happy s'mores day

S'mores are one of my favorite parts of summer.  A perfectly toasted marshmallow is one of my most favorite things in the world.  The perfect combo for me is graham cracker, marshmallow, reeses, marshmallow, graham cracker.  Uh yeah.  Its that good.  Here are some more tips to making the perfect s'more...

But the real question is whether you like your marshmallow perfectly golden brown or do you light em on fire?!  I am a perfectly toasted girl myself.  Have a great weekend!

Ruffled Sunshine Summer Essentials

What?!  There are still two whole months of summer left so don't look at me like I should be giving you fall essentials.  Here are my faves from this summer.  

1.  Sanuk Yoga Mat flip flops.  The most comfortable flips evah.

2.  Mighty Mango.  I have some shade of pink on my toes all summer long.  Right now its neon.

3.  I finally used up my huge stock of lotion.  I got this one from Pink and la la love it.  Sad face its not available online but your local VS might still have it.

4.  A brand new worn out sweatshirt is my fave.  June Gloom by billabong.  I got mine at TJMaxx for $18 so check there first

5.  This stuff will rock your socks.  Big Sexy Hair Powder Play volumizing powder.  My friend Steph gave it to me to try.  Get it.  You will love it.

6.  My go to skirt, black + white stripes from Target.  If you are lucky you might find one in stores.  

A whole lot of this...

I've been doing a whole lot of this.  And I'll be doing a whole bunch more of this for the next couple of weeks.  Sigh.  

When we were in California last week the Kennedy's met us at Doheney Beach to give us some surf lessons.  Just so you know, April is just as nice as she seems and her family is rad.  Thanks guys for the fun day!!  

I am a rock star and got up on my first try surfing.  The second time I fell.  And busted up my knee.  I kept going and got up another time or two.  Then I hobbled home :(

The good news is that its just a really bad strain.  So after a couple of weeks of rest and ice and ibuprofin I should be on my way to better than new.  The other good news is I now have an excuse to lay by the pool all day!  And depending on how I am feeling at the moment, {right now its bad news!} this means I have get to start eating clean again.  No more ice cream for me!

So my view isn't going to change much for the next few days.  Good thing I have the Olympics to keep me company and an awesome husband to take care of me!  

{eh and also hence the blogging ;) }

InstaFriday {can it be summer forever?}

Happy InstaFriday everyone!  Here's a glimpse of our eventful week through phone photos.  {Just so you know, breaking down and getting a phone that takes good pictures is one of the best things I've done lately.} 

These peonies were at the farmers market last Friday.  I really hope she is going to be back today cuz I need some of these beauties to brighten up my home this weekend.

Last weekend was Grandma Camp.  Darin's mom hosts it every year and everyone comes for 2 days of fun. There is tin foil dinners, a pajama fashion show, Christmas in July, S'mores {my favorite part} and story time.  And thats just the first day!

Our friends Rob and Stacy came in to town for the 4th of July so they came out to Grandma camp too.  My in laws live in the country a little bit and they always have the MOST gorgeous sunsets.  Perfect lighting for Stacy's maternity shoot with Darin.  It doesn't get much prettier then wheatfields in the evening light.

On the second day of Grandma camp we have a family friend bring horses for horse rides, water balloon launchers, homemade ice cream in a bag and an obstacle course.  This year the last task was to eat one of those huge marshmallows with no hands.  I think all the kids got sick. 

After Greenies closed on Saturday we headed out to Portland to spend the 4th at the beach.  The original plan was to go to the coast both Sunday and Monday but you can't count on beach weather in Oregon.  Even in July.  Since it was rainy at the coast we enjoyed an actual sunny day.  Right in Portland.  In all my life of living in and visiting Portland I have never been to Voodoo Donuts.  We stood in line for 30 minutes. I guess its a newly renovated locatation.  The entire building was painted with glitter.  I loved it.  

It was really good.  My favorite was the Voodoo Doll.

Luckily we had good weather for the 4th.  We hit up the Cannon Beach parade.  Ivy didn't think it was that great until everyone started throwing candy at her.  Then she def warmed up to the idea.

We got there in perfect time to explore the base of Haystack Rock {you know, the Goonies rock} when the tide was out.  The rocks are covered in starfish and mussels and barnacles and all kinds of crazy sea life.  Next time I'm taking my bike.

We came home and had a night out on the town with Darin's siblings.  They convinced us to go to Olive Garden.  Last time we went there was probably 6 years ago in Denver.  It was seriously like the Denny's of italian food.  The chairs had casters on them.  Luckily this was a much better experience.  Fancy even.  Yay.

Then it was back to our regular routine of pool, sleep, repeat.  Why do goggles make everyone instantly nerdy.  And super cute at the same time?  

How was your 4th?!

{ps... you don't have to use instagram to link up.  Any ole camera pictures will work.  Won't you join me?}

Swimsuits Rack: DIY

{my little fish}


Hi friends!  How was your 4th?  Ours was super fun and I'm just getting back in to the swing of things around here.  But I'll tell you one thing.  We are living in our swimsuits these days.    Pool, Rinse and repeat it seems. And Ivy may or may not even sleep in hers sometimes.   I needed a place to wrangle those suits so we aren't scrambling to find them when its time to go.  I love my rack I came up with and as promised here's a quick how to!

SUPPLIES

board cut to desired length.  Mine is a 1x8x20

Spray paint

faucet handles {I got mine at Home Depot}

vinyl lettering

I found this board in the garage that was painted white and everything all ready to go! But I wanted pink letters so I decided on reverse stenciling. So I spray painted just the top pink.  I let it dry for about 10 minutes but wasn't too worried about letting it dry completely because I want it to be distressed.  

I cut out vinyl letters with my silhouette using the BEBAS font {one of my faves right now} and applied them to my board.  Then I had my helper paint the whole top white with craft paint.  Right over the top of the letters.  Just make sure you don't glob the paint on over the letters or it will seep.  Spray paint would work well too.

Let the paint dry for a couple minutes but not totally.  Then use some tweezers to peel off your letters.  If you want, use some super fine sandpaper to knock down the edges of the letters and distress to your liking. 

I spray painted my faucet handles with the same pink {rustoleoum 2xcoverage pink}, and let them dry completely.  Then I measured out where I wanted them and drilled holes in my board.  When you are getting the faucet handles make sure that you get the ones that have a knob on the back to help it stand off the board.  And Lowes did not have the handles so don't waste a trip.  Just head to home depot and ask where they are.  Then  find some screws in the garage and screw on your handles. 

Booya!  No more scrambling for {dry} swimsuits or lost bottoms!  Happy Swimming!

Gone Swimming

Summer is in full swing around here.  Hooray! We have been spending our days with cousins at the pool and enjoying the warm weather that has FINALLY come our way.    Summer is our fave and it always seems to be so short, so Ivy and I are trying to make the most of these couple short months and savor everything that summer and the sunshine has to offer.  I hope you are all doing well and I'll check in again soon!  

{ Maybe I'll even show you how to make my fun swimsuit rack!}

Oh and just in case you didn't know...

I will!  Will I see you there?

She Market Recap

Wow!  I'm impressed.  You guys really like your bakers twine!  

Well, I'm done with the She Market.  Was it worth it?  Eh, maybe.  I had a fun time chatting with all the ladies and watching the mad dash for the $5 Shade shirts.

 These two ladies did a fabulous job with the sale.  Just look at all of theboxes and boxes of clothes. And thats not all of it.  I can only fit so much in my 50mm lens! When I showed up at 3 yesterday it was a mad house. Seriously.  Like probably 200 people.  And it was steady business all day.  Thanks for inviting me Karen!

Here's a little rundown of what I had. I tried my hand at some little boys ties, which were super cute, but maybe $15 is too high? I guess I should check with mom's who have boys first ;)

 Clutches, pennant banners and skirts were the hit of the party though.  I had fun pairing up all the fabrics for these little guys.  I think almost everything I made had some form of polka dots on it.  I can't help it, I just heart them!

I also had some purses and little girls clothes.  I used my orange baker's twine to tie my tags on to things I was selling.  That stuff just makes it instantly cuter!   

Ok, so I'm beat, I just wanted to stop by and say hi and THANKS for all of your entries for the Twinery giveaway!

 

{so far I think that Cappuccino is winning the poll}

I'll be back tomorrow with a fun project to do with your twine!

A Fine Twine {GIVEAWAY!}

 Whew.  What a week.  I can't tell you how much I'm glad its over.  And that doesn't happen very often for me since I try really hard to be grateful for each day.  Especially in the summer... 

 {hopefully we will be back to our regular scheduled twirling this week}

  

Well I've been really thankful for all the super nice comments you have been leaving, and all of you that have been following me lately. 

Seriously it makes my day.    

So I have a BIG thank you for all of your kind words over the past couple of weeks!

 The Twinery is so graciously giving away a spool of their bakers twine to THREE of you lucky ducks for being so nice!

I have been pining over baker's twine for a while now.  There are so many ways to use this cute string and I love that it is eco-friendly {yep its bio-degradable. love it.}  The Twinery has a bunch of fun colors and you get to pick one!

 I know, its hard to decide right?

Well I have more great news.  Whether you win or not, The Twinery is offering anyone who reads this 25% off!

{Isn't that nice of them?} 

And if you are like me and can't pick a color why not get a sampler pack?!  You get 15 yards of each color.   Then you can decide on your favorite.  Or just get a spool of each. ;) And don't forget to check out their blog for tons of fun ideas on how to use baker's twine, free printables and more!

Ok.  Here's what you need to do to win.  

+Become a follower.  

+Cross your fingers and hope that random number generator picks you on Friday! 

Easy peasy!  And if you want an extra entry, leave me a comment telling me your favorite color of twine!    Another entry?  Spread the word via your favorite social media and leave another comment telling me about it!

OH! and to get 25% off {cuz thats a smoking good deal and you should take advantage of it whether you win or not} use code MAKEIT25 at checkout.  But you need to hurry because it expires next Monday!  

Here's to a new week!  Have a fabulous day!

Check me out!

Crazy Domestic has a post today about blueberries and my blueberry ginger jam made the list!  Blueberries are still in season so go ahead and make some! 

 {Ivy is finally starting to feel better, so hopefully I can get more than one thing done in a day!}

Memory {Summer Edition}

Homemade gifts are always the best.  Even when three year olds don't fully appreciate it. 

 Case in point, Ivy's Memory game I made for her birthday.  Someday she'll appreciate I'm sure.  

I've been wanting to make her this game for a while and her birthday gave me a good push.  Want me to show you how to make one?  Ok.  I will anyways ;)

I used these 2 inch chipboard squares from Craft Warehouse.  I even got to use a 40 % off coupon.  Sweet ! I spray painted both side white cuz its A LOT faster to spray paint 24 squares then to use craft paint.  While those dried I cut that cute blue and white polka dot paper up there in to 1 7/8 inch squares for one side and put together a sheet of images for the other side.  

I used images from LD Summer Popsicles and Treats and LD Seven Seas to make a sheet with 12 different pictures of some of Ivy's favorite summertime things.  I sized them in photoshop so they were 1 1/2 inches square and spaced evenly in a 8 1/2 x 11 inch document.    I then printed out 2 sheets on white cardstock and cut them in to 1 7/8 inch squares .  

{side note: Lettering Delights is awesome.  They have free stuff all the time and huge sales.  I haven't paid more than 20 cents for something.  Plus they keep all of your stuff in a library for you, and bunches of other cool features.  Check it out!}

I then modpodged the blue squares to one side of my now white chipboard, let them dry overnight and then the pictures to the other side.  

Tada!

A game perfect for ages 3+ (just like the box says!)

I had the perfect bag for our game, but it would be fun to decorate a box for one too.  I'm thinking this will be perfect for Ivy's cousin who also turns 3 this week.  There are so many different themes you can do too.  

+numbers or letters

+holidays

+boy stuff or princesses

+animals

+or my original idea of family pictures!

If you make one ever I wanna see!