Our 5 Year Old Cowboy Birthday Bonanza

This weekend was our rootin' tootin' Cowboy Birthday Bonanza! All the kids had a blast, and I got a few good pictures to show!

We held the party outside, and it was a beautiful day! Normally this time of the year in south Georgia can still be pretty brutally hot, but we have been having some cooler weather, and it was very pleasant!

The cow print fabric in the wood crate, as well as the scrapbook paper around the jar holding the straws was from Hobby Lobby. The menu sign is my design and the enamel cup was a thrift store find earlier this summer!  Since I had been planning this for a while, I was able to take advantage of the summer gingham prints and partyware. The square plates were Dollar Tree and the blue straws came from the dollar bins at Michaels.

Party favors were brown paper lunch bags that had some homemade trail mix and a sheriff badge inside. I made the fabric bunting from two thrift store shirts and iron-on hem tape.  The grasses I cut from the neighbor's yard and put them in large soup cans wrapped in blue paisley fabric and twine.

A couple of hay bales with a yard sale ($1) sleeping bag provided some extra seating and the horses were Goodwill finds over the summer. I borrowed the wagon wheels, so the decor for this party was done on the cheap!

I made the invitations with the scrapbook paper pad I got from Hobby Lobby and used my Cricut to cut the N's for the front. The cards were HP greeting cards and I designed the inside and printed them on my home computer.

Cornbread mini muffins served with honey were a huge hit!

Black Cherry and Cream Soda IBC bottles were also wrapped with scrapbook paper and Twizzlers were served in a square glass vase. 

My handsome cowboy and I at the party. Happy Trails!





Linking up to:
Metamorphosis Monday
dittle dattle
Sunday Showcase
Sisters of the Wild West
Making the World Cuter Monday

This is my kinda Linky Party! Real Homes. Real Messes. Real Life.

I am SOOOOO glad I am not alone in the messiness (sp?) of my life! It seems as though in blogland everyone out there has a gleaming spotless home, all the time, and the "after" pictures are incredible, but the "befores" are really not that bad! And then I ask myself... how in the heck do they DO that?!?!? duh. Just like you do silly.

Step 1 - work on project and make big mess

Step 2 - artfully, carefully, style photo for project and take mass photos in best light possible while managing not to get dogs/cats/random animals in photo

Step 3 - upload pics and realize when looking at photos on computer that there are random dirty socks, matchbox cars, etx. in photo

Step 4 - shove everything out of the frame of the photo in a big pile behind you (cause who sees that?) and retake picures again

Step 5 - Try to upload photos AND create entire post before baby wakes up from nap/4 year old needs snack, gets bored with TV, breaks a limb, etc.

Step 6 - realize that is NOT happening, and hit "save now" so that you can come back after bedtime is over and finish post (while you should really be finishing up laundry for tomorrow and dishes from dinner and... and... and... the list just keeps on going)

So here is is in all its hoarding, cluttery, glory. BTW, we are moving to a new(for us) much bigger house in a few weeks and maybe I will finally have a place for everything! I have visions of organization and no more toys everywhere (since we'll have a playroom! eee!) and all will be right with the world. yeah. right. Stay tuned for updates on that!



The office/craft room



Dining Room

Master Bedroom vanity - its supposed to be serene... not so much

I'm linking up to Decor Chick's Real Homes, Real Messes, Real Life…Link Party!

Do ya think I would have showed you all this otherwise? I think not...

Real Parties - Halloween!

I thought these photos were gone forever with the ancient computer we had that crashed, but no, I resurrected them from Walgreens.com today and I couldn't wait to share with you!

This is from Halloween 2008. My little munchkin, was well, little! He's such a big boy now! Where did 4 years old come from?!?!?! Anyways, it was frigid that night, which, in Columbus, GA it could go either way. We had a costume party on trick or treat night, and I'm just sorry I didn't get more pictures, but here are a few, and I plan on redoing many of the other stuff I didn't get pics of this year!

Bean Bag Toss - Felt covering a piece of plywood

Bathroom Decor

Fabric Pumpkins - The tutorial is here

Spooky Glass Jar candleholders - again, tutorial here

Pinata - so much fun, design found on BHG.com

Cat Poop Dessert - yes it's edible! It's no bake cookies in oatmeal and graham cracker crumbs. Looks GROSS!

Linky Parties

I know it sounds a little funny, but I've joined a "linky party" It's hosted by one blog, and other blogs with similar topics join the "party" and link to thier creations so that others can easily find what you are doing/creating/writing. Nice little networking deal, huh?

So, check out the linky party I've joined this week ! (I'm #'s 8 & 10!)

Dr. Seuss First Birthday Bash

In looking back at the pictures of my son's first birthday party earlier this summer, I had forgotten how much fun we had! I wanted to share with you some fun pictures of the party. I hope you get a few decor ideas you can use for your Dr. Seuss party.

The color scheme was turquoise blue, red and yellow. I wanted to highlight the primary colors because it was a first birthday and I didn't want to just go with blue and red or red and black. I borrowed a few decorations from a friend who had a Dr Seuss baby shower earlier this year.

I didn't get too many close-ups... (it was before I started the bloggin' thing!)

For the food table, I used two small red oval frames with pictures of Thing 1 and Thing 2 in them that my friend found online and printed, then framed. My main table centerpiece was a red and white striped piece of fabric with a bright blue boa. I also had three blue flower pots that I found at Target in the $1 section that were filled with yellow easter grass and each had a red gerbera daisy. I purchased the paper lanterns at Hobby Lobby and hung them from the ceiling with thumbtacks and thread.  I also added a few Dr. Seuss books for fun!

I served ham sandwiches on the small Hawaiian rolls and deviled eggs with the yolks dyed green. I used washed out salsa jars to hold the flatware and wrapped each one with red and white scrapbook paper then tied a blue ribbon around to complete!

This was the Happy Birthday pennants I made for Connor. I cut them from scrapbook paper and cut the letters from contrasting scrapbook paper and used yellow curling ribbon to hang them with. I found the turquoise full size flat sheet at goodwill and it was the perfect color for my backdrop! The yellow bowls had red gummy fish in them for snacks. My same friend from before has a very artistic husband and he drew the fish for her and again, I borrowed them!

The red metal pail was from Hobby Lobby, and so were the blue polka dot pinwheels. The yellow stuff is left over easter grass!

The smash cake!

The invitation

Personalized Thank You notes (I knew learning Photoshop in college would be good for something!)

Willow House - Real Parties

Have I told you that I LOVE what I do? I have? More than once? Ok, ok, I know, I can't help, it... I do! I had another fantastic party last night with some wonderful ladies! Not only do I get to get out of the house, leaving behind the chaos of dinnertime, bathtime, and bedtime, but I get to relax, have some snacks, meet lots of wonderful new friends, and talk about design. How much better can it get?

I know, you don't have to tell me, it doesn't get much better!

Thought I'd share some photos and a big THANK YOU to my fabulous hostess, Debbie!

Oh, and don't miss the yummy Lemon Blossoms Recipe below that we enjoyed last night!

Debbie and Jennifer

Galveston Memo Board and Must-Have Holder

Grammercy Double Dish Stand and Villa Stoneware Salad Plates

Lemon Blossoms

Ingredients:
18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix
3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel.
To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.
With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

Cozy Little Dinner Party for 4

I have a great little eat-in kitchen, that I have had a blast sprucing up recently! And, believe me when I say little... the eat-in part is only about 5 1/2 feet by 7 1/2 feet. The table takes up almost all of it!

I wanted to have a cozy little dinner party for 4, and wanted all the decor for the party to match what is in the room already.

Paint on the walls is Benjamin Moore "Honeymoon" from the Affinity Collection (AF-345). It was really a new idea for me, because it's a yellow and I hadn't done much in the way of yellow before moving into this house.

I envisioned a warm palatte of yellows and reds with a touch of black. I had some great little black and white vintage grocery salad plates from Ballard Designs that started my inspiration.

Pictured here hanging one above the other on my wall in my kitchen. There are 4 total and they flank the door leading into my office. (Said office happens to be a lil' bit messy right now, hence no pic of all 4 salad plates)

I then found a fabulous fabric at JoAnn's of all places! I used this to recover some hideous looking chairs.

So, on to the dinner party! First, the centerpiece... Had all of this already. Red gerbera daisies were left over from my son's first birthday party. (It was a Dr. Suess theme - if I get pics together I'll post someday!) They are in a clear glass vase with some green bamboo and are sitting on top of a black painted wooden charger.

I then added some tealights for ambiance on either side of the vase.

Next, white dinner plates, red salad plates, and white napkins with felt flowers. I wrapped the napkins in black grosgrain ribbon, and added the silverware inside the napkins for a nice clean look on the table.

View of the microwave stand from the table. The leaf is a metal tray I hung with a plate hanger, and the red vase and red cookbook stand are thrift shop finds!

And now, the shot from the kitchen.

And every great hostess knows that your dinner party isn't complete unless you look great, so don't forget your cute little apron that says, "I've been slaving away all day, and I still look fabulous!"