DIY Dollar Store Easter Decorations

Hey guys! It seems that we hopped into April pretty quickly, huh? I had an eggcelent idea to do a Easter tablescape, but I'm on a budget this year. Planning a wedding ain't cheep, ya know? So I decided to visit my local Dollar Tree and raid my cabinets to create an Easter affair to remember, without breaking the bank. In all, I spent only about $30 dollars to create this classy table setup. Many of the Easter decorations came from my collection and I DIY'd a few things, because what's an event without a few handmade details ;). 

*This post contains affiliate links.

DIY Painted Plant Pots

You will need:

Pots or Plants (From DollarTree or larger version here)
Acrylic Paint (here)
Painter's Tape (here)
Paint Brushes (similar here)

Steps:

1. Paint your pot the lighter of your 2 colors. Let dry fully.

2. Using your tape, create an interesting line or pattern. I decided to do a diagonal pattern, but you could do polka dots, triangles, half and half, etc.

3. Paint the desired area, then peel off your tape while it's still a little wet. Let dry!

For a full list of my favorite craft supplies, check out this blog post!

DIY Banner

You will need:

Paper Bunting (from DollarTree)
Ribbon (DT or similar here)
Glue Gun (similar here)
Spray Adhesive (here)

Steps:

1. Be sure to adequately cover your workspace. This stuff is deceptively sticky!

2. Place your top bunting face-down and spray with the adhesive.

3. Pick up carefully and place on top of the other bunting. Lay flat to dry.

4. Take a length of thin ribbon and glue your bunting onto it while keeping the flags an equal distance apart.

5. Hang up and enjoy.

Related: How to Rock your DIY Party Projects

DIY Bunny Ears Bouquet

You will need:

Thick Wire/Covered wire (From DollarTree or here)
Ribbon (DT or similar here)
Thin sparkly ribbon (DT or similar here)
Scissors (here)
Wire cutters (here)
Glue gun (similar here)

Steps

1. Take your wire and straighten it out the best you can.

2. Measure and cut. Mine was 20 inches.

3. Fold gently in the middle to create a bunny ear shape.

4. Using your hot glue gun, carefully wrap your wire with ribbon. I found that not overlapping the ribbon on top of itself worked best.

5. Keep going up your wire, wrapping and gluing every few rotations.

6. Once you've wrapped it in your thicker ribbon, go back around with your thinner ribbon to cover the seams and any bald spots.

7. Repeat for the other ear, then place in a bouquet of flowers and enjoy!

Setting your Table

Place Settings

I purchased inexpensive white plates and chargers for each setting, and topped them with blue appetizer plates from my cupboard. I added some drinking glasses I already had on hand, and placed a handmade drink stirrer inside. I finished it off with my super cute bird salt and pepper shakers that I purchased from Pier 1 Imports a few years ago.

Centerpieces

For the centerpieces, I used a sequin table runner and fake moss from my engagement party, and topped it with my painted flowerpots, bunny ears bouquet, and some mercury tealights.  I scattered some small golden eggs I picked up at the dollar store to add to that Easter feel.

Tips for Saving Money on your Easter Table

1. Create your own bouquets by purchasing flowers from the supermarket, or purchase inexpensive fake ones that you can reuse again and again.

2. If you purchase new servingware, go for white, which can be reused for many holidays. It'll get much more use than a baby pink tray with a bunny on it!

3. Collect items from around your house. Tealights, votives, pastel decor items, etc. This will add to the ambiance of the event without you necessarily having to purchase (and store!) Easter items.

4. Mix high-end items with dollar store items to save money while still keeping it classy. The inexpensive items will be camouflaged among the more expensive ones, as long as you don't purchase anything too cheap looking.

5. DIY where you can to create something one of a kind. Search Pinterest for ideas, and see how you can re-create more expensive items.

6. For an inexpensive tablecloth or runner, use a piece of fabric that has been folded and ironed. This will allow you to make it any size or shape you need!

7. Go for a mix of larger items and smaller items to create a visually interesting mix for your table. Too many small items will look cluttered, and too many large ones will seem unbalanced.

The best part about this table setup is that you can take away the bunny ears and little eggs, and use it for the remainder of the spring! This helps it to do double duty, saving you money. Do you have any dollar store crafts as part of your Easter decor? Do you decorate for Easter, or are you more of a "save it for Christmas" type of gal? Let me know in the comments below!

How to Rock Your DIY Party Projects

You know how it goes. You're planning a party and have spent hours scouring the internet for the best ideas. You've got a whole list of projects and you're determined to throw the very best party anyone has ever seen. Ever! But, by the time party day comes around, you are scrambling. What happened between that day you were planning and had "so much time!" and today? Probably all the DIY projects you didn't leave yourself enough time for! Although these DIY projects may seem easy, they can be very time consuming, especially when you're doing several of them. Here are some tips to ensure you have the DIY party of your dreams!

Divide them up.

Pick 1-2 must-do projects, 2-3 like-to-do projects and 1-2 if-I-have-time projects. This way, you can do as many projects as you have time for without sacrificing the projects you want to do most. 

Have a crafting party.

If you want to make a lot of projects and have crafty friends, invite them over! Be sure you have all the supplies on hand, then get some snacks, a bottle of wine, and start crafting. You can make more projects in a fraction of the time. Plus, it's a fun bonding experience! 

Learn to delegate.

Ok, maybe you're not the best cake decorator. Instead of trying to do it yourself (and possibly failing), how about having a friend assist? Ask around and see if anyone can come take on some tasks. They'll probably enjoy it! Just be sure to give them a deadline and follow up to make sure it gets done. The last thing you need is to be left scrambling on party day!

Don't leave it until the last minute.

The best thing you can have when it comes to DIY projects is time. Leave a few weeks to work on your projects to ensure they come out nicely and get done in time. Believe me when I tell you that things can take longer than you think!

Maximize your time.

To get the most out of your time spent crafting, try to make as many of each project as you can per session. This way you won't end up taking supplies in and out or wasting paint, etc. You'll also get into the rhythm of it, and be able to make them much faster than if you start and stop, making 2 projects at a time.

Slow and steady wins the race.

On that same note, don't wait until you have a large block of time to start on projects. If all you have are short periods of downtime, use them! It's better to work on 1-2 items per day than trying to rush everything into one day, right? I always love to pop on my favorite movie or TV show, grab a TV table, and whip up some crafts projects while I watch TV.

Create an assembly line.

Sometimes it's easier to batch your projects- aka doing "like" projects at the same time. What does this mean? Painting all your beads at once, cutting out all your shapes in one sitting, or gluing everything together. This will help you to find the most efficient way to do each step through repetition. 

Don't be a perfectionist.

Yes, you want this project to come out perfectly. But does it have to? If you spend too much time perfecting each project, you'll be missing out on valuable time you could be spending on other projects! This is especially important when you have others helping. Allow yourself to delegate and don't spend time micromanaging everyone. It's supposed to be fun! 

Reduce shopping time.

Create a shopping checklist so that you can avoid multiple trips to the store. A quick way to derail your productivity is to stop midway because you forgot something you needed. Been there... done that!

Have you ever attempted a DIY party project at the last minute, and then realized you were in WAY over your head? Let me know in the comments below!

How to Plan a Disney Themed Party

Whenever I thought about my wedding day, I imagined myself stepping out of a carriage in front of Cinderella's castle. I'd be wearing my big poofy wedding gown, and walk up to my prince charming, who waited for me in front of the castle. And then, just as he leaned in to kiss me, reality came and slapped me in the face. It costs TONS of money to get married in front of Cinderella's castle. And although it would be AH-MA-ZING, there's no way I have that kind of money for my dream Disney World wedding. So, what's a girl to do? Well, clearly, it's to regroup and plan an amazing Disney-themed engagement party.

Psst- If you want to see all the photos from the party, be sure to check out this post!

The Plan

To prep, I created a Pinterest board and pinned any Disney ideas I liked. I decided that since I wanted to do several different movies, I needed something to tie them all together. I decided to focus on one color scheme for all the elements and centerpieces. I picked mint and peach/coral since they are some of my favorite colors, and also because my mom had those on her wedding day, so they were important to me. I also added pink (my favorite!) and metallics to give the party a little sparkle.

The first thing I did was I sat down and listed out all the Disney movies I wanted to incorporate and noted the elements from each. At this point, you're just taking notes, so write down anything you wish. The more the better! I had things like Snow White- wishing well, jewels, birds, apples. Just a simple list of word association for each move.

The next step was to list out all the things I needed to collect to add these elements to the party. My list included things like vintage books (Beauty and the Beast), seashells (The Little Mermaid) and a globe (Up). Step 2 was to collect everything. I started by searching around my house, and then going to my parent's office. They had a globe and a few winter decorations that were perfect for Frozen. I also was able to utilize their huge collection of picture frames for the quotes! The more you can borrow for the party, the better. Any money saved on decor can be allocated to something else ;)

Once I collected all my freebies, I went shopping!

1. Magic Lamp 2. Clock 3. Cloche 4. Ariel’s Candelabra 5. Frog Prince 6. Glass Slipper 7. Moss 8. Pumpkin Jar 9. Coral 10. Rapunzel’s Lantern 11. Mrs. Potts 12. Flamingo Lawn Ornament 13. Enchanted Rose 14. Cinderella’s Carriage 15. Lumiere

Thrift Store

A lot of my stuff came from the thrift store. I was able to repurpose some items, like turning a mail holder into a wishing well. I spray painted a flounder kids' cup into a gold statue for the Little Mermaid table. And, all a tarnished teapot needed was a little elbow grease to become a wonderful Mrs. Potts.

Christmas Tree Shops

If you're looking for affordable decor that seems high end, look no further than Christmas Tree Shops! I purchased all my votive holders, the seashells, and the Beauty and the Beast cloche from there.

1. Gold Frames 2. Be Our Guest Napkins 3. Love Stirrers 4. Beverage Cups 5. Coral and Mint Dinner Plates 6. Folding Cocktail Table 7. Tablecloth Clips 8. Striped Lanterns 9. Sequin Table Runner 10. White Tent 11. Bottle Opener 12. Shell Garland 13. Pink and Aqua Best Day Ever Tags 14. Beverage Dispenser 15. Gold Dinner and Coral Dessert Plates

Oriental Trading and Party City

Almost all the tableware, decor, and barware came from Oriental Trading and Party City. Oriental trading had these great seashell garlands, and paper lanterns in any color you can imagine. Party City had these Be Our Guest napkins (perfect!), colored cups, and engagement napkins. If you mix and match all the items, you can create a unique mix that can incorporate all the elements of the party.

Amazon

Oh, Amazing Amazon. How did we ever survive without thee?! I was able to find all the obscure things I needed on Amazon- a Cinderella carriage, glass slippers, a tiny magic lamp, and a cute frog prince. I also found some of the barware, like these cute bottle openers and these cute drink stirrers. I added these sequin table runners in all sorts of colors to each table for a little extra sparkle. My favorite thing was probably these pumpkin candle holders that I spray painted gold. I'm using them in my fall decor right now, and they are just soo cute! Ditto for these cheap little pumpkins that I spray painted gold and silver. 

Dollar Store

The dollar store was great for random little items. Things like these horses that I spray painted, these cheap silver trays that looked fancy, and even a magic mirror! I also got my books for the Beauty and the Beast table from the Dollar Store. It was a pretty funny sight- me removing all the book jackets to check out the covers and make sure they were the right colors for the party. In the end, I settled on A World of Pasta, which obviously Belle reads.

Michaels

I don't think any party could be complete without a trip to Michaels. it was here that I picked up some moss for the sign-in area, the rose for my Beauty and the Beast cloche, and a stand for my signature cocktails sign. I also picked up the supplies for the Tangled Lanterns I made using the Cricut.

Misc Crafts

After I did the purchasing, I also had a few of my own crafts projects. First, I made these DIY balloon pins. I wanted something to distinguish the members of our immediate family, and I wanted it to have an Up vibe to it, like a cross between the balloons and the infamous grape soda pin.

The Wishing Well was made from some sort of hanging letter holder the thrift store. I had my fiance create posts and a roof out of scrap wood and paint stirrers to create a wishing well, and I painted it all white to match. A few vines and flowers from my craft hoard completed the look. 

I had my fiance make these adorable croquet mallets from Damask Love. They were the perfect Disney-themed activity and created an awesome photo op! They were one of my favorite elements of the party. My fiancé thought I was crazy when I told him to make them, but everyone loved them.

For an easy project, create a game of ring toss (aka "engagement ring" toss). All you need are some empty wine bottles. If you don't have any, this is the perfect excuse to drink lots of wine and de-stress from party planning. Soak the bottles to remove the labels, and let them dry fully. Spray paint them in fun colors, arrange them in a box, and toss on some colorful rings. 

If you want to learn more about planning a Pinterest worthy party, be sure to sign up to get your FREE Anatomy of a Pinterest Worthy Party guide! It's full of helpful hints on how to pick a theme, the little details that will make your event unique, and tips to take great photos of your event. And, there's even a checklist so you don't forget anything! So what are you waiting for? Get yours now!

If you want to see all the photos from the party, be sure to check out this post!

Are you going to try and plan your own Disney-themed party? What's something you MUST have? Let me know in the comments below!

Disney Themed Backyard Engagement Party

Ok guys. Let's take it WAY back to last June and talk about my amazing engagement party. I honestly can't believe I haven't posted it sooner, but I really wanted to get this post just right. It was GORGEOUS, but also a lot of work. Just showing pretty pictures isn't my thing, so I really wanted to talk about how to use my engagement party as inspiration for your own. I want to talk about how I got it done, where stuff came from, and how to replicate the look for yourselves. This post will showcase the photos, and the next post will be chock full of tips, links, and DIY projects!

It was truly a magical day, with perfect weather. Since it was an outdoor party, and we had about 50 people coming, we were REALLY counting on a warm and sunny day. Luckily, we got that! We used a combination of our own tables/chairs, borrowed ones, and "rented" ones that a family member borrowed from his job. We also had a few small tents set up to block out the sun. We hired a photographer friend to capture the event, Ken Camara. He did an AMAZING job with our photos. I highly recommend having a photographer at your event if you can swing it. If you find an up-and-coming photographer or photo student, you can have gorgeous and affordable photos that you'll always cherish. It's worth the investment!

Fun fact about me- I LOVE DISNEY. No really... I'm pretty obsessed. I watch the movies over and over, I'm listening to a Disney Spotify playlist as I type this, and I'm probably going to Disney World for my honeymoon... Truly a Disney-loving girl over here. Anyway, I love so many of the movies that I don't think I could ever pick just one to focus on for the party, so I decided to have as many Disney-inspired elements as I could. To keep the party cohesive, I decided to have designated zones for each movie. This prevented a yard sale effect and helped people recognize all the elements, especially since some were obscure. I also had my sister make graphics with romantic quotes from Disney movies for each table. The day before the party, I went to the supermarket and purchased a bunch of flowers and created my own arrangements on the day of the party.  This helped me save a lot of money!

Welcome Table

For my welcome table, I used a Snow White and Fairy Tale theme. The Wishing Well was made from some sort of hanging letter holder I found at the thrift store. Using scrap wood and paint stirrers, I had my fiance create posts and a roof, and I painted it all white to match. A few vines and flowers from my craft hoard completed the look. Next to the Wishing Well, I placed some Best Day Ever tags (a Rapunzel reference!) so that people could give us some advice for our wedding, marriage, or life in general. I added some inexpensive accessories to enhance the look, like a spray painted dollar store toy horse, a dollar store mirror, and some moss from Michaels. 

I made these cute Up-themed pins for our parents and siblings. Since not everyone had met, it was a nice way to distinguish our immediate families so that everyone could meet them. If there's any interest in how to craft these, I can definitely make a blog post about it!

Up

Since I figured some people would want to stand, I purchased a folding bar-height table for our deck. I wanted to keep the decor on this table simple since it's pretty small, so I put a globe and a helmet with goggles for UP. I also created a really cute picture frame that was house shaped with balloons for this table, but sadly forgot to put it out! It's hard to remember every little thing when it comes to a party this big, but you've just gotta accept that things get forgotten sometimes.

Peter Pan

When I went thrift store shopping, I added "gold pirate ship" to my list, fairly certain that I wouldn't be able to find anything. Lo and behold, I found this amazing gold ship at the first store I went to! I hung it up on my front door using clear fishing line, and it was such a statement piece. I loved it so much that I left it out for nearly the whole summer!

Tangled

For Rapunzel's table, I decided to go with lots of lanterns and flowers. The gold sequin runner was symbolic of her long golden hair, and the tallest lantern was symbolic of her tower, complete with the "magic golden flower" on top! The small paper lanterns were a pattern from Designs by Miss Mandee. As soon as I saw these lanterns, I knew I had to make them for my party! I went out and purchased a Cricut specifically for this, even though I had put off buying one for years. The smaller lanterns are inexpensive ones from Ikea, filled with dollar store flowers.

Cinderella

Since I ended up ordering a lot of Cinderella items, I was able to use it both indoors and out. Most of the pumpkins were borrowed from my Fall decor, since it was really hard to find pumpkin items in the summer. I took about half my cheap pumpkins and spray painted them gold and silver so they would match better. The horse was from the dollar store and was spray painted silver. Nice and cheap!

The Little Mermaid

This was one of my favorite tables. I added lots of seashells and nautical elements to this table, along with a gold sequin table runner to be the "sand" at the bottom of the ocean. I found this funny Flounder cup at the thrift store (score!) and spray painted him rose gold to match, since his usual yellow and blue color was a bit much for the decor. I added a candelabra since it's one of Ariel's items from her collection, which gave the table some nice height.

I added a half fan garland, which looked like seashells to me! It was way smaller than I thought and the fence kinda make it look even smaller, but whatevs. You win some, you lose some.

Cinderella

Here's the outdoor Cinderella table! This one had a similar feel as the one inside, except it had a few more pumpkins and these awesome pumpkin candle holders I spray painted gold. They're one of my favorite decor items for Thanksgiving now! It's amazing what a can of spraypaint can do.

Frozen

Since this table had an umbrella on it, there was less room for centerpieces. I kept it simple by adding a bouquet of flowers, some wintry candle holders and lots of sparkle. The frozen table was probably the hardest, because how do you prevent it from looking like a winter table?! For this reason, I only used sparkly snowflake items. It reminded me of the scene where they first meet Olaf in Elsa's wintry wonderland. The gold sequin runner (instead of silver) also prevented it from looking too much like winter, and kept the whole thing glam.

Beauty and the Beast

This was my other favorite table. Since this table had larger elements than the others, I kept the rest of the decorations minimal. I had an enchanted rose on a stack of books, a candleholder for Lumiere, and a thrifted teapot for Mrs. Potts. Then, all I did was add some fake roses and voila! You can be our guest.

The rose was a fake one from Michael's that actually looked incredibly real. Funny story about the books- I bought them from the Dollar Store! They have tons of books at the Dollar Tree, but most have a book jacket on them. However, when you peel it off, the hardcover book underneath might be a cool color. So I went around peeling off all the jackets to find the prettiest books, and putting back the ones that weren't. 

Bar Cart

The bar cart didn't have a specific theme, so it was mostly fairytale and engagement/love themed. Since our special sangria ran out before I could find the chalk, our talented photographer, Ken Camara, created this really cute sign using our hashtag. The Pop Fizz Clink sign added some sparkle, and it came from my New Year's Eve decor.

Alice in Wonderland

There's a rabbit hiding in the bushes who's late for a very important date! (Just kidding, there's no rabbits in there!) This was a really easy decoration, since all I had to do was grab our kitchen clock and put it in the bushes.

I also had my fiance make these ADORABLE flamingo croquet mallets as an activity for the guests and kiddos. They were a hit (hah! no pun intended) and made an awesome photo op. The tutorial was by Damask Love, and honestly it was one of my favorite parts!

Oh hey, here I am (on the left) with my super cool sister, posing with our croquet mallets.

Misc

I saved up some wine bottles, which we spray painted to create a ring toss game. I figured this was a cute play on the whole "he put a ring on it" thing. It was really easy and cheap to do! We used an old planter box we had to house the bottles. It was practically free and so much fun!

And, lastly, we had some Disney themed coloring books for the kids! I found the Disney Princess Brides one at the Christmas Tree Shop and there was nothing more perfect! There was a lot of stuff going on so the kids didn't need the coloring books at the party, but they made for a nice favor. It would be cute to scribble a note inside so that maybe the kids could read it one day when they grow up and have an engagement party of their own!

The engagement party was so much fun to plan, and it was an amazing day! I have to thank my family and friends that came and helped out before and after the party. Plus, my fiancé was a HUGE help by finishing up some of the projects I couldn't do, like ring toss and the flamingo croquet mallets. It was definitely a stressful few days leading up to it, but the reward was so much greater than the struggle.

If you want to learn more about planning a Pinterest worthy party, be sure to sign up to get your FREE Anatomy of a Pinterest Worthy Party guide! It's full of helpful hints on how to pick a theme, the little details that will make your event unique, and tips to take great photos of your event. And, there's even a checklist so you don't forget anything! So what are you waiting for? Get yours now!

So what do you think about this Disney themed engagement? Would you do anything differently? Let me know in the comments below!

2016: The Year in Review

Wow, so 2016 is over, huh? It seems like it was a pretty crazy year for everyone, and people didn't exactly hide their desire for it to go away once and for all. For me, 2016 was an ok year. It had its ups and downs, but I'm pretty glad it's over. I'm ready for a fresh start, so even though technically the only thing that changed is one little number, it feels like anything is possible. Let's hop into our time machine now and travel back through my memory as I look at the year in review.

2016 has been one crazy ride. I moved into my house on New Year’s Eve last year, so I essentially started the new year in a brand new place. Its our first home and we are loving it so far.

It’s also been my first full year being engaged and planning a wedding. That hasn’t exactly been fun or easy. It’s not really affordable, and so it’s been a struggle to try to have the wedding of my dreams on a shoestring budget. The budget has grown and it’s overwhelming!

I started this blog to chronicle my life as I planned my wedding and decorated my home. However, it’s become so much more than that. I have big plans for this little blog, and pretty soon you’ll start seeing what’s been going on behind the scenes.

The topic changed, but the reason behind starting it is the same. I’ve always wanted to start my own business. I’ve always wanted a creative outlet. And I’ve always wanted to flexibility to be home with my kids when I have them. I’m hoping with this little blog, I can do all those things and more. I am hoping that I can show what I am truly capable of, proving to myself that I can achieve anything. I already kinda feel like I can (thanks mom and dad!) but I want to show that it’s not all unjustified confidence. I want to put my money where my mouth is.

This blog helped me to do so much I never was able to. For starters, I broke my toe taking pictures for the blog. Breaking a bone is something I have never done before, and frankly, I hope I never (ever) do it again. It’s also encouraged me to learn things that I’ve always wanted to be better at, like photography. It’s challenged me to find out what I am and what I like without being influenced by what others are doing. Which, surprisingly, is really hard! And it’s also encouraged me to focus on bettering myself and not focusing on where I am in relation to others. We are all on our own journeys, and if we focus on our goals, there’s no reason why we can’t catch up (or surpass!) the people we are admiring.

Let's take a look at 2016 month by month.

January: On Dec 30, 2015 we closed on our house, so we spent New Year's Eve moving in. It was exhausting and thrilling at the same time. Most of January was spent unpacking, purchasing furniture, and trying to settle in.

February: In February, I started looking into starting a blog. I suddenly had a 3 hour commute round trip, so I had a LOT of time to spend on Pinterest. I'm not sure how I started looking into blogging, but once I did I became addicted and realized I needed to start one. I had always wanted to start blogging, but it finally seemed like the time was right.

March & April: Most of March and April was spent behind the scenes as I started creating my blog and coming up with content. I decided to go with SquareSpace because their interface was the easiest for me to use. I wanted something that I could edit easily myself and was relatively simple.

May: In May my blog finally went live! I didn't know what exactly my blog would be about, so I wrote about home organization tips, DIY's and party planning. I made my first and most popular DIY tutorial, a donut party platter with sprinkles. I also did my first party post, for my Sugar Sweet 27th Birthday Party. I created the most blog posts this month, a whopping 11 posts!

June: In June things quieted WAY down and I wrote my first holiday blog post, Fourth of July on a Budget. I also enrolled in Blog to Biz Hive by Melyssa Griffin and began working on creating a business for my blog. There was a lot of soul searching during June as I tried to decide what my blog should be about. I decided to forego the lifestyle category and instead focus on DIY's and party planning! I also had my Disney-themed engagement party in mid-June.

July: Some of my favorite blog posts happened in July. I started with my Nautical Notecard Banner Tutorial, which I came up with on the fly at Michael's and ended up really loving. Then, I had my first party supply haul post from Michael's using their fun tropical themed stuff. And one of my favorites to date, my TGIF 90's-Themed Slumber Party. This was seriously the most fun ever to plan, and I loved hunting for 90's themed supplies. Plus I got to eat the lunchables and candy after the shoot, so that was pretty epic.

August: The end of July and beginning of August were AMAZING because I got to go to Greece for the first time! It inspired me to write a post on What Greece Taught me About Being a Great Hostess. It was also a great excuse to show off some of my photos from Greece, including the amazing purple and yellow mermaid dream home I found there by accident. Once I got back, I posted another fun tutorial on a DIY Pineapple Garland that's so easy to make. I also created a blog post & amazing freebie on How to Plan a Pinterest Worthy Party. This guide shows you how to plan a great party that's gorgeous, and the guide itself is super pretty as well! I was so happy with how it turned out.

September: On September 2, I had my most emotional day ever. It started with being teary-eyed as I excitedly realized that in a year I'd be walking down the aisle and marrying my fiancé. Then, I spent the afternoon working on some fun new blog posts. I was standing on a chair while taking some overhead shots, and Humpty Dumpty went tumbling down. I spent the rest of the day in the ER, then spent the rest of the MONTH unable to walk with a fractured toe. That was not fun! This seriously made all my plans come to a screeching halt. I couldn't go up 2 flights of stairs to the attic, so I couldn't really do any DIY or party blog posts. However, I did my first collaboration with Paperless Post for How to Plan a Summertime Christmas Party, which was so much fun to do! And, I spent the rest of the month researching proper equipment so that I would never hurt myself taking photos again.

October: By early October, I was able to get back into the swing of things. I wore a walking cast and was finally able to move around on my own. I dove right into Halloween (one of my favorite holidays!) and spent a day decorating my house while hobbling around in my walking cast (the Boot, as I called it). I utilized one of my favorite websites, Oriental Trading, to create two awesome Halloween tutorials. The first was DIY Faux Pinatas using inexpensive papier mache pumpkins and some streamers. The second was a Colorful Halloween Party that featured spiderwebs, black and white striped plates, and a whole lot of colorful paper fans. Plus, this party had ME in the photos! I'm working on being more present in my work next year, so that you guys can start to recognize me as the face of my blog. October was also the first month that I started using Instagram daily and I was able to increase my engagement.

November: In November, after finally getting to walk around in normal shoes once again, we went full-on Thanksgiving here on the blog. I started with 9 Tutorials to Help you Build the Best Thanksgiving, featuring some of my favorite colorful Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving ideas from around the web. I created a colorful and classy disposable Friendsgiving Tablescape that's sure to wow your guests, and a DIY Colorful Leaf Garland that's so easy to do. After YEARS of using Pinterest, I finally got 1k followers at the end of November! I remember having about 300 or so at the ER in September when I fractured my toe, so this was HUGE.

December: Ah, good old December. This is always a SUPER busy month for me, since I have my sister's birthday (Dec 13), my mom's (Dec 16), and my fiancé's (Dec 23) followed by Christmas. This left me with practically no time for blog posts! I was, however, pretty active over on Instagram. I was really bummed because I had some amazing DIY projects I wanted to do, but I did some other great blog posts. I started with How to Save Time and Money on Holiday Gatherings, a guest post on the Crazy Busy Happy Life blog. We also rounded up some fun and colorful DIY Christmas Ornament tutorials and discussed How to Mix and Match Party Supplies using gorgeous tableware from Target. I also created my very first Gift Guide for hostesses, and it's filled with some great stuff that any hostess would love. By this point, I own pretty much half the items on the list, so I mean it when I say it ;) We closed out December with a Last Minute Dollar Store New Year's Eve Party.

So, what does 2017 have to bring? A free 4-week party planning e-course is coming to the blog soon, along with virtual party planning services! I also have plans to open up a shop, and there may be a redesign happening as well. So what's the new blog name going to be?! Well a girl can't reveal all her secrets, but I can tell you that it's going to be amazing. Be sure to follow me on Instagram, where I'll be sharing updates, sneak peeks, and behind the scenes photos and videos!

Welcome 2017- I'm ready for you!