Riley's Ocean Dreams Birthday Party, 2025

 Hello, tonight I'd like to share another birthday party from last year, this one for my cousin Riley's 12th birthday. I wanted to do the most grand party I'd ever done, but she asked for something beach-themed, and I struggled to come up with original ideas for it. I ended up doing neutral colors and going for a dreamy, ethereal but natural look that was (unintendedly) simple (and rather last-minute). 

I made the giant seashell from recycled cardboard painted with metallic white acrylic paint. The giant white sign that read "Riley is 12" was a foam posterboard that I cut and wrote on with a marker. I plucked some branches to add to the balloon arch from my grandparent's yard. I cut lines into snickerdoodle cookies from Dollar General to make sand dollars. The sun glasses were from Dollar General or Walmart, and I honestly forget what the other favors were. I had all of the rest of the decorations on hand already. 

Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed! 

Blessings,

Lauryn 

Easter 2025

 This post is extremely short, but here are three photos from our Easter 2025. The decorations were very simple because I also did a birthday party on the same day and it felt wrong to combine the two, so I decorated our house for Easter and another house for a birthday. I painted the backdrop, which was an ordinary poster, used sticks outside for the cross, and went for a dramatic complimentary color scheme of dark red and dark green (although the backdrop turned more blue than planned) for the symbolism those colors hold. And also simply because I love that color pairing, and had not done that palette for Easter before. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

-Lauryn 

Nostalgic "Cabbage Patch Kids" Birthday Party

 Hello, Happy New Year (and Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving, all of the other holidays that have passed since my last post, etc.)! I have so many events, classroom activities, gift ideas and projects to share. 

Today I would like to share a birthday from back in August that was Cabbage Patch Doll-themed for my mother, who grew up loving Cabbage Patch Kids (though I personally find the concept weird and creepy). It was intended to be a fun, nostalgic theme but also tailored for an adult, so I went with a muted sea green, white, and tannish-pink color palette. I drew or painted the logo on a poster, changing the letters to "Happy Birthday", used an old pumpkin dish upside down to kind of look like a cabbage (hopefully), bought matching flower dish sponges and party blowers as party favors, and a matching Ingles bouquet as the table centerpiece. I printed out vintage Cabbage Patch Kids templates for the party blower packaging. I bought the cookies, drew faces on them, and wrapped cabbage around them to create Cabbage Patch cookies (okay, admittedly not the most appetizing idea but visually the closest thing I could make to the logo). I also drew/painted a Cabbage Patch Kid poster and used a doll we already owned. I hope you enjoy!

Thank you for visiting!

-Lauryn 

Fairytale-Themed Girl Baby Shower Gift

 Hello! Today I'd like to share a girl fairytale-themed baby shower gift basket I put together for my friend's daughter. An important part of putting together gift baskets is making sure the colors match. The color scheme I used for this basket was mainly blush pinks, brown, and grey. I included socks, a handmade wand, an outfit, a rabbit blanket toy with rattles, and a wooden block I decorated with her name and birthdate. For the basket, I used a plant bowl (I don't know what they are actually called) from Dollar Tree, tied a lace ribbon around it, and tucked moss in around the bowl. This could easily be changed into a boy baby shower gift inspired by literature or a girl baby shower gift with a different theme, or be used for holidays/first birthdays, of course. 

I hope you find this basket idea or this theme inspiring! Also, for those starting today, happy first day of the 2022-23 school year! 

-Lauryn

Easter and Earth Day, 2020

Hello, everyone! This is a very unusual post for many reasons. One, becuase I never combine events but both of these were so small I just thought I should share them in one post. For another reason, I love Easter, it's one of my favorite holidays, but I couldn't decorate this Easter so I put my brothers in charge. Being in quarentine and all, they used what they had, which was pretty much paper and a cardboard box, and handmade the decorations. They drew lots of pictures to display as posters, a centerpiece with pictures on all four sides and the top made with the cardboard box, and a banner of sorts made of paper drawings. They used some household things to make a stand for a cross they had and displayed that, too. I enjoyed their drawings and creativity, and I am so grateful they took that duty over for me. That Easter was very unique, between Covid 19, online church, and tornado warnings, but overall it was pretty good, and I can truly say it was an Easter like no other.

For Earth Day yesterday, I ended up throwing up some decorations the morning of from cardstock, plants and branches in our yard, and my pegboard, along with my blanket I love to decorate with and some dishes. I wanted an earthy, natural look with overall subtle colors. My family made some Earth day cakes and my brothers frosted them. I made up a cake recipe as well, and I hope to share that and my weird pizza recipe. They are both made with only four (of my favorite) ingredients. I did an art lesson for Earth day and my youngest brother made Earth day illustrations meant to promote recyling while also being narrative. I normally wouldn't really bother with Earth day although I have thrown up some decorations before, yet this year I didn't do any April Fool's Day pranks or Easter decorations and I put a lot of effort into Earth Day, probably becuase I was procrastinating from homework. It has been a very strange year. Anyway, I hope these ideas give you some inspiration for Earth Day next year, paper decorations, or even for some activities to while at home (baking, nature art, doodling, making a recycled decoration).

Thank you so much for visiting! I look foward to sharing more with you soon!

-Lauryn