A shower for the little sis

A couple weeks ago, I threw a bridal shower for my baby sister Sadie. Well, she isn't so much a baby anymore but she is the youngest of us five girls.

Her colors were very fallish, with sort of an eclectic feel. I actually got the flowers from Costco and just separated the bouquets into different mason jars. We had a lot of desserts, from cheesecake and carmel apples...to yellow bundt cake with strawberries and whip cream. Oh, and of course pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, which happen to be my new favorite things EVER (it's kind of out of control, this new love I have for pumpkin anything...)

We played a "he said, she said" game, chatted, ate, chatted some more...and than called it a night.

It was such a fun time, showering little Sadie with bridal bliss. Actually, the wedding was just this last Friday...so many more pics to come!!!!

^^^ I put an index card in with the invite for people to write down their favorite recipe and bring it to the shower to give to Sadie...so she could add it to her recipe box :-)

^^^ have you tried these caramel apple milky ways?! Ummm, they're pretty darn delicious! 

***good thing they're seasonal

^^^ Sadie is OBSESSED with dogs...so I figured these napkins were a MUST

^^^cake stands I got at World Market

 ^^^ No, these are not garbonzo beans...they're actually little carmel that we melted for carmel apples

^^^me with two of my four hermanas (rachael in the middle...and the bride to be on the right)

DIY Fall Burlap Wreath...

Sometimes, it's easier for me to just make whatever I have imagined up in my head rather than going out and trying to find exactly what I'm looking for.

So I gathered a few spools of burlap in orange, black and brown; bought a stick wreath at Michael's, and went to town. I simply tucked, wrapped, and tucked some more. Than I made a big bow and tied it to the top. The beautiful thing about these stick wreaths is that they are easy to stuff things into!

Lastly, I hung her up for my favorite season of all...Happy Fall and happy Friday!!!

***Monday I am posting some stunning photos of a home that my friend so graciously let me photograph---it has some amazing inspiration when it comes to adding color to your casa!***

A rabbit in my orange juice...

What better way to kick off Easter Week than with a simple, and edible DIY Easter craft (I guess it's a craft...I don't know what else to call it?!) I love Easter, and I love the fact that Sage is old enough to do all the fun "Eastery" traditions that I enjoyed while growing up.

We are a little obsessed with Cutie Mandarin Oranges over here...so I decided to make some freshly squeezed "cutie" orange juice! I mean we have two bags, so I figured why not...

This would be perfect for your Easter breakfast, at least I think so :-) and the kiddies will love it! If you want to do eyes of them, just add two little cloves!

Cozy Girl's Nursery

When we found out we were having another baby girl...I immediately started thinking of fun ideas for her nursery. With my first girl, I decorated her nursery in a lot of pink and greys. So with Cozette's little room I wanted it to be more colorful and bright! And ya know what...it's perfectly fitting because she is such a bright and cheery little thing.

 My two must have's...1.baby powder scentsy and Johnson's baby lotion 

(nothin' better than a good smelling baby in a good smelling room!)

-Bedding Bumper: Land of Nod
-Bedding Skirt: Pottery Barn kids (it's the same one I had from Sage's bedding, so I figured I'd reuse it)
-Dresser Handles: World Market
-Stencil: Martha Stewart stencil from Michael's
-Rug and Plates: Home Goods
-Artwork: Belle & Boo
-Dresser: Consignment store
-Fan: home depot
-Green Pouf: Ebay

DIY:
-Rocking Chair: Salvation army (see before and after HERE)
-Crib: Use to be mine and we just repainted it
-Baby rocking chair: use to be my husbands when he was little and we also repainted it
-Window Valance: made out of a piece of wood that my hubby nailed together and then I covered it with cute fabric I got on sale at Joannes (it all cost me about $30 compared to about $200 for the other window valences I was looking at!)
-Baskets: I covered the edges with fabric that matched the decor
-Lamp Shade: got it at TJMAX and than I glued the beads (from Joannes) around the bottom 
-Ceiling and Molding wood work was done by some of Josh's friends and it's probably my favorite part of the nursery!

Halloween has arrived...{custom plate stands}

I LOVE Halloween...it's one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. Yesterday I decided to pull out the decor and get festive! I have this weird obsession with collecting things--like when I was younger I had a box full of things I started collecting and then moved on to the next thing. It ranged from starburst wrappers to rubber bands and rocks...just the really important and useful stuff ya know?!

For Halloween a couple years ago, I started collecting pumpkins. Every year I get a new one to add to the bunch. I saw this plate idea in the Martha Stewart Living magazine, and had been wanting to do it. Well my mom beat me to the punch and made some for me--I decided to use them to add dimension in height for my pumpkins!

These are SO easy, and so much cheaper than buying an actual cake stand. You can stack them on top of eachother to create a dessert tray or use them to put your fruit on. If you make a little one, you can even use it as a jewelry holder!

All you need is:
-A plate of your choice
-A cup of your choice
-Super glue
**you simply glue the cup to the bottom of the plate and wallah...there ya have it a custom platter in a about 60 seconds!

Flower Poufs

I kind of, sort of, have this slight obsession with poufs--but what's even better than plain ole' round poufs? Well, let me tell ya...FLOWER poufs! I made these for a little activity class I teach and they turned out great! Here's how you can make them with these super simple steps:

1. Pick out your tissue (I used four very different colors)

2. Cut the edges all differently (each layer needs to be smaller than the last)

3. Center them on top of eachother like below

(I know the middle one looks a bit ski-wompus...but nobody will ever notice ha)

4. Then "fan fold" from one short end to the other like this:

5. From the center, tie all layers together

6. Spread the folds apart, so that it resembles a big bow tie

7. Next, pull the layers away from one another (careful not to rip) 

Than with a few tugs, and pulls--you'll have the perfect flower pouf!

***Hang them on a string from the ceiling, or tape them against a wall...ya really can't go wrong!***

Lastly, do the flower pouf ball dance :-)--this is a must!

Happy poufing!

Balloon Fading

I've had this project in mind for a while, and just haven't really gotten around to it...but yesterday I was in Party City and decided to get a few balloons that "fa-woated" (aka: floated) as my little S so eloquently says. I love the faded look that is so popular right now (ya know...faded color in hair, faded colors in dresses, scarves and even nails!) So I thought, why not on a balloons for a party or get together!?! Could you imagine 20+ white balloons all spray painted a different color--oh it would...well the only word I could think of describe it would be...awesome! **wink

Anyways, here was my attempt at a few different colors and it turned out just the way I pictured it! 

Blood Orange Juice

My parents have this huge Blood Orange Tree in their backyard (random fact: blood oranges are considered to be among the finest dessert oranges in the world! Who knew?!) and lucky for me, on occasion, when we visit...I will open the fridge to find a pitcher of this crimson juice just calling my name. It really doesn't get much fresher than this...simply delicious! 

Whether you have oranges on hand, or have to go buy them at the store; there is just something about squeezing your own juice that makes it taste that much better! My dad has a cuisinart mixer, with a juicer attachment and it works great--but I'm sure any juicer would be just fine! OR buy this way CHEAP lemonade mixer...it's so super convenient too!

This is my sis Rach who gets to enjoy this on a regular basis. I know, it's just not fair I tell ya!