I am thrilled to finally share my daughter’s third birthday party! We are HUGE Clifford The Big Red Dog fans in our house! (Did you know that Clifford officially turns 50 on Thursday?!) So when it came to picking a theme for my daughter’s third birthday I knew without a doubt that it would have to be a Big Red Third birthday!
I used a bright primary color scheme – red, yellow, and blue. I started with the invitation design and loved the way it turned out! You can now find it available in the shop along with coordinating thank you cards, favor tags, and address labels. Guests were greeted at the door by the Big Red Dog himself!
For our tables I made centerpieces in small metal pails found in Target’s dollar bin section. Each centerpiece included a pinwheel fan and small images of Clifford and friends. I punched circles out of cardstock to make confetti and scattered it around the tables for a festive look. Guests were served hot dogs, sub sandwiches, and dog bone shaped PB&J sandwiches. Other items served included salad, chips, veggies, and fruit. Drinks included sweet tea, lemonade, sodas, and water.
The dessert table was by far one of my favorites! It featured a big red three piñata personally made by me and filled with the birthday girl’s favorite treats – Reese’s peanut butter cups, Kit Kat bars, and lollipops. The backdrop for the dessert table included cardstock triangle buntings and pinwheel fans with images of Clifford and friends. The treats on the table included a vanilla cake, vanilla cupcakes, puppy chow, rice crispy treats, chocolate dipped pretzel rods, and cookies. The cupcakes were topped with custom cupcake toppers from Edible Details. The custom cookies were created by Yummy Delicious Cookies by Whimsical Originals.
Watch for part two coming on Wednesday! You’ll get to see Clifford’s craft table and learn more about my inspiration for the DIY piñata!
I had planned to design another Valentine’s Day freebie, but time got the better of me this week! I have seen some amazing free printables already that I thought I’d put together a list of some of my favorites. All of these and more can be found on my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board.
Source | One Charming Party
These “Super Fly” printable boy valentines are so clever and fun! Heck, my husband would probably love getting one of these! Designed by the fantastic Alma Loveland. Alma instructs several classes over at Nicole’s Classes and I just had the pleasure of completing Pretty Paper Products with Alma. Download the printable file here.
Source | My Sister’s Suitcase
I think these Valentine’s mailbox tags are just adorable and they can be used to start a great new family tradition next year. The mailboxes are from Target’s dollar bins. Download the printable file here.
Source | Itsy Belle
Who else loves the mustache craze? I do! These pun intended valentine cards are so cute. Imagine a classroom of kids running around with fake mustaches. Download the printable file here.
Happy Friday!
Sometimes even your digital world needs some organizing. When I joined Pinterest I just started pinning away and did not give much thought to how to make sense of it all. I had pins haphazardly thrown in to random boards. I thought it was about time to give my boards a little cleaning up.
Organizing your Pinterest boards will take some time, but trust me you will feel so much better! So many of us use Pinterest on a daily (maybe even hourly) basis. Why not keep it clean and efficient? It will give you more time for finding great inspiration! Here are five fairly simple ways to give your Pinterest boards a fresh makeover.
Move pins that are in the wrong board. I’m sure we’ve all done it without even realizing it. You pin a new recipe you want to try but you forget to change your board selection so it ends up on your fashion board without you realizing it. Go through your boards and clean up those pins that ended up on a wrong board.
Delete multiple pins. You must really like something if you pin it twice!
Get rid of boards you no longer need. Think of it like getting rid of that outfit that you haven’t worn in a year. Sure you might use it one day, but you probably won’t.
Rename your boards. This was key for me when organizing my Pinterest boards. I wanted a system that was easier for me to use and to find where I should pin something. All you need to do is fine a system that works for you. Some find alphabetizing their boards helps them find the board they are looking for when they pin.
Change your board cover photos. This is so easy and quick to do. I like to do it every once in a while to give my Pinterest account a nice fresh look.
Visit Kate’s blog post on how to make the most of Pinterest for more tips on the content, quality, and sources of your pins. If also love this post from Lula Louise for tips on how to use Pinterest and gain followers.
If you are not already following me on Pinterest, you can find my boards here.
This will be our daughter’s first Valentine’s Day having classmates. So I wanted to do something fun! These little Play-Doh jars fit the bill perfectly – and they are perfect for girls and boys! I purchased the small jars, but you can opt for the larger ones if you prefer. I created these “I think you are a-DOH-able!” tags to tie around the clear cello bags that I placed the jars in to. Every time I say “a-DOH-able” it makes me giggle a little! You can personalize the tags by writing who the valentine is for and your child’s name. A super easy valentine that cost me less than $0.70 each for 10.
If you prefer to get the larger size Play-Doh jars this freebie will work for them too! Just print on full sheet label paper, cut, and stick!
Enjoy these “a-DOH-able” tags! Another Valentine’s Day freebie will be coming next week!
Click here to download the Valentine’s Day Play-Doh Tags
Anyone else out there dream of an organized pantry? I do! Our poor pantry is so unorganized and things often fall on me while reaching for something else. So I’ve gone in search of pantry organization ideas to better use the small space I’ve got! These are some of my favorite pantry inspirations.
I love the use of baskets in this first pantry. Keep the items you use the least at the very top and label them so you know what they are.
Source | In My Own Style
This next idea just makes me so happy! Rolling carts for the floor of your pantry! I don’t know about your pantry, but I have to empty out the floor of our pantry every once in a while to sweep up the dust and little bits of things that fall. This would make that job so much easier!
Source | IHeart Organizing
A must have – pretty labels!
Source | The Social Home
Lastly some quick and easy clever ideas! Use self-sticking tiles on your wire shelves to keep small items from falling through. Or use tension rods to store trays, cutting boards, etc.
Sources | A Mindful Wife | Martha Stewart
Still looking for more pantry organization inspirations? Check out my organization board on Pinterest!
Congratulations to KATIE for winning two list notepads of your choice! Katie had this to say “I really like the pink one but I like the green one too.”
And since I am feeling cheery this Monday I chose a runner-up winner at random. Congratulations to CAROL for being the runner-up winner! Carol had this to say “I like the grocery list and the dinner planner.”
Please email me at kathy@tickledpeachstudio to claim your notepads! Enjoy!
Last week I shared with you some of my photos from the first week of Photo 101 with Nicole’s Classes. Well here is week two! This week part of our homework was to do some creative shooting. Creative shooting required us to go out an explore and find design already out there in the world. Here are some of my favorites!
We also practiced using the rule of thirds when taking our photographs. Don’t center your image every time! Here is my favorite shoot from that exercise!
It seems like everyone is in the organizing spirit! Starting a new year with a fresh start and a clean slate. I have been wanting to tackle some cleaning and organizing projects around the house for some time now. To get the best use out of our small closets in our house we installed Elfa closet systems from the Container Store. I LOVE these closet systems! Easy to move a shelf if you need more space and you can always add to them if you need something else like baskets.
I started with the office closet during the holidays because it seemed to be the one in the worst shape. Plus my husband was complaining that he couldn’t reach any of his stuff because my stuff was overflowing on to the floor. So I moved all of my shipping supplies to another closet upstairs giving us more sharing room. Everything has its place now and I’ve added pretty labels to the boxes.
We have two tiny linen closets in our hallway so I tackled them quickly along with the office closet. I ran to Target and picked up a few stacking containers, cleaned up the closets, and added labels to the containers. Yay! Makes me smile!
Here is your first FREEBIE for 2013! Organization labels for your office and linen closet! I printed my labels on full sheet label paper and stuck them to my containers. If you don’t have label paper you could print on regular paper and tape them to your containers. Happy Organizing!
Click here to download the office closet labels | Click here to download the linen closet labels
One of my many goals this year is to learn how to use our Canon DSLR camera to take better product photos. I first heard about Nicole’s Classes from Rachel Shingleton while attending The Stationery Academy last year. As a lover of online learning I knew that I had to give it a shot! So when their Cyber Monday sale came I snagged up a few courses. I have just finished the first week of Photo 101 and am so thrilled! I learned so much in the first week and I am already starting to feel more comfortable behind the lens. We end each week with a few homework assignments to test out what we have learned. So I thought I would share with you my photos!
Our first objective was to stop and create motion with a moving subject or object. The spinning tire on the left is capturing the action of a spinning tire and the photo on the right is displaying the motion of the tire. Neat huh? I attempted to use my daughter as my moving object, but she moves much too fast for this beginning learner. But I did manage to capture one good shot of her jumping!
Next up, our objective was to change the depth of field. The first photo shows a shallow depth of field and the second shows a greater depth of field. I really like this technique and will probably be using it in product photos whenever I can. Oh, and these objects will be making an appearance in my daughter’s upcoming birthday party in two weeks!
So there you have it! Week one down and three more to go. I am so glad to be checking this goal off of my list this year! What are some of your goals for 2013?
Happy Friday! I am so excited to get the new year started by introducing my new line of notepads! I love to make lists and these notepads are the perfect thing to keep me organized. Now available in five list making options – grocery shopping list, dinner planning list, things to do list, notes from me to you, and notes from Mom. Available in four different color options – cobalt, clover, peacock, or strawberry. Check them out in the shop now!
I have been using the grocery planning list notepad for a few months now and LOVE it! I used to write out grocery lists on boring pieces of paper or I’d use my iPhone notepad and then forget about it while shopping. I now get to carry around a cute notepad while shopping! Next I plan to get some good use out of the dinner planning list notepad.
I am celebrating the launch of these new notepads with a fun and easy giveaway! One lucky winner will receive TWO notepads of their choice. Leave a comment below to let me know your favorite! It is as easy as that! If you tweet, pin, blog, or share of Facebook come back and leave a comment letting me know and you’ll get an extra entry! I will randomly choose a winner on Monday, January 11 at 2pm EST.