Bridal Bouquet Favours

For the bridal shower party favours I made wooden spoon bouquets... because who couldn't use some wooden spoons! I actually made a bigger and nicer version as a bridal shower gift in the past, but knew it would still look nice scaled down. All you need are wooden spoons, faux leaves and ribbon! Easy peasy and looks super cute!

 

Best NEW bridal shower game ever!!

One of my favorite bridal shower games is toilet paper wedding dress hands down!! I love that game BIG time!! I wanted to do something similar but of course with a new twist. I decided that we would make bridesmaid dresses using cheapie plastic table cloths. I wasn't sure how well it would work, but it actually turned out really well. We had a fantastic time working together constructing the dresses and then having a runway fashion show! So much fun!!The bride got to choose the winning design. Which lovely haute couture gown do you think is the winner?

 

 

 

 

 

Skor Dip

I got this awesome recipe from a friend that always serves this at her annual Christmas Party. It is EASY and is always a crowd pleaser. I made this for the bridal shower and had some requests to post the recipe, so here it is:

Skor Dip
1 block of cream cheese
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 a bag of skor bits

1. Mix the cream cheese, white and brown sugar and vanilla. *I use an immersion blender.
2. Mix in skor bits with a spatula or spoon.
3. Put in the fridge for a bit if you want it cold.
4. Enjoy!... tastes best with granny smith apples

Told you it was easy and super delish!!

Boo on you Ikea!

My rant of the day is courtesy of Ikea!
Yesterday I needed to make an Ikea run. I bought some curtain rod holders and assumed there would be 2 in a package. Rule #1, never assume. Why on earth would someone need only 1 curtain rod holder? Anyways, I checked the website to see if there was any other good deals... and there WAS!!

I have been eyeing this ladder for the library wall in our office since before we even had a library wall. It was never priority or important, just a would be nice kinda decorative thing. It is regularly $50 and now on sale for $19... sounds like a deal I couldn't say no to. So I drag this one piece giant ladder home... which was a pain in the butt because I don't have a giant car. Of all the things in Ikea that didn't need assembly... really? I set it against the bookshelf and am quite pleased with how it looks!

I am no longer annoyed with the single-curtain-rod-holder-per-package or the one-piece-no-assembly ladder that I squeezed into my small car. I was happy with my new library ladder and all was good in the world.... UNTIL... today!! I went to the Ikea website again (forget why) and saw that the frickin ladder that I just bought the day before was on sale AGAIN!! For realz? That is one of my biggest pet peeves!! My new ladder just so happened to be the one day Wacky Wednesday deal, now on sale for $15. Grrrr..... but really it's only $4. Four dollars isn't a lot of money but it's the principle really! Is $4 really worth me driving all the way to Ikea for? Gas probably costs more than that! So I make peace with the fact that I wasted $4, four dollars that I could have spent on a fancy latte. BOO, but whatevs I was at peace with it... UNTIL... NOW!! I just checked the Ikea website again because I wanted to find a pic of the ladder for you guys and guess what? It is now on sale for $5? What the heck? I'm seriously gonna punch someone!!! That is now $14, which means a fancy latte for me and 2 friends and maybe even a cookie!! I am not pleased at all!! This might be worth taking a drive to Ikea and making a stink tomorrow! Hhhrrrummppppphhh!!!!
Ps. If someone needs a ladder, that's one steal of a deal... or maybe the next day it might only be $1 or free. Grrrrrr....

Party Decor on the Cheap

It's been like arts and craft central around here lately. I've been working on a bunch of little projects. Husband's baby sister (who is obviously no longer a baby) is getting married in a few weeks! I have the honour of co-hosting a bridal shower for her! I want it to be super special and of course look fabulous without breaking the bank. You know I'm all about being fancy and cheap at the same time! Here are some of my party decorating ideas:

1. Tissue Paper Pom Poms
It doesn't get any cheaper than tissue paper! You can pick up a pack of 20-30 sheets at the dollar store for a buck!

I find that 8 sheets is the ideal number per pom pom. If you cut the sheets in half than you can make two smaller pom poms! There are lots of good tutorials out there if you wanna learn how to make them. My tips are to secure the middle with tape (easiest and most secure) and to tie and tape the string on before puffing if you intend on hanging them. You can also change the look by either cutting the tips pointy or round.

I was feeling pointy! The trickiest part by far is puffing the paper. You need to be patient and gentle... we all know I am not a gentle or patient being!! You can either hang them or simply set them atop different vases or vessels.

 

2. Tree Branches
My dad had hacked up one of his trees in the Spring and had a bunch of branches that I asked him to save for me!

If you don't happen to have a Dad with tree branches saved for you, there are seriously fallen tree branches everywhere! Just take a little walk through the river valley or park, there are lots to be found. I got Husband to work his magic with the spray paint and ta-da they are now silver.

I made a pretty little arrangement and plopped them into some clear vases. Not too shabby for something that was going to be garbage!!

It looked pretty good on it's own, but I'm fancy and of course had to bling them out. I hung faux crystals (borrowed from a previous wedding) on the branches until they looked like they were seriously dripping with bling!!

3. Labels
Nothing says classy like writing your name with a sharpie on a plastic party cup. But no one wants someone sipping out of their cup by mistake either GROSS! Remember my post about the chalkboard trend? Well I wanted to incorporate that but also keep it simple. So once again I got Husband to whip out the spray paint. He sprayed black chalkboard paint over a sheet of plain ol regular white labels. I adhered my new chalkboard label to the cups and now they look all fancy schmancy!! I'm quite proud of this idea... and it was so easy!

 

4. Flower Balls

I've seen lovely little balls covered in flowers at Michaels and HomeSense but for $20-$50 a pop, I can do without. Luckily for me, I'm a hoarder and saved a giant bag of faux flowers from my sister's wedding... 10 years ago!! Haha I knew they would come in handy eventually!

They are actually super ugly and the most outdated shade of blue ever... but I knew they were still workable. Simply remove from stem and hot glue them to a Styrofoam ball.

Unfortunately, the Dollar store only sells packs of smaller sized Styrofoam balls. I checked Walmart and Michaels and holy guacamole, they are frickin expensive. A grapefruit sized ball costs $5-6 bucks. Forget that! So I went and bought a soft toy ball at the dollar store instead!! Haha it still got the job done!





Once I was done, I was very displeased at all the different shades of blue.

The bride was very specific about the blue being navy blue... I wouldn't want her getting all bridezilla on me!! (haha, this is only funny b/c she is soooo not bridezilla at all...well not yet at least... I'm probably more bridezilla about her wedding then she is) Anyways, spray paint to the rescue again! I sprayed all the flower balls navy blue and am now quite pleased with the end result!

 

I know you're just dying to see how it all comes together but that's all for now!! I'll let you guys take a peek after the party with more deets!! 

Merry Christmas to me...

Today was like Christmas! My dear ol' friend dropped off a giant package of flyers for me today! You know you have good friends when they go out of their way to deliver flyers to your doorstep!! I LOVE flyers!! Unfortunately, the flyer peeps don't like me and don't deliver to my house (even though I've requested it twice... but I'll save that rant for another time)! I know you can look at flyers online but there is something so satisfying about flipping through real tangible pages! That's why I'll never convert to e-readers... I'm a book kinda gal for sure! Anyways, there was something special in this week's stack... the NEW IKEA catalogue!! There was also $70 bucks tucked inside the Ikea catalogue... but that's an unrelated story! I was honestly more excited about the catalogue!! Merry Christmas to me!! Husband was on babysitting duty the moment he got home so I could happily flip through the catalogue! There was a couple little things in there that got me all excited!!

The first is this:

EEEK It's mini Ikea doll house furniture!! How frickin adorbs is that? Yules needs a dollhouse STAT so I can go and buy that!!

The second is this:

It's a cardboard market stall that can be a lemonade stand, puppet theater, ANYTHING!! Seriously you can get a bazillion hours of dramatic play out of that thing!! And the best part is the price! At $12.99... you seriously can't go wrong! Once you're done with it, it can just be recycled. You don't have to worry about a giant play station taking up room in your house!! So good! I am sooooo getting that!

The other things that caught my eye were metal trolley carts. They actually have a few different styles. These would be so handy as toy storage or for arts and crafts or really anything! Besides being stylish, the best part is the wheels. You can totally just roll it away into the closet when company comes over and voila, just like that all your crap is hidden!

 

I'm totally feeling the cute turquoise one as toy storage for Yules! I wonder if it comes in pink? Anything catch your eye in the catalogue?

On our way UP

Hiyah guys and gals!!
Did you miss me? Cause I've missed YOU! We've been experiencing some technical difficulties... and by technical difficulties... I mean LIFE! One day things are fine and dandy and the next they're not! We've had quite a few downs around here lately but we are soooooooooo done with that and hopefully it will be mostly ups from now on!! I'm a big giant baby and don't like putting on my big girl pants and dealing with difficult situations! 

I'm so super thankful and blessed to have amazing family and friends that have been here to pick me up when I'm feeling down! 
Sheesh... I totally sound like a Debbie Downer and this post is a downer! BOO on me! (But admit it... the pic of the grannie panties made you chuckle!)
Anyways, stay tuned for regular *inconsistent posts!! Hehe