cinco de mayo for one

happy cinco de mayo!

i love this day and all of its celebrating and happy colors and good food. i look forward to it every year...

 

 i'm getting festive today with frozen limeade and party poppers (that seem to give mimi the dog a terrible fright) and mariachi music for one. alone time well spent!

max is usually my main cinco de mayo party friend...but he's away with his dad this weekend. i packed him a little box filled with odds and ends and the tiniest pinata you'll ever see stuffed with small sweets. if only i could have found a small bat to go along with it.

 hoping your weekend is going swell! 

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

xoxo

planted firmly on the ground

no matter how many times i try to set up a traditional work space for myself i always end up using the floor!

there's just something about the ability to sprawl out and sit cross-legged, or lay on my back and stare at the ceiling when stuck, that has always got my mind going and ready to work. i'm a cheap paint//loud music//bum on the floor kind of painter!

(although my baby bump has definitely made reaching forward and getting up off said floor a funny task...there may be some rocking to gain momentum involved.)

today i'm working on some rifle-inspired flowers for baby shower invitations!

there are so many little boys in our family, it's a real treat to get to be having a girly party....flowers and sweets and gobs of color...i can't wait!

happy monday and last day of april! 

good grief, where is the time going?

thirteen shmirteen

my sweetest (and 1st) nephew is turning 13 this week! i told him he wasn't allowed to but he seems to be doing it anyhow. 

i can't believe how quickly the time goes! our guy at 13 is quick as a whip and the funniest kid on the block... i'm a forever proud aunt!

 amy and nate are throwing austin a party tonight! i made him weird masks, like party nosferatu, party lemonhead from adventure time, party sloth in a suit, and party mr. meowgi (austin's cat), so all his favorite friends could come along. 

i've always wanted to try making a surprise ball for someone after seeing it on heidi's blog a few years ago...this seemed like the perfect occasion! lots of sweets and funny odds and ends and some money rolled up into a crate paper ball.

oh to be 13 again! 

ugh...or maybe not. haha. 

hoping your weekend is going real swell! 

xoxo

in a pinch party hats

i love making these funny, tall, elf-like party hats...they're the perfect way to make a party a tad more special or silly and they stash away well...making it great for when you're in a pinch. i use lots of different patterns and colors and reuse mine over and over...because almost every occasion calls for a party hat! 

here's how i make them!

supplies: you need a square of scrap booking paper, a hot glue gun or tacky glue, pom poms (found at the craft store), scissors, and ribbon or twine or elastic.

start by turning the paper over, pattern-side down. taking the right corner, start curling it in toward the center...

keep rolling, keeping the top at a point, and making sure the bottom is staying wide open. keep your hands on the left hand corner and get ready to glue!

put a little dab of hot glue or tacky glue on the inside of the left corner tab and press it to the hat...hold until it's set.

next you'll need your scissors...

trim off the bottom of the hat however you'd like...you can make the hats short or tall depending on how much you cut off!

to finish off the top, lay a line of glue along the top of the hat and squeeze the pom pom over the glue, hold until set!

hot glue any sort of ribbon or twine (cut into two pieces and long enough to tie around the head...or one piece if using elastic) on two opposite sides of the hat. if you're using thin twine or elastic, i usually take a small piece of paper to lay over the glue and twine to keep it sturdy and sealed and from burning my fingers. ack!

and that's it!

hooray for funny party hats!

xoxo

fancy christmas

we had our friends over this weekend for our annual fancy christmas bash!

fancy christmas is where you spend the night doing swanky christmas things...like dress up real fine and pass around good food at a shared table, crack open party poppers and wear paper crowns, give silly gifts, and make toasts to one another.

this year everyone made indian food (tikka masala and saag paneer and curry and naan).

we ate and ate and listened to records and, thanks to amanda jone's recent post, spent the rest of the night making shadow puppets.

(i printed off cards from this site)

oh how i love a good fancy christmas!

happy christmas- mano

happy monday, friends!
xoxo

happy happy halloweeeeen!

our halloween party saturday night was a real hoot!
matt and i went as a creepy ventriloquist and his dapper doll!
needless to say, we both looked pretty disgusting. haha.
i'm usually not the kind of gal to wear overtly sexy costumes ( i learned my lesson when i was 18...i wore a school girl uniform to a party and hit a deer with my car on the way home. i had to wait for my dad on the side of the road in the middle of the night dressed like a tart. never again, halloween!)...but this year, this year...i was oozing with sensuality. haha. i think it was the plaid boy pants.

we karaoked and danced and jigged the night away. amy and nate made the finest cleopatra and mark antony!
i have more incriminating photos on my facebook...they truly are terrible. and i think it's safe to say matt has never looked better.

i hope all of you had a wonderful hallows eve weekend!
and happy happy halloween!

 

 halloween spooks- lambert, hendricks & ross

my favorite halloween haunt in town is in downtown fairborn. the whole street is lined with costume stores and halloween goodies. it's open year round, which is a treat, but it really comes alive around this time of year...spooky scary music playing over loud speakers...ghosts and goblins flying on the rooftops. 

oh, it's the best!

 tonight is tricks and treats!

and i have a little ninja to get ready. 

happy halloween, loves!

5 favorites of fall: small gatherings

hosting small parties, purposeful ones and for no good reason parties, is something i cherish. 

and it's definitely something i look forward to this time of year as the holidays roll around.

tonight matt and max and i are having a small gathering of friends and family over for soup and pumpkin carving...caramel apples and kettle corn and bluegrass records.

there is nothing better than making a fuss over the people you love the most!

happy happy weekend, friends!

tomorrow, matt and i are heading over to my sister amy's house for her and nate's annual halloween party. our costumes are pretty ridiculous this year! 

i'll have lots to share come sunday.