A Very Girly First Birthday Party

It happened. We raised a child without killing ourselves or said child for a whole year. Actually – I think we did surprisingly well 🙂 And that’s cause for celebration. If you’ve been keeping up with me from the beginning here you’ll know we didn’t find out if we were having a girl or boy (see this post or this one if you want more details on gender-neutral baby world things) and we loved every moment of our beautiful surprise. That being said, I didn’t have any super girly or super boyish baby prep festivities. So for this little girl’s first birthday I decided to make up for it – the theme would be all things GIRLY. Bring on the pink, sparkle, flowers & frill!

It’s an Invitation Party & You’re Invited!

Let’s talk invitations, shall we? You know, those rare occasions you get something in the mail these days that’s not a bill or junk mail? Seriously though, how special does it feel to have something addressed TO YOU meant truly FOR YOU…as in the person who sent it actually knows what color hair you have. Invitations are more than just a piece of paper to me; they set the tone for your whole event. Is it casual, formal, outdoors, etc? All these things are relayed not just through the text but through the design. Now, I know what you’re thinking: ugh, Melissa, I HATE battling the mail setting on my printer…invitations are so expensive…can’t I just do an eVite? Those are totally the new thing Melissa. To that I say “yes” printers are a total pain in the rear…they don’t have to be expensive to look expensive and of course you can do an eVite but some things just feel like they deserve a good ‘ole invitation – don’t they? But I totally get not everyone has the time or enjoys doing these. For those that do or those that think one day they might, enjoy 🙂

Preserving Beauty: Wedding Bouquet Shadowbox

My best friend got married!! I know…she’s stupidly gorgeous right? So was her wedding. It was the perfect Texas Hill Country affair with peonies and lace to die for. And at the last-minute, while we were picking up the tidbits before heading back to the hotel I asked what her plans were with her bouquet. Lucky for me, she didn’t already have plans for it (because you know…she was busy planning a wedding and all) so I jumped on it and figured I’d try my hand at preserving it.

Video My Pin: Letter Planter

I don’t know about you but I am much more of a visual/try it on my own type of learner. I also love all things DIY, baking, cooking, etc. The sad truth is, the majority of the instructional info for these types of activities are just written & photographed – not videod. Which means there is a lot of trial and error until I finally get things the way I have in my head. How much easier it would be if someone could show me and give me tips along the way! And so it begins, Video My Pin. Video My Pin is my ongoing series here on this little blog where I invite anyone and everyone to send me a Pin and get a free video tutorial in return. I’ll do most anything aside from knitting & crocheting projects – mostly because those take way more time than I’m willing to commit at the moment 🙂

Frilly Little Bows!

I’m a southern girl – born and raised. And I am so proud to be raising a southern little girl. Which includes yes ma’am, no sir, please, thank you and BOWS! Oh the bows 🙂 But why spend all my money on Etsy or baby boutiques when these little gems are oh so easy to make? So easy, I had to make a video! Thanks to my dear friend at Pretties for Pennies for her tips and tricks to making these perfect little bows.

5 Tips for The Perfect Picturewall

It didn’t hit me right away that I would have a picturewall in my house. It happened because it drove me nuts that we had this long hallway that just sat there empty & felt somewhat like The Shining. So, my wheels began to turn: Chair rail? No. Big pieces of artwork? No. Then it hit me – it’s going to be a picturewall!! I had one in my house growing up and I thought it was so fun to see pictures of my family from all different times in our lives. Plus, it will give my husband and I an easy way to embarrass the kids when they’re older. Yes, I plan ahead.

5 Beautiful & Unique Wedding Moments

Happiness, tears, stress, sleepless nights, fun, planning, lots of love – obviously a wedding is in play right? I was one of those brides that truly loved planning my wedding right down to the goodie bags. Now looking back, the things I cherish most are the unique “moments” we put together to make our day personal and meaningful. Even though these were done for my wedding, I wanted to share them as they can be done exactly as they are or adapted for any wedding. So, here are my top five (and yes, it was hard to choose!) unique and beautiful wedding moments.

Tea Cup & Martini Glass Flower Centerpieces

As promised, here is the tutorial to create the adorbs tea cup floral centerpieces as seen in the “A Garden Party Bridal Shower” post. Now, I must give credit where credit is due! I had never worked with flower foam until my best friend’s mom introduced me to it to make those tea cup flower arrangements for the bridal shower…and I am ADDICTED! She also taught me a lot about the best way to tackle something like this so thank you!