Farm Life.

We don't make it to Great Grandma's farm near enough.

But when we do, we tend to reminisce the trip for weeks after.

I'm not sure there are many places that are more peaceful than the farm.

Close enough to home, yet far enough away from the city.

Last summer, Carson was still a babe, so this year's trip was a bit different.

We put him to work with Dad first thing Saturday morning, where he discovered a new favorite: mower rides.

He just couldn't get enough. He sat on dad's lap and was completely content for two hours.

I'm not sure I've ever seen him sit so still.

He eventually fell asleep, which provided Brian with some quality snuggle time we rarely get.

 My boys in their classy cut-offs

While the boys worked, I stayed inside and crafted a wreath.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out (can't wait to hang it on our new door!).

 Tutorial here courtesy of my bestie, Heather

We attempted sprinklers, but Big Boy didn't really catch on. 

I'd say we made progress, but there definitely wasn't running through them. Someday:).

We came home with chiggers and not much sleep (thanks to Big Boy's lack thereof), but the farm makes it all worth it!

 Like father, like son.

Happy Heart Day

I once told you I hated Valentine's Day. I still do. Sort of.

Except for last year, when a special 3-month old and I (plus a fur baby) scored some of my all-time favorite pics while making a V-day card for Daddy.

Oh, and a few years ago when I actually had time to make dinner for my husband and find ways to shape our food into hearts (wow, I'm such a weirdo).

This year, Brian and I stayed true to our annual Valentine's Day boycott. We grilled burgers (so fancy!), had a glass of wine and cuddled up on the couch to watch Flight.

I'll admit, my attitude about this holiday has slightly altered. Thanks to a two-and-a-half foot tall little person.

Pics from the Valentine Party at his school

Who knew having a kid would do this to me?

I had so much fun making Carson's Valentine treats for his class this year. In typical style, I just wasn't ok with doing something ordinary.

My goals were a toddler friendly treat, and a cute tag with a saying that played off the treat.

So, I went with an easy throw-it-together-yourself trail mix in small snack-sized Ziploc bags.

The mix included pretzels, Craisins, chocolate teddy grahams, cheerios, M&Ms, and marshmallows. (Note: If I did it again, I wouldn't include the marshmallows because the other ingredients sucked all the moisture out of them, making them slightly hard. I'd probably look for yogurt covered raisins.)

I then printed tags with the saying, "I would be so mixed up with you!" and folded them in half. Lastly, I attached the tag to the bags (with the fold at the top and over the clasp part of the bag) with a stapler. The entire project only took me about 45 minutes.

Aren't they so cute!?
 

Carson loved them. He told me.

He also loved opening all his Valentines from all his classmates.

Happy Heart Day! AND Happy Weekend!

"Mom, I got Valentines from every girl in my class! I'm pretty sure Layla, Alex and Leah have a huge crush on me!"

A Birdie Baby Shower

This past weekend, I helped host a baby shower for my sweet sis-in-law. She's super special, so her friend and I gave our best efforts to make it just perfect.

My kitchen table was covered with serving dishes and decor for days leading up to it, and Brian was annoyed by my crafting for weeks, but I must say, it turned out pretty perfect.

And that means a lot coming from me. I'm rather anal and can't seem to plan a party without thinking of every single detail.

If you remember, I revealed the invitation to you here. Bird-themed for a sweet baby girl named Madison.

We tried to include a little bit of everything.

Delicious bites. Simple decor. Small (but noted) details. Personal touches.

The menu was simple. The shower was a "brunch" baby shower starting at 10:30, so we decided on a yogurt bar with various toppings, breakfast casserole muffins, sausage balls and mini quiches.

Yogurt toppings included blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, pumpkin granola, almonds, chocolate chips and a cookie stick.

The drinks were cherry limeade (recipe here), lemonade and water. I served them in wine bottles and kept them cold in a metal beverage tub. The dessert table included cupcakes from Cupcake a la Mode and chocolate "bird nests."

 

Some of the small details incorporated were favor treat bags adorned with custom bird tags (more details below), a clothesline of bird onesies using twine and clothespins, decorated mason jars for utensils, and mason jars as cups. And pink paper-striped straws. I don't care if these are everywhere right now, can mason jars and paper straws get any cuter?

Note: I found that Wal-Mart had the cheapest mason jars. I believe I paid $8 for a case of 12.

All the food was labeled using clothespins, glue dots, and custom made tags. Both tables were decorated with paper pinwheels of all sizes (tutorial here).

I prettied up the chandelier by hanging paper birds and pinwheels with twine.

I also used the cutest wooden bird house on the top plate of a tiered server, purchased at Hobby Lobby, which now serves as decor in my house.  

Small birds nests made with plant filler and jordan almonds gave the table just the right touch.

A custom-made banner that said "Baby Madison" greeted guests in the front room and was hung on the fireplace mantle.

A 4x6 framed print instructed guests to fill out advice cards. Print read "It can be practical or it can be sweet, let's share words of wisdom or advice about the one we are waiting to meet!"

An 8x10 framed print accompanies the food table that read "First we had each other. Then we had you. Now we have everything."

Bird nest favors were made using this recipe. To my surprise, they were super easy and pretty fast! The hardest part was dropping them into the individual bags and tying the tags.

I purchased strawberry cheesecake jelly belly's from Amazon, purchased the treat bags and raffia ribbon at Hobby Lobby and made the custom tags that read "Thanks for filling the nest" and "tweet tweet."

And....that's it! Thanks for letting me share all the details with you.

I'm a little sad it's over because I had so much fun crafting, designing and making things for this shower. Good thing Big Boy has a birthday coming up.

On to the next party.

Teacher Appreciation: DIY Flashcards

It's National Child Care Provider Appreciation Day!

We said thanks to our teachers with mini fruit pizzas and homemade flashcards.

The flashcards were such a hit this morning, I wish it was my own idea. But it wasn't. The very resourceful blog, Urban Bliss Life did, and I'm so glad I stumbled across it. Isn't it great that we have so many creative, unique and craftastic ideas right at our finger tips?

I recreated them in InDesign and added my own touch with a cover card with a note from Carson and a binder ring. I printed, laminated and trimmed myself, but if you're not feeling design savvy enough to recreate, you can purchase the printable from the site.

The teachers loved them!

The fruit pizza might look like a Martha Stewart concoction, but they were actually pretty easy.

There's not even much of a recipe to follow.

Sugar Cookies + Frosting + Fruit

Sugar Cookies: I bought the Betty Crocker pre-made mix in a bag where you just add butter and egg. I didn't even mess with cookie cutters, just made drop cookies and they were flat enough to ice and top.

Frosting: I used cream cheese frosting

Fruit: I used three small strawberry slices, a kiwi half, 2 blueberries and a red raspberry on each cookie

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!

Crazy Tecnnology + Pinterest Projects

I read an article yesterday that Pinterest is now the No. 3 most popular social networking site in the U.S. behind Facebook and Twitter.

Crazy I say.

It's only been around since September 2011. Impressive.

Does anyone else get the anxiety jitters from Pinterest? It sort of makes me a little coo-coo. I just keep adding to the list...

Don't get me wrong, I love it. Who doesn't? But it's a constant reminder of how many cool, crafty, thrifty, fantastic things I want to do, but just don't have the time to do.

And did you hear that Facebook bought the ever-so-popular iPhone app Instagram for $1 billion?

One billion! 

Anyways, the Pinterest article reminded me of a few things I pinned in the past few months that I actually found the time and motivation to recreate. Prior to Brian leaving and me being thrown into the single mommy game of course. Thought I'd share.

Ready, set, go!

DIY scarf made from an old sweater. 
I think the tutorial used t-shirts, but I liked the added texture the sweater brought to the table.

Prints for nursery - baby gift.
I sought out this idea on Etsy, pinned myself, and recreated in InDesign/Illustrator. Total copy-cat-move on my part, but I couldn't resist. It was too easy. These were for my sweet cousin's little girl, Avalynn. I also did some for Carson's room.

Cork Decor in kitchen.
I love wine. And we always save our corks. I finally found a way to put them to use.

Cork Monogram.
For my soon-to-be sister in-law and brother for Christmas. This little project was challenging. But I think it turned out worthy.

T-shirt headbands.
Three t-Shirt strips, braided + knot = headband. Genius.

Not my pic. From my DIY pinboard.

What DIY projects have you pinned and recreated lately?

Divide & Conquer

This post is really just about dividing, but I added the "conquer" because we just conquered Southern Miss!

Woohoo! Wildcat win!

How cute are these shirts? I have been seeing them pop up everywhere lately. This one is from Old Navy. They have other schools, but obviously the K-state one is the cutest and makes the most sense. :)

Hello Kitty.

Anyways, I wanted to share with you the dividers Brian made for Carson's room - Closet and drawers.

I love all things organization related, so these were a must when we were planning the nursery.

First up, Drawers. 

Socks are the worst to keep separated. It's nice to have them divided, by size, so you can easily grab a pair, without going through several pairs before you find a winner.

 Also, good for hats.

The hubs used a thin wood such as balsa wood and simply cut slits to connect the two pieces.

They aren't quite as stable as I would prefer, but without affecting the dresser drawers permanently, he assured me this was the only way.

The dividers also work great for burp cloths, bibs, changing pad covers, etc.

Organization sensation my friends.

Next up, Closet.

For several weeks after Carson was born, I drove myself crazy (and wasted a ton of time) constantly looking at the sizes on his clothes. I would find an outfit in his closet with the tags still attached, that he had already outgrown.

Major letdown when your little bambino misses out on any cute get up.

So, I researched several options for DIY closet dividers on Pinterest, but couldn't find exactly what I was hoping.

One used cardboard and scrapbook paper, but I wanted something sturdy. Another used CDs covered in fabric or paper.

Then, I found this blog. Exactly what I wanted. Except we decided to cut the wood dividers ourselves rather than buying them pre-made at Hobby Lobby.

Using the leftover wood from the drawer dividers, he cut 4 x 5 pieces. Then, he used a hole saw to cut a hole big enough for the closet rod to go through. Last step, a light sand.

Then, I used cheap acrylic paint and a paint pen to come up with this:

0-3 Months, 3-6 Months, 6-12 Months, 12-24 Months

Awesomeness.

Jungle Animal Baby Shower

A couple weeks ago, I helped host a baby shower for one of my bestest friends. Baby B should be making his debut sometime at the end of March.

I've decided that baby showers are much more fun than bridal showers. Sorry soon-to-be-brides out there, but baby gear is just much more exciting to watch your guest open!

She's having a boy and her nursery theme is jungle animals, so we took that and ran with it.

I was on maternity leave, so I had some extra time on my hands to design the invites and include a few DIY touches.

 Front of Invite

Not gonna lie, I found this invite somewhere online and then re-created in Illustrator/InDesign with minor changes.

Don't you just love the elephants?

 Back of Invite

Is that not the cutest idea ever? This is a great way to help start a baby's book collection. My shower included this very same idea, and I loved receiving books for Carson!

Small touches of blue, green and brown were scattered through Megan's large open living room and kitchen area. "Advice for the new Mom" cards greeted guests at a table by the front door. A DIY "Baby B" banner hung on the fireplace mantle and Megan's chalkboard in her kitchen made for a nice touch.

Lucky for us, Megan's daughter, Grace, has an animal-themed nursery, so we snuck a few decorations from her room:)

Cute onesies (facing both ways) were hung in the door frame to mimic a clothes line. Baby B is going to be one stylish kid!

The spread was simple.

• Crab Cake Muffins found on Pinterest - Highly recommend.
• Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip from Skinny Taste - To. Die. For. And a healthier version.
• Fruit skewers - Always go over well
• Mexican Corn Dip - Always a hit at our gatherings. Heather's staple dish.
• Mini Pigs in a blanket - Can't get much easier!
• Desserts - cupcakes and cookies
• Baby Blue Punch (with rubber duckies!) - So fun! Megan did a great job with this.
• Blackberry Tea - Delish.

Heather arranged a nice jungle-themed vase that made the perfect centerpiece for the food table. So fitting.

All dishes were adorned with cute folded placards including elephants, a monkey or a giraffe. We fancied up the fruit skewers by hot gluing animal tags to each side of the stick. 

 

 

The dessert table was my fav. I just love sweets. And these sweets were nothing short of ordinary.

 

Cupcakes from Gigi's. Oh my gosh. So good. And SO cute.

White chocolate dipped Oreos and chocolate chip cookies (dyed blue of course!). I think I had two of each.

To switch it up from other recent baby showers, we played the baby food game. It was something different and fun to guess the kinds of food. The worst was the chicken noodle dinner. I may or may not secretly like the pears. 

Julie got some great gifts. One of the books she received is called "Goodnight iPad", spin off of "Goodnight Moon." Hilarious! What is going to be the newest technological advance when our kids are our age?

 

Carson soaked up lots of cuddles from everyone. And had some playtime with his girlfriend, Maggie. :)

Hootie Hoo! Love me some owls.

I just love this pic of Julie and her mother-in-law. And Carson:). So Candid.

Guests took home favor bags filled with animal cookies. I borrowed a Noah's ark cookie cutter set from a coworker to make the cookies (similar to this set found on Amazon), then filled the bags with a little green raffia paper confetti (to look like grass) and attached thank you animal tags.

Mags and Carson. Destined to be together.

Adriane and I shared the same Pledge Mom in Chi Omega. Does that make this relationship incest?

 

Mags flirting!

The hosts and guest of honor

Mommy-to-be and her moms...and sleepy Carson:)

Congrats to Julie and Josh and Baby B! 

We are anxiously awaiting your arrival!!