halloween {part 1}

Halloween is 3 days away, I just finished decorating for Christmas at work, and my husband just got home from being on the road for 7 weeks, so I figured that I would do a quick Halloween crafting post! I love creating tiny spooky moments in my house and so does my little one.  I had these vintage salt + pepper shakers laying around and decided to make a halloween version of a snow globe! This is like a 10 minute project people, about the same amount of time that it takes to inhale a pound of halloween candy. . . and yes, this has happened to me multiple times this week!

 {gather your supplies}

 {have a little helper fill your shakers}

{create your spooky scene. . . I went with vintage bottles, skulls, and candles}

Happy Halloween!! Stay tuned for part 2!!

DIY home made birthday gift

One of my favorite things to do is to give gifts!! No matter what the occasion, making something special for someone you love is the best feeling on earth. I am so blessed to have an amazing group of friends in my life and this past weekend I delivered a very special birthday gift to my friend Katie. She has a beautiful family and our dear friend Kelly of wild {whim} photography took this gorgeous picture of them. I had an idea! Off to Michaels I went to buy a sliver of wood to transfer the picture onto! I hammered a little picture hanger to the back for easy installation, and there you have it! A unique, one of a kind gift made from the heart. For the full tutorial,  check out our post here. 

 I have told you before it is all in the packaging for me, it's like icing on a cake.  Every gift needs the perfect topping. For the family portrait I knew that I wanted to make a sweet little bag to wrap it in, so I got out my sewing machine and got to stitching. The end result was exactly what I wanted. . . gift wrap as well as an extra little gift that can be reused again and again! It's easy as pie. . .

 Supplies: your gift, fun fabric, scissors, silk ribbon, sewing machine

STEP 1: cut your fabric to size. I like to keep the fold at the bottom to eliminate a seam!

 STEP 2: Lay your fabric with the right side on the table. Fold over each of the 2 long ends to about 1 or 1-1/2 inches and make a crease. You can pin these if you’d like and remove the pins as you sew, or you can simply watch the line and keep it folded on the crease as you sew. Sew on the cut edge of the fabric, creating a pocket  for where your string will go. Sew both sides. 

STEP 3: Once both sides are sew with their folds, fold the fabric in half with the right side in. You’ll now want to sew up the 2 sides of the fabric in just one straight line. But DON’T sew over the holes of the folded edge part you just sewed. STOP before you get across these. You need these both open to get your string through.

STEP 4: Turn your bag to the right side out. You should have 4 sewn lines – 

2 folded over sewn lines for the string and 2 sewn lines to make the bag.

 STEP 5: Cut your ribbon, about 2-3 feet, depending on how large your bag is, 

and attach a safety pin to it.

STEP 6: With your safety pin as a guide, thread your string through the holes in the bag. Go through one side and continue on to the other side. Take off the safety pin and tie the two ends together.

Now you can cinch up your bag and it’s ready for some fun treasures!

With my little drawstring bag complete, I stuffed my heart felt gift inside and 

hand delivered the package.

XOXO

Laura

labor day traditions

We like to look at Labor Day as a kick off to fall!! The air starts to get crisp, the beautiful fall colors start to pop up in the leaves, and the holidays are right around the corner!! These thoughts make us over the moon excited. Not to mention all of the cozy clothes and blankets that come out of hiding and take center stage. We wanted to share with you a few of our favorite things to do on Labor Day!!

 Host a bohemian dinner party for our friends and family

 Cool off with homemade rainbow snow cones. 

Let's be honest it is still 90 degrees here in Southern California!

 Take a few minutes to hike around the mountains and collect flowers to fill all of 

our empty vintage vases on our tables.

 Yes, even though it is Labor Day, we still like to squeeze in a little catch up work on our day off!!

 Throw on a flowing dress + leather hat. Enjoy a walk with the family.

Lay in the grass, watch the clouds, and blow bubbles. 

Each bubble represents something or someone that we are thankful for!!

We hope that you are enjoying your Labor Day!!

photo credit: stay wild and free // 100 layer cake

DIY :: easter eggs

Ok, people have been dying easter eggs forever!! And thanks to Martha Stewart, the egg has been adorned in sequins, glitter, paint, you name it, she has done it!! Did you see her egg GEODES? If you haven't check it out here. . .  amazing. We searched whole foods, the world market, and every drugstore and super market in town for the magic powder that we needed to make those gorgeous crystal eggs but came up empty handed. . .oh well. Plan B. We decided that we would go green and recycle the napkins from a birthday party that we threw a few weeks ago. We cut the napkins into small pieces and decoupaged them onto blown out eggs covering the entire egg with the fun patterns. For the left over eggs we made confetti out of tissue paper from our craft closet, poked holes in the tops of the eggs, and filled them with the confetti. We covered the holes with left over tissue and mod-podge. These eggs were super easy and fun, the perfect craft to do with the kids!! How did you decorate your eggs??

Supply List:

a dozen blown out eggshells (get the how-to here)

patterned napkins

craft scissors

tissue paper

mod podge

craft brush

hole punch for confetti