3D Easter Specimen Art

I found these adorable tiny eggs at the Dollar Tree (12pk for $1). I really liked them but wasn't sure what to do with them. So I cut them in half and made this specimen art. So cute, easy and it cost me less than $1. 

CARS Birthday

Believe it or not, my baby just turned 3 yesterday!! We celebrated on Saturday with Hayes very first friends birthday party. We had to make it a cars birthday (of course), since Hayes is obsessed with all things that have tires.

Of course we had to do the car party in the garage. It only seemed fitting. I had SUCH a great time putting stuff together goodie, games and decorating for it.
Here are the invites that we handed out to all Hayes friends...

 Each ticket was on a lanyard so that they could wear it to the party if they wanted to.

I decorated 95% of it from the Dollar Tree. The only items I bought else where were the scrapbook paper (Hobby Lobby), checkered flags, cupcake liners & napkins (Hobby Lobby) & balloons (Walmart). Seriously...EVERYTHING else came from the Dollar Tree or I already had it :) Now that's the way to throw a party...CHEAP!!

Thanks so much to my friend Holly for cutting out my triangle for the pennant flags (both large & small on over the cupcakes) on her cricket!!

I looked EVERYWHERE for CARS water bottles for each of the kids to take home but couldn't find them. So...these kool-aid jammers were going to have to work. And they did. I added a small piece of paper around each one.

Eating Table & Place Settings

For the juice bottles on the table, I also added the "Rust-eze" label.

As the kiddos arrived, we took their pics in the go-cart. We really wanted to take them for rides. But try as we might, we could NOT get the darn thing fixed before the party. Oh Well...

Then onto GAMES...

Luigi's Casa Della Tires
Stacking small chocolate donuts the winner is whoever can stack the most.

Pin the tooth on Mater

Ramone's Body Shop. Where each kiddo got a cars tattoo.

Guido's Tire Toss. Bean Bag toss into the tire inter tubes.

 ~GOODIE BAGS~
Believe it or not...I found EVERYTHING in this goodie bags @ the dollar tree. Some of the items were 4 or 6 to a pack!! Even the CARS action figures were found there!!
Each kiddo was sent home with their own personalized goodie bag along with a small gold piston cup.

It was a great 3rd birthday for Hayes!!

It may run in the family??

So...has anyone ever said this to you?? Sometimes when people are describing me, to me, I wonder if it's a compliment or an insult & I have yet to figure it out. Yes, I'm a perfectionist in certain aspects of my life. Especially in my calling at church, decorating, & entertaining. But I ENJOY doing these things! It's actually relaxing to me.

However, last month I had an epiphany. We were at my parents on a Sunday night (which is our normal tradition) with my brother & his family. We were celebrating my nephew, Jax's 3rd birthday. When my brother pulled THIS out of the fridge.

SERIOUSLY!!

He spent 3 hours and hand drew this picture of Lighting McQueen on my nephews birthday cake.

Don't get me wrong...I'm NOT insulting him!! Quite the opposite...he did a pretty AMAZING job free handing this picture.

But I was very glad to see that it's not just me who would spend an outrageous amount of time perfecting something like this. I'm pretty sure that it runs in the family.

Love you Kev!!

Happy St. Patty's Day

OK-I KNOW...I am so far behind with my posts. Well at least a month behind.

It's been just about a month since St. Patty's day, but I wanted to post what I did for my boys. The holiday just happened to fall on a Saturday this year, which made it super fun.

I found these adorable St. Patty's plates at 99cent store.

Also found these Lucky Charms Bars there. Just added the free printable tag I found online.

Found these small buckets @ the Dollar Tree. Filled them with Rolo's & added the tag.

I found an adorable St. Patty's treasure hunt online HERE. Printed it out, then filled small organza bags with gold chocolate coins (one for each boy) for them to find as the treasure!

 Easy Peasy & my kids LOVED it all.

Wedding Day

Since July, I've known that one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world was GETTING MARRIED!! There are a handful of girlfriends in my life who (behind RJ) know everything about me...but Em is one of those people. Which is kind of scary that she knows me that will and has still stuck by my CrAzY after all these years.

So I was thrilled that I had the opportunity to help with the wedding.

I offered to have the wedding at my house. Although my house is small & simple...I was happy to host. Emily's sister was going to be in charge of flowers & her Mom, in charge of the food. Which left me with ONLY decorations to cover! (squeal...MY FAVE!!!) The instructions that I got from Emily was to keep it simple! The ceremony was family only-Small and intimate, and I think she wanted the decore to match. I did my best to try!

I asked for help from a mutual friend, Holly Moore. She is one of the most creative women that I know! For the last month or so, Holly & I have had a great time researching decoration online & bouncing ideas back and forth until we decided on every last detail.

Here's what we came up with...

~WELCOMING GUESTS~

This framed 'M' hung on the front door.

As guests arrived they had a chance to write notes to the happy couple on the entry way table in a small notebook I found at Ross.

I personalized the book by adding their name & wedding date in vinyl on the binding.

The table was decorated with a framed copy of their invite.

A small black sofa table adorned the hallway for guests to leave their gifts.

 Decorated with a lantern, small bundle of flowers & a custom wedding tile.

 One of my favorite details of the decorations were the small pearl buttons we attached to many of the decorations. So CUTE!!

 Hanging over the table in front of the den doors, was a printed version of Dean & Emily's "Love Story." So guests could read about their courtship.

The back patio was decorated with another sofa table & black park bench.

Even my outside sconces got a make over for the wedding. A quick coat of black paint, vase from the dollar tree and flowers.

 The table was filled with pictures of the Bride & Groom from when they were younger. As well as one large pic of them together.

 I edited the childhood pictures to be black and white with small touches of blue in each one. For Example:

(Aren't they so darn cute!! I mean Emily & Dean.)

We also filled a couple small milk glass vases with blue candy...just to add some more blue to that table.

~FAVORS~

Found small wedding bubbles on sale at Hobby lobby 50 for $5.00 so I HAD to buy them!!

Added a small tag with initials and wedding date that matched the wedding tile I made them :)

~THE CEREMONY SPACE~

30 freshly painted black wedding chairs faced a small white drapery backdrop framed in with a topiary tree & lantern on each side of it.

Large lanterns and white rose pedals decorated the aisle

 The backdrop did great until about 10 minutes before the ceremony started, when it blew over twice!! UGH!! I'm grateful for a hubby who quickly put it back together and made sure it didn't do it again by moving 2 HUGE pots behind it to brace it.

~LUNCHEON~

After the ceremony, we had a light lunch before the happy couple left for their honeymoon.

  Don't forget dessert...

 Instead of cake, Emily ordered cupcakes which were made by one of my beautiful Beehives. They were DE-LISH!! Not to mention beautiful.

 We served those on monogrammed paper plates.

 ~EATING AREAS~

(small round table outside)

 We decorated 4 tables that guests could eat at. 3 outside and 1 inside. All had black table clothes and a B&W table runner on them. The table scape was a lantern centerpiece filled with a blue candle, 2 cylinder vases (wrapped with ribbon & filled with flowers), 2 small mercury vases (with a small baby's breath arrangement), & 4 small glass votive holders (that I had decorated with vinyl-either and 'M' or a Fleur dE lis).

Because of the wind and the cold, most everyone ate inside. But the tables looked beautiful anyhow :)

Inside Kitchen table

~BATHROOM~

I really LOVE to make my bathroom match any event I have at my house.

~DETAILS~

Decorating is all in the little details...I've gathered a few pics of things that Holly and I made/created for the wedding that I LOVED!! Little things that probably no one else even noticed but I love to do.

Matching tags for all the food.

 Well Wishes sign with small jewel as the i dot.

 Vases wrapped with ribbon & jewel

 Vinyl on all of the glass votive holders

 Large candles in lanterns wrapped with ribbon and jewel

 Homemade mercury glass vases (yes!! I did them)

 Vases & flowers wrapped with ribbon and intricate paper

 Home made cupcake stands made out of my milk glass platters and glass candle stick holders. Then ribbon weaved through the edges...soooo cute!!

Tile tied with ribbon & jewel.

Congrats to the happy couple, Dean and Emily! So excited for both of you.

Thanks for the chance to help with your important day.