Dollar Day Creation #7

I had a leftover $ Tree frame from Dollar Day Creation #3 so wanted to use it. I saw these glass stones in $ Tree today and knew they would work to snazzy up my fish scales frame. I already had the gold spray paint. I spray painted the frame gold and glued on the glass beads using craft glue. I love how the frame turned out.

This is the last picture I have with my dad. This picture was taken at his 75th Birthday Gala. No, I didn't plan it but I did do the centerpieces ~I had to do something! My dad passed away about a year and a half after this picture was taken. Actually, I was pregnant with Maddy at the time and didn't know so never got a chance to tell him. I was very blessed to be by his side when he took his last breath.The pictures don't show how beautiful this frame is. The flash makes the glass stones appear white but they don't look that way. This was such an easy project and I can't believe the glass stones fit perfectly. You could add ribbon, flower, and various embellishments but I like it just the way it is.I had such a lovely holiday with my family. Watching Madison on Christmas day made me really miss my mom and dad. They are both gone now and I miss them every day. Maddy will never know how wonderful her grandparents where but I know that they are in a better place. It's just hard for us here on Earth. As the New Year begins, I want to commit to take more time to tell those who I love that I love them. I don't do that enough. Life on this earth is too short so take time for the simple things and make as many memories as you can.

Happy New Year!

Perfect New Year's favor

So if you are having a New Year's Eve soiree or New Year's Day brunch- a great favor would be a calendar. Etsy has so many wonderful printable calendars. I found so many that I liked (and most under $6). You can print as many as you like....all year if you want. What a great gift and deal! I just posted a couple that I really liked to wet your appetite to check out Etsy for more. I just typed in printable calendar on the search button.
I love black and white damask and also the dual purpose of this calendar bookmark from download.
This 2010 dodecahedral printable calendar can be found here. I will be posting another Dollar Day Creation tomorrow.

Coming out of the Closet

About a year ago, I turned our storage closet into Maddy's playroom. I thought it was great....just her size and she could have a space all her own. Well, being a first time mommy little did I realize how much space a 2 1/2 yr old needed!! Her toys have taken over the house especially since Santa was so good to her this year! There are toys in the den, in her bedroom, in our bedroom and her playroom. So we need a change just wanted to share her sweet little closet playroom before it is converted into...well I'm not sure yet!I just love IKEA for storage solutions. They have the most clever stuff for storage and the office. These are chalkboard sticker circles that I found at Target. As you can see Madison loves to write on them. This border I got from $ Tree...yes I even find ways to use $ Tree in my home decor. I cut the individual circles from border and put on bottom.

My hubby and I use the downstairs bedroom for our shared office. (I'm just going to show you my space in the shared office.) Here is my scrapbook tools and paper storage. My hubby converted the closet in our office into my scrapbook area. I thought it was so sweet (especially since he isn't known to be a handyman) for him to do this for me. I needed a space that I could work on and not worry about destroying the table plus I am a messy scrapbooker. I didn't even clean up my work space to show how it looks on a daily basis. It's actually neat today. I can't believe that my hubby never complains whenever my mess takes over our shared office desks and computer area! He built shelves that go completely down on both sides for additional storage. He even added the two bendable lights so I could see better. He is such a wonderful man!

However, Maddy and I have totally outgrown our closets and with the New Year we want a change. So it is time for us to come out of the closets and move the office somewhere else and make a craft/playroom. Stay tuned.....

Why is it that every time I tell Maddy to smile she has to make this smiley face!

Serving Display Ideas

As you know I am teaching at The Special Event mid January so I am concentrating on putting my presentation together. While watching my Steelers win today...yippee...I finished my outline. I know, not like waiting until the last minute. Well, I have at least 2 weeks, right?! Anyway, here are some ideas on using what you have for serving displays.
Upside down rectangle glass containers - some with ribbon some without. Simple white serving platters on top.
I love thinking outside the box. Use your bird feeder to put your punch bowl in.

Great condiment station using glasses.

Punch is so easy to serve (and cheap) plus you can find so many great recipes. How cute is this display??

I own so many white serving pieces. I buy them all the time. However, if you don't have them or want something a little more creative....use what you have.

I have used leftover black granite tiles as serving platters. Also, you can get a package of mirror tiles very cheap at Lowe's or Home Depot. Mirrors are great to use.

I just saw packages of laminate tiles at Big Lots for $5. They were 12X12. So what if the color is off just cover with contact paper. I LOVE contact paper. You can find large rolls at Lowe's, Home Depot...or any home improvement store. It is self adhesive and comes in so many great colors and finishes. Just cut to fit, peel of back and stick to laminate...viola instant serving platters. Of course, you might want to wash with soapy rag before serving food! LOL

What are your New Year's Eve plans?

Everyone knows about the New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square. Discover more about this and other traditions with our list of New Year's Eve fun facts.

1. Kissing your significant other is a favorite New Year's Eve tradition meant to guarantee a good relationship and affections throughout the next year.

2. Las Vegas, Disneyworld and New York City are billed as three of the top New Year's Eve destinations.

3. About 75% of American New Year's Eve parties involve 20 people or less.

4. The tradition of a ball drop to signal the passage of time began at England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833.

5. Dick Clark has not appeared on Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve special since 2003.

6. The primetime New Year's Eve show has entertained Americans since Clark began it in 1973 with the exception of New Year's Eve 1999. That year, coverage of the millennium was broadcast throughout the country in a special titled, ABC 2000 Today. Clark did countdown the seconds to midnight as the East Coast welcomed the New Year.

7. Made of iron and wood and adorned with one hundred 25-watt light bulbs, the first New Year's Eve ball was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds.

8. Introduced on November 11, 2008, a new Times Square New Year's Eve ball weighs 11, 875 pounds. The 12-foot geodesic sphere is covered in 2,668 Waterford crystals.

9. Eating for good luck is a popular tradition in cultures around the world. Try 12 grapes at midnight (Spain), donuts (Holland) or black-eyed peas (American South).

10. The popular New Year's song, Auld Lang Syne, translates to "old long ago." Here, the first verse and chorus is translated into modern English courtesy of the website, Rampant Scotland.

Should old acquaintances be forgotten

And never be remembered?

Should old acquaintances be forgotten

and days long ago.
Chorus:

For days long ago, my dear,

For days long ago

We'll drink a cup of kindness yet

For days long ago!

And surely you'll have your pint tankard

And surely I'll have mine.

I don't know about you but everytime I hear Auld Lang Syne it makes me sad. What are your New Year's Eve plans...I would love to hear.

Photo and facts courtsey of Celebrations.com

Merry Christmas

Every Christmas Eve I would get new Christmas pjs to wear for Christmas morning! One of Santa's elves would leave it somewhere in my room. It is a tradition that I want to continue with my daughter.
Another tradition I started on her first Christmas (she was 6 months) was buying her ornaments for her Christmas tree. This year she was able to pick out her own. It was so special to decorate her tree with her. I don't think she did too bad for a 2 1/2 yr old! When she goes off on her own one day, I will give all of the ornaments to her. I don't know who is more excited about Christmas morning -me or her! I love being able to experience all of these joys through my child's eyes. Now I know what my parents felt.
Here is Maddy modeling her new PJs.
I told Maddy that the sooner she went to sleep, the quicker Santa would be here. So she jumped into her bed and fell right asleep... Good pretending, huh?? I could not tell she wasn't sound asleep.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!

Blog Love

I am in love with Haute Apple Pie! This blog is just too cute. It's "musings" from 3 lovely ladies. They share their take on the modern homemaker. HAP explores ideas for recipes, home decor and DIY projects and of course parties! I love the vintage aprons!! Check them out!!
Merry Christmas Eve Eve...it's 1030 pm for me! And guess who woke up and is sitting next to me???? One hint...she's 2!!

Simple Christmas

Can you believe that I am just now sending out my Christmas cards!! I know it's like 2 days before Christmas. The great thing is that Maddycakes had a very busy December- the bad thing is that I didn't get to the things I normally would have. I didn't get Christmas photos of my family (which we normally take in November). Madison didn't see Santa...okay, I tried many times but she really didn't want to see Santa. I guess I could have made her have one of those screaming and crying pictures with him but didn't want to tramatize her! Anyway, here is my Christmas card done by the amazing Carli from her ETSY shop DimplePrints. I love how it turned out. I have been stressed out about not being prepared for Christmas then I came across a blog post titled Simple Christmas from Create Studio. Sarah talks about how we try so hard to make everything magazine perfect for the holidays and create unrealistic expectations. Girl was she preaching to me! I needed to stop and reflect on what Christmas really is about! She talks about just having a simple Christmas. Great words to live by. Her church group has an event titled Fit for the King. At the event each of the tables are decorated by a different volunteer using practical items and repurposing what you have.
I love this one ~ so simple to decorate a table with wrapped presents or empty boxes. I like the use of just putting the whole spool of ribbon on the table as well and using ribbon as runners.

This ornament tree would be very easy to make. Use scrapbook paper for placemats and spread around any leftover ornaments. Boy, do I have plenty of those!

Love the pink and green for Christmas. Easy candy trees- just use styrofoam cones and glue on candies. (However, my gingerbread houses never come out so pretty)

I just love royal blue with silver. These were the colors of my niece's wedding. She had a winter wonderland theme. Simply beautiful....if I must say so myself....you know I decorated!!

So I'm just going to enjoy the rest of this wonderful time and remember the reason for this season!!

Winter Candyland Party

Today's real party is a gorgeous Winter Candyland Party over at Simply Creative Insanity! I have a new blog love!! I have attached some photos but go over and check them all out for yourself! This mommy of 2 is amazing!!!!! She put this party together for her daughter's kindergarten class. Have you ever seen such a chic kindergartner party!!! I want this party for me!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Love the labels for TomKat!

Why don't my marshmallow pops turn out so beautiful??

You know I love cones! Such a great display.Madison is up and hitting my computer buttons so I just lost 2 more photos that I had posted!! So you must go to Simply Creative Insanity to see all of the other beautiful pictures. This party is so full of amazing detail and eye candy!!! Brandy thanks so much for letting me share your wonderful party!!

Cookie & Ornament Exchange Party

Last night I had my cookie and ornament exchange party. I love this party because I only invite a few girlfriends and it's time just to talk, eat, play games and enjoy girlfriendhood! (like my new word) My pictures above my food buffet table did not match my color scheme of red and white so I simply covered them with wrapping paper and added ribbon. I thought it needed more so a great opportunity to add 2007 and 2008 Christmas photos. (Maddy was born in 2007)

On the cookie table, I simply put a centerpiece, boxes and containers for my guests to take home their goodies. I snapped this shot prior to all of the goodies being put on table. I am always amazed at the great cookies and recipes that you get each year. The tablecloth belong to my mother and she used it every Christmas so it is priceless to me. I always miss my mother but even more so during the holidays. I love cupcake wrappers and picks. I find so many great ones on ETSY. However, I found these red and white snowflake wrappers and picks at Target. I love it when your not looking but find things that match your upcoming event.

I have garland and nutcrackers all along the top of my kitchen cabinets. So I just pulled a big one with red and white to match for my centerpiece on the food buffet table.I turned over a glass container and filled with red garland (from $ Tree) and put peppermint candy around bottom. Do you recognize the red and white boxes and ribbon glassware? Well, I reused them from my Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and 2 party. I added $ Tree snowflakes to make it more "Christmassy". The red and white polka dot boxes are boxes that a big lighted Christmas ball came in. I covered it in fabric with Mod Podge.

I have this party every year and is the one party that I refuse to make a huge fuss over. I really want to relax and enjoy the time with my girlfriends. Sometimes we get so caught up in the details that we forget to just have fun! So I repurpose and used only items that I already owned! Don't you just love the mitten cutlery holders? Found them at HomeGoods back in October. I bought the red bucket at Big Lots for $12. I love it because I use a lot of red for many entertaining occasions. It fits with many holidays not just Christmas. I can use it for parties for Memorial, 4th of July, back to school,, etc... I may even find a way to use it for Valentine's. Don't you just love the red and white snowflake Evian bottles!!! A great find at Big Lots for $1! I found these ribbons at Michael's a few years ago and have used them every year. I place them on the winning creations and the winners go pick a gift from under the tree. I am too mad that I didn't get photo of the tree with gifts. All the gifts were wrapped in coordinating red and white polka dot paper and red and white snowflake paper. I was too busy enjoying my party!

We play games that I always get from Santalady games. This site is full of really neat Christmas games. I buy all of my gifts for this party the year prior at after Christmas sales. I get at least 10-15 prizes but since everything is 75% off, I really don't spend a lot of money.

I was featured & AWESOME Night Owl Pajama Club Party

My birthday 80's theme Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun party was featured today on Creative Party Place....yea!! I am very happy that it was featured and love looking at Shannon's blog for real parties.
Speaking of real parties do I have a absolutely gorgeous party to share today! DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS!! Jamie from Giggledust parties is amazing!! She is a fellow children's event party planner- you know I love that!!! I love nothing more than a unique party! This girl is super duper talented. Here are some pics of her wonderful party and description from her. Please check out her blog....her pictures are bigger- I can't get them the same size!! Boy, I really hate being technology challenged!! The inspiration for this party came from several things: my daughter’s wish to have a sleepover party, an adorable stuffed pillow I saw at Target, and the fabulous “bed” tables from Jenn at HWTM and Donna at Party Wishes.
This party was hosted in the evening from 7-9pm and the girls came dressed in their favorite PJs. The activities of the party centered around the girls becoming members of the “Night Owl Pajama Club:” Night Owls love to stay up late, dance in the dark, hang out with their friends at the Night Owl Clubhouse and dine on their favorite snacks: cupcakes and ice cream sundaes!
The “bed” was designed from two twin comforters that were sewn together to act as a tablecloth. I used a coordinating sheet set for the pillow cover and bed sheets that were visible at the head of the bed. The plates and mugs were from Rosanna, Inc and I found the brown chargers on the fall closeout aisle at Target. They really were a perfect match and made the plates pop! The napkins were sewn by my Mother using material we found at a local fabric store. And, last but not least, my hubby made me the headboard and foot board that completed the bed table!

My favorite element of the party was the Night Owl Clubhouse. I mean really, how cool is this! A girly retreat with pretty fabrics, plush comfy pillows, and your best girl friends to chat with! This was the clubhouse that I always tried to build myself as a child but was never really able to pull it off with the dining room chairs and various knitted afghans from around the house.

I had so much fun designing the sundae bar trying to channel the “Amazing Amys”: Amy Atlas and Amy at Eat.Drink.Chic. I used a shower curtain from Target for the backdrop, various containers from HomeGoods to hold the toppings, and the Soda Fountain Cups from Rosanna, Inc. Not bad for a first try!
More importantly, the girls loved it and really enjoyed making their own sundaes!

What talent....thanks for letting me share your party Jamie. I'm looking forward to being one of your new BFFs!

Gingerbread House Party

Here is the Gingerbread house party that was won by Amy from the Momszone.org contest. Amy has 5 beautiful girls and the whole family was just so sweet and fun to be around. All the girls were great and I really enjoyed this party.

Here are some of the girls mixing their icing. If you have worked with royal icing before - you know it's like cement. You can't make it ahead of time or it will become a hard rock. While the girls took turns making their icing- the others were doing Christmas crafts.

You can make your own gingerbread houses- I have the house pattern cutters and an easy recipe. However, it is so convenient just to buy the already made boxes. I just add extra candy. Plus, I like to have out some boxes so the girls can see gingerbread houses to give them "muses" for decorating theirs.This picture needs no explanation.

This picture is priceless!! This little one was so patient and really was proud of her beautiful creation. I love my job- I get to share in the joys of children.

Take home boxes for the gingerbread house masterpieces!

Santa favors filled with candy!

Of course, the cupcake creation station! Kids really love decorating their own cupcakes!!

I have 2 more events this week then I am taking a "party" break to prepare for my speaking engagement in New Orleans for The Special Event in January! I am still going to do a daily blog and I want to start featuring "real" parties from you so please send me your pics or link to your blog.

Some photos courtesy of Billy Siegle-thanks Billy!