Pumpkin Party Piñatas

In preparing for this year's Pumpkin Carving Party I thought it would be fun to do a recap of the last six years. It's fun to see each of the piñatas I've created, but it's even more fun to see the kiddos grow up right before your eyes. The kids are lined up according to age, so you'll see the same nieces and nephews in these pictures.

I create my piñatas using BIG blow up bouncy balloons as a base and then layers and layers of paper Mache (strips of news paper dipped in 1 part water to two parts flour mixture). I've found that colored tissue paper is the best for giving the final design the textured look. I brush on Elmer's glue and then scrunch pieces of tissues paper onto the surface where I've applied the glue. Hope to take pictures of my process this year and let you in on a little piñata durability secret! Stay tuned.

Pumpkin Piñata - Pumpkin Party 2004

Candy Corn Piñata - Pumpkin Party 2005

Acorn Piñata - Pumpkin Party 2006

Sucker Piñata - Pumpkin Party 2007

Corn Cob Piñata - Pumpkin Party 2008

Trick-Or-Treat Bag Piñata - Pumpkin Party 2009

Reuse or Repurpose Your Wedding Invitations

Photo by Jackie Ray Photography.

My sister and I came up with a great way to reuse/repurpose her extra wedding invitations. We made fans out of them by attaching a trimmed invitation to either side of a large, wooden popsicle stick. They were perfect for her outdoor summer wedding. My brother and his wife did the same thing with their extra save the date cards for their September, outdoor wedding. By cutting off the extra text and dates, they were left with a beautiful photo and their names.

This was a simple project that family members helped Katherine complete the evening before the wedding. Guests appreciated the fans and the final product fit nicely with the rest of the wedding look and feel.

From Photo to Watercolor Painting

My very talented friend, Cole Carter, painted this watercolor portrait of my brother Joshua and his wife Sarah. You might recognize the portrait as it was based on one of the photos from their engagement shoot. If you are interested in a portrait of your child or family, Cole Carter is your man. He captured them beautifully!

Flower Girl Dresses {FREE Pattern}

In June my sister and I spent DAYs together sewing four, flower girl dresses for her July wedding. We based the dresses on a free pattern from a wonderful sewing blog: madebyrae. Obviously they were each very different in size but the pattern scaled nicely and the addition of a yellow sash was just the touch they needed to make them formal enough for the wedding.

I haven't posted anything in the sewing category in a while and didn't want you to think my sewing machine was gathering dust!

Photo credit should be given to Jackie Ray Photography.

In addition to the dresses we also made this adorable ring bearer pillow. Thought I'd add it as inspiration for anyone planning a yellow and navy wedding!

Sisters

Watching Marin and Adalyn this past week has been amazing. I know they are three years apart and Adalyn is only four months old, but you can see a friendship developing already! Adalyn lights up when Marin is around. Arms and legs wiggling her face reflecting the joy inside each time Marin dances, sings, or even screams. As I type this, Marin is bringing Adalyn the entire contents of her toy box. "Wow….TOYS!!!” Screams Marin, while Adalyn, content to chew on a green teething ring, studies Marin’s every move.

On Wednesday, they were in the floor together, when I heard Marin giggle. I looked down just in time to see Marin placing a plastic ring on Adalyn’s ear. She then proceeded to place rings on each of her own ears. More giggling (and cooing) commenced.

What a treasure to watch them grow to love each other. I know they’ll have squabbles (what sisters don’t) but I’m SO excited to see them become friends and the best of playmates. It's little treasures like this, watching your daughters become friends, that makes parenting such a joy. (That, and little girl giggles.)

Fabulous French Doors!

Reed glass in Mahogany. Ahhhhhhhhh.....Seriously I've been dreaming of these doors since we bought the house (seven-long-years-ago). Still need to be stained to match the doors in the house and the cabinets in the bathroom, but it's installed and now we can finish the trim and baseboards in the master bedroom.

View from the master bedroom (see the louver closet doors in the background?)

View from the master bath into the bedroom.

UP, The Movie Themed Rehersal Dinner Party

The Spirit of Adventure was the theme for Joshua and Sarah’s Rehearsal Dinner party on Friday evening. My Mother pulled together a fun and creative party based on the “Married Life” portion of the Pixar movie “UP.” While this portion of the movie is sad, it also beautifully depicts the “adventure” of marriage. The desire for adventure in the characters of Carl and Ellie reminded us of Joshua and Sarah. Sarah has dreams of visiting far off places and Joshua is excited to go anywhere Sarah wants to be, but most of all they anticipate the joys of married life.



Here are photos from the evening. We created centerpieces for the tables that matched the "up" theme and included picture of the couple and their correspondence on their Facebook Wall posts. Each one was different. I created them in Adobe InDesign and printed them on translucent vellum paper, cut the upper portion so it looked like the balloon was floating off the page and taped them with double sided tape to create the tube. A battery powered tea light was placed inside to illuminate them. Each guests was also given a round token designed to match the theme that included menu options.

Our good friend and talented artist Cole Carter drew childlike caracturates of Joshua and Sarah which were placed on the main table along with a wooden house that Joshua made years ago. Mom added a bunch of colorful balloons to the top to create their UP home. In the movie, the destination of choice is Paradise Falls. Joshua and Sarah's next destination is Africa, so we created a similar change bottle and labeled it "Africa Fund."

It was a fun theme with endless inspiration that could be incorporated into any wedding, shower, or party. While looking for ideas I came across this BEAUTIFUL Up movie themed wedding and engagement shoot, photographed by Wildflower Photography. Visit if you are curious.