50 Golden Years

Thursday marks my parents 50th wedding anniversary! 50 golden years is a big deal, so a few weeks ago we through them a small party of family and a few friends to celebrate. We had to do it before school started so everyone could attend. I think it turned out well. I started the planning process at the beginning of the year and wasn't feeling super creative. Thankfully there are plenty of creative people out there sharing the ideas on the world wide web. The "theme" was gold, since it was a golden anniversary. The "50" photo collage was Martha's idea, that woman is amazing. I decided to do a mix of color and b/w photos, mainly because I was lazy and didn't want to change them.

My niece made this cute arraignment from pie tins. Isn't it so cute!! You can find the full tutorial here.

I saw this idea last year on Ohdeedoh and bookmarked it, I knew I would want to use it and this was the perfect occasion. Instead of a guestbook, we had everyone "leaf" their thumbprint. We bought a foam board from the dollar store and cut it to 16x20, my husband the artist drew the tree, and my sister in law made the names and date in vinyl. Here is the before.....



And the after. Once it was full we framed it and my parents now have it hanging in their home.

We had a small luncheon with sandwiches, salads, and desserts. I found this fun gold star edible glitter at Hobby Lobby. It was way cute, but since I made the cupcakes the day before it bled a little and wasn't as gold. Lesson learned for next time.

One of my other sister in laws made the cake. SHE MADE THIS.



It was so delicious, yummy red velvet, and an absolutely stunning cake.

I did a DIY favor bar where guests could take a little scoop of gold with them.



We put our projector to good use and my brother made a slide show of the pictures throughout the years. It was great, he had the photos set to songs from the decade they were in. I loved it.

For the centerpieces I found some wood letters at Hobby Lobby, with a little gold paint, and some super glue, they turned out really cute. We added "50" confetti throughout the tables.

These tissue pomanders were fun and inexpensive, but I am not going to lie, they took awhile to make. My sisters, sister in laws, and nieces had a craft night and it took all of us a good 4 hours to make 12 of these. We found the candelabras at the dollar store, and did 2 different sized to signify my Mom and Dad.

Overall it was a great party, it is always fun to get together with family, visit, and eat don't you think?

Dry Erase Menu board

Today I thought I'd feature a craft that my baby sister made. She's a newlywed, and just starting to get her little house in order. She has some great ideas, and I thought this was one of them. She originally saw the idea on make and takes.

She started with a simple black 12X12 picture frame that she picked up for just a couple bucks.



She added a pretty piece of scrapbook paper from her vast collection.



Then she just used stickers to spell out the days of the week.



Here it is all finished. Doesn't it look cute with my teapot?

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

I wish I could say these eggs were ones I made, but alas, they are Martha's. She never ceases to amaze me with all of her talent. Though I may not be able to decorate them as cute as Martha, I do have a fool proof method for hard boiling eggs, for the perfect yoke and easy peeling. Before this I used to guess how long to boil the eggs, then some times I would end up with that yucky gray ring around the yolks. The other tricky thing was trying to figure out the perfect way to peel them without breaking the whites. You especially want them to be pretty if you are making deviled eggs, at least I do. I found this "recipe" in my favorite family recipe book (next to my Mom's of course), you may remember that is where I got my pizza dough recipe from. This method is the best, I have had lots of perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs since trying it. Also, a trick, before you peel your eggs, roll them on the counter, I have found this helps a lot with the peeling as well.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Cover the eggs with cold water, bring to a boil, cook 2 to 3 minutes, then turn heat off and let sit for about 20 minutes. Put in cold water, then store in the fridge.

-I have also found if you roll them around in your saucepan a few times before the water reaches a boil, it will put the yokes in a good place.

On another note, I am 95% done with all my birthday party projects. I have to make a couple things today, then the rest will be done when I get back from the Easter holiday. Here is one of the projects that got finished up this week......
My dot garland. I love it. I found this cute idea over at the Purl Bee. This garland was perfect for me for a couple reasons. First, EASY project for a non sewer like myself, you sew a line down the middle of the dots with invisible thread. So even if you can't sew in a straight line, which I can't, no one will know, because the thread is invisible. woo woo! Second, it is great because it is super cheap! My budget for this extravaganza is super small, so using some felt I already had, and invisible thread, dirt cheap. I even ended up buying 2 sheets of felt, it cost me a whopping $.50.

Have I told you my theme for my son's birthday? I can't remember if I have or if I am keeping it a secret. Any guesses with the color scheme from the garland?

One Dollar Wednesday... Easter Wreath

For some reason whenever I visit the Dollar Store, I can't help but pick up a couple bunches of the fake flowers they sell there. I am a sucker for flowers, and it has led to a rather large collection of random blooms. I finally decided to use some of them.



I found this simple wreath, also at Dollar Tree, and a cute Easter card in the Target Dollar Spot.



The colors of the card were my inspiration, and I sent my wreath out to The Spray paint place for a quick coat. It's beautiful and sunny here, so it dried really quickly.



I painted this little Dollar Tree frame a nice "spring green" color.



I framed my card, arranged my flowers, and glued it all together.

One Dollar Wednesday... what a difference a paint job makes

I have been on quite a spray-paint kick lately. Thus, today's One Dollar Wednesday project features a can of Color Place spray paint. You can get this spray paint at Walmart for just $.96. It's not the highest quality, and you need a couple more coats, but for little projects, it's fine.

I have this little COLORFUL birdhouse in my downstairs bathroom. (I am a SAVER, so obviously I still have birdhouses sitting around, even though they went "out" a few years back.) I decided to update the little thing, instead of tossing it.



Here's the giant rustic star that hangs in the bathroom. It's hard to tell, because this shot doesn't show the true colors, but it's a pretty grayish-blue color.



I also have these cute prints from Karen Hillard Goode hanging in there.



I decided black was the natural choice to update the birdhouse, so I sent it out for a couple coats of Black spray paint.



Then, to add a little life, I mixed and dry-brushed on this paint.



Here it is all finished. I think it looks pretty cute with it's new coat.

Pretty Little Projects: In The Nursery

My good friend Liv from Liv(e) is sharing some of her projects from around her pink house. I love a good project, the little things always make a big difference!

My step-dad Marc came into town about a month after Aspen was born and worked around the PH almost non-stop. Kev made a chore list and Marc diligently got a whole lotta things done for us.


My favorite chore was the one that got the art work up on Penny's wall. Soon after she was born I reorganized her room for the tenth time and it left me with a big wall space that needed to be filled.

Marc did an awesome job, especially since Kev had all his levels with him at work. I told Marc that as long as everything looked level from the nursing chair we'd be good. Wouldn't it be awful to be staring at crooked frames in the middle of the night with a baby attached to your chest?


Many thanks to my parents for all the help last Fall!

Thanks so much for sharing Liv! I LOVE Aspen's room, it is so bright and fun! Stay tuned for more pretty little projects from the pink house.

Do you have a pretty little project you want to share? Would you be interested in doing a guest post? Email us bagsnrags3 (at) gmail (dot) com.

One Dollar Wednesday...St. Patty's Day wreath

I'm gonna just say this, and I know it may rub a few people the wrong way, I don't believe in LUCK. That said, it makes decorating for St. Patty's Day kind of hard for me. I know I have to get the Valentines Day stuff stored away, so that pushes me forward. I love to decorate for my kiddos too. They get so excited about the "little things" still. So my next couple posts will be about my St. Patty's Day decor.

I wanted to make a cute wreath, and knew that I had a June wreath in my garage to work with. "What's a June wreath?" you ask. It's the wreath I put out in June, of course. Since it didn't hold a special place in my heart, I decided to revamp it.

Add a little GOLD frame from the Dollar store, and some GREEN scrapbook paper...



First, I disassembled my little frame...



I cut my scrapbook paper to fit my printer, and printed out the word Lucky! in the Curlz font. Then I traced my glass and cut the paper to size.



I put my frame back together, and figured out how I wanted it situated on my wreath.



I added a big spot of hot glue, and waited for it to dry.


There we go, quick and easy! I'm taking bets on how long you think my hot glue is gonna hold up in these warm temps :)....



What do you think?

One Dollar Wednesday... cutlery trays

You know I love the little silver trays that are so prevalent at the Dollar Tree. I love them so much that I decided to do ANOTHER craft with them.

I started with 3 rectangular silver trays, some pretty scrapbook paper, and a slew of cutlery.



I sent them straight to The Spray Paint Place, for some quick coats of primer and paint.





I used my "paint on, rub off" method with the trays,



and then I used the same method on the cutlery... heads first,



and then tails.



I attached my scrapbook paper,to my trays, with a thin coat of mod podge.



Lastly, I glued my cutlery to my trays...



and now I have some fun decor for this little corner of my breakfast nook!