Birthday Decor :: Floating Gold Stars & Checkered Banner

I can’t believe I forgot to post this and I can’t believe that these are the only horrible photos I have, but hopefully you can visualize how cute this really was. Anyway, back at the end of May, I turned 33. I truly wanted to do absolutely nothing for it. I scheduled a baby appointment that day and my mom watched the boys. When I got home, I was surprised with a huge floating banner made out of thick wrapping paper and floating gold seals all over my dining room. Isn’t that a fun way to walk into a room? I loved it so much I kept it up until everything started to fall on it’s own. I have no idea why I didn’t take a full photo of the entire room, but here are the gold stars that were floating! She used those gold diploma seals and put them on fishing line. It honestly felt like magic. Totally copyable! (She said she saw this idea on a blog somewhere but can’t remember where… we’re not trying to steal credit here!)Anyway, a super cute idea and I especially love the surprise element of it all! I would love to do something like this to someone’s front door on their birthday. What a fun way to feel special.

Idea Thief :: Photo Numbered Walls

I’m all about an easy but big impact and this idea hits the nail on the head. Forgive me but I don’t know where the top photo is from. I got it off of pinterest and can’t figure out it’s initial source. (Anyone know? I will give credit!) What a great way to commemorate a big year. (I also love how they wrapped photos of this man around mini champ and beer bottles. Clever!)My friend Sandy created this same look for her sweet baby Max’s first birthday. I’m kinda wanting to kick her for not taking more photos since this party looked so cute (Can you tell how adorable that cake looks? I want a close up!), but I love how bold and sweet the overall look turned out for him. Black and white photos, a little tape, and a number or a word. Easy but awesome! Thieve away!

Idea Thief :: Painted Rock Napkin Weights

My son’s 3rd birthday party is tonight! Ahhhh!!! Get prepared for a full wrap-up next week, but as a little sneak peak and for those Idea Thieves out there, I give you painted rocks!We’re not serving anything that requires utensils, so there was no need to wrap up cute napkins. Still, I didn’t want these suckers to fly away. What better than a rock to hold them down? Well, I’ll tell you… A painted rock! Super easy, super fast, and because we collect rocks from the beach anyway, I didn’t even need to go out on a rock hunt. I just painted ones we already had. Have a great weekend! I will be spending the weekend trying to digest the fact that I am now a mom of a 3-year-old. How time flies!

Idea Thief :: Supper Club Recipe Book

Idea Thief time! This time we’re stealing the idea from… me. Hee hee! When we were approached to join this group, I thought it would be cool to gather all the recipes everyone makes and create a recipe book just for what we ate at each Gourmet Group gathering. I get a little neurotic and quite honestly feel like a bit of a freak when I’m snapping pics of chimichurri sauce, but I take photos of each item prepared. It’s totally bonkers, but the photos are what makes it a great cookbook. I got these binders and tabs through Rebinder solely because I liked how they looked. They are NOT kitchen friendly, however, and I might suggest just a plain old white binder instead. This one absorbs the oil and splats that happen when I cook, which I actually think makes it look cool, but might bother a neat freak.The front page in each section has a group shot of the crew, the title of the night, the host’s names, and the date. It’s sorta become a memory book for all of us as well.The photos of the food help me remember if I liked that dish. It’s been great for a dumpster fire of a chef like me, because I can go back into this book, remember what I loved, then serve it at dinner parties and KNOW it will taste good, even if I’ve never made it before. After each gathering, everyone sends their recipes to me. It’s never been hard to chase people down for them because I think everyone really loves contributing to this book. Each couple gets a copy each time around, so that may be part of the enthusiasm as well.I made us a logo and gocco’d it onto the binder. That’s it! If you do start a group like this, I would highly recommend putting something like this together as well. It’s really worth it in my humble opinion!
I hope you all have a lovely, happy and fun weekend! Thanks, as ever, for reading!

Idea Thief :: Birdcage Card Holder

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We went to a {beautiful, stunning, out-of-control fun} wedding this weekend and spotted this totally thieve-worthy find… A birdcage used as a card holder on the gift table. So cool because you just drop the card through any slot. I snapped the above photo… The ones below are from this blog. This is such a great idea for many reasons. The first one is obvious: it’s dang adorable. Another reason? It keeps your cards (and by cards, I mean money!) safe from thieves… and I’m not talking about us idea thieves. I’ve actually had a number of friends that have had cards (and money) stolen at their weddings… I am assuming from employees of the venue, not guests. This would keep your cards a little safer because once they’re in, they are not easy to get out. Great at weddings, but equally cool for a fundraising event or even a raffle. Love it! Steal away!

Idea Thief :: Popcorn Cupcakes

Chiara of Calico And Cupcakes threw her son a carnival themed birthday party this Spring, and I was blown away by the creative cupcakes she made. Don’t they look just like popcorn? Just marshmallows sprinkled with a mixture of yellow food coloring and water to make it look buttered. So clever! Steal away! 

Idea Thief :: Scarf As A Table Runner

Simple, easy & genius. Things I look for in an idea thief post. Lucky for me there are so many geniuses out there coming up with simple and easy ideas for all of us to thieve away. Michaela at Bliss! came up with this super fab idea (and styled an absolutely stunning table with it) and I just think it’s great! I have a gazillion scarfs but not a table runner to speak of. Problem solved! Thank goodness for those geniuses out there saving our tables from ugly!

Idea Thief :: Ribbons On Chairs

No doubt you’ve already seen how beautiful ribbons hanging from chairs can look, but just check out how simply this is done here. From Turquoise, Tulips & Bliss, the ribbons hanging on these chairs are beautiful without being fussy and very simple to copy. Mostly used for weddings, I think doing something like this for the guest of honor at a birthday party or a baby shower would be even sweeter. So what are you waiting for? Head to the ribbon shop, stat!

Idea Thief :: Glow Paint In A Mason Jar

I’m not quite sure what it is with me and mason jars lately, but these suckers are so dang versatile, I have to share everything I find. To replicate the look of fireflies, this crafty person via We Heart It painted the inside of the jars with glow paint. With summer inching it’s way here, I can see so many ways to use these in the next few months. Why trap a bug when you can fake it so prettily?

Idea Thief :: Creative Strawberries

So we’re barely past Cinco De Mayo, and haven’t even hit Mother’s Day yet but I am already looking to those patriotic holidays that we all love so much. Found via Pinterest, these red, white and blue strawberries are soooooo something that will be at my Memorial Day and Fourth of July barbeques. I love myself some patriotic fruit, don’t you? Well if not, maybe you’d like to take a walk on the wild side and get a buzz while getting your antioxidants. These strawberry margarita jello shots blow my mind! Beats the mouthwash cups I normally take my jello shots out of. I’m kidding. I’m not a shot kind of gal… but if I were, I would certainly be biting into one of these guys!
Have a great weekend, friends. See you Monday!