bridal shower inspiration.

Wedding season is in full swing! I am sure you all know at least one young bride with their wedding just around the corner. Last summer I was able to plan two bridal showers for two lovely ladies. I just thought I would share a few ideas for the next time you need to plan a bridal shower.      First I will show you Paige's Bridal shower. With our cheap college budget we did our best to throw together a classy bridal shower for her. Instead of coming up with a theme, we just decided to stick with her wedding colors. 

 

In this picture above is a really simple banner that I made. All I did was print out letters on purple paper and tape them to a string. This only took me about 5 minutes to do and it was more than worth it for a perfect little touch to the bridal shower. 

Then we made tons of cake pops! You can NEVER go wrong with cake pops. The little pearl sprinkles I bought were definitely a hit at the party.

This is what the table setting ended up looking like. We put one of those cheap plastic table clothes under a nice lace one for a pop of color. We also strung Christmas lights on the ceiling and under the table clothe. Then there are the balloons. I feel like balloons are a difficult thing to decorate with for a "grown-up" party. But this layout made them look classy and it gave some height to our table.


Next, we have Natalie's Bridal shower. This is one of my favorites! We decided to do a tropical theme to go along with her honeymoon.

 

See that cute, fun tassel garland...I made that! I just used this tutorial here.
I also made the cake stands by getting cheap candle sticks and plates then spray painting and gluing them together. It was difficult to find the right kind of glue...and eventually they all fell apart. But they looked good for the picture!

My friend made the most amazing smoothies! And then we topped them off with cute paper straws and little umbrellas. A drink isn't tropical with out a little umbrella! We all know that.

We also threw some yellow pom poms above the treat table.

To give the girls a chance to do something personal for Natalie, we printed off pictures of her with her friends and had everyone sign the pictures with their favorite memory. It was a cute gift to give to the bride-to-be after the shower.

We set up this canopy so we could have a place to relax and visit. The little kiddy pool was so fun! 

Can't forget the Kabobs! We let the girls make their own Kabobs, and then we threw them on the grill.

Oh and lastly, here are the invitations that I made for the party.

I hope that some of these ideas will help inspire you with your planning this wedding season! If you want any more information just let me know! 

DIY painting and glazing a dresser.

I LOVE long weekends...and this is why! I get to work on big projects like this one.    

  First you get your dresser! I try to always work with real wood. It is so much easier to work with than laminate or something like that.   

  Next, we painted! We got our paint from Walmart. The paint we used was a paint and primer in one. I thought this wouldn't work as well as paint and primer being separate. But after about two coats it looked great!   

  Once the paint was completely dry (over night). I could start glazing and antiquing the dresser. 

 

 With glazing, I take 4 parts glaze and 1 part regular acrylic paint (I went with black this time) and mix them together. I then paint the glaze on very thin, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. I let it dry and little and then wipe off the glaze I don't want to stay on there with a damp rag. Once all my glazing was finished I sprayed down the whole dresser with a clear spray for protecting the paint. This is suppose to help your dresser to not chip.

In this picture, everything is glazed. We need to just spray paint the hardware and stain the top. 

 

And its done! I love how the wood top turned out. It might be my favorite part of the whole dresser.

If you have any questions about what I used or how I used it, don't hesitate to ask! 

how this redhead tans.

Hey ya'll! I hope you are having a great Memorial weekend. With summer right around the corner, the shorts are getting shorter and we're breaking out our swimsuits. For a redhead like me...this can be a problem. I am the kind of person that goes from white to red and back to white. I do not tan! Because I can't tan, I turn towards self tanners. It has taken my a good 3 years to find the perfect combination to make my tan look natural and healthy. 

This amazing tutorial done by Maskcara has really helped me! She shows you exactly how to apply self tanner. Here is a run down for what I do:

Step 1: Shower and exfoliate. I just use a lufa and really scrub.

Step 2: Put regular lotion where ever you do not want the tanner to really soak in (knees, elbows, ankles).

Step 3: Rub in your self tanner. This is where Maskcara's tutorial really helped me out.

Step 4: Let dry. I finished getting ready and let all the tanner soak in before I put my clothes on.

THE PRODUCTS:

 

Jergens Natural Glow Foam (Medium)

I use this about 2 times a week. This works much faster and comes out much darker than the jergens tanning lotion.

 

Sun Laboratories Self Tanning (Medium)

I use this 1-2 times a week. This stuff comes out dark!! Don't let that scare you. This is where most of your tan will come from. This is by far the best self tanner I have ever used. The color is perfect on me! Not too orange...not too yellow. It looks really natural on my white, freckled, redheaded skin.

 

Jergens Natural Glow (Fair)

 I use this on the days that I am not using one of the other two products. We all know that self tanning tans do not last! This lotions is perfect for maintaining the tan and keeping everything looking natural.

I hope this helps all you fair skinned friends out there!  

how to bleach denim.

Hey, It's Elizabeth! So I have always wanted to bleach a pair of denim jeans for some reason. The idea just intrigues me, but the truth is I am a little afraid of bleach. Maybe its just me but I feel like it is a rational fear. Well, today I decided to conquer my fears and try it out.  I thought I would share my experience with you and hopefully you will muster up the courage to try it too.

To get started you will need a few things.

Supplies: 

• Something denim (I recommend something you don't care about ruining especially for your first try) 
• Bleach (I bought the cheapest brand I could find)
• A plastic bucket or container you don't mind getting bleach in
• Protective equipment (ie. rubber gloves, goggles, apron) 

I would also recommend wearing clothing you really don't care about getting ruined. Hopefully that will not happen, but its better to be safe than sorry. 

First, find a safe area to work. I chose my bathroom because there is a ventilation fan and a water source. Working outdoors could also be nice if you have that available and don't have animals that will disturb it. 

I used a plastic storage tote to bleach in so that I did not have to fill the entire bath tub up with water. I filled it about 1/3 of the way full and added about 1 part bleach to 3 parts water. Make sure to read and fallow all the warning labels on the bottle. 

Once you have your bleach/water mixture ready place your denim into the water and use your gloved hand or a stick to push the fabric all the way into the water. 

Then the waiting game begins! How long you keep your denim in the solution depends on how light you want your denim to become. 

Before: 0 Hours 

*Tip Time* 

So I had this all purpose cleaner with bleach in my cabinet. I honestly hate using it to clean because of the strong bleach smell so I thought hey, I could just get rid of it by using it to bleach denim.... Um No! I definitely tried that and it did absolutely nothing. The cleaner is less than 2% bleach and then by diluting it even more with water it did nothing. So don't waste your time! Go to the store and buy a container of bleach which is super cheap anyways. 

After 4 hours 

After 8 hours 

When my denim had become the color that I wanted I carefully transferred them to the washing machine without dripping bleach water across the floor. I did one cycle in the wash without soap, and then did a second wash with soap before I dried them. 

I ended up keeping my shorts in the bleach solution for about 12 hours before they became the color I desired. I am pretty happy with my results. The only thing I am a little disappointed about is the back pockets have dark spots on them where they did not bleach. I am not really sure why, but I think I will sew some cute fabric to them and you will never know. 

DIY Moroccan Dresser

 Hey! Christi here! One of my favorite things to do is refinishing furniture. There is so much joy that comes with bring new life to an old piece of furniture.

I was given this dresser with the challenge to make it look adorable for a little girls bedroom. 

First we started with the color. We knew we didn't want anything too girly looking so we got lucky when we found this pretty blue/grey paint color in the "mess-ups" at Home Depot. Whenever you are at Home Depot or Walmart make sure you run over to the paint sections to see if you can find any steals! Sometime they have the perfect colors for more than half off! Nothing gets more exciting than that.

I got a regular plastic paint holder and covered it in tin foil. This is one of my favorite tricks! I'm sure you all know how annoying it is to wash those things out when you are switching colors. Problem solved. Just cover it in tin foil and when you are done just ball it up and throw it away. 

I also used a roller vs a paint brush. I found this to work much better with all of the flat surfaces I would be painting. Normally I would recommend spray painting furniture, but this time I just used regular ol' paint (there is a lot more variety in colors available).

I painted the drawer faces white. Waited for it to COMPLETELY dry then taped it off and did the blue/grey border. I then drew my designs on with pencil. For the Moroccan pattern I traced that shape from a tile I had. Then, for the stripes and the chevron I just used a ruler and tried my best to make everything even.

After some tedious hand painted we finally have the finished dresser! The random pink glass knobs (Hobby Lobby) gave the perfect girly touch to a not so girly dresser.

If you have any questions about what products I used or if you need any tips, don't hesitate to comment below!