Owl Baby Shower

Recently my sisters and mom hosted a baby shower for our cousin Jesi. I designed the invitation copying my sister Heather and Tiny Prints. The owls came from a kit by Holly Brooke Jones and the papers are from Persnickety Prints in their freebie section.

We made lettuce wraps using recipes from Sunny Anderson and Our Best Bites.

Cowboy Caviar was made by Heather. Idon't have her recipe but its a delightful mixture of avocados, black eyed peas, tomatoes, cilantro etc. The recipe I use calls for black beans which is a nice addition. 

Cupcake toppers made by Sweeten Your Day. I won them from a giveaway at Kara's Party Ideas. The cupcake stand was found in my parent's backyard. 

These little disasters are supposed to be chocolate covered rice krispie owls.  Make the rice krispie treats as usual, cut out with a cookie cutter, dip in choc and add eyes. 

Here is the full spread. Don't you love the cupcake stands? Most of the plates, jars and owl figures are from thrifting.

Erica made this wreath and my mom made the owl pillow using a tutorial from Toad's Treasures.

Guests filled little treat bags full of sweets as a favor. 

I used a free printable set from TomKat Designs for the favor tags and food labels. In Photoshop, I changed the colors to match the invitation and used the same owl from our invitation.

Can't forget a picture of the cute mom-to-be

Iron-On Project

Awhile back I found this fun shaped sign at the DI-

I sprayed it white and it sat around for about a month.

I got an idea to use an iron-on transfer to transfer an image onto the wood. To say it was a success is only a partial truth. The image is from the Graphics Fairy. 

The process is much the same as if you were transferring onto fabric. Beware not to keep the iron-on for too long or you will pull up the paint. Also make sure you put your image on straight. 

 My sign has three problems- 1. Image is crooked 2. The glue from the iron-on is noticeable (how can I fix this??) 3. The image is not big enough.  I will probably sand it down a little and put on another coat of paint and try another method of transferring the image. 

One Project Closer

I am entering my master bedroom redo in One Project Closer's yearly Before and After contest.

It is a contest that goes till September 22 with weekly winners ($50) and a grand prize winner ($150). Click the button below for more information. 

A Little Peak

Erica and I took some pics of her cousin-in-law's baby on Sunday. It was fun experimenting on someone other than Erica or my niece Sydney.

Prepping for Vacation

I just returned from my summer vacation and have come up with a few tips. This information is probably a no brainer but here we go anyways.

1. Get a Deal. As soon as you decide on a location, sign up with the daily deal sites for that location. Here are a few-
Groupon
Living Social
Buy with Me
Plum District
Circle Buzz

I would suggest having these sent to a secondary email if you have one so your inbox isn't inundated with daily deals. Also, check with the local city's news website because they always have deals on their site. For example, the San Diego Union-Tribune has a website called Sign on San Diego where they have a daily deal.

2. Hold Please. Consider having your mail placed on hold. You can even request this by going to the USPS website.

3. Price it Out. I like using Hotels.com or similar sites to compare pricing on hotels. You should also consider a vacation rental so you can stock the fridge and avoid eating out too much. Try VRBO, Homeaway, or VacationRentals.com. To me it comes down to price, location and quality. We recently stayed in the La Jolla Beach Travelodge for under $90 a night, which is a fabulous price for La Jolla. I was willing to sacrifice a few stars for a 5 minute walk to the beach.

4. Pack it Up. Don't we always forget something when packing? I would recommend finding an online packing list to assist.

5. Clean Up. I recommend cleaning the house and getting all laundry done prior to leaving out of town. You will be happy you did when you come home and have a suitcase full of clothes to wash and items to put back.

What other tips do you have for travel prep?

Road Trip, Part II

We learned the hard way that one of the beaches we hiked down to was a nude beach! There was a few nude old men. Yikes. 

Road Trip, Part I

Self portrait on our way to San Diego!

Here is a picture of the boring scenery 

Luckily there was no wait at the inspection station

Upon arrival in La Jolla, we walked a short 5 minutes from our hotel to this-

Ahhh, I love the sun, surf and sand. 

La Jolla LDS Temple Grounds

Yard Sale Finds

Erica and I hit up some yard sales and a few Deseret Industries on our way up to Layton to do a final walk through on her new house (yay!). Don't you love when you happen upon something you have wanted from Ballard or Pottery Barn for months? 

Enter: Rope Knot Doorstop

Ballard Designs
$45

Yard Sale Find
$2

On a side note, Erica and I were stalked by a man in the Layton DI so we hid out in a dressing room till we could no longer see him. Later, in the American Fork DI, we may or may not have stolen a beautiful apothecary jar from someone's cart! I can't help it if a cart full of merchandise is left unattended for 5 minutes. When we saw someone come back for the cart we were laughing so hard we could not even look at each other.