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Studio Tour {& organization tips} with Lissy
Meet one of my best friends {and ex-college roommate}, who left the design team at Tommy Bahama when she became a mama and formed her own online shopping experience with, Shop Lissy.
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{Welcome to my studio!}
Ever since Teresa and I met (15 years ago!?) we have shared a love of decorating, bargain hunting, and all things creative. I knew we would be great friends & roommates when she sent me pages from the Pottery Barn catalog before we had even met and said “This is what I want our dorm room to look like!” SOLD. I liked this girl!
During college Teresa so sweetly put up with my sewing all-nighters in our dorm room. Years later I have my own space to create, and I’ve loved putting it together piece by piece.
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Organization is really important for me because I have a LOT of stuff and I don’t want it to look like I do. My favorite piece in the room is this mug tree… When I found this at a Pottery Barn sidewalk sale (for $14.99!!), I couldn’t pass it up.
I love finding unconventional ways to store & display pretty things like ribbon.
I organize my ribbon by use – the mug tree holds the ribbon I use for baby burp cloths and home décor projects.
The project table and desks are from Pottery Barn (a mix of new and very lucky Craigslist finds).
I absolutely LOVE the project table… tons of work space, perfect height for standing, lots of storage on the sides, and I like the “island” feel it creates in the middle of the room. The baskets in the cubbies store fabric for baby blankets, pillows, and other odds and ends.
The corner desk holds my beloved Bernina sewing machine I got when I was 12. I’m sure a new one would be nice but I’m so attached to this one!
This metal spice rack used to hold baby things above a changing table in my son’s room, and now works great for displaying thread within reach of my sewing machine.
So that is not all my ribbon. There might be a bit more.
These stackable bins hold the ribbon I use for party hats and tuck nicely away when not in use.
This is my gift-wrapping ribbon. I love the giant spools Costco sells for wrapping. They are really inexpensive so you don’t have to feel bad using it up!
And there’s also this… this spool holder is from Pottery Barn a few years back. This holds some solids I use frequently, as well as some of my favorite spools of pretty stripes.
To say I’m obsessed with ribbon is quite the understatement.
These glass jars from Target are another favorite of mine… I love displaying buttons like candy!
I stash my ric rac and elastic in the other candy jars.
The newest addition to my studio is this inspiration board. I painted the frame of a bulletin board I found at T.J.Maxx, and covered the corkboard with a layer of batting and fabric.
This ivory & black polka dot silk is one of my all-time favorite fabrics… it makes appearances in pillows throughout my house!
On the board I have magazine tears, fabric swatches, and project ideas that I love… and I’m always adding to it.
Thank you Teresa for letting me share my favorite room in the house!
{Photos courtesy of Lissy’s oh-so-talented friend Kristie of Kristie Serra Photography}
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Don’t forget to check out Lissy’s creativity at Shop Lissy and like her FB Page, too!
Her content changes all the time…from the most gorgeous party hats ever, to baby blankets, aprons, home decor, and more.
She is generously giving Hugs & Punches readers 20% off your purchase for the rest of May!
{promo code HUGS20}
Time to go shopping!
organization week
I’m excited about what’s in store for next week!
Tips and ideas not only from me…but from some friends who seriously rock at it.
{and have crazy cute houses}
also…
{{ I need your photos! }}
In conjunction with Organization Week, I’d love to show some of YOUR ideas!
Like our FB page and then submit a photo of your favorite organization idea {from your home} and I’ll choose my favorites to be shown on my blog the following week!
Anything from closet organization, office storage, kitchen upkeep, toy uncluttering, etc.
{{ here’s the fine print }}
. all photos must be in by Fri, May 24th
. can be posted on our Hugs & Punches FB page or to teresaanderson@me.com
. if you have a blog, shop, or website, please include link…but not mandatory if you don’t have one!
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Hope you’re ready for some Spring Cleaning & Organizing!!
joy & sadness – adoption and mothers day
{{ Mothers Day – as seen by Ben }}
My husband Ben posted this on Facebook yesterday {on Mothers Day}. I thought it was so eloquently written & such a great glimpse of how we now feel about this day, now that we have adopted children.
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“Mothers day is probably the hardest day of the year for me. For someone that is usually pretty unemotional this day gets to me and I spend much of the day teary eyed.
As I look at our children I see a beautiful little girl who was found as an infant, very malnourished and her mother we know nothing about other than the medical conditions we found out about through blood tests, an amazing boy who’s father died and his mother couldn’t feed him or keep him safe.
We are reminded about this constantly by the scars he bears from this time in his life. Our newest baby who was abandoned at birth and our oldest son who suffered the loss of both his parents but fought for himself to get an education and get adopted. I hope and pray these women who gave birth to our children know we love them so deeply.
Whether in heaven or on earth, give them the comfort that these children are safe and loved. I see two boys who have embraced the growing family and all the changes we have gone through without a single complaint or hesitation.
To the mothers that have lost children for any reason, I pray for comfort in your hearts.
I am very thankful for my mother and the sacrifices she made for me. Raising me and both my sisters by herself and making sure we were well loved.
Nothing was easy for her during these years but she made it and we all turned out ok…even if I am a little crazy.
I am married to the most amazing mother I have ever known. She loves and cares for our children so well.
I can see how well loved our children are by her in how they care for each other and others they interact with.
Her love makes our family what it is. I am blessed beyond measure by Teresa.”
Oh what an amazing man I’m married to…and what an incredible heart.
You may also enjoy reading my post, A Different Kind of Mothers Day {written last year}.
pretty little plantings
Sometimes I wake up with a fun idea in my head.
Yesterday was one of those days.
I needed some fun spring/mothers day/teacher appreciation ideas…and I love this one.
Some of these are mine, handed down from my Farmor {Swedish for father’s-mother} when she passed away.
Some are from my weekly Goodwill inspiration trip.
{yep, I get TONS of inspiration just from walking through thrift stores}
A quick trip for some pretty flowers turned my idea into the most precious little plantings.
This one makes me smile. I remember drinking out of this cup when at my Farmor’s house for tea.
That’s her in the photo as a little girl, sitting on her mother’s lap {far left}.
A pretty little vignette on the bench where the kids put on their shoes. The Dictionary was also a purchase yesterday. I plan to rip out some of the pages for another project.
Summer at Tiffany is a cute, quick read. Not the most fabulously written, but a fun true story about 2 girls who worked at Tiffany & Co. in NY in 1945.
A mixture of silver, cut glass, linen, and a cardboard letter “A” make up the perfect dining room centerpiece for springtime.
Can you read this? This beautiful pounded silver bowl was brought over from Sweden when my Farfar’s {father’s-father} family came over.
“Svanstrom” is the Swedish spelling of my maiden name. 1922. Such a treasure.
These two sweet little pansy plantings are gifts.
I’ll probably tie a a little tag around the base with a pretty ribbon to give it some more color.
Such a simple yet unexpected way to give someone flowers.
They’re perfect.
What treasures do you have in your house for pretty little plantings?
linking to these fun parties:
| love grows wild | sumo’s sweet stuff | made in a day | live.laugh.rowe |
imani’s gotcha video
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Ben & I are REEEEALLY missing Aberhem & our baby girl.
It’s amazing how much we can miss 2 children we’ve never even met.
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I so badly wish we could show you photos of them, but cannot until after our Court Trip.
So… in light of that, I thought I’d share Imani’s “Gotcha” video with you.
My heart aches remembering those months of waiting, meeting her, and then leaving our sick, malnourished little girl {weighing 9 lbs at 5 months old} for several more weeks until we were allowed to bring her home.
Thank goodness that was just a short season in our lives & she’s been in our arms for almost 2 1/2 years now.
Oh how we love her…
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God is so good.
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the perfect sunny day drink
We have finally been having some beautifully warm days here in Denver and with that, my family has spent lots of time outdoors riding bikes, playing at the park, and so much more.
So…perhaps I made myself a cocktail to sip as we enjoy the sunshine.
{it can also be made as a mocktail}
I’ve had several questions as to what we were drinking at Ezekiel & Anton’s birthday parties.
So I thought I’d let you in on my deliciously simply treat.
Ingredients:
. UV Lemonade {vodka} . raspberry or pink lemonade . pineapple juice .
. sliced lemons & raspberries as garnish .
{obviously to make this kid friendly, simply make it without the vodka. still super yummy}
For the parties, I put them in a wicker trunk I made into a cooler & filled it with ice.
We had several filled mason jars left over after the parties so I placed them into the freezer. Because vodka does not freeze, the drink just becomes slushy.
So perfect for a hot day! Whether playing outside or sprawled out with a good book.
What’s your favorite sunny day drink?
Letter from Aberhem
We got a letter from Ethiopia today!
{if you’re confused by the spelling of his name, so are we! every time we get something, his name is spelled differently}
{translated by the director of his orphanage}
“Hello! Hi how are you my brother Temesgen {Ezekiel}? I am very fine. I miss you for a long time. I wish to come to America to live with you and play with you. I have message for Dad and Mom. The following:
I am excited that you made opportunity to come to America. You did that I have special school, you prepare for me, also when I goes to America I have translation {Amharic}. So I am very happy for that all thing you did.
I want to say thank you!
I love you very very much!
I miss you! And I want to see you soon bye!”
Oh my sweet boy…we CANNOT wait to get you home!!
adding sparkle to joy
Some of you may remember the “JOY” we had above our mantle in our old house.
{tutorial here}
I liked it, but was ready for something new over the fireplace when we moved. Thus, the JOY and the chevron behind it are now in separate areas of the house.
{took this on instagram last summer after moving in}
I decided to put the precious letters above the bed in our Master Bedroom and painted the sides silver so they’d kind of ‘pop’ away from the walls a little and add some more dimension.
The problem was…I felt like it looked like I’d wrapped duct tape around them.
Bleh. Not the look I was going for.
But sweet Ben put them up for me anyway, figuring I’d live with them for awhile and see what I thought. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been a bit uninspired as to what to do with our room.
When you have your ENTIRE house to completely remodel, there are some rooms that sometimes leave you blank for awhile.
It is a well known fact in our house that if Ben is out of town, I stay up WAY too late working on projects. While I was working on something else the other night, I decided what to do with our JOY.
It needed a little sparkle.
I had Modge Podge on hand, but I’m sure any white glue would work fine.
I reeeally highly recommend Martha Stewart’s glitter in White Gold over any other silver colored glitter because it has that vintage like color that you see in Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, and other high end home boutiques.
Aside from having to run out and get more glitter, the project was ridiculously fast.
Simply dip your brush or sponge in the modge podge {or glue}, sprinkle on glitter, tap excess off, and done.
I sadly, am not the cleanest during projects. We literally have sparkle all over {ummm pretty much} the entire house.
How? I’m not quite sure. Perhaps I shouldn’t have done it while all the kids were home…oops.
I decided only to do the sides, leaving the natural cardboard color prominent. As you get close, you can see the touch of sparkle…but it’s not overwhelmingly girly.
Something to think about since I share my room with a guy {aka my husband}.
What do you think? Do you need a little sparkle in your room??
making a camouflage birthday cake {tutorial}
The cake I made for Anton’s Bootcamp {Army} Birthday Party was definitely an experiment.
I’m THRILLED that it turned out though, and thought I’d share with you how I did it.
Because I happen to like the taste of boxed cakes more than homemade {ghasp!} and because I didn’t want to spend all evening in the kitchen, I started with these two cake mixes.
I chose Dark Chocolate Fudge because I wanted the darkest brown possible.
After preparing the 2 mixes according to the directions, I split them into several bowls.
I added white to one of the dark chocolate bowls, making a lighter brown {next time I’d make it WAY lighter because once cooked, it was difficult to see the difference in color}.
I also separated more of the white into 2 other bowls, dying them different shades of green.
I typically mix my own dye colors {a leftover love from my college days taking color theory & painting classes} but because I began this project around 10pm, I decided to take the easy route and use a pre-made hue.
I really wanted a contrast between the colors and remembered reading somewhere that if you add blue dye to dark chocolate, it turns it nearly black.
It turned out great.
Ben and I worked together, taking turns plopping big dollops of color into the prepared cake pans {first spraying a healthy coat of Pam, then dusting it with flour}.
I wanted to make Anton a big cake to blow out candles from, but decided I also wanted cupcakes…lets be honest, they’re just easier for birthday parties.
Especially parties at the park.
This time I used piping bags, each with a separate color {learn to make your own here}.
Bake according to instructions on the box.
Again, because I didn’t want to be up all night, I used pre-made vanilla frosting. I added more of the avocado green dye but wanted more of an army green so I simply mixed in a little chocolate icing that I had left over from Ezekiel’s birthday party last week.
After mixing it together with my Kitchen Aid, it became exactly the color I was hoping for. Not too dark, not too bright.
Rather than frosting the entire top of the cupcakes and cover up the camouflage cake entirely, I decided to grab my piping bags again and make a little multi-color swirl on top.
I did this by putting 2 separate frosting colors in 2 separate piping bags {without tips on them}. Then, placing both bags together into yet another bag {with a tip this time}, they come out together, giving a multi color effect.
Just like wanting more contrast in the 2 brown colors in the cake, next time I’d like more contrast in the greens I used on top of the cupcakes. They ended up being very subtle.
All in all, my camo experiment was a success & was fun that every slice of cake was different.
I love how it turned out…more importantly, the Birthday Boy loved it.
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By the way, do you adore my “Anton” bunting? Me too!
Learn how to make cake bunting here.
These beautiful chalkboard bunting letters are courtesy of the ever-creative Kristin over at Yellow Bliss Road {get ‘em here}.
Hope this inspires you to get creative on your next birthday cake!
linking up to these fun parties:
| the diy dreamer | live.laugh.rowe | made in a day | design, dining + diapers |
KIDRUCK Bootcamp {Army} Birthday Party
We had the most fantastic party for Anton’s 6th birthday yesterday.
I’m so excited to show it to you.
He wants to be in the Army when he grows up so he requested a “KIDRUCK Bootcamp Army Party.”
Challenge accepted.
After getting geared up and ready, Ben sat the kids down for a few minutes to talk to them about what it means to be a soldier and how men & women in the military give their lives to protect us. Per Anton’s request, he also explained a little about a group called Goruck that Ben is very involved in. Complete with a rucksack full of bricks, these 12-17 hour Goruck Challenges are a slice of what the Special Forces go through in training.
This party’s events are a kid version of what the Goruck challenges are like…KIDRUCK
First was the “Welcome Party.” Each child that wanted to, came up front and chose an exercise to lead the rest of the group in. They did 6 of each, since Anton was turning 6.
They did burpees, jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, etc.
Though the kids initially thought of it as a race, Ben helped them understand that they needed to work together as a team on several of the events.
They sweated it out as they learned to use teamwork and carry Ben’s backpack filled with 6 bricks, from one side of the field to the other…without it touching the ground.
Another of the teamwork events is called a “Litter Carry” {basically a stretcher}. Ours was made using poles placed through the body & arms of 3 t-shirts.
The kids thought this was SO much fun.
The rest of the events were running tires, hurdles, army crawl, and several climbing & balancing challenges.
I was so excited to find fake barbed wire at Hobby Lobby. A few of the kids were a little concerned before I told them what it actually was.
Ben made everything himself. Luckily, he was finishing up just as Anton’s friends arrived.
After several water breaks and lots of running around, it was time for snacks and cake.
Every year, I make a very special cake for the birthday-kid. Every year it’s been something different. Often it’s simply a cake in their favorite color {see this post}.
This time though, I tried something I’d never attempted before.
A camo cake.
Both the cupcakes and the large cake are camouflage inside.
I’ll do a tutorial on how later this week {it’s actually pretty easy}.
It was too windy for the candles on Anton’s cake to stay lit, so we did a little re-do at home later on in the evening.
Wow it tasted good.
I cannot believe my baby is already 6.
You are such a joy to me, buddy. You are incredible inside and out and I am so proud of you and the fun & caring boy you are. You make my heart happy.
Happy Birthday, my sweet Anton!