Patriotic Washi Tape Wreath

Guess who jumped on the Washi Tape Train? Yep, that would be me! I don’t mind though – when I was walking through Michael’s and saw these stars and striped washi tape rolls, I knew I had to do SOME sort of summer project with them!! So, what does a 4th of July loving, Summer Lovin’ girl do with patriotic washi tape?

She makes a new wreath for her front door!




My supplies were simple:

The above washi tape, a hot glue gun and small plastic apples.



How do you like them apples? ;-)

I bought a bunch at my grocery store boutique area originally to fill one of my apothecary jars – which I did. However, I had about 14 extra apples – just the right amount for this project!!


I laid them out in a circle to make sure I had enough…{I did! 14 was perfect for a 12” wreath}




Then I wrapped one strip of washi tape around each apple, alternating patterns.




Once I was done adding the washi tape to all the apples, I hot glued each apple carefully together in their circle shape and let them set overnight.


The next day, I tied a white ribbon on top and hung my new patriotic wreath on my door! Ta da!





How about you? Have you started decorating for summer or the 4th of July yet?

Share your ideas here!


Linking up here and at Thrifty Decorating; 504 Main; Liz Marie; Tidy Mom; Homemaker in Heels and Tatertots and Jello

Summer Lovin' Link Party!!

Hello Gallamore West and Shaped by Grace readers!!
It's me, Reannah, from Shaped by Grace throwing a party with my good friend Laurie from Gallamore West for
my favorite time of year!!

SUMMER!

Why is it my favorite time of year? Maybe it's because I'm a teacher and I get some time off of work for summer. Maybe it's because I know that it means I get to spend lots of quality time with my kids. Maybe it's because I can bring out the sun dresses, flip flops and beach gear! But whatever reason --

I LOVE SUMMER!!

So, when I wanted to throw a summer link party, I made sure to ask someone who loves summer as much as I do: my bloggy bestie {and real life friend} Laurie from Gallamore West!! We both love the sun and the fun that comes with summer! {It totally has NOTHING to do with the fact that BOTH our birthdays are in the summer either!} hee hee! 

So let's get right to the fun -- this link up is a PAR-TAY of all things summer!! Crafts, recipes, kids activities, what I wore, summer reads and ANY SUMMER POST YOU HAVE POSTED EVER! That's right -- since this is my first link party - I know you haven't linked up your project before, so it's new to me! And your project may be new to someone else so - link it up ladies!! Any post from the past, the present or the future - because we will be partying all summer long!!! 

Need some inspiration? Here are a few Summer Lovin' ideas from my friend Laurie and I!

From Gallamore West: 

How about a cute and crafty Summer Countdown?

Or a cheery sign to greet your summer day:

From Shaped by Grace:

 Looking for a cool recipe to make? How about this 4th of July star cake?

Or, finally, a fun activity to kick off summer: take your kids Ding Dong Ditching!! 

Feeling ready for summer yet? Yay!! So are we!! I can't wait to see all the creativity that you link up!

Summer Lovin' Link Party rules. Grab a pen... some paper... Are you ready?

1. Add a link to this party up on your post. Either a text link or this super awesome button I just made tonight. :D

<center><a href="http://shapedbygracelife.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Shaped by Grace" src="http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h393/resartoris/SummerLovingFINALlinkbutton.jpg"/></a></center>

That's it! Really!And since this is a new party, anything goes! Any summer post!!Woot! Woot!

And if you want to...

It would be really cool if you followed Shaped by Grace's blog or Facebook or Gallamore West's blog or Facebook. {wink) And even COOLER if you visited some other links, left a comment and found some new friends!! {double wink} And we just might do a happy dance on your Facebook page or blog if you share this party with your friends! {double wink AND knuckle bumps!} Woo hoo!

Throughout the summer Gallamore West and I will be featuring 

some of our favorites from the link up!

So let's get this party started!!

Elevate Blog Conference Recap

Wow, where do I start? The Elevate Blog Conference was AMAZING. The word doesn’t even encompass all the beautiful women and details that when into this creative day. I wish I had taken a thousand pictures – instead I think I only took one or two hundred. hee hee
This conference was organized by the lovely Summer from Made By Munchies Mama, Jen from Delightful Deets and Nichole from Yeung Mother Hubbard. These ladies had lunch for us, snacks, drinks in cute mason jars with daisy cut lids, striped paper straws, milk bottle centerpieces a mexican dinner {my favorite food!} AND

this amazing dessert display:


The time and effort put into this event was evident in all the details of the day:




Yes, there was  even a cotton candy making machine there!!

After lunch was craft time! Woot! Woot! Stencils + wood = cool new art project!
There’s no turning back now…



Yay! It worked!



After the craft we had the opportunity to listen and learn from a few inspiring ladies around blog land. Next time, I am not going to be shy and ask to get my picture with them all!
First up, Nina from Momma Go Round! She is just as bubbly in person as she is on her blog! I could totally ‘hear’ her voice – and that’s what she spoke to us about! How to find our voice and focus our blog. I really absorbed and learned a lot from her discussion!



Next we heard from Becki from Whippy Cake!!! She was so cute and fun! I love her headbands and it was cool to hear how she got started and branded her site!!




Another inspiring woman was Ashley from Little Blue Boo. This was the only picture I got of her speaking. Actually, here, she is listening intently to another blogger share. I was so moved from her entire discussion. To hear her talk about her story, her words of encouragement through life’s trials, I knew if her story was the only thing I learned that day, then my time was well spent.



Her talk was extremely emotional and touching. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I felt uplifted just being in the same room with her. And while we got to see this heartfelt side of Ashley, we also got to see her fun loving free spirit!! {Scroll down to the game pictures below!!} Whatever love I had for these ladies was amplified x10 during the games!! lol


We also got a photography lesson from Kristine at Lucky Lime Photography! It was so helpful! I know I’m not using my camera to it’s maximum potential and rely on PicMonkey to fix most of my errors. It was really cool to hear from a seasoned photographer the little changes and things we can do to make our photos look more professional!



The final speaker I heard that day was Holly from 504 Main. I love, love, LOVE the DIY yourself club {Hello, do you see that charm on my right side bar?} I am a total member of the club! Booyah! And here I was, sitting only a few feet away from her as she shared how she organizes her blog and her time. It really put into perspective the amount of time I put into my blog and reminded me to prioritize my life. Thanks Holly!




I am still start struck that I was in the same room as these ladies! After the workshops we enjoyed dinner and then it was GAME TIME! If you know me, you know I love games! My first thought was, ‘I sure hope I don’t lose any blog friends from all my competitiveness!!’ Ha! Little did I know I was in a room full of ladies ready to WIN IT! A Minute to Win It to be exact! I had to bring my ‘A’ game!
One task was wrapping party streamers around your arms. I’m glad I didn’t get this task! It looked so hard!! But – these ladies also made it look like tons of fun! {That’s Ashley from Little Blue Boo again!} She was hilarious!



Next up was stacking Ding Dongs on your head! Nay from Cover to Cover and Everything in Between had us almost the whole way! Then Nina {Momma Go Round}, on my team, came from behind and won!!! You go girl!!



You’re not having fun unless you have a Ding Dong stuck to your face! I love Nay’s expression here too! LOL


Fun can also be defined as having Vaseline stuck to your nose! My job was to move 5 cotton balls into the bowl. Owned it! Like my game winning stance??



Alissa from Rags to Stiches was also on our team and she and another teammate helped us to victory by pulling tissues out of a tissue box. Their efforts helped us win the entire game!!!! Woo hoo!! Here’s what winning looks like folks:



It was the perfect ending to a fun, awesome, totally fantabulous day!! WELL, the PERFECT ending was actually the raffle at the end – because I won an Elevate swag bag!!! Check out all this swag!!! {This was in addition to the swag bag that everyone got when we walked in!} One more time – can everyone say: AWESOME!?!



Here is a link to Elevate’s blog where you can get a list of ALL the sponsors of the day, including the swag bag above! They are all totally worth checking out!!! Elevate Conference Sponsors
Thank you again to Summer, Jen and Nichole for all your help in making us all feel so special! You girls rock!





If any of you have ever considered going to a blog conference – you should!!! It was so nice to meet and connect with so many local bloggers and enjoy a day of being uplifted, encouraged and ELEVATED!! Do I hear Elevate 2013???

What I Wore to Elevate

Saturday I had the privilege of attending the Elevate blog conference in Fountain Valley, CA. It was so awesome to be surrounded by such motivating and talented women!! There is so much to say about this amazing conference -- I’m warning you now, it won’t fit in one post. I thought I’d get the juices flowing with What I Wore to the conference and go into details when I really have time to write this weekend. SO here we go…

I wore this Anthropologie {of course!} strapless top. It’s only available online, for now, but I love that it ties around the waist. The top is partly covered by this adorable craft they had ready for us! Everyone got to choose one of three quotes. I chose “Choose Joy” because it represents my life and attitude and last summer I had the honor of dancing in a church workshop and the theme was, you guessed it - “Choose Joy!” I also wore this smile on my face the ENTIRE day of the conference because everyone was SO nice and the day was so smooth and fun!!




Here is another picture of my outfit  – although it is definitely outshined by my star studded arm candy! Do you recognize Summer from Made by Munchies Mama,  Nichole from Yeung Mother Hubbard and Jen from Delightful Deets? Holla!

Top: Anthropologie

Jeans: Express 

Shoes: Yellow ballet flats not shown

Here is another picture – but who am I looking at? I don’t know. lol And, I didn’t realize what a giant I am! I’m sure glad I wore my flats!




I would personally like to invite you to the next Elevate conference because these girls know how to throw a party!! Here are just a few sneak peek photos of the event!

I hope you come back to visit soon to read the entire recap!! Because, I didn’t even touch on the inspiring speakers that we heard and the games! {And, boy, were there games. Let me just say, you don’t get Vaseline and cotton balls all over your nose unless some good fun is being had.}



This is the blurry teaser picture. Oh, there is so much evidence of the madness and FUN to come!

See you soon!

What's a party without friends? Linking up at: The Pleated Poppy

What I Wore Wednesday {Anthropologie Winning Style}

Hello lovely ladies!! Welcome to another edition of What I Wore Wednesday!! This is an occasional occurrence on my blog, but well worth it this week since I get to sport something from my favorite store:

ANTHROPOLOGIE!

For those of you who know me, you know that I loove that store – however, it’s a one sided love affair. My love for their clothes is usually unrequited because my pocket book and I can never agree. However, this week, WOO HOO …

I won a $25 gift card to Anthropologie!!!!

Shut the front door! Shut the back door! Shut the window too!

I was soooo excited when I saw my name as the winner!!

I was hugging-everyone-around-me-sur-prised!

I mean, I didn’t even have a speech prepared!

BUT… if I did, 

it would go something like this:

“Woah! Thanks so much everyone! WOW, well first I’d like to thank God, because without him I wouldn’t be here right now! I would also like to thank all the other girls who entered this giveaway – it was an honor to be in the running with such talented people! And of course, I would like to thank and dedicate this blog post to the wonderful gals who made this all possible:

Kristine at J&M’s Eye Candy for hosting the giveaway

and Kimberly at A Night Owl Blog for donating the gift card!

You girls ROCK!!! I’d also like to thank my two boys for always being by my side and for taking these sweet pictures below. Love you!”

Phew. I should have taken a picture of me holding my award – I mean gift card – but I actually had Kimberly email it to me as an e-card so I could get shopping right away! {Sad, I know.} And I didn’t waste any time! Here is what I got:

First, this top:

{Oh, WWIW – what would you be without a diva pose…}

Top: Anthropologie

Jeans: Express

Shoes: Boutique shop in Big Bear

{Playing around with a the HD feature on PicMonkey because my camera man had the hiccups and some of the pictures were blurry.} ;o)

That top was the gift card purchase. And I just couldn’t resist this dress below. It’s in coral, one of my favorite summer colors! I saw it last time I was in Anthro, and it was full price. This time when I went into the store, it was on clearance! Well, say no more- this baby’s mine! I’ve already worn it twice! It’s perfect for going out to lunch or with flip flops to the beach, don't you think?

{Better look at the camera huh, to make sure I get everything in the shot.

Oops, still cut off my elbow.}

I really like the top design of this dress though. It’s something different...

Dear Anthropologie,

I love you. Thanks for loving me back a little bit today.

xo, Reannah

How about you? What’s your favorite clothing store?

{Joining other stylish gals at The Pleated Poppy}