Never too old for a Tutu!

This year I decided I would like to make gifts for Christmas presents. It's tough to come up with ideas when so many require sewing (something I plan to learn in the next year!). I found a no sew tutorial on YouTube on how to make tutus. I have several young nieces and decided that three of the youngest would enjoy them.

Here are the finished pieces. I made a purple one, a blue one, and a black & purple one.

 

Pink Zebra 30th Birthday

My best friend turned 30 and I hosted a small party at my house after an evening of dinner and drinks, and glow in the dark put-put golf. April loves zebra print, and she loves pink....

 Streamers and hanging balloons are one of my fave ways to turn a living room into party central.

 Marshmallows are the slackers version of cake pops! Delicious, cute, yet none of the hassle of baking!

 I tried to do an entire spread of zebra themed snack foods, it went over pretty well.

 I baked sugar cookies and found pink food coloring. Once the cookies were out of the oven I stuck a hershey hug on it and viola!

Sue, Caitlin, Brittany, The birthday girl April, me & Kristin (from left to right)

The Joint Baby Shower

So my brother's fiance and my husband's cousin (both of whom I am very close with) were due to have babies in March, only two weeks apart. I was lucky enough to be able to host a small joint baby shower for them in February. One was having a baby girl, Lily. One was having a boy, Jared.

I hosted the party at my home. I set up the dining room table with pink and blue mints, and wish boxes for each baby. I found this super adorable (free) printable here that I set out for people to fill out as they came in and dropped off their presents.

 

 For games we played the classic game where everyone has a safety pin on a ribbon around their neck. Since both mom-to-be's were about to pop and unable to cross their legs, no one else was allowed to either. The person with the most safety pins at the end won. I also found this adorable (free) printable baby animal game here. Lastly I found a new version of an old childhood party game, with a grown up twist. Pin the sperm on the egg was a total hit! You can purchase it from www.pinthespermontheegg.com. 

 

Instead of doing a traditional cake for the baby shower, I have a friend of mine who is working on starting up a bakery, and I had her make some delicious cupcakes. Cupcakes seem to go over better than cake does these days, especially when they are special flavors like pink champagne.

 

 

Here is my God-Daughter Lily, born March 14, 2012

 

Here is my nephew Jared, born March 29, 2012.

Date of the Month Club

This year I was trying to find a unique gift idea that was from the heart and possibly handmade. Valentine's Day can tend to get a little too commercial sometimes. Well I found this blog and her idea of a date of the month club. She can personalize a kit for you for $19.99.

I decided I had some extra time on my hands, so I made my own. I created the initial cards on my computer then printed them out and designed the rest with a little card-stock and glue! The hubby loved the idea that for the next 12 months I'll plan a date night out just the two of us, unless he wants to make it a group date night. He will not have to do any planning except tell me which month he wants which date. This will be nice to add a little romance back into our lives. After over 6 years together the romance or dates are not what they used to be.

Well here are the photos. Feel free to ask questions.

For the vacation cards I created one vacation that I know we will do, and one vacation that we are really wanting to do. Not sure if Hawaii will happen this year, but I thought it would be a fun one to add in.

Here is the completed project.

Hello 2012!

New Years Eve is tied with July 4th as my favorite holiday! You just can't beat getting together with your amazing friends and celebrating another year full of mystery and ambition. This year I decided to throw my first New Years Eve bash. I picked out the theme of Hollywood Glam. I was looking forward to everyone getting all dressed up, the ladies in cute and sparkly dresses, and the men in slacks and ties (something you only see at weddings when it comes to the men in our lives).

I started preparing a couple days in advance for the party. My drink contribution was Jolly Rancher Vodka test tube shots. I found this amazing tutorial on how to make Jolly Rancher flavored vodka. The steps are very simple! I didn't soak the jolly ranchers in the vodka as long as the tutorial says to, I let them soak for about 48 hours. Not all of the jolly ranchers dissolved, but the vodka tasted exactly like jolly ranchers. Instead of putting them in the glass flasks I just soaked my vodka in mason jars. We had some extra vodka, so I also experimented with gummy bears. We soaked two bags of gummy bears in vodka for 4 days. They turned out amazing as well!


I had ordered the test tubes and holders online, so about an hour before the party I poured the flavored vodka into the tubes and set up the drinking stations.


The test tube shots turned out to be a great success! Especially because a friend of ours bought a booze-luge! I had never heard of one of these before, but it was pretty cool! From the top, there are two spiral trails that lead down to spout. You pour the beverage of your choice from the top, and the drink comes out the end nice and cold from the ice sculpture!


For the party I set a pretty low decorating budget. I did find some amazing Hollywood plates and napkins, star appetizer picks, and some sparkly silver table decor. I strung white Christmas lights all around our living room and turned down the lights to create the right ambiance. I created a gold Hollywood star for our front door stating "VIP ONLY". Once you walked in the front door the hallway floor was lined with red wrapping paper creating a red carpet for my guests to strut down. This created a lot of fun pictures as people arrived!


I did create a New Years count down table center piece using scrapbook paper, glitter glue, toothpicks, and corkscrews. This was a fun little project that took me about 20 minutes. I wish I would have spent some more time on it to make it more unique, but I had a house full of house guests while trying to plan this party. :)


The party turned out amazing! Not only was my best friend in town from Montana, but my sister came into town from Nevada the night before and surprised me! It was a fantastic night with the bestest friends a girl could ask for. I'm already very excited about planning my next big party! (I've found I love it!)

Pinterest

I am a beginner with this. Not exactly sure where it's going to go either. But I might as well give it a shot! Wish me luck in 2012 and let's see what I can do!!

Below is to pinterest.com, it is by far the best site ever for keeping track of great ideas and projects.