A Joyful Riot

August 25, 2017

She Believed She Could–Supporting Equal Education Opportunities for Young Women

Well I started my next semester of school this week! I am still working on my bachelors degree. I graduated high school 10 years ago so that’s about how long this has taken me so far. I’m not doing anything special and I’m not even a real big advocate for college in general (Malissa will shudder when she reads that, we’ve always disagreed here haha) but I’ve just been so far along in it for so many years now that I definitely want to finish!

For some reason, I thought it was smart to go the slow route. Continue in a part time job and with the rest of life and just do what I could on the side. Looking back, I don’t think this is smart financially. But, it has served me pretty well and even regretting it, it’s still what I continue to do. Just one to three classes here and there. Now, with two kids, I really don’t have any other choice. I can’t just go 15 credit hours a semester, so I’m doing what I can.

Regardless of how long it’s taken me, I am continually grateful that I have the choice. The choice to go slow, the choice to go part time, the choice to take a semester here or there off, just the choice to go at all! And its really not much harder than that. I decide, “hey, this semester looks good!” and then I sign up for classes, make some arrangements for my kids, and then go. That’s basically it.

Unfortunately that is a lucky way to get to live. It wasn’t that long ago when many people simply didn’t have the choice. And it was even more recent when women didn’t have the choice at all. Even sadder still, there are still places in the world where women don’t have that choice or opportunity.

I am eternally grateful for all the women who came before me who helped to blaze the path of equality, especially for education. Whether I believe college is the one true path to success or not, I do believe it was the path to many, many women’s success and it levels the playing field in ways nothing else has or ever could. In order to pass on that gratitude just a little bit, we actively look for ways to continue blazing that path for those who aren’t so fortunate yet. So when we saw this She Believed She Could Bangle we were happy to nab one for ourselves and share their message.

A portion of the proceeds goes to help provide young girls in developing countries with the basic right to an education. The people behind this cute little bracelet believe that education is central to ending global poverty and we couldn’t agree more! Because we do believe that education is a fundamental right, and that it is an essential part of creating a better world, we love this bangle project.

It comes in silver or gold, and it features a delicate style that goes with basically everything and rests comfortably on your wrist. For me, comfort is paramount with bracelets. I cannot stand when a bracelet interferes with my day at all! When I’m typing, or crafting, or changing a diaper (lol), I need my jewelry to stay out of my way. And this bangle is light enough that I don’t even notice it going about my tasks but lovely enough that I feel good wearing it. Plus, who doesn’t love this quote?

So if equality is your thing (it should be!), or you just like cute bracelets (who doesn’t?), or this quote inspires you (it inspires me!) then this bracelet is for you! You can get your own right here and feel good about this little purchase.

We received this bangle for free in exchange for helping to pass along the message of education equality. All opinions expressed here are my own! Thanks!

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August 14, 2017

Party Starters! How to Throw a Pizza Party

Everyone loves pizza! In this short video, we show how to put together a cute pizza themed party featuring a giant pizza cookie, felt pizza bunting, and mini pizza piñatas for party favors!

Welcome to our second installment of Party Starters! For this party, all the food, decor, and favors were modeled after everyone’s favorite food: pizza! The whole video (it’s only 4 minutes long!) can be found here. It shows how to make each DIY and showcases the whole party set up. We’ll be linking to each individual project below and sharing some back stories so keep reading!

This was the first party we shot and because of that, there is a real lack of photos to share! We promised behind-the-scenes shots into every party but the reality was that the first day got off to a bit of a slow start! We weren’t totally sure how the whole set up was going to go or what the production team had in mind so it took a little while to get ready. By the time this party was done we felt the need to rush into the next one so we could finish them both in the same day.

Malissa’s husband Greg was supposed to be nabbing the shots as we filmed and helping to get the finals but he didn’t do a very good job. haha! Just teasing Greg–we appreciate all the help you gave us and we know there were many reasons why you couldn’t be up there photographing all day :D

But being the first party, there was definitely a learning curve for this one, so we were all glad we got the easiest party out of the way! And I was extra glad that we chose to do the easier parties this day because I was completely exhausted! We talked a little bit about why it was all so tiring in our Donut Party post the other day but there was a whole other story/disaster/nightmare that happened the night before this first day of shooting.

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August 10, 2017

Party Starters! How to Throw a Donut Party!

Sweet donut clutches for your gal pals, an oversized donut cake, and a donut-shop-inspired paper awning make up the basics of this pastry-themed fete!

Are you ready for our Party Starter videos!? Today we’re sharing the first of four (thats right FOUR) parties we designed and shot with food.com! With three accompanying DIYs each, the next month is full of great projects that we think you will love! We shared more about the genesis of the videos, and sneak peeks of all the parties, here.

First off, let me tell you that both of us are still a bit nervous to share these videos with you (you know how they say the camera adds 10 pounds and all that?) but we are so grateful for the opportunity and in many ways we do love how they turned out so we are going to share them with you all regardless! The first one is our pastel donut shop party! The link to all the projects, videos, step-by-steps, and photos can be found right here but keep reading for some fun tidbits and inside looks!

I have talked about how much I am obsessed with donuts before and they still remain my favorite snack of all time. This was also the video we filmed last so you better believe the second it was over that I immediately grabbed like three donuts and scarfed them down.

For those of you who are wondering, the donuts are from Provo Bakery and yes they were delicious! They did a great job matching our icing requests and the lettered donuts are definitely a fan favorite! As teased last week, each party included an easy recipe, DIY favor and DIY decoration and I think the favor for this party (the donut clutches!) is the cutest one of all!

Below we’ve linked to all the videos, plus the whole party shoot! PLUS every project has it’s own step-by-step instructions with photos in case videos ain’t your thing. We’ve thought of everything you need to throw the cutest little donut party ever (and make everyone want to be your best friend)!

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July 31, 2017

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

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.

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July 11, 2017

The Easiest {And Cheapest!} Little DIY Play Teepee

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.