alphabet bunting...a free download!

Hi friends! Just a quick note to check in and let you know that I haven't forgotten about Nesting Instincts. Have been super busy with vacation and family stuff. My friend Charlotte sent me the link to this great FREE printable alphabet bunting. I love it! Downloading these letters and having them on hand means you could spell out just about anything...whether it's a big occasion or small. I'm thinking they'd be perfect for a baby shower, or a wedding shower...or a birthday...or an anniversary...or I could go on and on.

(source: Ruffled via How About Orange?)

paper love, real life, blog love, and party shout-outs

What I really WANT to do is blog. And do decorating makeovers. And host parties. That's the fun stuff. What I find myself doing is a whole lotta other stuff. Like doctor appointments for my kids. Grocery shopping. Laundry. Packing for next week's vacation. Writing blog posts for other people's blogs. (What? Something's wrong with this picture.) Fulfilling card orders. (Okay, that can be considered fun...but it's still not actually blogging.) Watering my garden (sort of). Working in the yard (occasionally). Cleaning my house (half-heartedly). 

"happy" custom rhinestone notecard set from NestInk

All of that to say, I am missing my little blog. I wish I could write every day, but I seem to be in a season where real life is even more of a balancing act than normal lately. And what's cool about balancing Nesting Instincts (interior redesign business) with NestInk (custom stationery business) is that it seems whenever one is lagging, the other picks up the pace. It must be a God thing, because I certainly couldn't plan it that way.

I've had several large card orders lately...in other words, multiple sets of custom cards for the same customer. I even did some custom event invitations last week that were a lot of fun. I haven't gotten up the guts (or is it just the time?) to list things like that in my Etsy shop yet, but I'll get to it eventually. I do so love creating invitations that set the mood for an event. My client wanted something summery (but not too obviously summer, like flip-flops or something) so we chose the "Happy" pattern as the inspiration for the invitation. I thought they turned out cute and it just occurred to me that of course I forgot to photograph them for my blog. If I'm not careful, my blog will begin to feel horribly neglected and get her (she's a "her", of course)  feelings hurt and then start giving me errors when I try to post. Or stop uploading photos. Or something like that.

Angela's Ranch Redo  (The Painted House blog)

ANYWAY, in my current state of Bad Blog Author, I have at least continued reading and occasionally commenting on other blogs. One of my most favorite blog posts EVAH was this one from Angela at The Painted House. It's part of her series on "What Makes a Home Beautiful?" and it is so worth the read. It initiated a flurry of emails between Angela and I because she touched on a few things I'm fairly passionate about. Also, her whole blog is beautiful and worth reading, but I especially loved her recent post about updating the exterior of her ranch home. It is GOR-geous now.

Another site I recently discovered was The Grocery Shrink. I'm still a teeny tiny bit intimidated (okay, a lot intimidated) by the money-saving genius I've found there, but I'm baby-stepping it. Have been receiving her free emails on how to make my own cleaning supplies, which I may just start doing. I am still waiting on the email on how to make my own housekeeper. I'd even pay for that e-book!!

And last, but not least, a great BIG thank you to a few sites that have featured my parties recently:

my Dr. Seuss Party:
CafeMom.com blog, The Stir
Guest post at The Birthday Girl
Kinser Event Comapny blog

My "Baby Meet Orange" shower:

BumpSmitten.com (site is still under construction, I'll let you know when the feature goes live)

Anyway, if this hasn't been the most random of all blog posts! For those of you still reading (thanks, Mom) I hope you have a lovely rest of the week. Me, I'm getting ready for vacation...can I get a WOOHOO?? Trying not to get overwhelmed at the amount of work involved in getting three kids (one of them still a baby) ready for a week-long trip. Oy.

celebrating with dr. seuss and the abc's

My little boy turned one on Saturday, and I wanted to celebrate in style!  So I decided on a theme based on this book...

It was kind of a joint Dr. Seuss & ABC's theme. When I found a seller on Etsy who could create a custom t-shirt for my little man to wear, that's when I knew I could take this theme and run with it. So I did. (I'll show you the t-shirt a little further down in this post.)

The special cupcake reserved for my little guy.

Each cupcake topper either said "A is for Angel" or "B is for Boy" or "C is for Caleb". This time I tried making Red Velvet cupcakes and boy...they were good (if I do say so myself). I used this recipe and the cupcakes and frosting were just about the best I've ever made.

Balloons are always cheap but add so much color. Love 'em.

It was impossible to find Dr. Seuss-themed decor so I realized I'd have to make it myself. I think this guy is one of the things I'm most proud of. I found foamboard at the Dollar Tree. Who knew? Usually that stuff is fairly expensive at the craft store. So, on one of them I re-created this guy from the front of my inspiration book (Dr. Suess' ABC). I honestly didn't know if I could do it...but I guess I could. My girls obviously thought I did an okay job because they were petting him and "feeding" him once I got it completed!

 

Trays from Target's spring-themed dollar section. These were the $2.50 variety, but still...perfect! And the napkins were all from Target too.

These napkins kinda reminded me of the Cat in the Hat's hat, so I had to get them.

All the little buckets with flowers, utensils, and candy in them...Targets $1 section again. This little tree is from Dollar Tree.

I used foam stickers from the kids' section of Michaels for the cupcake toppers.

Scrapbook paper on foamboard is the background for this display of the invitation. Oh how I love thee, Scrapbook Paper.

Bunting made of scrapbook paper again. Have I mentioned that I love scrapbook paper? So cheap, so easy.

Normally I would be morally opposed to blue flowers. But if you can't have blue flowers at a Dr. Seuss party, when can you?

 

I cut the ABC's out of foamboard as well. Hard to tell in this photo, but they're a good 18 inches tall.

And here's my little man, in his custom t-shirt by dzns4ubyme  Didn't she do an AMAZING job? (And great to work with, too!) The shirt's folds hide this in the photo, but it says "Angel Boy Caleb". One of his nicknames is Angel Boy ('cause he really is!) and so that's how we personalized the ABC's for this party.

And a great time was had by all, including the guest of honor. He very much enjoyed his first frosting ever, thankyouverymuch.

another party on the way

My baby boy is turning one on Saturday. I can't believe it.

I'm throwing another party. I can't believe that either. Didn't I just get done with my kids' birthday parties?

Apparently not. I need to get used to having a March baby now, to follow my December and January babies.

Anyway...the photo above is a little hint as to the theme of the party. If I can pull off everything on my list, it will be sooo cute. If I can just pull off half the things on my list, it will just be cute. I'll check in soon to let you know if it turns out SOOO cute, or just cute.

I think I'm in love...

...with these cupcake kits I just discovered (via Oh Happy Day). Check out Meri Meri for a beautiful selection of sweetly designed kits, containing cupcake liners + toppers. Oh my word. I might be getting one of these for my son's first birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. But even if I don't...you should.

details of a fairy party

When the girls arrived at the party, they got to choose their own fairy skirt (thank you, Dollar Tree!) and wings to wear. I couldn't find pre-made fairy wings for each girl that fit my budget, so...I used some white posterboard (that I already had) and cut out wings. Then, I free-handed a swirly design (loosely based on Tinkerbell's wings) and sprayed the wings with gold glitter spray so they shimmered.

The girls got to choose the color of ribbon to attach to the wings. Their moms helped them tie the strings onto the wings and then around their shoulders to strap them on.

I honestly expected the girls to only wear their wings for about the first fifteen minutes of the party. But those girls wore their wings and fairy skirts proudly the entire time! And no one got poked in the eye by anyone's wings! It was a birthday miracle.

The food was sort of a kids' version of brunch. It was a breakfast bar with their favorite sugar cereals, colorful yogurts, fruit, and juices. I found these round label templates on Martha Stewart's website and went a little crazy, labeling everything that didn't move. Oh, and one of the things I like to do at these kids parties is provide food for the grown-ups too - because I don't know about you, but I don't really want Lucky Charms for lunch anymore. (Mom, your little girl is all grown up!) So the day before, I made these Bacon Quiche Cups and then reheated them in the oven right before serving. Combined with fruit and juice it was a nice little lunch for the mommas.

My daughter helped out by coloring this large picture of Tinkerbell, and then the girls played "pin the butterfly on Tinkerbell". It was really cute.

Here's the birthday girl attempting to place the butterfly in just the right spot while blindfolded. You can see a little of her fairy skirt peeking out too. Their other activity was coloring and cutting out a large butterfly which they then attached to a stick and it was sort of a wand or whatever their imagination wanted it to be. (I'll admit, it was a last-minute craft when my other plan fell through. Thank goodness for clipart where you can easily go find a butterfly and make it huge when you need to!)

There's the birthday girl on the mantel again!

I don't sew, but I like bunting...so here's my version of bunting, made with scrapbook paper instead! It probably only took about 45 minutes total to put it together. (Or is that a long time? You tell me!)

And the cost of this bunting wasn't more than $3.00. You gotta love that.

In fact, I love it so much it's become Spring decor. I just can't bear to take it down!

Here's my younger daughter at her sister's party. She was the one child who DID take her wings off within ten minutes...the age difference between her at three and the other girls at five was apparent. But isn't she a doll?

I found these cute butterfly garlands at Michael's, and I was going to do a fabulous crafty decorative thingy with them...but ran out of time. So I put them on this shelf instead and I thought it was cute.

And last, but not least, I provided a "candy bar" where the girls got to fill their little bags with candy as take-home favors. That was a big hit but I bought WAY too much candy. We now have next Halloween's candy already lined up! ;-)

Check out my other post on fairy parties here.  One other detail I just realized that I forgot to photograph was the custom invitations. Note to self: must take pics of the invites and post them here. I'll try to do that soon. I know I'm not the only one planning a fairy party this year, so maybe this helps inspire you? The fun part is that it can be whatever you make it...I didn't want mine to be blatant Tinkerbell, but there was definitely some Tinkerbell elements. What's most important - my daughters and their little friends had a great time.

fairies are afoot - a fairy-themed birthday party

a fantastical fairy-inspired arrangement

Maybe some of you have little girls who - like mine - are really into Tinkerbell. But I didn't want to do a blatantly "Tinkbell"-themed party for my daughters' birthdays this month. I think this way is a little more unique and fantasy-like. Plus I got to use lots of sparkly things. You know me and my sparkly things...I love them so.

My favorite thing was the garland...it was supposed to evoke images of woodland fairies...entwrined throughout it was pink fairy lights and tons of coloful and sparkly picks, birds, and butterflies.

I was able to find all kinds of fanciful picks on clearance after Thanksgiving and during the Christmas season. And the garlands themselves...fall decor once it had reached 90% off! You gotta love that.

I couldn't afford to buy new, brightly-colored candles for the event, so instead I pulled some out that I already had and went to work transforming them with scrapbook paper and double-sided tape. (I did not light them for the party - that probably would have induced fireworks of the non-celebratory type.)

 I bought just a couple of inexpensive bouquets from the supermarket, and was able to get my money's worth by spreading them out around the room and tables. Here they are mingled in with brightly-colored votive holders that I've had for years. The paper chain was made by my daughters!

My girls - ages three and five - made the paper chain. They are always anxious to "help" with the decorations...and this was a way that they could. I actually love it so much that it's been hanging in the living room for almost three weeks now.

On the mantel I placed a picture of the birthday girl...which I usually do at every birthday party. It was flanked by a huge arrangement of lighted branches (Christmas yard picks with LED lights - on clearance after Christmas - yay!). The vase was simply a clear vase, filled with Christmas lights, and then "dressed" in two "fairy" skirts from the dollar store that I layered on top of each other for a more ethereal effect.

Here's another shot of the branches arrangement.

I found that when I added gold branches with gold beads on them (more Christmas clearance) to my supermarket bouquets, they became much more "fairy-like". The cupcakes this time were pretty simple, just chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and sprinkles in the colors of the party.

I put butterflies everywhere I could! Man, I should own stock in Michael's butterflies by now. Even more so because my older daughter's birthday party is this coming Saturday, and it ALSO has a fairy theme - so now that Michael's spring decor is out, I keep buying butteflies. Must...stop...accquiring...butterflies.

In a later post I'll share pics of the custom invitations I made for this party and also the upcoming one this weekend. I will also have more pics of party decor to show soon!

movie night

I am so close to showing you pictures of the new nursery...really, I am...but in the meantime, I had a few girlfriends over for a movie night last night and I thought I'd share just a few pics with you. Since my baby's due in less than three weeks, my goal for myself was to have this be as casual and easy as possible. So, I ordered pizzas and had everybody contribute their favorite junk food to the evening. I also held myself back from creating favors and any complicated decor, which turned out to be a good call, because simply trying to get the house clean enough for company just about did me in.


But, because I am who I am, I couldn't help creating invitations and having some sort of theme for decor. I'm sure I spent no more than $15, which was for a couple of tablecloths and paper goods.

I found some black sparkly ting (NO idea how to spell that) in my basement that was left over from another event.


I put the ting in a clear glass vase, anchored with rocks, and borrowed one of my daughter's feather boas from the dress-up clothes - which I then just taped around the vase to create wonderful foofy-ness. (I'm just sure that's a word.)

I found black and white napkins at Ikea which doubled as part of my centerpiece/table runner.

Combined with pink patterned napkins from Home Goods and black and white plates from Target, it created a fun, mismatched (but still coordinated) look.

Since I had one table for food and another for drinks, I found myself in need of a second centerpiece. So, I scrounged around the house and found the bouquet of white and pink flowers my hubby had given me for Valentine's Day. I took it apart and used the hot pink carnations from the bouquet in a vintage water glass for the second table.

I ran out of time and energy to take any pictures of food, but you can picture the scene...your girlfriends from high school...pizza...soda...candy...cookies...and a little Mamma Mia...>sigh<. Pure heaven.