Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Lego Party - Part 2

So, a few months ago, my friend Elizabeth contacted me to see if I could design some invitations and favors for her son Anderson's 5th birthday.  She mentioned that he LOVED Legos, and we immediately decided on a Lego inspired party.  I was so excited, I got right to work on the invitations (which I shared yesterday).

After that, she hit Pinterest for some ideas on the decor, and I tried to stay off of it.  I had the invitation design down, but didn't want to be too influenced by all of the wonderful Lego-themed ideas out there.  Once everything was designed, I joined her in the fun and we found such cute ideas!!

Three nights last week, Elizabeth and I got in some serious crafting time to get ready for Saturday's party.  Hubby got stuck with Morgan during his "witching hours" and I got some much needed creative therapy.  Sounds like a great deal to me (hubby did not think so)!  I apologize for how many pictures are going to follow - I love all of the bright colors and couldn't help myself.


The party was held at the Lakeside Pavilion in our neighborhood.  I love this location because there is a Mantle!  LOL - I'm a sucker for mantles.  Elizabeth found the favor bag idea on Pinterest, made them all, AND had the brilliant plan to place them on top of the mantle for the display.  LOVE! This was also the perfect place to display the Happy Birthday Bunting.

I had a blast designing the custom favor toppers (4 different designs), welcome sign, bag toppers, and water bottle labels.  Elizabeth asked if I could also do a tented sign for a Lego guess game.  The kids loved this, and the winner got a prize!



Here's another look at the cupcake toppers and heck out that CAKE!!  No - I did not make that.  Our neighbor and friend Mai made this cake - isn't it incredible?


So amazing!!!



Elizabeth also found this idea on Pinterest.  She made little snack boxes out of mini cereal boxes - super cute!


I loved her idea for mason jars filled with legos, tied with balloons.  It was super windy that day, and those balloons gave us a run for our money. We placed butcher paper on all of the tables and some crayons made from a lego mold (also made by Elizabeth).  The kids loved coloring, and they took all of the legos out of the jars to play with them.



These plates and juice box wrappers were also things she found on, you guessed it - Pinterest.  They came out really cute.


One of the nights last week, we made these awesome paper plate polyhedrons.  These were so much fun to make and I am absolutely thrilled with the way they turned out.  I will definitely be making these again!


She got her money's worth out of the lego molds and also made these chocolates and lego shaped ice cubes!  Too cute!



Anderson enjoyed himself so much - he just loved all of the legos!  After all of that work, I decided to list these on Etsy as my first Printable PDF Party pack.  More to come!!!

XOXO


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Monday, June 25, 2012

Lego Party - Part 1



I know it seems like I haven't been working on ANYTHING lately, but in fact - I have been slammed with stationery orders.  My girlfriend Elizabeth placed an order with me to design custom invitations and party decor for her son Anderson's 5th Birthday.  Well, I took this as an opportunity to get my first party printable design completed for my Etsy shop.

Not only did I design the invitations, but I also created custom signage, bunting, cupcake toppers, favors and helped her style the event.  The party was this past weekend, and I am finishing up editing all of the photos, but in the meantime wanted to share the invitations with you.

I designed address label wraps that matched the invites - I'm loving this Lego font!



The invites themselves were so much fun to design.  I love all of the bright, primary colors!  It was a pool party, so I added a little note at the bottom for the kiddos to bring their towels and sunblock.


She was thrilled with the way they came out, and she received lots of compliments!  I will share the rest of the fun festivities tomorrow!  To be continued...

XOXO


Friday, June 15, 2012

Friday I'm In Love - Dreaming of the Beach!!

I cannot believe that it's Friday already, and I can also not believe that I haven't posted anything since last Friday!  Jeez - this week has been insane to say the least.  I have been working on some stationery orders - some for Etsy, some I will share soon.  Not gonna lie - I have mostly been focused on work, we have been so busy!  Any spare time I have had has been spent with my kiddos, so - I hope you understand.  I literally didn't stop yesterday - before I knew it, it was 10:30pm and I was FINALLY sitting down to relax for 30 minutes before I crashed.

OK - enough about that.  As you know, I grew up in coastal NJ - and as soon as summer hits, mentally, I am back there again.  One day I will live near the beach again, but until then - a girl can dream, right?  Well these projects take me back - make me at least feel, for the time being, that I am laying on the beach, sand between my toes, smelling the salt air, and hearing the waves crash.  Ahh....

The first is this awesome NO-SEW! pillow from Lucy at Craftberry Bush.  She transformed a dollar store tote into this blue masterpiece.  She made another pillow as well, so make sure you hop over there to see it!!


Next - I LOVE this Painted Nautical Chest from Lucy May at Lucy's Lampshade.  The anchor is awesome!  What a great job she did!!


OK - this mantle from Laura at Finding Home needs no introduction.  It is simply perfection.  Check out that flag made from baseball bats!  AMAZING!!


Aimee from Its Overflowing is so ingenious.  Check out this ZGallerie candlestick knockoff!  She shares the tutorial over at her blog.  What a great way to utilize your vacation seashell finds!!


And last, but certainly not least... that looks like Driftwood, right?  WRONG!  Kirstin from Craftiments MADE it from sticks and logs she found in her yard!!  Yup - there's a tutorial for this one too.  LOVE!!


That's all for this week - I hope these projects transported you to the beach too!  If you were featured, feel free to grab a button from my sidebar.  Have a wonderful weekend!!

XOXO



Friday, June 8, 2012

Friday I'm In Love - WOW!

Wow!  That's all I can say about the fun and creative projects I found this week.  Genius would be another word actually.  How do these people come up with this stuff?  Sometimes I go through my blogger feed and feel like a kid in a candy store - I just can't click through them fast enough!! 

Check out this DIY Knock Off Industrial Light from Becca at From Gardners 2 Bergers.   WOW, right?  She included to full tutorial on how she made this little beauty.  Seriously, I would never look at the original she saw and think "I could make that" - but Becca did!


Holy fun-ness (yes I made up a word)!!  LOVE this Corner Gallery from Little Things Bring Smiles.  HOW stinkin cool. I think everyone needs one of these in their house!  Check out Katie's instructions on how she did it in her post.


Here's another project from Mandi at Vintage Revivals that totally knocks my socks off.  See that there?  That's a painted cement floor.  Yup.  Nuff said.   

 

The colors in this handmade notebook from Meeha Meeha are so gorgeous.  You know I'm a sucker for paper crafts, and when I saw this I think I may have drooled a little bit.  That cover there?  She made it from an old skirt.  


Finally, I saw this kitchen island transformation from Kristi at I Should Be Mopping The Floor.  You have got to hop over there to see the before and after - it's pretty amazing.  I'm inspired - Oh Hubby...I have a project for you!!!

 

That's the roundup for this week - pretty awesome.  If you were featured, please feel free to grab a button from my sidebar.

Happy FRIDAY!!

XOXO

 

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

This and That

In addition to my mantle display, I also "summerfied" a few other rooms in my house last week.  Since school started, my chalkboard wall has housed the school calendar - it's how I keep track of Addison's PE days and all of the other goings on that I can't ever remember.  Well, now that school is over, I get my wall back!  Once again, I hit Pinterest for some family quotes.  What did we ever do without Pinterest?  I found this one and decided to draw it on the wall.


My dining room needed a much needed summer facelift too.  I had the same stuff in there pretty much all winter, so I updated it, and added a fun summer touch.  I don't think I'm quite done in there yet - I need to finish the table display.


That's what new around here.  Just a little at a time - I do what I can.

XOXO


Sunday, June 3, 2012

My Beachy Summer Mantle

We had family coming in town this week, so I got a little push to get my Summer Mantle done.  I woke up the other morning with an idea, so I started working on this sign at 7am before the kiddos woke up. 


I ransacked hubby's wood scraps in the garage and pulled out a nice sized piece, grabbed a can of white paint and got to work.  I had just seen someone dry brush something on HGTV, so I drybrushed the wood with white paint to give it more of a distressed beachy look.  Then I hit Pinterest to find a fun summer quote - this one jumped right out at me.  Perfect.  During my lunch break, I cut a stencil on some cardstock for the words, taped it on with painters tape, and then just colored in the letters with a black sharpie.  Done and done.


Everything else used here was stuff that I have collected over the years.  The lanterns were purchased at The Christmas Tree Shoppe last summer.  All of the white vases and candlestick holders were Goodwill finds.  The starfish?  I got that in a little shop on the Boardwalk during our trip to NJ last summer - it's my favorite!

 
During our walk the other night, Addie and I picked up some wildflowers in addition to our berries.  I have bouquets  of them scattered around out house - don'tcha just love free stuff?

 

This little birdie reminds me of a Sandpiper.  We see them all the time on the beach in NJ (do I sound homesick?).  I think we are overdue for our annual summer trip to the Jersey Shore!


I love the end result.  Every time I walk through my Great Room I smile.  Ahh..summertime!!


It felt so good to be crafting again.  I forgot how therapeutic it can be.  

XOXO