Spring Flower Table Runner

Spring has sprung! While I'm not in a hurry to take down ALL of my green St. Paddy's day decor just yet, {I kinda like it!} ;-) Little bits of spring have started showing up around my house. {Add to the fact that it has been 80 degrees this week! Woo! Spring is here!} One of the first items I set out this year was my Flower Table Runner:

It's one of my favorite spring decorations and I thought I would share with you how to make it! You probably have most of the supplies already - and once you do - it takes only minutes to make!

First, you will need:

• Faux Flowers {I bought mine on sale at Michaels}
• 8-10 ft. of 1 1/2" - 2" wide ribbon {I used 1 3/4" light green -- use thicker ribbon for larger flowers}
• A glue gun
• 2 Safety Pins

1.  Lay out the length of ribbon you would like -- I used about 8ft. so it would hang about 8-10" off each side of my table. Cut the ribbon to fit your table length.
2. Set the flowers in an arrangement along the center of the ribbon. Try to vary color and sizes until you get the pattern and look you want.

3. Once the flowers are arranged how you like, hot glue them on! {I hot glued the 2 end flowers first, so I knew where I wanted each end to stop. I left room for about 18-20" of ribbon on each end of the runner so I could put a place setting there if I wanted and it would still hang off the end of my table neatly.}

4. After the glue has set, you can set the ribbon on your table as is, or safety pin it to your current table runner! I like the versatility of switching out the ribbon and flowers for different seasons!

I love how this table runner sits low on my table so I can see across and talk to my kids and my guests!

In fact, after I made my table runner, I pulled out this bunting I made last year. Here's a little sneak peak of more decor to come --

How about you? What's the first spring decoration you set out in your home?

Join the party!!




Linking up at: Tidy Mom; Delightful Order; At the Picket Fence; Fingerprints on the Fridge; 30 Days; Tatertots and Jello; DIY Showoff;

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Penelope Lane Boutique and Giveaway Winner!!

Last weekend I had the fun of going to the Little Penelope Lane Boutique!! If you've never been, I HIGHLY recommend you give this boutique a try! Sarah knows how to run a shop! Every booth there was so cutely decorated and full of eye candy,  it was hard to have any will power!! And seriously, every single shop owner was SO incredibly nice, I felt like I made a new friend at each table!  Here are some pictures of the fun day!!

 

{I love this bird cage and all the pretty bows!}

Little Wellies

Sweet Sticks Cake Pops

We bought some sweet treats at this decked out Sweet Lemonade stand!

Grace for Grace  -- yes, I had to buy a wooden sign from her shop!! xoxo

I bought some polka dot cupcake liners from this pretty party stand at Classy and Simple!

Rock-A-Bow!

I'll be rockin' this super chic bow for my St. Paddy's Day party!

And I was SO stoked to discover the fabric scrap bags at Marine Parents I got all of these prints for only $10!! Score! I am in LOVE with that green chevron and the yellow and greys! :)

For a list of all the vendors at the boutique and links to their shops -- click here!

AND, before I forget. WE HAVE A WINNER OF OUR GIVEAWAY!!! Are you ready??

drum roll please...

The lucky winner is...

Sarah Walker!! 

 

Congratulations girlie!! An email has been sent to the winner! Please reply back within 72 hours to claim your prize!! Thanks to EVERYONE who entered!! It was so fun, I just might have to do another giveaway again soon!!! Have a lucky day!! xoxo

Over the Rainbow Dinner

We're not Irish, but I imagine that my boys must think that if you ARE Irish, you must wear green a lot, clean up after leprechauns ALL the time, eat green food daily, {last year we had green spaghetti, green milk, broccoli... you get the idea.} OR, if they're not eating green food, they must eat everything in the shape of a rainbow! :) Because that's what we did tonight! My boys are visiting their dad for the weekend, so we got to celebrate our St. Patrick's Day supper a little early. {Lucky them!} Here is what we enjoyed:

I had seen some of the fruit rainbows out there, but I wanted one with mostly dinner food! Soooo...

This rainbow is made of:

RED: Corned Beef {of course!}

ORANGE: Carrots

YELLOW: Pineapple

GREEN: Peas

BLUE/PURPLE: Grapes

{Yeah, I cheated and skipped blue because we don't eat blueberries plain. But the grapes looked like both colors on our BLUE plate.} ;o)

CLOUDS: Mashed Potatoes

My boys loved it! And I must admit, I did too! 

You know what else I loved? Using PicMonkey for the first time for that photo above! I'm still playing around on the site, but so far I'm liking how quick and easy it is to use! {Have you tried it yet?}

Well, that's it! We aren't doing much more for St. Patty's Day, other than having Lucky Charms for breakfast tomorrow! And maybe a leprechaun will mess up their room... ;-) 

What fun things do you do for St. Patty's Day?

Linking up at TidyMom, Toys in the Dryer; tatertots and jello

{Blessed}

Wow! This has been a whirlwind of a couple weeks! I have been a part of two giveaways and am just amazed at how many new friends have joined my Facebook page and blog! Thank you so much! I feel so blessed to have you as a part of my little blog world! Welcome! I look forward to checking out your pages and getting to know you better too! 

I have lots of other reasons to feel blessed in my life right now too. Starting with these two little guys:

Add to the fact that right now it is winter and we are enjoying beautiful weather and activities like this:

 {Making a rocket at a fair by our house! AND getting fun color in our hair!}

 {Watching amazing dog tricks too! We all want to turn our dog into a frisbie dog now!} :)

And getting surprises, from someone special, like this:

And feeling every day when I wake up, like this:

 (Printable from the TomKatStudio}

 

And that is why this post is titled 'Blessed' because through thick and thin, good times and bad, that is what we are!

If you'd like to learn a little more about me, check out these fun {and informative} posts:

ABC's of Me

10 Day You  Challenge

Momtrum Moment ;)

About Me Page

And I would love to learn more about you! Feel free to comment below and introduce yourself or share a link to a post about you too! :o)

 Thank you so much for joining in this journey with me!

Have a great week! God Bless!

Guest Post & Giveaway: Janessa from Thrifty Nifty Mommy!

This is a guest post from Janessa at Thrifty Nifty Mommy:

I've been talking about this for a week on my Facebook page and it's finally here--my review of the Step2 My Clubhouse! We were SO excited to be given the chance to review this from Step2! We have a number of Step2 products and all of them are extremely well made AND well played with!

My husband and I have been wanting to get my daughter her own playhouse so this came at the perfect time. The box arrived and I'll warn you, it's pretty big and weighs 61 pounds! Thank goodness my husband was home to carry it inside because I would not have been able to do it! My daughter Maggie saw the big box and the picture of what was inside it and she wanted it set up right away (and she's not even 2 yet!). To say she was really excited is an understatment!!  Unfortunately for her it was nap time so we told her that it would have to wait. She took an extremely short nap (we're wondering if she just couldn't sleep because she was so excited,) and an hour later she came downstairs asking about it. We left the big box in the entry way of our townhouse and just carried the pieces up to the main level of our house.

I have never seen my daughter so excited before! Her eyes just sparkled as we carried the pieces upstairs and she ran all around the house. We cleared a place for the house and my husband got to work right away.

*I do want to mention here that if you plan on making this house an outdoor toy, I would recommend setting it up outside. Unless you have wide doors, there's a good chance it won't fit through your doors! We decided to make this an indoor clubhouse.*

One of the questions I was asked by a fan was how long this house would take to set up. From start to finish my husband spent an hour setting it up. I do want to mention however that we took time to film AND he had the "help" of my daughter while he worked. Without distractions, I think the house could be set up in about 40-45 minutes.



My daughter was playing with her new clubhouse long before my husband had it finished. In hindsight, we probably should have set it up while she was taking a nap to make it easier on us, but we didn't think about that. She kept  running in and out of the house through the doors saying, "door, door, door..." just as happy as can be. My husband says that the house was super easy to set up. Honestly, I think just working around Maggie's excitement was the hardest part! She had a blast using her own tools (coincidently, from Step2 also--see my review of the Step2 Home Depot Big Builders Workshop) to "help" Daddy while he worked.



Another question I was asked about this clubhouse is the construction of the roof. The roof is made from a piece of sturdy canvas and has a few plastic support beams under it. It does not however have a solid plastic roof. I'm not sure how much weight the canvas would support, but I would not recommend allowing your child to climb on it. They aren't going to fall THAT far, but they probably would tear the canvas!

The clubhouse has 2 doors--the main door and a side door. It also has another crawl space. The clubhouse also comes with a built in picnic table/bench. Maggie has really enjoyed playing with that feature! Normally her daddy or I sit inside the clubhouse (comfortably too!) and we serve her. She has really enjoyed playing "restaurant" with her new house! She has also decided that the tabletop can double as bed and enjoys laying on it. I always find it amazing the ways that children use their imagination!

Step2 has generously offered to give one of these My Clubhouses away to one of my readers! I am so excited to give one of these away! Just click here to find the Rafflecopter form to enter to win!

Wow! What an awesome giveaway! Thanks for letting me share this with my readers Janessa! How fun! Good luck everyone!!

200 FABulous FAN Fest Giveaway!!!

Woot! Woot! Guess what? It's giveaway time baby!

Within a couple days of each other I reached 200 Facebook fans AND 200 blog followers!! Wow! I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful readers!! Thank you so much for following along! In celebration of YOU I am SO excited to host this giveaway and highlight two beautiful ladies! You are going to LOVE them! Are you ready?

First up...

Introducing Kristine from The Foley Fam {Unedited} and shop owner of J&M's Eye Candy! I was lucky to work with Kristine this month for a giveaway on her blog and many of you new fans were sent by her, so you already know how awesome she is! {She IS pretty cool - I love the joyful spirit and energy she naturally portrays on her blog and Facebook page!} Check her out!

Hi, I'm Kristine! Wifey to the Hubs, Momma to our M&M girls, and Lover of Life and Laughing! Follow along as I share our adventures! I blog about {us}. The Good, the Bad, & the Dirty. You’ll also find some crafting, my fashion style, and all the bits and pieces that make me {me}. I can be a wee bit sarcastic, but try not to take offense mmmkay? Hope to see you around our neck of the woods sooner than later!

Kristine is giving away this super adorable Triple Fall Hydrangea Headband!

Isn't this headband adorable?  I kinda wish I could win one too!! ;-)

You can find more of Kristine items and cuteness at these lovely places:
Blog / BlogLovin / Facebook / Shoppe / Twitter / Google+ / Pinterest

Up next is another lovely lady, Rebecca from The Crafted Sparrow! What do I love about Rebecca? Rebecca is a fellow woman of faith! I first met her when I won a necklace from HER blog giveaway and I could tell right away she was full of kindness and grace! And now she's back to share the love with YOU! 

Hi, my name is Rebecca and you can find me at The Crafted Sparrow. 

 I'm a stay at home mom of two crazy cute boys.  My passion is crafting, home design, basically anything that gets the creative juices flowing.  And I love to inspire others to create.  Stop by the blog sometime for a visit and say hello.  You can also visit my Etsy shop, The Crafted Sparrow Shop where you'll find anything from boutique style baby products, hair accessories, hand stamped jewelry, and more.  I'm honored that Reannah asked me to participate in her giveaway, I hope you all love her as much as I do!  

 Win this hand stamped necklace...made by me.  Good luck.

Aren't these ladies awesome! Thanks for being so gracious and offering up these fun prizes!!

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE! Last but not least -- another prize from yours truly! You can also win these handmade pink rosette earrings!

That's right - one lucky winner will receive all of these gifts!! Yeah!!! 

{And my first time using raffle copter! Double yeah!} :) So, let's get to it! Here's how you enter! Just click on "Read More" below and the Rafflecopter widget will tell you what to do! Thanks for entering!

GOOD LUCK!!!

We're Going Green!

Top of the morning blogging friends!

Things have been busy around here lately!
First, have you entered the giveaway over at The Foley Fam - {unedited} yet? If you do, you could win a pom pom ring hand made by me and a bunch of other goodies!! Don't miss out! Hurry up and enter and then come right back! {I'll wait}...

...

... AND Welcome back!! {Good luck! And if you really just entered - I hope you win!!} :-D

Next, I thought I'd share a few ways I decorate this time of year! Because life has been so full of fun, I didn't even get to post Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd do a little 'before and after' because we're already seeing GREEN over here!

I just do little touches around my house for these in between holiday's, but even the little things can make a big difference! And I know my kids enjoy seeing our house change too!

During February my side table looks like this:

{The large printable is from Tattered & Inked, the candlestick jars were inspired by eighteen25; the birdcage I bought last spring at Michael's for $1! Woot woot!}

Now my table looks like this!

{The printable I've had since last year - before I started blogging and didn't even think to track where I found it. So bummed! If you know where it came from, let me know!}


My kids got their Valentine's Day table decorated that morning too-

 {Hot chocolate with whipped cream and heart sprinkles!}

{Treats & little prizes set at their table with a heart shaped straw! 

Which of course sipped up strawberry milk!}

I can't wait to surprise them on St. Patrick's Day morning! And I always try a green food theme! :) Hmmm, green grapes, green eggs, kiwi's, can you think of any other  green foods?

I also change out my apothecary jar in my kitchen...

From Valentine's Day red...

To a lucky green!

And my 'mantel' {since I don't really have one yet} went from this...

To this!!

{That Lucky printable is from the TomKat Studio! I added the "Us"}

And finally, my wreath was also decked out for Valentine's Day,

...but I still haven't figured out how I want to decorate her for St. Patrick's Day. I have some shamrocks, another little bunting and I might try to do something with these straws--

How about it? Do you have any creative ideas for my wreath? {If I know you, and I think I do, I'm pretty sure you're creative!}

But for now, my door will have this little chalkboard sign!

I made it out of a $1 chalkboard sign I bought at Michaels, I cut out the frame shape {by hand, by the way. This girl needs to win a silhouette!} from sticky-backed foam and glued that little decal on from one of those straws shown above! What do you think? This little frame is quickly becoming one of my favorite green decor items! :) Thanks for reading and indulging in my decor today!

How 'bout you? What is your favorite St. Patrick's Day decoration you like in your home?



Linking up at Tatertots and Jello

{This is My entry into Show Me Extraordinary sponsored by Appliances Online and Bosch Washing Machines.}