Friday, August 17, 2012

{Invitations} Emily's Baptism


I created these baptism invitations for my friend Lauren's little girl, Emily. Lauren requested something simple and pink, so I decided on a pink ombre stripe with all the verbiage inside a pretty frame. I think they turned out cute!

**I do not accept custom design orders {although I do try to accommodate my closest friends and family}, but I sell many of my collections digitally. I've gotten a ton of requests for the Little Mister Collection. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to purchase a digital party collection!

**TGIF -- ENJOY!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

{Decorating} Big Boy Bedroom


The BIG BOY room is finally complete! We originally had a goal of finishing and getting our son settled in his new room and bed by early July. We soon realized that was not going to happen and settled on mid August -- haha. It took a lot longer to move the entire office up to the third floor, which is not nearly as big of a space. There was a lot of purging and organizing of the office materials, and I still feel like we have too much stuff! It felt like an episode of Hoarders over here...


Dean's bedroom set has been in my mom's family for years and years. It was her grandmother's sister's furniture as a young girl, then was passed on to my grandmother, my mother, and myself, who all slept in that bed {the dresser is part of the set too as well as a vanity, which I will use one day if I have a little girl}. I painted the dresser and vanity white when I was in high school, and my husband painted the bed just this summer before we put Dean's room together.

I kept the wall color exactly the same and just touched up where there were marks or holes from pictures taken down and moved. It's a neutral color and it worked, so why bother repainting? The curtains and rods also stayed from the office. Again, the white worked just fine and is probably what I would have purchased anyway.


I have wanted to do a little book nook in Dean's new room for the longest time. I found a lot of inspiration from Pinterest and because this room is much bigger than the nursery, there was plenty of room to do one. I bought the shelves at IKEA -- they are actually photo ledges that I just sat some of his books on. The little table and chairs were hand-me-downs from my friend Mary. The top of the table was originally yellow, which was adorable, but just wouldn't have quite fit in with the color scheme, so I spray painted it navy.

I will also be adding the letters "R.E.A.D" on the small angled wall next to the shelves -- just haven't gotten around to that yet!


I added two navy knobs to the top drawer of the dresser and some fabric in an IKEA frame on top.


On the wall opposite his bed, I kept a small bookcase that was already there from the office. I filled it with leftover books and some toys. My dad also gave me a map of Philadelphia that he had framed in his home office....my hubby still has to hang it above the bookcase.

The closet is bigger in Dean's new room than in the nursery, so he has half, and I have half -- lol. For now, he has plenty of space for his clothes, shoes, etc.


My little boy LOVES tractors, diggers, mowers, trains, etc. so I created this fabric wall art of a tractor for above his bed. Again, my inspiration was Pinterest. All I did was purchase a canvas from Michaels and find some tractor clipart on Google Images. Then I hand drew a pattern, cut it out, and traced it on the fabric. Pretty simple.


This shelf was also something we transitioned from the office to the big boy room. I decorated with some simple decor:

~Old-fashioned clock radio -- HomeGoods
~Lantern -- Pottery Barn Kids
~L.A.U.G.H letters -- Target
~Suitcases -- Land of Nod


I found this airplane at HomeGoods for a steal this spring and put it away for Dean's new bedroom. I just noticed in the new catalog that Pottery Barn Kids is also selling wire hanging airplanes that are adorable but a lot more expensive than what I paid. Gotta love HomeGoods.

SHOPPING SOURCES:
Navy & white rugby bedding -- Pottery Barn Kids {I just spotted this SAME bedding at Target yesterday and for about 1/2 the cost of PBK....grrr. They also had it in a light gray & white...very cute.}
Lime sheets -- Target
Decorative green bed pillow -- HomeGoods
Jute & navy stripe rug -- Pottery Barn Kids
Baskets -- HomeGoods
Lamps -- Target
Navy dresser knobs -- Pottery Barn Kids
Bedside table -- IKEA {a few years ago}


So where did the office/craft room go? I introduce you to my third floor attic. We had this finished when we moved in, and I'm thankful we did now. It's not really a usable space because it's not heated or air conditioned but it's a place to store our overflow. There are two small rooms with clipped ceilings. One holds my craft table among other things.


It's a little tight, but it works for now {or until we move into a more spacious home}.


The other room is my closet. It's nothing fancy but thank goodness we {my hubby & father-in-law built this} decided to convert it into a closet because I have NO IDEA where all these clothes would go!

**Dean's had FOUR successful nights in his bed so far...PHEW. Naps? Not going so well, but we're working on it and it's getting a little better. I have a few weeks left to get this boy of mine straightened out before returning to work....BOOHOO.

Monday, August 13, 2012

{Parties} 60 & Citrusy Sweet


Last Friday night our family celebrated my parents turning sixty by hosting a dinner party for them. It was a really fun night and so nice to be able to do something for the two individuals who have served my siblings and me for our entire lives {and continue to do so in many many ways}.

Here are some of the details from the night:

The restaurant had the table set for us when we arrived, and all we had to do was add some personal touches. It was a simple tablescape, but I really liked the way it turned out.

**Please excuse the poor quality of some of my pictures as they turned out a little blurry....I guess that's what happens when you're rushing to snap pics of everything before the guests arrive :-/


My sister-in-law made these beautiful centerpieces. She works for a florist and is very talented with her floral creations, so I enlisted her help for this party. The sunflowers and citrus slices were perfect and complimented the table nicely.


I created little menus, place cards, and favors for each guest, and my sister helped me set those up before the guests arrived.


To stay in keeping with the citrus theme, I attached the place cards to toothpicks and stuck them each in limes. For a favor, each couple received a set of citrus notecards personalized with their last name. My mom had seen notecard favors a long time ago in a magazine and mentioned that she thought they were a cute favor. I tucked that idea away and thought this was a perfect time to use it since it was her party.


The dinner menu was simple and listed the sips, eats, and sweets for the night.


The owner of the restaurant set up a little cake table for me, and I added some pretty fabric from JoAnn's, a Happy Birthday banner, the cake, some adult beverages and an open frame with old pictures of my parents. The frame I pulled from my basement and was something I used for the photo booth set-up at my son's first birthday party. It was already spray painted a lime green, so all my hubby had to do was attach three wire strands for me to hang pictures from. I used mini clothespins to attach the pictures.


The ribbon bunting for the cake was made with scraps of ribbon and attached to stripey straws. Very simple!


I also wanted to tie in our citrus theme with the cake so I asked the baker to keep it simple with the icing and add candied fruit slices around the base of the cake. I found the fruit slices at a local Hallmark store, and thought they looked so cute.


I did not serenade my parents ;-} The entire party sang "Happy Birthday" as I walked the cake over to them.


We were able to get a picture of our entire family {minus babies} at the end of the night. My brother-in-law Mark is rarely in family pictures because of his former job as a college football coach in Virginia. We are sooooo happy he made a career switch and moved my sister and their family back to New Jersey as of two weeks ago. Truly an answer to many prayers for their homecoming!


These two people were the ENTIRE reason for the party. We LOVE and appreciate them and feel beyond blessed to have them as our Mom and Dad.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

{Sneak Peek} Citrusy Sweet 60th Birthday


Hello! I've been working on my parents' 60th birthday party details and having so much fun with them! The par-tay is tomorrow night, and my siblings and I are all excited to celebrate an amazing man and woman who we call Dad and Mom.

I am very inspired by color and these citrus colors are soooo pretty and summery....I just adore them! I've tried hard to keep the details thoughtful yet simple but you can be judge when I post pictures and party details next week :-}

**Full party post coming NEXT WEEK!
**Summer is FLYING BY :-{ and it's that time of the year when I start feeling anxiety about returning to work and all the changes taking place in education, getting my classroom ready, planning new and exciting lessons for a whole new group of students, leaving my little man, etc, etc. You'd think after 14 years, I'd have this under control -- NOPE -- HA!
**My little mister is out-of-control! He's been climbing out of his crib like a madman {and is on his way down the steps for his morning milk as I type}. His big boy room is FINISHED, and we will be moving him into the big boy bed this weekend -- AHHH! BIG BOY ROOM PICS next week!
**I'll be 26 weeks on Monday -- this pregnancy is going so fast! Other than feeling crazy tired, it's been another great pregnancy. I'm going to try to enjoy these last 14 weeks because I'm pretty certain this will be the last time I will have a baby in my belly ;-}
**ENJOY your weekend!