It's beginning to look alot like Christmas......

Over here at my house, the holiday decorations have been up since the day after thanksgiving. I wanted to share a little Christmas cheer from my humble abode....

The family room is where we have our "fun tree" all our ornaments are from places we have been or things we have loved over the years.

This is my "A Christmas Story" autograph wall. I dragged my husband to Cleveland, OH 3 years ago to meet all these characters. What a weekend that was! Best.Time.Ever!

Onto my living room, which I call my "Christmas in Connecticut" room. (Where I am from!) This is our formal tree and strewn about I have my collection of Byers Choice Carolers.

Moving on, here is looking from my kitchen back to the front hall. Just tried to use some sparkle and glam here to give this space a little bit of cheer.

And I couldn't resist posting again my creation on our front yard. This little scene has been getting a little bit of attention from motorists, some stopping to take pictures.

Hope you enjoyed the tour! Be back tomorrow with some holiday party tips!

MY Three Wise Men.....

I started this project in October and it is finally complete! Loving how my "A Christmas Story" boys turned out! Nobody can ever forget that classic flagpole Triple Dog Dare Ya scene! Anyone who knows me, knows my obsession with this movie and creating these were the perfect addition to my christmastime lawn!

Linking up with www.iheartnaptime.net & http://www.thegrantlife.com/ check out all the great ideas!

My Spooky Halloween Mantel

My Halloween Mantel - basically done with everything bought from Michaels & AC Moore - I think the crows are my favorite! As far as the skeletons go, I wanted a little more glam, so I bought a couple of black feather boa's and dressed them up!

31 Days of Halloween....

Fall is my favorite season so I thought it would be appropriate to try to challenge myself to do 31 days of Halloween and/or Autumn blog posts of ideas and decorations.

I made these cute little guys last October - found the idea in a magazine - they are simply white wedding bell decorations & black construction paper eyes & mouths - once you have them situated where you want to set them up, you drape cheesecloth over them. Thought it was such a cute idea and made so inexpensively!

Little Miss A's Favorite Things Party

This weekend we celebrated Little Miss A's 2nd Birthday party. Her mother wanted a simple party based around A's favorite things, which mainly included her beloved stuffed hippo "Chet". I just wanted to showcase how by using some simple photos adorned with tulle or ribbon and some do-it -yourself tissue paper poms can dress up any occasion!

The photo decorations were attached to dowel sticks and could be placed either in flowers, or into a mason jar full of tulle.

A simple centerpiece of a pink candle with a dollar spot princess crown made for a beautiful focal point of the dining room.

Miss A may have been the birthday girl, but I think this "Chet" cake stole the show!

Tomato? Tomatoe?

Living in New Jersey does have some perks. It isn't ALL big hair, Sopranos & "The Situation". If you head down south, Southern New Jersey is quite the opposite! The reason we are called the Garden State is certainly no myth! We are known down here for our legendary farms that produce corn, pumpkins, sunflowers & especially Jersey Tomato's! Nothing better than the tomato's you will find at the road stand farmers market down here. Found a couple of photos that peeked my senses...

Love the rustic look of this tablescape!

www.everythingfab.com

The simplicity of these salads are great for a summer cocktail party, no big messy trays, platters or bowls to clean up, just perfectly portioned throw away cups!

I thought this table was absolutely gorgeous for a late summer or early fall bounty harvest dinner. The colors alone make such a beautiful centerpiece and the breadsticks and olives just complete the whole look!

"Digging" Turning Two - Part Two, Food & Favors

Welcome to part 2 of "This kid is going to 'dig' turning two". Sorry it took so long, but I had a vacation thrown in there somewhere that I am back from finally.

This was the food table, we decided to go with hot dogs for the kids and 6 foot long hoagies for the adults which looked super cute with a measuring tape spread in front, but somehow I don't know how I managed to not get a picture of the sandwiches.

Kids food table, decided to keep it simple and separate so it was easy for parents to make their childs plate.

Veggie cups , which was inspired by Tori Spelling's kids veggie cups at a birthday party she threw for her daughter Stella. I saw them online and couldn't resist. The kids loved them.

Some adult beverages


Beer & Soda for the "contractors" and water and juice boxes for the "sub contractors"

The Cake. Was simpler to make than it actually looked.

What construction site wouldn't be complete without a box of donuts??

Dessert Table

Favors for all the little crew members. Filled with candy, stickers and mini-trucks.

This kid is going to "Dig" turning Two - Part 1

I recently finished planning & styling my nephew's 2nd birthday party. Since Cooper's dad is a general contractor and this kid loves everything diggers, dump trucks and many other construction vehicles that I don't know the names of, it was only appropriate to stick to this theme.

There were so many elements that went into this party from the decorations, the kids fun stations and food & beverages, I am going to break it up into two posts. Hang on tight, this is a long one.....

This was the kids table, complete with hardhats and construction cone drinking cups. They were a big hit!
This was our first zone for the kids which included tons of brick "blocks" for building.

We included some fun little signs to keep our guests amused!

The second area was a coloring table complete with take home waist aprons that had a dump truck coloring book and little packs of crayons tucked away in the pockets.

It helped that Cooper's dad is "in the business" and could score us lots of cool stuff like these construction barriers!

View from under the tent. Originally we didn't want to have it under a tent, but with the weather forecast at 40% rain, we opted to rent one just in case. Of course it turned out to be a beautiful day!

Close up of the centerpieces I created. Each table had a glass centerpiece with diggers, a hard hat and a miniature construction cone, set on a blueprint.

This station for the kids turned out to be the biggest hit. Boxes and boxes created tons of fun building for these little guys and gals. They would get so excited when an adult would stack them super high so they could knock them over!

Thanks for taking a look. Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow - Favors & Food!

Be Back Soon!

Be back soon with some great posts on a Construction themed party from last week. Forgive me from being MIA, but I am recently back from here: