play mat becomes an incredible rug

People are so darn creative. I am just in love with this idea that I came across today via Design*Sponge. One of my favorite things to look at on the Design*Sponge blog are all the Before & Afters. I love to see old things re-invented or just creative uses of everyday things. For those of you who like Ikea, the IkeaHackers blog is really fun...when Micah moves to a big boy bed, there is a great idea that I'm going to do for a bedside table that I got from this site.

Check this out....Sarah from Sarah.Wandering this gal used one of those standard, ugly (sorry moms, but they aren't cute) jig-saw puzzle foam mats that you get from Toys R Us, Target, or any other big box store. She completely re-invented it and painted it (freehand) so it looks like an amazing rug! She posted all the DIY instructions here.

Images via Sarah.Wandering

I'm trying to go through my house in my mind to figure out where I can do a project like this...too bad I have mostly carpet. I am thinking a fun spill-mat in the kitchen for Drew could be fun since it's almost time to start solids (how did that happen?).

Happy Friday everyone!

My fancy DIY bulletin board

I've been working on our office for a few months now. I wanted a fun cork board for my wall to fill up with inspirations, my new Paper Source calendar and miscellaneous reminders. I knew I didn't want your run-of-the-mill bulletin board. I had the idea after seeing a fabric board at my local Home Goods and thought, "hey, I can do that". My desk chair is blue and pink with nail heads, so I wanted to try to match it. I went and bought a basic bulletin board (why are they so expensive? this one was just under $30) from Office Depot, a yard of linen, tacs and wa-lah!


I will say, it did take FOREVER to push in all the tacs to look like nail-heads. My fingers were a little sore after, but it was worth it! I'm so happy with the way it turned out and can't wait to start to fill it up!

I also had the idea to glam up the push-pins. This was super easy...all I did was glue on rhinestones to the heads and look how fun these are? I was thinking of doing a few hot pink ones as well.


Here is a picture of how the office is coming along. Look at my cute new pillow I just got on clearance from Anthropologie! Maggie snuck into this picture! I'm planning on changing the lamp shade on the table lamp to bring in some color to that side of the room.

I will have more posts to come on our office as we work to finish it. The total cost of my bulletin board project was just about $40!

A Sweet Birthday Party

Shortly after Drew was born, I had my own birthday. I knew that I desperately wanted to see and go out with my best girlfriends, but with a 5 week old, that just wasn't going to be possible. I was trying to come up with a very low-key and simple birthday party that I could have at my house. I made sure to send out invites right before Drew was born.

I'm not much of a cook, but I do love baking. Whenever I see a good recipe on-line or in a magazine, I always keep it in hopes that I will try it at some point. Needless to say, the dessert section of my recipe book was exploding. And then the idea was born. I guess it was kind of like a Cookie Swap party that you do around Christmas. I gathered a list of all of recipes that I most wanted to try, emailed my gals something like this...

I'm throwing myself a birthday party! Figuring I will be really dying for some good girl-bonding time, plus, I'm presuming that getting away for lunches and dinners with you ladies one-on-one will be a thing of the past once the little girl arrives. Here is the plan...

We will be eating dessert...lots of it. I will provide beverages (WINE). For each of you that can come, I'm assigning you a special dessert that I've been dying to try. I promise, they aren't difficult or overly time-consuming. If you must bring a present, then there are rules...you cannot spend more than $10 and it has to be one of your favorite things!

Once the RSVP's started coming in, I emailed them the recipe that matched with their comfort level in baking. I had a TON of recipes, so some of my friends I sent about 3 to choose from and they picked. I couldn't resist and decided to make Snickerdoodle cupcakes myself.

For the decor, I chose black and white damask. The theme was born when I saw the butterfly wine glass labels from The Posh Event on Etsy.

I did little gift bags for the girls. I bought plain black bags and did a little tissue pom out of a black napkin as a cute accent on the handle (see picture above). In each bag, I bought a large disposible tupperware, because I knew we were going to have tons of leftovers. I also included a print-out of each recipe.

For the dessert table I made these flowers out of napkins. The DIY instructions can be found here. They would look awesome strung together as a garland, but I had no time! The napkins I had leftover from my baby shower, which you can check out here!

Here was the line up (clockwise): Pumpkin Squares (candy corn on top), Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, Biscoff Cookie Cheesecake bars, Chocolate Eclairs, Oreo Cupcakes, Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Cupcakes, and Snickerdoodle Cupcakes (center). How heavenly do they sound? I have to say, they were ALL delicious! But as you can imagine, we all had sugar comas after!!! Cute plates were found from Target and went with my theme perfectly.

Honestly, everything was sooooo good. I couldn't possibly pick a favorite. If you are interested in any of these recipes, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Here are just a few of my awesome $10 gifts. Some of the other items I got (but not pictured) were an adorable apron and a pair of yummy soft socks! I loved the dishtowel below so much (thanks Amanda!) that I went out and bought another one.

Here is a picture of my beautiful and awesome friends! My best friend Shannon is holding Drew....look how tiny she was! Once I had all my friends in my living room and after looking at this picture again I realized that I have a lot of blonde friends!?!?! It was a lovely afternoon of just visiting and some of my friends were able to meet Drew for the first time. I think all of the husbands enjoyed the leftovers as well. I know mine did! I will say though, having all the leftovers in my refrigerator did NOT help shed the post-baby weight! :)

For those of you short on time, I highly recommend this idea. We are all so busy with family, work, and other obligations these days. Having this time was a good reminder of how special the bond is between women. I know I value my friendships with each of these women (and a special few who wern't able to make it)! I'm hoping to do it again sometime, but maybe with a different food item other than dessert. Maybe a wine and cheese party? Anyone else have any good ideas?

DIY Cupcake Stands

I found these super cute (and super easy) DIY cupcake stands on the Modern Moments blog today. Can't wait to try this out for our next get-to-gether. Check out the full post and instructions here .

Photo courtesy of Modern Moments blog

These would be a fun favor for your guests as well. Think of all the creative uses for it...

*put a tiny dish on top of it for your rings next to your sink

*on your desk at work, fill a little dish full of M&M's or some other treat

*set a small mason jar on top of it with some flowers in it

If anyone makes these, report back with pictures!