hoedown lowdown: fourth + final

you all ready for this?  duhduh..duhduh duh duh..



ok 90's music aside, lets get down to the last of the dirty deets!

i knew for party food i did not want to be stressed + running around coordinating the timing of a meal for everyone [we anticipated about 30 guests, a mix of adults + kiddos].  and i thought a mid-afternoon time slot would work well for attending church in the morning while giving some evening time for family relaxing as well.  so naturally a snack concept was born.

let's peek at where more of that patterned hobster lobster paper ended up.  on menu boards!

i really wanted the mix of cowboy + indian to be everywhere, so again i juxtaposed the 'painted' looking paper with the fun + funky, modern-western looking paper.  and the cork squares were a couple of spares i had on hand....again from the back entry corkboard diy project we'd made last year.

i love all the variations of red + blue going on here....with a few itty bitty pops of teal....and white + grey to anchor everything, like the kitchen colors.

for the other menu board, i made a games menu.

again....more paper scraps, leftover cork, and junk drawer pins.  and i bought a few bandanas for less than a dollar each to scatter about as decor, as well.  while i had horseys from cracker barrel and hula 'lasso' hoops from canada to play with, illegal jarts for the arrow throwing + more hay hoops for the ring toss....by far the best game of the day was tumbleweed bowling.  its amazing what you can do with six empty gerber snack containers + some 'tumbleweed' spheres from target!

this particular board was hiding another little arrangement....a pop of color, if you will.

POP!

i bought cherry + raspberry for two shades of red, and grape for blue.  and stuck them floral-bouquet style into a leftover ball from the foyer filter foof i'd made.  the vase + books i snagged from around the house.

speaking of pops....remember this teaser?  

yep, those happened.  and all the time spent taste-testing + pop-sticking + chocolate-dipping was oh so worth it for the final result.

that birthday cake be poppin'!  i did rows of chocolate with chocolate frosting + yellow cake with vanilla frosting, all according to the instructions on bakerella's lovely blog.  

much thanks to ms. bakerella for such an amazing idea....it made the whole food display, of that i am sure!

its hard to pick a favorite, but i think i love the red + white + blue ones best.  

no, the smooth chocolate.  

NO, THE RED SUGAR SPRINKLES!  

ok i love them all.

for the base, i used a large styrofoam rectangle and for a modern pebble-bed effect, i used more navy beans that were sitting around in the pantry.  and ribbon, pinned tight around the perimeter for a sleak, trim modern effect.

as for the rest of the food....i made a crunchy toffee chex mix [thanks dawn for the recipe!], and had apples + more candy to complete things.

cute cupcake liners for scooping smaller amounts of candy into....love the uneven striping....

another tumbleweed that must have blown in from the street....

i chose dishes with star motifs as another subtle western reference....

and blue striped dishes to play off the color scheme....

and lined up fun red cups + straws for milk.  because every cake pop needs a milky companion!

now before you pop an eyeball straining to see those garlands in the background....allow me to explain.  about the time my husband was ready to lock me in a closet to stop the decoration rampage, i managed to sweet talk him into helping me hang up a photo wall to commemorate the little man's big first year. 

i used yarn + tape + push pins + some of the past year's favorite and most meaningful photos.  and was teary + TIRED + ecstatic when i viewed the result.  ....yes it was 11 pm the night before, y'all, and this mama was whipped!  

but to see all the printed photos in a flickr-esque mix of streamer-y strands of color, in a perfectly imperfect arrangement, contrasted with our gallery-wall-for-a-day....well....i was really kinda verklempt.  

it was so delightful to see how the colors worked + the garlands echoed the fireplace banner as well.  and if you're wondering how the photos look so neatly strung along the line, it was the hubs who suggested using loops of tape to hang the photos....for minimal possibility of damage to each picture + also for a nice clean garland effect.

and since we used the spacing of the ikea wall art hangers [on the insistance of the hubs, naturally], all the push pin holes will be hidden and it was a minimally invasive project.  if you squint your peepers again for a second, you can see how the top row showed the mini man's growth photographed from week one to month eleven.  compared to a sock monkey.  of course.

+ how to finish another long winded party post?  why with the party favors, naturally!

some mod round cherry-sour candies with a little name flag on each.  hopefully a little za-za-zing to finish the day on a memorable note.  just for the kids VIPs, you know.

hoedown lowdown: take trois

that's three, people.  come on!!  [arrested development, anyone?  anyone?!]


let's see....i'll cover the frou frou first.

i was inspired by a blog post i read about a coffee filter foof.  and while ms. jones of jones design company used frilly feminine white for her foof, i decided i needed something a little more manly + natural-toned for mine.

so brown filters i bought + a western foof was won.  well, made.  by me.  and yes it took hours.  i'd like to say it was quick! and easy! and fun! but i intended to make three and only finished one if that tells you anything.  in short, it involves hot glue gunning folded filters to a round styrofoam ball.

i love the mod round look of it for party decor + i thought the sandy tan color added a nice dirt-like color to the decor.  no seriously.  because there's something inherently western about dirt, isn't there?

but it really did take quite a long time + patience so in the end, i opted for a dose of free decor mixed with it.  ie: christmas ornaments.  ie: gold twine-y balls that in my mind, look like tumbleweeds + play well with the color of the foof.

i thought it made for some fun impact when you walk in the front door.  and the little man took to waving at the balls every time we passed by them so you know that warmed my wee heart.

while we're hanging around the front door....for a warm welcome to our guests i made a quickie sign out of a straw wreath i bought for under $2 from hobby lobby, added some ribbon [scored on sale] and a sign using cork left from our DIY corkboard project, seen here, and more of the leftover paper.  done + done!

i love the simple modern look and the mix of indian ['painted' paper] + cowboy [straw wreath, red ribbon].  and the cork worked really well with the other natural colors i had going, and also served to weigh down the sign a bit.

oh + speaking of free stuff.  for more decor fun, i stacked some of H's wooden stacking toys + ceramic ball [a gift] and made a little arrangement with mr. rhino....

....who i couldn't resist harpooning with a diffuser-arrow, like i'd been doing some hunting around the house bow + arrow style.  which i did, but that's beside the point.  hey-o! o! o! o! o!

can you see the single teardrop mr. rhino is shedding?  the poor guy.  never saw it coming.

oh + those billy ball ish things in the vase up there?  some easter decor i spotted while passing through the floral section at meijer.  they were an icky shade of pale blue until i re-painted them with some of the arrow paint to make them a beauteously bold sky blue.  kinda fun, considering i thought real flowers were definitely not an option for a boy party.

speaking of non-floral 'floral' arrangements [you follow me?], i still need to tend to the food portion of posting + wrap up this party talk!  yep, thats a hint about some of the food details.  but you're probably sick of scrolling for today, so i'll give you a breather before we feast on those facts.  until then!

hoedown lowdown: take two

as i mentioned yesterday, i tried to use my birthday party materials as wisely as possible + save every wee bit of paper for some project or other.

so when i discovered a pair of square canvases stored away in a cupboard, i decided to DIY some silhouettes for them as foyer decor.

for the cowboy, i traced the silhouette from this book cover:

via outwestmktg.com

i had contemplated buying the book itself for display, since i love the cover images + text + color so much, but i just couldn't cough up the twenty bones that would have required.  so instead: DIY silhouette art.  the denim-esque paper is kinda fitting for the cowboy, wouldn't you say?

for my indian, i googled something totally out there like 'indian silhouette' and got this bad boy.

via spreadshirt.com

and since i was feeling particularly crazy, i free-hand drew that silhouette onto the polka-dot paper by looking at the computer screen. and then cut it out with scissors.  and i think it turned out quite well!

perhaps my favorite thing about the silhouettes were their....uh....silhouettes.  i mean, doesn't that cowdude look like he means serious business, hanging out over there?  he's got the sun at his back + a shotgun at his side.  yeeeehaw!

and what is that twisty thing in all the shots?  well around valentine's day i was inspired by this post, and decided to use the yarn + wire concept to personal the canvases with the birthday boy's name.  i just shaped the wire into cursive letters in a fun made-up font and then [laboriously, ie: not quickly,] wrapped the wire with gray yarn.  gray, so that hopefully it can stick around as his room decor for a long time + not clash with anything.

i like how the yarn is reminiscent of rope....and i think parts of the name look kind of lasso-ish to mesh with the whole cowboy theme.

on the subject of getting carried away....er, i mean more decor details, i had my diffuser sitting on the same console as the canvases + decided to attack that too.  paper scraps?  nay, instant arrow tips!

i also cut more scrappy triangular pieces to jazz up our kitchen chandelier.  kinda fun to see the flags flying up there + i love how they tie in to the banner on the fireplace.

that scrapbook paper had a couple more uses yet, lest you think i'm finished already with party posting!  coming soon: food details + free stuff + foof fest '11.

the lowdown on the hoedown: part one

so....its come + gone!  the little man's big day.  and in honor of his year of growing from nine to twenty-two pounds, from a small seed to a certified sprout, from a dark-skinned dark-haired babe to a mini man with flowing fair locks.... well.... a good old-fashioned [yet modern] cowboy + indian party was in order. clearly!

and you must know i've been planning it for a while.  would you expect any less of me?  the hubs uses the word 'obsessing' but i find that really harsh and all too accurate.  so let's just say planning.  ok?  ok.

i'll start with my inspiration for the whole shindig.  these arrows.

totally cute, right? vintage-inspired arrows that were DIYed by danielle thompson + posted on her blog.  i loved the concept and decided then + there that my own homemade arrows had to be made and shebang! a cowboy 'n indian theme was in the works.

so i eventually made my way to hobby lobby and started on a color story of my own....since i wanted to be able to re-use as many decorations/materials as possible [YES: STILL DUTCH], i thought back to the colors i had been picturing for hart's eventual big boy room.  and from there i settled on mainly grays, blues, reds and some natural brown tones.

i also decided pretty early on to scrap the extra fuss of using washi tape + fabric for the arrow-making, and instead settled on paint alone.  its cheap, its easy, its forgiving.

and here's how they turned out!

the secret [shhh!] is that i really only finished two of the arrows.  in the end, i decided that i really loved the look of the arrows shooting up out of vases and that to clutter up the ends with feathers + felt wouldn't have worked as well.  plus, it saved time.

and those pebble-y vase fillers?  [free] navy beans from the pantry.

i used painter's tape for the stripes which worked beautifully, especially when the tape was pressed down really well [you can see some of the stripes have a little imperfection which probably bothers only me].  i wanted a mixture of colors + striping effects so i painted some of the arrows solid grey or white first, then started in with the stripes using two shades of blue, as well as bright red, dark red + grey.  the ends are actually eraser tips in blue, light grey + teal.

the teal was a happy accident.  i LOVE the contrast of the teal with the grey, blue, red + white color scheme.  www.love.org.

here they are in action the morning of the party.  can you see how they became my jumping-off point for everything else?  i'm so happy with the vintage-athletic vibe of all the various stripes.

after making up these ten arrows, using ten dowels from a pack, i still had five eraser ends left over.  they happened to be bright green + purple....but like the third arrowhead from the left, i just painted them!  presto change-o, grey + blue arrowheads.

then i bought five long dowels, painted 'em up and i instantly had an arrangement by my sink that only cost $3 more [the long dowels were $.59 each].

and quiver me timbers!  doesn't that vase look like an arrow quiver?!  uh huh.  that's exactly what i thought.  

after i looked up the word quiver, which my parents taught me this weekend.

i thought the tomatoes were a fun addition too.  natural decor is the best!  so sayeth mr. berkus, anyway.

as i chose my paint + felt colors for the arrows, i also picked out paper colors to use for various decorations around the house.  first up: a paper banner for the fireplace.

i really wanted an eclectic yet complimentary mixture of patterns, for that modern country feel.  so from the hordes of hobblobb paper options, i chose deep blue with stars, solid dark red, blue + red gingham, red polka-dot, and a faded denim looking pattern.  oh!  and of course that siouxper cool paper in the middle [did i really just say SIOUXper?! worst pun ever?]....the painted looking tan sheet.  the blue, red and black 'brushstrokes' added that perfect native american feel.

once that was accomplished, i started using scraps of leftover paper for other projects.  next up on stage?  a modern pair of silhouettes....some teeny tiny arrow toppers....and some sail-like scraps for the chandy.  stay tuned!

pop! goes the birthday boy

so someone has a birthday this week and someone's mom is going slightly insane planning decorations for the party.  insane as in borderline obsessed.  as in i want to quit my job and start planning your children's birthday parties full time.  wait.  forgot.  i already quit my job.  so....event planning here i come!

because SRSLY.  i'm about to have a bad case of the shakes when this week ends, from diy decoration withdrawal.

trust me, there are oodles more photos to come from the party [oodles?  is that word even in use anymore?] and i've also got lots of decor to discuss!  spoiler alert!  the master bedroom....is done?!  stay tuned!

splash happy

we all need a clean slate once in a while, right?  and spring is a fitting time to be cleaning said slate.  in other words, its time for a fresh start + some new posts about the happy happenings of the new house lately.

after a little time away, spent with family + friends, dishes + laundry, cheerios + chocolate cake, i'm back to say hello and to take a stab at some decor + party planning posts.  thank you all for your patience.  in my head i would love to be a daily blogger + spill all the beans that rattle around up there, but in my heart i know i need to concentrate first on being [attempting to be?] a good mom + wife.  so i'll get as much out there as i can but i'll beg for your forgiveness when i'm frolicking on frog-hunts with my son instead.

and besides, who wants to think about tapping on a laptop when there are a million little splashes of bathwater to capture in your hair + lens?