Simple Must-Haves: Basket of Coozies

We put together this basket of coozies which we keep on the top of our fridge.  When we have company, there are plenty for everyone to choose their own which helps keeps track of who's drink is who's! It's easy to take out onto the deck in the summer, and fun to collect!

Custom Deck Step

 When we were building our deck last summer I wanted it to have character but not be cluttered with typical 'Deck Junk'. I decided to add more artistic detail by wood bruning a suttle message into the bottom stair backer.  I thought 'Go Gophers' with the Minnesota 'M' was perfect!

I started by printing out a template.  I got the Minnesota 'M's from Google images and typed out the 'Go Gophers' in the size and font I liked.

On the back side of the printed paper, I rubbed oil pastels along the outline of the image/text.

After the oil pastels were on the paper I layed them out on the board and taped in place.

Next I traced the outline of the images/text by pressing firmly, which transfered the oil pastels on the back side to the surface of the wood like this (I later switched to blue pastels since orange didn't show up well):

After the image was transferred onto the board, I traced the lines with a wood burner which both darkened the line and indented it, resulting in this:

It's hard to see the design in photos, but here are some shots of the finished board installed!

Funny 30th Anniversary Gift

Our friends recently celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary. I had seen thirty beers given for a 30th birthday, one for each year of their life.  Since our friends love beer, I thought we could do the same for each year of marriage!

We made labels for each year's beer that listed the anniversary, year they celebrated that anniversary, the traditional anniversary gift (paper, linens, cotton, silver, etc.), and something that had to do with the traditional gift that year (so we were being traditional and not just giving them beer ;-) )

Some were straight forward, some were personal jokes, others we tried to make funny like the ones above.

Simple Must-Haves: White Square Paper Plates

I am in love with white square plates. They always look fancy, work with any season, and the plain white background tends to make the food look more tasty! This creates a struggle when I have to bring food to an event, because I want the food to be presented well, but I don't always want to go through the hassle of getting a plate back from the host. I was very excited to find these Chinet white square plates at the grocery store, which I now always have in my cupboard and use for bringing food to parties!  They are the perfect solution!

Holiday Decor Mother's Day Gift

 I like giving gifts that I know will get used, so I thought this would be a nice Mother's Day gift.  For both my Mom and Mother In-law, I gave them a frame that matched their decor, frame stand, and a packet of subway posters for each season which also included a neutral print for off-seasons.  It was fairly inexpensive, and now they have some fun decor for each season that doesn't take up any storage space or effort to set out and clean around!! I printed all of the subway posters from Eighteen25 which can be found here.  Below are some of the prints I included.

'Just Add Strawberries' Valentine's Day Gift

 I put together these 'Just Add Strawberries' gifts for Valentine's day.  The gift consisted of:

*Sweet Pink Wine

*Dipping Chocolate

*Dipping Skewers tied with Red Ribbon

*Heart Plates and Napkins

I gave these out early, so all they need to do is pick-up some fresh strawberries when they want to enjoy!

The gift was inspired by this bottle of wine called 'SWEET BLISS Sweet Pink Wine'.  I haven't tried it myself yet--just bought it because my Mom's maiden name is Bliss so I thought it was neat!

Hot Coco Kit Gift Basket

I put together this Hot Coco Kit for my Mother-in-Law last year for sledding over the holidays.  It included a Thermos with pump dispenser for the hot chocolate, red basket to carry everything to the sliding hill, and all of these treats:

Jars with hot coco mix, mini-marshmallows, and chocolate covered peppermint stir sticks

Cups with lids, Napkins, and Stir Sticks

Candy Cane Cookies for a Snack

'Naughty and Nice' mix-ins: Peppermint Schnapps and Raspberry Flavored Syrup

Reinbeers

 Last year for Christmas I made Reinbeers, along with a lot of people since they were so popular.  I just love them!  Crafts and beers--my favorites!

All you need is brown pipe cleaners, wiggly eyes, red pom-poms, and a hot glue gun!

Simple Kitchen Menu Board

 I find it's great to list what I plan on making each night so Chris can start making dinner if he gets home before me.  Sometimes I just list out all the things I could possibly make with the staple food I know we have, and we pick out meals from the list.

I wanted a chalk-board for my kitchen to plan meals on.  My kitchen is grey with white cabinets and black countertops and hardware, so I thought a chalkboard would look great on the grey walls....

....and cluttered in the limited wall space....and dirty when the chalk dust got everywhere. 

Since I had become anti-chalkboard I was excited to find this decorative dry-erase board at Staples.  It has a sticker back so it can go anywhere without sticking out, making it perfect for this empty spot on the side of my fridge, convenient but un-noticed and out of the way:

 I added a magnetic stainless steel cup below to hold pens and they dry erase marker, as well as a paper notepad for grocery lists, since I need to be able to take lists with me.

Half Birthday Party

My Mother-in-Law turns 50 this year, and rather than throwing her an expected 50th Birthday Party we decided to really surprise her with a 49 1/2 Birthday Party on a Thursday night, exactly 6 months before her 50th Birthday!

I wanted the party to be fun, colorful, and very 'birthday-ish', almost like a kid's party since it wasn't a 50th Birthday Party!  

We served a taco bar since it was fun, easy, and everyone loves Tacos!

The invitations--Lots of mixed colors and patterns. I tore the edged to make the paper look like it was ripped in 'half'.

 Thanks for 'Half'ing a good time candy favors, since a lot of kids attended.

Birthday straws for the Margaritas made out of ripped paper scraps to match the 'Half' theme.

 Plenty of Mexican Beers......

 .....and of course Margaritas!

 Half Chocolate, Half Funfetti Cupcakes

Half decorated with '4', Half with '9'

Half purple, Half teal (do you get the theme here?)

'Trix' crispy bars to match the bright color theme

Birthday Banner so she would know what the party was for when she walked in

Taco Bar