Birthday Wrap to Birthday Decor! (2015)

Those of you that have been following this blog know that in addition to holidays, I enjoy LOVE decorating for birthdays as well!  I also really like to recycle as much as possible.  Not only is it financially savvy, but it's good for the Earth too.

Given that, I always have an assortment of gift bags on hand.  Of course you can always reuse your gift bags for future gifts, but this time I decided to upcycle them into birthday decor.  Read on to see how I completed this easy project.

(You can see the rest of my birthday decor by clicking here)

A couple of cute birthday gift bags from my wrapping stash.

This is probably one of the easiest projects ever.  All you have to do is cut out the portions of the bags that you want to highlight, and pop them into a frame.  It's that simple!

(And if you use frames that you already have like I did, the project is free too!)

 I decided to cut out the individual cakes from the blue gift bag on the left.  I thought they would make a nice trio of smaller frames.  I liked the 'Happy Birthday' printing on the white gift bag, so this one I left as a full 8X10 sheet.

Tip:  If you are having a hard time deciding what part of the bag you want to frame, or just need help measuring - use the glass.  Carefully remove the glass from the frame and position it on top of your artwork.  Move it around until you find  a position that you like, then lightly trace around the glass.  Be careful though, the straight edges of the glass can sometimes cut your hands and fingers.

Scroll on to see how the frames turned out!

Orange Cake

Green Cake

Chocolate Cake

8X10 Happy Birthday

I found the little birthday hat when searching through some scrapbooking supplies and thought it would look cute in a frame as well.  I like the way it turned out next to the large happy birthday cake.

(And in case anybody is wondering...no, I didn't get out the birthday decor just to take these pictures.  This project -and these photos- were taken in January when I was preparing for Little Man's first birthday...better a late blog share than a never blog share, right?  Haha!)

 And there you have it, another easy and inexpensive decor project!
I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Spring Photography (2015)

Warmer weather means I've been taking the kids for walks in the sunshine.
It also means I've had the chance to take a few lovely Spring photos!

As usual, I've left off my watermark.
Feel free to save, use and share these photos as you wish!

Orange Tulips

These pretty little tulips are from my Mom's flower garden.

Forsythia

Another photo from my parent's backyard.

Hot Pink Crabapple

This is my most favorite tree ever.  Ever!!!

I love the way they smell :)

Yellow/ White Daffodils

Maybe I took this photo in my neighborhood.....Or maybe it was in the garden section of the Wal-Mart...Heeheehee!

White Blooms

I'm not sure what kind of three this is, but it sure was pretty!

Light Pink Crabapple

Almost as nice as the hot pink, but not quite ;)

Tiny Purple Grass Flowers

Ok, so these are actually probably considered weeds, but I loved collecting them as a little girl!

I hope you enjoyed these Springtime photos as much as I did taking them.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Painting Birdhouses! (Spring 2015)

One of our Spring traditions is to paint wooden birdhouses for the backyard.
The kids love the painting and I love having another yearly memory :)

Ready For Color

These are the birdhouses we painted this year.

The larger house in the back belongs to Baby Girl.  I found this one at the end of treasure hunting season last fall.  You can see that parts of the wood are sun faded, but that's ok.  It will be covered with layers and layers of paint any way ;)

The tiny one in the front is the Little Man's very first birdhouse.  It was also $1 and I found it at Wal-Mart.

Finished Houses

Baby Girl painted her house in bright shades of pink, green and blue. The Little Man globbed on Earthy tones of black, green and brown....when he wasn't painting the table that is...:D

**Never mind those little fingers at the bottom. No matter what I am doing, there is usually a pair of busy hands nearby :)

Side View

You can see that Baby Girl got a little fancy with her scalloped roof design, I'm sure the birds are going to love it!

Once painted and dried, I gave each house a coating of varnish to protect them from the weather.
 Now I'm excited to add these birdhouses to the rest of the collection in our backyard! 

What are some of your family's Spring design traditions?  Let me know in the comments section and as always, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Dahlias & Daffodils (17 Pc Package) 2015

What better way to welcome spring than with a mixture of dahlias and daffodils in yellow and creamy white?
Check out this wedding set featuring these beautiful spring-time florals:

Dahlias and Daffodils

Bridal Bouquet

Maid of Honor

Bridesmaid's Bouquets

Daffodil Pin-On Corsages

White Dahlia Boutonnieres

Yellow Dahlia Boutonnieres

Toss Away Bouquet

The 17 Piece Package

This 17 piece package can be found in my eBay.

Want to see what else is currently available?  Check out my eBay store here

Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

My Life In Pictures/ Photography (Easter 2015)

 With Spring in full swing I've had a busy few weeks around here, especially with our Easter celebrating.  Scroll on to see photos from what I've been up to.

(Some photos I did not watermark.  Feel free to use these as you wish!)



 
Apple Tart

Ok so this wasn't for Easter (we had it at St. Patrick's Day dinner) but how awesome is this apple tart made by my Father-In-Law?  Yep, I got to eat that :D

Easter Decor Bins

I decorated for Easter at the end of March.   So. Many. Eggs!
:D :D :D

(You can view my Easter decor by clicking here or here)

I also boiled a whole lot of eggs.....

.....and filled a whole lot of plastic eggs!

Sun Beam

I took the kids outside to do an Easter photo shoot and this sunbeam showed up in almost every picture!  I got a lot of cute photos of my kiddos too ;)

Jelly Beans!

These were too fun and pretty not to take a picture ;)

Bunny Peeps!

I used these for smoothies and to decorate my Easter cake and breakfast table.

(You can see photos of how these Peeps were used by clicking here)

And what is on the agenda now you ask?  A couple of garage sales, that's what!  I'll let you know if I find any good treasures ;)


Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Glowy Eggs!

A Basket Full of Glowy Eggs

One of my very favorite Easter traditions is to have a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt for the kiddos.  

Read on to see how easy this is to pull off!

Glow Sticks

For this project you need glow sticks and large plastic Easter eggs.  Make sure your plastic eggs are on the thinner (cheaper) side as this will better allow the light to shine through.  I was going to use my large pastel eggs, but figured out that my printed eggs worked much better.

(You can read more about my egg collection by clicking here)

I purchased my glow sticks at Dollar Tree for $1 a package.  Dollar Tree has a large variety  of glow sticks, you will need to get short ones.  The longer the glow stick, the harder it is to fit them inside of an egg.

Usually I purchase a couple of bracelet packages, but then I saw these 'lantern' sets.  I liked these better because for the same price I would get more sticks per package and in different colors.  I am ever the savvy shopper my friends ;)

Activated Glow Sticks

The first thing you need to do is open and activate your sticks.  For those of you who haven't used glow sticks before, this is really easy.  Just gently bend the stick in half until it 'cracks' and then shake until the entire length is glowing.

Fun Fact:  I had to hide in my bathroom to keep the kids from finding out that I was making their surprise glowy eggs.......enjoy the lovely photo background of my linoleum flooring :D

Ready to Fill

I like to somewhat match my glow stick color to my egg colors....It's super important, ya know! ;)

Step 1

Gently bend the glow stick in half.  

I say gently because yes, they can break open.  Baby Girl and my Niece discovered this one year...all over my Nephew's brand new carpeting!  It didn't stain, but we were a little worried there for a minute!  The girls, however, absolutely loved being covered in glowy goo....Did I mention the importance of making sure that you purchase non-toxic glow sticks?!?!?!  :D :D :D

Step 2

I like to put the folded glow stick into the larger (bottom) half of the plastic egg first, it seems to stay in place better.

Step 3

Snap on the top!  

If you are planning an outdoor hunt, or just want to make sure the eggs don't pop open, I recommend sealing them shut with a bit of clear tape.  

Truth:  I don't bother with taping the eggs shut.  My kids collect their eggs and then immediately start poping them open to retrieve all of the glow sticks.  After that, it's one big glow stick party until bedtime!

The Finished Product

Keep filling your eggs and you will end up with a collection of fun, glowy eggs for a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt!

Glowy Eggs!

This is an easy, inexpensive (Total cost: $2) tradition that my kids love playing with. 
 And I love watching my kids delight in the simple things :)

I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

How We Celebrated - Easter 2015

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
Read on to see how we celebrated:

Easter Brunch

We are finally a table of four!  Little Man has recently decided that he wants nothing to do with his highchair anymore, so now he sits at the table with us.  This was my first holiday where I got to set the entire table :)

I used my gold chargers and clear glass plates that my Mom gifted me with a couple of weeks ago.

You can click here to read more about my table settings.

Easter Grass Table Settings

Originally I was going to use my white plates, but then had the idea of adding Easter grass to each setting.  I like the way the glass plates hold everything in place, but still allow you to see the prettiness.  A couple of bunny Peeps later and this simple design was complete.

Fun Fact:  I have no idea how to 'properly' set a table. I don't even know if the arrangement in this photo is correct. 

If I had to I could look it up of course, but my concern has always been more toward making things look pretty.  Sometimes I put the fork on the left, sometimes the right.  My napkins change their position frequently and who knows where the drinking glass is supposed to go?!?!  I don't! :D

Whenever I go to a restaurant, it's already done and my Mother-In-Law or Sister-In-Law usually takes care of it at Husby's parent's house (I come from a casual family, Husby's family is of a military background).  This one time though, Leslie wasn't there yet and Mama-In-Law asked me to help with the table....Cue the sound of crickets here - these people have two forks and everything!....Luckily though one of my kids started fussing and needed attention.  That provided me with just the amount of stalling time I needed and then Leslie walked in!  Whew!!!  :D :D :D  Hahahaha!  .....I feel that a few needed lessons might be coming my way once I publish this post! 

 Side Note:  I'm sure I can pick up the table setting business pretty quickly, but there is no way I will ever be able to fold a fitted sheet like Husby's Aunt Jan - That is just a thing of sheer, utter amazement.  One time on vacation she folded my sheet for me and it was six months before I would use it again.  I couldn't get over the perfect 90 degree right angle corners!  How did she do that?!?! :D :D :D

I may have just inspired a future post...I'll call it my 'casual secrets' and I can tell you about how I never iron anything, sort of neatly roll my sheets into the cabinet and well, I guess you already know about the table setting!

Okay, okay, moving on now....:D

Easter Egg Centerpiece

I layered a large glass plate onto more Easter grass at the center of the table and topped it with a bowl of plastic eggs.  I wanted something simple and colorful, this was perfect!

Click here to read more about my Easter eggs.

Easter Smoothies

For brunch we had a breakfast casserole and fruit smoothies.  I chose these items because they were both things that I could prep the day before.  That way all I had to do on Easter morning was pop the casserole in the oven and turn on the blender.  A nice brunch was quickly ready and I got to spend time watching the kids while they opened their baskets and hunted for eggs.

Smoothies:  Low fat vanilla yogurt, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries in the blender.  A little marshmallow Peep made them cute and fun.  I take mine plain, but Husby likes (light) Cool Whip on his.  Baby Girl likes (light) Cool Whip and a few sprinkles.  Since I don't add any sugar to my smoothies I don't object ;)

Breakfast Casserole:  After greasing a small baking dish with canola oil spray I first layered (uncooked) shredded potatoes.  I followed by pouring over a mixture of eggs (I used three eggs and three egg whites) and low fat cheese and then sprinkled on some green pepper and mushrooms.  Then I baked it at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Bunny Cake

This was made from a Pillsbury lime cake mix.  If you like lemon cake then you will like lime as well, they taste pretty much the same.

I iced the cake with Pillsbury lime icing and topped it with a couple of bunny Peeps.  Green sprinkles and a handful of green Starburst jelly beans made a nice 'lawn' for the bunnies.

Baby Girl's Hard-Boiled Eggs

Yep, we colored a few real eggs too!  

Baby Girl had a fun time dying these pretty pastel eggs.

Little Man's Hard-Boiled Egg

I thought it was only fair to share a picture of Little Man's handiwork as well.  

He was very proud of his ability to destroy eggs ;)

That's some of the fun we had on Easter weekend, I'll be back next week with photos from our glow-in-the-dark egg hunt!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Easter Decor (2015)

A few weeks ago I spent the morning decorating for Easter.  It pretty much consisted of putting out eggs, eggs and more eggs, but I thought I'd share a few photos anyway ;)

(If you want to read about those eggs, click here)

 Faux Lilies

I swapped out my spring daffodils for open lilies, and filled my milk glass with a few colorful eggs.

You can click here to read more about those daffodils and the rest of my spring decor.

 Lilly Close-Up

I love the realistic look of these lilies without the sneezy, clothing staining pollen!  The paper filler grass is the same that I used for the daffodil vase as well.

Side Note:  If you ever do find your clothing stained with pollen, just set the item out in the sunshine.  I don't know how it works, but the sunshine makes the stain disappear!

 Finished Room

After carefully packing up and putting away all of my spring decor, I dusted my shelves and started working on Easter.  It took a couple hours to get everything out and set, but I was pleased with the results.  I had just finished taking these photos when I turned around and.....

.....Saw that the Little Man had been busy 'decorating' as well!  This photo shows just a bit of his hard work, the rest of the house was scattered with toys as well.

:D :D :D 

That's it for today, short and sweet!  

I'll be back Friday with pictures from how we celebrated the actual holiday.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015