Yes....I'm still here :)

Happy Humpday!

As you may have noticed, I've been a little MIA around here....

nothing to worry about, just taking the week off to catch up on some work (you know, the kind that actually pays...ha!), but I promise this little blog of mine has been on my mind :)

Of course, work isn't all that has been going on around here.

We got to enjoy the ONLY day this summer that we actually got some rain....

...Welcomed in the newest member to our family, Domino.....

{and as you can probably tell, he is already the most loved little kitty there ever was}

I have organized and planned and schemed up a new method to our snacking madness.

We checked off a few more notches on our summer bingo card, printed for free from Delia Creates

...and of course, I've been sneaking in a few projects here and there ;)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I will be back next week. Can't wait!

xo,

Rachel



Pinterest to Done :: Knife Block

Happy Monday!

Today, I want to share with a quick and easy project I finished up a while back.

The inspiration began with this image on Pinterest:

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The idea is super simple- take your old knife block and paint it.

Although I didn't take any before pictures, trust me when I say ours was old and looking ugly.

So, while I was in the middle of the larger project of painting an old secretary we have, I just took some of that paint and the craft stencil (Martha Stewart; Joanns) we bought, and gave ours a little face lift.



Even with only the cream paint alone, it already looked a TON better.

There are so many different ways you could take this project!

Thanks for looking!

xo,

Rachel



Happy Weekend!

Wow, I can't believe the weekend is over!

I hope everyone had a great one - once again Jason worked, so our weekend starts tomorrow :)

We still had a blast though, and I even snuck in a little work.....wanna peak??

Care Bear bags are available at my Etsy Store

I'll be back tomorrow with a little pinterest-to-done action....

see you then!

xo,

Rachel





Freebie Friday :: Summer Straw Flags

Hi!

Welcome to this week's

On Monday, I showed you a styled version of Root Beer Floats.

As promised, here are the FREE printable straw flags, a perfect addition to any summer beverage.

Just click HERE to grab the whole page full of them to download and print!

Grabbed them, and loved them? Shoot me an email with a picture of how YOU used them, or leave a comment with a link. I'd love to see what you did with them!

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Cheers to another great summer weekend!

xo,

Rachel



Inspired :: Jungle Themed Baby Shower and Sneak Peak

I am excited to show you a sneak peak at one of the projects I have been working on around here.

When I had recently gotten into contact with a client from Florida about a week or so ago, she had already had the theme and invitations picked out for the baby shower she was throwing for her friend: Jungle Theme.

This is such a cute theme and can be taken in so many different directions. I kind of knew right off the bat that I wanted to do a more modern take on it, and quickly came up with a board of inspiration:

All links and pictures above can be found on my Pinterest Board

This shower is being held for a baby boy, so I really wanted to go with a blue and green color palette with touches of orange and yellow.

Since this client is on a super tight budget, she wanted me to come up with ideas that were easy to implement and soft on the wallet.

Here were the three ideas I thought could make the biggest impact:

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Spray painted plastic animals. Bigger ones can be used for table top decoration, while smaller ones can be glued to the top of empty baby food jars and used as favor holders. There are SO many different ways that you could use these. Aside from the (small) cost of spray paint, all you would have to buy are the plastic animals-an easy find at any dollar store, flea market, or garage sale. Easy Peasy.

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Animal Crackers! The ones above are displayed beautifully in a box with a stuffed animal, however you could easily place these in a Ziploc bag with a handmade (or in our case, digital) topper. Animal Crackers will look adorable with this theme and are so much cheaper than candy.

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Tissue pom poms. Need a cheap backdrop or something to throw up above the dessert table? Think tissue paper! So easy, and cheap! Clump them together in larger numbers to really create an impact.

After showing her the inspiration board and having her (whew) love it, I started to design the printable party that she can print and style herself.

Here's a little sneak peak:

So far, I am about half way done with this party, and I am in love :)

Hope your week is going great!

xo,

Rachel

Styled :: Rootbeer Floats

Since the 4th of July is right around the corner, I wanted to share with you a fun treat that would be a perfect addition to any barbque this summer: RootBeer Floats.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that most ideas that you see in magazines or on web pages are really just SIMPLE ideas done beautifully.

So, today I want to show you a way to take the simple idea of a classic summer drink (rootbeer floats) and turn it into something that your guest will gush about.

First, I started off with some paper straws (leftover from Cayden's birthday party!) and printed up some flags that I made.

The effect is simple, but special.

I created the flags using the colors drawn from the vintage soda ad in the background. This ad just looks like summer to me, so I really wanted to recreate that look here. Red, white, and blue straws/flags would look great for this as well.

Ice cream was served in mason glass jars. I used this idea for for our CareBear party as well. It's such a great way to serve ice cream, because you can portion it out before and keep it in the freezer until you need it!

Individual bottles allow your guest to create their own drink. (Because you have to make sure to have the right ice cream to soda ratio!)

YUM.

and PS, if you like those little straw flags, you are in luck because they just might pop up on a Freebie Friday this week :)

Here's to another summer week....Cheers!

xo,

Rachel



Happy Weekend!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! We have been having a blast exploring all the wonderful traditions our new nieghborhood has to offer for summer :)

xo,

Rachel