Father's Day Gift Idea

Father's Day is Sunday.

Nothing like last minute, huh?

I was making some other projects with koozies (see blog on Monday!) and had a great idea for a quick, cheap and simple gift to celebrate my husband's first Father's Day as this cutie's dad!

(shameless plug for my adorable daughter, I realize this)

 



I simply painted my daughter's palms with white paint I had on hand and pressed one on either side of the blank koozie from the craft store.

 

Side note: Although I said "simply", that probably isn't the best adjective to describe this task. It will definitely take two people to hold open your child's palm and paint it if you have a wiggly 7 month old that likes to clasp her hand around things during this stage. Have baby wipes handy and don't be afraid to get a little paint on your hands. If you get extra marks on the koozie or mess up, you can quickly wipe it off with a baby wipe and start over!

 

 

 



After some personalization and a fairly quick dry time, my daughter can now "hold" her daddy's cold drinks. Presh.

 

Time to get crafty!

Laura

Another Monday List

1. Jackpot. An entire list of pumpkin recipes that are all low-fat and healthy. Click here to feel like you've won the lottery. I'm most excited about the Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake Yogurt Cupcakes.

 

2. Apple season is just starting up and I am excited to hopefully do some canning this week! I'll keep you updated.

 

3. Free advice: keep one dish sponge in your dishwasher and one to use in the sink. Every time you run your dishwasher, switch them out as you unload your dishes. That way your sponges stay as germ-free as possible. And when one starts to bite the dust, switch it out with a new one!

 

4. Staying on the cleaning topic, after washing and drying your towels (bath, kitchen, etc.), and are putting them away, put them on the bottom of the stack in the closet or drawer. So, you are pulling your towels from the top of the pile and replacing the recently washed ones on the bottom. That way you aren't using the same few towels over and over again and wearing them out. I heard this from Martha (Stewart, if you aren't on a first name basis like we are) once.

 

5. I can't stop perusing Etsy for little girl headbands. How are there so many cute options? But what if I buy newborn size and she's born with a massive head (like my husband keeps telling me that he had) and none of them fit? These are the things that keep me up at night. Oh, and my top-heavy, kool-aid man-esque self (see photo for example).

 

via

 

Oh yaaaaaa (said like the kool-aid man, of course),

Laura

Football Hurricane Filler

After July 4th and before Autumn can be looked at one of two ways.

1. The relaxing calm before the holiday decor storm.
2. The stressful, awkward interlude between red, white and blue and pumpkins.

I definitely fall under category #2.

Do I go with watermelons? Beach balls? I live in the mountains!

Well, in our household, this awkward time also means that COLLEGE FOOTBALL is about to start! We are HUGE college football fans (OSU for this girl, OU for the hubster) and putting little football touches around the house really gets us even more pumped up for September 3rd!

This is one of my favorite hurricane vase fillers and it is SO inexpensive and easy!



I stuffed the bottom of the hurricane with shredded green paper filler to look like grass. Then, I took football birthday candles (they're attached to toothpicks), cut the wick off the top and stuck them into the paper "grass"!



How easy is that?

I found both supplies at Michael's but any craft store would work! When it's time to bust out the fall decor, I simply put the candles and paper filler back in a large, labeled ziploc and store it away until next year! Reusable- even better.

Go Pokes!
Laura

Gender Reveal Part 2

Here is Part Two of our Gender Reveal Party for sweet baby Ellison!

And my favorite part, too- the dessert.

I love the idea of an ice cream bar and decided to adapt it to the pink and blue theme.

We had brownies, vanilla ice cream and a plethora of Lil' Man toppings and Lil' Miss toppings!

I used the same signs from the entry table and just moved the title over and added the word "toppings". Super simple!

 We had blueberries, blue sixlets (from the party store), blue sprinkles, blue candy and I colored half a tub of cool whip blue!

 For the Lil' Miss toppings, we had strawberries, raspberries, cherries, pink sixlets (also, from the party store), pink sprinkles and I colored the other half of the cool whip pink.

I am really pleased with how this table (and the sundaes!) turned out! It was so easy to organize and continued the Lil' Man/Lil' Miss, blue/pink theme seamlessly.

Since my hub and I already knew the gender for the big reveal, we went to the Dollar Tree after our Dr. appointment and loaded up on pink silly string! Once you take the lid off, all the bottles look the same! I checked the tops and one had a little pink remnant on it and I simply scraped it off with a toothpick so there were no spoilers.

We passed out the silly string to all our friends and on the count of 3, everybody sprayed! It was SO fun and wonderful to see everyone's reactions!

 PINK!

 It's a GIRL!

In the end, I am beyond pleased with how simple and fun this party turned out! I love that it wasn't tons of work to prepare but was still adorable. 

So excited for a girl!!

Laura

Gender Reveal Part 1

Last Wednesday, the hubster and I found out the gender of our sweet baby and wanted a fun way to share it with our friends!

I had so much fun planning this reveal especially since I didn't know the gender while planning and I can't wait to share it with y'all!

 I was inspired by this and this to create what, in my opinion, was a super easy and cute party to throw together!

Here is part one of our party- the entry table! 

This table greeted our guests as they came in and made their predictions if Baby Ellison is a Lil' Man or a Lil' Miss!

 The prize was a massive baby bottle full of candy!

 We had so much fun with the lips and mustaches and that our friends could guess their predictions before the big reveal!

Check back tomorrow for the dessert table and how we revealed the news!

Very few people guessed girl!
Laura

Three Years

Happy Third Anniversary to my adventurous, loving and dedicated hubby!

When I look back on the last three years of marriage, the first word that comes to mind is FUN! It started with a fun-filled night of dancing with our friends and family at our wedding and has continued every day since. What a wonderful life we lead!

Since I didn't venture into the blog-world until after our big day, I wanted to feature a few of my favorite things (besides our amazing family and friends!) from our big day.

Our version of the guest book. Monogrammed cards for guests to write their well wishes and advice for us! We love going back and reading through these frequently! 

Crayons and Activity books for the kiddos!

Our wedding invitations were "pocket style" and so we carried that over into our programs.

Easily my favorite thing! Welcomed guests into the reception.

Simply and sparkly cake. Our florist made the mini "E" cake topper, too.

A wii to entertain the non-dancers.

And of course- my sweet, sweet groom.

Cheers to continuing the fun for many, many more years!

I wish we could have another wedding...same bride and groom,

Laura

A Baby is Brewing...

Big News!

My sweet hubby and I have a baby girl on the way!

I found out that I was expecting right before I went to Vegas for my bestie's bachelorette party. Remember that?

Both my husband and I wanted to wait to tell everyone the exciting news until I was further along but I knew that if I went to Vegas, for a bachelorette party, and did not even have one celebratory drink, there would be some questions. So, I decided to let them know that first night there before the bachelorette festivities were underway!

Side note: I called the bride-to-be earlier in the week to tell her and asked her if it would be okay to do a little announcement in Vegas. The last thing I wanted to do was take attention off of her weekend because of this news! She was so excited and did not mind one bit!

Gather your supplies: tea bags, strips of colored paper, (and pretend you see these in the picture) glue and a marker.

Fold the paper in half and crease the top.

Write the big news on one side...

...and the date on the other side!

(At this point, we didn't know our exact due date as the Dr. wouldn't see me until 8 weeks along but I knew it would be in the Fall! Our exact due date is October 31, 2012.)

Glue each side to the tea bag label and let dry.



Wrap it up in what would look like a cute Bachelorette gift for everyone and try to contain your excitement/nervousness! 

 

My girlfriends were SO surprised and it was so fun for me to watch their faces as they slowly opened the packages and put together what was happening!

This could not have been easier and such a cute way to announce your big arrival!

Baby's First Trip to Vegas,
Laura

4th of July Decor

The Fourth of July is right around the corner and is one of my favorite holidays! Red, white and blue is such a classic combination!

There are so many cute decoration ideas out there and here are some of my favorites! 

Vase Filler



Patriotic Wreath

Subway Art

Carnation Flag Centerpiece

Bandana Banner

Flag Wreath

Oh, Snap Favors

You're a Grand Old Flag...

Laura



Chalkboard Wall

One of my favorite things we've done to our new house is painted a chalkboard wall!



It still needs some molding and this picture was taken on my phone but I am really looking forward to the fun, creative things that can be done here!

Who knew I could be so excited about 2 coats of paint and a piece of chalk?

Happy Friday!
Laura

Bunny Food

A holiday isn't complete in my mind without corresponding, festive treats! Here are some ideas to get you in the Easter mood!

Chocolate Covered Carrots (Strawberries)

 

Chocolate Shaving Nest Cupcakes

 

Peep S'mores

 

Bunny Bark

 

Bunny Bottom Cupcakes

(would be cute with the bunny bottom garland from yesterday!)

 

Easter Basket Cones

 

People are so creative! Hope this got you in the baking/Easter zone! 

It made me crave Cadbury mini eggs...

Laura