DIY’s

DIY: Bringing Jesus into your kids Easter basket

Although I’m not a mom just yet, I do have a 7 year old sister. It’s important for me to be a role model to her and to share with her the importance of our faith, Jesus and his story. My sister Sofia, is quite the character with a personality of her own, but one thing is for sure.. She’s bright and she learns fast! I wanted to make sure this Easter she knew what Easter was truly about and give her a little reminder that not only would make her happy but also was filled with his word and goodness. My parents do a great job at making sure she reads her bible each morning before school, and taking her to church. When I went to ask her about what Easter was about.. Well let’s just say, I was more the surprised one. She could tell me the Easter story probably better then I ever could at her age! A week ago, a fellow blogger posted a great kids Easter activity over at WildlyGraceful, it was a one week Easter story countdown. I read it over and it was great! But my sister already knew a lot of the content, maybe because she’s older then I like to think. I’ll have to save that one for my future kids one day lol. So I opted out, and created this little cute Easter basket for her. Thanks to the amazing $1-3$ isle at target I was able to find all the amazing goodies! I seriously cannot go to target without stopping by that isle! I knew most Easter baskets are filled with candy and Easter eggs! So I decided to instead fill it with things I knew my sister has been wanting or things I knew she would enjoy! But of course, I got easter eggs! I figured it was the perfect opportunity to fill them with a little of bit of Jesus’s Easter story and what he stood for. I had seen many Easter projects on Pinterest explaining the Easter bunny and relating it to the Easter story. So since she’s a little older now, I figured I would incorporate a little of that in the Easter eggs and cut out some bible verses and place one in each of the eggs. I also made each verse explain a little of how it could represent her Easter bunny bag! It was too cute to pass on! I hope we all remember the meaning of Easter and what it stands for and that it is by his grace that we can live an abundant life! That through his grace we are forgiven, loved and have a Heavenly Father who is always with us.
Materials: ALL from targets $1-3$ isle! Win!

Idea..Pinterest! So many to choose from to help you out! I typed up bible verses which related to the famous “Easter bunny” and put it in simple terms for my sister to understand what each bible verse stood for and meant!

Happy Easter everyone! What are some ways you incorporate the true meaning behind Easter?! Have a great weekend friends!

-Jen

WEDDING WEDNESDAY: BRIDESMAIDS: HOW I ASKED MY GIRLS DIY

Today on Wedding Wednesday, it’s all about a little DIY for my Bridesmaids. I was very excited once I knew how I wanted to present my idea, that’s why I decided to share with you all, how I asked my girls! For those of you who have been following my blog, you all might know that I’m all about DIY and creating goodies and cute decor details. Asking my girls to be my bridesmaids would be no exception to the opportunity. So after some research and finding some cute ideas, I decided I wanted it to be personal. My creative side got excited and started going to my local arts and crafts stores like Michael’s, hobby lobby and one of my favorite places for small inexpensive goodies.. Target! Once I started visiting these stores I just began by looking around and just seeing what cute things I could find. I wanted it to be personal but not spend tons of money on random goodies either. So I picked up a couple of cute little pieces from wherever I found things and started my DIY! I spent time looking for things that would suit and go with our look for the wedding as well. Like mentioned before in my previous wedding Wednesday update, I’m trying to incorporate our colors and the feel we are shooting for that day! Simple, classy and personal. So away I went! The final product was definitely pleasing, personal and lovely!

My materials included the following: -the cute little buckets I found at target and they were a dollar a piece! Score. -the little gold chevron goodie bags, labels, sewing kits and post cards were also all from target -the golden magnet frames I found at a cute little boutique called Francesca’s -the white Dolly’s, gold glittered clothespins, gold ribbon, golden glittered material paint, gold washi tape and notecards were from Michael’s arts and crafts -the small white totes from Hobby Lobby -the color paint paper samples from Home Depot – the sweet chocolates, your local food store lol – personalized notes by yours truly 😉

First thing I got to work on were these tiny little white totes.. I wanted to spark some interest to them and make them personal. I decided to get a dolly and place it on the tote and secure the edges down with some tape to prevent the dolly from moving. Once they were secured, I got my glitter fabric paint and traced the pattern of the dolly on to the tote and let it dry for only a few minutes to prevent the dolly from sticking to the tote. *Note..If you leave it to dry completely it will stick, if you remove dolly right away it may smudge the pattern.. so only let sit for a couple of minutes before removing dolly. Once that dried, I wrote each girls initial on the tote… They came out better than expected!

Next step was wrapping these up once they were dried. I decided to sneak in the travel size sewing kits in between since they were a little of an eyesore. They didn’t really go with the colors so I hid them in between and used the pretty gold ribbon to tie it all together.

After those were done, I started gathering up all the other little details. One was labeling those cute little chevron goodie bags with a little sweet note and putting some yummy chocolates inside. I used the extra dolly’s I had to label each gift with the girls names and taped the pictures to each individual magnet picture frame.

The Next step was the more personal aspect of this cute little Bridesmaid gift. I Included not only a cute little postcard that asked each girl to join me on my day as my bridesmaid but also sweet details about expectations and details of what my vision was for the wedding and information about the day of the wedding. My favorite though, was the individual sheet I gave all my girls that named each girl and I wrote a little sweet note of what each of them meant to me. It was sweet and simple, but it came from the heart. The rest as you’ll be able to tell was just arranging and making it look cute with gold and glitter and color samples of what the wedding colors would be! ❤

Now for this handsome guy, he also asked his guys to be his groomsmen, only in a more simple and masculine way lol. We arranged some of these Cigars with their names on simple cardboard paper with a simple phrase printed on them, “Your service as a groomsman is required.” This idea we had seen on pinterest and felt it suited well!

This Handsome guy was ready to pass out our bridal party gifts!

The Final Product was just what I envisioned, cute and simple but made with lots of love for my girls. Made to let them know how much it means to me for them to be there for me the day I say I do! ❤

*all images are property of La Vida, life as it comes

-Jen

SOFIA TURNS SEVEN

Sofia turned SEVEN last week and I can’t help but look back at my little sisters #7 celebration! It was definitely a family affair full of surprises for our little Sofia! This year her birthday fell on a week day.. and we all know that a weekday birthday for a little one is no fun! lol But thanks to big brothers and sisters, we would take care of that and make sure it was a day full of fun for her! Unlike many little seven-year old girls, my sister is no fan of princesses, pink nor sparkly…(She kinda takes after me on that..woops) What she is a fan of and a HUGE fan of on that note, is horses! The love she has for them is overwhelming… Overwhelming in the sense that it’s this good emotion, that consumes you with love and a smile when you see her eyes light up when she sees one or is riding them in lessons. It fills me up with joy honestly. So what better way than to celebrate with some horses on her special day!

I wanted to surprise Sofia.. So my plan was to set up a little cake table while she was in school so that when she’d get home, it was her birthday surprise! Well, that’s exactly what I did… The night before I had seen a couple of ideas online to incorporate horses and well my first task was a cake. A simple cake, with a silhouette of a horse. Let me start off by telling you this… I’m NO baker.. but I try! lol So a boxed cake would do, lol. Let me humor you all… the first cake?… well it fell apart while I was taking it out of the baking pan… sigh. But thank goodness for my honey! He’s so sweet…because I wasn’t having the greatest day and when I saw the cake fall apart, I almost went into tears. Luckily for me, I have the best fiancé ever… He took me to the grocery store and made me try again! So cake number 2? Success! lol Easiest thing to do was decorate the cake… Some cream cheese frosting and a chocolate sprinkled horse silhouette! A couple of goodies from target and I was ready to decorate the next morning before she came home from school!

I was so excited to share these photos with you all, not only because I was proud of how our sweet little set up turned out but most importantly because of the smile on our sweet little sofas face! It was priceless! I can’t wait to share more birthdays with my little sister! Most of you know that I adore her and she keeps me going and wanting to be a better me for her eyes!

Our celebrations didn’t stop there..Some games for the day, and a horse cake to wrap up the night. After, came some planning for our family trip to Orlando to keep celebrating with our little Sofia for the weekend. Lets just say the fun continued and its safe to say she had a great 7th Birthday!

We all love you Sofia! We all wish you many many more birthdays to come, full of that love, happiness and personality you have. May God continue to bless you!

My brother and Little sister, we miss you joe

excuse our messy look!!

Happy Birthday Little Sister, We all Love you!

CALLIGRAPHY IN THE WORKS

Calligraphy in the works! I was super excited and super nervous to share a project I recently finished for one my good friends Desiree and her fiancé. I was super excited for many reasons but super nervous for many other reasons as well. For those of you who don’t follow my instagram, to catch you guys up a little bit I figured it was most important to share this post with you. The past couple of months, I had a recent ‘goal’ or ‘hobby’ to put it into better words. That hobby being, Calligraphy.

Since I was little, I could remember always doodling and writing and probably not being the best with ~~going green~~…sorry trees! ( I really do love the environment, I swear, lol) When I was younger, I could remember being the happiest and most at peace, just writing random words, or doodling and even drawing. Clearly I did not become an artist, but I could definitely write in decent cursive. After running into some calligraphy work and seeing the work of some fellow bloggers and a wedding around the corner, a spark of interest fired and I figured it was worth a shot! I may not be a professional calligrapher or know everything about it, but little by little I’m learning more. I’m also learning about myself more, and how much I enjoy getting away from the hassle of life sometimes and just being in my own little world. It works out actually, especially since while practicing, it allows me to go into my own little world and relax and enjoy time with my pen and paper.

One reason the spark came about and whats pushing me to get better little by little, definitely has to do with wanting to address our own envelopes for our wedding. So here and there during the week, my nibs, paper and ink come out to play and I..practice! Well, with that practice came a little showing off..lol… and of course like a normal person, I enjoyed showing my progress with my family and closest friends. I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I have a couple close friends to me who are also getting married. Well jokingly, I would tell them that I would give them the “friend discount” and I would address their envelopes too. Little did I know it, I was really about to get my hands on some of their envelopes!

My friend Desiree is also getting married this year and actually it will be two weeks before Xavier and I. To put it simple, its been fun, sharing the experience with her! And to make a long story short… She one day decided to ask me a serious question..lol Want know what it was? She said…”Jen, will you seriously do our save the date envelopes?” I secretly jumped in excitement..lol…But right after, I questioned myself and asked my honey, if he really thought I could do it! I couldn’t ask for someone more supportive than him, because of course, he said YES! So… my response to Desi was.. YES!

Lets just say, before getting my ink on her envelopes, my palms were sweaty and I was hesitant to make the first stroke… but before I knew it I had the first envelope done! fewf! After a couple or so, my confidence grew and I became less scared as I finished yet another envelope. It was time-consuming but I was determined and was actually enjoying every minute of it! Like I said, I’m not a professional calligrapher, but hey I’m proud of what I was able to do for my dear friend. Her happy face was sufficient for me to feel I did good! I’m so grateful for the trust she placed in my hands with her save the date envelopes and hey… maybe this is the beginning of something great! I always have wanted to start a little etsy shop.. =) What do you all think???

Here is my first clients addressed envelopes! Enjoy!=)

Any inquires!? lol

Jen ❤

*all images are property of La Vida, life as it comes

PUMPKINS UNDER PALM TREES

In on honor of Fall, and its last month with us for this year… A day full of pumpkins.. Florida style under palm trees! A couple of weeks back we paid a visit to our local farmers market, Flamingo Road Nursery. It’s probably one of the most known farmer’s market in the Ft. Lauderdale area for their pumpkin patch. We made it on the last day that the farmer’s market was offering the pumpkin patch. It was full of people eager to get their hands on the most orange and roundest pumpkin there!

Down here in South Florida, our pumpkin patch experience is quite different from up north. Last year we sweat up a storm in probably 90 degree weather… Don’t worry we had a little better luck this year. It wasn’t as hot this year and we had a nice breeze to cool us off! None-the less, we kinda made it a quick trip! Drank some cold apple cider, rode the hayride and picked our pumpkins and headed home! The amount of people there was kinda crazy… we don’t do big crowds well.. so it was a trip, quick and to the point! It still was a great day spent with my honey and little sister!

What we were most excited for was really choosing the pumpkins to take them home and carve! Believe it or not, none of us had ever carved a pumpkin. There’s a first time for everything and we can now scratch that off our to-do list because it was a great success! First stop after was to our local arts & craft store, Michael’s, to pick up some necessities for our pumpkins. Well lucky for us, they had pumpkin carving tools on sale for 88 cents! score!

We headed over to my parents house and set up our work station and began to get our hands dirty!! Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do! Every time I look back on them it reminds me of the fun we shared with my little sister and how great of a day we had! It was so heartwarming to see the excitement and the twinkle in my sisters eyes as she carved away her own pumpkin. She’s growing too fast and I’m making sure to cherish all the little moments with her. It’s always so joyous seeing her be proud of herself! (because yes, she carved it herself after we cleaned it out for her) It was also fun to do something new with Xavier. I must say we make one heck of a team! Not only did we enjoy the day but being able to spend time with my family and having my parents watch us is always special!We made more memories, and good memories are always welcomed in my book!

Here is our day captured on my iPhone! Enjoy! Show us your pumpkin carving designs… we would love to see them!

We hope your fall has been full of wonderful memories too!

Jen<3

BRINGING FALL INTO OUR HOME

Bringing fall into our home was high up on my ‘to do’ list during this season! That can only mean one thing for me.. More DIY projects! This is the first time that Xavier and I will be celebrating the holidays in our own place and i want to make sure we
celebrate the holidays full heartily! So that only meant that once we got our door ready for the fall with our DIY door wreath, it was time to bring fall indoors! Long behold, another DIY! So I’ve had some shelves stored from Ikea since we first moved into the apartment and we didn’t know where else to put them for a while.. The other night sitting on our couch I realized how empty the wall behind our tv is and thought ‘perfect!’ Perfect place to put a shelf above our tv! The purpose is to sort of to mimic a ‘mantle’ minus the fireplace? Does that even make sense??!! in my head it did lol (We do live in Florida after all,lol) And even though it really doesn’t look like a mantle, it still looks good in my eyes! So below I will show you my idea!
We put the shelf up and the DIY projects started in order to decorate with some fall goodies for the shelve (Here is a prior post where I showed my readers how we make sure things get hung straight in our home.) I used a lot of left over materials I had from previous DIY projects and from the DIY wreath. I had a $4 ikea picture frame I had not used, only it was black and I wanted white..so my painting skills came out and the painting began! The two vases you will see, I had bought at Michael’s arts and craft store a couple of weeks back when they had a discount and I used a coupon! They were perfect for my left over bundle of fall leaves! The two little pumpkins you’ll also see, I bought that same day and were also super inexpensive! The rest of my materials I already had! Oh and I must mention..do you all know how super handy and versatile washi tape is?!? You will see how so, below in my pictures! Love me some washi tape!

My materials included: remember most i already had..
1. IKEA shelf
2. Burlap
3. Fall leaf bundle
4. Acrylic paint
5. IKEA picture frame
6. Twine string
7. Gold washi tape!
And of-course scissors.. The vases and pumpkins

It was so exciting bringing a piece of fall into our home, since this is a first for us! I made sure that this task on my ‘to do’ list for the seasons ahead started off well, and I think the shelf looks great! It was great incorporating things I had already that were stored away. With the holidays coming up I want to make sure i get my home up to par! Down here in Florida the weather drops in fall, um.. one degree??lol So, in order to get us in the spirit for a new season our efforts have to be up to speed! I guess that’s a good way of putting it.. Either way, this season i want to make sure fall is felt inside our home if that’s all i can get! The shelf is a start and i can’t wait to add more home decor to suit the season! Fall usually gets me excited for the holidays ahead!! I am already thinking Christmas!! is that even ok?? it is right around the corner after all! None the less, I will give fall the time it deserves until the christmas trees come out! For now, I will make sure my home feels the warmth and coziness of fall, the air a scent of cinnamon and apple pie and that the pumpkins shine brighter in orange than ever! What do you all think of this simple little shelf? I would love your feedback! Any favorite DIY projects this fall??

-Jen ❤

Step one: Getting that black picture frame painted white! I took the glass out first and I used the white acrylic paint i had lying around and painted the picture frame with several coats. I had to take some brakes and wait for the coats to dry a little before adding another coat. After several coats the picture frame was white enough. I then decided to use some pearly white acrylic paint i also had to give the picture frame a tad of shine and a little texture! ( btw, kind of hard to tell in pictures)

Step two: Creating a master piece!! lol, just kidding..well sort of. I gathered some of my material i already had and created a little DIY art work. I took a leaf from the bundle I had used for the wreath, a blank piece of paper, burlap and some washi tape! Below is what i came up! Simple but makes its point!

Step three: Making a burlap banner..again! can you say, a little obsessed with these?? I used some burlap, washi tape (again!,) twine and white paint for the letters! I chose the word autumn.

Step Four: Giving my vases some spunk with the twine and gathering everything I had to go up on the shelf!

FINAL STEP: Put goodies up on the shelf and ENJOY!

Hope you all enjoy! Lately arts and crafts have become a place for me to escape from the stress of work and something I really happen to enjoy doing! My ideas aren’t extravagant but rather simple. Either way I enjoy them and hope you all do too!

-Happy Autumn-

-Happy crafting-

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