Birthday Cake Popcorn

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. If you missed my post about Mother's Day, you can view it > HERE < !  I woke up to a giant bag of candy from Dylan's Candy Bar {from my husband's work trip this past weekend}, so I was a pretty happy momma. Plus, lots of daddy-encouraged Ava hugs & kisses for me, too. I got to have dinner with my mom and sisters and celebrate all kinds of motherhood, so it was a wonderful day.

Today, I'm sharing with you an EASY and DELICIOUS recipe for a new twist on popcorn. Birthday Cake Popcorn! I just LOVE birthday cake in any form - cake, ice cream, candy - you name it - I'm eating it. This popcorn is easy to make and the best part is that it actually has real cake mix in the batter. YUM! The photo below is an easy to save recipe photo that could easily be printed as a 4x6 recipe card. Just right click > SAVE > PRINT. Enjoy this yum yum treat {no birthday required}. :)

xo

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Pink Polka Dot Birthday Wreath

Happy Monday! Guess what? We moved last Saturday! Well, not everything, but we loaded up a 26' U-Haul and moved most everything out of our house and into a storage unit. It's so weird to see basically your entire life all piled up in a 10x15 cement space. We will move the rest this Saturday (and by "the rest" I mean just our beds!). My husband is gone almost this entire week for a work trip, so I'm kind of on my own to finish up. The appraisal on our house is Wednesday, and there are a few minor repairs from the home inspection and maybe a couple more from the appraisal, since it's FHA. Selling a house is definitely an adventure, and I truly hope we never have to move again. This week is going to be CRAZY - I just know it - but I'm super grateful to have my little Avabean to hang out with the whole time and make time for reading her new book from Grandpa's trip to England ("Peppa the Pig Meets the Queen") and eating lots of Chick-Fil-A, of course. :) What are you up to this week? Anything wild and crazy or exciting? Or just the same ol' same ol'? Which is truly a blessing, too!

Today, I've got a fun wreath tutorial for you that includes my 2 craft faves: POLKA DOTS + BURLAP. I could probably do a roundup of polka dot + burlap crafts from my own portfolio and fill up an entire blog post - I've done so many! Hopefully you aren't tired of polka dots + burlap yet. ;) I made this wreath for Ava's 1st Birthday last December. It may have stayed on my front door through Christmas, and New Year's AND Valentine's Day. My > St. Patrick's Day Wreath < was the only thing that finally brought it down, ha ha. This little ol' wreath is very simple & easy (classic Put A Bird On It, right?!). My fave part? The pink balloons pretending to be bows! 

POLKA DOT & BURLAP BIRTHDAY WREATH

You'll need a wreath form {I liked this straw one, because I didn't have to worry about metal or green styrofoam showing through}, balloons, polka dot burlap wire ribbon, floral pins

Wrap the ribbon around the wreath. The one spool was JUST enough.

DIY Explosion Box ... Guest Post by Becky from My Paper Craze

Hi there! I'm Becky from My Paper Craze, a bloggy-duo that I enjoy with my partner-in-crime {aka Mom}. We love searching on Pinterest, as well as inventing and experimenting with our own ideas! Our blog goal is posting {REAL} crafts for {REAL} life, so be sure to hop on over for home décor, kids crafts, holiday inspiration and {MORE}!

I am super excited {and honored} to swap guest posts here today with Daniela! Two heads are always better than one, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the projects we have for you! Definitely stop by my blog {click HERE!} to see what Daniela's got going on! Today I want to share with you one of my first and {favorite} paper crafts...

Not sure what an explosion box is? Allow me to give you a sneak peak... prepare yourself to be in awe {LOL}.

Isn't that cute? Imagine unwrapping an explosion box instead of a regular ole birthday card! You know what I love to use them for the most? Gift cards! You can create pockets in the sides to hold just about anything... we'll get to more of that later, though. So, does that pique your interest? Maybe you'd like to try out your skill at explosion boxes? Well, they are actually super easy, with or without a cutting machine!

Now, I will disclose that the above explosion box was created using the Scallop Explosion Box from the Silhouette Online Store. However, I've given you an easy template to follow to make your own by hand! Here's what you'll need:

• Two 12x12 sheets of cardstock (the thicker, the better)
• One 12x12 sheet of patterned paper (to match the cardstock)
• Adhesive (a glue stick or glue gun will work if you do not have any scrapbooking tools)
• Embellishments, as desired

First step... 

Guest Posting at Boughtin Baby {DIY Polka Dot Burlap Wreath}

Well, friends, I am visiting another blog today! Remember the adorable onesies Ava got to where a couple weeks ago from Boughtin Baby & Bride? I am over there, at Cady's blog, sharing the pink polka dot burlap wreath I made for Ava's 1st birthday party. It was really easy (of course!) and extremely adorable, IMO, so make your way over there to read all about it! My favorite part? Turning balloons into bows! 

To get you excited...here is a peek at what you'll be learning to make!

Click HERE to view the tutorial!

xo

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Hot Cocoa Bar for Ava's First Birthday Party

Ava turned one yesterday! Her birthday party didn't have a theme, really, but I tried to use pink, gold, burlap, chalkboard and polka dots! Ha, like I said, not much of a theme, more of all my favorite things. I'll share the different projects I made throughout the week. Today, I'm sharing the Hot Cocoa Bar. This was my favorite part! Ok, favorite part besides Ava opening presents and feeding daddy cake. It was suuuuuuper cold the night of her party. It was amazing of our family to even come out in this weather! I wanted to keep everyone toasty and comfy during the party. A hot cocoa bar seemed like the perfect thing! For the hot cocoa, I used this crockpot recipe from Mrs. Happy Homemaker. She is not lying when she calls it THE BEST ever. My husband RAVED about it the entire night and sent me a text the next day saying he was craving that cocoa! Click the link to get the recipe. And be sure to PIN IT for later. No lie - you will WANT it and LOVE it.

Here are the pics and a list of the toppings I used. I want to see pics of your hot cocoa bar!

 I used chalkboard placecards to label the different toppings. I just made them with chalkstock {chalkboard cardstock - my new best friend!}. The cute silver scoops I got from Zurchers, which is our local party store. I added the polka dot craft tape to the handles to help them go along with the theme!

TOPPINGS

caramel bits

chocolate chips

peanut butter chips

coconut

peppermint Andes mints chips

cinnamon

mini marshmallows

mini candy canes

chocolate hazelnut Pirouettes

whipped cream

If you wanted an Ela Classic, you would do the following:

Cocoa

Peanut Butter Chips

Cinnamon

Whipped Cream

Andes Peppermints

Candy Cane {on the side}

Pirouette

Stripey Straw

YUM!

We are going to the store to get more ingredients to make more cocoa tonight!

Merry Christmas!

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DIY No Sew Tulle Tutu

Tomorrow is Ava's first birthday! I can't believe one year ago today, I was having my last child-free day. I was so nervous about labor and being a mom. I wish I could go back and talk to my 9month pregnant self and tell her to not worry, that everything would work out okay better than okay.

To say I am EXCITED about Ava's first birthday is an understatement! This marks the best year of my entire life. The JOY that Ava has brought into my life, my marriage, our family and our home can't be described in words. So I won't try. It's only something that can be felt.

I want her first birthday to be special. I know "she won't remember it," but I will. Her photos will. And I want her to feel that tomorrow is a more special day than the others. I made her a glittery pink, white and gold birthday tutu. I CAN'T SEW! But I did find an AMAZING tutorial on how to make a NO SEW tutu. I'm not even going to do my own tutorial, because the tutorial from Make It and Love It is what I used and I can't possibly say or show it any better than Ashley did. Be sure to CLICK ON THIS LINK to see her tutorial {and tell her who sent you!}. I love giving credit to other bloggers, because, well, come on, we all get ideas from other people and HELLO Pinterest, so they deserve to know they have inspired someone else. I love when I get a blog comment that someone made something I shared or was inspired by something I did. It seriously makes my day! Ok. Back to the tutu-torial. It is VERY easy. VERY inexpensive. But is kind of time consuming. I spent 2 hours making Ava's tutu. Just pop in your favorite movie and you'll be done by the end!

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

IF YOU WANT A GLITTER BOMB TO GO OFF IN YOUR HOUSE, I RECOMMEND THE GLITTER TULLE.

IF YOU DON'T WANT GLITTER EVERYWHERE FOR DAYS, USE PLAIN TULLE!

I really wish I'd have had my own warning before making Ava's tutu. Yes - the glitter tulle is adorable - but it is SO MESSY. I'm still picking glitter off my clothes, carpet, and out of my mouth & hair. Take caution if you want it glittery! I will probably be making a different tutu for Ava to wear around the house, since the glitter, as Anakin Skywalker once said, "it gets everywhere."

Have fun making a tutu! It is SO easy. You can make any size you want. My sister-in-law made matching witch tutus for her and her daughter for Halloween a couple years ago. It's so easy and fun!

HUG someone you love tomorrow in honor of Ava's birthday! :)

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