Last year was our first year living in our house and one day in October we came home from running errands to find out we had been booed! The idea behind being “booed” is that someone leaves a basket of goodies at your doorstep on the sly at some point during the Halloween season with a note letting you know you’ve been booed. You’re then supposed to pass along the fun by booing another family, all done anonymously. Today I’ve teamed up with HI-CHEW and the super talented Isabela of La Lu Isa to create these really happy and barely spooky Halloween printables so you can boo all your neighbors and officially be the coolest kid on the block! You can download them here, then just print on card stock and trim. Fashion together a basket or two loaded with your favorite HI-CHEW flavors (mine are mango and strawberry!) and a bunch of fun Halloween paraphernalia and you’ve got all the right moves.
Holidays
This easy sugar cookie fruit pizza makes a simple and delicious 4th of July dessert or the perfect addition to any summer party menu! Easily change the flavors by changing out the berries for any other combination you prefer.
When we bought our house last spring, we realized soon after that there was an old flag carefully rolled up in the foyer closet. The first morning that we woke up in the house after moving in following three insane weeks of renovations, the flag came out. We opened up the big double doors onto the front porch, slid the flag pole into place, and with that one simple action we felt completely at home. I’ve become really sentimental about that flag in the months since and it’s actually one of my favorite things about the entire house. Knowing the little old lady who lived here before us put that same flag out on the front porch for however many years gets me every time I think about it. Maybe I’m alone in this, but a well placed flag can bring on the best kind of nostalgia for me, which is why I believe everything should be star spangled and colored red, white and blue this time of year. Bring on these homemade star printed napkins! They’re one of the easiest 4th of July crafts you’ll ever make, but they’ll have such a huge visual impact on your festivities.
After Christmas, my favorite holiday is easily the 4th of July. There’s just nothing more festive to me than fireworks and the general summer-inspired glee that comes along with celebrating the 4th. Even now as an adult, the grand finale of any fireworks display makes me clap with excitement, because basically I am a five year old kid on the inside. This year I’m excited about hanging red, white and blue bunting along our front porch for the first time, and I’m also excited about these ice cream cones. Nothing is quite as American as red, white and blue sprinkle dipped 4th of July ice cream cones, am I right? These are such a fun way to serve up even just a simple scoop or two of vanilla ice cream, and you can prep the cones the day before. All you need are sugar cones, white chocolate and all the cool sprinkles you can find. Stay tuned for more fun 4th of July ideas! It’s about to get mighty patriotic about these parts.
When I was in high school there was a little coffee shop in town where many of the kids in my class would gather in the evenings on the weekends. At the time I wasn’t much of a coffee aficionado, but they made the most delicious Italian sodas so those quickly became my regular. Now, every time I have one I am transported back to my last months and weeks of high school, so the timing seemed perfect to share my homemade version. A handful of our favorite teenagers are all graduating in the next several days and our calendar is about to fill up with graduation parties galore. From there we’re zipping right into the lead up into the 4th of July, so naturally I had to make sure my Italian sodas had a little patriotic spirit going on since they’d also make a perfectly festive drink at your Independence Day celebrations, too. They’re made with homemade berry syrups and they’re insanely delicious.
For whatever reason Father’s Day (like Mother’s Day) feels like one of those occasions for which homemade gifts are always the best idea. Even if Dad really wants an upgrade to his grill utensil set or has been longing for a new neck tie, chances are he’ll really really appreciate a homemade Father’s Day gift even more. Make him a DIY etched beer mug and pair it with a six pack of his favorite craft beer and he’ll be crazy impressed and feel especially loved. Dad’s not a drinker? No worries! Snag some good root beer and a half gallon of gourmet vanilla ice cream and he’ll still love this one. If you’ve never etched glass before, it’s surprisingly simple, but still seems really impressive so etched glass projects make perfect gifts in that way. You can make a mug in a half hour or less so there’s no major time involved here either. Win-win-win!
Inspired by Father’s Day and the cute graphic aprons I made over the holidays (which in turn were inspired by Kelly’s cool DIY graphic tees), today we’re making these super fun DIY Father’s Day shirts! Featuring your personal favorite daddy-inspired pun or phrase, you can make these shirts quickly and inexpensively. They’re so easy to make, in fact, that you could easily make a whole bunch for all the fathers in your life that you want to salute, from your own dad to your husband to your brother.
With Memorial Day coming up next week, I’m getting really excited for loads of fun summer parties and picnics over the next few months. Always an advocate of simple yet lovely entertaining and parties, today I’ve teamed up with my old friends at Dr. Oetker Virtuoso Pizza to share a few tips for hosting a totally easy yet completely chic patriotic picnic, perfect for Memorial Day or even the 4th of July!
With Mother’s Day coming up in just a few days, I wanted to put together a few really fun, easy gift boxes packed full of goodies. I love giving and receiving gifts like this, with an assortment of things I might not otherwise buy for myself. For me, I’m all about luxurious bath and body products since I rarely splurge on those treats. That said I wanted to pull together a few different gift box options for all the moms in your life or for yourself!
Happy Monday, friends! I’m working on getting back in the saddle following a little spring break adventure over the second half of last week. There’s a really funny story there about a toddler who refused to sleep and cried for seven hours in a car only to then hate living in a hotel, but we’re going to save that one until I’ve recovered a bit more. Ha! In the meantime, let’s talk about these breakfast pastries. Because it’s Monday and by Monday I’m already thinking about weekend brunch.
Happy Monday, friends! I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend. After a long, gray week of nonstop rain, we finally had an abundance of sunshine this weekend and it felt incredible. And now it’s the run up to Easter! Naturally no Easter festivities are properly complete without a killer deviled eggs recipe, so today I’m serving up just that. To be honest, my mom tends to be the deviled egg maker in our family, but we love to make them at home from time to time, too.
When I started making chocolate bark (first Halloween candy bark and then Christmas chocolate bark), I was pretty sure I’d started something I wasn’t going to be able quit. Fast forward a few months, dump bags of my favorite Cadbury Mini Eggs on every store shelf and, well, I was right! This, friends, is Easter candy bark.