Easter Ideas

Hello!  I can't begin to explain the craziness that is our life right now.  I'm still exercising with BodyRock (albeit it's only 3 times a week) and still combing Pinterest when I have a couple minutes to spare.

Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to post some pics of what we've done with our house because we're about to put it up for sale (one of the four things going on right now).  Remember the whole different carpet in every room thing when I posted about decorating the kids' rooms?  Well the rest of the house was just as bad.  But with some creative solutions and good choices we've been able to update it much more than I expected.

For now though I thought I'd share some great ideas I've found online or on Pinterest for Easter because it's only two and a bit weeks away.... yikes!

First, I'm obsessed with Subway Art.  When I post pics of our house, you'll see one I made for our living room that has important places and dates for our family.  Here are a couple cute Easter subway art printables.  Click on either image to go directly to the site where you can download them:

Source: Yeah, That's Macho & Tough

Source: Eighteen25

One Bite at a Time: how to simplify & organize your everyday

I was browsing through Pinterest the other day and stumbled upon a healthy living site that recommended an e-book called One Bite At A Time.  It touted the book as a great resource for simplifying and organising your life and at only $4.00 (after entering the HAPPYNEWYEAR promo code), I thought it might be a good way to get started on my New Year's Goal.

This may have been one the best $4.00 I've ever spent.  I've read the first 25 pages and I love the way the book is laid out as a series of projects (52 in total) as well as its straightforward advice.  It feels like it was written just for me because it addresses so many areas that I want to improve and the format is perfect for my task-based personality (it has checklists!).

Mason's 3rd Superhero Birthday

Better late than never... right?!  We celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday last September and I loved every part of it.

I sent out a save the date via email and had every intention of making the actual invitations.

Unfortunately, time wasn't on my side and to stay sane I sent out an emailed invitation instead:

Avery's 1st Birthday - Final Update!

 

I've missed posting so much over the last couple weeks!  Unfortunately, the work that has kept me away isn't done so it's likely my posts will continue to be sporadic for the next while.  However, while I had a little time tonight I thought I'd show you how things turned out.  I don't have many pictures and the ones I do have aren't great quality - but they'll do :)

Planning Avery's 1st Birthday: Part 4 - Party Favours (Girls)

We have 5 little girls (not including Avery) ranging from 3 years to 6 years coming to the party.  I wanted to have party favours that would be equally appealing for all the girls and I think I've found the right mix.

For Mason's 1st birthday I put together little loot bags that I thought were cute.  In retrospect they were like any other party favour - trinkety toys in a bag that were fun for a couple minutes but would likely get thrown out when the kids got home.

Since then, I've tried to put more thought into what I pick out. For example last year I made personalized shirts for each little person who came to Mason's 2nd party.  I don't know if they got worn (!) but there was at least more time and effort put into them as well as a higher chance that they would be used afterwards.

For this party, I tried to do the same thing - choose party favours that have a little more intrinsic value.

Planning Avery's 1st Birthday: Part 3 - Invite Redesign & Monogrammed Napkins

Invite Update

After seeing the invites that I originally planned to use, DH told me didn't love them.  So I went back to the drawing board.  Just to be clear, if I'd decided to go ahead with the first ones, he would have accepted that.  But I really believe that being in a relationship includes respecting your partner's opinions and in this case, the party is being thrown by both of us for our daughter.  Plus, in the new design I was able incorporate my butterfly punch! 

The new (and final) invitations still incorporate all of the elements I wanted - polka dots, flowers & butterflies. They're still clean and simple although I think they have more of a traditional feel than what I was originally trying to create. 

Planning Avery's 1st Birthday - Part 2: Invitations

I've been gathering materials and tools to create the invites for over 2 weeks now.  I finally sat down last night to finalize the design and think I've found the one I'm going to use.

My goal was to incorporate the dot, flower, butterfly theme of her cake-to-be and keep the feel pretty but still slightly modern & graphic.  I think it ended up feeling more vintage than modern! 

Planning Avery's 1st Birthday - Part 1: Cake Design

Avery's 1st birthday is coming up in May!  I've sent out the save the date email to our family and a handful of close friends.  Now it's time to decide what I want the cake to look like.  This will help guide my decisions for the invitations, centrepieces and other details.

I always start my cake design process by looking at pictures online.  Last night I typed "girl birthday cake" into Google images which had over 3 million results and then I did another search for "girl 1st birthday cake".  Aesthetically, I'm drawn to simple, pretty & sophisticated designs.  I'm not a huge fan of cutesy - this is slightly at odds with choosing a design for a baby since most people assume cutesy is the best way to go. 

As I scrolled through the images, I saved the ones that I liked best (there were 10-15) and then showed them to DH.  He vetoed a couple I thought were really pretty, but the one we decided on together is perfect - it's from pinkcakebox.com:

I love the slightly non-traditional colour scheme and the use of simple flowers and butterflies (notice that there are simple butterflies as well as more realistic ones as well) that have a graphic look to them.  Another element I love is the organic pile of flowers and butterflies on the top of the cake.

The next step is deciding the design for the invitations.  Stay tuned for Step 2 :)

- Jacs