B. B.: pink

D.I.Y.

Valentine's day free printables and a throw back to 2003

9:51 AM

I love Valentine's day. It's funny how the meaning of Valentine's day transforms as you grow older. Now with 3 kids, elementary school and preschool it's less about romance and more about getting 50+ valentine cards bought, signed and ready for the class party.

(not to mention the time and energy that goes into helping your child find that perfect valentine card that they love).

Below are some cute ideas for Valentine's day cards and the best part... they are free!

SquirrellyMinds, Lisa Storms, The Cottage Market, Savvy Sugar

I heart nap time, Armommy

Or so she says, fox printable

mustache printable, Rubber Punkin, The Clumsy Crafter, love grows heart bookmark

Below is our first Valentine's dinner after we were married. We had it in the dining room of my parents house in Park City. My brother Cavet was our waiter. My mom (who is a fabulous cook) and I prepared an amazing dinner for Steve of filet mignon w/ bearnaise sauce, roasted asparagus, pear gorgonzola salad and cooked red wine pears for dessert.

Oh.... the fancy life we used to lead. ;)

My awesome brother was only 15 when he did this. He was soooo cute and profesh!

birthday party

A June Tea Party - birthday party

11:12 AM

For Madeline's Birthday this year we had a High Tea Party (it was a "high tea" because it was at 5pm). I don't think that is the proper definition of a high tea but, we used it. And we're a bunch of Westerners, so what do we know? ;)

The invites, I took our address off of course.

My mom above helped the girls get dressed. Thank you! She has a large collection of vintage hats and jewelry. She also has 30 very pretty vintage glass serving plates and coordinating tea cups that you see in the photos.

When the girls arrived they put on vintage hats and jewelry and we had tea (pink lemonade).
The above cake was made by my dear friend in our ward. If you live near Salt Lake and would like her to make you one as wall contact me. She does amazing work and is very affordable.

It was fun for the girls but exhausting for mom. If anyone plans on doing this, make sure you have friends or family close by to help out. Because if you don't (like me) you do 98% on your own and a party should fun and happy. Not stressful. ;) My words of wisdom for the day.

baby shower

Easter Garlands

1:24 PM

As those of you who have seen my blog before know, I love garlands for Holiday and party decorating. Below are garlands for all personalities and decorating styles: Vintage / Shabby Chic, Modern Minimalist / the Ikea'ist and lastly, Fabric (sewer) / Paper (crafty).

Vintage/Shabby Chic

Modern Minimalist, the Ikea'ists

Fabric/Paper

birthday party

Princess Party Part Deux

9:34 PM

Mimi's Princess party was so fun, she still talks about it. I am so happy to make these fun memories for her. It looked so lovely, in spite of our fence...

...Our goal this Summer was to tear down this chain link fence (I have some serious animosity towards this fence. Why? Mostly because it offers no privacy whatsoever) and put up a cedar fence. But now that Max needs his tonsils out and Henry needs tubes in his ears, I may just have to put up with this fence for another Summer. Humphhhh. Oh well, in the grand scheme of things it's not really that big of a deal. AND so what if everyone in the neighborhood can see me gardening in the backyard in sweatpants, no make-up and uncombed hair?

I used decorations that were left over from my sister's wedding to decorate the party with. Lucky for me her wedding colors were pink and green. ;) Thanks sis.

I searched and searched for DIY castle cakes. There are some darling cakes out there, but most of them looked much too intricate and time consuming to make. So I took ideas from the cakes I liked and created the castle cake above.

It was so simple to make and Mimi LOVED it! The best part was when we took the cones apart to cut the cake the kids used the cones for their ice cream.

This table was fun, I got the idea to use the IKEA net from the blog, love the day. It was just the right height for the kids as well, and they sure looked cute getting their pink lemonade!

birthday party

Princess party, gift bags

5:46 PM

We had a princess party today and true to "Brooke-form" I went all out. We live on a busy street and our backyard is more of a side-yard so I felt like my over-indulgence was out there for the whole world to see. I know what people were thinking, "why in the world would you go to all that trouble for a 5 years old's b-day party?!".

My question back is, "why not!?" I may only have one daughter and I know the time will come when princesses and pink are not cool so why not have fun with it while I can? :)

For the party bags I used some pink paper bags (that were leftover from last year) and decided to fill them with handmade goodies. I used fabric scraps to make the cute hair clips above. For instruction on how-to make these hair clips go HERE.

I made the bracelets above with scrapbook ribbon and beads that I also had on hand. I just cut a piece of thin ribbon 8 inches long and strung 10 pretty beads on each one. They are meant to be tied onto the wrist and I love them.

Lastly I made these wands, well, kind of. I bought the wands at Wal-mart for $2 and just added some ribbon to them. They turned out to be every girls favorite part of the goody-bag!

More pictures to come, mostly for my Rozzie-pooh. Who I know would have loved to be here.

green

pink & green rooms

11:40 PM

While talking to some friends of mine yesterday I explained that I often feel uncomfortable sharing experiences I have had during my 'growing-up' years of High School and college, especially in groups of people or with people who I don't know very well. Because during these 'growing-up' years I often lived outside of the country. So when I tell a story and it takes place in Paris, Luxembourg, Grand Caymans, Philippines or some where else, I sound pretentious or "ooo, look at me"...but really I just want to tell the story and the place I lived in plays a part in that story...so here I go again, and tell another one of those stories...

While attending BYU Jersusalem I was able to visit Egypt. While there I fell in love with mosaics. I had decided that I was going to have a mosaic room in my house. A room totally dedicated to all things mosaic, and I was going to create all the mosaics myself...in my mind it was exquisite.

Then the horrible thought occured to me, how many rooms do I need in my house? Because, while living in Europe I fell in love with stain glass windows and decided I needed to learn how to make stain glass....and have a room in my house dedicated to stain glass...

Well, here I am again (I often find myself in this place). I want a pink and green room. White walls, crisp white furniture and pops of bright pink and green throughout the room.

So my hot pink & green room will be located between my mosaic and stain glass rooms in the house in my head.

I think the above 4 pictures are pure inspiration...they give me the food my brain needs to sit back for a bit and daydream. What would I do without my daydreams?

blue

cute kid rooms

2:00 PM

I looked at real estate here in Utah daily ever since Steve and I got married, I still find myself looking at it from time to time even though we own a house, just for fun...???? A little strange I know. But I bet I could tell you Utah's real estate market trends for the last 7 years, that's how often I looked at it.

Anyhow, I always look at houses for sale in our area and found this darling house West of us. I don't know who this girl is but I am tempted to knock on her door and introduce myself. Her house is darling! Here are 2 of the rooms in her house. I just love them. And the pink/red combination above is darling.

So I guess I am a real estate market stalker??? That sounds a lot creepier than it is, I hope. ;)

green

chandeliers & pillows (random)

10:11 AM

Thomas Paul Pillow found here at thomaspaul.com for around $100-$200

Murano glass chandelier found here for a mere $2,498

Sofia pillow found here for a only $21! Love it!

coudn't find where to buy this, but hey I have an easy idea.

Go here and buy this color spray paint and spray an old chandelier from yard sale, DI, thrift store etc.

A similar pillow for $29! Go here.

Just found some pretty things online while looking for design ideas. I love these vibrant colors and I love the touch of femininity that these chandeliers bring.

I also love the combination of all these colors, green pink and red.