Thanksgiving table decor

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I am in the middle of redecorating my dining room. So, this was the last year that I was going to have that rustic look for Thanksgiving. The current furniture in my dining room lends itself perfectly to the holiday.

I was excited when the fabulous Hostess with the Mostess blogged free downloads of very cool, Celebration Mod printables. I used them to decorate candles & vases, as well as for place cards and napkin rings. For my table, I went to Joann Fabrics and just got a few fabric quarters to lay as a runner. I also used some leftover Anna Maria Horner fabric I had from re-doing my kitchen chairs. I also used the fabric to change my color scheme from my Halloween wreath on my front door to a more Fall-like wreath. I grabbed some greenery from our yard and made some paper napkin flowers and I was done!

For the dessert table, I made fun little "banners" for the pies and used some leftover trays, napkins, plastic forks (who really wants to do more dishes by dessert?) from Micah's 1st birthday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Drew's Room

When I learned I was having a little girl back in April, I have to admit my mind began to go nuts with ideas of how I'd decorate her room. I knew what I didn't want...something overly "girly" or overly "baby". I had remembered a picture of a room that had caught my eye years ago from Domino magazine, then it was later published to their book.

After deciding this room would be my inspiration, I searched for many hours on the internet trying to find the actual article from Domino magazine (now out of print), so I could figure out where to buy a lot of the items used in the room. I finally (somehow) figured out which issue it was from, then found it on Ebay. I didn't win the auction, so on a whim I emailed the seller telling her I was just interested in 2 pages...she was nice enough to scan the two pages and email them to me! So, it all began....

My first purchase was the fabric for the windows from Mod Green Pod, called Butterfly Jubilee. It wasn't exactly the same, but I was so in love with it I didn't care. The original print in the magazine was a chocolate brown butterfly with cream damask background. Mine was black butterflies with a blue damask background. My dad and I made the cornices for about $10 in supplies...all it took was some glue, foam board, batting, and some pins.

I searched high and low for a good black & white ticking stripe fabric for my chair (chair was originally red, from Home Goods) that I had laying around in storage. The pillow is from Etsy, at BedBuggs Boutique.






One of my favorite parts of the room is the giraffe silhouette, made from vintage wallpaper. This came from Inke, all the way from Netherlands. The crib and dresser are from the Baby Mod line at Walmart. The desk lamp is from Target, and the lion art is from Avalisa. The chandelier lamp over the crib is from Ikea.


The table and chairs are from Target. The adorable felt tea set, inclusive of tea bags, was found on Etsy, at the Sew Cute shop.


On to the bookcase. This beauty is from Oeuf. I got mine from the adorable online shop, Fawn & Forest. I spent a lot of time searching for a less expensive look-alike all over the internet, but nothing compared to the design of this bookcase. I knew I had to have it. The "d" art is also from Avalisa. The fox/flower print is from Etsy, at the Yumi Yumi shop. I found the orange lamp at Marshall's for a steal...$19.95!


I had so much fun filling up this bookcase. I pulled things that I already had, along with some items from my childhood, including the piggy bank, many of the children's books, and a few coffee table/interior design books I had. I seem to get crafty when I'm pregnant. I'm not an artist, but I was shopping in Joann fabrics and walked by some doilies and had a revelation of sorts. I went to Aaron Brothers (hit the penny sale, thank you very much), bought some canvas' and paint and the result were some fun little pieces of "art". I used some felt and some scraps for the giraffe silhouette as well. My dad made me the adorable little doll bed out of wire and a dishtowel as the bedding! Below are a lot of detail pictures of items on the shelves...

A few finishing touches for Drew's room. The coat rack and pink rug are from Land of Nod. The adorable hanger is from Etsy, at the Lila Frances shop. The faux sheepskin rug is from Ikea. The porcelain kitty is from a local antique store and the mini vase I found on clearance from Anthropologie. The adorable squirrel lady print is from Etsy, at the Berkley Illustration shop.

I have had WAY too much fun decorating Drew's room. I am really pleased with how it's turned out...now we just need Drew to arrive!

Pretty in Pink baby shower!

I was so blessed to have been thrown a fabulous shower by my mom and sister-in-law last weekend! Enjoy!

Micah's 1st Birthday, Camp Out Style

We made it. 1 year ago, my baby boy was born. Around October I started planning his party, knowing I wanted to do something really special for his big day. I came up with the camping theme basically because of my love of s'mores. Let's be honest, I've never been camping in my life, so this was my take on camping with some style!

First things first, the invitation. I love invitations. I'm a firm believer that it sets the tone for your party and gives your guests a little hint as to what they're in for. Now I know 99% of the people who received them didn't look at them twice, but I was very happy with them. My friend, the very talented Alice Qualls from The Olive Box , helped me put together the invite after I picked out all the images from http://www.istockphoto.com/. Above is the result...

The pictures are compliments of the amazingly talented Suzanne Hansen of SheWanders Photography. She is a friend, but I have also worked with her on many weddings, and she has shot Jason and I's engagement, wedding, and most recently, our family pictures with Micah which you can check out a few pics here. Thanks Suzanne and great job with my point and shoot camera!!!!

The letters for my "Camp Micah" banner were compliments of the super creative Courtney Toney from Joyful Weddings and Events http://www.joyfulweddingsandevents.com/. Courtney just launched her shop, JoyfulJoyful on Etsy which you can check out here.


Once I had decided on my color scheme, I had some of these fabrics left over from Micah's bedroom and went and bought the others from Joann Fabrics. This was a really fun and surprisingly easy project.


Poms are all the rage right now and I knew I had to have them. I ordered mine from PartyPoms on Etsy. I was so excited when they arrived in the mail I put them up for Thanksgiving! I especially loved the mini-pom garland. I'm thinking of putting them in Micah's room now that the party is over.



Aaahhh, the goodie table. This was too much fun. I spent A LOT of time on the internet researching what I wanted to do for the sweets. Being a working mom, I knew I needed to make things that weren't incredibly time consuming. We had a huge turnout of around 45 adults and 24 kids, so I needed treats that would please everyone!

First off were my marshmallow lollipops. These were super easy. As I said before, the whole reason for the camping theme was because I love s'mores, and will take advantage of any opportunity to have them! When I started to really think about it, there was no way to safely have authentic s'mores with all the kiddos running around. This ended up being a great alternative. I came across the idea to do these on the Hostess With The Mostess Website, http://www.hostesswiththemostess.com/. I visited her blog I think on a daily basis and got a lot of ideas from her website as you will read more below.

I was super proud of the way my Campfire Cupcakes turned out. These were so much fun. They are basic chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. I rolled them in oreo cookie crumbs. The campfire is made up of chocolate pebbles (found online), pretzel sticks as the wood, red sugar flakes as flames and gold, edible glitter gel. For Micah's cupcake, I stuck a single candle down in the middle of the "sticks" so when I lit the candle, I had a burning campfire!

Here is a close-up of the cupcakes....


I also made my own cupcake stand. This was also really easy. I went to a local cake decorating store here in San Diego and bought cake rounds and cake dummies. Add in a hot glue gun, ribbon, and my fabric.

I utilized one of my favorite wedding vendors, CAKE, for our cake. The ladies at CAKE in Mission Hills never disappoint. I ordered my favorite flavor, banana truffle cake. I sent Kimberly pictures of my fabrics and she translated the fabric beautifully into our cake.


I got my labels and card stock from Paper Source.

Perhaps one of my favorite things on the goodie table was my pails of sweet treats. Gummy frogs seemed like it coordinated with camping, as did the left over chocolate pebbles from my cupcakes. Toasted marshmallow jelly beans just happen to be one of my favorite flavors, so that was a no-brainer. I got the idea for the wood rounds that the pails are sitting on from The Hostess With The Mostess blog where she did a "Woodland Forest" theme.

These marshmallow ghost peeps were a major score find back during Halloween. When I saw them I knew I had to have them.


I made these sugar cookies the weekend before the party and they froze beautifully. I iced them a few hours before the party. It was a little challenging making brown icing, but I'm happier with this light brown-taupe color instead.


Again, never having camped a day in my life, I hear that dehydrated ice cream is fun to have when you go camping. I tried a couple bites of it and it is surprisingly good..although it sticks in your teeth a little!

Had to have dirt cups....just kind of was a natural fit.




I got these green pails from the $1 section at Target. I wrapped all the utencils in napkins and tied with rope from Home Depot. We used camping lanterns that I borrowed from friends as the centerpiece in the food island.

Food was pretty basic. Hot dogs, potato chips, salad, potato salad, and my famous baked beans.

I had a fun time putting together the goodie bags. For the kids (the little campers), each bag included finds from Oriental Trading Company, including a compass keychain, flashlight keychains, camping stickers, glow sticks, and fake bugs and ants. I also had in there an individual pack of trail mix.

I don't have too many pictures of these "tree" arrangements I did. I was inspired when I went to Anthropologie and checked out their Christmas decor. I went to the floral trade market and got the greenery, and wrapped a pot with burlap from Joann Fabric and tied with twine. I used these all over the house.


For the adults (the Camp Counselors), or my friends with infants, I bought Honeymaid S'mores cookies from the grocery store. I individually packaged them with a little message. I used some of the art that was on the invitations.

I found these owl candles at Target a few weeks before Christmas and I couldn't resist!

Here's another picture of my "tree" centerpieces and some of the creepy critters that we set up around the house.

My mom bought this cute little squirrel from Anthropologie for Micah. We set him next to the refrigerator. Only problem was every time I walked by it I thought it was our cat.

Here are some pictures of the flower arrangements I did. A lot of the greenery is actually from our yard. I mixed it with button poms and coffee bean from the floral market. I incorporated my fabrics by wrapping each vase.


Yes, I bought a second Christmas tree. I admit, I was a little obsessed. But, I wanted to set the scene even before guests came in our front door. My dad made all the great signs. I couldn't have been more happy with the way they turned out. My dad is so creative...I should've known. When I told him what I was thinking, that I wanted some signs for our long walkway, he said, "I got it" and this is what he showed up with!!!!




Ahhh, the bathroom. My friends and certain, unnamed family members (smile) thought I was coo-coo for wanting the expand the theme into the bathroom. This was so fun though! I think more people complimented and talked about the bathroom more than anything else!


I put out all our extra greenery all over the bathroom. It smelled fabulous!!!

My friend Amanda gave me the idea to put rocks in the sink...thanks Amanda!

When we bought the outdoor tree, we asked the guys at Home Depot if we could have these extra "stumps". My dad drilled small holes in them and wa-la!

This was so fun....I literally searched everywhere for pine scented soap. Gotta love Bath and Body Works! I was really lucky with the time of year or else I'm not sure I would've been able to find anything!

The Twilight Woods lotion is from Bath and Body Works and the Forest spray is from Pier 1.

My mom got this cute little ornament from Pottery Barn for me and it looked so cute next to the flower arrangement.


This Evergreen candle from Bath and Body Works smelled delicious!

Micah slept the first hour of his party. Here he is with us, shortly after he woke up. He wasn't quite sure what was going on. Oh, and just by luck, I found Micah's "I heart Camping" shirt at Gymboree.

Here is Micah being sung to. He didn't freak out at all. Notice the lit campfire cupcake...too cute!
My first taste of cake and frosting!!!





Happy 1st Birthday to my baby boy. It is hard to believe that he came into our lives one year ago. I had so much fun planning this party. I presume in about 6 months, I'll start the wheels turning again about his 2nd birthday party!!!