Storybook camp out birthday party prep.

Hey y'all. Geez, I'm always starting my posts with "long time, no see." These days. Well, I've been gone a lot lately, my bad! It has been so hard to get time to myself lately. I started an Etsy recently and Dillon started school... So trying to get adjusted to our life right now has been the priority. But- it is Halloween eve, and I am wanting to share my party prep so far.

So because December is really busy with birthdays and Christmas I realllllly need to get working on Opal's birthday decor. Now y'all know when I throw a party, I go hard. I go all in- full force. I go straight into DIY mode AT LEAST a month ahead of time. 

Well this time around, I'm a little late. I really couldn't decide on what theme to go with. Opal asked for a petting zoo, but I couldn't get a hold of any of the ones around me and got tired of waiting for them to return my call so I ditched that plan. She also wanted Minnie Mouse but i didn't want to go with the traditional pink or red polka dots and black. It's just so overused and I want it to be more special. 

So after days on Pinterest during my nursing sessions I think I've come to a decision. Well, I can't say that "I think" I have, I HAVE!!!!!!! I even have some stuff to show you guys a preview of some of the tabletop decor. 

Oh, I forgot to mention the theme... A storybook camp out!!! I am going to add some Minnie Mouse stuff- but probably things like mouse ear headbands with flannel print bows! The games are going to be play on words that correspond with story book characters. I am going to have some sort of party favor that is a coloring project. I am also going to have some tents set up, you know the tee-pee kind? A-frame style though. 

Tonight I'm working on some of the art for it. I want to paint some storybook characters on parchment paper, then glue it to cardboard so that it is sturdy. 

I am hosting it early at 10 am so I plan to turn two of my mom's regular canopy tents into an enclosed tent. I'm going to zip tie 2 together, then use 4 white tarps along the back and sides to enclose it. It'll create a warmer shelter for the tables and food. Thankfully my mom has a really big backyard so I have room for that and plenty more for games and the camp out set up. (Tents and blankets)

For the food, I'm going to do a cute display of breakfast foods and pies. We picked out some cute dishes from the thrift store to hold paper straws, treats and more. Some cute vintage pans that will hold trail mix ingredients so that we can have a "trail mix bar" too. 

Okay- I'll stop jabbering on and show you some of the photos. My next post will probably have some of the painted characters. :-)

Peace y'all. 

Xoxo, Chelsea. 

I spent $21 but filled up my entire cart! Gotta love thrift stores.

I found this XL plate that will be used for donuts or something, and a matching lil creamer dispenser thing.

I also found these for coffee and cookies. Trying to keep things simple but still in the color scheme and the idea that it is something you'd have in a cabin or at a campsite. 

I'm using these cups for my trail mix bar. I'll have chocolate chips, raisins and little things in them.

These are also for the trail mix bar. I will make a post with all of the Pinterest pins and their sources of my inspiration for this party soon too.

We found this little basket too. It will hold the utensils and the duck napkin holder was just too funny not to grab.

I got this awesome old dark green metal tray for like $5. I'm using it as the birthday cake (or pie) tray. 

Last but not least, these are the two blankets I found to put the little tent /tee pee things on. I don't want the kids (or rather the parents) to worry about their clothes getting dirty while playing around.

Okay, well that's all I've got for today! 

My Craft Table & Art Room Makeover!

For the past year and a half I was dreaming of having my very own art studio. I grew up with my mother and grandmother having their own, full of sewing machines and craft supplies. Heck, my grandmother had one room for DOING the crafts, and another room that was just storage for all of the supplies.. Talk about a hoarder! (ha-ha!)

  Well, I was going to ask my husband for a craft table that was $300 online, but after searching Pinterest I decided I would just ask for a home made one. We built this table for around $90 total!! We found these bookshelves at Target for $21 each & we got this tabletop at Ikea for $45. I found my stool at the thrift store for $10 (what a steal!) ...thrifted some baskets, and I got a ton of jars at the dollar tree!

The boys putting it together. :-)

 

This room was our "storage room."

We didn't have much in it but bags and boxes of my art stuff, and baby items.

 

It feels a lot better having furniture in this room finally! I can't wait to save up some more spending money to not only expand my storage space, but to fill it up with more fun goodies!

For now, I will show you what I have done to organize a lot of the little things.

I found all of this stuff at the thrift store, and decided I was going to paint it.

I found those really cute jars (they look like mini candy jars) at the dollar tree.

I LOVE THESE JARS SO MUCH NOW!

We spray painted the tops with chalkboard paint and labeled them

with chalkboard paint - pens. They're so darn cute now!

I got this basket at the dollar tree, painted it pink and added a cheetah bow..

because cheetah everything is okay in my world.

I got this file organizer for a buck, and I found really cute organizer folders at Target (not pictured). But these Seventeen brand folders were on clearance for 75 cents at Michaels.  I plan to use the folders to hold some scrapbook stuff, and misc items. (Things like my random idea doodles, lists, and whatever else I can think of.)

This cute sewing basket was originally blue and had an old poodle on it.

(Well, I'm not a poodle kind of gal.)

So I ditched the poodle, and added a skull and crossbones to be more fitting!

Not much is in here at the moment! 

I still have some bags and boxes to empty, but this will hold as 

much of my sewing things as possible. For now, it has threads and random stuff.

This cute wooden tray now holds all of the jars I bought at the dollar tree. :-)

They hold pencils, scissors, rulers, markers, paint brushes, glue sticks, etc. 

I will need more soon.... ha-ha!

So here is the top of my table :) I can't wait to make it all messy with some projects!

And here is the side! I use memory boxes to hold things, and ignore the blue basket.

It is getting it's second coat of paint soon :) We ran out of paint... lol!