Stained plates or mugs?

Have you ever stained your dinner plates? Usually it happens from red sauce...the acidity in tomatoes seeps in and the next thing you know, your once white plate is stained red!

Or maybe you have a favorite coffee/tea mug but it's looking rather dreary these days. If you're anything like me, it can take you all day to drink that cup of tea you made at 7am when the baby got up (distracted much?). My favorite mug has a permanent tea stain on the inside.

Because we don't have a dishwasher, I'm sometimes guilty of putting a little warm water in said mug or in my white plate and leaving it in the sink for the next morning (I usually only do this if it's late and I just want to go to bed rather than wash dishes). And sometimes this means I get stains on plates or cups.

I found myself with a gross stain on a plate from the pizza we had eaten. Ok...so I may have left this plate in the sink with warm soapy water in it for 2 days. I forgot to wash it and went to visit one of my best friends 2 1/2 hours away for 2 days. I came back and realized my pizza plate was still in the sink. I washed it after getting the car unloaded (you know, with all the baby stuff you have to take on even a short 2 day trip). Much to my dismay, the darn pizza sauce left a dime-sized mark on my pretty West Elm plate! I knew I had heard somewhere that baking soda was good for stains. So I grabbed it out of the cupboard, poured it directly on the stain and added a little water to form a "paste." I made sure the "paste" was covering the stain and let it sit for about 20 minutes. I came back and re-washed my plate...and like magic, the stain was gone! So then I decided to do the same with my tea mug. It's like new again! Whew!

You all may not be as excited about this as I am, but I thought I'd pass it along in case anyone else without a dishwasher is as lazy as I am :)

Tea Party Bridal Shower

My sister-in-law's bridal shower was this past Saturday. Her best friend and I worked hard to make it special and fun. We made it an "afternoon tea" and incorporated her wedding colors into our decorating. She and her soon-to-be-hubby are extremely untraditional. They're having a Beetlejuice themed wedding, and her wedding dress is black. Totally different from the norm...but who says you have to be normal to have an amazing wedding?? :) Here are some pictures of what we did.


These are "hanging paper flowers," and I got the design from Martha Stewart's website. They are SUPER easy to make. All you need is paper bags (I got mine in various colors from Michael's). Check out her instructions to make your own here.

I wanted to personalize the prizes, so I took the labels off the candles I bought and decoupaged their names and wedding date on!

The finished product :)

Baking some gluten-free black and white chip cookies (regular chocolate chips and white chocolate chips). I adapted this recipe to make it gluten-free for my little sister-in-law and mom-in-law who have Celiac's disease. I also replaced the macadamia nuts with regular chocolate chips because macadamia nuts are so ridiculously expensive, and the black and white matched our colors. This was the first food item I made. By the time I was all done, it was 1am and I just wanted to sleep...so I forgot pictures of all the other baked/cooked goods. 

The finished product. They were an absolute hit and sooo delicious! A little crumbly though, so I'll add more xanthum gum next time (gluten-free baking/cooking can be a little tricky!). 

Food tags

A banner I made. I bought some gorgeous twine from Whisker Graphics in red and white. I hung the paper hearts and wallet-sized pictures using mini clothes pins. 

Some of the hanging paper flowers and gifts.

The food table. A heart garland made by my mom-in-law, more hanging paper flowers, red and white daisies (her fave) in mason jars, heart doilies (make them using these instructions) and all the yummy food! Plus, of course, the tea :). I forgot to get a close-up of the teas and cups and saucers before everyone got there, but they were all a bunch of mismatched teacups and saucers from thrift stores that we collected for a couple weeks before the shower. 

And the invitations I made. I know it looks weird and you're not getting the full effect. I had to blur out last names, addresses, and phone numbers. I tea-stained the invite and let them dry under heavy books to keep them flat. Then my wonderful and talented hubby designed the text layout and I printed them at home. After that, I stamped them and stuck a bag of my sister's favorite tea in the envelope (vanilla chai). I also pulled the tea tag off (the one on the end of the string) and replaced it with a heart that I wrote "C&A 9.10.11" on. The tea bags in the envelopes made the invites smell delicious!

Sorry for some of the poor quality pictures. I don't have time to edit them right now but I wanted to get this posted before I forgot about it. I'm heading out on a mini 2 day vacation to see one of my best friends in the Portland area while my hubby is traveling for work. 

The complete food list included mini tea sandwiches, veggie sandwiches for my vegetarian sister, gluten-free lemon sugar cookies, a gluten-free minted fruit salad (another big hit and SO easy to make), gluten-free almond ricotta lemon cake, and chocolate dipped strawberries (in addition to the gluten-free cookies pictured above). I also brought raw organic sugar, organic half and half, and some blackberry honey from the local farmer's market to use for the tea (I'm kind of all about organic stuff in case you can't tell). 

The favors were candies wrapped in red, white, or black with a coordinating bag of tea. 

I think that about sums it up! It went great, and I think my sister had a wonderful time :)

Nursery

I just realized I never posted this on here...I wrote this post in March!


Ok, the pictures aren't the greatest because I took them with my iPhone, and it's not done...but here's Eden's nursery without the crib. Need to get a few things hung on the walls and add some other stuff (like a lamp).


Mini bunting above her dresser made by my sis-in-law. The framed artwork needs to be hung, but we have plaster walls and have to use Ooks...so I have to go get some at Home Depot before I can put that up. It's hard to see in the picture, but there's also an "E" sitting on the dresser with a bunch of cute vintage buttons glued to it. The little green thing is an "owl bank" (you know, instead of a piggy bank), and the pinkish poofs are cute little yarn balls! All decorations are courtesy of my sis-in-law! And the dresser is the one I redid this summer!

We have this built-in shelving unit in her room, which is perfect. Without it, I have no idea how we'd fit all her stuff in this room! As you can see, it's pretty packed with diapers, stuffed animals, books and decorations, towels, grooming/bathing items, etc!

Here's a better view of this side of the room. That's wall-to-wall...so as you can see, it's tiny! Perfect for a baby, but we won't have room for anything other than a dresser and crib!

And some of the paper pom poms my sis made for my baby shower. I didn't have clear string, so I used what I had to hang them for now, but I'll replace the white string with clear so it's not so visible. And I plan to replace two of the light purple poofs with some plum colored ones...just waiting for my plum-colored tissue paper to come in the mail (couldn't find it anywhere but online!).

I have a couple more art projects to hang and need to get the crib when it's done. I'll post more pictures when it's finished!

Copy cats

I know this is a hot issue: copy cats.

Let's say that someone asks for your advice on something you kind of specialize in and wants to know how to do it (for the purpose of making this easier, we'll just say it's sewing). You have a friend who has never touched a sewing machine. You happen to know your way around one, have completed several successful projects, might even do a little for money, and have a blog dedicated to your hobby. You give this friend some tips and advice, answer their frantic texts when they don't know what to do, and become their go-to person. And then one day they create a blog about sewing and start posting all the stuff that they're making (which happens to be awfully similar to the things you do) and don't ever give you credit for the ideas or advice or help.

What do you do in this scenario? It's not like the projects you do are original. You weren't the first person to make a pillowcase or apron or curtains. It's fair game. But now they're going crazy publicizing their blog and projects to all your mutual friends (who may not be as familiar with the fact that you've been doing it a while)...still never giving you any credit or saying you helped them get started. And now you hesitate to say anything or post anything on Facebook because it looks like you're copying or being a jerk by trying to out-do them...when really...you started this sewing frenzy first.

Are you following me? What would you do in this scenario? Would you say something to this person and express your frustration and let them know you're a little hurt or do you just keep doing your thing hoping people notice that you've been doing it much longer and quit offering advice and tips to your friend?

**I may or may not be in a situation like this. I may or may not be asking for your help because I don't want to screw up a friendship if I'm just being ridiculous and arrogant for wanting credit.**

Can you help a sista out? I'm not sure where to draw the line sometimes. I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Young Love

I don't usually review music or albums...but I can't help myself on this one. Mat Kearney's newest album Young Love is seriously ridiculous. I love his old pre-record deal day rap stuff and have every album he's ever put out...but this reaches a whole new level. If you haven't heard him, you are missing out. I've had Young Love on repeat all night (got it a little early through iTunes) and all morning. I can't even begin to describe the amazingness that graces my ears as I type this. Now go buy it!

**I haven't received any compensation of any sort nor have I been asked to write this. This is just my honest opinion, and I wanted to share it!