Pumpkin Patch 2012

So, if you have ever read any of my previous pumpkin patch posts, and you aren't family (or very close friends) feel free to skip this one. Same pumpkin patch, different year.:) 

 

But we always have fun. And to me, it is actually really special to get to go to the same patch again and again. I didn't get to do the same things "every year" growing up-although we made plenty of special memories as a family, just in a wide variety of places! Anyway, I just love having our own family traditions, and getting to repeat them each year while watching our kids grow!

 

It is fun that the design and theme of the corn maze changes each year. This year it was a mining theme, and we searched to find the miners and their equipment. 

Carson was a total cheeseball every time he saw the camera. Josie and Joel, on the other hand, were all business about tracking down the clues. 

The corn this year was huge! I don't know what they are feeding that stuff, but we saw a ton of enormous ears. The stalks were really tall, too. 

The cuties and me in the corn. I love the stalks as a backdrop, and I love how peaceful the maze is. You feel isolated, yet in a serene way. Only cornstalks and blue skies as far as the eye can see...

And this ham! No, we did not pick any corn-I strictly forbid that! This piece was on the ground- great, since it looks like Joel is *actually* eating it!

Carson was in a hurry to get his pumpkin. He ended up choosing a green one (not this one, I somehow missed getting a picture of him with that one!), that looks like the "Squash" from Plants versus Zombies. He got the idea from his Uncle Steve!

Jocelyn was a little more choosy. She went for a traditional orange one.

One of Joel's favorite parts was the pigs. He was very enamored of them. I am sure they were handy to have around the farm to take care of all of the overripe pumpkins!

So, I picked a red pumpkin and a white one. And then as we were leaving ,literally- as we were pulling away in the car, I decided I *had* to have this gigantic pumpkin! Joel hopped right out and bought it for me-much sweeter than a bouquet of flowers, I think. My giant pumpkin is holding court on my porch right now over all the little pumpkins, and he makes me happy every time I see him. Joel too.;)

 

And we put a big check mark next to our annual family visit to the pumpkin patch!

Superhero Baby Shower

If you have followed my blog (or known me at all!) you know that I have decorated for quite a few baby showers.  I have to say, this one was one of my favorites! It was for a dear friend who deserved an extra special shower. This was probably the most time-consuming shower I have decorated for, but I think it was all worth it!

I thought long and hard about how to incorporate both "baby" and superhero without it being cheesy. I poured over different blogs and party sites. Most of them were more  comic book themed than actual superhero. I started by making the little capes and then realized they would be perfect with the onesies! I know, I know, my capes are all wrong (Batman's cape is black with no symbol and the Green Lantern doesn't even wear a cape! But it still looks cute!) I found the symbol templates here.

I interspersed the masks with the capes to give it some interest- this banner was probably one of my favorite elements. (Free mask template printables here!)And it looked perfect over the backdrop that Sarah (and her helpful hubby) created out of a plain white sheet! She also put together the canvases- they printed the symbols on paper and then put them on canvases wrapped with ribbon. Wasn't that clever? 

I thought it would be cute to use a coloring book as a guest book. I set it up with some crayons and invited guests to color a page and leave a message!



 My dear husband donated vintage comics from his own collection! Seriously, the comics we used for the banner, the runner and the whole books we used as additional decor were all circa 1990's. I didn't take any really great pictures of the banner, but it looked really fun. Joel cut the triangles with a paper cutter and I hot glued them to ribbon. It was a snap!



 In stiff competition for my favorite part with the onesie garland was the candy table. I loved looking at all the different candy set-ups on Pinterest, and I decided to make my own. I wrapped various boxes in paper, free-handed "windows" and "doors" and set up my little "city". I picked up all the candy at Walmart and the Dollar Store! That is also where I got the Pez dispensers.

The favors were a bit of work, but they turned out so cute. I cut all the capes out of felt and used a hole punch on the symbols, which I had printed on card stock. I printed labels that said "Thanks for celebrating Super Baby _______" with us!" I found the free templates for the symbols here.

All this candy came from the Dollar Store! The "popping candies" were a huge hit! I couldn't believe that they had so much stuff, but it probably didn't hurt that the Avengers movie just came out.

 The "Rings of Power" found a happy home amongst Mike and Ike bubblegum pieces- which were also surprise hit. They were the perfect colors.

 I love, love printing Scripture and framing it. I feel like it is so appropriate to have the Word around-especially for such a special occassion. I chose Isaiah 40:25-26, and 28-31 because it talks about so many of God's "super powers" and how He gives us His "super" strength! You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Pretty perfect, right? But then again, isn't that how the Word is?

My sweet friend, Christy, made the beautiful cupcakes. The colors were absolutely perfect! I threw together the cupcake toppers out of card stock and toothpicks.

Sarah framed the invite, and another friend made the "spider bites"- just Ritz peanut butter sandwiches with pretzel sticks shoved in. I always think it is fun to incorporate the food in the theme.

 I think I finally have the water bottle thing figured out. Two things are necessary: packing tape and a paper cutter. I will share later on how I wrap them-I found it to be trickier than I thought. I really appreciated the free water bottle label printables, but unfortunately I didn't pin it and I can't find it!

I tried a new technique with the streamers, and I wasn't overly impressed with how they turned out, but I thought hanging them all vertically was a nice change over the traditional draping. I also made a runner out of comic book pages hot glued together. I realized you can't see it  very well in the photo-ugh!

I realized that, as usual, I forgot to photograph some things, like the cute prize bags ( superhero notepads, Pez dispensers, and stickers!) and I am super bummed that I didn't get a better photo of the comic book banner or runner, but I still think you can get a pretty good idea of how it turned out. Pretty super, right?;)

If you are interested in any of the sources I have the mask templates, superhero symbol templates, lollipop favor printables and lots of other ideas I didn't even have a chance to use, all pinned on my "Bump Bashes" Pinterest board!

"Candy Corn" Tulle Wreath

I have seen these tulle wreaths for a while now, and have even helped make one, but I hadn't had a chance to do one myself. I was pondering ideas for a fall wreath, and I decided it would be really cute to do a tulle take on candy corn!

 

 



These are so simple to make and only require a few "ingredients"-all from Hobby Lobby:

-An extruded foam wreath, you can use any size you like, but I chose an 8 inch one.
-Tulle in the colors of your choice. I picked traditional candy corn colors-yellow, orange, and white sparkle! I absolutely recommend using the rolls. It is sooo much easier than trying to cut full yardage tulle. HL puts them on sale for half-price and they are only about $2 per roll. I didn't use all of any of the colors except white (sparkle is only sold in 10 yard lengths, versus 25 yds for the regular colors)
-Candy corn ribbon
- I found these fun candy corn decorations in the fall section. They are basically like the hardened "Fimo" clay.

Start by cutting your tulle in 12 inch lengths. I wrapped mine around a ruler and cut it at both ends. It is quick and easy.

I found it easiest to hold the wreath between my knees to keep it steady. I used two layered pieces of tulle. I alternated orange, white and yellow to make it look like candy corn!

 

 





All I did was simply tie the tulle on- I didn't knot it. There really isn't any need. The tulle is stiff enough that it stays in place.

 

I pushed the tulle around as I went to make sure it was nice and full. It is easy to make sure that you end on the right color by simply pushing it closer together.

 

 

I made a simple loop bow- I did three figure eight loops and hot glued them to each other. I put a small single loop in the center. I glued two of the candy pieces in the center and then made ties with pieces on each end. I always attach my decorations with straight pins- especially with a wreath like this, I can remove all the components and reuse the wreath!

 

 

I used a longer piece of the ribbon for a hanger and it was done! This is such a quick and easy project- I would say it probably only took me about an hour start to finish. And it makes such a "sweet" decoration!:)

 





 

 



Vintage Pink Baby Shower

 I wanted to post this shower, even though my participation was more limited than usual. Usually I spend several weeks planning and creating, but since I had been at my mom's house for over a month I wasn't able to be involved as much. However, it was  a sweet, simple shower that was especially fun to help with since the mom is expecting her first girl, after having three boys!

 Sarah came up with the theme (and did most of the work) but I put together the simple pennant banner (inspired by this shower). It was just scrapbook paper with holes punched at the top corners threaded onto pink ribbon. The wire birdcage in the middle is from Hobby Lobby. It was a great deal for $5. The handkerchiefs in the center are mine- they are antique and belonged to my great grandmother!

 I hunted the internet over for a bird silhouette. I finally found this one, but I had to cut out the wing separately so I could position it to point outward.  It's just scrapbook paper, too. The clock actually belongs to Christy and is part of her regular decor, but it worked perfectly with the theme.

 Sarah usually makes the invitations, and often frames one to use as part of the party decor. This one had really sweet lace and pearl beading on.  We draped real pearls over some vintage china pieces she brought. I loved the romantic touch that floating candles add. There is something irresistible to me about the combination of flames and water!

 She wrapped a pink doily (I got those from Target after Valentine's Day for a steal!) around a vase filled with faux hydrangeas. We used scrapbook paper as a "runner" on the buffet, which we covered with a lace tablecloth. Christy, the hostess, even tinted the fruit dip pink!

 I have to say, I have gotten my money's worth many times over from that cake plate. It turns over into a punch bowl, too, so it was a steal at $10-from Walmart! We usually use disposable dishes, but we were able to borrow glass ones from our church that were a much better fit.

I need a cupcake stand! This one is Sarah's and it is definitely worth its weight in gold. Christy and her friend frosted the cupcakes and Sarah added edible "pearl" beads. They were gorgeous, and I had fun tinting this photo in Instagram.

It was nice to throw a shower that wasn't as labor intensive, I will post one later of the one we did this weekend. It was a *lot* more work! However, I think this one is a great example of how you can decorate more simply and still have it be beautiful.

Some things I didn't take photos of were the games. I was in charge of those, and we had fun listing girls' names for every letter of the alphabet (harder than you might think!) and tearing "babies" out of paper held behind our backs. I wish I had photos of that one-it was hilarious!

Ombre+Fall=Love

If you aren't aware with my obsession for making garlands for my fireplace, please see here, here and here. If you are, read on. :)

I made this initial for my door, and realized I was absolutely in love with gray, yellow and black as fall colors. I do also love the traditional orange, reds and browns, too, but I was just ready for a change. Currently the trend right now is yellow and gray, and ombre everywhere! I decided that, since I usually follow all the trends anyway, to jump on that bandwagon!

This is such a great, simple project. From start to finish it took me about an hour. First I enlarged the leaf template I found here, to about 150%. Then I printed it off (I changed my print preview view to just the leaves, and chose to not print the turkey on the bottom of the page). When you are working with felt, you don't want details that are too intricate. I thought the larger maple leaf worked perfectly!

I did not end up using all the felt I bought. If you work carefully, you can use just one sheet of each color! I used two, just to be safe.

-heather gray felt, Hobby Lobby
-light gray felt, Hobby Lobby
-black felt, Hobby Lobby
-"goldenrod", from Michael's
-gold, from Michael's
-gray grosgrain from the Dollar Store (did  you know that gray ribbon is kind of hard to find?)

I toyed with the idea of using the exacto knife. I changed my mind-it was easier to do with scissors! I also opted against using the cream felt, I had enough pieces without it. However, I only figured that out *after* I cut out the cream leaves. Anyone need four cream felt leaves?

Cut out your pile of leaves. If you do not have fabric scissors (I love my Fiskars) I implore you: buy some now! Cutting felt is an absolutely dreadful task without nice, sharp scissors.  I cut out four leaves of each color. This is the most time consuming part, but once it is done, your garland practically puts itself together!

To make the slits to put the ribbon through, fold down the top part of your leaf. This doesn't have to be terribly precise, I did them in sets of two (if you have sharp scissors, you can cut your leaves out two at a time to make the process faster, too) and just eyeballed it.

 

See, how the leaf isn't folded quite in half? I then cut two slits, about an inch long and an inch and half apart. Each leaf needs two to thread the ribbon through.

 

I liked the way that it looked having the ribbon just peek through, so I threaded mine starting from the underside. I didn't secure the leaves in any way, they move freely on the ribbon. I overlapped them quite a bit, I preferred the way they looked like that.

 

I debated about putting them in pattern order, and decided instead to do them ombre style. I know it isn't a true ombre (my understanding is that is just one color gradient) and technically my brighter gold leaves should have come first, but I craft on the fly and I was just happy as a clam with the way it turned out. I love that it says fall without being blatant, and love, love, that it incorporates the gray and yellow combo that I am clearly obsessed with! 

 

I apologize for the bad photos, my living room does not have an overhead light on the fireplace side, and it was late. But you are welcome to come over and see how cute it is in person!;)

 

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