InstaFriday: Color

Linking up with Jeannett as usual, for InstaFriday.. 

I feel like my week was full of color and beauty. Can't complain about that, can I? 

Friday afternoon I drove up (along the coast) to my friend Allison's house to celebrate her birthday weekend with her. My view for a good bit of the drive.

The tote bag I whipped up on Friday to give to Allison for her birthday! I love the colors & the ruffles.

This is also my InstaFriday Challenge entry for DIY. 

While we were out thrifting on Saturday morning, we came across these HUGE, gorgeous bushes filled with the bright pink flowers. Both of us were so bummed that we'd forgotten our "real" cameras.

Monday I worked at the antique shop and was basking in the loveliness! 

As of Tuesday, I've been sewing like crazy in preparation for The Threadery! I'm having so much fun with some really great new fabric.. 

As usual, Cohen stole my phone and wanted to take pictures one day. I didn't even know he took this, until tonight when I was getting ready to post InstaFriday! #Ithinkhehasafutureinphotography

By now, I'm sure you've seen the new look of Eisley Rae. I dropped the "clothing" part, since I don't post about the shop all that often.I hope you love it as much as I do!! I'm loving all of the color.

I told you my week was full of color! Hope you have had a great week. What are your plans for the weekend? Whatever they are, enjoy. 

Sugary Goodness!

I know you've seen this cupcake here on the blog before.  

It was the inspiration for these cupcakes at Brookelyn's party a couple of weeks ago. 

One thing I knew for sure was that I could make the cupcakes, frost them & sugar the edges with pink crystals.. but I knew that those flowers were not something I was going to take the time to do. And so my search on Etsy began. Not long after I started my search, I found Sassy Pants Cupcake Accessories. Right then, I sent Morgan a convo about the gum paste flowers. Less than 30 minutes later I had a convo back from her saying that she could make exactly what I needed. Morgan was so sweet and totally accommodating, to my very particular requests. And, her prices are excellent! 

I received an adorable little box a few days later and was totally impressed with it from the minute I opened it.The flowers were perfectly packaged so that they could not be smooshed or ruined! Adorable and perfect, just what we'd been hoping for! I'd highly recommend Morgan for any delicious cupcake accessories that you need. You can find her here on Etsy!

Here are just a few of the other amazing creations Morgan has got in the Sassy Pants shop!

 

 

  

Thank you again to Morgan at Sassy Pants for the adorable little flowers that made our cupcakes look just perfect for the big day!! 

What I love Wednesday

The weather here has cooled down a teeny tiny bit... as in, it's no longer 105, but rather in the low 90's. So, it's not really "fall" weather, but I'll take it. Anything to be done with the 100's! The mornings & evenings are nice and cool though and that's got me thinking fall!

With fall comes shoes as opposed to flip flops, sweaters and yummy (usually warm) drinks! Once again, I've gathered some inspiration from pinterest for some delicious sounding fall beverages and am going to share them with you. I definitely plan to make each one and will be sure to also share with you how yummy it is or isn't! Linking up with Krystina from Lollipops as usual! 

Delicious Fall Drinks

 Salted Caramel Mocha 

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake 

 Vanilla Vodka Chai Tea

Pumpkin Cheesecaketini 

 Pumpkin Spice Latte

Don't these all look & sound amazing? I can't wait to try them out. Hopefully our weather will actually cool down very soon here! What's the weather like where you are?

Baby Boy Bakery: Delicious!!

A few weeks ago I was trying to decide what to do for party favors, for Brookelyn's birthday party. I asked on twitter for some suggestions, when Jaqui was so sweet and offered to trade a dozen cookies with me! Awesome, right? I thought so, because I knew the cookies would be gorgeous and taste delish. 

Fast forward to a few days later... Meagan from Fairly Fabulous & I drove to meet up with Jaqui to get the cookies. The three of us were able to spend a little bit of time together shopping at World Market. 

Jaqui was super sweet & her little boy is ADORABLE. Seriously, his curly hair. Oh my goodness! It was so great to meet her and I can't wait until we get to hang out sometime.

And.. the Baby Boy Bakery cookies!!

They were gorgeous! Pink & aqua, and matched the party colors exactly. Brookelyn loved the little pearls on the corners of the "B" as well. Jaqui even had a sweet little tag on them that said "Merci"! 

The pest part though, was that they didn't just look pretty. The cookies tasted amazing! (and I'm a tough critic when it comes to sugar cookies). The cookie itself was SO light and fluffy, but not crumbly or dry. And, the icing tasted great! Often times royal icing doesn't taste that great (in my opinion anyway). This icing though? Fabulous! We would order from Baby Boy Bakery again in a heartbeat and I'll surely be recommending them to all of my friends!

Not only is Jaqui a wonderful baker, but she's also got a great blog (and often shares yummy recipes) and a facebook page. Go follow & "like" her and leave her some love.  You can also find her on twitter, here! 

Thanks again, Jaqui for our delicious cookies! We can't wait to order more!!

*And thank you to Meagan for some of these pictures! ;)

InstaFriday: Not a whole lot to show ya!

Linking up as usual with Jeannett from Life.Rearranged for InstaFriday. A great way to share your week through cell phone pictures whether you use instagram or not. Link up!!

How the heck is it already Friday?? This week went by crazy fast & I can't believe it's over already. I've still not fully recovered, or cleaned up from Brookelyn's birthday party. There are only a few pictures to share this week. I just didn't take many and the rest Cohen took.. so there were about 20 pictures of the floor and his little legs. #lovethatkid

A Parisian themed party!

I LOVE salt & pepper shakers. This is only a small fraction of the shakers at the antique shop where I'm working on Mondays! 

My silly boy! He LOVES playing with his big sisters things. Here he's clomping around in her Hello Kitty rain boots & crocheted purse.

This afternoon it was cloudy & looked like it might storm. It didn't, but it was pretty to look at. 

Hope you had a wonderful week. I'm off, in the morning to spend a weekend with my dear friend Allison for her birthday!! Excited for some kid-free girl time.

Paris Birthday Bash

This past weekend, we finally celebrated Brookelyn's 8th birthday with a wonderful Paris themed birthday party. Everyone had a fantastic time and Brookelyn loved all of the gorgeous decor & goodies! I did my best to use everything (almost) hand made by either myself or other creative ladies. Next week I'll be posting about a couple of amazing ladies who made some great things for the party. But today.. I'm sharing the whole party with you. 

Be prepared for photo overload!

{the decor}

{the birthday girl}

{my aunt teaching a French lesson}

{our little family}

The food was pretty yummy, although there aren't any pics of it. We served 2 types of croissant sandwiches. Some were filled with chicken salad (a la Costco) and some had nutella and sliced strawberries in them! Yum. We also served a traditional french carrot salad with a vinaigrette dressing that my aunt taught me to make. Aside from that there were some small tartlettes (cost plus), shortbread cookies (trader joes) and the other food that you see here. There's info on the other food & decor below. 

Most of what you see I already had or borrowed from a friend or my mom. A HUGE thanks to my lovely friend Meagan from Fairly Fabulous for loaning me some of the decor and for all of her help decorating the night before! Such a blast and SO nice to have the extra help. #loveyouforeverandeverM

Another HUGE thank you, to my aunt Sandy! She flew down from Northern California for the party so that she could teach a French lesson! All of the little girls LOVED it. They learned their numbers, a few phrases (hello, goodbye, etc) and a song! It was amazing!

So many of my ideas for this party came from pinterest..  here are some links and info! 

Cupcakes: Made by me, inspired by these.

Fondant Flower on Cupcakes: SassyPants on Etsy. 

Scalloped Bunting Garland: Made by me.

"B" Cookie Favors: BabyBoyBakery

Macarons: Roti Bon in Sherman Oaks. (Thanks Traci!!)

Raspberry Punch: Made by me, inspired by this.

Tutu Cupcake Stand: Made by me, inspired by this.

Photos by Me & also Meagan of Fairly Fabulous!

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out in any way or let me borrow things! We had a great party & I'm sure Brookelyn will remember it forever.