Archives for July 2017

Introducing: Party Starters! Videos to Help You Throw the Best Themed Nights Ever!

July 31, 2017 ·

We are so excited to introduce to you a series of videos we hosted in collaboration with Food.com! A few months ago, we had the opportunity to feature four amazing DIY parties and show how to create tons of party crafts, decorations, favors, and recipes!

Malissa and I spent a couple months putting together these parties and really poured our heart and soul into each! Along with our creative directors at Food.com, we came up with four fun themes and 12 DIY elements for you to follow along with! Each party has its own video, and each DIY element has been broken down into its own short segment for you to watch as well.

The Easiest {And Cheapest!} Little DIY Play Teepee

July 11, 2017 ·

Kid’s play teepees. They are so cute and somehow so necessary even though they’re not at all necessary, am I right? I’ve seen a ton of cute ones all over; mainly in amazing children’s room photos on Instagram or Pinterest. And you can certainly buy them at Target or Land of Nod (and they’re amazing and adorable for sure!) but they’re like $75-$200. Yikes! I don’t even want to spend that kind of money on a waterproof tent my kid could actually sleep in outside.

So I’ve had it on my mind to DIY one for a while. I’ve been revamping our play room for the last couple of months for a couple of reasons. One is that it’s the large room that connects to our living room via an open double doorway. So its very visible and the walls were brown. I can live with some brown walls being hidden away in my home, but when they’re all in your face like this room was, I just couldn’t handle it anymore. So I busted out the white paint and some aqua blue paint for the bookshelves and now the room is much more cute, welcoming, and playful.

But the main reason I felt the need to liven up the space, and add some new playthings, was because my kids and I were basically home for 6 straight months this last winter. After my newborn got so sick he was hospitalized, we decided we couldn’t be too careful and basically shut him off from the world. There were weeks where I only left my house for 30 minutes, just to drive and pick up some dinner and come right back. I can’t say it was as wonderful as it probably sounds….being stuck inside all the time, getting no sleep, still battling sicknesses, and seeing few people other than your two littles can be hard on an extrovert like me who already gets depressed during winter. But, thats a whole other discussion! What it boils down to, for this DIY post, is that we needed to get some new life into our home for my 3 year old. She was a champ this winter and keeping her cooped up wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But after 6 months, anyone would be sick of their digs.

A Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Breakfast

July 1, 2017 ·

Well, my baby is three! It’s true what everyone says–it goes so fast! But you know what else, something I don’t hear everyone say? It just gets better and better. I mean, babies! Babies are just the sweetest. And quite possibly nothing in the world surpasses those first few days at home when you are overwhelmed with a love you’ve never known. But babies are also super hard and especially Stella, as my first baby, was super hard. Becoming a mom was a big change, with lots of adjustments (you can read about the things that most surprised me here)!

I felt like as soon as she was about 1.5 years old, things got so much easier and since then she just gets funner, sillier, and more interactive. Her new phrases everyday absolutely kill us. She knows songs, she will entertain Otto if he is sad and I can’t get to him right away, she can run little errands around the house, she helps clean up, she is always up for fun! Playing, learning, and growing with her is simply the best.

Of course, the toddler years come with their fair share of struggles, and that part has not been over-exaggerated to me :/ haha, just last night we had…some serious frustration (read: she got a whole jar of Aquaphor on literally everything in her room when she was supposed to be in bed). But she makes up for it in cuddles, dances, and more sweetness than not. And one of my very favorite things about this little girl is how much she loves rainbows, unicorns, princesses, dress up, high heels, accessories, parties, balloons, games, and all things girly!

I can definitively say having a little girly girlfriend is everything I thought and hoped it would be and more! She comes out of my room daily with super high heels on (and walks exceptionally well in them haha!) and she get so excited over every new dress we get. She changes 20 times a day, is always up for nail painting, and loves all jewelry. This spring I bought her the cutest little dress from H&M with a unicorn print (you can see it here), and she squeeled so much and then wouldn’t take it off for 5 days (I did get it off and washed twice and she sill had her baths haha).

You know I am always so excited to throw unique and new parties and I had another idea for her third birthday that I was pretty excited about. Plus, I knew this would be the last year that I would really get to choose the theme. Next year, and every one after that, I’m guessing she will be pretty opinionated about it! But when I saw how much she loves unicorns right now, and this balloon, I was like “ok, why not just do something easy that she will love?” Even if it’s been done before, rainbow unicorns simply never gets old, right?