a birthday party for the princess.

yes, this is a lot late.  her party was two months ago.  two long months in which i haven't even looked at my blog.  but i'm trying to organize my life and get back into blogging.  i had so much fun planning mollie's party and putting it together.  i was inspired by a dress i saw while browsing mini boden's spring line.  purple + bumblebees.  i knew i wanted to do a honey bee theme.  between etsy and pinterest i found all of the inspiration i needed.

the beehive cake that wouldn't have happened without my sister and my dad.

i had so much fun doing this party and mollie was the perfect party girl.  she knew that this day was all about celebrating her...well, she pretty much thinks that every day is about celebrating her, but this time there were other people there to acknowledge it :)

the details.  the details are my favorite part of any birthday party.  i think that the details make a huge difference.  i'm 85% certain that they make a huge difference to me and maybe like 2 other people.  everyone else, to include the child that the birthday party is actually for, doesn't notice.  but i can't get the details out of my head.  

thank you gifts: local honey from a beekeeper.

favors: sugar cookies from a good friend.

keepsake birthday plate.  from aedriel originals.  

that beautiful picture of mollie in the background was by shannon ho photography.

honey tasting station.  and in the background, smitten kitchen's salted brown butter rice krispie treats = heaven.

etsy has become my go-to place to purchase all of the fun, crafty items that i can't get here in town.  i love putting everything together.  sometimes things i buy don't work out like i think and i have to scrounge at hobby lobby to find what i need, but for the most part it all works out.  i have learned to start buying stuff at least 3-4 months out, otherwise you're caught the week before the party paying for express shipping ;)  some of my favorite vendors for this party were:  


aedriel's originals - she did custom artwork for a keepsake plate and cake stand.  can't say enough about how wonderful she was to work with.


the papered nest - all sorts of fun paper and party decor supplies.  i especially love her stamped wooden treat spoons.


bahana splits boutique - great paper items and baker's twine.

happy valentine's day!

this is the first year that we have actually had to prepare valentines. the first year of many! my friend meghan found this great inspiration for valentines cards and it looked easy and cute!

ethan was a willing picture taker and then i dressed it up in photoshop.

i already had leftover supplies from my christmas card project that never quite got done...so we were in business.

cut two little slots in the picture and added the lollipop.

pressed into the pre-applied photo corners (love how these really dress it up!)

and done! valentines for the whole class in about 30 minutes.

week in the life project

i really enjoyed doing the week in the life project. i wish i had more time right now to just finish all of my pages, but i am slowly getting through them.

i am really excited about how my first few pages turned out though! it is getting me back into digital scrapbooking, which i haven't done in quite a while. ali edwards has produced a line of her digital scrapbooking supplies that you can purchase and to make this project easier, i got the 12x12 shutterfly-ready album template, so it is laid out and i just have to add in my pictures, papers and elements, then send off to shutterfly. makes it a lot easier!

i am sharing 2 pages right now since i have no idea when i will actually finish the project with baby girl arriving any day now. i can't wait to have it complete. and even though it was A LOT of picture taking over 7 days, i definitely think i will keep it up at least once a year.