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Featured on Colby Elizabeth Photo Blog

I was recently honored to be featured on a local Colorado Photographer's Blog.  The very talented Colby Poppleton featured a Bridal Shower that I did on her blog.  Head over there and check it out!!

Firefly Designs - Vendor Love

This was a pinwheel inspired event.  I loved the whimsical feel of pinwheels paired with bold colors provided a perfect backdrop for a summer evening bridal shower.  The best thing is the number of time the pinwheels and arch have been re-used! 

DIY Christmas Decorations

This was my first Christmas sans roommate, and I decided to not be a grinch and actually decorate.  Since I got another dog in November the first step was getting her a stocking.  I quickly found out stockings (and all Christmas decorations) are really expensive!!!  So instead I probably spent equally as much on making a ton of my own - but I love they way they turned out - and I got to use colors from my house - so a few changes made the whole house look pulled together and festive!!

The day before I saw the cutest little girl in a skirt with pom pom trim - I feel in love with it and decided I would find a way to have a Pom Pom Christmas!! As I was wondering the craft store I saw not only the world's largest bag of pom poms, but they were also the same color as my house - so naturally I bought all of the bags they had.

My first stop was one of the cardboard cones and I decided to cover it with pom poms to look like a Christmas tree. It was super quick and super easy.  I was able to do all of the decorations while watching one of many heartbreaking Bronco games this season - but 3 hours to make all of my decorations - not to shabby!

Another note - when doing large projects like this - a mini glue gun is probably your worst nightmare.  I believe that is why I got not only an adult size glue gun for Christmas - but a cordless one!!  I didn't know such things existed!!  Last thing I need is my craft belt now!

My next project was this wreath - it took a lot more poms than the tree - but I love the way it turned it.  I like that it's still festive but completely different from any other holiday decorations that I've seen.

The final pom pom things I did was garland for both my tree and make shift mantle.  (Which is really a half wall for my stairs going into the basement - but I work with what I've got!!)  Here is a close up of the tree, a full view and the garland around the stockings.  I tried several different versions of the garland before settling on this one.  I used wide ribbon and just randomly glued the poms on there.

The last thing that I did was make a yule log and candle stick holders.  My parents own some property in the mountains and my sister wanted a "Christmas Tree" (it's in quotations because a Charile Brown tree was several steps up from this - although she made it look amazing!!) from their property. 

As they were cutting of the end of the tree it dawned on me - a simple wood drill bit and candles would go a long way.  I thought laying it horizontal and drilling holes big enough for a taper candle would make an excellent Christmas dinner centerpiece.  So, I asked to keep them.  My family thought I was nuts - but agree anyways.  We we were putting the tree up in her house they had to cut off more of the trunk - so I took that and cut it in 1/2 to make tea light candle holders.

After everything was set up in my house and ready to go for the holidays I went to San Francisco with my dear friend Christen for a much needed vacation.  On our last day we decided to go to Macy's and see their holiday windows.  We walked through the store to go back to our hotel, and right as we were about to leave I saw this!!!  I thought I was so unique with both my idea and colors... So instead I think great minds craft alike!!

DIY Gift Wrap

So typically I hate wrapping gifts - I am queen of the gift bag, except for Christmas.  I love the presentation of presents - and dedicate a substantial amount of time to it.  This year I decided I wanted something completely unique.  I had this wrapping paper from several years ago that looked like brown paper bags.  (You can easily use brown paper bag, old fabric, newspaper or old magazines as well).

I decided to make my own flowers from paper cupcake wrappers.  I got the idea from a wedding blog where they flattened out the wrappers as decoration - I decided to to the opposite.  This is a very simple look to create.  You simply grab the center of the cupcake wrapper and and pull it together - add a tab of hot glue then place it on the package.  You keep repeating this process until your flower is the size and look that you want.

This is a picture of the gift for my Dad - I decided to add a simple steam because the flower was overtaking the box, and it helped balance it out. I also decided to forgo the gift tag and write it directly on the box.

Here is a picture of the flower up close - you can see the how closely the individual wrappers are placed together to create the flower look.