Alright, I know I’m a little late to share this Father’s Day gift idea with you for this year. But since I’ve already instagrammed it, I thought I would show you what I did so you can be ready for next year, if there is a man in your life who loves fishing. This gift would be the perfect complement to the Father’s Day Fishing Dinner I blogged about before.

You need a basic tackle box. I bought this one at Walmart, partly because it had all of the contents that I needed–fishing-wise–inside, so I wouldn’t need to spend a ton of money on things like hooks, line, and sinkers.

I designed all of the tags and printed them on a sheet of label paper, so I could easily adhere them to my tackle box and accessories. This is kind of the title label: The World’s O-FISH-al Best Dad”.

A little fish tag, to make sure he knows it is for him.

I actually used this tag a couple of times, it says, “I want to TACKLE you and give you FISHY kisses.” But I had to put it on the outside of the tackle box, to make sure the pun was understood.

Along with the box, I gave him this net with a tag that says, “What a REEL-y great catch!” If I wasn’t so cheap…and if he didn’t already own a dozen reels, I would have given him a new reel along with the net, for the sake of my play-on-words. But I figure it works either way.

But wait! There is more! Let’s look inside our tackle box.

It is full of fun fishy food and fishing supplies. I packaged the hooks, the fishing line and the sinkers in one bag with a tag that says, “I’m yours! Hook, line, and sinker!” Another fishy kiss tag on the Swedish fish bag to cover that and the Goldfish crackers.

And a can of worms, that read, “Don’t mean to open a Can of worms, but you’re #1!”

So you maybe asking, “Where on Earth do I get a can of worms, and would I want my husband to have one?”

This is where we get a little crafty…

You’ll need a small can (I used a peanut can with a pop top lid as well as a plastic lid), Gummi Worms, My label, some glue, and the right kind of can opener. Mine is from Pampered Chef and it cuts the lid in such a way that you can put it back on the can.

STEP 1: Turn the can upside down and use the can opener to cut what would normally be the bottom of the can leaving the pop-top on top intact.

STEP 2: Clean out your can well. I chose peanuts, because I figured that would be easier to clean than something like tomato sauce. But if dad has peanut allergies, that may not be your best option. Just sayin’.

STEP 3: Fill the can with gummi worms.

STEP 4: Use a hot glue gun or other adhesive (even tape if you hare having a tough time) to attach the lid, and seal the can closed.

STEP 5: Add printable labels to front and top of can.

BSB got a kick out of opening up his can of worms.

I am sharing my printable designs for your personal use if you have a manwho is a fan of fishing, too. Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized image.

Or if you prefer pdf click here.

I hope you had a wonderful Father’s Day, celebrating the good men in your life!

Mellissa and Jake were married in a beautiful ceremony in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. I enjoyed taking pictures of them in front of the beautiful doors there. I know it is small, but the group kissing picture was so much fun! Most people are cheering as they kiss, but there are some other really cute facial expressions. I think it is important to have some fun pictures along with the serious standard wedding day photos in order to capture the personality of those present and the emotions of the day.

My biggest job was arranging all of the wedding flowers. The bridal bouquet was comprised of pastel shades of cream and pink peonies, ranunculus, garden roses, spray roses, Queen Anne’s lace, with dusty miller. We also used seeded eucalyptus in the centerpieces at the reception. Mellissa used water and shimmery gold spray paint to create faux gold mercury glass vases for her collected style centerpieces, really adding to the vintage feel she was going for. The mothers’ wrist corsages were attached to pearl bracelet holders. The stems of the bridal boquet were wrapped in lace and attached with pearl-headed pins. I tied a long satin ribbon around the middle to echo the satin ribbon around the waist of her lace wedding gown.

The reception was held at Smoot Hall at the This is the Place Monument on the east side of Salt Lake City. A nice historical spot for her vintage wedding, providing a beautiful view of the Salt Lake area.

A big round white balloon marked the entrance to the hall. The photo of my daughter looking out the window was a total accident, and then she came out and modeled for me.

Some of the details from the reception:

• The initials of the bride and groom and the toss bouquet decorating the sign-in table.
• In lieu of a traditional sign-in book, Mellissa created a photo book of their engagement pictures and had guests sign their well-wishes around the photos.
• On the sign-in table and on each of the banquet tables, we used vintage crocheted doilies from my mother’s collection (most originally from my grandma) for a homey nostalgic feel.
• Mellissa dyed and glued thousands of coffee filters to create the pretty pink poofs that hung from the lanterns in the hall.
• Each table had a combination of collected items: vintage books, low faux mercury vase floral arrangements, a tall faux mercury glass bud vase with single bloom, and a few faux mercury candle holders. At the reception in Michigan a couple of weeks later, they added small vintage frames with photos from the wedding.
• The bride loves her straws so made sure cute striped straws were available for all of the guests.

The wedding cake was a fail that turned out ok in the end. The father of the bride had offered to make the cake under the supervision of one of my sisters, who has made many wedding cakes in the past. It was a funny experiment, but his experience with dry wall made him an expert at smoothing icing onto the cake. More difficult was assembling the three-tiered creation, but all looked to be good, until the cake tried to make the hour-long drive to the reception site. On the first big hill it slid apart, destroying the bottom layer and seriously cosmetically damaging the top two layers. Fortunately the cake transporter was the sister who actually knew how to fix it. I wish we had a before picture, because you would be impressed at how pretty the cake ended up if you could see what a mess it was. We found a smaller table to feature the cake. My sister smoothed and smoothed out the remains of the cake, and re-piped the border. Then I used the remainder of the peonies and ranunculus (-es, -i) to cover the cake and we added the antique topper of a bride and groom that Mellissa had and it ended up looking quite sweet. The caterers served all of the salvageable parts of the bottom layer along with the sheet cake we had provided. The groom prefers pie, and we had one of those for him, so I think the couple was fine with how the cake fiasco turned out. And my Brother-in-law had a fun time taking credit for his masterpiece.

There were fun and sweet moments, like the slideshow of the bride and groom from childhood to the present. But my favorite part of the evening, was probably the Father/daughter dance–Round 2. They first danced a slow and sweet song, and then turned on something more up-beat so that they could show off their robot dancing and other moves. It looked like they had spent a lot of time choreographing the dance. Really, they were just deciding what to do as they went, but they have obviously danced together before and were so cute busting a move together!

They weren’t the only ones busting a move! The kids were so excited when it was finally their turn to dance. I love this picture of my daughter dancing with my mother–partly because it shows my mother looking about 30 years younger than she really is. I’m quite sure she still has a lot more energy than I do.

Before guests went home they grabbed a miniature honey bear favor that read, “Meant to BEE!” It was really cute since Mellissa has always had a thing for bees. The favors were a big hit with my kids.

And then it was time for the couple to make their escape. In what felt like a vintage nod to tradition, Mellissa changed into this adorable short lace dress to make their exit. She still looks excited after a full day of excitement. They started off slowly saying their goodbyes and then broke into a run as they were showered by loved ones with flower petals.

Despite a glitch or two (which always happens, right?), it turned out to be a beautiful day for a beautiful couple. Thanks for letting me be involved (and boss all of your friends around. ) Best wishes, you two!

I have posted several fun Father’s Day ideas on the blog over the years. I think it is because men are a bit like big kids and it is easy to pick one of their hobbies or interests and create a whole theme around it.

Last year, we celebrated my husband’s love of fishing with a “What a catch!” Father’s Day dinner.

We pulled out the old-fashioned lanterns (previously appearing in the camping and train birthdays). We ate our fish dinner off of metal camping-style plates, and hung our sign, fishing net (dollar store) and fishing bobbins from the chandelier with–what else? Fishing line! The bobbers were inspired by Crossing the Bugger-Dixon Line. I could only find patriotic lanterns at the dollar store, so I had to paint the whole thing. White lanterns would be much easier.

We made another fish banner, like the one we did for his fishing birthday several years ago, but this one was smaller. I think we just used it to hang on the back-side of his chair. Looks like he had a successful fishing trip! (If he was fishing for paper fish). I added some graham cracker crumbs on the other side of the river.

I took some serious short-cuts to making this fishing cake. I bought (*gasp*) a chocolate bundt cake and cut it up to make the edge of a river bank. The trees on the bank are spearmint leaf candies. My frosting river is full of Swedish fish waiting to be reeled in, and one is caught on a pretzel fishing rod.

I have a fun fishing gift in the works, if I can get it posted in time this year. Do you have a husband/Dad who loves to fish? Wouldn’t they love to be your catch of the day?

This post was originally published as a guest post on 30 Handmade Days.

Another quick teacher appreciation idea. Although, I didn’t use these for teachers at all. I teach Let’s Play Music and we just had our recital for the graduates of the program last week. The Let’s Play Music program requires a lot of parent participation and I wanted to recognize the parents and help the kids tell them “thank you” for their part in their success in the program.

These came together pretty easily because I designed them to use products I had on hand. I picked up the berry baskets from Bake It Pretty at the market at SNAP! Conference. I had the mini-chalkboards from a Pick Your Plum order a little while back. And of course, I have a large supply of baker’s twine on hand. Pretty sure I couldn’t call myself a crafty blogger if I didn’t.

I went to Lowes and picked out these potted flowers for about $1.00/each. They happened to be the perfect size to slide into my berry basket. I had thought to get little berry bushes, but between the shape of the pots and the expense of the plants, I opted for these instead. They were more colorful, and I’m afraid our Arizona heat wouldn’t be too kind to the berries. I think it works either way.

Since all of the parents that came to class this year were moms, and our recital was right before Mother’s Day, I made labels to say “I couldn’t have PICKED a better mom!”

I used a chalk ink marker to try some miniature chalk art on the picks. I posted my progress on Instagram. These read “Thank you for helping me GROW as a musician!” For a teacher I would say something like, “Thank you for helping me learn and GROW this year!” For a friend, “I’m glad we could GROW close this year!”

I printed the labels on basic 1 inch X 2 5/8 inch labels. And I am sharing them with you! To cover all of our bases, there are labels that say “Mom”, some that say “Friend” and a bunch that say “Teacher” on the same sheet. I hope these are useful to you!

*CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD BERRY BOX LABELS!*

If you like these, I hope you will consider following me on Facebook and Pinterest for more ideas. I have a few printables available only as thank yous to my Facebook followers.

What are you doing for your children’s teachers to say “Thank you” at the end of the school year?

Never have I felt more like a mother than I did on Mother’s Day three years ago, having just welcomed my fourth child into the world a week or so earlier. I felt a little like I’m sure Mary (the mother of Christ) did when the scriptures tell us that she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. I had just had a beautiful birthing experience (Yes! It is possible!) where I learned so much about faith and myself, but didn’t feel like I could or should share too much with others–birth, often being such a controversial topic, especially on the internet.

I did write and publish the following on this blog:

I can’t think of another Mother’s Day where I have felt more like a mother, than I do today. The memories of a beautiful delivery where the divinity of the role of motherhood was impressed upon me, are replaying in my mind. The fresh pain lingers as my body tries to adjust to having the baby outside of me, meeting his needs for nourishment and love, while trying to put itself back together. It reminds me of the awesome sacrifices mothers willingly perform for their children–not just in childbirth, but every day in caring for them. In the more painful moments, I wonder why I and so many millions of women are willing to go through some of these things. But then, I remember that we love best those whom we serve, and these sacrifices bind us to our children. 

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! And for many the school year is quickly winding down! Here is a fun, inexpensive, gift for your favorite teachers (including free printables) that is a great way to say “Thank you” and “have a great summer” all in one!

I believe that all of the materials for our “summer fun” baskets came from the dollar store. I started by getting sand buckets to work as the container, but also could be useful for playing in the summer. You can see the blue one is for the guy teacher. The big labels say, “Thank you for all of your hard work teaching me this year! You deserve a …..Summer Vacation!” I found all kinds of summery items and attached labels with little thank-yous.

Pink leis for the ladies with a tag that reads, “Thank you for helping me BLOOM this year!”

I had to include the ever-popular “Stay COOL this summer!” attached to a box of ice pops (not yet frozen).

An inflatable beach ball–who doesn’t need one of these for instant summer fun?–says “Have a BALL this summer!”

In case the message didn’t get across the first time, theses H2O Blasters (a.k.a. water balloons) are labeled “Have a BLAST this summer!”

The shovel attached to the bucket got it’s own label, “I DUG having you as my teacher!”

I found some fun Glow sticks wands and attached a label, “Thank you for helping me SHINE this year!”

You could add other summery items like sunscreen, lip balm, sunglasses (“My future’s so bright I gotta wear shades.”) Or pick and choose individual items for smaller gifts. But really, after putting up with your child all year, doesn’t their teacher deserve a summer break? Ours do!

I printed my gift tags on sheets of 2″ circle labels, but you could also print them on card stock and cut out circles around each design. I am sharing my labels here for you–free for your personal use. If you do print these out and use them, I’d love a comment letting me know what you do. Also, please consider following me on Facebook and Pinterest for more fun ideas! I have some printables available only as gifts to my Facebook followers.

*Click HERE for Summer Gift Basket Label*

*Click HERE for Circle Gift Tags-pg.1*

*Click HERE for Circle Gift Tags-pg.2*

Before I can show you the before, I have to show you before the before, because it helps explain why this room is in such chaos. I posted this picture of the family room before, with our old entertainment unit when I was thinking about painting the wall. Don’t worry. I still am and may have even come up with a plan, but that won’t happen for at least a month or two, so it was nice to be able to make some changes now, instead of waiting for time to do a big project.

We got a new-to-us TV for Christmas, so the old armoire and media storage (that was broken and not replaceable) had to go. We also got a different system for storing and playing our DVDs and have been working on entering them into the system. What that means, though, is that we had never finished the process so the room has been cluttered with banker boxes full of DVD cases for months. The pictures were never hung back on the walls and this horrifying image is really what the room looked like.

Until I was given a $250 gift card to Walmart and the challenge to refresh my family room by purchasing Better Homes and Gardens brand furnishings and using items already in my home. I think the transformation is pretty astounding…

Are you ready???

Before the room was very monochromatic. Lots of neutrals on neutrals with some warm-toned reds and golds. Not wanting to throw out the baby with the bathwater, I felt what this space really needed was an infusion of some cool gray-blue colors to freshen up the abundant warm tones in my beige on beige room. And why not have a little more fun with the splashes of red that weren’t going anywhere.

The key to the makeover was this lovely rug. A steal at only $69. It isn’t as thick and plush as some more expensive rugs, but is it soft and lays nicely, and happened to have the perfect color scheme for my room. I also really enjoy the pattern. It is kind of a bridge between the more traditional furnishings I have and a more contemporary look I would like to incorporate. I really love it!

Probably my favorite thing to shop for in the Better Homes and Gardens line is their decorative pillows. There are so many to choose from, and lots of color and texture to work with.

The monotone throw pillows were replaced with these beautiful and fun pillows.

I already had the checked pattern. The floral print is embroidered, and everyone loves the ruffled rose pillows. If we are going red, it may as well be fun, right?

My husband’s chair (that I have been unsuccessful at talking him into parting with) looks fun and fresh with a pale blue embroidered pillow. It is amazing how much these small pops of blue help balance the space.

Another great textured pillow!

And it doesn’t hurt that I finally replaced the kid’s pictures with their current ones and got them back on the wall to break up that massive expanse of beige.

I love the circle design in these lamps and paired them with rectangular shades because of the limited space on the tv shelf.

To round out that corner, I added a grouping of these decorative mirrors. They are only 5 or 6 dollars each, and can be grouped in lots of different configurations. I liked how they echo the circular design in the set of lamps I chose.

My decision to place the lamps by the TV, may not be the most practical for reading, etc., but I love how they elevate the display to furniture status, instead of just a television stand.

I also hung the Alphabet Artwork (that was temporarily on the mantle) above the TV. Leaving the mantle ready for a fresh new look.

I’ve had this large gold frame floating around for a while. I wanted a large picture of our family there, but not that large, so I strung twine from the frame and clothes-pinned on a bunch of photos from our DIY Christmas Card photoshoot.

I didn’t want to clutter the mantle with lots of trinkets, so I was excited to find these substantial BHG candlesticks and lovely blue candles. They smell nice, too.

On the other side, I found this great BHG basket in the kitchen department.

I created an assortment of decorative balls from some floral foam I had on hand and twine and tacks.

I’m loving my new room!

Do you have a space you have been wanting to make over? Enter the BHG Pin to Win Room Refresh Sweepstakes for your chance to win $1000 to Walmart! If I could do all of this with $250. What could you do with $1000?

Here are a few tips to get you started on your own room refresh:

* Pick the room that has been driving you craziest, or one you spend a lot of time in.

* Have a vision. Gather ideas and resources on Pinterest (see sweepstakes above).

* Do the Honey Do’s! I got my husband to fix the bent curtain rods, and hang the shelf to hide our TV antenna in honor of this challenge. I flipped the couch cushions and everything got a good dusting, etc.

* Shop the house. I have lots of junk hanging out around my house. Not everything needs to be brand new to make a room feel brand new.

* Don’t wait until you have tons of money or time to create a space you love to be in! I’m guilty of this. I wait for the perfect time to make changes, but that may never come. It feels so good to have a refreshed space. I’m going to have to get busy on some other spaces in my house.

What room are you most dying to makeover in your home?

I had the opportunity to host a girls night in this weekend. What could be a better way to end the week than laughing with some favorite girlfriends while we help each other come up with fabulous nail designs?

It started with a fun shopping trip to Walgreens where I used my new Balance Rewards membership to pick out a bunch of fun new nail polish colors and products. I was doing the math in my head, and was pretty sure I had blown my budget. But because of the Rewards card savings, I actually came in under budget (until I went back for more the next day). You can get the whole shopping story on my Google+ page.

Of course, I can’t host a party–even a fun small get-together like this–with out some pretties. I was inspired by the color blocked nails to bring in two (or three-toned) decorations and food.

I bought these inexpensive white paper honeycomb puffs, and dipped the bottom half in dye. I let them dry and then hung them up from my chandelier over my dining room table, where we all gathered for manicures.

I also made this color-blocked floral arrangement, simply by grouping the flowers of a same color together. I made a grid out of thin tape on top of my container to help the flowers stay in their places. I used the dip-dyed napkins I made for Easter as a table runner.

I served two-toned chocolate dipped strawberries, two (or three) toned smoothies, nail polish marshmallows and other colorful candies. We made 3 flavors of smoothies, and then poured them in simultaneously or in sections to create interesting “color blocked” designs.

These fun marshmallow nail polish treats are made by dipping marshmallows in melted chocolate and adding a Tootsie roll on top for  the lid. For best results, get a good quality melting chocolate and make sure it is thin before attempting to dip (I had some little helpers and difficult chocolate. Still cute, though! Right?)

And then we got crazy with our nails! Here are some of the fun looks we came up with.

Coral Reef Xtreme Wear nail polish, with Love Letter accent nail.

Polka Dots with accent heart, using Xtreme Wear Twisted pink and White On, with white nail art pen.

All kinds of colors, with white nail art pen (This is my 5-year-old, and when I first finished her nails they were so cute, but she just kept messing with them, and they ended up getting painted three times, I think. *sigh*)

Leopard print on my 12-year-old using InstaDry Quick Sand, Wedding Glitters, and black Nail Art Pen.

Black and white polkadots. White On with black paint pen.

Wedding Glitters with Bling it On Polish strip accent

I needed something that would last the whole week since I am headed to SNAP! Conference, so I opted to try the polish strips. They are supposed to last for up to 10 days. Keep your fingers crossed that mine will. I used Bling it On strips with Girl Flower on the accent nail. It looked like SNAP! colors to me.

We couldn’t leave out the toes.

We turned the Love Letter polish strip sideways, to put it on my friend’s toe. It looks classy with her french pedicure.

Marine Scene with white Nail Art Pen polka dots.

And no. I didn’t give myself a washi tape pedicure. But I did use washi tape to help me do a color-blocked pedicure.

You can find these fun products at your local Walgreens or online. Right now you can get Sally Hansen Extreme and Salon Effects 2/$5 w/ 1,000 points.

Here are a couple of cool color combos to consider for your Color-blocking adventures: Block art and Sweet Stripes. For more fun manicure ideas, follow my Novelty Nails Pinterest board.

We had so much fun painting and talking into the night! This may become a regular event for us. What do you like to do when you get the girls together?

“I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and COTY #cbias #SocialFabric” All opinions presented herein are my own.

I’ve had a little break from birthday parties, but there are a couple right around the corner now. Before my son celebrates his 3rd birthday, it might be a good idea to blog his 2nd birthday. It hit at a really busy time last year and I just didn’t get a chance to get the post up. It was a small-mainly family-event, but it made a certain 2-year-old train-enthusiast very happy.

Of course, a ticket makes the perfect invitation to come aboard the Birthday Express! I printed these on cardstock and then used a circle punch to cut out the notches on either side.

It was kind of a no-brainer to have the party at our friend’s home. They are the ones that have the train made of water barrels and the huge backyard in which to drive it. And they happen to be some of my son’s biggest fans! They have been so generous to let us use their property for lots of parties (like the Rapunzel, and the County Fair parties).

I wanted the party tent to feel like an old rural train station. I had my printing friend print up a couple of these big signs identifying it as “Alecville Station” I hung one in front of the entrance to the tent, and the other on the side, where the passengers would be loading and unloading from the train. I used a couple of vintage suitcases to collect the presents and help set the atmosphere.

Inside the station we find the sort-of complete food table. For some reason my husband and family were hungry, and were a lot more interested in eating, than in letting me meticulously style and photograph the table. #realpartyproblems

Anyway, we set up a couple of tables underneath a railroad crossing sign, and had a couple of trains getting ready to cross. One was the birthday cake (more on that in a minute) and the other was a SUBWAY train. (Get it?)

We set out the long sub sandwich on the table, using toothpicks to help make a train shape in front. Each train car got cucumber wheels and the subway drove past some broccoli bushes.

We ate off of yellow railroad crossing plates. Since I hadn’t found any like this to purchase, I bought plain yellow and black plates. I cut X’s out of the black paper plates and glued them to the yellow plates. The red napkins tied in the red bandana favors.

For refreshment, our little engines (engineers) headed to the water tower or to fill up on some diesel fuel (rootbeer, I believe).

Washi tape and railroad crossing signs on the cups to further the theme.

Perhaps my proudest moment of this party was the 3D train cake that I made. I will give directions for the cake in another post if there is enough interest. I had to get creative about how to make the train shape I was after.

But despite being handsome, I wanted my cake to be a useful engine. So, it carried the party favors in its cars (baskets from the dollar store). Also it carried a supply of black coal (licorice), in case it ran out of steam.

The track was also made of strips of black licorice.

The hats, bandanas, and train whistle favors were big hits with the guests and the birthday boy!

Besides eating, the main event was riding on the train–which was just what this two-year-old wanted to do all night.

But just incase that wasn’t enough fun–or enough sweets–we put together these little candy train favors, too!

Everything is left in its packaging so it is still edible. The body is a lifesaver roll, held up by a small pack of gum.The wheels are individually wrapped life-savers and the top had a Hershey’s kiss, a caramel, and a package of chic lets. The moms and big kids put these together since we used a glue gun to attach it all.

And here is a happy 2-year-old, surrounded by all kinds of trains!

Make a wish!

Any guesses what theme I have up my sleeve for birthday number 3 next month?