Category Archives: diy

12.21.10

A Beautiful Mistake.


I love the look and texture that boxwood provides during the holidays. Every year when we go to pick out our tree, I buy boxwood garland for our banisters and doorways. This year, however, I somehow picked up two boxwood wreaths rather than garland, as illustrated by my hula hooping models below.


CRAP, I thought….When am I going to find the time to return that? Well, I made the time a few days later, and unfortunately, all of our local nurseries were sold out of boxwood roping. So, I decided to take my wreaths and make the best of it. In a 15 minute dash, I ran into my local Michael’s and grabbed whatever I thought could work. Inspired by my Blue Christmas post, I went to town. A mix of butterflies, wicker stars, jingle bells and Christmas balls… I think it turned out pretty cute. The whole thing took me 30 minutes to put together. It’s as easy as 1-2-3… just attach all objects with floral wire and wrap it tightly to make sure your ornaments don’t blow away with the cold winter’s wind!

Because I had two wreaths, I made another one for our friends Will and Aimee and gave it to them when they had us over for dinner. I am still super bummed about the lack of garland on our banisters this year, but I guess if I look at the glass as half full, that’s one less thing that I need to cross of my holiday to do list!

10.12.10

5.


As many of you know, my baby girl turned five last month. For their birthdays, I let my kids pick the theme, then the rest is up to Momma. You can see her first four birthdays here. Believe it or not, you can have a character party with style. This year, she chose a Princess and the Frog theme. I aimed for a whimsical, bayou-esque feel. Since Tiana is a chef (and so is E, might I add) I focused on the cooking element. You will see this theme repeated in the invitations, as well as the favors.

 
We had an absolute blast. Below are some pictures of the event, as well as the How To’s.

Invitations– The Plum enclosures were on clearance at Paper Source.
Poms– Pom Love
Pinata– Pinata Queen
Goody Bags– 1. Aprons- Bought aprons here. Printed each child’s initial (lilac for girls, chartreuse for boys) on transfer paper and ironed on. 2. Tiana’s Cookbook 3. Frog Cookie Cutters
Photographs– James Woo
Games– Pin the Kiss on Naveen, Hot Frog, Freeze Dance
Flowers– Remember those darn candy jars from Lou’s party? They have once again been re-purposed. We wrapped them in ribbon and added an E sticker glued onto lilac card stock.
Music– Princess and the Frog Soundtrack, as well as some other Disney faves.
Candy Cups– Michael’s.  I created the labels from Paper Source‘s 2.5 inch labels.
 
A special thanks to my bestie, MJ, who slept over the night before the party to tie together loose ends. As usual, there were a lot more loose ends than I estimated… We were up until 1:30 am.. she arranged all of the flowers- and what an amazing job she did! I have the best friends in the world. A big fat kiss to all of you.. MWAH!

10.05.10

Welcome to the World, Glory.


Last Sunday I hosted a baby shower for my dear friend, Aimee. Aimee is married to Mike’s best friend from high school, Will. They are truly like family to us, and we are so grateful to have them in our lives. She is having a little girl sometime in the next two weeks. Her original due date was November 3, but the doctors keep moving it up, so at this point, it can be any day.


Aimee’s mom passed away of cancer a year ago. Gloria Wedlake was an amazing woman- so charming, graceful and charismatic. Aimee was lucky enough to inherit some of her best traits. To honor her mother and Will’s mother, they have decided to name their little bundle of joy Glory Constance. I just love it. It is so fitting.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the shower. Aimee is not your “cutesy” kind of girl, so I tried to make it sophisticated and earthy with a twist of bohemian flair. Just her style.

Here are the How To’s:
  • Invites- Tinyprints.
  • Mantle Letters- Cardboard letters from Paper Source. I cut strips of paper to create the patterns. This created a much cleaner look than paint.
  • Kitchen Table Flowers- Reused the candy jars from Lou’s Yo Gabba Gabba Party and wrapped them in this paper with pink velvet ribbon. I bought 9 yards of burlap at G Street fabrics ($7/yd) and cut it into (3) 3 yd pieces. MUCH cheaper than buying burlap table cloths. I bought the runners here.
  • Dining Room Flowers- For these you need a lot of flowers, a lot of patience and a lot of this.
  • CD’s- I had my graphics go-to girl, Jenna create the labels, and popped them on some of these.
  • Cake- Kristy at Tastefully Treated.
  • Menu- Sausage and Leek Casserole, Butternut Squash Soup, Arugula Salad (Pomegranate Arils, Bleu Cheese, Candied Pecans, Red Onion, Balsamic Vinaigrette),Fresh Berry Salad, Assorted Muffins and Danishes. Also, our other dear friend Melissa brought this as well as Mimosas and Bellinis. All of it was delish.
  • Elephant Table– Bought this beauty on clearance, here. I bought a tray of wheat grass and cut it to size then wrapped it in the pink velvet ribbon. How cute will that be in the girls’ playroom?
  • Gift Basket– I have a lot of go to girls. Mary is my go to girl for all things baby. Check out her site here.
I hope you enjoyed this peek at Aimee’s shower. Welcome to the world, Glory…We can’t wait to meet you!

07.20.10

Yo Gabba Gabba!

My little Lou Lou bug turned two on May 1, and we had such a fun party. She is absolutely obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba so of course, that was our theme. Nick Jr. gives you so many tools for projects, that it really was easy (but time-consuming.) We had a blast making everything. After posting the pictures, I was asked by many mommies about how I did it… Here are the details:

 

  • Bags: We bought the bags and transfer paper at Michael’s, and used the YGG Iron-Ons from Nick Jr.
  • Banner: I used a roll of fuchsia wrapping paper from Paper Source.
  • Jars: The jars are vases from Michael’s. 
  • Cut-Outs- I ordered the characters here. Then I needed to: 1.) Find foam board that was big enough 2.) Cut out the hole for the head and 3.)Painstakingly glue each character on the board. I wish I had not left this until the day before the party. (We used wooden stakes that we hammered into the ground to hold them up.)
  • Cake- The amazing Kristy Stone.
  • Cake Toppers- I paid about $30 for these at Christmas time. Apparently now, they are out of stock and are going for as much as $130.
  • Tee Shirts- Here.