Stephanie Scurlock

Every year I host an annual Christmas pajama, hot cocoa, and cookie playdate.  It is perhaps, the most fun party for me to throw each year.  I love to have a hot cocoa bar complete with all the fixings and make delicious sugar cookies. All the babies and mamas are invited to wear festive pjs and bring a holiday treat to share.  It’s so casual and fun!  This year, I really wanted my party to have a bit of a rustic charm and elegance.  Lots of real wreaths and garlands and I even came across a farm stand selling handfuls of red berry stems for $5.00.  I have a lot of industrial/farmhouse decor in my home so I utilized a lot of wood, galvanized metal, and mason jars for most of my decor.  I was able to decorate my home and the party at very little cost.  This is such a fun tradition that my girls and I look forward to every year!

We have very limited space in our home and because of that, I wanted to utilize one of the rooms that was previously a formal dining room and make it a playroom/functional guest room as well.  Most of my home has a vintage, modern farmhouse flair to it but I wanted the playroom to feel young and fun and more modern than the rest of my home.  I was inspired by some fall photos that my family and I took in Massachusetts with the fall foliage.  We wore mustard yellows and purple and I used many of the photos to create a gallery wall in the playroom.  I used these bright, bold colors to create the room and added in gray in order to not overwhelm the room too much.  It’s not a big space, and so I used a gray futon to provide seating but it functions as a guest bed which is amazing.  Best of all, it is modern and doesn’t look like what you’d picture when you say the word futon.  I got some great colored pieces of furniture to balance out the room like the blue media stand and mustard yellow end table.  The focal point of the whole room is the purple wall letters “play,” “draw,” and “read.”  I purchased all of the letters from Michael’s and painted them myself.  They were easy to hang and function as great wall decor.
I am so happy with the way this space evolved.  My girls love playing in the playroom but I also enjoy sitting in their, sipping my coffee in the morning (or afternoon) and watching them play.  It’s a space that they love to be in as well as adults which makes for the perfect playroom in my eyes!

I have such a love for all things sweet and vintage and so I was inspired to do an old-fashioned ice cream parlor party for my daughter Ryan’s 3rd birthday.  She loves “ice cones” just as much as I do!  Having a summer birthday made this the perfect theme for her party.  We opted to just serve ice cream and a few snacks with no meal and so I put all my efforts into the ice cream shop.
I actually made the ice cream awning out of PVC pipe.  I found a tutorial online and scaled it down a bit to fit my table as well as give me the option to move it inside if need be.  I found the absolutely perfect pink and white stripe fabric for the awning and table cloth.  I didn’t have a pattern for the two pieces, but I do a lot of sewing for my Etsy shop, The Dandelion Lane and so I was able to create it from scratch.  It turned out exactly how I envisioned and definitely was the focal point of the party.
Many of the serving pieces were picked up at either Home Goods or Michael’s Arts and Crafts Store.  I kind of just grabbed things here and there as I came across them.  I made all of the goodies, including the cupcakes and chocolate dipped cones.  I also wrapped the cones in coordinating scrapbook papers and made all of the small food signs out of the same paper and stickers.  The “ice cream shoppe” sign was a blank sign picked up from Michael’s and I added the stickers and Mod Podged over it.  It came out great with little to no effort!
This party took a lot of prep work, but it came out great in the end.  I also pre-scooped the ice-cream the night before which made serving it so much easier.  I think this is the perfect party theme for toddlers.  You could very easily change up the color scheme to fit for boys, girls, or both!  And you have so many options you can use for your ice cream bar to make it fun and festive.

For my daughter Ryan’s 2nd Flamingo Birthday Party, I wanted to have a party that was bright and cheery and fit with a summer theme since her birthday is in July.  I sew for my Etsy shop, The Dandelion Lane and I came across this beautiful blue and pink flamingo fabric and from the inspiration for her flamingo party was born.  I handmade all of the desserts including the flamingo cookies and cupcakes and also made the flamingo pennant banner and her party outfit.  I used fresh flowers to decorate my tables which is a cheap and easy way to decorate and it looks great.  I also bough a bunch of flamingo lawn ornaments for decor outside.  We passed out blue and pink cotton candy as party favors which was also a huge hit.
I wanted something for the kids to be able to do outside and blow up baby pools and sprinklers were perfect for their age.  They were thoroughly entertained for the entire afternoon.
My advice would just be to not be afraid to do things yourself.  You can throw a great party without spending too much money by baking your own cake/cupcakes/cookies and decorating with things like flowers!

This is my eldest daughter Ryan’s romantic pink and cream nursery turned toddler room.  It is the perfect room for any little girl filled with all kinds of fun things to play with but put together in a decorative way that is pleasing to the eye.

This is Miss Rory Lou’s mint, pink and gold nursery. It is shabby chic, vintage, elegant, and ultra feminine all at the same time.  To me, it  is a nursery fit for the girliest of girls.