we all scream for ice cream!

Sydney's ice cream birthday party was this weekend!!

We held it in our backyard and prayed for good weather. There's nothing like cold ice cream to beat the Texas heat!

For simple decorations, I strung ice cream cones in the trees.

An idea I got from TheTomKat studio.

I had fresh, cold watermelon sitting out as the guests arrived. Whether eaten or not, serving a healthy snack cleared my conscience about all of the sugar that was about to be inhaled! I borrowed this shutter from my hallway to add color & interest.

The main attraction was of course, the ice cream table!

Campbell Ryan designed these adorable labels for the cups and toppings.

Inspired by Martha Stewart, I even tried to incorporate the ice cream theme into the cupcakes.

Kids grabbed bubble wands from 1 pail & wet ones from the other.

This pinata, from Hobby Lobby, was a huge hit with the older kids.

For the younger ones, I laid out toys on this rug

(a garage sale find from years past).

As party favors, each family took home their own ice cream shoppe.

A great idea from Polkadots & Pirates.

Just add ice cream!

Everything went over so well, we may be having ice cream parties every summer, whether celebrating birthdays or not~

chalkboard craze

Did you know that chalkboards are IN??

I'm relatively new to the phenomena.

I bought this weekly calendar a few months ago without realizing

how chic I was. I'm now looking for other ways to use it!

Here are some inspiring ideas...

Mabel's House

dwell in beauty

decor pad

ohdeedoh

iDiY

Living with Lindsay

These basket labels are actually made with chalkboard fabric.

What will they think of next??

Have you gotten into chalkboards or chalkboard paint??

I'd love to hear about it!!

{Recipe} Zesty Italian Crescent Casserole

We're back with another recipe! This one is a first time for me but I think it will be a keeper especially since it is really simple. This time the recipe comes from a church cookbook. Get your ingredients ready...
1 lb. ground beef
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. melted butter
8 oz. crescent dinner rolls

Preheat the oven to 375*. Brown and drain the beef. Add the sauce and heat thoroughly. In a separate bowl, mix together the mozzarella, sour cream and Italian seasoning. Pour the beef mixture into a 13 x 9 inch casserole dish. Spoon the mozzarella mix over the beef. Mix parmesan and melted butter and set aside. Unroll the crescent rolls and place over the mozzarella mixture. Seal the edges of the rolls. Spread the pamesan and butter mixture over the dough. Bake about 20 minutes until deep golden brown.

And serve it up!!! Let us know if you try it and the family enjoys!

"Shutterly" Fabulous

**Forgive the crazy layout of this post... Blogger is not cooperating with where I tell the text to go!!**
This past spring Tiffany & I took a trip to an area antique/flea market. I had a list of a few things I was on the lookout for and hadn't really found the right thing for the right price. That was until I spotted these beauties...

Okay so there's only one and it isn't beautiful!! I actually bought a pair of these shutters for $10 cobwebs & dobber nests included.

You see I had this long blank wall in my dining room that desperately needed filling.

I used my handsome helper to help me measure, level and hang them after spraying them with a quick coat of black spray paint.

And we used a very technical method of keeping even spacing.

Complete! Okay so I see the glare on the sides of the shutters where I should touch up the spray paint....but what is it The Nester says? It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful, right?

So I plan to change this up seasonally and it currently looks like this...

So next time you see a pair of rusty, dirty, dusty shutters think about some way you can use them! Remember Tiffany showed us a cute idea to use a pair of shutters here.

Sneak Peek...

I think one of the most exciting things to happen in the last year just happened to me this past week! Okay well maybe not the most exciting...but it has been one of the most anticipated events I've had in the last year related to my house. I can't wait to show you the final results!!! Check back next week to see the before & after of the transformation.