Air Travel Kid's Room Ideas

I have two beautiful daughters and I thoroughly loved putting together their baby nurseries and "big girl" bedrooms however, expecting a little boy in the next couple of months has sent my creative juices into overdrive. I have found too many ideas that I "just have" to incorporate into my little guys room. For example. The nursery started out with an African safari theme which has grown to incorporate world travel AND air transportation. Your head is probably spinning right now. (welcome to my world!!!)

I recently returned from our vacation to the OBX and there is this wonderful air travel themed store within Kitty Hawk kites (located right across Jockey's Ridge) that sent my mind into a decorating whirlwind. 

Authentic Models

Authentic Models

Authentic Models

These are just a few of the mobiles that I saw handing from the store ceiling and of course instantly wanted them all. My husband (my voice of reason) gently explained (to the 7 month pregnant woman with crazed wide eyes) that it just might be too much for our young son to take in. We left the store with nothing but I had a load of ideas in my head for a rocking basement playroom some day!

Pottery Barn Kids

In case you haven't noticed by now, I LOVE to hang things from the ceiling. Both of my girls had hand blown glass balls hanging over their cribs and beds for the first years of their life. It just draws your attention to all parts of the room...not just the walls. This kite idea from Pottery Barn Kids is just screaming imagination. I can picture Curious George holding onto one of the strings right now.

Etsy

Etsy

I love these vintage airplane watercolor prints and REALLY love the presentation of them in a grid form. 

Picture Party

Picture Party

Finally, the piece de resistance idea is this paper airplane mobile made out of maps. I am a bit taken with any decorating idea involving maps at the moment so this won me over immediately. I'm sure you could even get your husband involved with this project. What boy does not like to make paper airplanes?!? 

Happy Flying! 

Inspiration from Vacation

I recently took an early summer vacation with my family to the OBX and came back with SO many great ideas, just from shopping in the little shops that dot my version of "heaven". 

The Urban Cottage

I am now obsessed with making art with buttons. I've used them as accents in my artwork before but never the focus. This is about to change.

Spearmint Baby

I've been searching for a way to bring a monogram into the decorating scheme of my little one's nursery and this is perfect. It's not overwhelming and it is oh-so-charming.

Cute as a button artwork

This is a great site for inspiration and for buying these adorable prints for your child's room.

BHG

BHG

Button artwork is not just for children's rooms but for any room you want to add a bit of whimsy.
Start collecting!

Bambi / Forest Friend 5th Birthday Party

My "baby" is now 5 years old! Seriously where did the time go? 

Isabelle had requested a Bambi themed birthday party and since it is insanely hard to find Bambi themed things I broadened the theme to Forest friends as well. I lucked out in being able to use some decorations for the baby shower earlier in the week for the birthday party at the end of the week. Yay!

This was a super easy display to put together. I bought the fake moss at the dollar store (wonderful stuff) and the butterfly clips at Michaels. I already owned the bundles of sticks and had made the owls last month. 

The menu included dirt dessert (complete with gummy worms), Jello jigglers in the shapes of squirrels and horses, cupcakes, fruit, popcorn, chocolate covered pretzel sticks and Cheetos. 

The strawberry cupcakes were topped with homemade toothpick art. I found the forest friend scrapbook stickers and circle punch at Michaels and Isabelle and I assembled them all for our afternoon craft time.

I have to say the end result is quite cute:)

The hanging flowers were left over from the baby shower decor and the birthday banner was made by myself.

The activity for the party was to decorate your own owl mask which I found at Michaels as well.

Isabelle really enjoyed her party and has already decided what party themes she wants up to her 15th birthday party. I think I'll take them one at a time;) 

My Busy May - Environmentally Friendly Baby Shower

You may have noticed that I have been MIA again and it is not due to lack of inspiration but an insanely busy month. (I know we are only two weeks into May!) 

I had the opportunity to co-host an Environmentally Friendly themed Baby shower for my sister-in-law and my daughter's 5th birthday party all in the same week. Planning and crafting has been ongoing for many months so the culmination of everything has been exciting and tiring. Did I mention I have also been working on the artwork for my soon-to-be's nursery? My family has not seen the bottom of my dining room table in months so I think it's about time to clean and share what exciting things have been going on at my house.

"Green" Baby Shower Invite

My brother-in-law & sister-in-law just adopted the most beautiful little girl and since they live in Indiana we wanted to have a celebration with their family in Virginia as well. They are a very environmentally conscious couple and when asked what theme they wanted for the shower it was natural for them to request a "green" party. I admit that I had never heard of one before and thus began my research. I gathered a lot of inspiration from a baby shower thrown for Sheryl Crowe and from other's on the web.

The invitation was very simple to make. I bought a flower Martha Stewart punch, some buttons and card stock. My girls had loads of fun playing with all of the extra supplies!

When it came to party favor ideas I struck gold when I can across this idea for "green" gifts. I ordered the wildflower seed craft paper from Amazon and drew the earth onto it. I modified the poem to read:

...The whole world is made so sweet
By blooming flowers and tiny feet
So plant this globe, watch it grow
And think about the seeds you sew
To celebrate this happy news
Keep your own foot print tiny
For baby Maya . . .

I filled one of my glass mixing bowls with white beans and had a very inexpensive (and "green") vase filler. The parents were thrilled with the end result and so was I.

My sister-in-law is on a gluten free diet which was another area I have not ventured into. I found the health food aisle at Martins very helpful in finding crackers, cake mix, vanilla extract (who knew!) and other yummy food options that my sister-in-law could enjoy. I even found nitrate free bacon wrapped scallops at Costco!

I found the grass printed cupcake wrappers at Walmart during the Easter holiday which was a great find. I cut flowers out of fondant and used silver dragees for the middle of the flowers.

Chocolate Mousse Tarts


This was the only dessert that was not gluten free. I bought already baked pastry shells and filled them with chilled chocolate mousse that I made the night before and topped them with raspberries. They were delicious and SO easy to make!

Fruits and veggies were a natural menu choice. I had originally wanted to get to our local farmers market to pick up the produce but was attending an out of town wedding the day before so Costco was my market for this party. 
The proud new parents were thrilled with the celebration and I enjoyed learning some new recipes and party ideas.