Thursday, August 30, 2012

BOO GIVEAWAY
 Is anyone else excited for Fall and Halloween?  Besides Summer, it's my favorite time of year.  Beautiful weather, colors, smells, anything Pumpkin, football....ahhhh, I love it! 
Guess what?!  One lucky follower will be the recipient of this BOO bunting. 
First, let me give you the tutorial and then I'll tell you how you can win.
 For the fabric, I simply used some drop cloth material we had on hand.  It's pretty cheap and you get a ton of it.  Plus, it looks like linen. 
I have a template that I cut out of a cereal box that I use over and over.  Trace the template onto the fabric and cut it out.
 Next up, I used a plain ol' stencil.  Oh, how I would love to have Cricut so I could pick out my own font! 
 I don't like how parts of the letters are separated, so I just painted them in by hand.  Super easy.
 I wanted the fabric to have a little more of an aged look, so I dipped them in day old coffee and let them dry overnight.  Gives them just a bit more character.
After they were completely dry, I hot glued some twine to the back and...
voila! 
A fun bunting to put up almost anywhere in your home to celebrate All Hallows Eve. 
So, if you want to win one here are the rules:
1. You must be a follower of my blog and/or like my Blog Facebook Page and leave a comment that you are. That will equal one entry.  You can find my FB Page {HERE}
2. Share the giveaway on your blog and/or FB page and leave a comment that you did. This will be entry number 2.
3. Please leave a comment on what your favorite thing about Fall is.  This will be the third and final entry. 
You have up to 3 entries!
I will do a random pick two weeks from today...September 12. 
Good luck!
UPDATE:
If you're not a blog follower/reader, leave a comment on my Facebook Page {HERE}
One comment on my FB page will equal one entry!
*You much "like" my FB page to comment.
Good luck! 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Kindergarten
 I can't believe the day is already here!  My little buddy that's been hanging out at home with me since October, 2006 is finally starting school. 
*Thank you Pinterest for the chalkboard inspiration
 I think little brother ready to go!  Two more years, and both will be off to school.
I'm so proud of our Jaxon!  He's becoming such and amazing young man. Here's to a great year in Kindergarten!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Happy 4TH Birthday Easton
Today is our son, Easton's 4TH Birthday.  The past four years have gone so fast and each and every second with Easton has been entertaining!  He's both loveable and difficult at the same time...the child that gives you a run for your money.  He's an amazing little boy that we love so much. 
Here's to many, many more entertaining years with our little Easy Boy!  We love you.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Brooke & Gavin
The Bride & Groom
 So, after almost two months of keeping you waiting I finally have a blog post about the beautiful wedding we attended in June.  We celebrated the marriage of my Brother-In-Law Gavin to our new Sister-In-Law, Brooke.
I took this photo of them on the day of their rehearsal.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  Leave it to Seattle weather though to start raining through the rest of our visit.  Yep, even on the wedding day itself.  However, it turned out to be a beautiful day for the Bride and Groom regardless of the rain.
 The day before the wedding, my Sister Erin and I met with the soon-to-be Bride at the Pike Place Market in Seattle.  There, we got to take in all the beauty that the Market has to offer.  I just LOVE this place.  It's one of the things I miss a ton about living in Western Washington. 
 I had to snap of picture of this display at one of the entrances.  Beautiful, beautiful Sweet Peas.  Oh my goodness, did they smell amazing.  I just wanted to take them all home. 
 Brooke so badly wanted Peonies, and luckily they were still in season.  Isn't she just lovely with all of her flowers?!  She picked out the bright pink ones for the bridesmaids and light, blush pink for her bouquet.  Absolutely gorgeous!
By the way, she had ten...yes, that's right...TEN bridesmaids and groomsmen.  Wow, this was a ton of flowers, bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages to make.  I LOVED every minute of it.
 Here is what my sister and I hauled back to start playing around with.  Don't you wish you could have these to dress up your home everyday.  I do!
 We were so busy with the process of making them, I forgot to take any pictures.  It took about six hours total to complete every single arrangement.  Thank you to my Sister Darcy for letting us use her home to prep everything!  She had a full house of flowers and kids that day.  This is the only picture I took at the very end when they were all bundled together on the counter. 
 Here is a shot of one of the bridesmaids bouquets.  The table setting was missing a few decorations still, but I had to hurry and snap some pictures because of the rain and having to move all the chairs inside. 
 Here is a picture of Brooke's bouquet.  I absolutely love how it turned out.  It looks like a bouquet of cotton candy.  So fluffy, pink and pretty.
I'm not sure if you can see behind the bouquet, but they used some old wine bottles, brushed them with chalkboard paint and wrote reserved on them for the bridal party tables.  How creative and cute is that!
 There were ten tables that were decorated with the bridesmaids bouquets as the centerpieces, but all the other tables were set up with these adorable tea tins filled with the other market flowers we had pick out.  Very rustic and cute.  Along with the tea tins, Brooke had found tons and tons of old baby food jars and used these as candle holders.  Just adorable.  Who says you have to break the bank to have a super cute wedding.
 Here are the beautiful Bride and Groom!  Gavin and Brooke...You both looked amazing! 
*I should note that five of the professional photos were done by Zoe Rain photography.  She is in the Seattle area and you can find her on Facebook {HERE}
 Umbrellas totally fit a Seattle wedding!  How adorable is this picture?!
 Even though it was raining, Zoe did a beautiful job of capturing these sweet photos.
I just love the bright pop of pink in the bridesmaids bouquets.  So lovely.
 Right as the ceremony was starting and every guest was packed inside, the sun popped out.  I should also mention the wedding took place at Craven Farms in Snohomish, WA.  It was gorgeous as you can tell by the photo above. 
Notice the monogram as well?  I'll give you a tutorial later of what I used.  Super simple and frugal for anyone looking for photo props. 
 More and more people are opting not to do cake now days.  Brooke and some of her friends made all these cute dessert stands out of thrift store plates and candle holders.  Aren't they cute!  Great way to save money...asking friends and family to help you out by making a certain kind of dessert to contribute.  There was so much variety and everything was delicious.  Wish I could have had one of each.
Also, the "SWEETS" sign was one of my contributions.  I'll share a tutorial for this as well. 
 This was something I thought was so creative.  Instead of everyone getting an individual program, there was a large chalkboard(made on a piece of plywood) at the entrance of the ceremony with all the info you'd find on a program.  Great way to save a ton on paper and printing.
 Lemonade and Tea were set out for guests to help themselves before the ceremony. 
I have a before picture of the Lemonade sign. I'll be sharing it with you soon! 
 Here is my son, Jaxon.  He was one of the ring bearers.  Just melt my heart!  Him and my husband were both in the wedding. 
 This is our niece, Lucy!  She was one of the flower girls.  I don't know if it gets much more cute than this. 
 Here is another one of our nieces, Lucy's little sister Nina.  I caught this picture of her peeking out the door. So, so cute!
To Finish off, I wanted to share a picture of the boys I love the most.  My husband, the best man, our little dude, Easton and our oldest, Jaxon.  We sent the Bride and Groom off with a line of sparklers.  The day turned out perfect, the beautiful couple was married, and we welcomed a new member to the family. 
Congratulations Brooke and Gavin.  I love you both.  Thank you for letting us be a part of one of the most important days of your life.
All our love