February 12, 2012 by: Michelle

Valentine’s Day Playdate

A couple of my talented friends brought their little girlies over for a fun Valentine’s Day playdate on Friday. Miss Cami was so excited to play with her “sisters”! Cracks me up! She thinks whenever there are all girls they are her sisters. How cute. She sees pictures from my Merry + Bright kids holiday shoot and she says, “Member, Mom…we had cupcakes with my sisters!”. Gotta love two year olds and their way of thinking 🙂

Anyways, the best part – it barely cost me a thing! Lots of DIY and Target dollar aisle finds 🙂 Oh and these pretty pictures you see – the one girlies mama is the very talented Ellie of Photography Studio 37. The other mama is the fabulous Amy of AMK’s Boutique who made the adorable headbands the girls are wearing and she made the XOXO letters seen on the table. Two very talented mom’s who helped make this little playdate extra special.

I styled this party in full budget mode. I twisted crepe paper to hide my wall that usually holds wall art in my dining room. Everything seen on the table I already had laying around, except for the heart plates – I found those cuties at Target for $2.49 and couldn’t resist. I’m loving my new white cake stand with red edging I got as a gift for Christmas. I decorated my black corner cabinet last month for Valentine’s Day using my Target dollar aisle finds. You can read about all that here.

The girls decorated the mini mailboxes found in the Target dollar aisle using little gems and hearts also found in the dollar section. It was such a fun little project and perfect for their ages (2+4). I wrapped plastic milk bottles in twine and added a fun striped paper straw. My very talented friend Ann made the adorable sugar cookies! Aren’t they FAB?! You can’t have a party without Lillycakes so I simply stuck them in my fake flower arrangement for a nice little centerpiece. OK, so the flower arragements I stole from my mom’s house the day before – hehe. OK, enough talking lets begin with the details…

OK, enough details right, most importantly, the girlies had a blast and that’s what it’s all about! 🙂 Aren’t they just the cutest in their *golden* tees and full Valentine’s Day gear!?

Aren’t they sweet? Thanks so much for coming girls, it was SUCH a fun day!

Miss Addison + Amy

Miss Mindy + Ellie

Miss Camryn + Me 🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day my sweet readers! XO, m

Credits
Styling/Printables: I DO invitations by michelle
Photography: Ellie Piper of Photography Studio 37
Headbands + XOXO Letters: AMK’s Boutique
Tees: *golden*
Cake Pops: Lillycakes
Tissue Heart Fan/Straws/Milk Bottles: Shop Sweet Lulu
Red Chevron Table Runner: A to Zebra Celebrations
Cami’s Necklace: Miss CoCo Designs

{Linking up}

February 9, 2012 by: Michelle

The Little Things…

Sometimes it’s the little things. I bought this cute Menu & Scroll vinyl from The House of Smiths. Love how this turned out and it was a super cheap and easy DIY. I saw the mock photo on their site and thought, I need to do that! The vinyl was only $5 {purchase here}. I bought the fun white plate from Target on clearance for like $2. The scroll stand I had stored away in my basement since I use it at my Wedding Expo’s.

Isn’t it cute? I have it displayed on my kitchen counter next to my sink. Sorry, the picture looks so blah – quickly took this on my iPhone last week. I’m sure you’ll be seeing this again next week when I use it for Cami’s Valentine’s Day play date. Mental note: Go get red dry erase marker 🙂

Only thing I wish I did was order the “notes & scroll” opposed to the menu, only because I feel I’m writing my hubby reminder notes more often on it than anything. XO, m

February 3, 2012 by: Michelle

Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Looking for a new appetizer to serve at your Superbowl party this weekend? I’ve got the perfect one for you brought to you by one of my best friends, Amber. I’m slightly obsessed with this stuff and it will surely be a crowd-pleaser 🙂

Buffalo Chicken Dip

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup hot wing sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon ranch dressing mix
3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1 ¼ cups shredded pepper jack cheese
1 chive diced
Serve using Tortilla or Pita Chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly spray a 1-quart casserole dish with cooking spray; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, wing sauce, sour cream, and ranch dressing mix, stirring until smooth. Fold in chicken and cheese. Transfer to prepared casserole dish. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes or until heated through and bubbling. Garnish with a few chives after baking. Serve warm with tortilla or pita chips. Enjoy!! 🙂

January 27, 2012 by: Michelle

New Bee Mine Valentine’s

Happy Friday!! This has been such a fun week for me creating lots of new invites and birth announcements. I can’t wait to show you! But first, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! These BEE MINE Valentine’s would be perfect for your little lovie to hand out at school or daycare. You can purchase in my etsy shop for just $10.

I can customize another file for you to print these two-sided with just the background or your child’s picture 🙂

{photos taken by Photos by Vitella}

I also created a new Valentine’s themed Birth Announcement {available in the shop!} and love how it turned out! Perfect for your newest little love…

XO, m

linking up: Tatertots & Jello

January 25, 2012 by: Michelle

Hey Mr. DJ….

Yay! Finally a post about weddings – get excited 🙂 I’m at that age where I’ve been lucky enough to attend a lot of weddings over the past few years. Like a lot, a lot. Weddings are my FAVE. I love nothing more than a good wedding. And a GOOD reception has a lot to do with that….and by that I mean the music + dancing. Nothing worse than going to a wedding with poor song choices and nobody feeling it.

I was the first one to marry out of our friends and close family which allowed me to help many of my friends out with various things for their weddings. {Which I loved because I love helping!} The one thing I always volunteered doing was to give my song request list. And I must say it’s a pretty darn good list. I know everyone has different musical taste but for the most part weddings are all similar in a sense – a few slow songs and some good party jams!

Before I give you my secret list (haha), I must stress not every super popular song is a good choice to play at your wedding. For example, Pumped Up Kicks is probably one of the most popular songs right now on the radio. At a wedding, probably not. Falls in the awkward category of not fast enough/not slow enough. Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” is always popular but again, not a good dancing song. Are you just going to sway and snap your fingers or what? See, you’re singing the song in your head and you know I’m right. 😉

Another suggestion I have when finalizing your list is to not put too many songs on there because it gives the DJ too many options that could go wrong. I sometimes feel bad for DJ’s when nobody’s dancing b/c it’s probably not always their fault since most of the time they are going off a list. A typical dance portion of a wedding is 2-3 hours so choose your songs wisely. First Dances, Garter/Bouquet Tosses, etc. take up a good chunk of that time too so you’re left with about 1.5-2 hours of fun, if you’re lucky. OK, enough rambling from me – here’s my list…

Slow Jam Faves

At Last – Etta James
What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Marry Me – Train

Old School Must Haves

You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

Livin on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
Billie Jean or Thriller – Michael Jackson
Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
Jump On It – Sir Mix-a-Lot
Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners

Country

I Need You – Tim McGraw + Faith Hill
Chicken Fried – Zac Brown Band

Then – Brad Paisley
Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks

Party Rockin’ Jams

Party Rock Anthem or I’m Sexy and I Know It – LMFAO
Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke
Just Dance – Lady Gaga
Yeah! – Usher feat. Lil John & Luda {in case you care, this is my jam!}
DJ Got Us Falling in Love – Usher

Give Me Everything (Tonight) – Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo

Boom Boom Pow or I Gotta Feeling or Let’s Get it Started or The Time – Black Eyed Peas
Dynamite – Taio Cruz
Sexy Chick – David Guetta feat. Akon
Low or Right Round or Good Feeling – Flo Rida
In Da Club – 50 Cent
Sexy Back – Justin Timberlake
The Way I Are – Timbaland
Like a G6 – Far East Movement
Get Low – Lil Jon & The East Side Boys
Work It – Missy Elliott

I purposely left out the obvious must play vs. do not play list of songs – some like The Cupid Shuffle and The Cha Cha Slide, others say no way. My only suggestion would be to spice it up with “Teach my how to Dougie” or “Soulja Boy”…haha. Always fun + comical to watch or take part in 🙂

Enjoy! Hope this list helps when trying to narrow down your favorites! 🙂 XO, m

January 23, 2012 by: Michelle

New Snow White Inspired Birthday Party Collection

I had so much fun designing this collection – so fun and vibrant! Perfect for your little girl who loves Snow White. Not sure if you’ve ever noticed, but the one thing I always try to include in all of my invitations is a picture or two. Who doesn’t love seeing a recent photo of your little one on their invite? Here the photo is inside the “mirror on the wall”. You can purchase this new collection in my etsy shop. 🙂

XO, m

January 18, 2012 by: Michelle

New Vibrant Owl Birthday Party Printable Collection

A sweet customer of mine contacted me a few months ago wanting a girlie Owl/Woodland Forest birthday party invite for her daughter’s 2nd birthday so I jumped at the chance and here’s what we came up with…

She then contacted me about doing matching printables but really liked my Merry & Bright holiday kids party collection so we went with that and I changed a few things up to match her mostly pink and lime theme. Love how everything turned out!

And now some photos of the fabulous party Morgan’s awesome Mommy and Daddy threw for her! Doesn’t it look so fun and cheery? LOVE it. Absolutely wonderful job, Alicia! I’m sure Morgan loved every minute of all the hard work you put into it.

You can purchase this new girlie owl invitation in my etsy shop for only $35. Want everything? You can also purchase the “Merry & Bright” printable collection for only $40 which includes the following printables that will be emailed to you in a .jpg format for you to either print from home or send to a local printer.

5×7 Invite

Cupcake Toppers/Party Circles

Happy Birthday Banner

Water Bottle Labels

Food Labels

Favor Tags

January 17, 2012 by: Michelle

New Captain America Birthday Party Printable Collection

I designed a new Captain America Inspired Birthday Party Printable Collection! You can purchase everything in my etsy shop.

What do you think? Lots of new party collections coming to the shop real soon! Finishing up a fun construction themed set for a client that I think you’ll all enjoy 🙂 XO, m

January 17, 2012 by: Michelle

2K Facebook Fans Fabulous Giveaway Winner

Thank you to all who entered the giveaway for reaching 2,000 facebook fans! Amazing!!!

Now for the winner……

Lucky comment #94 – Carlissa Brotherton

Congratulations, Carlissa! Please email me to claim your prizes 🙂

January 13, 2012 by: Michelle

Free Valentine’s Day Printables

I was asked by sweet Nancy to designs some Free Valentine’s Day printables for Living Locurto. Um…yes, please! 🙂 You can download these files for FREE by clicking here.

So here they are….thought I would do something more fun. Heart Papers perfect for bunting, 10 Things I LOVE about you paper and a fun 5×7 classic subway art printable perfect to dress up your home this Valentine’s Day.