Brit Kit Party

Have you heard of Brit + Co? I hadn’t until recently I found their iPhone app. It’s kind of like Pinterest, but not. You should look into it. They have this fun concept called Brit Kits, and it’s a craft kit that gets sent to your door that has everything you need to do a project (or two). Anyhow, as I was on the app, they said you could apply to be a hostess for a Brit Kit party. So just for kicks, I applied. I got picked for June! Woohoo! It was a Summer Soiree Kit, in all patriotic colors, so I went with patriotic decorating to get my butt in gear for the 4th. (that’s next week, people!)

I have this pretty sweet, vintage rope from my grandma in red, white, and blue. I hung it on our island my hubby built me with giant push pins in red, white, and blue.

I had some things set out for refreshments, which I provided a few, and other guests brought some treats too. This was before they had gotten here.

I have a cool, 3 divided tray so I put red, white, and blue napkins in it, then piled on treats and snacks in matching colors. I also had cookies, water and lemonade. I didn’t get a picture of the cups, but I used plastic cups and wrapped them with some patriotic washi tape from the party kit.

On the table, I had these mason jars holding the scissors, Sharpies, and some swirly pipe cleaners for fun. I got the idea for the mason jars here at It All Started with Paint. So what was in the kits?

It came in a cardboard box with a picture of the finished project on the outside.

The card had how-tos, and we got a pack of paper straws, lollipop sticks, 3 rolls of washi, some baker’s twine, 4 tiles, a foam brush, and some gloss varnish. It also came with a gift card for wine to make it a real party!

Here’s the table all laid out with kits for everyone, and just waiting for the guests to come! Once I explained what Brit Kits were and what the project was, everyone got down to work!

Most everyone had kids with them, but they played outside. A few came in and wanted to help though. And they could, they were easy projects!

I posted this picture on Instagram. It made 4 coasters, 6 fun straws, cupcake/whatever toppers with the lollipop sticks, and a cake bunting.

Here’s the people who stayed long enough for me to remember to take a picture holding up some of their projects. It was a really fun afternoon, and we’re trying to make this a new tradition!

Here’s my mason jars holding the straws, lollipop sticks, and cute bunting. I kinda love it

This was tons of fun, so go plan a girl’s craft night/day/afternoon whatever!

Girls’ Room Reveal!

Okay you know those AWESOME room reveals all over the internet that have amazing before & afters, and pretty much blow your mind? This isn’t one. For several reasons. We rent. We can’t  paint walls, and most of the furniture isn’t even ours. It’s our landlords. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here, but we know it’ll be awhile, so we don’t do a ton of nail holes (because I’ll just have to patch them all), and our girls have very strong opinions, so they get input on their room. In parts. Okay, so with all that said, here’s their room. Some stuff you’ll recognize, but some stuff will be new, and this will just show it all working together, mkay?

First off, do you remember (if you’ve been here awhile) how Thing 1 told me she wanted a Fancy Nancy room? Like so:

So little by little the past month, I’ve been doing things for their room to make it “fancier”. (she reminds me of the checklist all the time!)

Remember the bedspread I showed you here?  Yeah, I sewed that bedspread. It took forever. But not as long as Thing 2’s bedspread, since I hand-dyed everything for that.

Do you remember the sparkly pillow from a shirt? I made that cute ombre heart pillow from using 2 tutorials from V and Co. This one for the heart and this one for the ombre pleats. Then I made the turquoise shag one using this tutorial from V and Co. Pretty pillow? Check!

Yeah, that bedspread and pillows. Okay, back to Thing 1’s bedspread.

Feather boas strewn across the headboards, set in place with thumb tacks. Feather Boas? Check!

Then you can see the Flower Canopies I made on each bed with my Command hook rent friendly tip. Canopy? Check!

Let’s see, above the bed is some of my rent-friendly polka dot décor. It used to be spread all around the room (but the room is GINORMOUS), so I took them all off, and put them on one wall, and layered some of them.

I kinda love them, so do the girls. You can also see the Christmas Ornament lamp (about halfway down the post) my hubby helped me make.

You can also see the mini gallery wall that they helped me paint all the frames, and the blessing dresses I made for each them when they were born.

The little banner is sweet. Thing 1 wanted to try sewing, so we used hole punches to cut out bunches of shapes, then she sat on my lap and helped me sew them together.

Right by the bed is the microwave cart bookshelf I revamped from my Grandpa. Plus a diffuser to prove that they’ve been sick for the last 2 weeks….Ugh.

Right by that is my first upholstery project. Still love the chair, still going strong! Can you see the woven rug I made on the floor? Fancy Rug? Check!

Right next to the chair is all their bows I’ve made them on the bow holder. I showed you a few bows here, and Nat showed you some here.

Then the mirror I “fixed” with washi tape. Love that stuff! Hanging on the back of their door is this:

They have so much crap. Little rings, necklaces, etc. I get so tired of stepping on things, so we hung up this and put on labels.

With pictures on them so they know what goes where. They helped decide so they keep it a lot cleaner now!

I forgot to show their mismatched curtains. I made the yellow one for our previous rental, but it didn’t work by itself on a this larger window, so they picked out the other curtain from the DI (a thrift store), and they think it’s fancy to have colorful curtains. There’s also a strand of Christmas lights strewn over the top and side that they love. (Lights? Check!)

Hung over the top of the closet doors is a strand of turquoise (a fancy word for blue) beads I got on clearance at Target after Christmas.

Then there’s the kitchen I made for them last summer, and the growth chart a few months ago.

My hubby painted this dresser we got from my parents way back in our first house when we were expecting Thing 1. It was already blue, so he painted the minty-turquoise color with a crackle paint.

I still have a project I’m working on for above the dresser here. It’s pretty fantastic in my head!

Hanging on the wall is my thrifted painted owls, and more of my free cornstarch art. Then, there’s the stuffed animal storage I made, and an old bookshelf that was painted the same time as the dresser.

This other dresser I got from my grandparents, and painted a few summers ago, but I really would love to strip it down and refinish it. Maybe something like this?

(source)

Finally, right by Thing 2’s bed is the dollhouse I made 2 Christmases ago for the princesses.

Speaking of princesses, all of their dress up clothes currently reside in their closet where they can reach them, and mostly stay put away…

So, there is the reveal. Eventually when we do move into our own house (whenever that is) the girls will probably not have a HUGE cavernous room. Plus, we’ll have to get a bit of new furniture. So, I just did touches of fancy to make them happy, and they love their room. It’s fun to look back and see all of the projects that have come together to make their room theirs. If I can finish the awesome art I’m working on (think pallet art) then it will be that much cuter.

I’m trying to decide if I should enter the contest Creating with the Stars. It’d be awesome to try, but I just don’t know if I can do awesome things when I’m in a (basement) rental and on a very tight budget. Are you going to enter?