Friday Favorites--March 4th, 2011

This post is so amazing.  This necklace is beautiful--I actually love her knock-off better than the 278 dollar original, and Yellow Blackbird gives us a clear tutorial on how to make this.  Gorgeous!

Little Things Bring Smiles created gorgeous book inspired letter art.  This would look beautiful hanging on a wall or propped up on a shelf.   Plus, it is a very cost effective project, which is always wonderful!

I am sure many of you have cheap plastic storage bins like us.  Our closets are filled with these beauties.  Simply Living added some decoration to these cheap storage solutions, and it looks fantastic!  Look at her tutorial here:

Dragonfly Designs did some beautiful decoupage eggs and gave a tutorial on how to make these at your house.  I love her colors, and it is SO easy!  This would be a fun project to do with the kids!

The Girl Creative made an envelope clutch with buttery ruffles.  I love the colors and the romantic ruffles.  Now I just have to organize myself enough to use a clutch purse instead of my mom bag.

Smile Monsters made some seriously beautiful and functional refrigerator frames.  Framing  your papers gives them spatial weight and can help with the "cluttered" look.  She gives a very clear tutorial here.

 Creations by Kara painted and monogrammed her knife block.  I am so bad at taking the time to gussie up the little details in my life, and this is a great example of something I would have never thought to do.  It looks amazing!!  Those finishing touches make all the difference . . .

Girl Inspired sewed the sweetest spring dress.  I don't sew at all--well, I do if sewing on a button counts.  However, I thought this might inspire some of you who DO sew--looking at this breezy and sunshine inspired creation makes me wish I did!

Have I found a great post for those of you who love to organize!  Check out Delightful Order's post on a wrapping area that has been organized to every detail.  I am loving the tissue paper on hangers idea--so easy and smart!

Do you have a whole wall that needs to be unique and fun?  House of Chic and Penoche used chalkboard paint and then made wall sized blueprints to decorate the wall (out of chalk--oh, and by hand!).  It is gorgeous, and the great thing is you can mix it up and redraw something new when you get bored.  Check out her gorgeous pictures.

Iron Violet Designs has a beautiful idea for any of you with little girls.  She made a "chandelier" out of flowers from her cutting machine.  The result is gorgeous.  Any little girl would love to have this precious and sweet decoration in her room.



Oh, and every Friday, The Girl Creative has a blog hop where she lists websites of other creative blogs out there!  Many of you ask where in the world I find all these ideas.  Here is a great place to browse and be inspired!  Click on the button to peruse:

Photo "I Spy" Game for a Toddler Party

I have two young boys. One turns 2 this month, and the other turns 5. I used this "I spy" idea for my oldest's 2 year old party a couple of years ago. The kids were a bit young to do this without their parents (and they just wanted to play at the park), so I would say age 3 and up would be the target age for this activity.

We had the party at a park, but you could to this in the house, backyard--anywhere.

Take your camera and visit the party venue before the party date. Take pitures of details that the kids could have fun finding by looking at your picture. Obviously, the older the kids, the harder you can make it.  You can tell my pictures are aimed at a very young audience--large and pretty easy to find.

Print all the pictures on one or two sheets of paper and make copies for each guest.

At the party, pass out the photo list and let the kids run around finding each object that your camera "spied." The first guest to find all the objects wins the game.

The kids like this because it is like a treasure hunt. In fact, this would be a great activity for a pirate themed party!

Here are some examples of pictures from the two year old party:

Have fun!


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Citrus Themed Centerpieces

If you have read my profile, you know that my hubby and I colead a marriage ministry at our church. The ministry has about 270 consistent people on the roster, so our events are fairly large. We have a great team of volunteers who help us with parties, decorating and events, but every now and then I find myself getting to plan and create centerpieces for a function.

We have a wives' workshop coming soon, and we are planning on a group of about 60 wives to attend, which will traslate into 8 circular tables that need centerpieces--at a very low cost.

I taught at the last wives' workshop, which you can read all about on my Helpmate blog. Read the Loving your Husband sacrificially series. This time, my co-leader, Heather, is teaching, and I am going to organize the food people are bringing and the decorating.

We have 20 or so glass vases that we have bought over time at Michael's.  I was weary of the dark winter colors we have had for months now, so I went straight to citrus colors for my palate.

I knew buying oranges, lemons and limes to fill the vases would be cost effective, so I started with those colors and that plan.  I got all my fruit at Costco.

We have two sizes of vases--large fishbowl vases and tall, thin vases.  I decided to use both and alternate the look on the tables. 

Since the smaller, thin vases have less "weight" and impact, I bought some straw wreaths at Michael's to lay on the table and have around the smaller vases.  I wrapped the wreaths in burlap and citrus colored ribbon, which is a great juxtaposition of color and textures.  The larger vases will just be directly placed on the burlap runner.

I made burlap runners for the tables, which will have black tablecloths at the event.  Burlap, as you probably know, is a cost effective fabric, and it has a great, organic feel since we are using produce for decoration.

I will take some pictures at the event, but the photos here are just the practice examples at my house.  I don't have a black tablecloth at home, but this is the general idea.

Here are some great links for a citrus themed party:

http://www.thepartydress.net/

http://kojodesigns.blogspot.com/2009/06/farewell-party-lemons-to-lemonade.html

http://partyobsessed.blogspot.com/2009/08/citrus-party.html#comment-form

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