A Joyful Riot

Hospital Essentials For Mom | DIY Baby Shower Gift

June 6, 2018 ·

Looking for the perfect gift for someone who’s expecting? Take care of her (or yourself!) with these 11 hospital essentials for mom! She will LOVE (and use!) them!

It’s been a while since we’ve done a DIY gift idea post so as I was putting this together for Malissa (and one for my SIL who’s expecting too!) I decided to photograph it to share. This is my favorite gift to give to the women close to me who are about to have babies, its full of my hospital essentials for mom! Now, I’ve only had 2 babies, I’m not a pro (and basically nothing compared to most Utah moms lol) but I was careful to pay attention to the things I thought I just couldn’t have done it without. (Don’t worry, I don’t think an iPad is essential, or even pragmatic as a gift, but I was able to give one to them so I included it in the pictures :D).

Balloon Animal Clipart + Party Pack | Free Printable

May 24, 2018 ·

Cute little balloon animals adorn everything from food signs to invitations in this free printable party pack! Or, grab the balloon animal clipart file and use it on anything you can think of!

I mean, all classic party icons are cute. Sprinkles, party hats, confetti, balloons, cake. But, balloon animals! They might just be the cutest!

Printable Valentine Magnets & Cards

January 30, 2018 ·

I’ve had a pack of printable magnet paper lying around for a while and was waiting for a great project! I thought that magnets that looked like flair pins would be really fun and cute and the perfect thing to hand out for a non-candy valentine option!

This was such an easy project, just took a little bit of time to cut everything out. You could just do one magnet per card to make the printable go even further.

What I love about these is that they’re great for any age! I love them, I mean, I made them for me (and to send to Malissa) but when my three year old saw them cut out, she kept saying how much she loved them! She kept laying them out and picking her favorites! This may be why I do so well with children… haha! But really, I think they’re just likable no matter what age you are. And while these definitely skew female (think Galentine’s Day!) there are plenty of boy-appropriate ones to.

Basically all my favorite clipart I’ve ever made is on these bad boys! I already decided I need to print another page because I need more to hand out and then I need a page just for me! I need more fridge magnets anyway :)

Colorful Vintage Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

January 23, 2018 ·

This Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter’s Tea Party mixes colorful whimsy with vintage elegance for a perfect-for-all-ages dinner party.

I am thrilled to finally be sharing this fun party we put together for our brother’s 40th birthday! As an avid Alice in Wonderland fan, my brother requested a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party theme for the event. I am always excited to put together a party but with a theme like this I knew I’d have a great time thinking of ways to make it unique. It’s not exactly the most original idea, so I saw it as somewhat of a personal challenge to make it different from all the other Alice in Wonderland parties I’d seen.

While I’m pretty sure my brother enjoys all the versions of Alice in Wonderland, he particularly loves the Tim Burton version. With it’s dark whimsy, I tried to seek inspiration directly from the film and was struck by how well this poster for it matched the vision already in my head.

My dad and I had made these tables from vintage doors this summer to use for a bridal shower I hosted. (I’ll be sharing that party soon!) And I immediately thought of them for this party. The scene when Alice first visits Wonderland and is trying to fit through the door came to mind and I thought they’d be perfect. But I also knew I didn’t just want a moody, vintage look. I wanted to incorporate lots of color and fun elements since the silly side of the story is what my brother loves most. I wasn’t sure my initial idea would pan out well, but once I put the colorful kazoos and fun mixed confetti I had bought next to some vintage cups and tablecloths, I knew the idea was gold. I just loved the mix of playful and delicate.

Perhaps what I was most excited for leading up to the party, though, was that I’d finally get to use my collection of vintage stemware. I have always loved the look of mixed glasses. Especially the colored vintage kind. And I’d been slowly collecting them over the years as I found unique ones at thrift stores and estate sales. Of course, I’d grown worried as I had never had the chance to really use them yet. But once this party came up, I knew the time was finally here! And, boy….did they look beautiful all laid out together with the rest of the whimsical elements around them! ‘Drink Me’ labels on every cup were obviously necessary :)

Colorful Minimal Calendar for 2018 | Free Printable

January 16, 2018 ·

If you love the Stendig calendar, you’ll love this free printable version that comes in color! Every month is a new fun color, instead of just black and white but features the minimal style you love.

You know I’m a sucker for the Stendig. As I explain in my last two posts about it (2017 and 2016) though, I can never seem to purchase it in time. So, I usually DIY my own (see linked posts for the how to!). This year, though I decided to do it in color!

I felt like this choice would serve two purposes: firstly, I’d feel less like I was ripping off the amazing original Stendig. Which I only felt okay doing to begin with because they always sell out and I didn’t provide it until after they did. And secondly, it really does match my office/craft room better. And I have to say, I just LOVE how it turned out!

I actually made this calendar last year, at the beginning of 2017. But, 2017 was CRAZY. That’s all I can say. Having my second baby was way more out of control than I had anticipated. My son was sick all. the. time. We’re talking a new sickness every other week and they would last for 7-10 days each. I am not exaggerating when I’d say he goes maybe 4 days of being healthy before he’s slammed with something new. (This trend is still ongoing. He’s sick as I write this and we had three different things through the month of December). There are times when I don’t even get to stop using the Nose Frida on him before I have to start using it again :( It truly is the saddest thing.

In the beginning, he was hospitalized with RSV/bronchiolitis. After already spending a week in the NICU for jaundice. Of course my heart always ached for parents who had to spend time in the hospital with their kids. But having experienced it…it truly is terrible. Words can’t really describe how awful going through that is. Hospitals and worry and sicknesses and the loneliness…it’s an honest nightmare.

Anyway, without going too much into that ordeal, let me just say that yes the year got much better but was still very hard. Otto never slept because he was always sick. And I was always sick with him, I caught everything he did. 2017 was literally the year I was awake and sick. All the time. That’s almost all I did last year!

Haha, no of course I got a lot of other stuff done. But beyond the sickness and tiredness, Otto is very attached to me and has only become more so. My daughter, who is 3, also has become less independent as she sees him cling to me. So all of this added up to make my year very overwhelming, a lot of work, and basically no time left over for myself or my projects. It was hard to get anything done. Hard is an understatement. I had about a dozen posts done and photographed before he was born and still none of them made it to the blog. I honestly felt like I didn’t have a spare few hours to write a freaking blog post.

I’m sure you noticed. The blog took a big hit, post-wise. We just couldn’t get the content up. Malissa had a really busy, trying year at work and we both struggled in other ways. We appreciate your patience with us as we navigated our year! We love A Joyful Riot, and we love sharing our projects and ideas here. We have no plans to stop and we’re thankful you’re here with us!

So anyway, back to my calendar! LOL! I used this all last year and decided that since I never shared it here, I would just update it with the correct dates and finally post it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. I used engineer prints through Staples to get the large size (yes you can do them in color too!) and you could go much bigger! The actual Stendig is 4 feet long and these have good enough resolution to do it that big if you so desire. I just might go that big this year :D

Grab the file of all the months below (sorry January is almost gone!), print them via whatever method you want (even small on your home printer!) and then glue them together along the top and I like to glue a thick ribbon along the top too. Then I pin it into my wall. I cut away each month as they end and save them for wrapping paper! They make super adorable wrapping paper! Get detailed instructions on how to make it in this post. Happy 2018 everyone! Can’t wait to see what this year brings, basically just hoping for sleep though haha.