Happy Halloween!

Hope you have a fun Halloween!

Birds and butterflies and babies; oh my!

I thought I would share a few pics from the baby shower I hosted for my friend, Megan. As you may remember, we had a birdy theme going on and it was so fun to come up with little birds and butterflies for decorations.

I had nothing to do with this cake (except for the consumption of it..YUM). I added a butterfly and bird from a template I (frustratingly) hand-drew. I used some Stampin' Up! and Amy Butler paper and added a little ribbon to some Wilton lollipop sticks I bought from Walmart.

Isn't she a hot mama?

I bought some flowers and greenery and made floral arrangements in vases from my milk glass collection. I used pink feather boas as table runners and found these cute green flower mirrors from the dollar store to set the vases on. I especially love the bird sticking out of the homemade cheese ball! (My co-host, Alisa, made the cheese ball! DELISH! She used cream cheese, pineapple, red bell peppers and green onion and topped it with almonds. Yum-O!)

Finally, I left all of the guests with a fun little seasonal favor to take with them: a mini white pumpkin. I printed the message, "Thank you for celebrating Megan's little pumpkin!" from my computer and added the bird stamp, clear cellophane, a little ribbon and VOILA...fun little favors.

All in all, we had a awesome time, had great food and even better company. It's always fun to throw in a few handmade touches to make any event even merrier!

Pumpkin love

We have pumpkin fever at our house!

The kids and I have been pumpkin patch "hopping" (sort of like bar hopping, but not) for the past week. Last Tuesday, we took a trip to our local pumpkin patch and had a great time! My little man is picking up sooo many new words and his two current favorite, fall-related words are "ske-cwhoa" (scarecrow) and "punkin."

My preschooler has had a great time exploring the different shapes and sizes of pumpkins, leaves, walnuts and other natural things on our pumpkin patch adventures.

On Saturday, we went to an apple/pumpkin farm called Abel's Apple Acres in Apple Hill (outside of Placerville, CA). We had an absolute blast with the pony rides, photo opportunities, apple goodies, etc. If you live anywhere in Northern California, go there and have a great time! I would highly recommend taking a trip during the week because the traffic and crowds can be unbelievable!

Prince Charming

Kristina Werner is a girl after my own heart.

This week's inspiration challenge comes from Ikea. Tomorrow I'm headed to spend some time with my sister and make a trip to this fabulous store full of wonderful things. If you've never been to Ikea, you need to go.....like, right now!

Not only do they have the coolest and cheapest home decor items, but they also have a FREE childcare (for an hour) while you shop. It's the best place ever for moms!

Here's Kristina's inspiration picture:
Unfortunately, I was out of ruby red, so I substituted rose red instead.
Here's the fun card I came up with:

I had fun doing a little bit of embroidery on this card...so simple!

Card ingredients:

Stamps: SU! Unfrogettable and Full of Life

Ink: SU! Craft White, Old Olive and Summer Sun (for contrast on the paper)

Paper: SU! Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Ballet Blue, Cutie Pie patterned paper

Accessories: White gel pen, white embroidery floss

Birdy baby

One of my good friends, Megan, is due with her first baby in December. I'm co-hosting a shower for her with a birdy theme, inspired by her crib bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. So cute!

I decided to make the invitations with the bedding in mind because a baby bird theme is so fun and birds are so hip right now. I'm going to use feather boas as table runners and make some paper butterflies to hang around. I have a ton of milk glass vases and cups to fill with fresh flowers. Here are the invitations I put together:

If you have any ideas on birdy decorations...let me know. I'm still on the hunt for some birdy party supplies (plates, napkins, etc.)!

Finally feeling like fall...

I have been in a crafty slump lately...until this week.

The forecasters have been predicting rain for Friday and by golly, they got something right! It's FINALLY feeling like fall and there's nothing better than a rainy day and a Kristina design challenge to get me into the fall spirit! Here is Kristina's challenge:

And here's my dual-purpose design challenge and wedding card creation:

This was quite the conglomoration of supplies (don't you just LOVE the word conglomoration..it rocks!) but I got a design challenge and a wedding card done all in one afternoon! Go ME!

Stamps: Studio G $1 stamp from Michael's (WOOT!)

Ink: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip

Paper: SU! Very Vanilla and Pumpkin Pie and K & Company Amy Butler patterned paper

Accessories: SU! Twill tape, Self-adhesive die cut from SU! Tie the Knot Simply Scrappin' kit, wired seed beads, and pop dots