These were made by a girl named Amanda and I thought they were so cute, I took a few pictures! (before snagging a sample for myself, of course!)

Basic explanation: Yellow cupcake with green colored vanilla frosting, topped with a flower petal surrounded Oreo cookie and an M&M on top that is frosted like a ladybug. How adorable is that? Besides getting down the flower petal technique using an icing tip, it doesn’t seem that hard of a cupcake design, so give it a try!

Related Posts:

Spider cupcakes

Owl Cupcakes

Here’s Allie’s tutorial to create these eco-friendly favors:

Supplies:

• Bird Seed
• Gelatin
• Water
• Silicon Molds
• Twine
• Wax Paper
• Mixing bowl
• Measuring Cup
• Tablespoons
• Cooking Spray
• Organza Bags (purchased here, at PaperMart)

Note: The following recipe was tripled from what was found online in order to fill 12 heart shaped molds. First, boil water.

Once at a boil, pour 1 1/2 cups of water into a mixing bowl with 3 tablespoons of gelatin. Mix to dissolve gelatin.

Pour 4 1/2 cups of birdseed into the bowl and mix. Note: the mixture will still be a little on the wet side at the bottom, but that’s ok. The water will be absorbed into the mixture after sitting.

Spray the molds with a cooking spray. (not sure if this positively needed, but figured it couldn’t hurt.)

Fill the mold halfway with the bird seed mixture. Place the ends of a cut piece of twine into the mold. This will be used to hang the ornament outside.

Continue to fill the other half of the mold, covering the twine. Allow to sit until it is fully hardened. The length of time may vary but I typically left them at least 4 hours. Typically I made 2 batches a day, one in the morning and one at night.

Once hardened, pop them out and lay on a piece of wax paper. After drying a few hours, stand them on their side so both the top and bottom dries. For wedding favor purposes, allow to dry at least a full 24 hours or more.

To complete for the wedding, slip into an organza bag and attach a tag message.

Tip: When making these ahead of time, and after fully dried, place in a clear tupperware container in the sunlight and not a dark cardboard box in your guest room turned wedding storage room to prevent mold. (learned the hard way on the first batch!)

Linked Parties:

Happy Hour Projects, Tatertots and Jello, One Artsy Mama, I Heart Naptime, The Southern Institute, The Kurtz Corner

Related Posts:

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

Owl Wedding Shower Thank Yous

But, do you remember this post about the jungle animal paintings I made for Christmas for his room?

At my last visit to their house, I snapped a shot of them hung in his room. While you can’t see that his bedding, curtains and wall hanging all match this theme from this photo, trust me that they do!

Happy Birthday buddy!!!

Related Posts:

Nursery Paintings

(supplies: Stickers: Jolee’s)

Yes I said more than one Bride!! As this post goes live, I’m actually down in Virginia taking part in Allie’s wedding as her maid of honor! Since she got engaged, I have been having fun wedding planning for hers and even more excited when we were able to start planning together!

In addition, I had been asked to be in my friend Aimee’s wedding ON THE SAME DATE! Unfortunately, I have not yet possessed the power of being in both Virgina and Wisconsin at the same time, so I will have to celebrate Aimee’s big day from afar. I am there in spirit!!!

Congrats again to Allie & Tim AND Aimee & Micah!

Related Posts:

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

Just a few weeks ago, 8 girls and I flew from several locations on the east coast to Chicago for a girls long weekend to celebrate one of Allie’s last weekends as a non married woman. As most of us had not been to the windy city, I made sure we fit in lots of tourist activities along with girly group time.

While this is not a super crafty or creative post, I hope its contents might help others plan a girls or bachelorette windy in Chicago.

Tourist Fun:

Ride the Ferris Wheel! The first day we got there, it was nice and sunny and warm. I had bought tickets online prior to the ticket to tour their big tourist attraction, the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. While I would recommend taking a ride, where you can see the view in the above photo, just buy the tickets when you get there and don’t buy them before hand. They charge you a $1 per ticket transaction fee online, and it turned out we had to wait online anyway to get the tickets, which defeated the convenience I thought we’d have.

Visit the Zoo! We stayed in the River North area of the city so with a $15 cab ride (for all of us!) we made our way to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It’s a nice zoo, not much difference from most I’ve been to (and I’ve been to lots!) but it was great that it was free!

Take a tour! I would highly recommend the Chicago Trolley and Double Decker Signature Tour. With 14 stops, this bus system became a cheap and easy way to spend a jam packed day touring around. You could hop on and hop off at any of the stops to spend as much time as you wanted at each stop.

We used this tour to get us around to lots of the highlights: the Bean in millennium Park, Willis Tower, The Chicago Theater, the Buckingham Fountain, just to name a few.  The ticket to the tour also included a coupon book, which got us free samples of the Garrett’s popcorn Chicago mix (a pretty decent sized sample!), a free cookie at The Corner Bakery and a bunch of other discounts. We also used a coupon in the book for a later night (seen below).

We went the extra step and purchased the add on option of the Sky Deck tour on the Willis Tower (previously known as the Sears tower). On top of the 103 floors were some beautiful views of the city.

There were also glass boxes where you stand out over the city below, which was a pretty fun experience for all except one who was afraid of heights.

Right outside the Tower were these yarn bombed balls and tree branches that we thought were so fun!

Restaurants:

Harry Caray’s – We had lunch at their Navy Pier location where most of our crew sipped their Wildberry Dacquris, snacked on the kettle chips and had the recommended Italian Beef sandwiches.  Our crew seemed to enjoy all three!

Quartino - I had been recommended this restaurant stating it was great for group as it’s small plates that are shared amongst the table. That recommendation was dead on! We sampled and shared a bunch of Italian goodies, a delicious white wine sangria, sipped on flavorful limoncello and indulged in zeppoles for dessert! We made a reservation before hand and were seated quickly upon arrival. Our meal came out so fast that we were done before we knew it! It was super affordable to eat as a group and I’d highly recommend trying this place out for yourself!

Moe’s Cantina – This was another recommendation and since it was Cinco de Mayo weekend when we went, I thought Mexican had to be on the menu. We were surprised that we were somewhat laughed at when we ordered the Parrillada de Carnes (Rib-eye steak, short ribs, skirt steak, bone-in chicken, mixed vegetables, pineapple, Spanish rice, black beans, mini corn tortillas served on a mini table top grill), but she mentioned it wasn’t something typically enjoyed by a group of girls. Well these girls loved their meat and shared pretty much the entire mini grill it came on!

Cantina Laredo- Since we feasted on a platter of grilled meats, the girls didn’t feel like they got enjoy Mexican on this festive weekend. We enjoyed lunch here at Cantina Laredo ON Cinco de Mayo, where their Cinco Ritas (Giro Silver Tequila by Sauza, Hornitos, Herradura and Cazadores Silver Tequilas with Cointreau, lime juice and agave nectar) were only $5 instead of the usual $11.75. Get the guacamole! It’s freshly made on a cart that comes to you!

Giordanos - It wouldn’t be a true Chicago experience if we didn’t try out the famous Chicago style deep dished pizza, which we enjoyed for lunch at Giordanos along our tour.

Fun:

Howl at the Moon - Of course, I did mention it was a bachelorette weekend, so one night we all got dolled up with cocktail dresses and heels, had Allie sport a bachelorette sash and made our way to this super fun dueling piano bar. The cover charge was $10, but we had “2 free admission” tickets in our coupon book from the tour so we got in for free! They are known for this ”Howlin’ Buckets” where you share your fruity drink through colorful swirly straws.

Hub 51 - After one of our Mexican dinner, we stopped over at the local bar from our hotel to enjoy a drink before bed. Little did we know that bringing a bachelorette along for the ride meant free Hub Bombs, a sweet shot! Share a pitcher of their sweet mixed drinks if you go with a group!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms of these creative gals!

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Love, Tara
(supplies: Patterned paper- unknown, Punches: Ek Tools, Chipboard Letters: Heidi Swapp )

Happy Mother’s Day, Nikki! Handmade by Liz!
(supplies: patterned paper: Die Cuts with a view; Stamp: Inkadinkado; Ink: Colorbox; Punch: Ek Tools)

Happy Mother’s Day, Karen! Handmade by Allie!

Happy Mother’s Day, Myrna! Handmade by Liz!

Related Posts:

Happy Mother’s Day

Recently, I’ve attending and/or helped throw three bridal showers, all unique and geared towards the personality of each bride.

Fellow bride Vanessa will be married in late July with a modern vintage theme.  Wanting to stay within this theme, her mom chose the Cosy Cupboard Tea Room for the location of Vanessa’s Bridal Shower.

The Cosy Cupboard puts together a great event with rounds of salad, soup, the finger sandwiches seen above, and a choice of teas to sample. At one point, we were also served one of two types of scones with a discussion on the proper way to eat said scone. (tearing it in two, not cut with a knife and topped with a sweet cream and jelly pairing).

To enhance the vintage tea room theme, fellow bridesmaid, Sherryl and her business partner, put together a gorgeous coordinated candy buffet from their company Sweet Little Nothings. I asked them to share a bit about their company for interested readers:

Sweet Little Nothings, started by Sherryl Andaya and Jacky Clay, is a unique Candy Buffet business, providing themed and color-coordinated candy display for special events in the Northern New Jersey and surrounding areas. While we specialize in “tea-themed” events, i.e., young ladies tea parties, bridal and wedding events, we are available to provide high-end quality candy buffets for every occasion including birthday parties, anniversaries and charity events. Most recently, Sweet Little Nothings has been engaged to provide a candy display for the Montclair Film Festival.

Sweet Little Nothings distinguishes itself by providing customized, unique and theme-based props that will create a “wow” effect for any party. In addition to candies, Sweet Little Nothings can provide cookies, cupcakes and other dessert items in its display, at the customer’s request. Prices start at $7.50 per person, plus $200 set up (for a party of up to 50 people), design and take down fee. For further information, please email info@sweetln.com.

After guests watched Vanessa open her gifts (to which I made the Ribbon Bouquet above), and we played a few games, we enjoyed a delicious cake dessert and more tea.

As a favor, guests walked away with a tin of tea from the tea room and a heart shaped tea infuser. I created the tea bag shaped tag which we attached to the cellophane bag. (edge punch shown is Open Scallop from EK Tools)

Related Posts:

Pink Owl Bridal Shower

Like everyone, I have pinned dozens, if not hundreds of decor ideas, organization tips, crafts and recipes! But I’m also happy to say that I have actually used many of the things I’ve found or learned on Pinterest for my own life.

Here’s a little recap of some of these Pinterest inspired ideas:

Christmas Entryway Mirror

Paint Chip Tags

Mini Envelopes on Cards

Chocolate Covered Football Strawberries

Look for new Pinterest inspired posts soon!

Related Posts:

Internet Workout

Instead of a paper plate hat, today I wanted to share a modern take and teach you how I make a ribbon bouquet. In theory, the bride uses this bouquet at her rehearsal the night before the big day as she practices walking down the aisle.

Supplies:

• Strong paper plate
• Scissors
• Tape
• Ribbons/Bows from the gifts received (not shown)

Before attending, cut several holes in the plate, with the biggest in the center. I’ve seen places online that say to make one hole in the center of the plate, but I find it’s actually easier if there are several places to thread the ribbons through.

As the bride opens her gifts, have the bridemaids hand you any ribbons or bows. For ribbons that don’t have a bow, make your own, then thread the loose ends through the holes in the plate.  Use tape to attach any of the premade bows. Use thin ribbons along the edges and curl with your scissors by running the blade along the ribbon.

Continue to fill the bouquet with collected bows until the present reveal is complete! I promise this will not look like anything as you start, but will take shape as you continue making it.

Once you have collected all the bows, begin braiding those that are hanging through the holes. This braid will become the handle to carry the bouquet at the rehearsal.

In the end, the bride will be ready to use her ribbon bouquet at the rehearsal when she practices walking down the aisle for her big day!

Linking With:

Kurtz Korner

Related Posts:

Pink Owl Bridal Shower

It had previously been owned by an older couple so it needed some updating interior work! As my little nephew was on his way, they chose to focus on a few of the basics, the walls and the floors. Today, I’m very excited to share her first ever before and after guest blog post!

Here’s what the kitchen floor and walls looked like before:

Mel says: First we tackled the wallpaper on all the walls of the house. For the kitchen floor, we removed 3 layers of vinyl.  Most of it came off in strips, but some parts we had to use a little work. Usa a razor blade to cut long strips in the floor, then pry up with a flat shovel. A shovel with a long handle works best to get the most leverage, making it easier to remove.

We painted the walls a new, light tan color. Before applying the new floor, we screwed down the sub floor to stop squeaks. We also under cut all door jams so the new floor tiles could slide underneath.

We put in DuPont 10 mm laminate tile floor.  Tip: leave about a 1/4 inch gap around the walls to allow for expansion.

To finish, we put in white 4″ colonial base molding around the edges of the room. We also added butterscotch oak moldings to transition our hard wood floor in the living room and a customized oak stair nose to finish off the step in to the dining room.

It looks great, Mel!

Related Posts:

Guest Post: Allie’s Craft Space

Bathroom Organization