sammy's party details

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since i got a few emails asking for sammy's party decor details, i thought i would include them on the blog. i would just like to note that many loving friends folded paper, glued countless beans, spent a frustrating evening hanging fans, and contributed their artistic and craft-tastic talents to make sammy's first birthday special.














tissue fans - recycled from a baby shower, originally purchased at paper tuesday. if you want more color choices you can also find them at sweet lulu.

paper fans - diy. made from wrapping paper and scrapbook paper following these tutorials (here and here).

table runner - diy. made using this fabric and this trim.

dohl towers - diy. my friend eunice and i made these towers following this tutorial. i made the simpler one using this template and eunice made the amazing dragon one using this template. since our babies are close in age we used the towers for each of our babies' dohls. it worked out great! she hot glued a red bow on the dragon to fit her party theme, and then i hot glued a ribbon bow tie fit mine.

wood letters - from joann's, but you can pretty much find them at any craft store.

cake - i purchased a simple white vanilla cake from indigo pineapple. it was soooo delicious! i wrapped the base with ribbon and topped it with diy pinwheels made by my lovely sister and my friend anna following this tutorial. instead of using one piece of scrapbook paper they used two pieces of scrapbook paper and glued them back to back to add more color. they also used leftover paper straws instead of dowels.

flowers - my super talented friend sophia did all the floral arrangements. she did such a lovely job. i saw this idea on pinterest. i thought it was a creative way to use old baby food jars.

table runner - diy. made using this fabric.

circle banner - diy. mike punched out a TON of circles (isn't he so great?) using a circle puncher and i sewed them together. super quick and easy.

balloons - from party city.

dohljabi sign & jars - my love, annie, who is a craft goddess made sammy's dohl sign and jar labels. the straws i bought from here. the straw labels i made using this free word template.

happy birthday banner - from minted.

sammy's cake smash bib - diy. made by my bff eunice. isn't it the cutest thing ever? i am not sure how she made it but i found this tutorial for a diy bib and one for a no-sew bow tie.

i hope you find this helpful!












our new end table

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a few weeks ago i spotted this beauty at a local thrift store.

here is it is after a few coats of paint. isn't is lovely? it's perfect for our guestroom.

how to do it:

1) clean the table, remove the hardware and sand down some of the rough sections.

2) prime the table using Kilz brand spray paint primer. supposedly it is the best for this type of thing.

3) paint the table using whatever color you like. i used martha stewart semi-gloss paint from home depot in 'popcorn' and applied two coats.

4) spray paint the hardware. i spent a lot of time at home depot and anthropologie trying to find the perfect handle but at the end of the day i decided to stick with the original. i used rustoleum spray paint and painted it black.

5) attach the hardware and enjoy!

for more ideas and tips check out one of my favorite blogs: www.inthefunlane.com

i'm debating on whether to distress the piece or not, any thoughts?

baby hair clips holder

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i had a baby shower to go to this weekend and i thought i would open up my craft box and try to make something for the mommy to be. my best bud mrs. chou suggested i make a baby hair clip holder. being a mother of a baby girl, she said it would be a cute and practical gift so i thought i would give it a shot.




first i spray painted this base. i was hoping to find the wooden base in white but had no luck. i spray painted it on a windy day and it ended up looking a bit bumpy and uneven. oh well...

next after the paint dried, i cut this circle out of some pretty pink paper and decoupaged it to the base.


while the glue dried i painted the letter k i bought. the baby's name is kayla. i think that is such a beautiful name.

after everything dried i glued the pieces together with wood glue.

tada! i got a bit lazy taking the step by step photos. after i glued the base and the letter "k" together i glued some brown and pink ribbon to the base for the hair clips to hang from. i then tied a bow on the top and sewed a buttom in the middle. the mom-to-be told me the nursery colors are brown and pink so i tried to keep with the theme.

here is a close up.

all the hair clips are from SweetBittyBows: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetBittyBows. denise the seller was such a doll and agreed to ship all the clips to canada for me. all you moms of lil girls check out her shop. she has THE cutest clips.

urban gardening 101

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mike has been wanting to start a garden for awhile so last weekend we decided to give it a try.

neither of us have gardened before so we headed over to a nearby home depot and talked to a very friendly and helpful sales associate named tony.

he advised us to start with a terra cotta pot.


we then selected some soil.


we then selected a few herbs to plant. we chose basil, cilantro, sage, thyme, chives and strawberries (yes i know strawberries are not herbs).

tony told us to cover the hole on the bottom of the pot with a cheese cloth to prevent soil from draining out.

after filling the pot with soil, mike placed all our new plants into their new homes.

ta da! our new "garden".

notes from tony: strawberries should be planted on the edge and chives in the center. can't remember why, but something about the way they grow.

here is my husband with his new project.



i know many of you were concerned about penny and her hair. we are happy to report that her hair is growing out and she is looking much more like herself. :)