Update: girly, beachy room theme

Pin It Now! Been awhile since I blogged. Still no internet :( But I'm going to try and post more and n0t let my super slow connection deter me anymore!

Here's an update on my daughter's room.  It's still in the process, but coming together a bit more, finally!

Above her bed is some artwork that was DIY.  I bought some cheap canvas and painted it.  The fish I found at a local home decor store for 1 euro! I just used some spray adhesive to glue them to the canvas.  I thought the symbolism of having a mama, papa and baby fish would be cute.



The stripes are quite perfect, but perfect isn't cool anyway :) I just painted some stripes on a blank canvas and then made the star in adobe illustrator. I then printed the star on heavy cardstock and glued it to the canvas.



This artwork was semi DIY. I bought the cute sea animal graphics and backgrounds from Mygrafico.com. Love that site btw! Very cheap and cute graphics. I assembled the images in Illustrator, though you could possibly do this in paint too. Then printed on cardstock.



The pillow I photoshopped in to see how it would look.  I love it!  Found it on Etsy from NamlyPillows. 

Almost done with her room. Still need to figure out the bedding and a few more decor items. What do you guys think??

New Year’s Eve Table on a Budget!

Pin It Now! This year will be rather tame compared to years past.  We have two babies now and no grandma to stay overnight and babysit.  Even though there will be no fancy party dress, fun venue to attend or loads of friends surrounding us to ring in the new year I still plan to make it special.  Now since it's just the family this year, it would be wasteful to splurge on a bunch of party decor.

So my inner budget spirit came out today and here's what I created:

I love the colors blue, purple and silver for NYE.  I found the ornaments for sale for $2.50 and I had the tissue paper at home.  I made a table runner out of tissue paper as well as place mats.  I put some ornaments in a tall vase to give the table dimension.

Then I had a genious idea.  Lighting is crucial and so of course I wanted candles on the table.  However white candles would be too boring.  I read a tip in a book I'm reading, Lulu Powers Food to Flowers (an awesome entertainment/party planning book btw!) to add tealight candles to water for a simple yet chic decoration.  So I did that and then also added blue food coloring to the water.  Simple!  I do still need to verify if that is safe.  I don't think food coloring is flammable.

I then printed some Happy New Year Tags to use as namecards and it came together nicely.  Now if I were actually hosting dinner I would glam it up much more.  I would use a black table cloth (maybe white),  add silver tinsle to the table, use silver charger plates, blue or purple colored wine glasses and find some pretty napkins to match the theme.  I'd also add party hats and such to the table for some fun.

I REALLY like what Chris at Celebrations at Home did for a backdrop for one of her beautiful parties:


I think the clear beads would look really cool hanging from my table or even laid out on it as well.

Hope everyone has something fun and special planned for New Year's!

xoxo

B

Homemade hand print ornament…easy!

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Now that I have two little ones, the holidays seem even more special.  As we get older as a family I want our tree to be a reflection of memories of years past. 

I remember making a handprint ornament when I was a kid and thought it would be fun to do with my own kiddos this year.  Something we can put on our tree each year to remember how small they were when we lived in Germany. This is such an easy way to create a memory and a keepsake for your Christmas tree!  It would also make a great gift for grandparents.  I found the recipe here.

I didn't use food coloring, but instead just painted the handprint after the mold had dried.

Enjoy!

B

Prettify Your Thanksgiving Table in 20 minutes

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It has taken me longer than I intended to finally create the designs for my Thanksgiving table.  I've been a busy little bee.  But better late than never, right?  So  friends if any of you are looking for a simple, inexpensive way to jazz up your Thanksgiving look no further.  Simply print my pdfs on cardstock using a color printer (a home printer works just fine) and then cut.  Easy peasy. 



You'll need:

2" scallop or circle punch (if using the tags). 
Double sided tape or glue(for candle label)
Scissors
Card Stock
Color Printer
Hole Punch and Ribbon (for banner)

Here's the ThanksgivingPrintable.  If you have Adobe Pro you can insert text for the name tags.  Otherwise use a fine tip permanent marker.

Included in the package:

12 circle tags with saying "Thankful", "Grateful" and "Blessed
Candle Wrapper
Name tags (can be used as labels for your food and dessert)
"Thankful" banner

Hope someone can find a use for this :)  and if you do, please let me know! :)

xoxo!

B

More Thanksgiving Table Ideas & Printables!

Pin It Now! Gosh.  I just love creative people.  I love designs.  I love pretty things.  I love people who make pretty things that I can look at and want.  Isn't this kids Thanksgiving table just too cute for words?   It comes from the creative mind of Paula at Frog Prince Paperie.

 A big part of holidays are the memories that stem from childhood.  We always remember Grandma's pumpkie pie or someone's traditional dish.  But I bet kids would also always remember how festive and beautiful Thanksgiving was.  And this is a wonderful (and easy!) way to create the ambience.



The best part of this party display is how easy it is to make yourself.  In the comfort of your own home.  You just need card stock, scissors, a printer and a 2 or 2 1/4"  puncher, either scalloped or round. These are readily available at any craft shop, or anywhere scrapbooking supplies are sold.



I am in love with this Giving Tree as a center piece.  So adorable and fun for kids to share something they are thankful for!

Paula has more details on how she created the table and craft ideas on her website.  She also has several creative printable party ideas!  Definitely worth checking out :)

xoxo

B

Free Thanksgiving Printable Party!

Pin It Now! A month or so ago I hosted a brunch birthday for one of my friends. Lots of the little details like the cupcake toppers, banner and cupcake wrappers were printed at home. It is so simple to create a unique and festive party! If you are hosting Thanksgiving at your house or having a kids Thanksgiving party of any sort you MUST check out this party kit from Paper Glitter.


Gorgeous isn't it?  This entire kit is free!  FAH-REE people.  All you need is a few craft supplies and you have a fabulous party.  I have ordered from Paper Glitter and even won a free kit.  She includes all the instructions on how to print and assemble the party supplies.  It doesn't get any easier than this.

I'm going to use this for a preschool Thanksgiving get together in a few weeks!  I'll be posting pics of course :)  Hope everyone is having fun planning for the holidays!

xoxo

B

Birthday Brunch Party

Pin It Now! I'm really lucky and grateful to have made some amazing friends while living in Germany.  Lifelong friends.  This past week was the birthday of one of those friends.  She is definitely a special friend because when I went into labor with Baby Wright, she watched Little Wright for me.  And she brought Little Wright to the hospital to meet her little brother for the first time.  And she took this picture which will forever be one of my most favorite and treasured pictures:



Love, love love this photo.  Makes me heart melt.

So for her birthday I thought it would be fun to get our friends together to celebrate.  Especially since our group hadn't hung since the school year started. 

Since it was during the week and since we all have crazy schedules and crazy  sweet little kiddos I thought a brunch would be perfect. 

I went with a bright, happy, sunny brunch theme.  Pretty colors galore.  Yellowish orange, light pink, fuschia and orange.  I like the idea of using fallish colors, but with a girly twist. 

Here's my inspiration board for the party:

The party image featured in the inspiration board is from Angela at Simply Sweet Pastries.  She did a fabulous job and was an inspiration to my party.

And here is how it turned out.

I kept the menu simple and hip carb friendly: ambrosia fruit salad (in martini glasses for extra ooomph), blueberry muffins, apple cinammon muffins, doughnut holes and bagels and cream cheese.  And then orange juice (in wine glasses), lemonade and coffee to drink.  Everyone LOVED the onion bagels with spinach artichoke cream cheese.  Lenders Onion bagels and Philly cream cheese.  Genious!  And delicious! 

Oh and of course cupcakes.

I don't having a baking gene in my body. When it comes to baking, things need to be precise. Measurements need to be exact and there are so many factors (like oven temperature or high altitude) that influence the final product. As soon as it goes in the oven, there's no going back. I'm more of an "improvise on the spot" kinda gal. Soooo.... instead of mastering fondant to make my cupcakes pretty, I made cupcake wrappers and toppers. This is a big trend in the party planning world right now.

Here are the details of the party:

1) I made the design for the cupcake toppers, birthday sign and wrappers in Adobe Illustrator, printed out on cardstock, cut with a 2" scallop punch, taped the cutout to a toothpick and stuck it in a cupcake. Voila! Simple, right? If you'd like a printable pdf copy send me an email. If enough people show interest I'll include a free printable for this party (including happy birthday banner, cupcake toppers, cupcake wrappers, goodie bag labels and food labels).

1) DIY tissue paper pom poms.

3) Bright pink, light pink and orange ribbons laid on the table.

4) Fruit salad served in martini glasses for extra oomph.

5) Orange juice served in wine glasses. (Mimosas would have been great! But we had like 10 kiddos runnin' around.)

6) Bagels were placed on a platter with cream cheese in ramekins.

7) Cupcakes, doughnut holes and muffins were placed on top of tissue paper lined cake stands. (made my own cake stands)

8) All food items had labels.

9) Used a white bed sheet as a table cloth.

10) Included a vase of seasonal flowers.

I think that's everything.  It was a lot of working planning.  Especially since I did it in a week and a half.  I think next time I'll give myself at least 4 weeks :)  It was a wonderful time though and can't wait for another party!

DIY Cake Stand

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A do it yourself cake stand has to be the coolest craft project I've ever seen! I love cake stands. It's one of those things I've always wanted, but never really had a use for and never got around to buying one. But now that I am starting to love entertaining and planning parties I have a definite need. Not sure where in Germany I could go and definitely find a cake stand. And sure I could probably eventually find one somewhere, but it might cost more than I want to spend and who knows if it would look cute.

There are tutorials galore on how to do it.  It's easy and super fun. I'm addcited to spray paint now btw. I plan on making one in every color that spray paint is available!

I used this tutorial from eat.drink.pretty.

I turned a little tiny vase and a plate



Into my very own cake stand.  So cool!



This is how Michaelangelo must've felt after carving the Staue of David.