Back to School

My husband and I were recently called to teach the middle school age kids at church. My heart goes out to them. Middle school is ROUGH! My husband and I (mostly my husband) are totally against giving away candy and treats since they are just jam packed with evil sugar. I got a little creative with an idea of something to do for them to wish them well at school this year. This is what I came up with:

• Notebook (50 cents at Target)
• Pencil (an entire pack of 'em for about $1)
• Clever note with LOTS of love

 Good luck to all of the great students starting school this week!

Book Theme Wedding

Because this has been the summer of weddings, I feel I need to share the details of these blissful events! My sister decided to have a book theme wedding since she and her new husband are both book lovers (a.k.a. really smart). It turned out so charming and had a really quaint, vintage, book-ish feel to it. For those of you out there wanting to plan a vintage book theme wedding of your own, here are a few ideas to get you started.

First of all, she chose blue, green and orange as her colors. I was a little skeptical at first, but it actually turned out really pretty! One of the most beautiful things to set the mood were gorgeous flowers!

She had several bookcases around the room decorated with bird cages, flowers, globes and books. She also stacked the cakes and food on top of old books.

 

My sister let me help her with a few projects! I decorated a couple hundred cupcakes (orange and blueberry to go along with the color scheme, and chocolate because let's face it, that's what everyone loves!) and about 150 chocolate cake pops - which were gone in about an hour. I'm pretty sure my little boy ate about half of them!

     Orange: lemon flavored cupcake, orange flavored frosting, white nonpareils sprinkles & a sugared candy orange wedge on top.
     Blueberry: white vanilla flavored cupcake baked with fresh blueberries, vanilla flavored frosting, white sugar crystal sprinkles & rinsed/dried fresh blueberries on top.
     Chocolate: triple chocolate cupcake, chocolate frosting, chocolate jimmy sprinkles and an Andes mint candy on top.
(to see in a more detail how I make cupcakes & frosting, look HERE).

 

 

At my sister's request, I hand-bound an original sign-in book from an old Webster's Biographical Dictionary (a dictionary for names of noteworthy persons with pronunciations and concise biographies - she's clever, right?). I had never bound a book before, but I loosely followed THIS TUTORIAL and it actually wasn't too difficult!

 

I also made bookmark favors for all of the guests - to continue the book theme of the evening. I used a letterpress from Lifestyle Crafts to cut out the bookmark holders, printed a quote (as well as the name of the bride and groom and their wedding date) on each of the bookmarks, added a small flower fastened with a decorative brad and tied a ribbon at the top.

What a wonderful evening!

Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs.

Bridal Shower

First of all, moving with a labeling system worked like a charm. If you have the time to label things before you move, I would highly recommend it! We are happily moved into our new home and I am happily brainstorming new ways to decorate and accessorize our home. Check out the label moving idea HERE if you are looking to move in the near future.  

This summer has been filled with weddings, weddings and MORE WEDDINGS! My youngest sister (the last in the family to get married), as well as my husband's sister (his only sister) have had their weddings this summer. So it has been wedding bells and bliss all - summer - long!

I had the most fun helping with my sister's wedding. I planned a kitchen shower for her at a local bakery, The Chocolate, which was a big hit! We used the Blue Room for the much anticipated event. (word to the wise, the West Jordan location is not nearly as pretty on the outside as the Orem location - a little yard work is in order... or maybe a LOT of yard work. Thankfully the inside is tidy and charming!)

I tried to be creative with the favors and decor. Here is what I came up with:

• I framed several pictures of scrapbook paper and phrases. This one was at the front of the room where people walked in. It says "Please Share Your 'Recipe' for a Happy Marriage." There were blank cards sitting out on the table with pens and an empty recipe holder to insert the cards once someone had written their recipe.

 

•  I sat out another frame with a "Recipe for a Happy Marriage." There are a lot of variations of this online. I used the recipe from HERE.

 

• As people left I had a frame with the phrase "Thanks for 'ROLLING' by to Celebrate With Us!" next to a rolling pin and a mason jar filled with small bags of Tootsie "Rolls" - clever, right?! 

 

• Another great touch were these water bottles I covered with matching paper that I'd used in a few of the picture frames.  

Right behind the delicious brownies and cookies from the bakery most people commented and loved the pinwheels. I've made these for showers before. They are super easy to make and are always a hit. (see how to make them HERE).

The atmosphere was charming and pleasant. There was certainly no shortage of food... or gifts! What a fun opportunity to visit and share in this special time with bride-to-be!