Sparkly Pink Glasses: Perfect For New Years Eve

I am declaring that the whole wide world needs clear, pink glasses with gold, sparkly bling on them.  Because pink and gold sparkly things are just plain happy and everyone needs to be happy.  

I specifically made these as a New Year's Eve must have outfit accessory.  I adore all the embellished sunglasses I have seen out there but I love the idea of wearing a pair of embellished glasses at night and these would be perfect for a NYE celebration! Golden confetti and some glitter? I'm all in.

Christmas Packaging Ideas

So are any of you like DOWN TO THE WIRE on getting all your Christmas stuff done? Whew...I still have loads to do.  But I wanted to take a quick sec to pop in and show you some fun packaging ideas for the holidays and even for the everyday. I shared some of these over at According to Kelly a few weeks back but wanted to give you a peek here too.  Some of these are archived from a few years back but the one above is new. :) Those pom poms will also be goodies that will be available in my shop if I ever get it open.

I am big time crushing on the Felt and Yarn for the colorful packaging above.  I will pretty much pom pom anything so putting a bunch of jumbo ones on a box and throwing some washi tape on there for a little something extra (and perfect for a sweet, merry message) was a must. :) I had such fun making these colorful and cozy packages using simple techniques like tying off a box with yarn and making a felt flower garland with a little flag taped on with washi tape.  

Fast and Simple Photo Advent Calendar

OK.  So I know it is the last day of November.  I am getting this in by the skin of my teeth because I am literally creating an advent calendar at the last minute. GAH! But I figured some of you are still in a turkey fog (like me) and need a quick last minute advent idea to kick off December tomorrow (again, like me). And technically...you have all day tomorrow too. See?  I enable the procrastination further. That's a true DIY friend.
Anyway.  Here is what you need to get...

25 Kraft Paper envelopes
printable number tags (I got mine here)
black and white photos from past family Christmases
clips and /or twine for hanging
washi tape or glue stick to attach numbers

Advent Calendar Kit (In a suitcase)

Hey there friends!  Just wanted to give you a heads up that I am over at I Heart Nap Time today with a quick and easy idea to make an Advent Calendar Kit to give as a gift.  It's a perfect idea for a hostess gift on Thanksgiving.  I knew I couldn't post it here for another few weeks so I wanted to be sure you saw it before December 1st.  So head on over there and let me know what you think!

xo, Jessica

Yarn Tassel Christmas Trees

Happy Holidays my awesome friends! Yep...It's official.  The Christmas boxes are down and ready to decorate for this weekend.  I am all in...Christmas is HERE.

So clearly...you will see it looking like Christmas around here for awhile.  

I am giddy with excitement. :)

I absolutely love how many variations of Christmas trees there are during the holidays.  And I have this complete love with working with yarn as many of you know.  So I came up with these pretty yarn trees that look fabulous because instead of wrapping them with the yarn, I used yarn tassels to create the look of layers of branches.  I love them so much!

Holiday Mason Jar Linky Party

Yay! 

Today is the day for you to feature YOUR fabulous mason jar creations. 

Link up to the party below and we will feature some of our favorites.
Thank you so much for joining the party!

Build an Ice Cream Snowman From A Jar

Hey Y'all! Did you catch the first half of  mason jar crafts yesterday by some incredible bloggers? Well today we have the second half of us revealing our projects. I decided to do a fun jar for kids to make a "Build An Ice Cream Snowman Kit."  How fun is that?

Holiday Mason Jar Ideas

Hi Friends! Well today is the first day of our Mason Jar Extravaganza! Half of us will be showcasing our jar crafts today and the other half will be tomorrow (including mine) and then on Thursday we will have our linky party so YOU can showcase all your fabulous holiday jar crafts too!

So in the meantime check out the links below to all these wonderful blogs and stay tuned for tomorrow where I will reveal MY jar craft and the other talented bloggers and links to their jar crafts too.

1. Free Pretty Things For You 2. The Cottage Market 3. The Shabby Creek Cottage 4. The Country Chic Cottage 5. The Gunny Sack 6. The New York Melrose Family 7. Cupcakes and Crinoline

Holiday Mason Jar Extravaganza

The holidays are fast approaching and the blog world is getting in the spirit of the season! And you are invited to be part of an upcoming event hosted by 12 bloggers to make some holiday mason jar crafts!

Jack-o-lantern Sandwich for Kids

Hey friends.  Is your Fall in full swing like mine?  I have been in the pumpkin-y, Fallish mood so much this year.  I think I am making up for our heat and just pretending its boots weather.  Which I wore the other day in protest of the 89 degree weather.  I may have been sweating like a fool but I like to think I looked like a Fall morning in my beloved boots. ;)

So in my pumpkin-y mood,  I decided to fall up the girls lunch yesterday.  A little cookie cutter and some chocolate chips turned their boring peanut butter sandwiches into cute little jack-o-lanterns!

Jack-O-Lantern Pinata

Hey pretty people.  Not sure if you caught this post over at Eighteen25 for their awesome September Spooktacular.  But my project was this adorable Jack-o-lantern Pinata.

And guess what? I have never made one before.  I have done paper mache and I figured a balloon would work but the rest was me winging it.  And I was surprised to find out that it's really easy!

Here's how I did it...trust me....

Friday Finds: Spotted on Etsy

Hello dear friends.
You know and I know...we all know...I am not exactly a consistent blogger.  But I am really trying hard to fix that and get back on track.  But as most of you know....blogging is crazy hard work.  So I would love to share things I come across that are absolutely too lovely to share. I hope to share these finds on Fridays.  I am not...I REPEAT...I am not committing to a weekly post.  I just can't.  But when I get the chance, I would love to come here and share some pretty things I find around the web.

I found such lovely Fall things on Etsy this week.  Since I live in Florida, I am a wee bit envious of all you cute things wearing your sweaters and boots. I so miss living in a place where you can own multiple coats. Sigh. I digress. OK.  Back to pretty things. Since I want to support handmade, and I am in an Autumnal mood, here are a few things I absolutely adore...

I adore this hand drawn Fall clip art titled "It's Fall Y'all" from Recipe for Crazy. I mean...she even has my beloved PSL!  I about died when I saw that.  So cute and I love the simple colors and sweet style. Check out the rest of her prints.  This one is my other favorite.

Apple Pie Kit + Printable

I'm praying you are not sick of the apple pie thing.  I promise today is the last day of all things apple pie.  But this one is short, quick, and super cute.

I have a thing for putting things in a little kit.  It makes ordinary things cute.  It's true. So this super easy apple pie kit would make a great teacher or hostess gift this fall.

Paper Bag Apple Pie

So as promised I told you I would show you my pie. Isn't that the craziest name for a pie?  I came across this recipe in a magazine years ago, copied it down and made it because I was so intrigued by the title. You literally bake it inside a paper bag. I tried it and it has become a family favorite.

Fall Leaf Pie Picks

It's Fall Y'all!
These very words are actually written on my chalkboard above the fireplace.  You may ask why this is necessary since this should be obvious...but not to us Floridians melting in the "Fall" humid air.  Upper 80's ain't no Fall, you feel me?  So this Autumn loving girl "fall's up her house" with leaves, pumpkins and orangey goodness along with the actual message that IT IS INDEED FALL. This is to make up for the summer weather that feels like a guest who won't leave.

Ah and speaking of leaves...

Patchwork End Table

 

Hello my lovely friends!
I have an "old to me but new to you" project to share with you. This table was a little project I did back in the spring. I loved making this. The before and after is so drastic but that is what I love most about  a project like this.

Grieving...but I have hope.

Hello my precious friends. This is going to be  hard post to write and I have no idea what I am going to say.  I actually need to go to bed but instead I find myself sitting down to do this post and I am not sure why.  I suppose that writing has always been a way for me to express myself.  I have this need to put my emotions into words so that even I can understand them better. These past few weeks have been a tremendous game changer for me but I am not sure how to articulate in what ways.  But I am going try.

DIY Tissue Paper Wall Flowers

Hey friends!  So as promised I thought I would share some of the fun stuff I made for Cati's party. Here are the fun wallflowers which was pretty simple. I did this the way you would a fabric flower.

Here we go...

Tinkerbell Party + DIY Ideas

I am really excited to show you Cati's beautiful birthday party from yesterday.  I was pleasantly surprised how this party came together on a budget.  I was forced to get creative and it turned out better than I had hoped.

Tinkerbell Party Favors

How bout how I came back to blogging and then just left again?  Seriously, I have the best intentions to stay consistent but there is this thing called LIFE that keeps me adjusting my priorities and blogging always gets kicked to the curb.  I am feeling like eating, clean clothes and house, driving my kids to VBS, planning and being present in my girl's life and birthday parties (instead of blogging about them) take precedence. But it's hard to balance it all.  Can I get a witness?

But when school starts in September, I am thinking I will have more time. No, really I mean it. After meal planning, laundry, cleaning, shopping, homeschooling...I will get to it when I can. :)

So Ella's astronaut party came and went. Did I take pictures?  Not a lot unfortunately.  We had a blast though and it hurt my heart a little that my Ella turned 5. Still young but definitely not my baby anymore. Now it is two weeks later and we are planning Cati's 7th birthday with a Tinker Bell party. So I am being intentional to share as much as I can with you.

Today I just got finished with the party favors for the girls. I thought it would be cute to gift her little girlfriends with some glitter nail polish (like pixie dust!) in little burlap bags. I made them from burlap garland and I have a tutorial for that here. This time I just made the bags a bit more narrow to fit the little nail polish bottles in there.

Embellish a Birthday Candle

So I have birthdays on the brain. 

My Ella turns five at the end of July and two weeks later my Cati turns 7.  They used to share a party but...they are both quite different. Ella is my girl who likes all thing "boy." Last year she had a firetruck party. It's what she wanted.  And my girly girl, party lovin' self can't say no because I love her more than my life and who wants to throw a party for a kid that they won't like?

So this year?  An astronaut party.  I actually love this idea.  So we go to the party store to get ideas and she sees a number 5 candle that she wants because it is red.  She is into red lately.

New Branding and Blog Makeover Plus an Overdue Explanation!!!

I am so excited to share my brand new blog to all of you!

This endeavor has been quite a process. Let me start from the beginning since I feel an explanation is in order for my lengthy hiatus. Speaking of lengthy...this post might be too.

As a lot of you know, I kind of fell off the grid for about a year and a half after falling 10 feet through my attic floor into my garage. (I know...ouch). I broke my right arm and had to have surgery.  Though it was nasty break, I healed over time but it kind of rocked my world a bit.  I was lucky to survive as all the doctors and paramedics said.  And blogging became completely unimportant. Pouring into my home, family and my Jesus became all that mattered.  Understandably, so.

Guest Posting on The Girl Creative Today

Hi friends...just wanted to let you know I am sharing this Tic Tac Toe Game DIY over at Diana's blog, The Girl Creative.  

Check out the other great bloggers and their projects to Create Memories with Kids this summer. :)

Decorate A Cupcake Kit

It's a happy, happy day!

Today is my birthday...yay!

(I'm 37 in case you were curious)

I love birthdays.  I love parties. I love celebrating.

With that in mind,  I came up with the perfect way to celebrate someone. 

Wouldn't you love to get this little cupcake in box? I mean, how stinkin' fun would it be to find this sitting on your desk at work or if your little one opened their lunch at school and found this waiting for them? Here's how I did it...

Fathers Day Gift: Stamped Washer Keychain

Today I am going to share with you this little project that is probably a familiar one. Metal stamped washers is not new to most but it was the first time I tried it.  I needed a quick gift to get in the mail to three sets of grandpas and for my hubby.

A Happy, Summer Chalkboard

HELLO SUMMER!

No more schoolwork, field trips, signing forms, remembering dress down day or show and tell, no book reports, spelling tests, history narrations!

SUMMER IS HERE BABY!

And I'm straight up stoked about it.

So why not greet summer and pretty up my chalkboard with stenciled lettering and a fun way to remind us that the relaxing warm season is here?

Embellish Party Hats With Pom Poms

Hey friends!
Can I just love on you guys a bit first?
It's just that there is something so sweet in knowing I can stop in, throw up a quick post and know that so many of you incredible friends will be here for me. It means so much. ♥

A Note to Those Hurting on Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to so many of you precious friends!  

Today is a sweet day to celebrate my precious girls as well as my mother, stepmother and Mother in law that God has blessed me with.  I adore the handmade cards and notes with backward letters, the girl's excitement as they jump on me in bed with hugs around the neck and early morning snuggles.  I don't take one of these moments for granted because for so long I remember waking up on Mother's Day wishing I could sleep the day away and pretend the day did not bring me pain as I ached to be a mom too.

Many of you know my story.  If you don't, read my infertility story here.

A Pretty Ruffle Topiary

Hello sweet friends.

I wanted to share with you this little topiary for a couple reasons.  First...I made it awhile ago during my blog hiatus and I thought it would be fun to share now that I am back in the bloggy swing of things.

Fabric & Moss Spring Wreath

Happy Monday my friends! 

We are officially on Spring Break and my oldest daughter has been throwing up....blech! By poor girl is on the mend so we are just hanging out on the home front with lots of snuggles and hugs. :)

I wanted to do a quick post to share a wreath I made for a really good friend of mine.  She had these handmade grapevine wreaths from a woman she knew just hanging out at her house.  I had noticed her  pinning ideas on pinterest and offered to pretty them up.

Painted Soda Crate: Four Ways to Get Organized

Hi. 

I know.  Its been forever.  

No, like a REALLY long time.

I pray you are still there ready for another post from me.  I hope to write a post soon about why I have been gone so long but for now I want to just share this fun little drink crate I revamped as well as some ideas on how to organize with it.