events and such!

so i've missed blogging the past few days.  after a solid month of posting for the "picture challenge" and planning/hosting a baby shower over the weekend, i've found myself foregoing my blogging to create time for other things.  but, i must share pictures from the baby shower that i helped host this past saturday. 

my friend jill is about 7 months pregnant and adorable as they come.  she asked for a few of us to host her baby shower for her close friends.  we were happy to oblige and found ourselves getting very creative and going a bit overboard with the whole thing. 

amidst many to-do lists and shopping trips, i managed to limit my number of "freak-outs" as the date drew nearer.  if it weren't for andrea and gary, i don't think any amount of medication would have calmed me down! 

we decided upon a candy theme for the shower and went crazy from there.  the shower would be decorated with bright, bold colors.  games would be few, and drinks would be aplenty. 

when the day of the shower came, everything was pretty much in place.  it was a huge (and cute) success!  here are some pictures from the shower!  (click on picture for larger view.)

 

candy bouquet!

CAKE BALLS!  

courtesy of our friend, jim.  he did an amazing job!  

red velevet cake with cream cheese frosting

orange cake with orange frosting

chocolate fudge cake with chocolate frosting

vanilla cake with vanilla frosting

lemon cake with lemon frosting

personalized wine bottle
labels with baby wine glasses



            white chocolate pretzel rods

 

    

the food/candy table!

personalized candy bar
favors for guests

                                          


                                                          the gift table

time to be creative

on the plane, i come across many types of magazines.  i enjoy flipping through various gossip mags, looking at all the pictures and reading the captions.  i plan and dream about elaborate vacations when i look through travel magazines.  occasionally i'll find an article i want to read in a news magazine.  but some of my favorite finds are crafty/food/decorating magazines.  among my favorite are real simple, martha stewart living, food and wine, and house beautiful. 

as i look through the magazines the ideas start flowing though my head.  i start ripping out recipes.  i imagine how i would implement various decorating ideas in my home.  i start making a list of materials i would need to make a certain craft.  and what comes of most of these ideas are various pages torn out of magazines that lie around or get filed away. 

i see these magazines or read blogs with amazing and creative ideas and often ask myself "how do people have time to do all of this?!"  i would love to try out new, delicious recipes or making cute crafts, but i rarely do.  i just feel like i don't have the time to get everything done!  i suppose it's just one of those things where you have to make time.  so i'm going to make it my goal to try one new recipe or make something crafty at least once a month!

stitching it together

on my recent trip for work, i discovered that my pants had an embarrassingly large hole in the crotch.  since i don't pack more than one pair of pants for a trip, i was forced to find a way to mend the hole.  while i have a sewing kit of my own, i unfortunately don't carry it with me on my trips.  thankfully my co-worker carried her sewing kit with her.   so when i got to my hotel room, i quickly opened up the kit, turned my pants inside-out and went to work, stitching up the large hole.

i'd like to thank my mom for teaching me how to sew.  i can sew on a button easily and can sew two pieces of fabric together with the tightest of stitches.  i feel like it's something that everyone needs to know how to do, and i'm grateful i can mend my own clothing if needed in a pinch!

thanks also goes to mrs. gallahue.  without her forceful instruction in home arts i might not be able to sew like i can.  i didn't win the "best home arts student" in 6th grade for nothing!

arts & crafts

recently i visited michael's and bought this miniature hot glue gun. 

for the same price as the plain, boring glue gun, i was able to get one with a bit more excitement!

so why the purchase?  i had a few arts & crafts projects up my sleeve requiring a hot glue gun!





while on vacation in mexico, a nearby beach-goer handed andrea a copy of women's day magazine.  in was the october issue with numerous craft ideas using candy corn.  no one can deny that candy corn is cute!  my favorite craft in the magazine was this candy corn tree. 

it's quite simple.  collect a few twigs, making sure they have multiple branches.  arrange them into styrofoam in a small pot, glue 2-3 pieces of candy corn onto the end of each twig.  and finally cover the styrofoam with the leftover candy corn.  cute and easy! 


and the other project planned was a wine cork christmas tree.  this idea came from a christmas gift that andrea received last year.  so this year we made it our goal to save all of our wine corks.  i'd say we were pretty successful!

the tree is pretty easy to assemble.  first organize each ring of the tree and then carefully glue them together.  after each ring is completed, glue layer on top of layer until the pyramid is complete.  the perfect christmas gift for the wine lover!





 do you have hot glue gun craft ideas?

author's note:  this might be my gayest post ever.  

happy halloween

while i'm not a big fan of halloween, i sure can make the most of it with a little arts and crafts! 

 

idea found here.