Another Pirate Party

{Vintage Junky} just posted about another Pirate party. She had some great ideas!


"X" marks the spot - cute way of telling people where the party is!

Love this pirate ship that I think she made. Cute tablescape with the linen runner and the maps under the boat and that bottle...
She made a bunting of his name in cute pirate fabric. What a perfect pirate name, too.

I love these sheets! Step 1: have a back porch with a wooden pergola overhead. Step 2: hang cheap sheets from it. I love pergolas! You can do so many things with them!!



Love that globe - very fitting decor. And I love that lemonaid pitcher too!

Of course - a barrel full of drinks.

I really like this idea. They made him a sort of "grooms cake" one just for him to destroy. And it's a treasure chest! So cute!

And they also had this other one for everyone else. Love the gold coins and the map on the cake.

And then her take home bags were actually pails. I love it!

Basket Light Pendant

So, I looked on {two ellie} a little bit more and found out that she made this basket light with a basket and a plain jane light pendant from the hardware store. She says it looks great at night, when it's lit. I can only imagine. I love it!!! I think it would look great in a dining room, kitchen, laundryroom, craftroom, or even outside on a patio. What a great idea.

Flower Birthday Party

Ok, first of all. I love that cake! It's so elegant and looks easy to make yourself.

Second of all, I love the flowers, especially the tiny one on top of each plate, and how everything matches the flowers. :)

Third, this flower garland is amazing!!!

Forth, what a cute and simple centerpiece! Love how she just used those mason jars.

Isn't it lovely?? All these images and ideas are from {two ellie}.

ps I LOVE that basket light pendant above the table.

Reward Points System

For a long time I've been trying to come up with ways to reward kids for doing good things around the house without paying them. I guess I just believe chores should be expected of children...they were always expected of me. However, I think it's important for children to learn how to use a currency, so I've struggled with the delema of how to give children "money" without teaching them that all the things they do around the house have a price associated with them. Well, {The Idea Room} had this great idea that I think I may implement someday when my kids are old enough to understand it. :)
She's come up with a Rewards Points System where she gives them cards with different rewards or points on them when they do something good, or they do their chore chearfully or quickly or really well or something. The rewards are things like 5 more minutes before bedtime, 20 mintues of TV, 30 mintues of computer time, etc. The points, are used at the Family Store that is brought out once a week...like maybe during {Family Night} would be a good time...

They can use their points like currency to pick out items from this store. I really love this idea. She has a lot of great ones. Check out {The Idea Room} for a more detailed description of her Rewards Points System.

Necklace Rack Continued Again...

I've been trying to come up with a good and inexpensive and pretty way to store all that jewelery so it doesn't get tangled up in a drawer somewhere. I've posted a few ideas {here} and {here} but when I went home a few weeks ago, my sister had this hanging up and I thought, duh! So easy!

They're just cork boards with tacks to hang the necklaces on.

Such a great idea. You can get so many variations of cork boards out there and you can move the tacks anywhere on the board. You could also decorate them however you want to match your space. I think this is the most inexpensive idea for the necklace dilemma I've found yet! Love it.

Rain Gutter Book Shelves

I have posted about front facing bookshelves before {here} and {here}, but I always thought of it as basically a hanging bookcase. These rain gutter shelves really caught my eye because a) I can make them myself - yeay! - and b) there is no limit to how big they are, how many shelves they have, etc. Love them!!
{Raising Olives} has a great tutorial for these shelves on her blog.

She also has some great things to say about them:

The{ theory behind these rain gutter book shelves} is that they encourage children to read more because they can see the fronts of the books and are intrigued, rather than just seeing the edge of the book and not being able to tell what it is about.
Rain gutter shelves won’t hold a ton of books, not nearly as many as the same space used for traditional shelving. However, they certainly are prettier and much easier for young children to help themselves without making a mess. Plus, our children are reading the books that are on the rain gutter shelving more than they ever read them when they were shelved more traditionally in their bedrooms.

I love the idea. And I love the way they look. Thank you Raising Olives!

Here's another image I found somewhere using those raingutter book shelves. I love how they're sitting on top of bead board in this boys room.

So cute!

Monster Truck Party

Does this look like heaven to a little boy or what!? These pics and awesome ideas are from {Darling Darlene}. I especially love the box cars that she made for the little kiddos to race each other in. Great idea!! I might even have the kids decorate their own car... how fun.

Little Girl's Apron

{Skip To My Lou} just posted a tutorial complete with pictures and a template download for this cute thing. I love it. I might blow it up and make one my size. :)

Pie Pops

I love pie. So much! And these make my mouth water every time I look at them.

Easy as pie. :) Roll out pie dough, cut with cookie cutters.

Smash pie filling and lollipop sticks inbetween two pieces.

Brush with egg wash.

Bake and enjoy!

Go to {Bakerella} for the recipe and step by step instructions!

How To Make Gak

I saw this recipe on {Skip To My Lou} and thought I'd put it on here for future reference. I loved this stuff when I was a kid!

Playhouse Under the Stairs

I had this in my house growing up and loved it!! But, this one from {Nannygoat} just seems so much cuter. Don't you love that welcome sign? It's a vinyl wall decal.
These extremely cute curtains she made out of placemats. Just sewed a case at the top for the curtain rod. Great place for a puppet show.

Yes, this playhouse even has an accent wall. :) I love it! And I love that clip board for kids to hang their artwork on. Love the idea of them putting their artwork up proudly in their playspace.

And what a cute table! I love how grown up everything looks.
They have a hook board for all their dress up clothes and a mirror to reference when they're ready. :) And a vacuum to keep it clean. haha.

Oh what a cute little house. The only thing my mom did that she didn't is put in a fireplace with molding and then she painted the flames and logs on the wall. It was really cute.

Pirate Themed Room

I'm not a huge fan of rooms that are this themey but when I saw this nursery on {Design Dazzle} my mind started racing.
It's a total Pirate nursery, which is fine if you like themes. But what really got me was this ceiling:
Yeah, it's a treasure map.

How creative is that! It really got me thinking about playrooms. I mean, you could paint a floor like this in any playroom and it would be so much fun - and probably a lot cheaper than any other kind of flooring out there. Little boys would love this.

Travel Bags

{Katie Did} just posted about what she did to entertain her kids in flight. I think they're great ideas. My favorites are:
-NEW coloring books and NEW crayons, which are totally much better than used ones.
-their very OWN snacks individually wrapped in pretty paper, so as to take more time to unwrap them.
-their favorite book.
-dvds of home videos of them - kids love watching themselves, right!!??
And they carried all of these things in their own back packs. I love it. Check it out.

Bow Holder

I LOVE this idea from {Nannygoat}.
Get an awesome frame from a thrift store:

Spray paint it the color of your choice:
Hot glue ribbons to it about 2" apart at the top and bottom of the frame:

And look what you get!!!:

A cuter than anything I've ever seen bow holder!!

Oh, I just love it! Then, you just hang it in your bathroom. Nannygoat also hung boxes on the wall next to it to store ribbons in. What a cute idea.

Here is the tutorial on {Ucreate}.

The Perfect Livingroom

I have a hard time transitioning my home from Winter to Summer. In the Winter time I always want things to feel warm and cozy, so I use a lot of dark tones to decorate. In the Summer, I always want things to be light and airy, so I want light tones around. So, I'm a little conflicted because I want things to feel different in different seasons, but I don't want to have to redecorate all the time. Well, this room designed by Candice Olson is the perfect fit for me. I wish I could find other pictures of the finished room, but this is it. Although I don't love some things about it, like I could do without the huge TV, or at least have it hidden, and I'm not in love with a fireplace with no hearth or mantle, I still love the feeling of this room. I just love the mixture of whites and browns, of light fabrics and heavy fabrics. I think this room could really rotate well from season to season and year to year. It's light enough to feel good in the summer, but cozy enough to feel good in the winter. It will be my inspiration.