Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Window Dressing

I can't handle the blog today....

When I used to work at Universal I would sometimes get to work early just so I could watch the window dressers work their magic on the store windows inside the park. I learned so much watching them create and mold plastic garbage bags, cotton balls, styrofoam, strings of lights, material, cardboard boxes, ribbon and large props into wonderful creations. My favorite time of year was Christmas when the displays were amazing. When I started working in the events department I was even luckier to work with catering and watch tablescapes come to life for every event. Upside down milk crates and misc bowls and dishes from Ikea made wonderful displays. My favorite place in the catering workhouse, the linen closet. Every color, texture, size and style of linen just waiting to be soiled. During my travels through the Internet world I found my way back in front of those windows again. These lovelies have wowed me and inspired me to push that creativity level a little higher.




Preparing for a Baseball Party

Jack turns 7 next week and with the craziness of every ones schedule we decided to host a after practice B-day party with his teammates. This year he was picked up for a minor team and we are all very excited. T-Ball was not going to cut it this year so we are pleased to see him up with the bigger kids.

So I have exactly 7 days to throw this party together. I am of course overflowing with ideas thanks to the internet but I have to remember this party is only 3 hrs long and about 14 teammates will be there. Some ideas I have come across are below, inspiration galore!

Baseball Party


Baseball Party by cv715 on Polyvore.com








Organize.. it's what I do...

So one of my goals this year (and every year) is to get more organized and Chad and I made a huge dent in that this past weekend. Oh my gravy we re-arranged the whole bedroom and added a few pieces of storage, removed a dresser and passed that down to Jackson and moved his old dresser into the craft room. We purged some clothes, some toys and knick knacks. It felt great to finally make the move and make our bedroom a more relaxing space for all of us. Since we host 3 children in our bed on most weekend mornings and at least 2 for nighttime reading we had to make it a more usable space. We created a reading nook and have plans in the future for a comfy small couch to encourage little children to just come hangout and read. We also anchored the TV and all furniture to the wall. Recently we have had three local children die from TV's falling on them and I knew we had to make sure that we secured everything for safety.

I also cleaned out the pantry Whoo hoooo!! This meant making space for the kids to help themselves with lunch snacks in the morning and breakfast items. I must have recycled 18 boxes out of that pantry. It felt great! I added a organize set with some of the new items I picked up as well as some that I used and want.


Organize

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Adjust a what?? Also called a rough day at the buffet.



So I saw this and thought to myself... really. I mean isn't that the badge of honor when you are newly pregnant and you get to use that ole' rubberband around the button trick. Well now they have made it ok for everyone to add a extra inch to that waist on your jeans. Really this should just be called a "rough day at the buffet" or better yet how about... the "PMS bloat holder inner".



Excuse me while I reach for my wallet. I want in on these suckers before they get hawked on QVC and I have to pay double and triple for shipping. Oh just so you know, denim only, sorry yoga pants you will still have to scream for sweet release, nothing can help you guys out.

Did you know Feb is National Embroidery Month?

I have a project that I started .. ohhhh... 8 mths ago, its a wall hanging of camping images that once finished will hang in the family travel trailer. I found the patterns here and it has been a slow process for me.


Imagine that ....trying to embroider with three kids running around. Nighttime embroidery doesn't work so well for me, my eyes need the natural light to really work with the needle. So I keep my embroidery fantasies alive with the following stitching goodies that I have found in my blogging travels.












Thank god daylight savings is coming up. I might be able to actually finish my little ole' project before 2011. For more info on stitching visit here. Most patterns above found here.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentines Day





Today will be full of heart shaped pancakes, strawberry milk, smore muffins and pink lemonade, crab legs and steak bites and maybe a bit of wine for the mama and the papa. Spa dates, crafting fun, pom poms, mini felt hearts and lots of love. Today will be spent on just being and not on much else. I want to roll into Monday after swinging all day on Sunday. I hope everyone has the opportunity to feel some love today and in return share some love.






Thursday, February 11, 2010

So Stinkin Cute ......


This weekend we will be making colorful pom pom's. I look forward to stringing pom pom garland through out the house. Ok maybe not throughout the house but at least around the stairs and the branches we have hanging around. BTW the unicorns cotton candy hair drives me batty. These are what my childhood dreams were made of.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Valentines Insanity!!

So this year I thought I might do a mini Valentine Candy Buffet for the kids. Nothing super crazy just a small smattering of goodies laid out all fancy like so they feel like it's a bit of a special day. Just a small way to show them I love them and a way for mommy to let out some of her creative juices. Well on my jaunt through blog land I stumbled upon Amy Atlas and her amazing buffets. yet again. This lady does not disappoint. I mean R U kidding me with this??













Umm yeah.. sorry kids but mommas limited funds of $20 bucks and time of maybe a few hours will not allow me to produce this masterpiece. However I can promise some strawberry milk or pink lemonade, but not in clear glasses, come on we all know one out of three of you will drop it.
Oh and kids, since I am using all of the old Halloween and Christmas candy the colors will be more of a black/orange/red/green theme. But heavy on the red, I mean come on it's Valentines. Only the best for this family, only the best.

Tim Holtz's makes me want to scream!!

Ok so I am loving some of the new stuff Tim baby is coming out with. He is really taking the whole alteration/grunge thing to an amazing new level. He is now partnered with Sizzix (die cutting company) and has his own line of dies. I have been taught by Tim twice now at CKU's and he is really just a great down to earth dude. I wish I had 10% of his gogo juice pulsing through my veins because that guy can not stop. So here is a small collection of his goodies that I can't wait to get my hands on.

Update: Found the money tree, now I am waiting for the
weather to clear up a bit so I can plant it.

Tim Holtz

Monday, February 8, 2010

Cupcake Love

I really want to get on the cupcake bandwagon... like bad. Ok so I know I said Julia was interested in the baking and decorating but now that I feel in love with the products I am just as excited to start making cupcakes. We are going to start our journey into this fab world of cupcakes with this Smores or Less recipe. We will let you know how they turn out. Complete with pictures.

These little pretties below make my heart flutter............

Thursday, February 4, 2010

I love Ruche!


Ruche makes me giddy! Here are just a few examples why.






I swear I need that money tree and now! My heart flip flops over all the goodies.

I Won !!



During my travels in search of cute digi freebies I stumbled across this super sweet site called Paige and Brooke. They have great tutorials on cute girl things and are very kind to share digi freebies with the world. This week they had a giveaway for a Victoria Secrets gift card and I entered knowing exactly what I would buy if I won. Well guess what....I won!! Thank you Paige and Brooke for hosting such a cute giveaway and right before Valentines day!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Snow Baby

My dare devil... or is it daredevil...?

Yeah he does his own stunts!

You may have to use Password: snow


James the dare devil from Carina Vasquez-Krieg on Vimeo.

Candy candy and more candy

image from Amy Atlas

So I have this small regret with our wedding. Probably the only thing that didn't turn out how I wanted it too. The candy buffet. Again if your not going to do it right, don't do it at all. I so wish I would have stuck to a color theme and moved away from the candy fav's. Just because we loved those certain candies (red hots, gummie bears and jolly ranchers) doesn't mean everyone else does. Of course because I am plagued by this gross miss-use of candy I have attempted to re-create candy buffets at our baby shower and at birthday parties but I haven't got it down yet. So I will continue to collect large amounts of glass jars and stalk candy buffet images and dream about the day.. that Julia gets married and I will be able to make her the best darn candy buffet table anyone has ever seen. Is it bad that her wedding including theme, colors and decor has already been planned out. She is going to be so happy that her mother handled that nuisance for her.