Happy Birthday!

My baby turned two today!! 

We celebrated with a pup-pie and lots of fun gifts! Happy Birthday Berk Dog! Mama and Daddy loves!

Pinterest Party Planning

How did anyone ever plan a party without Pinterest? I know that it can be done but with all the great ideas out there, it sure helps get the plan together faster!

For the Couple's Shower we hosted this past weekend, Pinterest was my best friend. We wanted a fun and colorful but still rustic theme for the shower. Something not too girly and a little touch of masculine so the guys would feel at home. We decided on a color scheme of turquoise, green and coral and a camping/picnic-y feel with the decor. Here are a few projects that I found on Pinterest to help pull our party together-

I saw Jenn's adorable scrappy garland and knew that I wanted to make one but didn't know where until planning the party. It was just the rustic pop of color we needed over the photo booth and around the s'mores table.

Jenn has a great tutorial that I followed. I got a little carried away at cutting fabric and had enough to make two! I used different shades of muslin, a plaid shirt and green t-shirt from the thrift store, and a coral dish towel to get the look I was going for.

To showcase some snapshots of the two of them, I created a picture collage frame (like Kirsten's) out of an old frame I picked up at a flea market.I painted the frame a pretty mint color and then strung twine around the nails that were already in place around the frame. We attached the photos with mini clothespins.

Fossil.Life.Style has a tutorial for these cute twiggy candle holders.

I first tried to do this project without reading the tutorial and used hot glue (because hot glue is supposed to work on everything, right?) to adhere the sticks to the glass candle holders. I would get half way around the holder and the sticks would all fall off- dried glue and all. Then I read the tutorial and found out that E6000 is the trick. It was a little bit of a pain because E6000 doesn't dry quickly and the sticks slid all over the place but now that it s dry- these sticks aren't going anywhere!!

For Emily's guest book, I found a large, unfinished, wooden "M" at Canton a month or so ago, and I painted each side with a flat white paint. We had her guests sign on the back with colorful sharpies. The front is left white and she can put it up in her house like this pin from the Handmade Home suggests.

The guests also added funny memories in to the buckets for "things Clint should know about Emily" and "things Emily should know about Clint". I found this pin and thought all of their friends would enjoy sharing a few secrets. Emily said they had a great time reading through all the slips of paper that night after the shower.

I knew from the beginning I wanted a ton of fresh flowers around the space. For a bright pop of color, I decided to use this inspiration and create paint-dipped mason jars. I mixed up a coral and mint color and swirled the bottoms of the jars in the paint. I made sure to get it somewhat thick so the paint would run after I turned it upside down to dry. These are so easy and inexpensive and really add a pop to what would normally just be a clear vase.

These jars have been on my Pinterest for forever! I love the floating candles and raffia. If you do this- be sure to buy the heart shaped floating candles from Hobby Lobby. The larger round ones I think are too big to fit through the jar.

My favorite project of the night- Wine Bottle Tiki Torches (I got this amazing idea here with this great tutorial). I have an huge supply of empty wine bottles and I now have a use for them! Everyone loved them and I plan on making a few more as gifts and for our lake house. The cost per bottle runs about $6 so not a bad investment if you are looking to get rid of a few pesky mosquitoes!

I'm happy to finally cross a few projects off my to-do Pinterest list! It feels good to get some things done!! do you have any fun summer projects on your to-do list?



Linking Up with: Link Up With Me, Liz Marie

{Couple's Shower} Photo Booth Fun

This past weekend, we hosted a couple's shower for my sister and her beau at our house. Her bridesmaids helped pull everything together and the shower turned out great! I'll have more on the shower soon but today I wanted to share the fun photos from the photo booth.

We set up the photo booth by setting up a white tent and hanging a colorful quilt as the backdrop. Nothing fancy but a lot of fun! We set out a table with a bucket full of props- mustaches, signs, hats, and a chalkboard.

 

It was such a fun addition to the party and each photo gave us all a laugh!!

 

 

 Do you have any party plans in the future? I'd love to hear about it. We are planning a fun bachelorette party coming up- any fun ideas for her last night out as a single woman?


Linking Up with: Link Up With Me, Liz Marie 

{Mood Board Monday} Seating that Speaks to You

Today I am back linking up with my second Mood Board Monday party with Sarah at Pewter+Sage. The  blog party is all about seeing how different people are inspired differently by the same thing. The challenge was to choose from one of three gorgeous chairs and design a room around the chair of your choosing!

I have had an home office space in my mind lately. My husband loves to travel and would love to visit Africa again soon. I thought it would be fun to design a "Safari Country Club" home office for my husband around the "Cecilia Chair" from Horchow.

Horchow

This chair has a tribal-feeling print that worked great my Safari Country Club Home Office.

For this board, I set out to create a space that felt masculine with the world-traveler feel using rustic elements and lots of texture. I chose a deep,blackened navy for the wall color and lightened the space with a natural jute rug layered with a white cowhide rug. I also envisioned floor to ceiling, clean lined built-ins painted a white color to help lighten the moody blue on the remaining walls. A fun play on African wildlife with a modern Rhino head and a collection of vintage globes finish off the "Safari Country Club" home office.

• The star of the room is the pair of Cecilia Chairs sitting in front of the desk. This allows for the occasional client meeting or a comfy place for the wife to drop in and say hello.
• The windows would be covered in Coronado White Sand, Bali Grass Blinds like these used by Caitlin Creer. This light colored and textured window treatment adds privacy but still allows light to flow in while remaining masculine.
• The artwork- Seaweed by Michelle Armas- ties together all the colors of the room in a modern abstract piece.
• Z-Gallerie's Rhino Head will pop off the dark walls and make the African statement needed for this safari themed room. 
• The Metal Accordion Side Table gives the client a place to set their drink and will sit between the two chairs.
• A collection of vintage globes are always fun to see and could be lined up or staggered throughout the built-ins which would be painted Benjamin Moore's Stone White. 
• The wall color is also a Benjamin Moore color- Marine Blue.
• The Hendrix Desk from Crate & Barrel has a handmade, rustic quality that gives that masculine, laid-back African vibe to the office.
• The Barrel Back Desk Chair by Edward Wormley is a show stopper (and wallet buster). The olive green leather and dark walnut combine for a masculine desk chair that even this wife would love to have!! 
• To lighten up the space, I have layered this Chunky Wool and Natural Jute rug from Pottery Barn and the Serendipity Devour Cowhide White Rug from RugsUSA.
• The Beaded Basket Lantern in Gray and Aged Silver from Shades of Light adds the perfect amount of masculine glamor to the space. 

Overall, I feel like this is a space that both my husband and I would both enjoy!  Make sure you hop over to Sarah's blog and check out the other mood boards. They are all gorgeous!

Paint Your Own Pet

My sister and I wanted to do something special and fun for our mom for Mother's Day. After telling my mom about the painting classes that David and I went to earlier this year, I knew it was somewhere I needed to take her! Mom used to paint in high school and loved it, but she hasn't picked up a paint brush in quite a few years. My sister and I planned this fun getaway and kept it a secret from Mom until we were walking in to the door!!

I wanted to find a painting that each one of us would love to hang in our home. After looking through many of the classes, I came up on the Paint Your Own Pet!

  I had a hard time choosing a favorite photo of Berkley to paint. Then, I ran across this adorable painting in the latest issue of Rue Magazine and knew I wanted to use it as my inspiration painting!

Rue Magazine- Page 109

I emailed over all of our photos and they were pre-sketched on each canvas! We had a great time trying to make our painting look just like our pups.

Emily and Reveille

Me and Berkley

Mama and Ranger

 I think they all turned out great! I'm so excited to have a painting of my baby!!

 Berk is so sophisticated!! I was told all he his missing is his glass of wine!

What do you think? Do you have a special painting or photo of your four-legged friends? I think it might just be my most favorite piece of art in my home!