Dinosaurs for Halle

It's been very quiet around here. I can't even tell you how many times I have sat down to start a post and I just never finish. We've done a lot around here, including the creation of our vegetable garden out back. We're still working on the bench (a few other things have been higher priorities recently), I'm getting ready to paint the downstairs rec room and we're on the hunt for Halle's big girl bed (she still LOVES her crib, but I think we're ready to move her to a big girl bed). So, hopefully things will start to happen and this blog will see a bit more action soon.

For now, I had to pop in quickly and share Halle's 3rd Birthday Party, which happened on Sunday. She asked for Pink Dinosaurs and I did my best to deliver. The day was overcast and it drizzled a bit, but our birthday girl and her little friends had a great day. What could be more important?

I made the banner myself, using last year's as a template. I traced each of the shapes and the letters (except for the "R" in Three, which I had to freehand), and then painted everything in. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

The cupcake liners & cupcake stand I found at HomeSense. Those little pink dinosaurs on top of the cupcakes were made from Salt Water Taffy (also purchased at HomeSense). I had found instructions in Chatelaine on how to make them, and B put them together on Saturday evening while I was baking the cake. He did a great job!

Halle had asked for a "Sprinkle" cake, so I used this recipe that I found on Pinterest to make the cake & the whipped vanilla buttercream frosting. Both were awesome and will stay in my recipe book for future use!

The kids were happy just playing together, but I did have a few activities for them. I had photocopied some dinosaur colouring pages that B's Mom gave Halle, and B also buried some dinosaur sand moulds in Halle's sandbox for the kids to dig for. They loved the latter one, and also loved playing with some little dino's I tossed in there for fun.

I honestly think Halle's favourite part of the whole party was having people sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She just loves it...

I can't believe she will "officially" turn 3 tomorrow! These past three years have just flown by... and it's been an absolute pleasure being her Mama. Planning her exactly what she wanted for her birthday was the least I could do! 

Halle's Bubble & Balloon Party

Yesterday was a gorgeous Sunday here, made even better by the little backyard party we threw in honour of Halle's 2nd Birthday (which is tomorrow). The theme was bubble's and balloons and I'd say it was a big success... here are the details...

I made these Lemon Honey Cupcakes, and some chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Nutella icing. They were both a hit. 

There was even a birthday cake (also baked by me... I'm feeling pretty proud). I went with a plain vanilla cake and a whipped cream icing. A nice change from the super sweet cupcakes!

I added some other treats to the table for everyone as well...

These grape and watermelon skewers were a HUGE hit, especially with the kids! They were all gone well before the party was over.

What's a bubble and balloon party without Popcorn? I bought the little popcorn containers at HomeSense - 12 for $3.99, and glued the purple "bubbles" over top and then painted them. Popcorn - also a huge hit with the kids!

Jelly Beans and some fun purple polka dot paper straws. Straws - also great with a large group of small children! Even the boys were okay with pink cups when they came with straws!

This drawing station had the kids going nuts. They all ran for it as soon as I brought out the markers, pencil crayons and crayons. Of course, Halle ended up with more marker on herself than on the actual paper. At least a great time was had by all!

Halle enjoyed the "Happy Birthday" singing. Afterwards she even asked for more!

There were LOTS of bubbles to be had, including a fish bubble gun that B bought for her, and a bubble mower that our friends gifted her. Her and all of her little guests were loving them!

To round out this post, I just HAVE to share the fantastic birthday gift that B built for Halle. 

There will be another post coming soon with more about the plans that B used to built this fantastic swing. 

So that was our weekend. It was busy, I forgot to make punch, didn't put out the sweet tea I made and was late putting out the quinoa and potato salad I made, but it looked like everyone had a really awesome time yesterday. We are so lucky to have made so many awesome friends out here, and yesterday was also a fantastic opportunity to meet so many of our new neighbours! Really - AWESOME!

I hope you all had a great weekend too! What did you get up to?

Bubbles & Balloons - Birthday Inspiration

With all of the wedding planning and moving we've had going on, I haven't had a ton of time to start planning Halle's second birthday party yet. Yup, that's right, in about a month and a half my sweet girl will turn two. How has time passed so quickly? It feels like only yesterday, I was a brand new Mommy, wondering if I would ever sleep the whole night through again. 

{care of Nicole Kathlyn Photography}

Now, I stay up until the wee hours of the morning reading blogs and starting posts that I haven't quite finished. I've also spent many of those late nights pinning inspiration for Halle's upcoming party. This year, I'm taking two things that she loves and combining them for her party - Bubbles & Balloons.

Here's some of my favourite pins so far that have me feeling ready to shop and plan...

{via Catch my Party}

I plan on making some little bubble favours for her little guests! I love that they will be simple with some dollar store containers, pipe cleaners, water, soap and some cute labels! 

{via bliss bloom blog}

Some food & drink labels will be easy to make with some coloured card stock and a glue stick!

{1. via 2. via Catch My Party 3. via flickr}

Balloons EVERYWHERE! I can load up on balloons at the dollar store and will be able to utilize them for both parts of the theme! I love being able to do stuff like that. I hope B doesn't mind blowing up tons and tons of balloons for me to string, stick and hang everywhere!

{via curbly}

I think that a bubble wreath would be a great way to welcome people to the party! I wonder if I can find some clear plastic bulbs like that at Michael's, Wal-Mart or the Dollar Store? Any suggestions?

So that's just a little peek at where I have started with my plans... now to begin shopping and collecting items for the party. I think I'll go with purple's, pink's and white for the colour's. Next up, invites so I can get them in the mail to our guests.

Are you planning any birthday's or parties that are coming up?

Inspiration Touchdown

So I'm a day late on giving you a look at what I pulled together for our Superbowl Party. I almost didn't do anything. I'll be completely honest with you - what happened last week completely took the wind out of my sails. I spent some time feeling scared and sorry for us, but finally reminded myself it wasn't the worst thing in the world and we'll get past it together. I needed to get back on my horse, keep doing what I love, keep smiling, loving and sharing memories. We still have the most important things here... and that is the three of us and the dogs!

So, everything we put together for the party was done between Saturday night, and Sunday morning before our guests arrived. I shared my inspiration for my projects last week, and I'm proud to say that I managed to do everything on my list. Simple - but super cute and not too over-the-top for the football loving fans, who may not have been as excited about my "decor". Here's how things turned out...

I loved our little can football utensil holder. It was super quick and easy to do. I picked up some brown scrapbook paper at Michael's for $0.99, and the laces I made out of sports tape that we had grabbed at the Dollar Store for $1.25. Worked out well and looked so cute on our table. I also grabbed the green plates at Michael's, and the napkins we picked up at the Dollar Store. I just wish we'd had another can kicked around so that I could've made a second "football" to hold the spoons for chilli, but I forgot to get some out of the bin before recycling day. Lesson learned.

The football field table cloth was fun to do, and B was a big help. The tablecloth was from the dollar store, and we used the fold lines as a guide for where to put the yard lines on the "field". We used the full width of the sports tape for the end zones, and ripped the tape in half for the rest of the lines. We could've added more detail in the end zones and at centre field, but decided against it at the end of the day. To be honest, I don't think anyone commented on it... and not surprising since it was just covered with a lot of tasty food!

Speaking of tasty food...

TA DA! I bought cookie cutters at Michael's that had the football, a jersey, a pennant flag and a helmet.   I only made use of the football and jersey, and in the end even cut a bunch out as squares since I was sick of wasting so much delicious brownie. (The squares had XLVII piped onto them with the cream cheese icing). These were a big hit and super easy. We just used the Ghirardelli mix that you can buy from Costco... because let's be honest... they are delicious. A few didn't work out quite so well, but at the end of the game - no brownie was left behind!

I had so much fun doing these little extra's this year, and maybe next year I can take it to another level. I'll definitely continue to add fun ideas to my Superbowl Pinterest board!

Did you watch the big game? Or just tune in for Beyonce's half time show? Did you host or attend a party, or just hang low at home? Any fun Superbowl Party ideas you'd like to share? We're always open to new and fun ideas to add to our big party for the next time... so share!

Superbowl Party Planning

This coming Sunday is Superbowl Sunday. We love the Superbowl (even if our Pats got knocked out by Flacco and his Ravens). It gives us a chance to host a party, see friends and eat a ton of delicious food. I've been saving tons of ideas for our annual party on Pinterest, but have never put any of them to use. WELL, this was the year. I picked out a few inexpensive DIY's that I planned on putting together and sharing with you today. However, this week has been a little nuts and I haven't quite got to the "assembly" part of my DIY plans. Instead, today I will just share my inspiration for you.

I don't want to go too overboard and make it looked like a football themed birthday party or something, but I thought it would be fun to do a few things. Here's what I am thinking.

This transformed island from A Night Owl Blog is so cute! I love the bunting too, but I think for this party, I'll stick to transforming just the top of the table. Last weekend while running errands we picked up a green table cloth and some white tape to do this exact project. I'm so excited to tackle it and see it in place this weekend.

The past few times we've had guests over for a "party", I've had a hard time finding something to put our plastic utensils in. I've usually just ended up putting them into some plastic cups and calling it a day. Then I saw this cute idea to repurpose some tin cans, from Rust & Sunshine, and thought, I CAN DO THAT! So, I will try!

Football Brownies? Who doesn't want some of those? I just need to take some time today to hunt down a cutter for them... I assume Michael's may be my best bet. Any other suggestions?

On the savoury side, I decided to make some mini cornbread muffins to go with the Chilli that B is making. We love cornbread, and I may make mine as the cheddar jalapeño cornbread that we are so fond of.

These are just a few small ideas I have for this coming Sunday. If I'm lucky (and have time) I may put together a few more things before the big day... but we'll see how everything goes. 

Anyone else out there hosting a Superbowl Party? What do you have planned for food & entertainment for your guests? Who are you cheering for? I'd love to hear your plans!

Transforming Your Dining Room Into A Hosting Room

Happy Thanksgiving (Canadian) Friends! Well many of you may have already had your big dinners, there are plenty more to be had over the coming months! I was so thankful to hear from David Morrison over at UK Tool Centre, who in my opinion writes very well though out guest posts. I have been so busy recently, and his offer to help me out was gladly accepted. Today, I have a post from David on how to transform your Dining Room into a "Hosting Room".

Preparation is key in the run-up to a party; a good host not only throws a great gig but enjoys being there themselves.  A well planned event can guarantee little work or stress of the day of the event, though you might be dusting off your power tools in the run-up!  When you don’t have space to entertain, you have to make do with what you’ve got.  Following these tips and tricks will ensure that your next bash goes off without a hitch.

Theme

{via 100 Layer Cake}

Depending on the occasion or time of year, it is usually a great idea to decide on a theme. With that said keep decorations simple and use what you have. Guests usually notice decorations last, if at all. Choose a few key places to decorate and call it a day. I would recommend decorating the front door, possibly a fireplace mantel, or the powder room. Decorating smaller areas is easier and more noticeable than trying to decorate an entire living or dining room. Also use candles wherever you can. Candles are inexpensive and provide a ton of bang for your buck. They truly “set the mood” and make your ordinary rooms feel special.

TableScape

{via Style Me Pretty}

Unless you are hosting a formal dinner party, I would suggest removing all of your dining chairs from around your table. Treat the table as a buffet and use the chairs as extra seating around your home. Since decorations are limited, your dining table and all of the food should be the centre piece of your party. People will always crowd around the food (or drink!) so this is the area you want to spend most of your time preparing.

First I would recommend covering the table with layers of linens. Start with a table cloth, and then layer on additional table cloths and runners. Because this will be a buffet and not a dining table, bunch up the layered table cloths so they flow over the table rather than laying them flat. Next gather your best dishes, cake plates and serving platters from around your home. The key to creating an interesting arrangement is to create levels and differing heights. Use boxes under the tablecloths to create platforms and elevate different dishes. You want the highest levels in the centre of the table and lower levels around the perimeter.

Food

If you are a chef, this is your time to shine. If you are not, now is not the time to start pretending. In other words, don’t fool yourself. Keep the food simple and fool proof. For a party of 10-15 guests I would recommend preparing 3 cooked dishes, and using store bought items for the rest. Never underestimate how much people appreciate a bowl of festive M&M’s or gourmet potato chips. Make any food the day before so you can simply plate it the day of the party. With your table scape in place, use sticky notes to label exactly what food will go on each plate. This way, even if you are running around taking care of last minute details the night of the party, someone else in your family can put out the food.

Additional Hosting Tips

When hosting a party it is important to act the part of the host. This means greeting your guests at the door and taking coats. In addition it is nice to have a guest book out in your front hall as a way to remember the evening. Make sure to have appropriate music playing in your home to set the scene, it’s a great way to evoke an initial feeling.  On the buffet table make small signs for each dish so guests know what you are serving and have some extra recipe cards in case anyone asks.

Remember that the host always sets the tone and looking stressed and disorganised will create a bad atmosphere so being on top of everything for when your guests arrive is paramount! The other thing to remember as the host is that you have to look the part too, finding the time to look well groomed and appropriately dressed for the style of your party will always help settle the mood of the occasion too. And most of all, after all your hard work and preparation, you must have fun too.

Author Bio:  David Morrison is an avid DIY’er, renovator and party host.  Being a husband, father and brother; he’s attended his fair share of parties and knows a thing or two about how to run them.  Embracing his inner tradesman, David currently works for UK Tool Centre.

Our Thanksgiving Table

So, this coming weekend is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. I don't know about the rest of you, but I seriously feel like the whole holiday just sort of snuck up on me. I mean, here we were FINALLY enjoying some summer weather on the West Coast and them BAM - Thanksgiving. Well, I figured, we finally have a pretty nice space to work with, so why not really get into decorating this year? 

Last Friday, while the rain fell, my Mom and I got busy with working on a Thanksgiving table setting, using only items I already had in the house. Here's what we came up with...

The best part about this time of the year it's that it's so easy to step right outside of your front door and find items to bring inside and help you decorate. We did quite a bit of that with this setting - or at least were inspired by the outdoors. 

All of the dishes, glasses and cutlery are items that we have owned for quite a while. I figured since the dinner plates were black and white, that mixing up the glasses would make the dinner table look a little more fun. I love it.

For place markers, we used pinecones that we had stored in the garage for crafts and leaves I actually made last fall, using watercolour paper and paints. I just wrote on the painted leaves and then stuck them inside of the pinecones - easy, and free!

The centre of the table was really easy and quick to put together. I pulled the red lantern from our mantel (coming soon!), and the plate on the bottom B had got when he won a cake at a raffle during the summer. I put some extra painted leaves on the plate and then we scattered some acorn vase fillers around the base of the lantern. I also added some orange tea light holders on top of my cupcake stands, and the pumpkin salt and pepper shakers that my parents gifted us a few years ago.

I left is pretty simple, and it cost me absolutely nothing to put it together - something we really appreciate these days! I like leaving space for food and drink on the table, hence not too much cluttering up the centre of the table. Now, if only we were going to be hosting our own big Thanksgiving dinner this weekend! 

Have you started decorating for autumn? Have you been thinking about your Thanksgiving table, or are you heading away for the long weekend? I'd love to hear what everyone else is doing to prepare for the holiday!