Here is what you will need:

1. Colorful gumballs
2. Ribbon
3. Metal skewers
4. Embellishments like flowers and ribbons (optional)

First take your metal skewer and puncture holes in your gumballs.

Next wrap the end of your ribbon with tape, and thread ribbon through the gumball.

Tie a knot and then thread another gumball. Continue until you’ve reached your desired length.

That’s it! You’re done. They are pretty as is, but I got these flowers from the Martha Stewart section of Michaels and attached them for extra embellishment. You can also tie a big ribbon bow on the side or add additional flowers.

The perfect edible party favors for your sweet little guests!

A few weeks ago, my business partner and I were preparing for her son’s art-themed birthday party. I will share the full party spread with you soon, but in the meantime, I had to share this quick and easy cookie tutorial for the next time you need a party treat in a hurry!

Artist’s Palette Cookies: Super Easy, Super Fun, Super Cute!

Here’s what you need to do…

1. Bake up some sugar cookies

2. Punch a hole in slightly warm cookie (I used the opposite end of my icing tip)

3. Pipe icing onto you cookies in the shape of a paint palette

4. Decorate with M&M candies to mimic dollops of paint

Now, you are all ready to serve them up on a platter or use them as a party favor like we did here!

Grab some cello bags, baker’s twine and some tags and here are some edible pieces of art your little Picassos can take home. Have a great party DIY you want to share? Leave a comment or upload your pics into our gallery.

With all these cute bunting flags popping up in pictures, on invitations and in nursery decor, I set out to make them myself minus the needle and thread. And I think they turned out pretty darn cute!

So, here’s my DIY three-step program on making your own bunting flags—no sewing needed.

Step 1: Go to your local craft or scrapbooking store and pick out a variety of your favorite printed papers. I even found some with glitter on it; after all, glitter helps everything. I was able to cut three flags from the big sheets and two flags from the smaller ones. It’s a lot cheaper than buying fabric!

Step 2: Using a ruler, measure out your flags. I wanted mine to be about 8″—big enough to make a statement on a wall. Using my third grade math skills, I puzzled together three perfect triangles on the paper (Mrs. Taft would be so proud!). After I cut out the first three, I was able to use one as a stencil for the rest of the sheets. Trace. Cut. Done!

Step 3: Instead of using plain ribbon, I found this adorable pom-pom trim and hot glued it to the paper flags. I love the 3D effect it adds to the banners!

See how easy that was? All the materials cost less than $20, and it was so simple to make! I love the eclectic mix of prints and colors I was able to bring in, and I’m pretty sure this would rock in a nursery or a teenager’s room! Happy decorating!

If you haven’t heard of the Blumebox, it’s this really neat shaped cardboard box that is absolutely perfect for creating floral centerpieces. But what I think I like most about Blumeboxes is how versatile and reusable they are. I have even used them with a plate on top as a cake stand. I like to get a lot of use out of my party props—my closets (and garage!) are already overflowing with party goods, so having pieces that work hard for me is important.

The Blumebox is a great workhorse. Ribbon and a detail circle are one common way to dress up these boxes, but when I really want to match my party, I use this easy trick to make the boxes match seamlessly. All you need is a few sheets of scrapbook paper!

Materials Needed: Blumebox, Scrapbook paper, Scissors, Double-sided tape

Step 1. Trace around the Blumebox on the reverse side of your scrapbook paper.

Step 2. Cut out your shape.

Step 3. Use the double-sided tape to adhere the paper to the side of the Blumebox.

Step 4. Repeat until you have as many sides of the boxes covered as you want! (I did two here in the photos.)

You can also put your detail just at the top of the box like the Blumebox on the right in the picture above. Trace only the top portion of the box in this case!

Thank you to Buds, Etc. for the lovely floral arrangements!

We have just three short weeks until our baby girl arrives! I have worked hard for the past nine months getting her nursery together. I wanted to create something girly, yet eclectic. I also wanted a room that could transition with her from her first year and beyond. We used the same nursery that our son used. You may have seen it in the Project Nursery gallery. So, here is the before shot.

And now, almost four years later, here is our little girl’s new room!

I had so much fun searching out items to create the perfect space. I was working with a tight budget, so I really had to decide what to splurge on and what we could do on a budget.

I did some fun DIY projects, like the abstract artwork and bow holder. We also found an inexpensive vintage mirror that I painted pink. The shelving system was from our son’s room, and we just painted the cubes pink to coordinate with the room.

 The small chair in the corner was my grandmother’s that we had reupholstered with a modern fabric. One item we splurged on was wallpaper for the crib wall. I knew I wanted to use wallpaper, and I found something that was feminine enough for a nursery but wasn’t too juvenile. I don’t think the pictures do it justice—it’s a very pretty silver metallic leaf pattern by Thibault. The vintage ballet posters were a gift given to me at my ballet-themed baby shower. They are just perfect for the room!

For more pictures, details of our DIY projects and resources for the room, click here to view Vivienne’s nursery in the project gallery.

The party hats below, in a modern rainbow chevron, were used for a rainbow theme party we had last month. I think this is such a popular pattern right now, and they can really match most parties. We thought you might like to make your own.

Here is what you will need:

1. Party Hat Template (downloadable pdf)
2. Scissors
3. Hot Glue Gun
4. Ric Rac or Ribbon
5. Pom-Poms
6. Single Hole Punch
7. Thin Elastic
8. Utility Knife

1. First print out your party hat template on bright white paper. I like to use a medium weight matte photo paper. Then cut along the borders.

2. Fold along the grey line on the left side of your template.

3. Use your utility knife to cut a slit along the grey line on the right side of your cone.

4. Wrap your cone, and glue the seam together.

5. Embellish with ric rac or ribbon along the edge using hot glue.

6. Glue a pom-pom to the top.

7. Punch a hole in each side. Cut a piece of elastic approximately 18″. Thread elastic through punched hole and tie in a knot (on the inside). Do the same to the other side using the other end of the elastic.

There you have it! Your very own custom party hats to wow your party guests!!

The furniture is ordered, the bedding is picked and the paint colors are set! I’ll be sharing the design process as it unfolds, but I wanted to first give you an inside peek at the chevron walls I painted this past weekend. I can’t stop staring at them!

If you are planning a zigzag accent wall or even looking to update another room in the house (I think chevron would be cool in the kitchen), here’s my step-by-step process of painting the chevron design in one day!

1. First, assemble your tools. I used a yardstick, pencil, blue painting tape (2 rolls), a level and a ladder. Our ceilings are 9′ in the nursery, but if you have lower ceilings, you might be able to get away with a step stool.

2. Decide how big you want your chevron to be. (And how much taping off you want to tackle!) I wanted it to be big and bold, and since I didn’t have to paint the wall behind the chevron, I wanted the stripes to be equal thickness. I recommend starting at the top; that way the points are all even along your ceiling, and if it gets crooked as you go, it’s almost like an optical illusion—no one will ever know! I started the tape in the top left corner, I eyeballed the angle I wanted the chevron, and the distance I wanted it to stretch. Holding the tape at either end, I placed it on the wall and used that as my guide for measuring.

2. Keep it straight and even! To keep all the angles the same, I measured from the corner of the wall to the top of the first point and then doubled that measurement to mark where the second tape (going down) would hit. I continued the same measuring points method the entire way across the wall, giving me equal distance from one to another. I came short at the very end (you can see where it starts a new zig or zag on the right side), but I actually like how it turned out not so perfect!

3. Connect the Dots. Once I had the top row complete, the rest were so much more simple! From each point, I measured 8″ down and marked the wall with pencil. You can use your level alongside your yardstick to make sure your lines are straight, and then it’s like connecting the dots with your tape!

4. Keep the corners sharp! Don’t forget to fold the corners of the tape at the points to give it a seamless look.

5. Roll on the paint. Once the entire wall was taped off, I took a small roller brush and painted on the color. When painting with tape, try not to put as much paint on the roller. You don’t want it sneaking under the tape, and it takes less time to apply two coats of light paint then to go back after you take the tape off and make straight lines on the entire wall (a lesson I learned painting stripes in my son’s room).

6. The reveal! Here comes the fun part—as soon as the paint dries, slowly pull the tape off. If there are any parts where the paint did sneak through, just take a small craft brush and smooth out the lines by hand.

So there it is! My daughter’s peachy-pink chevron walls. I think it turned out pretty fabulous, and for the three other walls, I used a light shade of teal. I can’t wait to see how this nursery evolves.

Now, if the next twenty weeks of pregnancy can go by as quickly and easily as this wall was to paint!

My son recently had his third birthday party, and he got to pick the theme. He is currently obsessed with dragons, so I had to get to work on creating a three-year-old friendly party without any dragon images that might be a bit scary for some of the little guests. I ended up using an old Peter, Paul and Mary song that my mother used to sing to me as a point of inspiration—Puff the Magic Dragon. Which again goes to show that inspiration can come from anywhere!

For this party, I learned a few new tricks and also used some that are tried and true.

Thrift stores are Mecca for inexpensive party props. I found a ledge shelf and a candle holder that I painted and repurposed for my dessert display. I created and painted a few cake stands as well from candlesticks and plates from the local Goodwill. The pieces displaying the party favors also came from some thrifty shopping and were perfect after a few cosmetic adjustments. If you don’t plan to use the items again and again, don’t invest in expensive serving pieces—look for something you can repurpose. I knew bright purple and lime green don’t come up in my color selections very often, so paint was the perfect way to achieve my design look!

Boxed lunches rock! The three-year-olds found opening the lunch boxes nearly as exciting as opening a present, and the moms and dads there totally appreciated not having to juggle plates and children while having to serve them. You can buy paper serving boxes.

Kids love being crafty. The younger the party guests, the simpler you need to make the activity. For Brennan’s party, they helped complete the assembly for little wooden boats (we put most of them together beforehand so we didn’t frustrate our little guests). Afterwards, they sailed them in a baby pool we had set up out back.

Your dessert table doesn’t have to be huge, and a favor table also makes for a great themed party display. With a scaled down dessert table, I was grateful not to have a ton of sweets leftover, and the kids loved picking out all sorts of treasures to fill their boxes with. You can see the rest of the party pictures and more details on this party in the gallery.

Since the assembly of the beds, I have added a few things.

1. Painted craft letters 2. Ikea paper lantern turned hard-wired light fixture
3. Repurposed/repainted nursery decor 4. Decorative lanterns 5. Locker bins to hold homework and art projects

Oh, and we can’t forget about the DIY swing shelf.

So now here is my wish list to add some final touches.

1. Surfboard Plaque 2. Chevron Rug 3. Polished Nickel Pendant 4. Weathered Wood Beach Banner

Don’t you just LOVE the Chevron Rug? That is a must! Now, I think the only thing missing is some paint detail on the wall. Have you come across some fab finds for your nursery or room design? Please share!

Layers. The simplest way to add polish to your printables is to layer them. Either cut down your invitation by 1/4 inch or print them at 95% scale or so (choose this option from the print menu). Glue or tape a sheet of card stock the original size of your invitation to the back. Your invitation will look crisp, clean and professional.

Envelopments. To make this particular envelopment, all I did was create a little folder for my invitation. The original invitation was 5×7, so I cut a sheet of scrapbook paper 10×7 and folded it in half, and then taped down the layered invitation to the inside. You can use solid or patterned paper here.

To further embellish my envelopment, I created a band by taping a piece of ribbon around the outside and added a layered 2″ circle. Paper bands would work well here, too. The overall effect makes a really unique presentation and an invitation you’ll get many compliments on.

Sparkles and banding. If you’re not someone who really gets into cutting and taping, you can very simply add some style to your printable invitations by adding some gemstones. I prefer the very small ones that come with adhesive already on the back—you can pick these up at any craft store.

Another simple effort to give your printable some style is to tie a simple ribbon around the middle in a complementary color. It’s always the little touches that make things look special!

Vellum. Another favorite dress-up-my-printables trick of mine is to use vellum overlays. The paper has a nice feel to it and always looks a little luxurious. Just cut the vellum to the exact size of your invitation and lay it over the invite before you place it in the envelope. If you want to go a step further, add a paper belly band (a strip of paper that wraps all the way around your invitation).

Those are just a few tricks I use to add some sprinkles on top of an already good thing!