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!

St. Patty’s Day Decor

Okay, I’ve had this all decorated since the weekend after Valentine’s day, but I’m just finally getting around to showing you. Without further ado, here’s our St. Patrick’s day décor.

My lovely vignette. Sarcasm heavy. It’s just random green things I had…

I pulled out my cauldron from Halloween supplies and stuff most of it full of plastic bags, then gold fabric, then just a few gold coins. The girls and I made the clay necklace and shamrocks from TP rolls last year on one of our crafty days. The green candles are from my closet, and the ombre green “I” was a mess up elsewhere, but we can pretend it’s for Irish, right?

I made this gumdrop wreath last year when I got a TON of gumdrops, which I don’t like, and decided to make them into a wreath. It was supposed to be for Christmas, but I didn’t like it, so it became a rainbow St. Patty’s wreath.

The green beads, tulle, flowers, wire shamrocks, ribbon, and stain glass shamrock are just things I’ve collected or made through the years.

I had made the LUCKY rosette last year with this rainbow:

Last year, the girls and I made a rainbow for the mantle, so I hung it up here. Half heartedly. It’s falling down. It leads to gold at the end…

My gold mirror… We cut out all the circles with this fun toy my husband got me for Christmas:

So fun….Then, the girls helped me sew them all together on the sewing machine. They thought that was fun.

I just kinda draped it on the mirror. By the mirror, I wrapped my lamp with some shamrock wire…

By the tree is a chair we don’t use and a leprechaun my mom found on clearance.

The girls like to play with him, but he kinda weirds me out watching me….

I still want to print off a cute printable, but haven’t gotten to it yet, so we’ll see….So there’s our décor. I know, you could hardly wait to see it, huh? Anyway, happy St. Pats day!

Valentine’s Day Manicure

…and some cheapola décor for your home!

Remember my French Tip Manicure tutorial?

Well, here’s my Valentine’s Day spin on that fabulous manicure.

Follow all the directions in the above tutorial, then add hearts to your nails.  I put them on my thumbs and ring fingers.

Here’s how I did the hearts:

Put one small drop of nail polish on your finger nail.

Add a second drop.

*Carefully* drag a toothpick or a pin through the one of the drops to make a diagonal line.

Do it again with the other drop.

Fill it in, and you’re done!

BAM!!

Isn’t that fun?!

I think so!  :)

I didn’t do anything crafty for Valentine’s Day this year.  I just recycled what I did last year.  I still love it!  It was fast, cheap, and easy!  My kind of décor!  :)

Check out my tuorial here:

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Winter Vignette

I like calling my décor a vignette. It sounds so hoity toity. When really, it’s anything but. I can’t call it a mantel though. Table Spread? Buffet? Anyway, I don’t want to go straight to Valentine’s day after Christmas, so I like to either put out some winter-esque décor, or nothing until Valentine’s. Paper kept getting piled on the buffet, so décor it was! I went with silver, white, and shades of blue to make it wintry.
Let’s start with a fun winter craft you can do with the kidlets, on a snow day. And make lasting art. Get a blank canvas. Mine was on sale at Michaels. $3 for an 11x16. Sweet.
Tape off some shapes.

Painter’s tape kept curling off the page, so masking tape won. It did bleed a bit though, so we’re not going for perfection.

Give the kids some paint. We did about 6 shades of blue and let them go hog wild. I just reminded them to not get big globs, and paint on the sides.

Peel up the tape. Voila! A fun piece of art! I think it needs glitter, so I’m going to pick up some silver on the top. Wanna see the whole vignette?

A New Year print in a thrifted frame, a wire cage, snowflakes scattered all around (bought from Michael’s last week…$0.25 for 2), with some white ornaments I already had. I made the hurricane jar thing, and the pinecone votive holders were free from Tai Pan Trading.

I painted a pair of thrifted wooden candlesticks turquoise.'

The funky silver star was an ornament from Target this year. The black lantern is something my mom gave me a couple months ago.

I think I either need to paint the knob on my thrifted cloche, or change it out for a funky one.

We made a snowflake “wreath” from popsicle sticks the same day as the painting for a craft. I think it needs some glitter too...

It was very stormy, so we had to do something!

We also used coffee filters to make some snowflakes.

And hung them on the mirrors.
I broke down everything that I bought at the thrift store. Cuz that’s how I roll. All the other stuff I either had, or bought off the clearance rack at Michaels/Target. Oh, the nice pop of bright red? My daughter’s Lip Smacker chapstick. Remember those?

So the whole thing was super cheap, it’s kinda ridiculous. I think it was $8.25, without taxes. Easily less than $10. Mostly stuff I’ve hoarded in the past, and just pulled them together. Sweet. V-day will be coming out soon enough.
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