Kauai Vacation

So, this may not be holiday, party or style related but I wanted to share how some of my summer time has been spent. Our second vacation of the summer was an "adult" vacation. My husband and I traveled with my aunt, uncle, cousin, his girlfriend and my grandpa to Kauai.

A few shots of our beach house. Wonderfully quiet and peaceful. Just what we needed!

Our chef cooked the fish that the boys caught on the boat that day. The Hawaiian sweet potatoes (purple) were awesome!

If you are planning a trip anytime soon to Kauai, Joanna is a great masseuse. My husband says she is "the best"!

Ok, so I have to take credit or maybe blame for the next few photos. I really wanted to hike to the water falls that were just down the road from the house. Four miles in and four miles back. Probably not the best idea after 3 days of rain!

The views were amazing of the Nepali coast and I'm glad we attempted the hike!

The beach after the first 2 miles of the hike.

We were out searching for sunrise shells when my aunt spotted this super cool crab. Pink and purple!

My husband and cousin went fishing on the rocks during the morning.

I still can't believe we got my 78 yr old grandpa to come with us!!

Golf was a major part of the trip. (The way my grandpa was convinced to come!) I think he golfed 5 days in a row!

The course was great and the views were amazing!

The view from the back porch.

Rainbows in Kauai are a sight to see. The colors are so bright and look close enough to touch!

Me, my aunt Terri, a local and Amanda

Let's Celebrate!

The 4th of July it's such a fun holiday! It's really a time to me that is not stressful. The menu is simple, desserts are fun and activities are all about celebrating. It's about being with your family, enjoying summer and all things American!

Please bare with me on my blog. This past month truly has been crazy! We took a family trip to Hawaii. Our 78 yr old grandpa went with us, which I was so excited to actually even get him on an airplane! :) I now have 3 days from when we got back from that trip to taking the kids to Disney World for a week. I am trying to squeeze as much family time in as possible while the NFL is going through this lockout. A summer vacation is rare with my husbands occupation. Oh, and did I mention I will be launching my website next month?! It's been a labor of love. So, with all this going on and designing two parties this past month my blog has suffered. Thanks for your understanding and just bare with me! :)

4th of July Fans

4th of July Paper Fans

I wanted to share this cute instruction how-to that I saw on MarthaStewart. It's an easy way to take an ordinary store bought fan and make it custom and much more chic!




Step 1
To make a pendant smaller, trim the closed fan diagonally, near its unstapled end. (For the smallest pendants, you may want to remove some tissue layers so the fan will open fully.)

Step 2
If adding a medallion, snip the closed fan along 1 edge of cardboard, cutting off 1 staple; this will create a flat center.








(go to Martha Stewart

to get the free printable centers for the fans)


Step 3
Set your printer's margins to zero (or as narrow as possible). Print medallions onto heavyweight paper. If using 8 1/2-by-11-inch paper, choose small medallion clip art; large medallion will work on 11-by-17-inch paper. Cut out each medallion with scallop scissors: Start by aligning scissor edge with cutting guide, and follow trajectory.

Step 4 If you cut off a staple to make a flat center, pinch together the loose tissue at center, and secure with a dollop of hot glue; then attach medallion to center using hot glue. Hang pendant with monofilament.

Wizard of Oz Invitations

As you know I shared that this past week most of my time was spent creating invitations for a client throwing her daughter a Wizard of Oz party for her 2nd birthday. Below are a few photos of part (yes, only part of the whole invitation) of what is going to be used for the invitations. I created glittered red slippers with a blue gingham insert and then rolled the invitation and tied it with a bow. She then is going to put theses slippers in a yellow box with hay. I created a cute matching tag for the top of the box that will then be tied with a yellow bow. These are then going to be hand delivered. If you want to make these yourself I am attaching a link below for you to find a template. I do want to warn as I always try to do...I would not suggest these for a large party. I only say that because I made 60 of these and they took at least 30-40 minutes each, probably more if you count touch ups etc. Also, I used glitter paper and a gingham insert so I had over $2.50 in paper per shoe. One tip: It has faster to glue the blue gingham and red glitter paper together and then cut the shoe out. On the link it gives you two seperate templates, one for the shoe and one for the insert but trust me on this just glue the paper together and then cut the shoe out.

Template for these shoes can be found at Skip to My Lou

4th of July Party Table

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a few things that I have been working on lately. I had a huge order of invitations from a client that were so time consuming but I think they turned out cute. I will share those with you tomorrow. Also, I am in the beginning stages of my 4th of July line that I offer in my Etsy store and I've posted a few pre-view pictures. I've got some fun upcoming parties and ideas to blog about and I'm looking forward to seeing what you think!