Happy HO HO HO HOlidays!

I'll be a monkey's uncle, December is here!! BUT before we get into the full swing of the holidays, let's not forget about those December babies! I can speak on behalf of baby Cooper since I fall into this same category, hehe.

What is cuter than the sock monkey? The sock monkey wearing a birthday hat!

This has to be one of my favorite birthday invitations to date. Such a fun theme.

{Thanks Carissa! I hope your little monkey had a fantastic first birthday party.}

Wow, December really does sneak up on me every year. I wish I could say all our holiday decorations are out, 

but I'd be lying if I said so. I do have a tiny preview for you though!

Goal: I will tackle the rest of our decorations this weekend! I will.

  Places I love to shop for wonderfully priced & oh so cute Christmas decor: Tuesday Morning, Home Goods and Big Lots. 

Keep these places in mind as you are out and about tackling your Christmas shopping.

 Hope you are taking the time to enjoy the holiday season.

I'll be sharing some cute Christmas cards very soon!

LOVE BIRDS.

post brought to you by Pink Door Design

Oh, love is in the air! We hosted a couples shower this month for our good friends, who are tying the knot in March! In honor of these two lovebirds, I designed a couples shower invitation with a fun gold & sea foam green color scheme...accompanied with a pair of love birds, of course!

{the invite}

The love bird invitation and the bride-to-be's love for shabby chic decor inspired 

the banners, centerpieces and food labels for the shower. 

 {the future mr. & mrs.}

*handmade banner*

{close-up of the banner}

*supplies needed: craft paper, hot glue, twine...& a printer so you can print out your letters*

We recently finished our flagstone patio (I promise to post the amazing patio transformation soon!) and we were able to set-up EIGHT tables and seat everyone outside for the delicious dinner - complements of our amazing Chef, Ms. Catherine Wilson!

 {the patio centerpieces}

I had a fabulous time decorating the table centerpieces on our patio with old books, tin cans, vintage bottles and bird cut-outs to match their invitation. I chose craspedias (a.k.a. billy balls) and a succulent called Sedum to tie in with the invitation's gold & sea foam color scheme.

  

{the food table centerpiece}

{the food labels}

We had such a blast celebrating Josh & Lindsey!  

Their couples shower was an all-around success and we can't wait for these two lovebirds to become Mr. & Mrs. Buis.

{the name frame}

Know any lovebirds who need a couples shower invitation? 

Hosting a shower and need a customized gift for the future mr. & mrs? 

Well, then you are in the right place! Pink Door Design is here to help!

{stay tuned for Josh & Lindsey's Save the Date}

C is for CALEB!

I cannot believe my adorable nephew is ONE! My silly (a.k.a. my sister-in-law Katie) is wonderful and always asks me to design her invitations. For Caleb's birthday, she wanted everything to start with the letter C: 

C is for Caleb. C is for Celebrate. C is for cake balls & cookies.  

{I could keep going, but I'm sure you get the idea.}

Katie asked for a fun invite with fall colors and this is what I came up with for Caleb's first celebration.

My favorite part about parties is the decorative details. 

I love designing the invitation, but equally LOVE making the signs, food labels, gift tags, etc. to match the invite! 

{Check out C's party}

Handmade banner: CALEB IS ONE

  

Katie is clever - everything on the food table started with the letter C! 

C is for....Chips with Chili con Queso, Corn Dogs, Chicken, Cakeballs & Cookies

Caleb's Food Labels

Mr. cutie pie himself! He's a bit uncertain about his cupcake :)

 

 All of Caleb's party people got to leave with a treat.

Continuing with the C theme, Katie handed out candy corn!

  

Here is a close-up of the gift tag I designed for the candy corn -

C you next year! Love, Caleb

Here is sweet Caleb saying, "C you next time" while sporting 

his Mr. ONE-derful glasses. Ugh, I can't get enough of his cuteness.

Happy Birthday Caleb! Your Auntie E & Uncky C love you soooo much!

Have a birthday party, Christmas party or wedding shower coming up? 

If so, I would love to add some pizazz to your party! Shoot me an email and we can make it happen :)

{BOO}

Halloween is almost here! Hope everyone has a spectacularly spooky weekend!

FLIP. TURN. TUMBLE & PLAY. 

{post brought to you by Pink Door Design}

Our friends from Houston, Jared and Abbi, are the proud parents of this adorable little gymnast...Miss Madison. I snatched a picture from Abbi's blog so everyone can see Madison at her birthday party in all her cute pinkness. Check out her personalized polka dot gymnast shirt! What a cutie patootie.

Madison loves to flip, turn, tumble and play soooo her birthday invitation was designed specifically for her gymanstic themed party. I had a blast designing her invitation because {1} I love pink girly invitations and {2} I absolutely adore Miss Madison!

Jared & Abbi, thanks again for choosing me to design Madison's invites!

Shoot me an email if you are in need of a custom-themed invitation :0)

Upcoming Invitations: 

Caleb's "C is for..." Birthday,

Love Birds Couples Shower,

 & Cooper's Sock Monkey Birthday!

A CENTSATIONAL IDEA.

I have a weakness for Home Goods. I visit this store once a week. No lie. This little piece was spotted at Home Goods on CLEARANCE. If you are familiar with Home Goods, you know that their goods are already wonderfully priced. Which means, I couldn't pass up the clearance price on this piece even though it needed some serious TLC. 

Here is the BEFORE picture. 

Don't mind the tiny hole in the top drawer. Minor flaw, right? 

Below is another BEFORE picture with the drawers rearranged (to cover the hole) along with some black paint on the face of the drawers. It only came with two pieces of glass since the others were broken out when I purchased it.

It sat in our entry way forever (as shown below) because I wasn't sure what to do with it.

 

I really had to think long and hard about this one. After visiting the Meddlesome Moth, 

I had some "cents" knocked into me. Their beer tap back-splash is made of nickels. Such a neat idea. 

 Soooo I stole their idea and used pennies instead!

 

I needed the coins to match our gold circular mirror and the copper color was a much better match...

not to mention pennies cost less than nickels, but I'm sure you knew that. 

Once I hot glued the pennies to the drawers, they were TOO copper so I hit them with some gold paint. 

Here is the FINAL product!

Bayley agrees it was a centsational project....especially since everyone has TONS of pennies laying around their house! 

Don't overlook the ugly ducklings. They just need a little more love. 

There you have it, my two cents worth...or in this case 726 cents!

NEVER SAW IT COMING.

I have a full list of things to-do before the end of October and this particular project was NOT one of them! Somehow I managed to get off track and start something new...

If you look at the before picture, you will clearly see keeping plants alive is not my strong suit. Poor droopy plant. 

After complaining to my mom about the plant, she suggested I cut a piece of cardboard to fit the top of the plant stand. This way the plant stand could become a small table! An alternative plant-less purpose. Genius.

Instead of cardboard, I knew exactly what I would use for the top of the plant stand! We had left-over salvaged wood in the garage from our study wall.

My favorite thing about this project is I can say I used a SAW. Impressive I know. Here is my evidence. 

 

{It really happened. Even more impressive, I still have all my fingers.}

BEFORE & AFTER

 

Goodbye plant stand. Hello side table.
Project Supplies: plant stand, salvaged wood, saw & hot glue

 

OK, now it's time to get back to work on projects that ARE on my October to-do list!!