Holidays :: Easter Table

Posted on by Annika
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So I have been super lazy when it comes to decorating for the holidays this year. I was trying to ignore Easter – especially since it was so close to St. Pat’s this year – but my 3 year old had other plans. “When are you going to put up the Easter things?” “Where are all those eggs?” Okay. Okay. Here you go kid!Remember these fabulous glitter eggs Crafty Jan whipped up last year? We’ll she’s back at it and I am now expecting her to make me some every year until my house is overflowing in beautiful glitterly eggs! They are so shiny and happy and just the ticket for Easter cheer.The problem about these is that they don’t stay this cute for long. The boys have gotten to them and I fear that the crocodile and bird that were once part of the eggs are now part of our toybox. This table is nothing to write home about really, but if you’re looking for a cool table runner, Michael’s sells a moss one that I find divine and super useful for all types of parties. Go get yourself one!Place setting: Rattan chargers from Cost Plus, green plates from Ross of all places (got these when we lived in Hawaii and I think that the Rosses out there are more like Home Goods out here. Great for home items!), napkins from Tuesday Morning, Grosgrain ribbon napkin rings that my mom made, and bamboo weapons that you can’t see. So the kid got what he wanted. Easter. Even though it will only be up for 2 weeks total. Kids love seeing the house change and even though this pregnant, lazy girl did not want to play, I am happy I did seeing how excited the boys were to be playing with their (manned-up) Easter baskets and eggs. Oh and remember these FREE Easter & Spring banners from last year? Well, they’re still available! Make sure to print yours today! Hope you all have a great Easter!

Bachelorette Party Invitation :: Viva Las Vegas!

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Vegas, here we come! Remember my darling friend Kasey from this party? Well, it’s bachelorette time for this saucy minx and we’re heading to sin city! If you know this girl, you’ll understand how fitting a Vegas Showgirl is as the image on the invite. She’s simply fabulous! I printed all the information on the back of the invite and, as this isn’t my first rodeo when it comes to planning bachelorette parties, I’ve learned that it’s a great idea to collect money from the gals up front. That way, everyone can just relax, have fun, and not worry about the tab. I purposely collected a little more than I think we will need so we can have a little more fun for “free” which generally keeps everyone pretty happy! I’m getting RSVPs & money in the mail everyday! How tempting it is to go shopping! Oh, but I guess I will settle on a trip with my girls to Vegas this May instead! More to come from the actual trip. We’ve got some fun up our sleeves that I’m excited to share with you!

Supper Club :: Superfood Theme

Posted on by Annika
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I’m sure you’ve all seen some really incredible superhero kid’s parties in the party-blogosphere. Like mind-blowingly amazing parties.
This is not one of those.This isn’t even a kid’s party. This is a “Superfood” themed dinner we hosted for our supper club (Also known as Gourmet Group.) After about 2 years of dinners, we had pretty much retired every country-specific theme between our group of 7 couples.My huz and I also hosted what was arguably the most gut-busting dinner known to man last year (our Mexican Fiesta!) and we didn’t want to roll groaning people out of our house on dollies after dinner this time. So we cleaned up the menu with the intention of cleaning up our innards and went with a Superfood theme.As soon as we chose this theme, I could not get the idea of caped super-veggies out of my mind. “Super Sweet Potato to the rescue!”A caped coconut, eye-masked eggplant, powerful pepper, brawny broccoli, and awesome almonds became the super centerpieces.I completely felt insane while dressing these veggies… having thoughts like “Oh, your cape needs a little more wind behind it!” and “Let’s just adjust that eye-mask a titch!” Then I thought to myself, that there are people who probably do this FOR REALS in a dark shed and talk to them like they are friends… It made me feel better to know that on the grand scheme of things, I am only tipping the crazy scale a touch in comparison.Stealing my mom’s trophy collection once again – since what’s more ‘super’ than a trophy? – the superheroes flew high above the tables ready to save our stomachs from processed food.Aren’t they cute? It was hard to disrobe them.Mimicking the pattern on the tablecloth (fabric from Ikea), I sewed triangular garlands to hang from the ceiling. The silver paper added such a big punch and kept it from looking too flat.
I’m no perfectionist, so the triangles were cut freehand and sewn up quickly. No real plan… I don’t think this stuff is worth fussing over too much! The impact is there and no one will notice your imperfect stitches!For place settings, we used black plates, black bamboo weapons, placed the napkin in a wine glass, printed out a menu, and popped a seating card in a brussels sprout. On the subject of place cards… do these give anyone else anxiety? I’ve never been a huge fan of them, though I LOVE how they look. I just could never decide if they are stuffy or cool. Mostly, I never want anyone to think “Oh GOD! Why did she put me next to that dishrag?” (not that I know any dishrags!) or “Oh she must like me best because she’s sitting next to me!” I’ve always been more free flow about seating… until this party.What we decided to do was wait until most of the people got there, then we played “Seating Roulette.” Note: This may only work with people who actually know/like each other – I wouldn’t try this with a mixed group right off the bat! In everyone’s presence, I turned all the place cards upside down, mixed them up, then walked around and put them into the brussels sprout. The only rule was that you couldn’t sit next to your other half. Everyone knew how random it was – which took the dishrag pressure off of me! – and I think it really mixed up the conversation in a fun way.It turned out to a be such a fun and delicious night! Look at all the food we devoured…And everyone left on foot! No wheelbarrows necessary!It really was “Super Yum!” But full disclosure here. The table really looked like this:We had to add an extra table since there are so many of us. Shhh! Let’s eat! Super Pepper signing off! Hope you all have a SUPER day! As always, thanks for reading!

Blogger Blessings… But I’m Bombarbed!

Posted on by Annika
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Dear wonderful peeps…
Well, how full of empty promises I am! I totally thought I would be able to post more this year but… but… well… no real excuses. Life just keeps getting in the way! Anyway, I have been absolutely bombarded with work this year which is a something I am so very thankful for. I am getting to chat and work with so many of you lovely people from all over the world and I’m beyond grateful for every comment, email, word of mouth references, and etsy convo and sale I get.

A very heartfelt THANK YOU!

I always try to get back to each fabulous person who takes the time to contact me, but lately I have been Slacker McSlackerson. I apologize if you’ve written me and you’ve gotten nothing but silence from me. I hope you all understand that my inbox gets full pretty quickly and if I wrote everyone back, I probably wouldn’t have time to feed my children, sleep, or even put on my clothes. I’m sorry. I still love you! Please don’t drink the haterade!

I have no idea who spiked the party punch over the last week or so, but I have had more requests for custom orders all at once than I ever have had. It’s not in my nature to say no. It’s really, really hard for me to turn down anyone, especially the best blog-readers in the world! I swear, you’re all so sweet! Please know I wish I could help you all out, but I think I am at capacity for work over the next few months. While my belly gets larger, my brain is surely getting smaller so I am not firing on all creative cylinders at the moment… why would you want a pea-brained pregnant lady doing your design work anyway? Hee hee!

So, though it never hurts to ask, please don’t take it personally if I have to turn down your projects. I feel so invested in all of you as readers and hearing about the ideas you have for your mom’s retirement party, your crazy 2-year-old’s idea of a birthday party, or your husband’s 40th, makes me so happy but also so sad that I can’t help with them all.

I love you. Don’t hate me. I will try to be a better blogger, better worker, better everything. Thanks for reading and I hope you stick with me… One day when my rascals are bigger, I will be your go-to-girl. For now, I will do what I can!

xo
Annika
(Above: a sampling of some of the projects I’ve been consumed with… will share more about them when they are all complete!)

33rd Birthday :: Black & Blue

Posted on by Annika
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The huz turned 33 this weekend and insisted that we not do anything big this year. We ended up having a few friends over for an early BBQ and I just used what I had to decorate.We had to do something a little bit festive, so my 3.5 year old and I hung balloons from the ceiling and called it a party. They are totally off and it kind of killed me to not even them out but I realized about halfway through that maybe a pregnant girl should not be standing on a not-so-sturdy table so I just let the balloons be.The birthday boy was happy, we had a great night, and it was nice to do something on the low-key side for a change!Happy birthday to the best man in the world!Hopefully more posts this week!

1st Birthday :: Vintage Sweetness

Posted on by Annika
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I am literally obsessed with my creative friends. Our friends Michelle & Bryan threw their sweet little girl Eloise the most darling 1st birthday party last weekend. I am kicking myself for not bringing my camera but thank goodness Michelle takes pretty pictures! I’m totally blown away by this darlingly (is that a word?) elegant party. Makes me pray for a girl! But also the fact that she did all of this on a tiny budget makes everything even more amazing. Please note, I had absolutely NOTHING to do with this adorable party. But I begged her to share the details and she gladly obliged! I’m totally amazed by the amount of DIY they did… They turned that 29 cent wood fan from Michael’s (on the left up there) into chalkboards… AND she MADE the paint herself using a recipe she found on pinterest. Seriously!? That’s true elbow grease! Just turn upside down, add ribbon, and look how cute they turned out!
The tents were my (and my boys’) favorite part of the party. They set up a toddler-friendly activity in each one and my boys were in total heaven! She got the idea for them on pinterest and they MADE them themselves. (See? DIY King and Queen right here!) They looked like they were professional – they should sell these suckers in my humble opinion! They got the sheets from Macy’s ($10 for a set, a fitted sheet, flat sheet and one pillow case) and her sister used the extra fabric to make pillows placed all around the party. In case you’re going to knock this party off, (and why wouldn’t you?) the activites they set up were a book station, a bubble station (check out the mason jar bubble holder Eloise’s grandpa made!), a water bead station (bought from the floral section at Micheal’s and SO fun for kids!) and a chalkboard station.
Not sure how well this shows it off, but they hung doilies from twine and hung them all over the house and outside. It was so dear and vintage chic! The doilies were $2 a pack at Walmart and the twine $1 at the Dollar Tree. What an impact for such pennies! And they looked so cute outside as well!The favors were another pinterest idea. She used scrapbook paper from Micheal’s, then sewed them together. They were so cool and were twisted which made them even more darling. I love how she used burlap as tablecloths, tin cans as vases, and vintage looking baskets as display cases. The above photo obviously does not do it justice, but they crafted Eloise’s name out of leafed branches. This was hanging right over the favor table and was such a sweet detail – I wish you could have seen how great it looked in person!
The napkin holders yet again another pinterest idea. She “got” the paint sample cards at Lowes and then sewed those together. Not pictured was all the cute food outside too. This always blows my mind as I am so not good at that stuff, but they made sandwiches for the kids in the shape of a heart and the edges were pinched together. Too cute to eat, I swear!
And if your mouth is drooling at the sight at that table above, you’re glad you weren’t there to taste this stuff or you would have gained about 400 pounds. I think I ate a whole plate of cupcakes… they had edible glitter on them and I kid you not, they were THE BEST things I have ever had in my mouth. EVER! Michelle, her mom and sister whipped up these treats and it truly looks like they went to the best cake shop west of the Mississippi. Even the inside of this adorable cake was beautiful!Look at the detail! I am in such awe on the food end of things. This truly blows my noodle!
So that does it. I really need this new baby of ours to be a girl… I’ve got to have a party like this in my life! Thanks so much Michelle, Bryan and Eloise for sharing such a charming little birthday party. I adored every single detail.