "altar" that was created. My Mom took different fabrics and tied them to a ladder-ish hanger, and we suspended the backdrop from the metal arbor. Then a white harvest table was placed underneath it. We placed silver candleabra's, rusted urns filled with bark and tree branches, glass vases filled with the same flowers that were placed in the bouquets, and candles.

Below is the bbq pit area (that was not used) decorated, and do you see the vintage suitcase? That is what held their cards. We framed large poster sized prints of the couple, and set them out here and there.

On the table we mismatched vintage table clothes, quilts, and new fabrics that flowed well with the theme. The brides friend planted and grew herbs for each of the guests, and the favor given out by the couple was that they donated to their favorite charity.

On to the yummiest part of this wedding! The bride had cupcakes instead of hte traditional cake, and even had vegan cupcakes as many of the bridal party and immediate family are vegan. Mom displayed them on these glass topped cake stands, and it brought that glam factor in.

Next, my Mom had this vision of cupcakes stacked all over this iron piece she has had forever. It was hard for me to envision, but when it was done the iron piece was the perfect compliment to anthropology inspired wedding. Notice the cupcakes stacked on the branches that were cut cross ways. Mom found those branches on the side of the road, so she hauled them home, and had them cut.

More cupcakes on those cake stands. Those cake stands were used at my wedding, and have been borrowed by just about everyone for some special event, and now used at this wedding.

Below is an up-close picture of the cupcakes sitting atop the wood pieces. It really is a stunning way to display yummy cupcakes.

Roxanne and Aaron had a beautiful day, and we were so glad to be a part of it!

DIY Chalkboard table by Centsational Girl

I was doing my usual first thing in the morning perusing of the internet when I stumbled across Centsational Girl's blog. Below she took a table and 2 hideous chairs, and transformed them into a set. Below you will see the before picture.


And below you will see the after picture. OMG! After going through her site I am even more inspired to get going on painting a few of my own things!!



A list of items I still need to work on:

1. Sand and paint the shoe tree in the entryway (I attached old wood to the top and bottom of the tv stand it used to be to create a little shoe seat).
2. Make and hang two bulletin boards over the computer desk in the family room.
3. Find and fix a dresser/sofa table/short bookcases for under the window in the dining room
4. Finish painting the adirondeck chairs I bought last year black.
5. Make growing panels in the backyardd to cover some of the ugliness that was my Grandpa's satellite wiring circa 1985.
6. Put up the molding around the bathroom mirror.

This weekend I went in the backyard and I decided I was going to BUILD SOMETHING!!! I got out the chop saw, two drills, and I started attaching old wood to a tv stand I am repurposing for a shoe seat in the entry way. I added the wood to look like molding. Next I need to fill the holes, sand the item, prime the shelf, and paint it. Then I am going to enlist the help of my Mom to sew a little seat cushion to sit on top of it. I will post pictures when it's done!!

Sam's Blue and Green Baby Shower

My Aunt Samantha had a baby in 2007, so I helped to host her second baby shower. My part of the shower was to order the cookies from Goodies, and display them. Since this was Sam's second baby, we opted not to have a cake and traditional shower. We threw a small family shower and had such a great time. I took a pie tower and wrapped crystal wire around the legs along with fibers and coordinating ribbon. I then made tags with with the parents, big brother, and baby's name on them to hang from the top. I then arranged the cookies around the tower. It turned out rather cute.

My gift for Sam was a Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag purchased from Rosemary and Thyme in Exeter, California. I loved the diaper bag, and I think she did too!

It was truly too cute. (photo courtesy of: http://celebritybabies.people.com/2007/05/30/sheryl_crow_tak/)

Ashley's Pink Posh Baby Shower

I helped with a baby shower some time ago for my cousin Ashley when she was expecting a precious baby girl Sophia. The shower was held at Campagnia in the patio area and was just beautiful. Hot pink gerber daisies were laid out on the tables and exhibited in stainless cans.
Ashley's friend had the cake made and it turned cute with the hot pink bow on top.


Now for my part in the shower! My Mom and I did the favors for the shower. We took notepads and made sleeves to fit down over the notepad that showed a small bird with an S (for Sophia). We then punched holes in the front of the notepad and tied ribbon and fibers through the top. We also tied a pink ribbon around the bottom, so we could attach pins that we made for everyone.
This picture shows the pins much better! We took small pieces of pre-cut glass and used soldering tape to seal them up. Between the glass we printed pictures of Ashley (Mommy to be) and decorated them using sweet baby girl sayings and glitter. We then wrapped wire around the outside for a bit more texture.


As everyone knows already...I LOVE BELLY MOLDS!!! I was honored to do my cousins belly and then she gave me the opportunity to decorate it however I saw fit!


Here is an up close picture of the belly mold, and Ashley and I both joked that "that's what she looks like naked"! It gave us both a good laugh!

Ashley is a beautiful person, and I was lucky to be a part of her day!

My gift consisted of a hand covered S for Sophia's room. I used the colors that Ashley was using in the nursery and it turned out beautifully!

And before the shower I had a shirt for made for Easton: a pink button down shirt with "Sophia's Cousin" embroidered on teh back. He was the talk of the afternoon!

Easton's second baby shower

My Mother-in-law Tami threw me a second shower for Easton, and themed it Cowboy (since his nursery was a cowboy theme). Peggy with Creative Cakes created the yummy cake, and again it was just too cute!


Tami strung Easton's name together, and hung it from the fireplace, and placed white star dishes on the coffee table filled with different goodies.

You can see the red handkerchiefs, star confetti, blue and red votive candles, cowboy hat and the diaper cake that my Aunt Sam made. She ordered the crocheted cowboy boots off of ebay, painted a few wooden horses and stars to go around the cake, and a toy horse on the top. She did such a great job! It was too cute! You can also see my Husband and I in one of our prom pictures. Tami was too much fun, and I can only imagine what she would do if she could see our little girl London. We named London after Tami almost one year from the time we lost Tami. Thank you "Gramma Tami"!

Easton's Vintage Soft Blue Baby Shower

When I was pregnant with Easton, my Mom and cousin threw me a vintage soft blue baby shower. Below are pictures of the cookies that Goodies Cookies made. The cookies were frosted sugar cookies, and they were sooooo good! And cuter than cute!
My Mom displayed them on a simple white flat tray.


Peggy from Creative Cakes did the cake, and again, it was amazing!


In this picture you can see the top of the cake, and the silhouette was taken from the invitations that my Mom chose.


Here is a picture of my Mom and I by the cake display. If you have seen my previous blog about London's shower, you can see the difference between two showers and 3 years!


My Mom used one of her statues of a doctor spanking a baby, and filled a few jars with blue and brown baby items. Also, she used scrabble tiles everywhere to spell out easton's name, and "cowboy", and "star", and you get the picture.

Here is an up close picture of the scrabble tiles, and of the favors. The jars with the blue lids were filled with white chocolate covered pretzels, and kisses, and other milk chocolate candies.

Below is the main dining table decorated in hues of blue and brown.

Below is my gift opening seat decorated with some very special items: my blue Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag, a few special cowboy baby items, and vintage cowboys from my Grandfathers room.

The second dining table adorned with a MOM plaque, candy filled jar, and favor jars.

Here is my belly mold from 4 1/2 years ago! I can't believe how BIG I was!!!!

My Mom had the cutest idea ever!! She strung together blue stars for every day until my due date. So every day as I got home from work I tore a star off, and you know what?!!! I was ONE DAY LATE!!! So, I needed just one more star!! But I really hung this in my kitchen, it was a really fun reminder!

The favors for the games sat on the end table, and you can see my stars pinned on the bulletin board.

So as you can see I am more than blessed when it comes to showers and parties given to me!! Thanks Mom! Thanks Jan! And thank you to all that have been so supportive along the way!

London's Pink Zebra Baby Shower

Most of you have seen this picture before. It is my Mom (the Queen Grandma), me (the Queen Mommy), and little "Queen" London in my belly. My Mom and Cousin threw me this amazing baby shower right before I had our little queen. I was soo into zebra print, and London's nursery was done in brown and white zebra stripes and pink. So, Mom and Janice hosted about 35 people for lunch and desert.


Pictured above was the main lunch table. Janice has a glass table that holds ten people, so Mom laid lace table clothes down first, and then zebra printed fabric over. They then took pink glass vases and weighted them with river rocks and stood tree branches up inside of them. They make a very powerful impact right?!



Next, they tied ribbon and fibers onto the tree branches and clipped glittery birds every so often.

They also filled different glass jars lots of pink, soft fabrics, glittery anything, and treasured momentos from my life as a little girl.


Above you can see one of the jar is filled with pink and white pearls, silver glittery leaves, and little paper swans. You can also see (duhn, duhn, duh DUHN!!!!) a hand drawn dress. Let me just tell you this little story: at the end of my first year in high school, there was a ceremony called "Recognition" where the school recognizes all the student athletes for their accomplishments. My Mom had a dress made for me from a boutique called What's Up Europe. So I wore that dress for recognition, and it is made from the most beautiful off white raw silk. So again I had some of my senior pictures taken in it when I graduated, and so for my baby shower my Mom had that dress repurposed into a beautiful gown for London. I will share it with you all some day. I was so happy, and surprised. The same dress maker that made that dress, and re-made the dress for London also hand made my wedding dress, and every single one of my bridesmaid and flower girl dresses. Oh, the money they've made off of us!


Okay, so back to my baby shower....Above is another jar that was on one of the additional tables. And you can see the favors. I had saved baby food jars, so my Mom filled them with kisses, and tied ribbon and fibers to the little jars.

You can see the sock animals my Mom made for London above. There is a white goat, a pink mouse (that started out as a pig), and a pink and purple zebra. I love the way my Mom embellishes EVERYTHING.

With both pregnancy's I made belly molds just so I could see the difference from one baby to the next, so above is me on my shower day which is about 3 weeks before I had London, my belly mold before Easton (approximately 34-35 weeks) and my belly mold before London (approximately 35-36 weeks).

Again, Creative Cakes created the cake, and each cake gets better, and better! The silhouette above is from the invitations my Mom used, and Peggy truly is an artist!!!

Here you can see the bar where my Mom set up the cake and the tower of tutu's! That was a super cute idea and it ended up looking adorable.

Easton came by at the end of the shower, and he wanted to try on my shoes. Someday he will be so embarassed by these!!