4th of July Favorites for Boys

Hi friends!  I hope you had a great weekend and a great holiday if you celebrated Memorial Day.  I am going on day 20 of being sick- is that ridiculous?  I am more than ready for blue skies and an end to the sniffles!

In other news, I've found some fun Americana clothes for the boys.  When one is ill, one has a lot of time to shop online ;)  Here are some of my finds for the patriotic little gentlemen.

Americana Clothing for Girls

I know, I know, some kids aren't even finished with school yet and here I am talking about the 4th of July. But if you want your little ones to don red white and blue on Independence Day, now is the time to shop.  I admit, I am a sucker for stars and stripes on my kids and I am very proud of my forefathers for choosing such a great color palette with which we can show our allegiance. There are so many patriotic options for children to wear this summer, so many that I am just showing you my favorites for girls.  The boys' Americana clothing deserves it's own post.

Here are some of my favorites for the girlies

Wheat Grass in the Garden?

I've reached the age and stage in my life when I've arrived at the strange realization: I'm turning into my mother.  In other words, I get excited about plants.  Here is my current obsession: Dwarf Sweet Flag, aka Acorous Gramineus.  

Isn't it fun? I love the vibrant lime green color.  When my friend, Jessica, saw it she told me, "It looks like wheat grass." That's when the light came on and I realized why I loved it so.  So my flower beds will now be filled with my wheat grass knock-off.  If you want to do the same, you can find it at Home Depot.

Burlap Pillow Cover Winner!

Hi friends! I am excited to announce the winner of the burlap pillow cover from BeiFIORI Embellish!

The winner is ....

Congratulations, Ashlee! You have until Sunday, May 29, 2011 to contact me.  

Thank you to everyone who participated and hank you to beiFIORI Embellish for sponsoring this giveaway!

Fast and Fabulous Teacher Gift

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but my dear friend thought of this one.  She needed a gift for each of her sons' teachers.  She thought it would be fun to make text art, like my Mothers' Day Text Art project, from the names of the students in the class to frame and give to the teacher.  Brilliant! So I begged her to let me do it and had a lot of fun.

You can do this for your child's teacher too, faster than you can say "summer break".  Just use Microsoft Word, Photoshop, or whatever word processing program your child uses to write her papers or book reports to create the text art.

Type the name of each student, change the color of the text, use a fun font, print it on card stock, frame it and you're done!  You can also involve your child in this.  He can type the names, choose the colors, or maybe put the whole thing together, depending upon his age.  I think it is a fun idea to have your child sign their name in the bottom corner of the photo mat so that the teacher remembers who it came from and so the artist signs his work.

For the first text art project, I used the font Walkway (available for free download at dafont.com) I rotated some of the names, and changed the font size and color on each of the names.  I used Photoshop to make this project.

For the second project, I just used a regular word processing program (mine is called Neo Office for Mac, but it is the same as Microsoft Word.) I simply typed the names with a period and a space between each, changed the font colors, and then changed the font to Payday (also available for free download at dafont.com).

If you need some more ideas, you can check out my Mothers' Day Text Art project.

Happy typing!

I'm linking to these awe-inspiring blogs.

A Few More Shoe Party Ideas

We used paper shoes for everything for the shoe-themed party that I mentioned here and here.  The shoes also made great favors.  We filled ours with Hershey Kisses because we needed something pre-wrapped that we could quickly fill 60 shoes with. You could also fill little mini cellophane bags with any treat and tie it whit a pretty ribbon and a note, or try nail polish or lip gloss. There are a lot of possibilities to tuck in these tiny shoes. 

For another decoration at the party, I gathered up our shoe boxes, wrapped them in pretty paper and put them in stacks on the tables with paper shoes on the top (I used children's shoe boxes since the smaller sizes are less to wrap and are closer in scale to the paper shoes). I also added mini wallflowers to the toes of the paper shoes.

So there you go. 

2 packages of napkins + 1 stack of scrapbook paper  + A lot of resourcefulness= A fabulous shoe-themed party!

Discounts and giveaways from Heather Taylor Photography!

Warning: The images you are about to see will make you very baby hungry.

The wonderful and talented Heather of Heather Taylor Photography has some fun promotions going on right now.  While she works in Northern Utah, anyone can participate in her Organic Bloom frame giveaway.  

Folks, have you seen Organic Bloom frames?  When you do, you will gladly give your first born for one...but then you'll put a photo of that first born in the frame and the guilt will get to you eventually so find another form of currency, but get one of those frames!  Luckily, Heather is a supplier of Organic Bloom, so she's got you covered!

Sleevless Onesies

Did you think this was going to be a tutorial?  Sorry.  I did try once to make sleeveless onesies by cutting the sleeves off my daughter's onesies...and then never got around to hemming them- very Joe Dirt. This is approach is much quicker and cuter.  It's called shopping.

Is it just me, or are sleeveless onesies hard to find?  We've been on the lookout for them for my little niece and my son to go under summer dresses and rompers.  I finally found them so I thought I would share.

Paper shoe garland (with or without a digital cutter)

Hi friends! I am really excited about this project, more excited over paper and napkins than I ever thought possible.  I mentioned previously a shoe-themed party I put together.  This began my crush on paper shoes.  One item used for decoration at our shoe-themed party were these paper shoe garlands that I dreamed up.

Coffee Table Book Entry No. 2

Happy Friday, friends! I have many half-finished projects currently taking over my house and garage. My family is thrilled. I would like to believe I'll finish them all this weekend, but I'm not holding my breath. Besides, what fun would life be if my baby wasn't crawling through my pile of fabric scraps, if there wasn't hot glue stuck to my kitchen counter tops, if there weren't cans of spray paint rolling along the garage floor, or if we could find a pair of scissors?

Here is another installment in my coffee table quote book. The quote comes from the lyrics of Elton John's, Your Song, ( lyrics by Bernie Taupin).  Do you love Elton too? I am grateful my parents thought to raise us on great music that was older than us. Don't get me wrong, we listened to then current Janet, Whitney, Tiffany, Madonna and were all jammin' out in the '89 Honda Accord when my Aunt Barbabra got the new Michael Jackson Bad album, but I'm glad they thought to share some of their favorite music with us too.

You can print this for personal use if you like.

 I am linking up with Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style and these awe-inspiring blogs.  

My favorite party trick

Wallflowers have become my go-to party decor for many events and let me tell you why:

• They're colorful and whimsical
• They provide a big impact
• They are ridiculously cheap and easy to make ( you may have what you need already on-hand)

For a grand total of $3 or less, you can have a giant boquet of two-toned napkin flower magic. Of course you can buy napkins at dollar stores, but I've found the Wal-Mart party section has a better selection of napkin colors, they are a little stiffer and easier to work with and the quantites are larger ( packages of 24 are $1.50 each.) Target and Ikea are also great places to find fun napkin colors and patterns.  I use about 1.5 napkins for each flower.

I found the idea for wallflowers from the amazing Dana of the blog, Made. So visit her blog for the Wallflower tutorial and then go cover your next party or even your house in cheery napkin flowers!

*One tip: My petals don't stay together as nicely as Dana's, and the gaps drive me nuts, so I've enlisted the help of glue dots or double-stick tape to join the petals together.

Hey, sole sister! (shoe-themed party invitations)

Hello, friends! It's a party week for me.  I've mentioned before that I'm on a committee that plans activities for the women in my church.  Well, we are hosting a shoe-themed event this week- so fun!  Our activities are always done on a budget, so I was thrilled to find some great free graphics to use for our invitations from the always fabulous, Graphics Fairy.  What would I do without her?  She has the most amazing images.  I've always loved ephemera, and vintage artwork so her blog is one my favorite resources for inspiration.

I made a few different versions, but this is my favorite.  I used these shoe images and this frame  from the Graphics Fairy and changed the colors in Photoshop.  I made the shoes into a patterned background, added the frame on top and used the free fonts Lobster and Walkway Bold for the text.

Here is a mostly blank version that you are welcome to use for shoe-themed parties, etc. (personal use, only, please).  Have  a great day, friends!

I am linking up to Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style and these great blogs.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a burlap pillow cover!

Hello, friends!  I am just reminding everyone to enter the burlap pillow cover giveaway from beiFIORI Embellish.  When they reach 100 likes on Facebook, I will draw a winner ( she's almost halfway there)!  The crafty Marilyn from beiFIORI has been busy lately, you should see all of the fun new things in her etsy shop.

Click here to enter the giveaway.


 

Motherhood Matters

Motherhood matters.  What a poignant and beautiful statement.  We have a fabulous local lifestyle show called Studio 5. They have launched the Motherhood Matters campaign and I am in love with the concept.  I think it is easy for moms to fall into the trap of thinking their role is anything but important, so I was grateful they chose to champion the cause of motherhood. I also love that they've expanded the definition of a mother as any woman who " teaches, inspires, nurtures and loves those she comes into contact with."  Please check out their campaign, and try their Ten day challenge.  Studio 5 has also provided this sweet printable that is free for download and the quote it contains is amazing and inspiring.

So visit their site, print a card for yourself and the mothers in your life and remember that you matter.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Last-Minute Mothers' Day Ideas

Technically it's not the last minute.  It's not even close, but time is short to get something for the wonderful moms in your life.  Here are a few things I've spotted lately.

These sweet little monogrammed mugs from Anthropologie are so pretty and less than $10 each!

 For the mom who is always entertaining, I love these cute little dessert makers.  I've seen them at Macy's and JC Penney, but how do you decide between the cake pop maker and the whoopie pie maker?  You simply buy both, I suppose.  There a few other varieties here.



You can get one floppy straw hat for your mum, one for you, you both feel like Princess Kate, everyone wins.

How on earth will you decide which tote to buy for Mom with these fun options from Christopher & Banks?  For only $25, I would use this tote as the gift bag and fill it full of summertime goodies....who am I kidding, I would also buy one for myself.








This delicious apron is from Anthropologie and delightfully priced too.  I am half tempted sew a back on this one and wear it as a dress- so pretty!

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I am actually borrowing this idea from my own mother.  For Christmas, she wrapped up our gifts and tied them with cool scarves instead of bows or ribbon-BONUS!  This pretty frayed coral one form Christopher & Banks would make the package and her outfit pop.

Gift cards might seem impersonal, but in my opinion, you are giving the gift of shopping, and if you wrap it up very nicely with a pair of pretty earrings dangling from the package, it gives it just the right personal touch.  These pretty options are all from Coldwater Creek and all 25% off right now!