Luau Birthday Bash

So I purposely waited until 7:00 on this Friday evening so that I could truly appreciate being on this side of my little petunias birthday party. You see, this time last week I could have been over run by 28 screaming little girls at any moment. It never ceases to amaze me that kids don't realize "hey there's way more of us than her, I bet we could take her". Thankfully all the girls were a smidge scared of me and honestly very well behaved. Except one - but she doesn't read this blog!

I have a rule in my house. No sleepovers until you turn 10. So far it's been a tradition as my kids turn 10 they have a huge sleepover party. This year was LP's first sleepover and double digits. She's my little introvert so I wanted to make this party epic. We first ordered amazing invites from my favorite party printable etsy shop. They were gorgeous and very clean and organized even with the mountain of information I wanted printed. That's when you know you've found a winner if you can give your designer a ton of info and the invite doesn't come out looking like a train wreck. The party began at 6:00 pm and pick up was at 9:00 am the next day.

As guests arrived they were greeted by several signs telling you luau this way or Maui 4097 miles that way. Each sign was cut with a jigsaw (my new favorite tool) and then sanded, primed and painted a bright color. I finished them off by using a surfer font and applying vinyl words. I also had several life sized boards hanging around. Each guest received a lei as they entered the backyard. Note to self - tell girls not to use leis as weapons. Flowers were everywhere!

They began their evening with several games. Hula hoop contests, sand castle building and finally a giant slip n slide. That thing was massive and I'm sure it finally convinced my neighbors they live next to a hillbilly. But isn't that the coolest thing if you are a kid! Since I was dealing with pre-teen girls we had the mandatory selfie station. The tutorial for the flowers can be found on my pin board. 

Dinner was served a this table that was built entirely out of pallets. Then I attached cardboard to the top and covered in burlap. My staple gun got a workout for this party. But the entire table cost me 7.00!! You can't beat that with a stick. The menu consisted of Huli Huli chicken, rice bacon wrapped pineapple and piña coladas. You can find all the recipes on my pin board.

I also made tiki bars out of pallets. These were made before the tables so I did use a piece of plywood as the bar top. I would absolutely do that again. Since one was the drink station it needed that stability. As my party planning business grows I have acquired quite the collection of drink dispensers and milk bottles. They looked great on my tiki bar. The second tiki bar was used for the movie bar. I don't have a  finished picture of that one because the natives kept eating the candy before the movie!

We finished up our evening watching Teen Beach Movie 2. One of the hits of the party were the glow cubes for the tiki cups during the movie. Everyone helped themselves to the candy and popcorn, grabbed a paradise punch and a handful of glow bracelets. 

I loved this party. I think all the details are what made it so special. There's nothing better than having your shy daughter be the life of the cool party. 

Thanks to...

Lisa Kay Designs

Sweet October 

Something Old Event Rentals

Love is a beautiful thing....

Ok see that dress right there? I already had plans to write about that dress today and then something really cool happened and I just knew it was exactly what I was supposed to write about.

I feel like I should stop right there and tell you something...I do not have a degree in communications, marketing or heck even grammar. But I do have a bestie who does have one of those (not sure which one but for sure the grammar one) and she says that it's all good because I write from my heart. There will be misspelled words, punctuation mistakes and grammar issues but it's all from my heart so please forgive me. Or if someone wants to volunteer to proof these I'd be all over it! LOL

So now back to my original thought. That dress is special. You see I have this sweet customer named Kimberly who purchased this dress a few weeks ago. Kimberly contacted me that she had a 3 year old who was in a 3T/4T but was very thin. She needed the height of the 4T but a smaller width. That right there is why I love my job. I've actually made a skirt before with a 5 year old length but an 18month waist. :) Avery B you are going to be a super model one day! So I was very excited to explain to Kimberly that her issue was not an issue and I could custom size her dress no problem. I was sitting here today writing out the post in my head about how custom sizing is my specialty but right before I went to put words to paper Kimberly contacted me to see if I had a ship date.

Here's where I had confirmation that this dress is what I wanted to talk about. Not just because it was custom made but because she told me her daughter was adopted. If you know me personally you know that I am adopted too. I can not begin to thank my adopted mom for what she has given me. I have a great life because of her. Now I have insane drama that would make your head spin but for the most part I have a great life. I'm a good mom, I have a strong work ethic, I'm stubborn as all get out and I have a relationship with God. All of those things are a direct result of this lady right below these words. Now if my mother were alive today and she knew I had posted this picture for all the world to see, lets just say I would be living on borrowed time. :) But isn't she just the sweetest looking woman. Oh I miss her!

Adoption is amazing...love is a beautiful thing. It doesn't matter if you are born into a family or if you have a blended family. If you truly can show unconditional love it doesn't matter that you aren't connected by blood. Honestly I'm glad I wasn't born into my mothers family - they all have heart disease!

Oh I almost forgot! Now when you turn that little special dress over there's a newborn bodysuit for her baby sister. Kimberly inquired today about newborn clothes to match. She said that they just got their adopted daughters sister. :) So shhhh don't tell her that I sent a matching bodysuit. It's a surprise!

 

 

 

 

Instagram giveaway

Ok picture it, Illinois, 2015....

The kids have just gotten out of school for spring break and their mom has finally realized they are home for the next 10 days. I'm now realizing I don't have enough chocolate, bubble bath or coffee to get me through the days ahead. Speaking of coffee I feel like doing a giveaway and my bestie said I should ask y'all's opinion on some new items and giveaway my precious to you. 

And if anyone got my Golden Girls reference - message me - we could be great friends. 

Up first,

Baby Items

I haven't done any baby items in a very long time. My supplier has the cutest gowns and burp cloths available. Since I haven't made any of these up myself I am going to try to explain what I'm thinking. I don't want to step on any shop owners toes by borrowing photos! Just think monogrammed gowns, hats, burp cloths and more. 

Pillows

Heres a couple that I've whipped up. They are available as pillow covers. Extremely easy to slip over existing pillows!

Ladies Pillowcase Tops

These would be made to match any of the pillowcase dresses in my shop. 

Hair Accessories

Notice I said accessories ;). I'm not making bows and they will only be the ones to match my clothing. Here's a recent one.

So I know you are wondering where the giveaway portion is. This giveaway is on my instagram page. Is everyone else as obsessed about Instagram as I am? Oh wow I just thought of a new blog post. I follow some really cool people. I'll tell y'all about them next week! Anyway pardon my squirrel moment. Here's what you have to do. Just go to my page and find the collage photo below in my account or search #lpdgiveaway and leave me a comment on which of those four items you would like to see next in my shop. Now a winner will be randomly chosen...by random I mean I will close my eyes, scroll and point. The winner will receive....a 5.00 Starbucks e-certificate! And if you tag a friend they will win one too. So comment for the next 24 hours :) this time tomorrow you could be enjoying a mocha on me! 

LPD Headquarters

I've had my new office up and running for almost a year so now is a good time to show you. I must have been making sure it was really functional before I showed it to you....yeah we will go with that.

It's pretty crazy but I'm already thinking of moving my office into a bigger location. I've been expanding and doing so much more lately and it's just getting so cramped. I'd like a dedicated cut room BUT (insert very whiney voice) I'd have to walk all the way down the short hallway and back just to cut something. I know - even I want to slap me right now.

My previous set up was shame full. Down right embarrassing. In fact I can't believe I'm going to show you befores. It was the guest bedroom in my home and it started with a desk and an ironing board...in the room with the bed. So I had approximately 4 feet of work space. One day I just realized the bed was only used a handful of times a year and needed to go. If need be I can sleep in the chair in my office when I have company!

{Go Vols}
Can't help it I saw the cup and it just came out

 

 

 

I have a pretty good set up now. I use an embroidery machine, sewing machine and a serger. I also could not live without my laptop and cutting machine. So I kept all the things that I can't live without on my big L shaped desk. It's really nice to roll back and forth from machine to machine. All of the furniture was purchased from OfficeMax and I love my white leather chair. (My children are banned from touching them though)

 

I'd show you a current but it's very very messy. So next weeks blog will be how to get organized. I'm going to spill the beans a little here but the amazing Lisa Kay Designs is designing a To Do printable that she is going to allow me to share to yall as a free download! :)



{No clue why those sandals are there and I forgot I even had those!}



The second desk is technically for the little petunia. It has her sewing machine on it. But my assistant uses this desk to package and work on social media "stuff". But we make sure we call it little petunias desk because she gets jealous.

 

 

Cry a latte....

You know how when you are in those last few weeks of pregnancy your body starts waking you up every two hours to go pee? Or how you can only sleep upright in a chair because laying down is impossible or you feel like you are going to die. I have this theory that it's your body's way of gearing you up for those every two hour feedings and the nights where you are too tired to crawl back to bed so you sleep in the chair. Because honestly you got used to it while pregnant.

Well school getting out for summer is the same way.

We are about three weeks away from d-day and the fun is already starting. Today someone had the bright idea of having a half day. Now I know it's the schools way of preparing you for - these belong to you, take them back now. For the record that's just cruel! Quit taking away our free time and keep them with you till the very end! So not only do we have half days but then your own children do goofy things like forget where they left their shoes. So you guessed it - they miss the bus! Now you have to take them to school.

I'm not looking forward to the summer. It's full of I'm bored and why do you still have to work when it's sunny. Because mommas business is built around vacation season. You like nice things like food and clothing so go cut those strings and make me another coffee. Please. :) it's also full of eating out because I've forgotten how difficult it is to buy groceries with three kids! 

So I am off to drop shoeless joe off at school. I'm going to go to Starbucks and get my burnt chalk diet coffee and sit in my car and cry that school is almost out. 

Happy Mother's Day

The older my kids get the better Mother's Day becomes. As I'm typing this I'm sitting on my patio watching my three littles clean out my car while I drink my Starbucks that they got for me. In just a little bit I'll be eating lunch that they helped prepare. And they are going to plant the flowers I haven't gotten around to putting In pots. A few years ago this would not be my Mother's Day!

So for all those new moms out there....it gets so much better. You may be covered in food, puke and poop right now but in a few years those same kids will be giving you a massage. 

Happy Anniversary

Today is a very special day for me! Five years ago I decided to take a journey into running my own business. Now there are days that I don't want to be legit and file my taxes and keep up with receipts. (I should show you my filing system - so shameful!) But I wouldn't trade the satisfaction of knowing that I am helping to provide for my family and raise some pretty awesome little humans at the same time. Best of both worlds!

Anywho..

My 1K Giveaway starts TODAY!! It will run for a week and I am celebrating some pretty big milestones. I've just gotten 1000 facebook followers. My shop turns 5 today! AND yesterday my shop made it's 1000th sale! Talk about perfect timing.

Onto the guts of the giveaway. You can check out the amazing raffle prizes here..

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To enter you have a ton of options that you can do every day until the end of the giveaway. You can tweet, like on facebook, pin a picture, follow a pin board, comment on this blog!

 

Pin this Picture

After the giveaway the winners will be drawn at random and contacted. Have fun and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the amazing support.