a birds & bunnies birthday party.

last week, my baby turned two.

two.

i still can't believe it.  i've been very emotional about this birthday for some reason.  the other day, i was cleaning out her room and organizing her clothes and i sat in the rocking chair in her room and bawled for about twenty minutes.  i'm having a hard time realizing that she isn't my "baby" any more.  she's a toddler.  a full of spirit, always on the go, independent little girl.

for the past couple of months i've been trying to figure out what theme i would do for this big girl's birthday bash.  my rule of thumb has been that each of my girls get a bigger birthday party for their first and second birthdays, and then i pull out the party-in-a-bag from walmart with cake and ice cream and family-only parties for the next couple of years.  birthday parties can be just too much.  but, i love to indulge my creative side for a couple of years anyway and do something cute and fun.  so, this year i went for two of my emmy em's favorites: birds & bunnies for this colorful, springy party.  and the decorations will also double as next years easter decor.  score.

one of my best friends from high school gave emmy a bunny lovey when she was just a baby.  since then, she has never been without it!  she sleeps with that sweet little bunny every single nap and night... and more often than not, we are turning the house upside down in a mad dash before we can put her to sleep to find where she put the thing.  she LOVES bunnies.  she also loves birds; she's constantly pointing them out to me when they're in our yard, so i decided it would be cute to do this spring theme, especially since her birthday was so close to easter this year.  i didn't spend a whole lot of time planning it and found myself up the night before working on last minute decor, but it was fun and cute which fits our birthday girl to a t.

table:

- white eyelet tablecloth

- crate&barrel vase we got as a wedding gift filled with fake cherry blossoms and pussywillows that i had used almost four (!!) years ago for bella's first birthday and bring them out every spring

food:

- crackers&cheese

- a layered tortellini salad with pesto dressing

- bunny cupcakes

- birds nests

- carrot cake

- annie's bunny crackers in mason jars and coral colored pails

i decorated our hutch with china teacups that were my grandparents, some white vases and the girls easter egg tree (without the easter eggs!).  i also made this banner out of drop cloth, ribbon and pretty fabric i had on hand.  i used a bunny shaped cookie cutter for the bunnies and made my own template for the birds to trace and cut.

i made food cards out of pink gingham cardstock and decorated some of them with fabric flowers or ties.  i like labeling food at a party to help guests know what it is that they're putting on their plates!

pretty pink drink, plates and utensil station... it's not pictured here but friends of ours brought a beautiful pitcher of "watermelon water" that they make from pureeing watermelon and ice... so yummy and pretty!

this carrot cake was to die for, if i do say so myself.  we are big "pioneer woman" fans in this house, and her recipe for this cake did not disappoint.  i decorated it with two kabob skewers and ribbon tied with fabric scraps for a touch of whimsy and color

this layered tortellini salad was pretty and delicious (wish i would've gotten a non-condensationized photo of it!) especially displayed in my beautiful trifle bowl (thank you, pampered chef).

my mom made these cute little birds nests with chow mein noodles, marshmallow and mini cadbury eggs.  so cute!

my mom also helped me create these little bunny cupcakes with sugar cookie ears and chocolate bits for eyes.  they were a little time consuming but emmy loved them.  i think she ate three of them, i lost count.

the birthday girl!  

family shot.

cousins & cupcakes!

for my sweet girl...

make a wish!

the rain held off so the kiddos could play outside for a bit...

shooting hoops with emmy's new basketball set!  bampy would be so proud.

sweetest pic of the whole day.  love these two so much!

loving her (one of many) new babies :)  this girl is SO obsessed with baby dolls!

it was a wonderful party with lots of sweet family and friends to help us celebrate our special girl!  she is such a gift to our family and brings laughter and sunshine everywhere she goes... we love you, emmy faith!

christmas home tour.

 i absolutely love christmastime.

one of my favorite things this time of year is decorating our home for christmas.  i love having special pieces that our girls will remember, and filling our house with holiday beauty.  red berries, a norman rockwell print here and there, white lace, silver&gold and twinkling lights.  i always drag my feet at taking it all down, and love to enjoy the lights of our tree well into january... ah well.  i just love the warmth, coziness and beauty of our home at christmastime; here is a glimpse of what it looked like this year...

merry christmas!  from our home to yours.  may your christmas season be filled with hope and light because of the one who came for us.

give thanks bunting.

i'm such a sucker for christmas.  always have been, always will be.  we've been listening to christmas music for a couple of weeks now, and my kids have already started watching christmas movies.  i am itching to get our house decorated for the season, but since we are hosting thanksgiving this year i figure i need to keep it fall-ish for a bit longer.

i've been meaning to make a bunting for our hutch for a while now and i finally got around to doing it.  i had thought of a few different ways to make my banner, and tried to decide what word i wanted to use... i decided on "give thanks" because i love that it reflects on action--a choice--to reflect on what we are grateful for.  so important, and a great reminder.  i had a few different designs in mind, but i kind of just went with the flow and ended up with this:

 here's how you can make your own!

give thanks bunting

supplies:
* fabric
* canvas dropcloth (you'll only need a bit, so you will have a bunch leftover for other projects!)
* glue gun
* ribbon
* mini clothespins

- trace or free hand your letters onto your fabric.  i chose to write them on the backside of my fabric so that when i cut them out the ink wouldn't show as much.  if you do this, be sure to draw your letters backwards!

- cut out your letters.  also cut squares out of your dropcloth; one for each letter.  i didn't measure, i kind of just used one as a template so they were all pretty similar.  it turns out that i like stuff a bit shabby and eclectic in nature so that i don't have to be too much of a perfectionist :)

- if you need to, make sure you iron your letters and your dropcloth.  no wrinkles or creases!

- using a glue gun, attach your fabric letters to each square of dropcloth.

- secure a ribbon to wherever you are hanging your bunting.  use your mini clothespins to attach each square. because of the phrase i used, i needed to do two rows in order to fit all of my letters.  i also added a few bookpage leaves (remember this project?) so it coordinated with my centerpiece.

:

voila!  easy as pie.  you're done and ready to host a pretty thanksgiving feast.  well, except for the cooking part.  speaking of pie...

happy bunting-making!

this post is linked to these *lovely* blogs:

liz marie

shabby-chic white hutch.

when we moved into my grandparents old house two years ago, we were also blessed with their dining room set, which included a hutch.  i was super excited about this piece, and i knew right away i wanted to paint it white.

yes, folks... it has taken me two years to *finally* paint this hutch.  but the good news is: it is finished and i love it.

we had leftover sherwin williams paint from our kitchen cupboards, which made this project a bit easier.  i didn't have to sand it since the primer we got has special bonding powers.  guys, i can't even imagine what this would have been like if i would have had to sand this hutch.  this makeover was a bit of a beast: it all of the curves and different surface areas made it a bit tiring.

i may have popped a few advil in my course of this project.  phew.

but it's totally what i imaged it would be in my head, and i'm so thankful i finally tackled it!  i went back and forth on plans for the hutch... i thought of getting new hardware, finding wallpaper to line the back with, i even have a can of mint paint sitting out in the garage because i had most recently planned on painting parts of it mint green (my color crush of late).  when all was said and done, i decided to do the entire thing white and i'm so glad i did.  it's timeless and won't go out of style any time soon.

i originally wanted to change out the hardware, but i knew i'd have a hard time finding handles that would line up with the existing holes.  turns out, i didn't want to take the time to mess with wood filler and a drill.  so, i used some crystal knobs i had on hand for the bottom doors, and simply painted and distressed the original brass handles.  i love the shabby-ness of the brass peeking through the white paint and the distressed edges.  super simple and didn't cost me any money... yay.

this hutch originally had doors on the top half, but i didn't like the dated look, and wanted to use the shelves to display pretty pieces.  so i ditched the doors and filled and sanded the nail holes before painting.  i love the look of the white and cream decorations against the white hutch.  so classic.

i'm really excited about my new hutch and love the look it gives our dining room!  i have a couple more projects (ahem, dining room table and chairs...) to finish for this room to be complete, but the hutch gives me great inspiration to get it all done.

this piece will always remind me of my grandparents and the special place they have in my heart.  being the sentimental gal i am, that is the best part.