Little Birdie Baby Shower

This week, I took a little break from my toy closet project to help some friends plan "all the little details" of a baby shower.   I LOVE party planning! Baby showers, Bridal showers, Birthday parties, Going away parties, any type of party! I just LOVE to plan & create for them.  

I can't share the details of that baby shower quite yet, {because it's this weekend} and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for the guest of honor {although, she probably doesn't read my blog.}  It is going to be super duper cute!! So come back next week to see it. {or follow my blog to stay updated on more creating, organizing & decorating inspiration}

BUT... I wanted to share a shower I had planned for a while back:

 

The details of a Little Birdie Baby Shower 

Actually we called it a "baby sprinkle" because a sprinkle is a smaller scale baby shower in which guests "sprinkle" the new mom with the little necessities she needs for a new baby. It's not actually a full shower, and is usually planned for any children after the first child.  This sprinkle was for my very good friend who was expecting her 6th BOY! I think she DESERVED to be sprinkled!

 I LOVED this little bird {it's a Cricut cutout} so decided this would be the theme of the sprinkle. 

The b.a.b.y letter blocks were also made with my cricut.

 Here are the Table Centerpieces

The "eggs" are rolled up socks & diapers

Nestling Necessities for sure! 

This is not a good photo, but this was the guest of honor's hair corsage.

The flower is from Walmart & I  hot-glued some pearls and some feathers {also from Walmart} onto it.

I passed out single feathers & a bobby pin, and all the ladies wore them in their hair.

It was so cute!

I made a diaper cake, as a gift & part of the decor

 The food was delicious!

 and so were the desserts!
{those 6 birds hanging from the OH BOY letters represented the guest of honors 6 BOYS!

I set up a little table with this poem, and all the ladies wrote their name suggestions

on the birds hanging from the tree

If you read my blog... I mean actually READ my blog, 

then you will know who I called to help me with this poem.

And then there were PARTY FAVORS...

But guess what, I have not ONE photo & I am still mad at myself for not taking a photo,

every party NEEDS favors & I made them for this one. They were sitting in this basket:

and I don't know why I didn't get one photo of the favor...

Anyways, it's not the favors or the decorations that  matter at a Baby Shower.

It's the People!!  I mean, think about it - what would a party be without anyone there?

B.O.R.I.N.G

Although, I think it's pretty fun to have a coordinating theme throughout any party.

and it is the little details that pull it all together, which, of course, I LOVE!

Check back next week to see the baby shower for this upcoming weekend.

Children's Art Cork Board

I've been slowly finishing up on a few of my LONG list of things to do. 

The first thing I want to show you is an addition to my toy closet.

Do you remember in my Home Makeover Kitchen Post, I showed you Janda's corkboard she made for her children's artwork? Well, it was there that I was INSPIRED to create my boys a cork board for displaying their artwork & I knew EXACTLY where I wanted it.

 This wall in my toy closet was the perfect place for it!

and guess how much it cost me to make? 

Zero. Zilch. Nada!

I had everything on hand!

The frame is one that I've had in my garage for a while now {I just knew I would find a use for it} 

It use to look like this:

 well, it just had cardboard inside the frame & 

I had these tile cork pieces {they are the peel & stick kind}

I got them from Craft Warehouse a while back

I simply cut them to size and attached them to the cardboard.

Next, using the same green acrylic paint I had used for the leaves on my tree mural, 

I painted the cork board {the color is leaf green}

{YES, you can paint cork boards! How COOL is that?}

and I added some ribbon to hide the seams.

and . . .

I didn't like the black frame in the room, so I painted that too!

First I  did a few coats of white... and I thought that it was a little too white, 

so I wiped some antiquing paint on, and wiped it off before it was dry, 

just to give the frame a little "aged" look

I LOVE this stuff!! I've used it many times on many projects!

Here's a little tip for you: 

While painting, if you're going to leave the paint for a little while

{like an hour or two, I'm not talking days or weeks ;) }

soak the roller or brush in paint, place Saran Wrap over & your paint won't dry out.

Just a little trick I learned from my dad {he's a painter}

 

 Oh & speaking of paint . . .

Take a look at the chalkboard & the wall underneath it

{the chalkboard is from Joanns}

Well today, I started "transforming" that a bit with some more paint. . .

and I'm anxious to finish it so you can see what it looks like now. . .

Soon it'll be done, so be sure & check back!

Cleverly Creative Christmas Gifts

I hope you all had a Great Christmas! I sure did!

Let me just say, that I have some pretty creative family members!  

I just HAVE to share a couple of really neat Christmas gifts that we received this year...

Creativity from my side of the family:
Boys' Christmas Jammies
Every Christmas my boys receive "Christmas Jammies" and socks from Emmy {my mom, their grandma} and they wear them on Christmas Eve.  She usually buys the tops and makes the bottoms
{although, there's been times she's made the shirts too.}

With each year, comes a different theme for the jammies.

This year it was "Charlie Brown" and the boys were thrilled with them!
I often call my boys "Charlie Brown" {don't ask me why, I just do}
So the Charlie Brown jammies are perfect!

Each year, she also makes something "to go along with the jammies."

This year they all got cute little bag/backpacks that match their new jammies . . .

 . . . with their initial on it & the Charlie Brown character that is most like them.
A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E!!
{I'm not sure if I get more excited or if they do about their NEW Christmas Jammies  every year}
I just LOVE them!
and they also  got the Charlie Brown Christmas DVD & a Charlie Brown book too.

and more . . .

Creativity from my hubby's side of the family:
Unique Money Folds
On Christmas day we all gathered at my hubby's parents home.
The boys open their gifts from their other set of grandparents and
this is what's inside the boys' boxes:

a bill folded into a shirt!
Clever, huh?
Learn how to fold a dollar bill into a shirt {here}

and the girls boxes had:

 money rings! How cute is that?? I thought they were adorable!
Learn how to fold a dollar bill into a finger ring {here}

I just had to share these  gift ideas,
just because I think they are so cleverly CREATIVE and I LOVE creative!!!

Christmas Table Setting Name Tags

Tomorrow we will be having our traditional "Christmas Eve" dinner with my little family  {Mr. "Delightful Order" (my hubby), Mrs. "Delightful Order" (that's me) and our 4 Little "Delightful Orders" (the boys.)

We'll be spending Christmas Day at my husbands parents home, after opening Santa's gifts and I am SO looking forward to it...

Remember our little stocking tradition?  I can't wait to hide those stockings tomorrow night. But how are the boys to know whose is whose?  The stockings have no names on them!

So I decided to make some name tags for their stockings today & guess what I did?

 I'm using them as the place setting name tags for our Christmas Eve dinner.

Cool huh? I LOVE it! {especially because, for the last couple of years we have {no lie} put post it notes with their names on it on the hidden stockings. - SO.. NOT cute!} These name tags are much better!

I just hung the stockings on the back of the chair from my ribbon bows that I already had.

I designed and printed the tags, used some artificial greens that were still in my Christmas Box, hot-glued some buttons & ribbon & voila... No more guessing who's stocking is who's  & when we sit down for dinner tomorrow night, everyone will know exactly where their seat is.

A funny little story:

While finishing the tags up, today, I told my oldest son {he's 10} "I'm making some tags for your stockings, but you probably won't like them, cuz they're kinda girlie." and he replied "I DON'T care if they have princesses on them, as long as there is something in them!"   I got a pretty good chuckle out of that one :) 

Wishing you all a

TRULY BLESSED CHRISTMAS while

Celebrating the birth of our LORD!

Organizing Christmas Card Addresses

I may be a little late on this one, as it probably would have been helpful BEFORE you started receiving those Christmas cards, but I figured I'd share it anyway because it may be helpful for next year.

This is how I organize my Christmas Card Addresses.  It begins with:   Creating labels for the Christmas Cards I send out: I have created my address list in Microsoft Excel.  It looks a little like this:

I print this out, along with using it to create my Microsoft Word mail merge  to make the address labels.  These are the labels I use:

The printed labels look like this:

These are the labels I attach to my Christmas Card Envelopes  {no writing out 125 + addresses for this chick}

NOW for keeping track of the addresses of family & friends:  This is my way:  Remember that Excel printout? Well, I fold it in half

just so it fits nicely in the front of my address book.

and as the Christmas Cards come in

 I check to make sure I have the correct address, 

and if not I simply write in the new address 

and if I recieve a card from a friend that I don't have on my list

I write their name & address to the bottom of my list.

Sometime after Christmas, I then go back to my Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet & update the addresses, adding the new ones to it. Where they wait for next years Christmas Cards.

This is my way of keeping my addresses updated and, so far, it has worked well for me.

:)

Peppermint Hot Chocolate Gift Idea

Looking for a last minute gift idea? Here's a tasty one:

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

The plastic reusable container is my dollar tree deal {3 of them for $1.00}
 
I added some pretty ribbon {another dollar tree deal}
The ingredients consist of:

 mini marshmallows, powdered hot chocolate mix,

 crushed candy canes or starlight mints {at least1 box/bag or more}
{I used my meat tenderizer tool to crush the candy cane in a ziploc bag}

 and semi-sweet chocolate chips
Simply mix everything together in a large bowl or juice pitcher
scoop or pour into a bag, container or glass jar

add some extra crushed candy cane to the top to pretty it up!

add a tag with directions and your done!

oh.. and speaking of tags, if you missed my 
Free Printable Gift Tags Post you can find it {here}

I found the idea over at: It's always a party at the Parkers and I just had to try it!

Though I did mine a little different than she did.

I simply used the above ingredients and the best part? No measuring needed!

Just mix all together, till it looks like you'll get enough of everything with one scoop.
Pretty tasty and makes for a great last minute "homemade gift."

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