1st Birthday on the Farm

Recently we celebrated my son's first birthday with a party on our relative's cattle farm. I made some delicious barnyard cupcakes. The cows and chicks were vanilla cake with white icing and the pigs were strawberry. You can get the full recipe from the Disney Family Fun website.


These super cute animal balloons were bought at the Joy Shoppe in Commerce, Georgia. We had a whole farm of chickens, ducks, cows, dogs, horses, and pigs! All of the children took them home as favors.


I bought these cute animal plates at the grocery store. Silverware was stowed in pots for plants.


I tried to keep the menu farm-y so we had: bunny food (carrots and peppers with dip), fresh fruit, deviled eggs, moo-tastic meatballs, chips and fresh salsa, chickpea hummus, farm animal cupcakes, and I meant to also do pigs in a blanket but just didn't get around to it!


I made little tags for the food out of scrapbook paper.


I made a coordinating banner out of scrapbook paper, string, and die-cut letters. Thank goodness for being a teacher and having the die-cut machine handy!


When it came time for the birthday boy to blow out the candles, I took off his cute birthday shirt so it wouldn't get cake on it. The little girl in the red dress exclaimed, "The baby is getting naked!"


We gave him plain strawberry cupcake (no candy on top) and he was like, "What the heck is this?" He hadn't really had any sweets up to that point.


"Mommy it may taste funny to me, but it's fun to smash up!"


My two favorite guys in the whole world!




Everyone wanted some lovin' from the birthday boy!

Curious George Baby Shower

I am a bit late in blogging about this Curious George "Sprinkle" that I threw for my cousin's wife Lindsay. Her baby is now 5 months old! But I wanted to show off the party anyway. I figured out how to make a diaper palm tree by using a coat hanger to fashion a hook shape. Then I slid rolled up diapers onto the coat hanger and wrapped a ton of brown yarn over it. I made the leaves by painting thick paper with green paint and used 3 brown beads for coconuts.

Fabulous monkey cupcakes

Fresh fruit kabobs went well with our cook-out.

Monkeys love banana pudding.

Decorations


Guess the number of animal crackers in the container. We also played baby pictionary.

Babies love baby showers!


She was ready to pop!

Don't Throw That Away!

Skateboard bench
Book house

Bus stop made from a recycled bus- (Here in my home town of Athens, Georgia!)

Toilet paper tube bunnies

National Geographic magazine wall shelf

My new favorite website is www.recyclart.org . It is an online portfolio of innovative art made by many different artists that use recycled items in a new way. I can't stop pouring over all the great ideas!

Favorite Artist of the Week: LoveNostalgicWhimsy

I can't get over how fun these little cat beds are. They are made out of vintage suitcases and are sold by LoveNostalgicWhimsy. She also turns suitcases into other furniture such as chairs, bedside tables, and vanities.

My Home: Before and After

My husband and I bought our home about a year and a half ago and have enjoyed adding splashes of color to the walls and our own personal decorating style. We refinished the empty attic space and made it into a sunny guest room.


Olive colored walls, a new couch, chair, and rug bring the whole room together. The oil painting over the fireplace is one that I did in college of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.


The olive colored walls also warmed up the kitchen.

My Son's Nursery

I finally finished getting my son's nursery ready. He's going to be here in just a few days!

There were a lot of little projects I did in the room. I made him a baby quilt with sweet little elephants on it. I collected some fabulous art on Etsy and from family treasures. I distressed my husbands' childhood dresser (he carved a rocket on one of the drawers as a child.) This was the first time I ever distressed a piece of furniture before and I learned a lot, so I'm going to share my tips with you:

Distressing Furniture:

Step 1: Remove the handles. Sand off as much of the old paint or varnish as you can with sandpaper. (Mine still had a stained look which is fine. Just get all the shiny paint off.) An electric sander is not recommended because everything will look too perfect.

Step 2: Take a thick white or clear wax candle and rub it on all the edges of the dresser and drawers.

Step 3: Paint everything with acrylic latex house paint.

Step 4: Sand the edges and surfaces, especially where you put the candle wax.

Step 5: Apply a VERY THIN coat of Polyurethane. It is very important to only do one side of the dresser at a time while it is laying flat. I learned the hard way that if the furniture is standing up while you do this, you'll end up with a ton of runny drips running down the sides of the dresser.

Links to the Artwork I bought on Etsy:

Elephant Print

Crocodile Print

Alphabet Giraffe Print

Animal Wall Decal