My Simple Thanksgiving Decor

Thanksgiving is over, but I wanted to share my super simple decor. Living in Los Angeles, means I have access to the famous Flower Mart--where one can get amazing flowers for such a great price! This year I didn't want to go too traditional with the fall colors and I simply went with what attracted me at the flower market. I had some of these wooden baskets left over from my little sisters baby shower so I decided to fill them with these amazing flowers. I am by no means a florist so I simply used things I had laying around in my craft room to create this arrangement. I found, a few bowls, plastic bags, and a sponge, hehe! In our family we love to throw parties and have family over for dinner so we always have linens, plates, and mason jars in the garage. These beautiful scalloped white plates were purchased from the 99 cent store. You would think it just by looking at them, but they are so nice--what a great dollar store find. I hope you enjoyed this simple post and I hope you had a great thanksgiving with your family.

Prepping for the Party

I’m so excited for tomorrow’s party! I can’t wait to put everything together and see my vision come to life. I’m currently working on all the last minute things, and I still have a long way to go; therefore, this post will be relatively short. However, next week’s post of the party reveal images will be a lot longer and more detailed to make up for the poor posts’ I've been uploading—sorry guys, hehe. So far, this is what I’m working on today. 

To view more posts' regarding this party, click here and here. 

D.I.Y.--Last Minute Birthday Party Treats and Decor

The best things about hosting a last minute party is that it won’t cost you a pretty penny, and knowing that you don’t have stress out about all the planning and organizing that usually come along with hosting a party. The theme I used for my nieces ‘last minute’ 2^nd birthday was a ‘colorful’ theme. Using a ‘colorful’ theme means nothing has to match! I didn’t have to spend time looking for matching napkins, table cloths, and sweets. All I had to do was dip into my crafting closet and figure out what I had on hand that could be used. As a crafter/blogger I like to have certain things; such as, paper straws, tissue paper, cardstock, icing, box cake, sprinkles, and more, in stock for my photoshoots—and for this last minute party I was grateful to have stored a collection of these items. Although if you’re not a crafter or a blogger most of things I used for the party are very cheap and easy to find. Here are some pictures of the stuff I like to keep stocked in my crafty closet:

Tissue paper…because I never know when I’m gonna need a pom-pom, haha!

Craft punches

Glue

Twine

Paper straws

Mason jars

Cardstock

Cupcake wrappers

Kraft treat bags (for party favors)

…and the ingredients to make cupcakes, cakes, or cakepops

For the table setting I hung three pom-poms from the ceiling and tied a colorful handmade garland to each one. We also bought a small set of multi-colored balloons, a colorful $2.00 table cloth, and polka-dot napkins (all of these things were under $10.00). 

Here’s how I made the garland: I used my heart shaped craft punch to make a few hearts in a variety of colors. Next I folded them, applied glue, and adhered them the twine. Once they were done I attached them to the pom-poms I made. If you’ve never made a pom-pom before you can go ahead and give it a google—You’ll find tons of tutorials. 

For dinner we got pizza, fried chicken, and chips (all of her favorite things, lol)—all of which were under $25.00. 

As far as her birthday treats my little sister used the boxed cake, and icing container to make the cupcakes and cakepops. As you know one box makes 24 cupcakes—so she made all 24 of them, iced 12 and used the other 12 to make the cakepops! Clever. (You can view more of her work here on her FB fan page). 

Once dinner was done, we opened presents and sang happy birthday to my little niece Sammy; and, as you can see from the images she was not at all disappointed with the absence of a cake. She was perfectly happy with her cheap cupcakes, lol. 

…but she wasn’t happy when her grandma’ tried to smash a cupcake in her face! We had to distract her from crying by putting a cakepop in her hand, haha! 

She wasn’t fooled—she replied with, “get out!” (jk, I just wanted a reason to use this cute sad face pic, haha).

Well thanks for stopping by again! I hope you've enjoyed this D.I.Y. last minute party idea! I found out about this party the day of, but I was super happy with what my sisters and I were able to come up with in such a short amount of time. I think that was the fastest I’d ever made pom-poms, haha. Overall, baby Sammy was super excited when she walked through the door and saw all we had done for her—and that was worth everything! 

How to Make Easy & Affordable Limeade

Hi everyone! I’m excited to share this little recipe with you. It’s a great drink to make when you have unexpected guests’ at your house and you need to serve something delicious and quick. You can even make this drink to go with your lunch or dinner—that’s what I usually do. My family loves it, and I’m sure yours will too.

I’m going to explain how I make it to the taste I prefer; but by all means use the steps I’m providing for you and turn the limeade into your own. The taste that I prefer is as follows! (Enjoy):

What you’ll need: 

1.       Blender

2.       Zester

3.       Fine mesh strainer

4.       Knife

5.       2 large limes

6.       1 ½ tbs. of lime zest

7.       1 ¼ cup of granulated sugar

8.       5 ¼ cup of water

Makes a little over a liter, prep time: 10-15 minutes.

Step 1: What I do first is zest my limes—about 1 ½ tbs.

Step 2: Cut both your limes in half like so:

Step 3:  Cut off the skin (being careful not to cut off the pulp).

Step 4: Add your cut limes, 1 cup of water, and ¼ cup of sugar to the blender and mix.

Step 5: Once blended, place your strainer over a bowl and pour the contents into your bowl, than you are left with the wonderful juice.

Step 6: From this point I simply add the rest of the water, sugar(4 ¼ cups water/1 cup sugar)and lime zest, but I add the water one cup at a time, tasting each time to make sure the flavor is where I want it to be. However, you can add as much or as little water and sugar as you like. Once you’ve got the 2 limes, 1 cup of water, and ¼ cup of sugar, you can add as much water or sugar as you like to taste.

Once you’ve finished—serve and enjoy! Cheers!