Boy Baby Shower Decorations and Menu

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I really do love to entertain. I love to have people over and make them happy, comfortable and well fed! Recently I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for my beautiful, adorable friend Lisa. She is the kind of pregnant that makes one excited to be in one's 3rd trimester only to realize that she is, in fact, the exception not the rule...

I REST MY CASE! Ok posting that picture of Lisa was kind of a last minute decision....I hope she doesn't kill me :) But doesn't she look fabulous!?

Aaaaannyways, I am excited to show you what we did for the shower! (And when I say we I am talking about myself and my two friends Rachael and Anna who are simply fabulous) 

I am not huge on themes when it comes to my own parties (though I do love them when other people host them!). So this is what we came up with. I will be doing a tutorial for the giant flowers on the backdrop in a post next week!

So as you can see our main flower was Babies Breath scattered throughout the house in lovely vases. This really tied everything together. We also had Cherry Blossom branches that were absolutely stunning on the table (Thank you Anna!!) Everything else you see on the tables were random pieces from each of our own homes and I think the effect is just gorgeous. 

For the menu we had an assortment of cheeses, cured meats, breads and crackers. Red Velvet cupcakes for dessert (thanks to my fabulous Mom!) And these unbelievably delicious salads (seriously I am starving looking at these pictures)

Salads left to right: Italian Pasta Salad, Fruit Salad with Pomegranate seed and Mint, Asian Cabbage Salad, and Arugula salad with herbed feta

Are you drooling??? I am! 

Thanks for tuning in! XOXO Christie

Guest Post! I {Heart} my Glue Gun

As you all know, I am packing and running around to get some last minute things done.  So this week I have a few guest posters who are fabulous!!  And to start out the week, what a better way to introduce Janet, who is hosting a blog party at her place all week!  So take it away Janet!

Hey all you Ma Nouvelle Mode readers!! My name is Janet, and I'm the owner of www.iheartmygluegun.com! I am so honored to be over here at Ma Nouvelle Mode!

I truly love blogging. I've been blogging since February of this year, and it has just been such a joy! I love getting inspiration from other bloggers out there, and implementing the things I've seen into my home! I'm sure you can relate :)

So since I'm visiting over here, I thought it would only be fitting to bring my best! Today, I'm going to show you my dining room table turned from beastly to beautiful!

As you can see, my dining room table was the cream of the crop in 1978 (like my calendar falling off the wall? That's how we roll). It was given to us by our old neighbors, and they gave me all matching 8 chairs! The table was a huge blessing because at the time we had a 4 person table with one of the chairs only bearing three legs, and we had our youth group coming over once to twice a week so we needed something desperately!

But it's 2011, not 1978. It had burn marks from a hot casserole dish burning through the tablecloth, scratches, cheerios, cup rings...it had definitely seen better days.

So after vigorous sanding, Kilz oil based primer, latex satin black paint on the table and Rustoleum's semi-gloss spray paint on the chairs, and a few coats of Minwax Polycrylic gloss, it was as good as new!

Please excuse the missing chair, she was painted later and was having the 3 day cure I did on the table and chairs.

I love it now! I've been contemplating bringing in different dining room chairs to spice it up a bit, but that costs money and a deep hunt on craigslist. So I'm okay with my extremely low cost renovation to my dining room table for now!

Thanks for having me, and please come over to I HEART My Glue Gun to see the guest posts happening all week!

Decopauged Canvas Decor

A week or two ago I got to share this project over at At Home with K.  Thanks Kindra!  Anyway I thought I would post it here in case any of you missed it!

So, I don't have a lot of money to spend or space in my house.  So although it can be more challenging, it is super fun to say 'yes, I made that!  And for like 2 bucks!'  So I am going to share with you my most recent finished project, what I made for my front entry way.  Here it is:

And now for the tutorial, really simple and inexpensive ladies! That is the best part!

Here are the materials I used:

1. Canvas board (size of your choice)
2. Black tissue paper
3. Old book (I used the same one as my last project!)
4. Modgepodge glue
5. Hot glue gun and glue
6. cardboard (not pictured)
7. I used the letter 's' for the finished project

I started by decopauging the canvas board with the black tissue paper.  Not neatly so it has a personality!  And trust me, I am good at not being neat. Then you let it sit overnight to dry. 

Then I proceeded to make a ton of little flowers for the heart.  You cut out a spiral.  It doesn't have to be perfect, but make it a circle, ovals don't work nearly as well.  Start at the outside and curl in. 

You will come to the end and it will look like above.  Add glue over the entire base and seal with the remaining flap of paper like below.



Yes, those are my dry hands! I wash the dishes toooooo much!

 May I suggest putting on a good movie and bustin' out these bad boys.  I just sat at the table by myself.  Not nearly as fun! 

Isn't it cute? I am sure you could find a ton of ways to showcase these beauties!

Voila!  My petite fleur! 

I cut out a heart shape on a book page.  I realized it was a bit flimsy so I attached it to a piece of cardboard I cut in the same shape.  So if there were any spaces, it would be another book page.  I glued all the flowers on with hot glue, starting on the outside and moving in to make sure I kept the flower shape.  I stuck them in there as tight as they would go! 

I don't have a picture, but I am sure it isn't that hard to figure out, I glued it to the decopauged canvas!  The great part about this project is that the heart could be any shape you want!  Like maybe a little bird, which are popular now, but with a cute material on it instead of the hearts.  It is all left to your style and imagination!

Here is how I used my finished project: 




My little picture wall in our entry way.

 And if you remember, I asked about where I should use my 'S', this is where she ended up!  What do you think?  And really, if I am being honest, this table never stays this neat.  There is always jackets, beenies, randomness there.  But it looks good for the pic! 

I am linking this baby up to all the parties on my linky page!

Framed Menu Board

I have been wanting to complete this project for a while, but I didn't have any letters to finish it off.  Enter mommy!  My family is visiting me this week and so of course we must make time for crafts!  I just don't have as many resources here, so it is so great to have some brought in!

I started with a frame from Ikea, not the cheapest, I am sure most of you would be able to find some cheaper.  The tutorial I saw used burlap, wich is probably better, but I didn't have that so I used scrapbook paper.  It stinks because it wasn't the right size, but it works.

Supplies:

• Frame
• Something for backing (i.e. burlap, scrapbook paper, some other material)
• Letters or stencils
• Glue/gluegun
• Razor for cutting straight lines
• Cup of tea :)

 I used a different backing for the top, I thought it was cuter.  Once again, scrapbook paper.  The letters were from Michael's, $20 before the 40% off coupon. (It had all the letters with about 8 different fonts of each)

 Et voila!  I added the letters for the days, a little rope on the top for hanging, and I already had the hook.  I have dry erase markers from my son's easel and there were two black markers, so one is going toward the menu board!  You just erase it with a paper towel or tissue.  Super easy

Finished project.  Super easy, cute, and practical!  Of course my husband still isn't too convinced I will be using it.  I will have to prove him wrong! 

What do you all think?  Did I do okay for what I had?  Any suggestions or variations?

I linked this up to the linky parties.  Check out my linky page to view them all.

Paper Wreath

So I saw a paper wreath over at Living with Lindsay and thought, 'hey I could do that!'  I don't have a ton of resources, but I have an old book and a glue gun.  I didn't have a foam wreath, so I decided to change it up a bit.  And I am super proud of myself, I didn't spend a penny on this project.  Everything I used, I had in the house already.  Sa-weet! 

So this is my super blank wall.  The couch covers (which are horribly ugly) are at the dry cleaners.  But seriously, the gray almost looks better.  Anyway, I could not decide what to do with this wall, it is so big and empty.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money, if any if I could help it.  So I was so glad to find the tutorial!  I switched it up, so I am going to tell you what I did.  Here is what you need:

Or at least what I used ~ 

• scissors
• cardboard
• glue gun
• paint (any kind, I had left over spray paint.)
• old book

I used a book of ours called Love and Respect.  It is actually a great book for married couples, but I thought, 'eh, Lavar and I are doing fine, I'll use this one!'  Then I used all the pages pertaining to the women and tied up the left over and placed it on Lavar's pillow.  Helpful hints!  (I hope you all know I am totally kidding)

This is how I started.  Then I moved inward in a circle.  Just rolling and gluing, rolling and gluing.  You can probably use something a bit more sturdy for the base, but it tured out pretty sturdy, so it worked for me. 

 This is the first layer.  It looked a little sparse to me, so I decided to keep going.  Once I did the second layer, I was more satisfied with the end result.  Then I had a major dilema, I could not decide what to put in the middle.  I was thinking that I would put a really cool letter S for our last name, but I don't have a printer an I couldn't draw one that didn't look like my 3-year-old did it.  Luckily, we live in an old French house that has all these keys laying around!  One for every door, although they all work in every door. (typical French)  I thought it was cute and vintagey, so I used it. 

I almost forgot.  I said I used scaps for everything, right?  Well the middle is cardboard covered with an old pair of nylons that I don't wear!  They were thick enough you can't tell.  And the 'string' the key is on? Yep, nylon too.  The string in the back that is keep it to the wall, nylon too. 

So what do ya think?  Do you like my Love and Respect wreath?  I felt so good to create something from things I had lying around the house.  Unfortunately, I might never throw things away now always thinking 'what can I create from this?'

And here is the wall so far.  I think I would like to add some pictures to the right of the wreath.  The saying is something my mom sent me, she got it at Target.  It still looks pretty plain....

Any suggestions??  What do you think of my project?  And I would love love any suggestions of other crafts/projects you can make for little or no cost.  That always makes it fun too!

Handwriting

Ashley @ Eisy Morgan tagged me in this little handwriting thing.  I love love love her blog, super cute and inspirational.  So I thought I would play along!  Here ya go!

I didn't have room on my tiny sheet of paper to tag anyone, so I am doing it here!

Meri @ Meri-Goes-Round
Erica @ Fashion meets Food
Megan @ Across the Pond

Come play along!!

Okay, next, I need ya'lls help.  I made this sort of make shift book wreath and I can't think how to finish it!  I need help ladies!  What should I put in the middle?  I was thinking the letter S (our last name) backed with black.  But I don't have a printer and my writing isn't that great. (see above!)  So what do you think?  How should I finish it?  I am super limited with supplies, so get creative ladies!  Thanks!

Bises!

New 'lil sumpin' sumpin'

Well, since I have been inspired lately to have a new sense of style, a new sense of me, I thought I would allow it to carry over to my home as well!  I am funny, becuase I can be creative, but sometimes, I just can't see past what is in front of me.  As my husband tells me 'you just can't see the vision!'  He is very stylish.

The thing is, we live in an apartment that we most likely will not live in next year.  We cannot paint it and I have to think through every purchase and if it would be joining us the following year.  How I would love to paint.  Our white walls are seriously, like, stark white.  And boring.  And really hard to fill and make look cute.  So all that to say I added a few things around the house.  Nothing to call home about (I actually did call home and tell my mom though, HAHA)  Take a look!

Before

After. I added some of my colorful towels in the bins because I can't keep flowers alive. :(



My mom sent me these. We dont' have a Target here :(  But another way to add a little something



The only one I could do right now, above our pantry

In the process

End result! I am def happy with it!

So, seriously, tell me what you think.  I realize it is nothing crafty or anything, but I am super limited.  But that is where all you awesome woman who know how and can do all these things!  Please, please, comment some advice, I would love it!