Halloween Costumes

Here's our kiddos all set for the party! Thanks to pinterest for inspiration! Ida was a candy corn and our little boy was Johnny Cash.

I sewed a really basic pillowcase dress for the candy corn.  I just googled some pillowcase dresses for reference and here's what it ended up being. It measures about 14in long (all said and done with 5/8in seams) and 16in wide.  I left 5/8in casing up top for the ribbon and cut triangles off the top two corners (for her arms).  I lined it for extra warmth and as an easy way to get the arm holes done.

Johnny Cash was pretty easy.  Asa had the guitar, my husband had the belt buckle and those were his boots when he was little.  A little black hair dye and a trip to Ross for pants and a shirt and there you have it!

Feature Flower: Greens

This was another project for school which required us to showcase six different kinds of foliage and only foliage.  We also had to incorporate a lot of lines throughout and manipulate the greens.  It's definitely a different kind of challenge and surprisingly difficult.  I do love those dramatic monstera leaves on the right though.

Let me know if you're curious about the specific varieties.

Sneak Peek: Ida's Nursery

We're almost almost done with Ida's room! (Now that she's almost 6 months!) I just got a little bookshelf that I need to paint and I'd love to find a rug and small table, but we'll see. Here's her mobile which we finished up last week.

Feature Flower: Bird of Paradise

This was another arrangement for design school showcasing the fibonacci sequence played out in floral design.  It also used birds of paradise, so I thought I'd focus on them!  They're a tropical flower and, like most tropicals, long lasting. They are more expensive but you get size, durability, and long life. They lend a very structured and modern effect to arrangements.  (I used them in a wedding this summer that I still need to post pictures from.)  What do you think?  Do you like them?

Real Parties: Kids Carving Party

Sorry for the blogging silence!  I really don't have any specific excuse other than the normal busy with kids and playing catch up!
My family grew up carving pumpkins together every year and we still regularly get together to carve.    This past weekend we had a casual carving party at our place.  Super easy and fun! The night before I ran out to the dollar tree, grabbed a few things for some decor, and that was that. The best thing about this party was that from the set-up to the clean up it was kid friendly. Asa (he's two in a half by the way) was able to help me decorate everything.  He helped me make the cookies, cut them out, and patiently sat spreading the icing with a toothpick.  I was impressed at how careful he was! He even held off eating them until his friends and cousin came over. (My mom's sugar cookie recipe is really the best. I did a faux royal icing which tastes better than actual royal icing, but nothing beats a buttercream so I added on some canned last minute.)

I got a bunch of googly eyes at the dollar store and Asa and I taped them on the cups and plates.  He saw Monster's Inc recently so this made him extremely excited.

Yup.  Here's my crazy helper.

I despise mice.  I have a phobia of them.  My sister-in-law picked these up for one of our parties a couple years back and I held on to them.  But it really took a lot for me to handle these things.

Plastic tablecloth from the dollar tree works great for cleaning up all the pumpkin goop. 

Mummy dogs have been popping up all over pinterest so we got some crescent dough, cut it into strips, and wrapped them up.  Asa helped wrap them up too!  Great kid activities.

When it came to the actual carving part, well the kids headed downstairs and we carved.  My brother does extremely detailed pumpkins.  He created cinderella's pumpkin coach a week ago for his daughter!   (The garland in the background there is just a package of foam pumpkins from the dollar tree stapled to black ribbon.)

They spent the evening doing a bunch of this.

The finished product.

Cancer Update on my Mom

 

October is breast cancer awareness month.  Apparently one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.  But they've also made leaps and bounds with treatments. My mom was diagnosed two years ago and she has been clear for over a year now.  She's still on medication and frequent check ups but we're very thankful.  She heads in Wednesday for another mammogram so you can be praying that it comes back clear! Thanks!

Sneak Peek: Walser Wedding

Here's a few shots from the Walser wedding!  Jen wanted to keep things very simple and hi-light some fall tones with mainly roses.  Her husband has done a lot of missionary work in the Middle East so they incorporated a lot of that into their wedding with the linens, food, and colors.  To tie things together I spray painted all the vases gold and silver (using Rustoleum Metallic finish) and used some exotic flowers for the reception.  It was really fun to work with such rich tones and to get to use some unique flowers like kangaroo paw, pincushion protea, and ginger!  

I didn't get any great shots of the reception stuff (there's one below) but I'll pass on the professional shots when I get them!  Here's the inspiration board.

Real Weddings: Christy and Brian Professional Shots

Well, we're home!  And we did have a fantastic time in Portland, although we all caught a flu bug so I ended up staying in bed with the kids much of the time. But we got a chance to catch up with friends and family so it was a worthwhile trip!

Rosie sent over these pictures of Christy and Brian.  Pretty fun!

Her flowers featured: dahlias, zinnias, ranunculus, stock, roses, billy balls, delphinium, queen anne's lace, and maiden fern.  I ordered a bunch and we went to the cutting garden for some.

snow on the mountain in mason jars

Rosie's got more pictures of the wedding on her blog here.

Sneak Peek: Christy and Brian Professional Shots

 

Here's a look at some of the shots done by Urban Rose Photography of Christy and Brian! More coming soon! (we're having a great week in Portland by the way!)