Preschool Halloween Party!

Spiders, ghosts and pumpkins, oh my! It's Halloween Party time at The Preschool!

I volunteered to decorate for Olivia's young-3 class. Nothing too elaborate. The teachers just requested tablecloths and simple centerpieces. I hate to admit it, but simple is just not in my vocabulary!

Here's what I decided to do. Cute little 8 inch black cauldrons with a fright-friendly ghost, pumpkin and spider coming out of the top of each one. They are covered in one of my favorite things ever...glitter! Spooky in a glamourous kind of way, don't you think? Happy Halloween!

Pink Poodle Party!

OOH, LA, LA! Olivia's 3rd birthday party was pink poodle perfection! The wonderful Gretchen from CookieSmith outdid herself once again on the cake! Olivia wanted chocolate cake, but I wanted the outside to be white. It was perfect!

The girls enjoyed "dog bone" sandwiches (a.k.a. peanut butter & jelly) and a friendly game of pin the tail on the pink poodle! We used cotton balls for the tail!

The party guests received pink poodle ears as a thank you for coming (as seen here on baby sister).

When I asked Olivia if she enjoyed her party, she said "yes!"

or should we say "Oui!"

Hi everyone! I'm back! Baby Ella is now 4 months old and I'm ready to share stories, ideas and hopefully smiles as I start to write again.

We are in full party planning mode around here. Today is Olivia's 3rd birthday and her party is tomorrow! I'll share all the wonderful and happy details of the day soon! Happy Birthday, sweet Olivia!

Another Derby Party Idea!

I saw this picture today in Garden & Gun Magazine. A frozen version of the classic mint julep that's offered at Tipsey Parson in New York.

Wouldn't this be fun for the upcoming Kentucky Derby?

Kentucky Derby Party

The Kentucky Derby is May 1st and it's a great excuse to throw a "southern affair."

I helped a good friend throw a Derby party last year for her husband's 40th birthday. There is so much tradition and it makes for a wonderful

time with friends and family! All the ladies wore beautiful hats for the race and red roses were everywhere! (The Derby is frequently referred to as "the Run for the Roses" because a garland of red roses is awarded to the Kentucky Derby winner each year.)

There was great food and, of course, mint juleps were served in beautiful silver mint julep cups.

Here are a few pictures from the party last May. Hopefully, it will inspire you to have your own "Day at the Races!"

Decorating the Baby's Nursery!

Well, my third little baby girl will be here soon. I am nesting in a big way! I'm working on her nursery. My first two baby girls had the same nursery at our old house, but we recently moved, so Baby #3 gets some improvements!

This is a picture of the the first nursery. We didn't find out the sex of our first baby, but I absolutely love blue and decided I could make it work as long as the overall feel of the nursery was light and calming. I used a beautiful pale blue and cream silk check as my main fabric. I used the solid blue silk on the bumper and drapery tie-backs. All the fabric came from Forsyth Fabrics. The glider was recovered in cream and piped in the blue and cream silk check. I found the adorable antique toy chest at Boxwoods (one of my favorite stores!). The chest (which I also used as a changing table) is from Art for Kids.

Now it's time to get the new nursery ready! We know we are having another girl and I know I will be using a few things from the old nursery. I'm working on it now and will post pictures soon!

Ladybug Birthday!

OK....I am a huge Tori & Dean fan. That's where I got the idea to do the ladybug theme for Olivia's 2nd birthday. This party was actually last September, but I'm just now sharing it with you because I'm pregnant and let's face it...things are crazy.

Anyway...who doesn't love ladybugs? A friend introduced me to a wonderful baker in Alpharetta and her cakes taste as good as they look! Her company is Cookie Smith. I e-mailed her a picture of a ladybug cake I found online and she created her own version.

Isn't it adorable?

The backyard was filled with "ladybug balloons" (I painted the black dots on the red balloons with a black permanent marker). I couldn't stop with the dots! I also used mini chocolate chips on halved strawberries to make little edible ladybugs. The kids loved them!

Our sweet little ladybug had a great time and to show our appreciation to her friends who came to the party, each guest

left with a favor. It was a small hardcover book called "Five Little Ladybugs" based on the classic book "Ten Little Ladybugs."