We're trying something new this year... the DIY Halloween costume. In years past, I've shelled out nearly $50 for Mason's Halloween costumes. Not this year!

It all started last year at the pumpkin patch. Mason saw two boys dressed up as scuba divers and has been talking about dressing up as one ever since. The idea really is quite simple: a black outfit with a scuba mask, some tanks and flippers. I decided to do some research on how to build the tanks, and that's when I found this great article from Real Simple Magazine. There are so many cute DIY costume ideas!

I decided black leggings and a black, long-sleeved shirt would do for the outfit portion, and believe it or not, it was so hard to find those things! I ended up finding the leggings at Carters and the shirt at Kohls (both in the little girls section, shhh). I had zero luck finding a black, long-sleeved boys shirt... even in the middle of Fall. We ordered a scuba patch online and ironed it on the front of the shirt.

For the tanks we took two empty 2 liter water bottles. My crafty husband spray painted them yellow and added some metallic looking duct tape. He added a scuba sticker (another online find) and made straps with black shoelaces.

Lastly, for the fins, I cut them out of some cardboard and my husband spray painted them black. Then we poked two holes near the top for the shoe laces to come through so they'd attach to the shoes.

Here's the final product:

Photos I used at the top of this post are from Real Simple Magazine.

Landon's 1st Birthday

As parents with children know, things can get a little crazy and you don't have the time that you once did. That's been the story of my life for the past, oh twelve months, so planning Landon's first birthday party (I can't believe I just said that) was a little bit more rushed than I had hoped. BUT, the final result still came together and it was a very special day.

Since I love stripes and Landon is too little to pick out his own theme, I went with that. I tried to keep the colors yellow, navy and gray. I started a board on Pinterest so I could collect and keep all of my ideas in once place. Plus Pinterest is such a great starting point anyways. The one thing I really, really wanted to do was the photo garland. I've been taking pictures of Landon on his monthly 'birthdays' all year, so I thought those photos would be perfect for the garland. I ordered some striped cardstock tags from Scrapbits on Etsy to use as a base for the monthly labels (which I bought at Staples and designed myself).  The final product turned out so great and I actually have it hanging above his crib now.

I was a little stumped on favors but had ordered these adorable striped bags (from Enchanted Frog Events on Etsy) ahead of time, so I decided just to do a 'make your own treat bag' bar. We had glass jars left over from our wedding centerpieces, so I filled them with various striped favors (from paper yo-yos to pixie sticks to lollipops) and other favors keeping with the blue/yellow theme.

I'm obsessed with striped straws, so of course I got some of those too. And unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the lovely blue/white striped napkins – you can see them peeking out from behind the lemonade.

To add a personal touch, I decided to make some cupcake flags just for Landon. You can actually order these from my Etsy shop to add a bit of personalization to your party. It's really easy... just print them out, cut and glue. I got so many complements on them and it really is a cinch! 

And what's a party without balloons? My big guy Mason helped out with those. It really was a blessed day and most importantly Landon had fun. That's what it really comes down too, right? We can plan and prep as much as we want, but it's just not worth all of the effort if those we're celebrating don't have fun. I think Landon and all of our friends and family had a nice time... especially when it was time to eat the cupcakes! I didn't make Landon his own cake, but I did give him his own cupcake which he devoured in no time. 

Happy birthday, my sweet boy!

Etsy shop now open!

My Etsy shop is now open! Although I don't have a heck of a lot for sale right now (umm, two whole items), I'm working on getting it chock full of goodies just in time for the holiday season! Check back soon for note cards, prints and other fun paper goods.

{Featured} Ruffled Blog

Great news! Some of my work was recently featured on Ruffled Blog's Daily's Cocktails! Working with the wonderful Rebekah of A & B Creative, I created some signage for personalized cocktails for an engagement party.

You can read the entire post here.