Paddington Bear- British Inspired Baby Shower

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British Inspired Baby Shower, British Tea Party, Paddington Bear Baby Shower, Paddington Bear Tea Party

I have begun planning a baby shower for my dear friend Stephanie who is expecting her second child.  Since it is her second shower, it will be a casual and quaint event in my home, but I still want to make her feel special.

Here are a few of my ideas:

Tea Party!-  I will be using a mixture of tea cups for a fun and eclectic way to drink our tea

Food:  British food of course, tea sandwiches, scones and probably some sort of fun cake.

Decor: Red, white and blue, Paddington Himself will be there, suitcases, lace and doilies.

Sources:

1. Karas Party Ideas

2. Amazon

3. Amazon

4. Shop Sweet Lulu

5. Amazon

6. Table Cloths Factory

Hope you enjoy my inspiration!

Loving Some Wood Art

Tags

Painting on reclaimed wood, Reclaimed wood Art, Valentines Art, Words on Wood Panels

I have been so inspired by some of the reclaimed wood art floating around out there in the blog world. 

After I took down my reclaimed wood advent calendar, the wall over my mantle looked so bare.  I wanted something new, and fun!

I had my husband build me another reclaimed wood piece.

I stained it dark walnut just as I had with my advent calendar.  I love the contrast between the dark wood and the light trim and walls.

I searched and thought for days about what I wanted to paint on it.  I wanted it to be a reminder, something that I would want to look at everyday, and something very ungeneric.  That means just painting the word LOVE, or FAMILY on it was not going to cut it.  Not for this girl.  I like to be different. 

Here is what I decided upon.

 

 

I think it is such a great reminder.  Love it is not something you have, it is something you do!  To show your family and friends how much they mean to you, you have to act.  Now every day I have a reminder that I need to show the ones I love that I love them.

Its Beginning to Look and Feel A lot like Christmas

Tags

Snow, Trip to Santa, White Christmas

We have been enjoying the holiday season.  I love this time of year.  Christmas lights, Parades, Cookies, Parties, Carols, did I mention Cookies?

We finally got a nice dose of snow to highlight our holiday season as well!

My father in law built me these lovely window boxes this summer and I am so pleased to see them filled with garland and covered in snow!  They are as lovely as I had hoped!

It wouldn’t be the holidays with out a trip to Santa.  For some reason, the simple trip to our downtown “cabin” always brings out that holiday feeling in me.  It is just not the holidays until Santa comes to town!

As you can tell, our little Lucas is still not so sure about Santa.  Although he did get the courage to ask him for a Big Truck.  Ezra had a looong list to share this year.  Oh Boy!

See those little bells around the boys’ necks?  Santa sent those to them in the mail this year!

How is your holiday season going?

Little Mermaid Party

Tags

Little Mermaid Party, little mermaid table setting, ocean party, Under the Sea Party

Whew!  This holiday season has really taken me for a spin this year.  We have been busy!

In the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the holidays I had a Little Mermaid Party that I put together. 

Little Julia turned 4 and her favorite movie is The Little Mermaid.

Here are some pictures of what we did for her party.

See those little blank blue mini tiered cakes in the background?  Those were for the children to decorate.  Part of the party activities was for the children to decorate cakes.

 

They also painted little tote bags with fabric paint.  Here is the birthday girl getting ready to decorate her bag.

Julia’s cake was from my favorite local bakery Pretty Sweets.  It turned out adorable!

The tables were set in turquoise, lavender and white with tons of coral, sand castles, pearls and sea shells.

Julia loved her pretty under the sea tables.

Coupons for the Stocking

Tags

Christmas coupons, Coupons for children, coupons for stockings, free stocking stuffers for children, stay up late coupon, stocking stuffers for kids

This year I came up with the idea to add some coupons in Ezra’s stocking. 

We have a very specific bedtime, stringent rules on video game times and daily chores are required.  Some of these coupons will effect those household norms, but it is just a treat!

These are all “gifts” he would love! 

Feel free to print these out for your little ones if you think they would like them too!

Jingle the Elf

Tags

Christmas Traditions, Elf on the Shelf 2011, Elf on the Shelf Breakfast, Elf on the Shelf Ideas, Elf on the Shelf mischief, Elf on the Shelf Tradition

We have a new member of our family that joined us this holiday season.  His name is Jingle!

I must say, I am super excited about this new tradition to share with my children.  We have been having so much fun with Jingle in our home. 

He introduced himself to our family with a lovely “breakfast” that he set up for us while we were out for the day.  How did he know that our family loves to have breakfast for dinner? 

 

 

He also seemed to know that we did not have a waffle maker, and brought one for us.  According to the letter he left Lucas and Ezra, waffles are a favorite at the North Pole.  Now they are a favorite in our home too!

He also explained in his letter that he would report back to the North Pole when they have been naughty.  He said that if there was nothing naughty to report that he would be able to enjoy his “vacation” from the North Pole and would be able to have some fun around our home. 

Here are a few things Jingle has done in the night. 

Playing with the cars.

 

Reading stories to some of his new friends.

 

 

One night that silly elf TP’d the boys’ room!  It was hilarious. 

 

 

Here he is swinging from our kitchen chandelier!

Weeeeeeee!

Vintage Christmas Wreath

Tags

coffee filter and paper wreath, flowers made from coffee filters, homemade christmas wreath, Silver and white wreath, upcycled paper wreath, Vintage Christmas Wreath, vintage key wreath

Tuesday night my mother and I joined a group of ladies for a craft class.  A local floral and gift shop, Dahlia Floral, hosts craft nights every Tuesday and when I saw they were doing Christmas wreaths I signed up right away.

The rosettes are made from coiled up pages of an old dictionary.  The white flowers are coffee filters that were dipped in coffee to give them a vintage look.

There were so many talented ladies there, but I really love the way mine turned out.  For now it is living over the kitchen sink, until I can find the perfect spot among our Christmas decor.

Advent Calendar 2011

Tags

Advent Calendar, Children's Advent Calendar Ideas, DIY Advent Calendar, Ornament Advent Calendar, Wood Advent Calendar, Word Advent Calendar

This year we are incorporating a little sparkle into our advent calendar.

I was first inspired by This pretty that I found on Pinterest.

Dare I say, I think ours turned out even better?

Here is what we did.

My handy husband took 6 boards and connected them for me. 

 

Then came my job, to make it pretty.  I stained it a nice dark walnut color and added 24 small nails. 

Onto those nails I hung 24 pretty ornaments that coordinated.

I decided to add another level to the simple ornament advent.  Behind each ornament there is a circle with a word on it.  That is the word that we discuss for the day.  Here are a few examples:  Love, Peace, Joy, Fulfillment, Spirit, Charity, Gift.  Each day we will discuss the word, different meanings of it, how it is present in our lives and how it is relevant at Christmas time.  This will be a great vocabulary building excercise for Lucas who is now 2 1/2.  For Ezra I am hoping we can help him understand a little more what Christmas is about and how these words are present in our lives everyday. 

 

They we will hang these pretty little guys on a special tree (or two) day by day.

Yay!

Cookie Exchange Printables

Tags

Cookie Exchange Favor, Cookie Exchange Favor Tags, Cookie Exchange Party, Cookie Exchange Printables, Free Christmas Printables, Free Cookie Exchange Printables, Free Gingerbread Printables, Free Party Printables

I love the idea of hosting a cookie exchange over the holiday season.  It seems like such a fun way to share recipes, get together with friends and score a bundle of sweets to take home.

Here is a printable for all of you out there thinking of hosting a cookie exchange this holiday season.

 

These would make great little favor tags, or you could put one on the front of the boxes that everyone would take home. 

Speaking of boxes, how great would these gable boxes from Garnish be for your guests to fill up.  Each box is only $1.75 each.

Pop a decoration on the front of this box and everyone will be so impressed with how organized your party is!

How about this for a simple and inexpensive favor idea?

Buy some wisks or silicone spatulas and tie a tag onto it for each lady to take home.  Who couldn’t use another wisk or spatula?  They are always useful. 

The beauty of the cookie exchange is that refreshments are covered!  Everyone will enjoy those cookies!

To download simply right click on the images and save to your computer. 

Have fun!

Give me a pillow or two

Tags

Bicycle pillow, Graphics Fairy pillows, Octopus pillow, Vintage images

I have discovered a lovely website called The Graphics Fairy.  I know, I know, I am probably behind the times, but it ROCKS nonetheless.

She allows people to download fun vintage graphics for free to use on projects.  Yay!

Here is the fun I had with a couple of her graphics.

My husband is a bicycling enthusiast, so I thought he might like this one.  And he did!

 

I loved this funky vintage octopus so much I wanted to add him to our bedroom. 

Aren’t those pillows great!?  I love them!

I simply downloaded the images from The Graphics Fairy.  Thank you Graphics Fairy. 

I then printed them out on heat transfer paper.

Then I took my fabric, these happened to be cloth napkins, and ironed the images on.  After that is was some simple stitching with my machine to turn them into pillow covers. 

She has so many graphics on her site to choose from.  So go have some fun!

Hooray!