Embellish Party Hats With Pom Poms

Hey friends!
Can I just love on you guys a bit first?
It's just that there is something so sweet in knowing I can stop in, throw up a quick post and know that so many of you incredible friends will be here for me. It means so much. ♥

I truly adore you!

At the moment, I am juggling several projects. I'm a tad overwhelmed. But tomorrow is the last day of school for my girls and SUMMER begins! YAAYYYY! I'm so excited!  So we are doing an end of the year party for Ella's class.  I was going to do a summer or carnival theme but...big sigh...I'm just too swamped.

I kept things simple and hit Target, grabbed some rainbow party stuff with stripes and dots that looked HAPPY, HAPPY and went with it.  But why not embellish some things a bit to put a customized spin on a basic party hat?

Put hot glue on the tip of your hat and squish your pom right on there.
Boom. 
Customized party hat.
It's that easy. ;)
You can make your own hats too but if you are looking for easy...here is some easy.

What do you think?  I love them and I am stoked I had yarn that would match. It's the little details, you know?

Have a great day friends!

P.S.  I tend to post what I'm up to a lot more often on Instagram so if any of you want to see what I'm up to you you can follow me there.  I would LOVE to follow you back and get to know you. :)

A Note to Those Hurting on Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to so many of you precious friends!  

Today is a sweet day to celebrate my precious girls as well as my mother, stepmother and Mother in law that God has blessed me with.  I adore the handmade cards and notes with backward letters, the girl's excitement as they jump on me in bed with hugs around the neck and early morning snuggles.  I don't take one of these moments for granted because for so long I remember waking up on Mother's Day wishing I could sleep the day away and pretend the day did not bring me pain as I ached to be a mom too.

Many of you know my story.  If you don't, read my infertility story here. Each year I write this post on Mother's day. (You can read the others here and here). You know that my heart holds a special place for those hurting today.  Women with infertility, women who have lost mothers, grandmothers or children, experienced the tragedy of a miscarriage, the ache of waiting for your child over an ocean as you walk the path of adoption, for birth mothers who made the courageous choice to give their child up for adoption. Whatever the reason...

...this day I pray for YOU.

I know your pain.  I have walked it.  In fact, this year is tough because I lost my beloved grandmother (Mema) last June.  My poor mother is struggling as well since I am far away.  This day that reminds me of the importance of family.  The importance of a mother that raised and loved me.  And my mother missing her own mother.  This year I sent her flowers but I also sent a daisy plant, my grandmothers favorite flower, to plant in remembrance of her.  She was so touched and I'm glad it helped her know I'm missing her too. I could never forget my Mema and all she was to me.

Just like I can't forget the journey of pain that led me to motherhood.  I now count it pure joy but during that time...it was hard to find even the smallest speck of hope.  I wanted to be a mom.  I was tired of feeling incomplete, alone, left out of a supposed "mother's club."  When I was pregnant, I had someone say to me, "You are no longer on the outside of the mom's club." Though the intent was kind...I found it so heart breaking. That another person HAD seen me on the outside of a club whose only membership requirement was the one thing I most coveted...a child.  It seemed insensitive and surprisingly shortsighted.

Motherhood is not some exclusive club.  It's a divine gift and the hardest, most rewarding thing I have ever endeavored in my life. It is a blessing that is cyclical.  A heritage your born from and continue.  It is lifelong and God ordained.

~ God makes the world all over again, whenever a little child is born. ~

Jean Paul Richter

And we are all affected by mothers.  

Having one.

Wanting one.

Being one. 

Given up by one.

Missing one.

Hurt by one. 

Loved by one.

So each year I let those of you who wake up on this day hurting that I am praying for you.  Loving you.  Not knowing your name or seeing your face but understanding your heart and wanting you to be washed in the comfort and love of the Father. The God who gives strength to the weary, hope to the hopeless, comfort to those who are mourning, asks that you cast your burdens upon Him, loves you with an everlasting love, forgives every single one of your transgressions, and will restore health to you and heal all your wounds.  Beloved, He is able and HE WILL!

I love each of you as I pray and ask God to speak to you personally and wrap His loving arms around you.  May you know His presence, His redeeming power, and perfect love.

Blessings and lots of Hugs to each of you!

xoxo

A Pretty Ruffle Topiary

Hello sweet friends.

I wanted to share with you this little topiary for a couple reasons.  First...I made it awhile ago during my blog hiatus and I thought it would be fun to share now that I am back in the bloggy swing of things.  

But secondly, I wanted to provide a nice picture tutorial that will help those who have been inquiring about my White Ruffly Spring Wreaths and looking for a tutorial. I actually get several emails a week inquiring on how to make them so I hope to do a vlog how-to but until I can actually get to that...this should do nicely for those who are still unsure how to make the ruffles.

You will be excited that they are super easy. Just time consuming to finish but OH SO WORTH IT.

Let's get to it, shall we?

So here's what I used for my project:

Material cut into 2-3 inch circles 

(amount depends on size of project)

Fabric scissors

Straight pins

Styrofoam ball (size optional)

Stick from my yard (yay for free!)

Terra cotta pot that I distress painted

Moss as a top filler

I actually used an old sweater that had pilled (boo) to make this but you can obviously use any kind of fabric or felt of your choice.  Also, the fun thing about ruffles is that your circles do not have to be cut perfectly but do try to make them uniform.  To make several, I cut out a strip of fabric and fold it over several times into a square and cut out my circles.

So far so good...

And literally that's it.  There's your first ruffle.

When pinning them, try placing them close together and in different directions for better coverage. Also, when making a wreath, it is important to wrap the wreath form with ribbon first so the styrofoam doesn't show or start to break apart.  I was lazy with my ball (as you can see) but I probably should have wrapped it with ribbon or fabric but wrapping a ball is not as easy. :) 

Continue placing your ruffles all over your ball and your done!

It's true.

Who knew?

After I finished ruffling up the styrofoam ball,  I used a stick for the post and placed it in the pot, anchoring it with newspaper and topped it off with some moss I had on hand. A good tip I have read somewhere (probably pinterest) is to anchor it with spray foam. 

I use what I got, folks. You get me.

Well that's about it.  Hope you enjoyed this little mini tutorial.

Have an incredibly blessed week sweet friends.

xoxo

Fabric & Moss Spring Wreath

Happy Monday my friends! 

We are officially on Spring Break and my oldest daughter has been throwing up....blech! By poor girl is on the mend so we are just hanging out on the home front with lots of snuggles and hugs. :)

I wanted to do a quick post to share a wreath I made for a really good friend of mine.  She had these handmade grapevine wreaths from a woman she knew just hanging out at her house.  I had noticed her  pinning ideas on pinterest and offered to pretty them up.

I'm so glad she let me have creative license with this! 

She wanted burlap and I had some different shades from my stash but I added some linen and canvas as well to give it different texture.  I also made different flowers for visual interest. Some ruffled, some rolled, some petal flowers.  I bought moss ribbon and cut it into leaves to continue the natural look.

I won't lie....these will be SUPER hard to give back.  I just love them so much and may have to make a few for my own front doors too.

This was just a quick post to say hello.  

And I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have decided to follow along thanks to Jaime and her sweet welcome back for me. 

I look forward to getting to know you and peeking in on you too!

Blessings and hugs my friends!

♥

Painted Soda Crate: Four Ways to Get Organized

Hi. 

I know.  Its been forever.  

No, like a REALLY long time.

I pray you are still there ready for another post from me.  I hope to write a post soon about why I have been gone so long but for now I want to just share this fun little drink crate I revamped as well as some ideas on how to organize with it.

I picked a couple crates up at a flea market and used them for decorating but one never quite fit.  It didn't look quite right.  We all know paint improves everything. So do happy words.  I got to work and gave it a pale, minty green makeover with hello sunshine stenciled on the side.

The inside needed some love too. Some of the boards were cracked off and the inside of something always needs an element of surprise.  So lets make it pretty and more functional. I grabbed some happy scrapbook paper and mod podged it to foam board that I cut into squares and gluing them into the bottom of each section. I'm currently using it to house my pencils and art supplies but I brain stormed other fun ideas and decided to style some for you...

I even use this one in my dining room to store some party supplies or I put the vintage tablecloths (on the left) inside the crate when I need more shelf room.

I researched some more ideas that are great organization, display and storage solutions...

belt and tie storage from bhg

Washi Tape Storage from Somerset Place by Stampington & Company

caramel corn cone holder (yum!) from Over the Moon Vintage Rentals

Paint storage from Clean Mama

under the bed rolling boxes

Happy Crate re-purposing!

xoxo

Praying and Mourning...

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Casually Elegant Thanksgiving Tablescape

Sooooo...anyone still with me out there?  I always feel like I come back to post with a bunch of excuses for why I am so haphazard with blogging.  All I can say is...I will blog when I can.  I love blogging and I pray I always will keep up with it.  But for now...this season of my life is calling me to focus on managing my home and being available to my girls. Blogging is no longer a full time aspiration for me but a wonderful hobby where I hope I can continue to foster old relationships and make some new ones too.

So I am thinking a nice seasonal post with some Thanksgiving inspiration (a tad last minute) was a GREAT idea. And tablescapes are my heart and why I don't do more of them on here...I just don't know.  

Probably because I have like 2 hours of optimal sunlight to do it and I am usually knee deep into something else during peak photo shoot time. Which is why I LITERALLY dragged my dining room table through two french doors to my porch to take these photos.

I believe that is dedication and cause for complete forgiveness of my sporadic behavior of late. 

Right?  Right.

It all started with these spray roses (3 bunches for $12) that I typically grab every time I go to the grocery store. I loved that these were a fun orange and yellow color so I grabbed three bunches thinking I was going to throw them in a vase and be in my "flowers make me happy" place.

But then I remembered I had a bunch of these cleaned out, glass candle holders I tend to hoard and thought it would be fun to arrange these flowers with a cluster of them running down the center of my dining table.

I used some faux leaves and acorns from the neighbors tree to scatter down the runner for some more fall flair. 

Then I just decided to experiment a bit.

I grabbed some leaf chargers I made last year for another table I did using leaves from a dusty old ficus tree.  I just cleaned off the leaves, peeled then right off and hot glued them to a cardboard cake circle.

The bird plates are from Crate and Barrel and I topped them on my everyday white plates instead of using china. I did use silver flatware and crystal glasses to dress it up a bit. 

These cute favors are orange cinnamon votive candles in a drawstring, canvas bag.  Attached are leftover tags used from a client mailing I did.  The seed paper leaves are stapled to kraft paper squares tied off with twine.

I adore the fact that these bird plates all have a slightly different bird on them. 

Happy, happy plates. :)

Obviously you can adjust this for a larger gathering and a longer table too. I was just having a little fun staging the table. 

Just thought I would share and actually do a post in the month of November.

If I don't post for another long while...Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

♥ xoxo ♥