My 4th of July Crafty Attempt

According to Dictionary.com, this is what I did...

Crafty: Of, involving, or relating to the making of decorative objects and other things by hand

I tend to think I have some creativity in me... So I find these pictures and inspiration boards via online and I attempt to re-create things and have this really good envision of what I want and they just never look the same.. I'm not sure if it's a lack of funds to supply everything needed to make it look the same or what it might be, but over all I'm pretty satisfied with my fun 4th of July decor I've built up over the past few years from various sales, Target dollar section, etc.

My holiday weekend started out perfectly on Thursday with a lunch/car wash date with my precious little flower girl and her awesome mama! She might not look excited to see me, but I promise she was ;)

Table centerpiece: Old ornaments my parents were throwing away after cleaning out the Christmas decor from years past... I grabbed them out of the trash pile and figured we could create something Patriotic with them, along with some cylinders from Home Goods, this is what we came up with!

Close-up of one of the small cylinders:

Coffee table when you enter the house downstairs: all items courtesy of the Target dollar section a few years ago

Serve ware for the weekend:



Pinwheels lined in one of the flower beds:



American Flags lining the sidewalk:



Upstairs rail, downstairs doors, and 4th of July Banner:



Now for the food part:

Red, White, and Blue Patriotic Strawberries:





My mom, cousin Lory, and I also made chocalte dipped pretzel sticks that I did not get a picture of but they are at the end of the dessert buffet line here:

I will leave you with a fun picture my cousin took of the strawberries on her phone:

If I get the patience later, I might do a fun 4th of July post to show all the good times and memories that were made!

4th of July Fun- Food, Favor, or Decor Ideas!!

I'm feeling crafty.....

We have some friends and family coming down to our second home this weekend aka the river house aka my little heaven to celebrate our wonderful freedom!

I want to challenge myself to do something crafty and fun this week as a little party favor for people coming or a yummy treat or even just a little festive decor!
It's not going to be a big party or anything special just a few close friends that I would like to show a little love for coming down.

Here's where you come into play! I need some ideas!!!

My mom and I tried to make this last year for the 4th of July

Let's just say it did not look like this one... After photo documenting the entire process (to blog about...) and my mom and I being so excited about making this cake, we ended up throwing it in the trash (literally) and just making a plain chocolate cake.

So I do not want to try and attempt anything to this affect again... I know I am not a baker and I am OK with that!!!

Here are some things I found that look fabulous and fairly easy:


Chocolate Covered Strawberries


Red White and Blue Ice Pops



The Red White and Blue popcorn looks fairly easy?



I would love to make these as party favors, this might be the kid coming out in me...



This sign makes my heart so happy!!! If only I would of started planning this out a little sooner...



Chocolate Pretzels... Are on my level of do-able!



If we had kids... We WOULD be doing this!!!



If I was going somewhere that I would dress up/cute.. I would love to be wearing this but since I stay in my swim suit 80% of the day, I won't be wearing this.


Soo have any of you ladies made anything fun for this weekend or made anything in the past you would like to share?

Feel free to comment and share :)

Hope everyone has a fun Fourth of July doing whatever brings you happiness and don't forget of those who help us have our freedom!!

Images used: Pinterest and Google Images

Do You Pintrest?

I caved....

Over the past few months I have heard the site mentioned and seen various fabulous boards posted on blogs and other social media but I kept telling myself that I did not need to join and fall into the trap of looking at another site daily (I used to look at my blogger daily.. That has been neglected the past few months,) but after finding myself checking out the site more often I decided to give in..

Thanks to MJ over at Teaching In Heels, I got my invite to follow and quickly got signed up!

In case you aren't familiar, here' s a quick overview of what it is:
Pintrest is a web-based place to bookmark all of your favorite images all in one place. You can create different folders for things you may be looking for or for things you want to remember.

Some boards I'm looking forward to creating:
Crafts
Teaching
Wedding Ideas
Fun Girl Time Ideas
Fashion
Beauty
Gift Ideas
and much more....

So are you "Pinning"?
I'm not sure how it all works yet but I know you have to be 'invited' so if you are interested in starting leave me a comment and I'll send you an invite (once I figure out how to...ha.)

Inspiration Board- How to make?

Can someone please tell me how to make the inspiration boards? I know you can make the fashion/clothing ones on pryvore.com but I want to make one with using my own pics. I saw some articles through Google that you just make it in your photo editing software or on photo shop but I do not have either of those. There has to be an easier way, I see people make them all the time!

Thanks!

Cricut Cartridge: Old West

I've been eying the Cricut Old West Cartridge for months/years now... When I buy new cartridge's I always just buy the standard/all around cartridges that are more practical. But now that were having a Western themed engagement party and Michael's Craft store has the cartridge's 50% off this week, I decided to go ahead and make the purchase.

It will defiantly get its use not only with our party, but also...
* I love anything and everything Western, hence our party theme and future home decor
*We often attended Texas Country concerts, and of course I take pics
*I can always use it for something to do with my rodeo committee, Ladies Go Texan

Now I just need to figure out how to make the die cuts that are 2 toned papers/colors like this one I found on ebay (yes people make things and list them on ebay)

Any Cricut users out there have any tips?

Off to google "how to" and maybe even play a little, my cricut is getting a little rusty anyways!