Thursday, June 16, 2011

BFF Link Party#7 and BFF: Frou-fru Gal!

Things have calmed down a bit now and I’m excited to get back to the “BFF” part of the BFF link party…Blog Feature Friday,  this week featuring Frou-fruGal. Suesan is the creative force behind this blog and she is (and you have to make this three distinct syllables) A-MA-ZING! She’s funny, real, and always provides a detailed breakdown of her projects including the always frugal cost of the always fabulous results! I can’t even imagine undertaking this project and trust me when I tell you you will look twice or thrice if you see the before pic and you STILL won't believe she transformed this.
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Doesn’t that look like it came straight from Ballard Designs, West Elm, some very high end store? Oh yeah…she HAND PAINTED THE MAP!

I love these decorative balls Suesan made inspired by some she saw at Pier 1:
Knock Off Pier 1 Letter Balls
Her cost: $3.98 for all of them vs $2 each at Pier 1. Hello.

 And I love the name of this post: “It’s My World…I’ll Do What I Want”

You’ll have to go visit Suesan to see the before but I’m in love with the after. Now time to party. You know the deal…if you made it link it. Paper, home dec, roadside rescue, recipes, jewelry, upcycle, recycle, link it! Just no Etsy shops or advertising please. Party on!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Party Favor Idea

You might remember the votive candles I made for my son’s graduation party. I was always planning on them being part of something else to give to guests but wasn’t sure what. Then in the midst of all the graduation frenzy, my son went to a birthday dinner and came home with the inspiration! Mini-bottles of sparkling cider!
Grad Party Favors
So simple and yet never thought of it. Won’t even go into how I should have looked first at the grocery store I go to three times a week and how I convinced myself I had to go to a specialty grocery store or five before looking in my own backyard. Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) was right. Anyway…
I decided to put one bottle of cider, one candle, and then made these:
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Homemade peanut butter cups but this time with edible gold stars! I did these in gold foil cupcake liners. I put one peanut butter cup in a plain 3x3 box:
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And sealed each box with decorative packaging tape. I had some monogramed tape from Michaels that I bought for $1. Perfect! I put the PB cup, candle and a bottle of cider in a cello bag with a little white and gold paper shred and tied each with a gold bow.
Grad Party Favors (5)
Grad Party Favors (4)
I thought this was a fun and pretty simple idea you could adapt for a lot of occasions. Anniversaries, birthdays, showers….
Linking Up At: 
homework

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

BFF Link Party #6 Wrap Up and Features

Well I’ve been completely MIA for my own party. But I now have a HS graduate and next stop college! Thanks so much for partying on without me and I’ll get back on track visiting everyone again.  As always there were so many great ideas linked up and as always, it’s hard to highlight just a few but here goes!
You will not believe how this gorgeous wall shelf started out. Seriously. You need to go visit FruFru Gal to see the origins ( and read her hilarious description of its transformation)
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Vicki, over at Rusty Rooster Vintage shows us how to transform something shiny and new into a wonderfully vintage rusty patina that would look great on this shelf!

Greenbean’s Crafterole showed that there are infinite uses for washi tape which means I have another excuse to buy it whenever I see it.
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I love these votives and how she wrapped the candles with the washi tape and of course I love love it since it’s black and white!
Finally, Fonda over at Southern Scraps shared this GORGEOUS tank top transformation. WOWZA!

It’s too pretty to wear! I hope you’ll go check out these and all of the great ideas that were linked up and hope to see you all again on Friday!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

BFF Link Party # 6

It's time to party with all my BFFs! I will resume the Blog Feature portion next week after, sniff...graduation's over...sniff. Anything goes as long as it was made by you! I'm sure there are some great Dad's day ideas out there along with Summer themed goodies and I'm sure some of you are getting a head start on Fourth of July! Just no advertising or Etsy stores please and please link to your project page and not your main blog page. Party on!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Prom…The Creative Ask

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I’m sure you’re bored to tears with me mentioning graduation etc. but since that’s what’s been keeping my blogging to a minimum lately, I thought I’d share some of what I’ve been busy doing.

My son’s school has all these traditions. Freshman year was culture shock and now, by Senior year, it’s all old hat . Don’t tell…I’ll miss some of them! One tradition is that for the two big dances each year ( Homecoming and TOLO, which is what we in the Northwest call a Sadie Hawkins type dance) and then for Prom, you do the “creative ask”. What the heck is that you ask? Well it’s just about anything creatively done to ask your date to the dance. Never mind that the dates have been agreed to well before the creative ask is done. It’s still expected.

In four years, he’s asked or been asked by: conspiring with lockermates to hide things in and decorate lockers and cars; things have been delivered to the house creatively wrapped ( a box within a box within a box etc each with a clue); a faux turtle terrarium ( luckily the girl got talked out of a REAL turtle; in the middle of assemblies; and one year, before he could drive , I swore we’d end up on the news after leaving lighted luminarias on one girl’s  front steps (her mom was in on it).

He went to prom with a girl he’s been friends with forever and they have an inside joke of being “Cookie Monster” and “Elmo” including having had these on  team sweatshirts  etc. He asked if I could do cookies but I’m horrible at decorating cookies so I did cupcakes! I was really excited to try this stuff :
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Edible gold glitter stars! They’re by Wilton and I found them at Michaels. Got so excited I ripped open the package before taking a pic.

The cupcakes themselves were just dark chocolate with vanilla frosting. The gold stars made all the difference though!
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To carry out the “Cookie Monster” and “Elmo” theme, I found clipart, created a graphic, printed and then punched w/ 2” circle punch. Cut larger circles on my Expression and then decorated with adhesive rhinestones. Did I mention that the request for these came at 3PM the day before he wanted to do the ask? IMPROV time!
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I stuck the cupcake toppers to straws using glue dots, and computer generated the text using a fun font.
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Thankfully he and then she loved them. And Prom was last Saturday and they had a wonderful time! And I still have tons of gold stars left for graduation cupcakes!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

BFF Link Party #5 Wrap Up and Features

Thanks for your continued patience as I’m winding down towards my son’s graduation! Prom was this weekend…..the “kids” cleaned up nicely and what a wonderful group of young men and women! Working fast and furiously, the Prom scrapbook is DONE along with the overall HS scrapbook and the future College scrapbook.  Some people power walk; I power scrap!
Great projects linked up again this week! Here are a few features:
Christine from Christine and Co, shared these “A”mazing monogramed keychains made using resin.
Gearing up for Summer, Jenn from Rook No. 17 shared these Sno Cone cupcakes that look so real I expected them to start melting!
You really have to check these out!
Paula from JC’s Loft shared a creative twist on party invitations that could easily be adapted to so many different occasions:
Please feel free to add a featured button from my sidebar and hope to see you all again this week! I’ll get back on track with the actual Blog Feature part of the BFF link party next week but we’ll definitely have the party this week!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

BFF Link Party #5

Another week that flew by too quickly. I always get thrown off when the week starts off with a holiday. So between that, work, and getting ready for Prom and Graduation , I didn't pick a blog to feature this week but will get back on track week after next. We're still going to party and see what everyone's been up to!!

Dad and Grad ideas? Link 'em. Fun Summer decor makeovers? Link 'em. Delicious treats? Link 'em. If you made it link it...just no advertising or selling please! Party will be up through Sunday so feel free to invite your friends. I  haven't had time to do much visiting lately but as soon as things calm down, I'll be over to see all of you!  Party On!