This post is sponsored by Red Baron but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.
The holidays are kind of weird around here since I grew up doing them with my family, but my husband did not. Although I try to oblige my husband’s beliefs, I still have my own, so I feel like we need to meet somewhere in the middle at times.
Even though summer is my favorite season of the year for vacationing reasons, fall is a close 2nd. There’s just something about the changing of the leaves, the crisp and fresh cold air, fuzzy socks, leggings, and pumpkin spice that make me adore this season. Maybe it’s because it feels like fall here 9 months out of the year.
It’s that time again!
Fall is in the air, the leaves are changing and pumpkin spice has already begun!
I wish I had more hours in the day to create coffee mug designs, but my time is occupied by a needy toddler and chores. I think I need to hire a maid for a day every couple of weeks since cleaning is such a drag! Lol
If you love fall and coffee as much as I do, then you’ll love these fall coffee mugs on Etsy.
You may not like this one if you’re one of those weird people who loathes pumpkin anything. I mean, who doesn’t love pumpkin spice lattes!? Oh yeah, my weird friend Jennifer!
This is one of my favorite movies to watch on TV everytime Halloween rolls around. Hocus Pocus is a Halloween classic!!
I’m contemplating putting different quotes with the Sanderson sisters image. So if “I put a spell on you” doesn’t exactly suit your fancy, I can accommodate others as long as the quote fits.
The pumpkin king is here! I love Tim Burtons’ Nightmare Before Christmas and would love to live just like Jack and Sally.
I bet most of you can relate with the nightmare before coffee…
I’m usually grumpy and sluggish until I get my daily dose of caffeine.
I’ll be doing a coffee recipe post coming up soon, so be on the lookout for that.
You can find these coffee mugs, plus a variey of others over at my Jenn Makes it Cute Etsy Store.
Have an idea in mind? Let us know.
For the past couple months, I’ve been working on one of my sister’s baby showers (yes another one) all the while trying to focus more on blogging and my etsy shop. Etsy has been slow this month for me, so it’s given me a little breathing room to get stuff done in preparation for the baby shower.
Since my sister is obsessed with birds, I of course decided to do a bird themed baby shower since this will be her last child.
I bought most of my supplies from Joanns since I can use multiple coupons, which in turn saves me more money.
Premade bird houses at Joanns are inexpensive. All you need is a little paint and some paint brushes.
The colors she wanted were mint and navy blue. I had a hard time finding mint colored items, so I made due with other color variations.
A bird house cant be a bird house without birds, so I then cut out a bird image on card stock paper and mod podged it onto the front. My plan was to stick it on top of a diaper cake. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get a better photo than the one I took at 11pm the night before the baby shower.)
For baby showers, I try to create stuff that won’t get thrown away. That way, my time, money and energy isn’t wasted.
I then created a bird themed name banner out of card stock paper and ribbon. I always do a name instead of “baby shower” or “welcome baby” because they’re more likely be tossed in the trash.
Name banners can be hung in the nursery by a crib or bed.
I found this pink chalkboard sign at Michaels on clearance for a couple dollars, but I didn’t have mint colored vinyl so I decided to paint it the same color as the bird house and applied navy blue vinyl. The vinyl wasn’t wanting to stick to the paint, so I had to put a mod podge gloss coat over it to get it to stay. It worked and gave it a glossy effect instead of matte and flat!
I found the premade bird nest at a vintage shop for a few bucks, so I grabbed it and applied it with some mod podge as well.
For the item below, I had a little something different in mind. I didn’t find the right type of twig branch I wanted to use, so I made the thick branch work instead.
I cut out double sided birds in coordinating colors to the theme (I decided to add in pink since navy blue and mint didn’t scream WELCOME BABY GIRL Lol) and dangled them from twine. Then I added flowers onto the branch with some mod podge.
Makes a great backdrop and nursery decor for a little ones bird themed room.
Again, not the best photo, but I had no other place to hang it with natural light near.
I also made some bird shaped bird feeders out of bird seed, gelatin, honey and water. My friend picked up the bird seed and it wasn’t the right type. It didn’t want to dry very well inside the cookie cutters and kept breaking in spots. These 6 were the only ones to survive and then I left them at home. Go figure. They were supposed to be a favor gift for those who didn’t win any of the games or diaper raffle.
And unfortunately, the baby shower day we selected called for rain. There was no real protection from getting wet since we were outside at a park, so we packed stuff up and moved it to my sisters small apartment since half the people didn’t come anyways. I hate that! But at least she enjoyed it and I guess that’s all that matters. But, that’s PNW weather for ya! Felt like the first official day of Fall and looked like it too.
When I set stuff up at the baby shower, I didnt get any pics and neither did anyone else besides that one. There really wasn’t a place to put everything to make it cute, but I made due with the space we had.
For food, we did potato salad, chips, sandwhiches for the kids, pinwheels for adults, deviled eggs, a vegetable and fruit tray in the shape of an owl.
One of my other sisters did the fruit tray and I did the veggies.
I left the eye area open to put ranch when we arrived at the shower. Then you top it off with a couple of cherry tomatoes as well for the eyes.
And yes, that is a purple platter. I couldn’t find pink or blue. Lol
So this is our bird themed baby shower. I didn’t take a picture of a couple of things, but she loved it all. If she didn’t, I’d have to beat her. Ha.
PIN IT:
One thing that really annoys me is those super hard to get off stickers on products you buy at the store like picture frames, cups or even a chalkboard sign. It ends up taking lots of elbow grease, soap and water, and even a scrubby pad to get that bad boy to come off. Well, not anymore!
There’s a simple resolution to my crafting annoyance and it’s GOO GONE, which I ended up finding at Target.
No more stuck on stickers, which in turn helps my business production output be a lot simpler and quicker.
If you don’t already know, I sell glassware, signs and pretty much anything I can stick vinyl to on Etsy. And those items sometimes end up coming with those darned stuck on stickers.
Life’s messes sometimes show up in some hard to clean places.
For any sticky, gooey mess on a vertical surface, Goo Gone Spray Gel is the anti-freakout formula; which is especially helpful if you have kids or even pets!
Of note: Do not use on silk, leatger, suede, rubber, faux stainless steel, drywall, unfinished wood surfaces and unsealed stone.
Head on over to the Goo Gone website for helpful video tips and other useful ways to clean up stuck on messes.
The end result. Custom chalkboard door sign.