Construction Party

For Noah's 3rd birthday we had a Construction themed party.  I thought it was the perfect theme for him because he loves trucks and diggers and is obsessed with playing in dirt.  In fact, anytime we go to a playground he chooses to play in the dirt rather than playing on any playground equipment.  So for the party we basically turned our whole backyard into a construction zone.  We had sections of pine straw, rocks, and dirt, and plenty of trucks and shovels for the kids to dig with.  It was a really fun party, I think the kids had a blast playing and since the kids were happy and occupied the adults got to relax and chat.

Huge thanks to my hubby and his parents for getting our backyard converted to a construction zone, y'all are amazing!!!!!

 since the focus was the dirt and digging, the decorations were fairly simple and easy.  some caution tape and a few constuction-y looking signs

 for the cake, I made a plain chocolate sheet cake, with chocolate frosting, and then used graham cracker crumbs to top it and make it look like dirt

You Are My Sunshine Baby Shower

This weekend I had the privilege of throwing a baby shower for one of my favorite people in the whole world.  Her and her husband are not finding out the gender of their baby, so I needed a gender neutral theme.  Their nursery colors are aqua/ turquoise-ish, yellow, gray, and orange and I thought that those would go well with a You Are My Sunshine theme.  That way, the decorations that I made for the shower could double as gifts/ nursery decorations also.  This was my favorite theme, color scheme, and decor for any party that I've ever thrown.  Now sure if it's how special the guest of honor is to me, or if it was the theme itself, but I had a lot of fun dreaming up and creating this shower.  

My camera and I had a huge struggle with the lighting at the location, so please excuse the blurry pictures.

I made this sign from some scrap wood

the centerpieces were branches in mason jars with tissue paper flowers glued to them

we had a table with envelopes to address and an advice/ encouragement book for guests to sign

I made the sunshine blocks out of more scrap wood, some patterned cardstock, and then stamped the letters on them.  the framed print was a free printable found here.  I also printed and framed a few other free printables found here and here.

another activity was a onesie and burp cloth decorating station.  I didn't need to buy anything other than a pack of burp cloths for this, I just used supplies that I have on hand in my crafting stash.  basically I supplied plenty of onesies and burp cloths, lots of scrap fabric, fusible web, embroidery floss, fabric markers and paint, stencils, and stamps and let guests get creative.  this would be great for bibs also.  I wish I had taken pictures of some of the finished products, they were SO cute!

I made a word banner using my cricut machine to easily cut the letters from cardstock.  then I punched holes in them and strung them on yarn.

I made several tissue paper pom poms (rounded edges for the "clouds" and spiked edges for the "suns".  these are so cheap and easy to make and turned out really well!

this picture is awful, but these free printable cupcake (or mac and cheese cup) toppers were adorable

and here's the link for the free printable toppers I used on the cupcakes

I used this site for the free printable invitations, thank you cards, food tents, and favor tags, and just made them all in the same color scheme as the shower.  for the favors, I made coffee meringue "clouds". 

for the food, I stuck with a yellow/ sunshine-y theme and incorporated the mama-to-be's tastes, favorites, and requests.  we had;

-curried chicken pasta salad

-mac and cheese cups

-sausage balls

-veggies with curry dip

-fruit skewers

-lemon bars

-orange marmalade cupcakes

-lemonade

-coffee punch

It was such a fun sweet time to celebrate the mama-to-be and baby!

doily pillow

I managed to squeeze in a quick nap time project and recover another living room pillow.  I'm loving adding some delicate, neutral touches to living room.

recovered pillow

I recovered an old throw pillow.  I used a neutral muslin, stenciled the wording on, and sewed the pillow cover.  Another quick and easy project.

Ruffle Pillow

I had a bunch of ruffles leftover after I made this ruffle lamp, and decided to turn them into a pillow for our bed.  This is one of a few projects that I fully designed on my own, without following a tutorial.  I love how it turned out!  The cost was almost nothing because I simply covered an existing pillow that I already had, and the fabric was from a duvet cover that I bought at a yard sale for $1.

revamped lamp

My nightstand lamp died a few months ago. I found this lamp at a yard sale for $2 and knew that it had potential.

Before:

After:

I used the same paint leftover from Jeremy's parents bathroom that has been showing up in all of my recent projects, and I used a cut up yard sale sheet for the fabric.  Total cost to me was $3 for a new fun lamp.

refinished table

A few months ago Jeremy and I were handed down a table from friends who were moving out of the area. (Apparently these friends had been handed down this table from other friends, who had been handed down from other friends, so we are at least the 4th family to be enjoying this table). I was thrilled to have a 6 person table (FOR FREE) to replace our 4 person table that didn't seem adequate for all of the entertaining that we do. Unfortunately the table came with some stains on the top of it. So I began to brainstorm how I could refinish it.

I couldn't be more happy with the end result. It is basically my dream table now. This was a very scary project for me, I don't tend to be a decorater, or a do-it-yourselfer. It seemed intimidating, but the whole process went very well. I have learned some technique tips that I would do differently next time around, but I am still so pleased with this piece.

Jeremy has been looking for a creative outlet lately, so he did the table and I did the chairs. My favorite part is that the paint for the chairs was all free paint leftover from home projects from friends and family members. So we have chairs that same color as several of our loved ones walls, and we have a little piece of their home incorporated into ours.

Before

table

chairs

After

 and a close up of some of the distressing and staining...

This process was so rewarding, and I love the fun pops of color that liven up our kitchen now.  I'm already perusing the house for what I can paint and distress next... spice rack, microwave cart, dressers, bookshelves; I'm coming for you!

my new gallery wall

I've been wanting to do a gallery wall for a long time. I finally stopped procrastinating and my wall is starting to take shape. I don't think I'm quite done yet, I want to collect a few older pictures of Jeremy's and my parents and grandparents to add to the mix, but this is a nice start. I'll probably add an M monogram somewhere also before the whole thing is finished.  I really planned on doing a diamond shape, but the pictures inspired thos diagonal line instead.  When Jeremy is at work, Noah will point to the wall and say dada... I think he loves it just as much as I do.  And when I ask him where Noah is, he will point to the wall also... so cute!

Our fall party

Our fall party was lots of fun on Saturday. We ended up being too busy talking, eating, and watching football that only one person actually sat down and took the time to carve a pumpkin though. Here's a few pics to capture the festivities... unfortunately I never got time to snap pictures of the food, but the recipes are below.

Here's our kitchen mantle, decorated with a few wildflowers and some leaves that Jeremy's parents brought back from their recent trips to Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia (no, the leaves haven't changed here yet, so I had to have my decorations imported... thanks Mom and Dad!)

Here's the table set up with the paper products, leaves, acorns, flowers, pumpkins, candy corn, and jars filled with corn kernels and candles.


Here's our living room mantle covered with leaves, acorns, pumpkins, fall scented candles and more corn kernels. A closeup of the leaves and acorns (and yes, I'm keeping these up all fall)

Rebecca

Me

Kim, Lindsay, Rebekah, Tori and Harris

Me making a funny face... see Rebecca napping in the background?

Jessica and her pumpkin

Lindsay

Tori and Craig

Arthur and Brant

My hubby

Now for the food... I served;

• Hot apple cider
• Pumpkin Spice Lattes
• Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup: I doubled the recipe, added an extra can of black beans, used fat free half and half instead of the heavy cream, and added about 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
• Brown sugar glazed ham with rolls
• Veggies and curry dip (1/2 c mayo, 1/2 c sour cream, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp minced onion, 1 clove garlic minced, 2 tsps white vinegar, 1 tsp horseradish, 1 tsp curry powder)
• Pumpkin Pasta: I doubled the recipe, omitted the sausage (since I don't eat meat, but think it would add a nice savory dynamic to compliment the dish), used fat free half and half instead of heavy cream, added 1/4 tsp cayenne and a tablespoon of brown sugar.
  
  Several friends brought assorted fall desserts, including; pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pudding, and pumpkin pie. It was all so yummy.
  
  Shannon