A Neon Silly Monster Birthday Party

We chose the theme "Neon Silly Monster Party" for Trey's birthday.  How's that for adjective overload!?  Our middle man turned three this August and I'm just now getting a chance to tell you about it!  (But the party was super cute, so maybe you'll forgive me for being three months late.)  

I get asked all the time how I plan my parties, so here's a little behind-the-scenes, hopefully this former event planner can pass on a few tips that might be helpful for you...

When I get an idea for a party I jump on Pinterest first to see what other people have done.  I get the best ideas for color schemes and special touches that way, then I put my own spin on it.  In this case, there were plenty of monster parties out there, but I wanted it to be so colorful that my camera would scream for mercy!  (My Silly Monster Pinterest Board)

I always sketch out what I want my focal points to look like.  It helps me because I am so visual.  From there I can write "to do" and "to buy" lists.  I usually shop my own house first after I decide on a color scheme and that's when I found some neon pipe cleaners and glow sticks... it went crazy from there!

One pack of neon poster board became place mats and thank you notes.  

My sister-in-law owns a cookie business and they make the most amazing sugar cookies.  Usually sugar cookies look pretty but taste gross and are so hard you might just chip a tooth... not so with Southern Sugar Bakery!  These cookies taste even more amazing than they look!

She has a tiny projector and can project any image on to the cookie... custom logos, monograms, even Lilly Pulitzer fabric!  You've got to check out their Facebook page for more pictures.  (They ship anywhere in the world!!)  The cookies really took all of my meager decorations up to another level!

On to the table... lots of layering going on here.  It's a yellow table cloth, my poster board monster place mats, and the runner is just some wrapping paper that I liked folded in half, easy peasy!

 See what I mean about those cookies stealing the show!?  I know!

The cake was so much fun to make (and eat)!  It's just a ton of piped orange icing piled up in heaps on top and the eyes are blue dum-dums with peach rings wrapped around them.

There's the party animal right there, our silly monster three year old!  (Looks like my camera finally gave up on all of that neon!)

What makes an artist?

We recently visited a new restaurant (5Church Restaurant in Charlotte, NC) that inspired me in every way.  Visually this place was beautiful.  It was packed with lots of local art and the entire ceiling was painstakingly painted with the book Art of War.  My taste buds were wowed by a steak cooked in the most unique way.

We listened to John Meyer (which is never a bad thing), but my favorite part of the night was finding this little gem painted just outside the bathrooms.  It has always been hard to define what makes an artist, but this is the best description I've ever read and I wanted to share it with you.

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer.  

A man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman, 

but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist."

Thanks for the inspiration, 5Church, I will be back for seconds.

3 Easy DIY Baby Gifts

1. Easy Embroidery

Embroidery projects are so easy and rewarding. (A great couch project for when you're on bed rest, just sayin'.)  You don't need to know any fancy stitches to make a beautiful piece that you'll admire in your nursery for years to come.  I used this pattern from Amy Bindel.  It is no longer on her blog, so you'll need to print it from the pin if you're interested in using it.  Really you can use any drawing, just trace it lightly with a pencil on to your fabric and stitch over your markings.  

I have a lot of great resources on my Sewing Pinterest page for free embroidery designs and basic stitches.  Have fun with it, throw the embroidery rules to the wind and just stick that needle in the fabric and get started, I promise you'll thank me.

2. Baby Booties
Are you totally sick of my gray felt and pink bows yet?  I can't walk up the stairs a bunch, so I've got to squeeze every bit of creativity out of the supplies I have within reach.  I promise, there's only one more project I want to show you with my 68 cent sheets of felt, but I'll wait until Laney is born to reveal that one! :)  On to the current project... baby booties!

I used Tao of Craft's Modern Baby Bootie Tutorial to make these, but I did it with felt.  If I made these again I would definitely double up the felt to make it more sturdy or use leather like my Little Man Shoes from forever ago, remember those?!

3. Paci Clip

These are just the easiest to make, and don't you love this ruffly ribbon?!  Tutorial here.

Gimme Some Sugar!

It's no secret that I love cupcakes.  I went on a quest a while back to make the perfect cupcake recipes.  Adding a little almond extract here and a little more powdered sugar there, after lots of tests and tweaking I thought I had perfected the white almond cake with vanilla butter cream.  Mine are good, but they don't hold a candle to the Sugar Bakeshop in Charleston!!  (Grammar gurus beware, there are waaay too many exclamation points in this post!) 

It's not the first time I've been here, whenever we are in town I try to squeeze in a quick trip.  I have to show you the inside of this little gem!  How much would you love to work here?!  There are just enough vintage touches, cokes in glass bottles, an entire wall painted my favorite color, and paint is peeling in all the right places.  Not to mention you'd be baking all. day. long. 

Their logo makes me smile every time I look at it, so I've had it up on my inspiration board in my Studio for over a year.  Isn't it happy?!  Gosh, I'm such a Sugar groupie!

Lemon, Pistachio, German Chocolate, Red Velvet, Almond... there are even Ginger Molasses Dog Treats!

Just off of the bakery door is this adorable little courtyard where we should have eaten, but we decided to hold off and head for the water instead... just as we got down the street the flood gates opened up and we were hit by an afternoon Charleston rain storm... boo.

The consensus was that we liked the almond with vanilla frosting the best, the pistachio was a close second.  Sugar, the Tucker family will be back!

In other news, I'm planning a birthday party for my little Trey... Roar!  Let's hope the pregnant ickies hold off long enough to get some cupcakes of my own whipped up.

My Mommy Secrets Revealed

Hey Girls, I'm chatting it up about my adventures in being a mommy over at Thriving Home today.

I'm talking about what keeps me grounded, my strengths and failures and a couple of my best mommy secrets and favorite products.  I hope you'll visit.  I think you'll like Polly and Rachel!

 Have a great weekend and I'll see you next week!

Believer Threads

I want you guys to meet my brother-in-law, Eric.

Eric loves Jesus!

One night when he was out at dinner with his wife, their waiter had a WWJD bracelet on and Eric thought how cool it was that with one piece of jewelry he could tell so much about that waiter. Those bracelets have had their run, and if you've ever worn one you know that it doesn't take long for them to start getting dirty (and smelly!)

So his wheels started turning... what could he make that would be an easy-to-wear statement of faith in Jesus, a conversation piece that could lead in to some good talks with people you see every day about the hope that we have in Christ?

Eric cut a big hide of leather, got out his drill bit, branded a logo, hammered a snap in place and stained it just the right shade of brown... not too dark, not too light. Believer Threads was born.

Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes." So what does "believer" mean? It means that you believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and trust in him for your salvation.

These bracelets are a great way to show others what we are about, and they also serve as a reminder to the wearer that we ought to represent Christ as best as we can because our actions will speak the loudest.
Each bracelet is hand made from 100% genuine, smell-good leather. The word "believer" is branded into the bracelet with an iron, and the leather is stained with a protective finish. There is a metal snap on the rear side of the bracelet that holds it together. Like most leather does, these bracelets will tend to darken slightly over time.

There are 3 sizes available. The one in the picture is the medium which fits most average-sized male wrists. The large works best for thicker wrists, and the small usually fits most women and youth. Do not worry about getting the wrong size- if it does not fit the way you like, just send it back and Eric will send you a different size for no extra charge. He's nice like that.

I've been wearing mine constantly and I'm not a bracelet person at all. I got the small size and it works great for my wrist.

I also picked up a couple for my friends who are graduating this year. It's a great graduation gift for guys or girls. Want one? (Or a couple, I mean they are a steal at $12 each!!)

Visit Eric's shop, Believer Threads. Let him know that his favorite sister-in-law sent you! ;)

Painting Party!

I haven't really gotten in to the Living Social or Groupon deals, I just don't need another email telling me what I neeeed to buy... But I might be changing my tone soon.

Last week (or was it the week before, sheesh!) my college roomies and I got together for a painting party at Artistic Abandon. Amanda found out about it for us on Living Social and when we found out we could bring our own drinks and sugar we jumped on board!

I guess painting was a draw for us too, but what we really needed was a night to get away, laugh and have some craft therapy... oh and not clean up after ourselves, please!

Artistic Abandon is pretty new. The concept is awesome. You choose a date and a painting has been assigned to that date ahead of time. Everyone in the group paints the same thing and all of the materials are provided. The artist in charge gave us directions every step of the way and in the end we walked away with something we were proud of.

What I loved most was the fact that there was plenty of time to finish each step, so we got to giggle and catch up while we waited for everyone else.

If you're in the Raleigh area, I definitely recommend trying out Artistic Abandon. So fun!

(P.S. I'm pretty sure that trees don't branch up like that in real life, but you know what... I'm fine with that!)

Lollipops Made with a Secret Ingredient

Every once in a while I'll find a tutorial online for something adorable that I have to make right away, the kind of project that just can't wait until tomorrow. That's the way I felt about these lollipops.

Sweet for a little boy...

Perfect for a little girl...

They are made out of two baby washcloths

and a baby spoon!

You can find the full tutorial at 320 Days of Sunshine if you need to rush out and make them right now like I did!

I stuck mine in some pretty pink flowers as a baby shower gift, but I think they would also be super cute as a gift topper. Now if only they were edible...