Pretty in Pink

          A few weeks ago I hosted a baby shower for my daughter-in-law who was expecting our first grand-daughter. This is new territory for our little family since we have two sons and three grandsons. Our life has been boys,boys,boys!!

Needless to say pink was the main color of choice since it's a color we rarely ever see.
Since the kids were doing her room in shades of pink with fairies, I decided to do a Woodland Fairy theme shower. Now the woodland part I felt comfortable with.....but pink fairies was a brand new world for me.

I love the wooden trays I found -The right is from Crate n Barrel the left Target

Luckily this seemed to be a popular year for gnomes and fairies so I found almost too many great items.Target, Etsy and our local garden centers seemed to be the best places. It was so hard to narrow it down to just a few. In one of the above photos you will see one of my favorites a lime green gnome candle. That little sweetie came from Target and he was on clearance!

Next I found the cutest little succulent plants to use as favors from a shop called Sanpedrocactus. They were absolutely adorable. To keep them in woodland feel I wrapped them in small squares cut used coffee bags. Then I added a soft pink and white fluffy yarn around the container to hold the burlap in place.

 I just felt like it extended the woodland feeling, to have each guest take home a living thank you. What really finished them off were the tiny pink mushrooms I found on Etsy that I included. The shop is called Small Old Things. I also found a cute little outdoor fairy door that I used as a prize. As my Mother always said "It's all in the details". So I tried to pay extra attention to all of the details of the event.

I decided to try my hand at making a pendant banner which I am now very into and may make one for each of grand-children's birthdays. Tons of ideas are now bouncing around in my head!

The center of the fireplace mantel I found the cutest fairy doll from a shop called Happy Dolls by Lesya to use as a center piece, and as a gift to little Hadleigh. Check out her shop she has so many beautiful dolls.

I also made lots of little moss pots and felt toadstools to sit around and give every little corner a woodland fairy feel.

Many of these moss pots and toadstools the Mommy-to-be was able to use in the baby's room. That made my clean up and "what to do" with these little items so much easier!

Having the shower at the end of a season really helped the cost because nearly everything was either on sale or found in a clearance section.


Family members playing one of our games.

I went back and forth about whether to do games or not. I just wasn't sure if it was really still popular. In the end we decided yes on the games, and the ones we chose we very funny.If you know my family funny is very important. This game was to draw a baby on top of your head. Then the mommy-to-be picked her favorite. All of my prizes were also centered around the woodland,fairy, and garden theme.

So keeping with the woodland feel and attention to detail I decided to order these twig colored pencils to use in the games and for each guest to take home with her.

I also added these carved radishes to the salad to give it a woodland fairy feel too. They are very easy and really didn't take as long as I had thought they would. I did them the evening before the event and stored them in the refrigerator.

I tried to use wooden trays for serving as much as I could and when it came time to set up my main table display I was stumped as what to use as a lift.
Then a trip to the back of our shop solved that problem. I noticed two logs chunks from a downed tree just perfect for this. I plan to use these in a million different ways all year.

We had a great day together celebrating our first baby girl. But with time running out we knew we had to finish her room.

So Jason and I spent many evenings and weekends painting a window on her wall as a peek into a fairy garden.

We added little fairies around her room as if a few have escaped their world and into hers. This is something I so enjoy with my son.....but was certainly a new and strange territory for us. There is still a few details to add when we have time......because as you can see our sweet grand-daughter has arrived!!

We are more than over joyed and ready to spoil her and love her as much as we have our three wonderful grandsons!

As a footnote I wanted to include a couple of other Etsy shops I used. The first one is for my invitations I found that were just darling from a shop called Gracie Girl Notes. The other is the cutest pink striped straws from a shop called Bon Fortune. I used them with the pink grapefruit Izzy 's that I love.

An American Made Weekend

 Hi everybody and Happy Labor Day! I hope you are enjoying this long weekend with family and friends and are staying dry!
First before my mind wanders off....and we all know it will. I wanted to tell you all that I have entered my shop into the Martha Stewart Made in America contest.

On September 7th (my husband's birthday maybe that will bring me luck) is the day the finalists will be announced. You can vote once each day from September 7-24th for your favorite finalist. You can read all about the rules and details here if you would like.

A couple of items I'm thinking of bringing back to my shop.

My signature item in my shop.

 So I am keeping my fingers crossed and probably my eyes as well hoping I make it as one of the finalists. I know I have about as much luck as Frosty does sitting by a campfire but dang it a gal's gotta dream!! Stop here to take a peek at my shop entry...you can even leave me a comment if you'd like. So with a new grand-baby and this contest all on the horizon I am more than on pins and needles. I just love this whole contest idea of honoring and congratulating hard working American small business owners. It really is the backbone of this great country!

For me Labor Day has always been the signal that summer has come to an end. I don't think the old rules still apply...(do they?) but even though I'm still wearing white slacks, capri's and flip flops I am mentally thinking about the fall and all the treats that go along with that word.

A photo from last year. Some of the reds look like fire they were so brilliant!

Fall festivals, comfort food, pumpkins and persimmons. So later this week I will limp down to the basement and start to look for my fall decor. Gosh doesn't the thought of autumn make you feel all warm and cozy,or is it only me? Fall at least for me brings back so many great memories of family and old friends and fattening foods of course.

 I have had five days off and sadly our plans fell apart with hurricane Issac traveling across the Midwest. I think I've shared before how we as a family always come together at Patoka Lake.

From several years ago. We decided to beach the pontoon and take a walk to look for driftwood and shells

The boys were almost too big for this poor tube.

A fun night a few years ago of games and silliness.

It wouldn't have been a total family get together anyway since my youngest son and his wife are expecting their second child any day now, and have been told not to travel very far. Excited isn't the word for it! We are knee deep in the color pink and lavender since we our expecting our first grand-daughter!! We have laughed our selves crazy because we know we have over dosed on girly girl colors, but it's been so much fun.

 So we simply stayed home and did some things we haven't had the time to do. Cleaning should have been one of them but for me it was sewing. I've had so many ideas in my head and never enough quiet time to pull them out. I have almost completed one and hope to have it finished and a pattern put together so I can add it to my shop. I will share it as soon as it is ready.

My youngest grandson has put his seal of approval on this new item. He is so funny and trust me he really does play with my new creations and tells me if it is just dumb (his words haha), and what can I do to make it better.

A fire for the castle entrance and some scary bones, bats and ghosts to make it even better,

Recently he stayed with us and I love to work while he plays.....well I should say try and work because he wants my total attention. But for me the best part is when I get to witness his ability to take "his" felt stuffed toys that I've made and use them with his other toys.....that's the blue ribbon for me!

The photo is a little blurry because I didn't want to spoil the moment of our deep conversation on the swing.

 So it's back to my work room for a while.Then after dinner maybe a ride in our 4 wheeler up to the cemetery that's behind our property, just to check on things. I love to ride around and see how things start to change. I'll take my camera of course, you just never know what you may stumble upon.