Shower for my bestie!

Today was the big day, my friend from high school's shower. I'd like to think that I did a pretty good job on the decor :)

White flowers with oranges in the vases.

Favors and game table.

Guess baby's birthday and gender.

Wishes for baby.

Hot coco favors in glass baby bottles.

Decor.

Cupcakes!!

We did an orange theme since she didn't find out what she's having, plus that's been our favorite color since high school! She's been there for me through everything and I am so glad she let me throw a shower for her. She's one of those friends that you can not talk to for a while, pick up the phone, and it's like you've never missed a beat. She's the best, and I cannot wait to meet her little guy or girl!

Hot Coco Bottle Favors:

(I cheated because I didn't have time to make the mix from scratch!)
Each bottle contained:
2 packets of Swiss Miss
6 tsp of coffee creamer
2 oz of mini chocolate chips
the rest of the bottle is filled with marshmallows

I put a Ziploc bag in the bottle after the coco mix to separate the marshmallows from the mix, stuffed the bag with marshmallows and cut the top of the bag off. Super easy and super cute!

Pinterest Project

Recently I made wall decor for over the stairs. It was time consuming but really easy!

Supplies:

1. Glue gun & glue

2. $1 book from Goodwill, or if you have one laying around.

3. Cardboard cut into 10 inch diameter circle.

Roll the paper.

Pull the corner up, that's in the inside of the roll.

Glue the corner flap of the bottom. Put hot glue on the back of the 'petal' and place on cardboard.

Glue, glue, glue. Seriously, the gluing takes FOREVER! However, once you are done I'm sure you'll be happy with the results:

Finally found their home on the wall:

I love how this project turned out and it was so easy! I think they are just the 'pop' that our wall needed!

Family Photo Book

For Christmas I made Kimber a family photo book. I figured since she doesn't see all our family on a regular basis that maybe this book would help her recognize them when they do come around. We've been looking at the book every night before bed. I explain who everyone is in relation to her, and to Pat and me. She even gives a select few kisses. :)

The other day we were over at my mom's and Kimber kept wanting my dad to hold her, which never happens. I mean occasionally she'd reach for him but then always want me back. I really think it has everything to do with this book, and even if that's not the case, that's my story and I'm stickin to it!

So there you have it... a way for your kids to not be shy around family they don't see that often :)

Shower Ideas!

My friend from high school is expecting her first kiddo in a few months and I'm honored enough to throw her a shower in a few weeks! I'm on idea overload! I keep going back and forth with what the decorations are going to be. I'm loving poms and pinwheels right now, but I may do something totally different. Who knows!

First, I need to show off the invitations since everyone should have received them by now.

Finished product.

When it's unwrapped...

Upon opening the box...

Contents.

I made these puppies in Photoshop and then had Kinko's print them out for me. Cutting was a pain but totally worth it! I love how they turned out!

I've been searching on Pinterest for shower activities that aren't the standard shower games. I think they are kind of boring and I want to do something different. Man do I have a TON of ideas now! I don't know how I'm going to decide what to do so maybe the few people that read this can help me out!

First, she's not finding out the gender so I want to do this tally board:

Then I thought this would be cute to go in the baby room and have guests guess the birthday:

I also thought this was a cute idea, but might be a bit difficult since they would need to be gender neutral:

Of course this would be neat too:

Guestbook will consist of a Dr. Seuss book for the guests to write a note in:

 I LOVE this idea. Print a card for each guest with a number on it and the guest writes a note to the kiddo for the mom to give on their birthday. For example, if I get 10 I'd write a note to be given to the little one on their 10th birthday:

This would be cute too. Have a guest color a letter of the alphabet and write a note on the page and then make an 'ABC' book:

I wish I could do them all, but I don't want to throw the guests into an activity overload! Plus I don't know that'd we would realistically have time for everything. Ugh Pinterest, your wealth of ideas has overwhelmed me once again! I won't even get started on favors! :)

The 2 P's

Photoshop & Pinterest are my addictions!

Recently I created our Christmas cards:

Front

Back

Nothing too fancy yet. Mainly I've just been playing around with brushes and fonts, because right now I just don't have time to figure out how to edit my own pictures. I've also created 2 shower invitations, but I can't show them just yet... I've seriously considered perfecting this and possibly selling them on Etsy, but then I quickly realize that I honestly don't have the time.

Some of my Pinterest crafts:

Headbands for K's 12 month photo shoot.

Halloween cards for the cousins.

Halloween costume

Wall decor.

Our house is finally completely painted so I can finally start decorating! We have a few small things to do and then the cabinets and floor and the main floor will be DONE! Then, it's on to the basement!

DIY

Yep, I did it (a while ago). I jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon. I have found so many crafty things that I want to do and finally took the time to do some of them, but first, another birthday decoration has been completed:

I am more than thrilled with how this turned out! I picked up some cardstock at Michael's, traced a bowl and cut out circles. I did the same using a smaller bowl on some left over white card stock I had from the wedding and glued them on. Then I printed out the letters using a font I liked in word, cut them out, traced them on silver card stock, cut them out again and glued them on. I love it! You know what's even cooler? I can hang it up every year for her birthday! Total project cost = $7 ish!

Next up is a free project:

We already had these shadow box frames, I stole the scrabble pieces from my mom, and used left over card stock from the banner for the rest! Gotta love free!

Next up is my felt flower project:

I used a picture from Pinterest as inspiration and used a tutorial on there to make the felt flowers. Then I just placed them where I thought they looked best and sewed them on. Embroidery hoop and 3 pieces of felt (even though I could of done with only one white piece), for a total project cost of $2.93!

And finally my 'book' shelves:

This also came from Pinterest (See? I told you there was some neat stuff on there!) I hit up the local Goodwill and picked up 3 hardback books for $1 a piece and then drove over to Walmart and picked up L brackets ($2 for 4) and started this bad boy project! Super simple, put 2 L brackets underneath the book, measure book and place another L bracket on top so the book is essentially wedged in between the two. You can get a better view of the book in the picture of the 'Scrabble Love' up top. This whole wall cost me less than $12 to decorate! Pretty impressive! We have a photo shoot this Sunday so I'm sure a new family picture will be hung shortly, and on the empty bookshelf, I'm thinking a bud vase with pom flowers, and our last name.

And since this sorta ties in with DIY, I started painting the rest of our house last week. We only have a few more projects for upstairs and then we will be finished and can move on to the basement!!! So here's some before and after pics:

Kitchen before - We plan on painting the cabinets white, installing new hardware, getting an OTR microwave, and putting in new counter tops.

This side needs a new window, blinds, and window treatment.

Kitchen after.

Kitchen after.

Living Room Before.

Living Room Before.

Living Room Before.

Post Paint :)

Living Room After.

Since we have an open floor plan and the living room flows into the kitchen, when you walk in the door I wanted everything you see to be the same color. I was tired of the poop brown and love that grey went with the color we wanted in the kitchen (green) and the accent color we wanted to use in the living room (plum). So in the first 'before' picture, the vaulted wall above the stairs will be painted plum, and so will the wall behind the door when you walk in. I love that it's uniform now, and it's really surprising the difference fresh paint can make.

So what's left for the first floor? New paint and hardware for the kitchen cabinets, and a new counter top as mentioned before. New flooring in the living room and kitchen (we are going to do the same floor throughout so it seems more like one big room), and new trim. 4 rooms renovated, 2 to go! Yay for making progress!