Party table

I recently found this party idea on Pinterest! Super cute, right?! You just paint a scene and incorporate snacks and goodies within the picture.

The possibilities are endless...birthday parties, baby showers, a kid's table at Thanksgiving. If your kids are old enough, they could even help you paint it!

We used the concept for our Junior League's September general membership meeting. Our local chapter's signature project is Stuff the Bus, so we had a schoolhouse and big yellow bus full of sweet tasting things. The trick is finding plates and bowls that are the right size and shape.

So choose your serving pieces before you start drawing.

We had backpacks full of chips.

And displayed school supplies in the lemonade pitchers.

As a side note, the pitchers are from Walmart and were only $10.

I love how versatile they are!

I took out the spouts and used them like this for my daughters' birthday party.

All the more reason to celebrate.

Preschool Napmat!

Yay! It's back to school time! My little one is SO giddy about starting preschool tomorrow, she can hardly stand it! She has a new backpack, her own lunchbox and here's her new napmat! I'm so excited to show her in the morning. Can you tell it's dark? That's because I literally just finished it...10 minutes before midnight. Nothing like procrastinating!

I made just like my older daughter's one from last year. Can you tell that it's bright and sunny in this picture?? I must have finished it days beforehand!

Here's last year's tutorial if you missed it.

Recipe {Fruit Dip}

I recently made this dip for an event & it's always a crowd pleaser.

It's great for parties, tailgates, showers, etc. and super easy to make.

Ingredients:

1 cup Cool Whip

1 cup sour cream

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 t kahlua (or chocolate extract)

Just stir it all together & keep refrigerated until you're ready to serve.

It's delicious!!

Inspire me!

I've had my eye on inspiring signs lately.

As a stay at home mom, I have to give myself occasional pep talks ya know!! :)

So here are a few that I'm debating on doing...

Do you have a favorite??

Love them all!

Decisions. Decisions.

Noah's Ark Birthday Party

So this weekend was my daughter's 2nd birthday & we had so much fun celebrating with friends and family!! It was Noah's Ark themed so everything was based around animals & rainbows.

These balloons greeted our guests at the door. An inspiration from Martha Stewart. I cut the ears, mane & noses out of tissue paper & used a permanent marker for the eyes. Thank you Merideth, for helping with these cute guys!!

For the snacks table, I tried my best to coordinate each animal with a treat. There were cheetos, zebra cakes, goldfish, popcorn and bananas (my daughter's favorite).

I also made fruit kabobs in rainbow colors.

It may have been the first time my girls had tried kiwi, but they loved it :)

For an activity, we made rainbows out of skittles. Each child had an empty water bottle with their name on it & could fill it with whatever color skittles they wanted. It was a GREAT activity that kept their attention!!

Thanks Lauren, for making the sign!

I found rainbow party circles here and added them to each name tag.

Here's the birthday girl, very focused on which color goes next!

My mom made an INCREDIBLE rainbow cake!!

We got the idea here and kind of made it our own. I love the plain, unassuming white frosting that when cut reveals all of the colored layers!

It took 3 cake mixes & 3 cans a frosting & was wonderfully delicious!!

Thanks again mom!

And thanks to Lindsay who made these adorable invitations!

I love how they turned out :)

Thanks to everyone who came to the party, jumped on the trampoline, helped sweep up skittles, push kids on the swing set, clean up the playroom & pass out cake! It was a wonderful party & we're so glad you could celebrate with us :)

Another find on Craigslist

Do you like my new end table??

I bought it from a sweet college student a few weeks ago for $10. That's right! $10! It costs me more to eat at Chick-fil-A!

Here's what it looked like when I bought it.

I spray painted the bottom off-white...

and replaced the knob with a $2 one from Hobby Lobby

that I painted & distressed.

And then accessorized with living room knick knacks.

I like the price & my hubby likes a place to set his drink :)

Thank you Craigslist.

Linked here:

Miss Mustard Seed

Baby Boy's Nursery

I finished the nursery last week!! Better late than never right??

I kept it pretty simple. The walls were already blue & the bottom half was already beadboard, a project that Lindsay helped me with last year.

I'm thrilled with the way the crib turned out. It goes well with the bedding and is a good contrast to the cool walls.

I spray painted a "D" to match the crib & framed a sepia colored picture of my buddy in an old Ikea picture frame.

I exchanged light colored baskets with these darker ones to make the bookcase look more boyish. The top 2 baskets actually hold clothes and blankets, since there isn't a dresser in here. The canister of baseballs is a plastic drink dispenser, minus the spout. It looks close enough to the ones I like from Pottery Barn Kids, but was half the price at Walmart.

The pallet bookshelves have worked out great. (If only I had mounted them lower so that my kids could put the books up when they're done with them!)

It was relatively easy to pull together since I already had most of the furnishings. I used a brown shower curtain for the curtain and borrowed a pillow from our guest room for the rocking chair.

Even if it's 6 months after his birthday,

I love having a little boy's room in our house :)