Hello, hello! Thanks to all of you for your love on my first video post. I was a little nervous to put that out there, but I'm glad I did. I have a lot to learn when it comes to things like audio, lighting and all that jazz, but I had to start somewhere! Today, I'm back with a fun little do-it-yourself project that I did for my friend Melissa's bohemian southern inspired baby shower that I helped host a few weeks ago in Austin, Texas. We knew we wanted the guest of honor in her own beautiful floral crown, but things got a little pricey as we thought about putting all of the guests in flower crowns. So we came up with an alternative for the other guests at the shower so that everyone felt special and pretty, but we weren't spending too much on floral crowns: a faux floral wristlet corsage! I went old school and thought about a true southern baby shower and a flower corsage was the first thing that came to mind.  It totally reminds me of something my grandmother and her sisters would have done for a shower. In the end, I was able to make twelve adorable little wristlets that matched our color theme and the momma-to-be's floral crown for just under $15. Love that! And the best part is that this easy project is great not only for baby showers but also bridal showers, bridal luncheons, weddings, prom, homecoming... the possibilities are endless!

Tools/Supplies:

-thick, good quality ribbon (I used 1.5" thick satin ribbon)

-faux floral stems of varying kinds

-hot glue gun

-ribbon scissors

-regular scissors 

Step-by-step:

1. Cut the ribbon (with ribbon scissors! it helps to prevent fraying!) in equal lengths. Each of my ribbons was about twelve inches long as I wanted enough ribbon to make a big, loopy, romantic bow. If want a smaller bow in the back when you tie the wristlet, I'd cut each length shorter. You can also hot glue the ends of the ribbons to prevent further fraying (my ribbons did fray some by the end of the shower).

2. Cut off the buds of the flowers from the faux floral stems with the regular scissors. Try to get as close as possible to the flower so that you don't have any plastic greenery sticking out of the back.

3. Hot glue the floral buds in the center of each ribbon. Practice your arrangement (I went with one big white flower and two small pink flowers to the side) before you break out the glue! Also, use a bunch of hot glue to make sure those guys stay on there.

4. Tie your pretty wristlet corsage on! You may need a friend to help- below is a photo of my beautiful friends tying their wristlets on during Melissa's shower.

I think that's a pretty good project for $15, don't you?!

I know. Can you even with these two? HDawg and LLJ in the house (er, on the dining room table!), ladies and gentlemen. Spruced up in their finest red and pink, I'd say these two and their kissy faces are ready to go for Valentine's Day this year. This year, I thought I'd skip the matchy matchy and instead let the kids wear some fun not-so-Valentiney red and pink outfits.  Normally I wouldn't pair red pants with a blue + pink shirt but with a holiday, I think anything goes. And I sort of love the mismatchy red and pink- I think they look great! These cute toddler outfits show that you don't have to go too themey but can still have fun as you dress up your kids for the holidays. Happy Valentine's Day to my two love bugs!

chino pants

button up shirt

flare dress

*thanks to Children's Place for partnering up with me on this post!

I might have gone a little picture heavy in this post, but, well, #sorrynotsorry. I'm so happy to share the beautiful baby shower that my girlfriends and I threw a few weekends ago for our friend, Melissa. Let me start by saying that all of us girls pictured in the second to last photo met at College of Charleston our freshman year. Fourteen years later... we are all still best friends! This group has the most inspiring, ambitious, caring, loving, diverse and amazing women in it. We're now spread across the U.S. (Denver! New York! Boulder! Atlanta! Lexington!), but decided to surprise our girl, Melissa, in Austin, Texas, where she lives, for a baby-ette weekend. It's like a bachelorette party but for a baby! Somehow or another we managed to keep it a surprise for months that all five of us girls (and Melissa's sister!) were flying in to surprise our momma-to-be. Needless to say, we pulled it off- it was an amazing weekend and part of that fun was this baby shower we threw for Meliss and a few of her Austin friends.

We held the baby shower during brunch time at a cute spot in Austin- Jacoby's Mercantile. We decided on a bohemian southern style theme for the shower- mom and pops, otherwise known as Melissa and Matt, met in Charleston, South Carolina and now live out their great adventures (including their best adventure today, their baby girl on the way!) based in Austin. So we had to pull in those bohemian and southern roots for the shower theme, of course. There was lots of pretty pink, peach, mint green and gold. The guest of honor got a pretty flower crown and the rest of the guests got matching flower wristlets (I made them! tutorial soon!). My friend Courtney whipped up the organic greenery displays on the tables just by browsing the floral section of Whole Foods! Court also took all of these photos, so thanks for sharing, friend. A detailed source list is below, let me know if I'm missing anything you have questions about!

venue- Jacoby's Mercantile

flower crown

flower wristlets- DIY, tutorial soon!

printable boho baby wishes and matching invitation

greenery and florals, Whole Foods

gold BABY balloons

"find your adventure" art

peach, pink, mint and gold tassel garland

I'm not much of a seasonal decorator (except for the obvious holidays, like Flag Day, duh... kidding, kidding) but it is fun to add a few new changes to the house for those quiet months after Christmas. I put away my Christmas decor every year and think- this place looks so empty! This year, we did some rearranging after the tree came down. If you remember from this post, I had set up my DIY glossy black console table in the entryway by our front door. We moved that into the nook under the stairs which faces into the living room (so now I can see it from the couch! heart eyes!) and moved the kids play kitchen into the entryway niche. It's not really the ideal first impression you want people to see when they come in your front door, but, hey, it's real life. We have kids and that little space is perfect for them to play and cook and make their momma "happy birthday to youuuuu" cakes all day. The kitchen fits perfect in the space and I left my DIY hanging frame art in there so it's almost like they're looking out a window at the flowers. Oh and can you see my DIY oversized growth chart ruler in the background? We love that thing and update it all the time, but it just fell off the wall I haven't gotten it back up yet. #lazy 

The only problem with creating this little play kitchen space is that the lighting wasn't great in that area of the house. The overhead light is two stories up, since it's a foyer. Not ideal for tiny eyes. So, Luxe Decor to the rescue... the Surya Duxbury Natural Wood floor lamp, specifically. I've heard this style of curvy, leggy lamp called a "wishbone" lamp and I totally love that, so I'm gonna rock that name. Our new wishbone lamp is awesome! It's actually pretty big- the lampshade itself is a little over 14 inches wide and the lamp is about 50 inches high- but Luxe Decor has a table version, as well. The linen-like shade is really pretty and is a great quality. Overall, I like the modern shape of the lamp and I can't wait to see the natural wood paired with darker floors in our new house one day.

What's extra great about this space is that it's right next to the dining room, so if the kids get rowdy and end their dinner early, David and I will hose them down (you also hose your children down after each meal, right?) and let them play in the play kitchen while we finish our meal in somewhat peace. Win win! Don't you love when a little rearranging makes such a big difference?!

Thanks to Luxe Decor for sending me the lamp to review!