My First "real" Bike Ride.

I went on my first real bike ride. Thirty miles and my ____ (fill in the blank here) was hurting. My Poor sister who gave birth just 4 weeks earlier was struggling so my brother pushed her some of the way. He isn't the favorite brother for no reason :)

This is how the ride started out...

and this is how it ended...

Editing Party Photos

I HAD to share this with you. While editing photos from my latest party I decorated, I came across this...

This little girls face KILLS ME. I thought I was going to pass out from laughing so hard. My sister sitting next to me had to keep reminding me to breath. I hope you think this is as great as I do :)

Tight Red Pants

I have been a little M.I.A in blog land for a while and I am just trying to keep my head above water with decorating for so many parties coming up. I sometimes find that editing and blogging about it takes up more time then the actual event . So I am sorry up front, but I promise I have some great photos and tutorials coming soon.

Now to something that made my day. I am not sure if it is because of the tight red pants or seeing my husband be serious. Either way, my husband modeled on Channel 4 today for a Nordstrom fashion show and here it is...

The link to see the whole segment:

Nordstrom Spring Trend

Ruffle Fabric Banner

I recently made this ruffle fabric banner for my spring decor and for a shabby chic princess party. It is very easy to make, even a beginner sewer like myself can do it. Let's get started...

HOW TO:

Start with your fabric of choice. I purchased all this fabric from a thrift store for a dollar so I worked the party around this fabric.

Cut slits at the end of your fabric to give you 4 inch stripes. The amount of stripes you need will vary depending on how long you want your banner to be. You need the same amount for the front and the back. I used 4 stripes for the front of my banner and 4 for the back. Remember after ruffling the fabric, it will shrink to about half of its size.

After I cut a little into the fabric, I then pull all the way to the end to give it that frayed look.

Now get 4 of the stripes and sew them together at the ends to create one long strip of fabric. Do the same with the other 4 strips for the back side.

Now the fun part. Get one of your long stripes and ruffle your fabric. I use my thumbs to bunch of the fabric as I run the fabric through the sewing machine. Continue this technique to the other long strip (the back side). This is also how I created the ruffles for the Princess Hats.

Once you have two long ruffle stripes, sew them together down the middle of the fabric. I chose to do it this way because I wanted to keep the frayed edges. Also this is important to double side it because if the banner turns at all when hanging it, you will want to see the right side of the fabric. Trust me, I tired it the more simple way and not creating the back side and it didn't look so pretty. 

If you don't want the frayed look then you can sew them wrong sides together before you ruffle the fabric. Then turn it right side out and ruffle your fabric.

You're done. This is great for those not-so-perfect sewers because the ruffle can hide some of your mistakes. Just saying :)

Linking here

Princess Party Hat

Here is how to turn a typical party hat into a shabby chic princess hat...

What you need:

Step 1: Open up a standard birthday hat and trace it onto your paper.

Step 2: wrap the paper around the birthday hat and staple it in the back. (picture below)

Step 3: Sew your ruffles. I cut stripes of fabric long enough to wrap my party hat twice. Once it is ruffled, it will shrink to half of its size.  I ruffle my fabric by bunching it as I run it through my machine.

Step 4. Place some hot glue over the staple and attach one end of the ruffled fabric.

Step 5. Quickly adhere the ruffle along the base of the hat. I will glue, attach the ruffle, glue, and then attach some more ruffle until I am all the way around.

Step 6: Add embellishments to the ruffle.

You can stop here if you don't want to attach the lace/ribbon to the top of the hat. These would be perfect just like this for any little girl party. 

To make it a princess hat you will want to add some ribbon or lace, so continue to step 7. I purchased this vintage lace at a thrift store for a dollar.

Step 7. Cut your lace on a diagonal giving you a tiny tip to push through the top of the hat.

Step 8. Entering from the bottom of the hat, push the lace all the way through until you have the length you want.

Now you are done and can go live happily ever after :)

Princess Party coming up this Saturday. Cant wait to share with you some more tutorials and pictures next week.

* Fabric and lace purchased at a thrift store.
* Pearls and gold trim, and paper purchased at Hobby Lobby
* Original party hats purchased at Zurchers

Vacation Time

Bye Bye! We are off on a little vacation. Be back soon! 

( I will have to retake this picture when he is 19 and going on a mission)

Messy Updo

I know we all have had those days where we wake up and we don't feel like washing our hair and pulling out that dreaded blow dryer. If you are like me on MOST days then here is a quick fix. After I spray my hair with my DIY Sea Salt Spray I will do this quick, yet oh so cute, updo. 

I usually do this the day after I did my boho look. 

HOW TO:

Step 1: Put on a elastic head band over the top of your hair like the pictures below. pretend my hair is still down and I didn't already do step two :) 

Headband is from Banana Republic

Step 2: Grab the hair from your ends and tuck it up and over the head band. Keep tucking until you have it as tight or as loose as you would like.

Step 3. pull out a few pieces in the front to give it more of that "messy-effortless" feel.

 EASY RIGHT?

Another  quick option that I do the day after I wear my hair down with my DIY Sea Salt Spray is the popular sock bun. I find that the day after, and using the Sea Salt Spray, it holds the sock better in my hair.