A First Birthday Party..

 I don't really consider myself a decorator.  My house isn't going to be featured in any style magazines, but I'm ok with that.  My love is for crafts.  I LOVE paper and all things made of paper. I love to have parties, mostly to talk and see people but I love to come up with themes and decorate for them.  I think its because you can go over the top at a party, but its not permanent enough to drive you crazy in three months. My flaw is that I am a terrible procrastinator.  TERRIBLE.. in high school we had to write a ten page paper for our senior english class, I wrote the whole thing the night before! I can tell you this, I haven't really matured in this area over the years. Well maybe a little, I did really hate english. 

I had an opportunity to really craft it up at my sons recent first birthday party.  

I would like to think that if I had all the time in the world I would have any number of creative, jaw dropping scrapbooks, filled with every detail of our lives lying around our house. But my reality is a one year old and 5 months pregnant with another. An hour of energy is a luxury to me.  One thing in the area of scrap booking that I think would make life easy is a Cricut! If you have never seen these things you should look them up!  It is a paper cutting, scrapbook lovers DREAM! You put your design cartridge in the the machine, load your paper and tell it what you want to cut, then VIOLA!! Perfectly cut, intricate paper lovelies.  Awwww... what a machine. But what a price tag! $300.00   This was a non-negotiable in our family. "Honey can I spend cccooouu$300.00gghhhh on a machine that I might not use very much but makes really cute things?"  You can guess the answer.  I found a local scrapbook store that will let you bring your own paper and use theirs for only $5!!! EXCITING!! So that's where I headed and this is what I made...

I really struggled to come up with a theme for the party, but after much consideration we decided to do a Golf theme.. I know its a one year old party but in this family at least 33% are BIG fans.. and decorating would be CHEAP because we had alot of the stuff at home already.  Here are somethings I did..

Centerpiece,  on a grass table cloth.

 Golf ball inspired snacks

decoration

The color coordinated drinks with labels that said "Drew's Ace" as in hole in one..

And all together..

and finally THE cake!! It was so tasty and so not made by me.. 

So you see crafting can be for the everyday or for fun fun times... I love this kind of thing..  

The many uses of a cake stand

Is it just me or does any one else find cake stands to be a staple in their decorating and party planning?

Of course cake stands are a very simple way to dress up a cake or cupcakes for a special occasion, but I have also found them to be a simple way to dress up your decorating, in almost any room in the house!

(A DIY cake stand made out of painted terracotta pots and plates I found searching the web--I so want to make this one day! But alas, I digress...)

I like to change up the decorations on top of my TV armoire according to the seasons. I bring out my Thanksgiving ware cake stand to decorate for the fall. I think arranging my paper pumpkins (be looking for a post on this soon) on various levels makes all the difference.

I also use a simple glass cake stand in my master bathroom, placing my smelly-good toiletries on top making them double as decor. Even my husband likes this.

And then, you can never go wrong with candles in the bedroom! The varied sizes and heights of the candles make this arrangement very pleasing to the eye. (By the way, this is not my bedroom, but a random online photo that I like.)


Finally, I just have to say, if you are ever in need of a centerpiece for any occasion be it baby shower, wedding, birthday party or special dinner, I highly recommend incorporating a cake stand into the mix. For example: for a brunch time bridal shower, put your delightful pastries on cake stands in the middle of each table set for your guests and add a few bud vases on either side and voila, you have a simple and elegant centerpiece. And again, you cannot go wrong with candles on a cake stand.

My Old House: Living Room

This is what our living room looked like when we bought this house:

Now it looks like this:

It's funny because we're moving soon and I had always meant to document the work we'd done on the house & I am just now doing it.  

Let me know if you have made some change to a room or rooms that you'd like to share & we'll post it here.

Email me!

By night I'm a quilter, crafter, reality tv watcher...and by day I'm a kitchen and bath designer! I have gotten some requests to post pictures of projects I designed for. Here are a few from last year. I will work on getting some new photos of recent jobs. I need to take some photos of the grey kitchens I loved! Enjoy!

Shared Girls' Bedrooms

Pottery Barn Kids

Pottery Barn Kids

Ohdeedoh

Cococozy

Exquisite Design

Cookie Magazine

Coastal Living

Exquisite Design

Ohdeedoh

Pottery Barn Kids

Veranda

Blueprint Bliss




It's fun to dream.  If you have a really cute shared girls' room,
Email me  a pic & I would love to share it here with our readers!!

x o x o

A few weeks ago, we found out we're expecting again!  So, for all the nausea & fatigue, I haven't gotten around to posting anything!  My apologies.  If you would indulge me, what is on my mind right now is the fact that we will soon have 2 children, and possibly, 2 girls.  I shared a bedroom with my sister growing up and we are still close to this day.  I would love that for my daughters, if I end up with another lovely girl.  It's got me thinking about all the cute bedroom ideas!

This is the image I get: