adorable baby shower

Remember the fun melon palette clothespins I made? Time to share why I made them!

My friend Amy from Lovely Nest hosted THE most adorable shower I've ever been to. Each detail was adorable, everything from the invite to the cupcake toppers! She shares tips on her blog, so swing over if you are in the market for baby showers. All photography courtesy of Lovely Nest, posted here. Yummy fruit kabobs courtesy of myself, but can't share those with you.

I have one additional surprise to share Friday—the non traditional "game" we played!

patriotic pinwheel diy

Supplies // Paper cut into 2" squares // stir straw // stick pin // star stickers {see fig. 1}

Stick the pin through the center. Cut each corner toward the center, leaving a dime sized amount {see fig. 2}. This should leave you with four triangle shapes. Take one corner of each triangle (be consistent on the right or left side of each triangle) and punch a small hole with the pin. Place the star on the pin and then each of the corner holes {see fig. 3}. Then take the pin and stick through the drinking straw {see fig. 4}. To complete, you could either glue the sharp end to the straw or perhaps take needle-nose pliers and bend a small 90 degree angle.

So there you have fun little drink accents!

patriotic shortcake

Please let me share my hopes and dreams (in the form of styling this photo shoot).

Photo Info > Strawberry shortcake, showcased red white & blue. BTW, this recipe for lemon shortcake is AH-mazing. Pinwheel drink stirrer DIY coming Wednesday.

Rambling > This is what I want to be when I grow up (or do, I suppose). Yes, I just threw this together for no reason other than the fact that someday I want to earn a living styling photos. I love it. SO MUCH. Coming up on six months of having this blog, I hit a small identity crisis of "what I am I doing with my life?" What steps should I take? How do I map this out? What is the means to this end? This blog is a tool, but am I using it the right way? So many questions that will go unanswered. Creative lives have to be individually explored one step at a time—with no instruction manual—and outside the box. If anyone has direction or a word, please drop me a hint. That's all. Thank you for your time. I hope you enjoyed the fruits of my mini crisis.

patriotic preview

I threw together a fun weekend photo shoot. The rest of the photos showcase Monday. Don't miss it!

Any weekend projects you plan to tackle? Holiday planning perhaps?

reader gift idea

Probably the most amazing thing about having this blog is knowing that people are inspired by my ideas and encouraged to be thoughtful. Here is an adorable gift that was such a treat to see. Kerry from Sweet Sanity used this free download and made a super great bridal shower gift. I love it and I'm SURE it was the best gift at the shower! 

I LOVE show and tell—so be sure to document and send my way!

birdies and gingham {one}

Time to show you what I've been working on for months! All photography is by Amy of Shutterly Lovely. She did an AMAZING job, I just love the photos. My friends helped A LOT on many of the details, so I don't want to take all the credit. I couldn't have done it without them.

The bridal shower was held on the patio of a small coffee shop called Cafe Ventana. It rained nearly the entire time, but we were sheltered luckily. Centerpieces were squares of cut fabric, birdie name tag favors, and mason jars with coffee beans and daisies. For the guestbook, I had guests bring marriage advice on a notecard and tape it into a vintage book I picked up. The book is actually German text, which is probably better since the point is not to read it! For the shower game, I replicated this adorable quiz, (which was inspired by this). It was my favorite part, the couples' answers were SO GREAT and everyone loved the game. For prizes, the winners could choose a vintage coffee mug.

More details and images later today, don't miss it!

birdies and gingham {two}

More bridal shower fun:

For drinks we had blueberry lemonade, and of course, warm coffee from the cafe. The yummy nest/egg cupcakes were made by another co-host. The last image is of the lovely bride to be. All photography by Shutterly Lovely. Here is a list of tutorials to wrap it up:

Inspiration Board

Fancy Initials

Pom Pom Garland

Shower Prize

pom pom garland

What is better than watching a Tim Burton movie {Big Fish, in my case} and crafting? Cuddling during a movie, of course! But the next best thing is a relaxing craft. This coming weekend is the bridal shower, and I'm working away on fun decorations. Here is my pom pom garland:

Pom poms are easy, but time consuming. So, watching a movie is the perfect solution. Other ideas for combining a task with something fun?

fresh flora

Enough eggs already! Let's segue to something fresh on this Good Friday:

While today is a reflection of death, it is also symbolic of new life and I wanted something fitting. To create this semi-formal picnic theme I used scrap fabric, red burlap, ribbon and cut one of my pretty ranunculus blooms. The jar is small spice jar, and any table would be amazing with an entire row of these!

So what did you think of the week?! Favorites? Failures? Ideas to make them unique to you? Hopefully I've passed some inspiration along. And I wish you a wonderful, meaningful weekend of food, family, and celebration. Happy Easter!

vintage elegance

A very pretty Thursday place setting:

Unfortunately, these little treasures were a flea market find. Completely adorable vintage eggs. But these eggs from MS would make an amazing replacement. I set this up as a formal dinner, accenting the plates with a doily, colored saucer, and completing it with a messy raffia nest. What do you think? Does this win the prize, favorite of the week?