Double Feature : : Give Away & High Waisted Skirt Tutorial

Happy Summer! We just returned from (not so) sunny Santa Cruz for a little multi-family camping adventure! 9 families total, breaking down to 18 grown ups, 23 kids and 2 buns in the over - (nope, not prego, my bakery is closed) With the 100 degree heat back at home, the overcast high 60's were a welcome change!

Now i'm back, and with some exciting news for you. I'm offering a GIVEAWAY over at The Junk House to help Sam celebrate her 25th birthday! You can enter up to 3 times. Here's how: : 

 Become a follower of Sam's blog The Junk House

Become a follower of my blog

 Create a posting about the giveaway on your blog!

Good Luck! I can't wait to see who the lucky winner is!

Now let's get on to this adorable skirt. I saw it on Sugartart Crafts and I knew I had to have one! Since there was not a tutorial included in her post it was up to me to figure it out! She did mention that it was made from one rectangular piece of fabric and she used elastic thread so with that, I was off to Joann's. We have a special "Western" event coming up later in the summer that I wanted my girls to have matching attire for so I went with this red with white polka dot pattern. Western, but still appropriate for other occasions as well.

When I got home, my non-sewing self wrestled with the sewing machine for a bit and concluded that elastic thread just wasn't my thing. I decided to "wing it" by sewing the inside of the fabric directly to a 1 inch wide elastic. Worked perfectly! It was a fun trial and error project for me and a good excuse to call up my sewing expert friend for a little help.

For the rest of you who aren't up for the guessing games, Toni over at Sugartart Crafts followed up her post with a tutorial - due to such a positive response from her readers. Yay! Go check it out!

I love this skirt so much! I can't wait to make more in other colors!

Happy Sewing!

Coming Soon : : Pinwheel Collection

I can't believe my baby girl is turning 4! We're getting excited for her "Pinwheels & Rainbows" party. Look for this and other items coming to the shop very soon!

A Happy Customer & A new Sponsor

I have two exciting things to share today! A happy customer & my newest sponsor!

Fist I want to introduce my new sponsor, Cate from Ciao Bella Photography. Cate photographed this beautiful Baby Shower that was designed using my Little Man collection for the mom-to-be and she graciously contacted me and offered to share her pictures with me. One look and I immediately said yes! Cate has a special gift for capturing the perfect shots. Just take a look at her blog and you will see what I mean! She lives in Utah and offers her services for engagements, weddings, bridals, family and individual portraits. Cate has also taken some amazing design photos and is focusing on branching into commercial photography. That's where I come into play. Cate and I are looking forward to some future collaborations where I will design the events and she will photograph them! Oh, this is going to be FUN!

I know what you're thinking... "What if I don't live in Utah?" right...? Well for the rest of us, Cate has an etsy shop full of beautiful pictures! I absolutely LOVE her style. So light and fresh! You definitely need to check it out!

Have fun checking out these adorable pictures from this Little Man baby shower. I'm so happy I got to be a (small) part of this new and exciting time for the mommy-to-be!

Note, all photos in this post were taken by Cate and are property of Ciao Bella Photography. Please do repost images without Cate's permission.

Shwin & Shwin Feature

Happy Saturday (night) to you! Hope your weekend has been a good one so far. We spent the day catching up on some much needed cleaning and laundry today. Aaahh, doesn't it feel good to sit in a spotless house? But the true highlight of my day was checking out my feature on Shwin & Shwin. As one of their new sponsors, I am offering a FREE printable collection to one lucky follower of their blog. Go check it out and enter to win!

I discovered their crafty little blog through a friend and I am SO glad I did! Those girls are full of crafty ideas to keep me busy all week! Some of my favorites are all of the creative ways that she takes ordinary clothing items and adds simple easy embellishments to create a completely unique look for her little girl.

This one is definitely on the top of my to-do list!

And how about this glammed up little tank top?

It doesn't hurt to have such an adorable little model to showcase all of your creative talents either!

Go check out all her awesome tutorials and be sure to enter to win a free collection of your choice from my etsy shop!

Check out my feature on Babylifestyles

I am so excited to be featured on one of my favorite sites, Baby Lifestyles. They always have the latest and greatest on party ideas, room decor inspiration, Hollywood mom gossip... Pretty much everything baby! I have been visiting their blog/website for quite some time and always find MORE than what I was looking for. I was thrilled when Tara, Baby Lifestyles Editor, invited me to show some of Hailey's Vintage Cowgirl party pics and gave me the opportunity to share some of the details with their readers! Go check out my article, and when you're done take a peek at their very first issue of their online magazine! Be ready to get inspired!

Check back soon to see Jake's "Little Man Mustache Bash" party featured on Baby Lifestyles as well!

Thanks Tara, for letting me share my passion with you!

NEW to the Shop : : Little Man Mustache Bash

I am IN LOVE with the newest collection coming to the SHOP. It's near and dear to my heart because it was created for my very own "Little Man." I had so much fun collecting inspiration for this event and creating a party that reflected my "little-big" guy!

For the printables, I went with 4 geometric patterns in blues and greens that resembled what you might see on a Tie. Once I had those decided I started planning the other items to coordinate.

One of my favorites was the  fabric glued "tie" shirts I made for Jake and his guests to wear. I hung them from a clothes line for each "Little Man" (or woman) to choose from.

Another item I knew I HAD to have was milk. At any give time of the day you will find my boy with a "milk mustache." I looked everywhere for cute little glass milk bottles but the cheapest I could find was $12.00 for two. No thanks!!! Then I got this grand idea... Why not get those little glass-bottled Starbucks frappuccinos (4 for $5.50) and dump them out and wash them! I really felt like  genius and they worked great!

Does that cake look familiar? It was inspired by one of my new favorite cake bloggers, Rosie from Sweetapolita. I'm certainly not claiming to be even close to competition but it was fun trying something I had never done before for Jake's birthday cake! I even loved the tall candles that she used on hers so much that I stuck some candles of my own inside some paper straws from Cupcake Social to get the same effect.

My sweet friend Jody from Lofty Lou  loaned me those adorable mustache sucker molds. Those were a huge hit! Jody and I have collaborated to create a customized "Mermaids and Fishes / Under the sea" little girls party for her soon-to-be 4 year old, London. I am creating the printables and she has come up with some adorable mermaid tail beach towels that she will be showing us how to make! Can't wait! I'm looking forward to sharing the pictures and a little more about Jody very soon!

I linked up at:
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The Girl Creative

Tutorial : : DIY Chevron Wall Art

When we moved into our new house a few months ago there was this perfect piece of wood left in the garage. Since then I have been thinking of all the different ways to use it. Board up the doggy door? No, it's too nice of a piece for that. I almost cut big holes in it and used it for a bean-bag toss game for my kids but I backed out of that too. I finally decided that it was the perfect size and shape for this bare wall in my office. My office is where I spend most of my "creative" time and I want it to be a place of inspiration. Bare walls just won't due! I wanted an inspiration piece to look at from my desk!

I started by applying several even coats of white semi-gloss spray paint.

Once it dried I made a template out of construction paper for the pattern.

This is actually the "what-not-to-do" portion of the tutorial. With a pencil I traced the pattern completely from one end to the other. I recommend not doing that! I had to be very tedious with my taping job to make sure that I exposed the lines to be painted over and I missed a few spots. Instead, try making a "dot-to-dot" from the high point of the zig-zag to the low then line your tape from one dot to the other. It will save you a lot of clean-up later!

 Once your template is applied to the board you will need the following items:
Painting tape
Scissors
Paint brush
And paint color of your choice. The project is small enough that I just bought two paint samples and had plenty left over. I originally went with Better Homes and Gardens BHG103 Aqua Inlet (very light blue) then I COMPLETELY changed my mind and went with Glidden's Mustard Seed. (So glad I did!)

 This is what your taped design should look like. Tape the top and bottom of each zig-zap that you want to stay white, and really I should have taped the middle too because I still made some oopsies.

 Start painting away. Apply a first coat and let it dry completely then apply another.

 Once dry peel the tape directly back over the path it was applied if that makes sense. Don't pull the tape away from the pattern or it may take some paint with it.

 Apply a few hooks on the back and display your lovely piece of art work!

 I am so glad I changed my mind and went with yellow! I love yellow and it really makes a statement in my "inspiration" room. It's one of the first things you see from the front door and it feels welcoming!

 I'm also excited because as I was driving down the street the other day I saw some "weeds" on the side of the road that were this beautiful bright yellow. I'm sure people on the road thought I was crazy but I pulled over and picked a few and now have them in my office. They are a lovely to accent the chevron painting.

Aaahh, now my office feels complete. Except for maybe a topper on that window. What do you think? Topper r no topper? I kind of like all the exposed light... Hmm, decisions, decisions...

I linked up at:
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The Girl Creative