Snow-ish

While it's no secret that we live where we do because of the weather, for 6 weeks a year we do admit that it would be nice to have a snow flurry outside our window... well, in theory that is. Since we live in a 1950's-era PRE-INSULATION house with a tar and rock roof and north-west (towards the ocean) facing windows, actually having a flurry of any type would translate into frostbite. Alas, we can "dream"...

And make fun "snow flake" decorations!

I got this idea off some craft site that I can't find now in my bookmark maze. But simply, it's various size labels in white, off-white and silver, stuck front to back in random patterns on clear fishing wire.

When hung over glass they move and "sparkle" a bit.. creating a perfect modern snow flurry in your window. I hung ours over the glass of our door - just taped to the top and hanging freely to blow in the breeze. I used labels from The Paper-Source but any round labels would do. You could also use a craft punch for perfect circles.

Fairly simple and I'm loving the look on the front door. 

Oh, and if you head into Paper Source (Heaven!) pick up a pack of the paper doves to put up around the house. Another super simple "hand-made" decoration (in "parentheses" since really all you do is punch them out of the paper) that look adorable but are easy to do.

Thankful

Even if it's only close family and a few good friends, I really do believe in making every holiday a presentation. I love the detail of things and love putting that little extra effort into something to make it special. The day to day grind makes us lazy.. I know we use plastic plates and bowls over our "china" on a regular basis. So why not take those few special days a year and make them special?

This year I was inspired by Hostess With the Mostess - my IDOL. She got me thinking creatively about what I could do and I flat out used her idea for a thanksgiving centerpiece , then took it a step further with a matching hanging banner sign. 

We are lucky enough to be able to eat our turkey outside in San Diego (even tho we all were wearing sweaters and scarves!) so I set up on our patio outside. When I got married 9 years ago, my grandmother gave me a set of gold flatware that, at the time, I had no use for. Over the years I have pulled it out more and more often and found that I really like the gold flatware looks on a simple table. The same type of effect as gold hoop earrings with a t-shirt make. 

Other touches I like to include these days are the use of a proper dessert table and bar. Dessert tables are just fun... even simple desserts are beautiful and make you happy when you look at them. Why keep them stashed away in a paper box or covered in foil when they can be out making people smile? It's also a great place to get creative in a whimsical way. Cookies on a cake plate can be a centerpiece on it's own.

how does that NOT make you smile?

My "bar" area came from a simple thought - I didn't want people rummaging through my cupboards for glasses and openers, etc. Additionally, wine is beautiful and displaying the vintages that you researched and bought for this particular occasion/meal. Lately I've been loving large glass holders filled with drinks, decorations or whatever. Staring at it, trying to figure out what to do with it, I decided to fill it with ice and use it to hold/chill the white wine. Some candles and a garland of leaves (from Michaels) in the back and VOILA! 

Boo! Zoe is TWO!

I couldn't resist the Halloween birthday party. Last year I wanted to make sure that her 1st birthday was a seperate occasion from Halloween. First birthdays are big deal, and being a Nov. 1st baby will mean she will have a lot of celebrations that bleed into each other. Last year was one thing - but this year I just wanted to have FUN.

Personally, I love Halloween. I love the decorations. I love dressing up. I could not wait and started collecting decorations months before. Being a paper addict, I tapped Jess at Polka dots and Pirates to do the invites, banners and cupcake toppers again this year. Jess is amazingly talented and if you can plan far enough in advance - try and get on her 2010 wait list. Yes, she has a wait list - she is THAT good. 

The stamps are from the Martha Stewart line at Michaels and the skull stickers are from my happy place, The Paper Source. 

As always, I went a little overboard with the decorations. Using the "candy theme" that was popular this past year, and inspirations from various magazines and blogs, I chose basic Halloween colors and the Candy Corn as my main starting points. 

I like using cupcake toppers on more than just cupcakes. I use them all over as various decorations. Instead of renting the cupcake stands, I bought black cardboard ones from the Halloween section at Michael's. Since this was a 2 year old girls party, and I was trying to keep the macabre out of it, I added bows the skeleton's heads. I also did the same with Miss Party Bones in the corner...

Cupcakes came from Cupcake Love in Solana Beach. I'm such a sucker for cupcakes.. I always go a little overboard with them!

I made some foaming lemonade concoction for the kids that  I found online (it didn't really work out all that well!) but instead of boring cups, I served it to the kids in "adult" plastic martini glasses. Since they are used to only Mommies and Daddies getting the fancy glasses, they were very excited about them. 

For activities, I rented a bounce-house, had a decorate your own pumpkin craft, read a halloween story, and we played musical chairs to the monster mash. Hint for musical chairs - kids don't want to be out, so I offered a lollipop to each child as they were out, which then prompted the older kids to try and get out since all they wanted a sucker!

Book is "Shake dem Halloween Bones!"

the birthday girl, herself!

Lucas Kai-walker.. ;-)

It really was a wonderful day. 2 things I did differently this time is that I had someone else take pictures (one less thing to worry about during the party!) and I hired one of my babysitters to help. She was great at helping to organize things and also clean up. At the end of the party, all the trash was thrown out, dishes washed, kitchen wiped down.. and my sanity still in-tact! 

*Thank you Patty from Petula Pea Photography for some amazing shots!!