Princess Party Part Deux

Mimi's Princess party was so fun, she still talks about it. I am so happy to make these fun memories for her. It looked so lovely, in spite of our fence...

...Our goal this Summer was to tear down this chain link fence (I have some serious animosity towards this fence. Why? Mostly because it offers no privacy whatsoever) and put up a cedar fence. But now that Max needs his tonsils out and Henry needs tubes in his ears, I may just have to put up with this fence for another Summer. Humphhhh. Oh well, in the grand scheme of things it's not really that big of a deal. AND so what if everyone in the neighborhood can see me gardening in the backyard in sweatpants, no make-up and uncombed hair?

I used decorations that were left over from my sister's wedding to decorate the party with. Lucky for me her wedding colors were pink and green. ;) Thanks sis.

I searched and searched for DIY castle cakes. There are some darling cakes out there, but most of them looked much too intricate and time consuming to make. So I took ideas from the cakes I liked and created the castle cake above.

It was so simple to make and Mimi LOVED it! The best part was when we took the cones apart to cut the cake the kids used the cones for their ice cream.

This table was fun, I got the idea to use the IKEA net from the blog, love the day. It was just the right height for the kids as well, and they sure looked cute getting their pink lemonade!

Princess party, gift bags

We had a princess party today and true to "Brooke-form" I went all out. We live on a busy street and our backyard is more of a side-yard so I felt like my over-indulgence was out there for the whole world to see. I know what people were thinking, "why in the world would you go to all that trouble for a 5 years old's b-day party?!".

My question back is, "why not!?" I may only have one daughter and I know the time will come when princesses and pink are not cool so why not have fun with it while I can? :)

For the party bags I used some pink paper bags (that were leftover from last year) and decided to fill them with handmade goodies. I used fabric scraps to make the cute hair clips above. For instruction on how-to make these hair clips go HERE.

I made the bracelets above with scrapbook ribbon and beads that I also had on hand. I just cut a piece of thin ribbon 8 inches long and strung 10 pretty beads on each one. They are meant to be tied onto the wrist and I love them.

Lastly I made these wands, well, kind of. I bought the wands at Wal-mart for $2 and just added some ribbon to them. They turned out to be every girls favorite part of the goody-bag!

More pictures to come, mostly for my Rozzie-pooh. Who I know would have loved to be here.

Pink and dipped in hundreds and thousands

Just before getting injured, I was crazy busy at the deli. Functions here, fruit cakes there and one fabulous little party to cater cupcakes for. Jemma asked me to make some mini cupcakes for her little girl who loves pink and some adult cupcakes for the parents!


I jumped at the chance to use our Cupcake Wrapper Co wrappers and go wild with the pink. I want to share with you how cute

pink & green rooms

While talking to some friends of mine yesterday I explained that I often feel uncomfortable sharing experiences I have had during my 'growing-up' years of High School and college, especially in groups of people or with people who I don't know very well. Because during these 'growing-up' years I often lived outside of the country. So when I tell a story and it takes place in Paris, Luxembourg, Grand Caymans, Philippines or some where else, I sound pretentious or "ooo, look at me"...but really I just want to tell the story and the place I lived in plays a part in that story...so here I go again, and tell another one of those stories...

While attending BYU Jersusalem I was able to visit Egypt. While there I fell in love with mosaics. I had decided that I was going to have a mosaic room in my house. A room totally dedicated to all things mosaic, and I was going to create all the mosaics myself...in my mind it was exquisite.

Then the horrible thought occured to me, how many rooms do I need in my house? Because, while living in Europe I fell in love with stain glass windows and decided I needed to learn how to make stain glass....and have a room in my house dedicated to stain glass...

Well, here I am again (I often find myself in this place). I want a pink and green room. White walls, crisp white furniture and pops of bright pink and green throughout the room.

So my hot pink & green room will be located between my mosaic and stain glass rooms in the house in my head.

I think the above 4 pictures are pure inspiration...they give me the food my brain needs to sit back for a bit and daydream. What would I do without my daydreams?

cute kid rooms

I looked at real estate here in Utah daily ever since Steve and I got married, I still find myself looking at it from time to time even though we own a house, just for fun...???? A little strange I know. But I bet I could tell you Utah's real estate market trends for the last 7 years, that's how often I looked at it.

Anyhow, I always look at houses for sale in our area and found this darling house West of us. I don't know who this girl is but I am tempted to knock on her door and introduce myself. Her house is darling! Here are 2 of the rooms in her house. I just love them. And the pink/red combination above is darling.

So I guess I am a real estate market stalker??? That sounds a lot creepier than it is, I hope. ;)

chandeliers & pillows (random)

Thomas Paul Pillow found here at thomaspaul.com for around $100-$200

Murano glass chandelier found here for a mere $2,498

Sofia pillow found here for a only $21! Love it!

coudn't find where to buy this, but hey I have an easy idea.

Go here and buy this color spray paint and spray an old chandelier from yard sale, DI, thrift store etc.

A similar pillow for $29! Go here.

Just found some pretty things online while looking for design ideas. I love these vibrant colors and I love the touch of femininity that these chandeliers bring.

I also love the combination of all these colors, green pink and red.

Princess Party

Okay, so I decided there is nothing cuter than 9 little girls dressed up like princesses!

Here is Madeline at the top of the table and all her guests with bowls of mac & cheese and watermelon (her favorite foods). ;)

The party was a blast. Thanks to Grandma Kathy, Aunt Ana and Aunt Hilary for all of their hard work! xoxoxox

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Happy Birthday Mimi!

For the kids birthdays I decorate the house the night before so when they wake up it's fun for them. Mimi even had her own princess birthday dress and slippers waiting to be worn. ;)

It is so fun decorating pink!

The first gift she opened was a tin of candy rings from Grandma Kathy!

Happy Birthday Madeline Belle!

lovin these bags

I am loving these bags from cotton candy boutique. You can choose the style and the fabric, she has a ton of fabric choices you can play with. All for $29-$39!

Pretty things

The other night when I spent forever on etsy looking at people's wonderful knit-creations, I also came across this shop called The Silver Dog that I am totally smitten with. Once I shed this darn baby weight I am celebrating by getting a necklace from here. They aren't too pricey and would add a touch of glamour to even a basic t-shirt. (I also imagine wearing it with skinny jeans and flats)

finally!

Finally a shirt for little girls with older brothers! I think my daughter would go crazy for this shirt and she'd feel cool wearing it with her brother and his dinosaur shirts. I found this on etsy (of course) for $16. Soooo cute! They also have robot shirts for girls.

so in love

This is a thank you post.

Thank you Caitlin for introducing me to this wonderful store, lotus bleu located in San Fransisco, which makes me think of my early years growing up there as well as my friend Liz who now lives there - (and who by the way is quite a stylish gal herself).

I love this room, just love it...no adore it. I have once again fallen in love with color. So thank you lotus-bleu, Caitlin and everyone else who makes this world more beautiful and pleasant to be in.

adorable handmade wall hangings

This little owl and snail are so cute! And what a fun idea to make these from paint, craft paper, mod podge and canvas. Love it...for a little girls room of course!

so pretty

These strawberries are so incredibly cute! I found this picture on a wonderful blog I often frequent called Everyday Beauty.

flag banner

I am working on a flag banner right now for Max and Mimi. So far I only have the material, printed pattern and about 3 triangles cut out. I will post the finished product in about a year. ;) In the meantime I will admire these adorable flag banners from paperfish.

add this to my list...

I don't remember how I came upon this on etsy, but I am glad I did. I just adore this children's bedroom tent made by Mignon...in a perfectly lovely world this would be one of the many magical pieces I would decorate Mimi's room with. :)

Step 1: I bought this chip board at the S.E.I. outlet store in Logan, Ut. I then bought this Spring-y bright paper from the same store.

Step 2: I traced and cut the paper to fit each letter, used sticky craft glue to attach the paper.

Step 3: Add embellishments. Ribbon, pictures and even die cut coordinating flowers.

For Mother's Day I made these photo-album / MOTHER chip board thingees (so technical). I found my camera and retrieved these pics from a month ago. I think they turned out really cute and not too mormon-crafty looking. :)

I have an extremely talented Mother-in-law when it comes to sewing. For Madeline's B-day she made her the cutest monkey from vintage fabric. She got the pattern from these wonderfully creative Australian Women at Melly & Me. They have created these delightful designs for homemade stuffed animals.

This last weekend while in Idaho my mother-in-law took me to a darling fabric store and gave me 3 of her patterns for the Melly & Me monkey, elephant and fish. I am so excited to make them for Max, Madi and baby bean.

It was my mother's birthday this weekend so Steve and I stopped by this absolutely adorable new cupcake shop in Salt Lake called Mini's Cupcakes. I couldn't find any pics of their cupcakes as they are a new business, but I did find some to die for adorable cupcakes on the world wide web. (Don't these pictures just make you want to take out your cupcake pan and see if you can make something this cute?)

The cupcakes we bought for my mom were lemon cake with lemon cream cheese frosting and a sprinkle of lavender powder to make it sparkle, I mean my mom is the "Lavender Lady". ;)

p.s. Pictures of Memorial day will be coming this weekend! It was a blast!

Here are my Easter cards I made for the immediate family. There were a couple of more embellishments I added when I sent them out. There is a ribbon wrapped around them with a little Easter tag. I loved the vintage look of some of them. Happy Easter!