Love and Lion

DIY

A “WINTER WONDERLAND” BABY SPRINKLE

Our #TBT (Throwback Thursday) Party this week is a baby shower I put together for our sweet friend, Shara. Baby number two was on the way, and I wanted to do something simple, not over the top, but still oh so special. 
It was a “winter wonderland” theme with some confetti markings as well. My main focus was to have “snow” hanging from the ceiling and an amazing dessert table. It was January, so it just felt right. 
^^The invite (Rock Paper Scissors) ^^
I actually put confetti in the envelopes as well! That always a nice surprise for the recipient! yay! 
^^ I did simple mantel decor by using fake snow and cotton balls, flowers, candles, DIY anthro inspired letters and a handmade felt banner. I put modge podge on the bottom of the votive candle jars and sprinkled glitter on them to give them a little something extra. Also, the banner consists of felt flags and wooden beads from JoAnn’s that I painted an aqua blue…. shara’s favorite color.^^
^^ White flowers are just so classy to me. They ALWAYS work!! ^^

^^ The dessert bar was my favorite part! So many yummy treats, especially those Aunt Ellie’s Campfire Crispies! I mean…. seriously. ^^
^^ Hand-lettering on the chalkboard. Always fun! ^^
^^”To go treat bags” are always a good idea when you are serving lots of sweets. Guests took extras home to their kids. That is what they said at least. I am SURE that they probably had a treat or two in their car…. in private! ^^
^^ Anything you can do to make writing “thank-you” notes a little easier on a new mom really helps. I had each of the guests address their own envelope, and I had already written Shara’s address on the back as well. All she had to do was write the simple note, and put a stamp on it. Easy! ^^
My only tutorial I took pics of because I am the worst at stopping throughout my projects to take tutorial pics, as I get too excited favorite tutorial that I can share with you are the DIY color-blocked spoons I made. Pretty self-explanatory…. just tape your utensils down with painters’ tape while blocking off different sections. Paint your first color, allow drying time, move your tape and block off another section, and repeat until you get the desired look. It was time consuming, but man… I am such a sucker for little details! ^^

P.S. Tomorrow is Friday!!! WHOOP WHOOP!
-J

POTTY PARTY – FREE PRINTABLES

 My three-year-old, Ari, is FINALLY potty trained. This may be TMI but he’s been going #2 on the potty since he was two-years-old but refused to tell me when he needed to go #1. Stickers didn’t work, M&M’s didn’t work, jelly beans sort of worked, but it was moving at a slow pace. He needed major motivation. For Ari, it was the idea of having a Potty Party. I promised him cupcakes, decorations, and music. It worked! Only took a week. Guess I should have thought of this idea a year ago! 
I designed some free printables for your own Potty Party should you have the need (scroll down to the end of the post). Just add cupcakes and you’re all set. Oh and string up their brand new undies- Ari thought that was awesome! I even made printables for the little ladies in your life.
 
 Happy Potty Party day to youuuu…
TP roll sign HERE
Undies cupcake toppers HERE
Panties cupcake toppers HERE
Undies coloring pages HERE
Panties coloring page HERE
Good luck mamas! Let us know how it goes…
-L

ARI’S ANIMAL THEMED PARTY: PART 3

Last post from Ari’s animal themed birthday party! 
PARTY FAVORS
I filled these “feed buckets” with all animal themed goodies:
I found all animal/insect gummies from our local candy store Honey’s Vintage Sweets! Sharks, pigs, fish, frogs, and worms. The only kind of animals I’ll eat 🙂
I made these “farm fresh egg [shakers]” with easter eggs, rice, and hot glue. Kids go bananas for egg shakers!  
ENTERTAINING THE LITTLES
Decorate your own binoculars: cut a paper towel roll in half, staple together, and punch holes for the yarn strap.
This was my favorite game I did for the kids. I found these colorful peanuts at Joannes and then put lots of little plastic animals inside. The kids used the shovels to dig for animals, and I’m telling you, they were totally fixated on finding the animals! I left this out for Ari to play with for weeks after the party, and he was so into it every. single. time. Keep your littles busy! Though, obviously keep in mind these are choking hazards so make sure your kiddos are supervised. 
Equally as big of a hit as the animal dig was when I covered our coffee table with butcher paper and let the kids go crazy with crayons! Again, I kept this up for weeks, just changing out the paper when it was covered completely with doodles. The adults got really into it too! 
and lastly…
THE INVITATION
Designed by the talented Lauren of Rock Paper Scissors
See the rest of Ari’s animal themed party
Part 1 – All the details HERE
Part 2 – Tutorials HERE
We would LOVE to see what you come up with for your animal party! Tag #loveandlion on instagram or twitter, or you can post on our facebook page. 
-L

ARI’S ANIMAL THEMED PARTY: PART 2

I wanted to share all of my DIY’s with you from Ari’s animal themed birthday party. These ideas are pretty simple and easy, but when you put them all together, it looks sort of impressive (if I do say so myself!).
PAINTED PLASTIC ANIMALS
These little dudes were my biggest project. I collected tons of plastic animals from craft stores and dollar stores and spray painted them solid colors to make the look more cohesive and modern. The easiest way I found to paint the animals was to put packing tape sticky side up on a piece of cardboard (see below) and spray paint from every angle. They take a while to dry and require multiple coats, so plan ahead!
PARTY HATS
I LOVE how the party hats turned out! First unfold a store-bought party hat and trace it onto black paper. Cut it out a little larger than the traced line you made. Put the hat back together and tape the black paper around the hat. I cut the plastic animals in half and used a hot glue gun to secure each half to the front and back of the hat. For the pompom on top, I fringed some white crepe paper and glued it into seam of the hat.
ANIMAL CUTLERY
I have to say, the animal cutlery was the biggest hit with everyone, but these were so. time. consuming. Use fine sand paper and sand off the finish on the forks where the animal will go. Make sure there’s no spray paint on the middle of the animals, in other words, spray paint the animals first before cutting. Use Gorilla Wood Glue (super glue and hot glue does not work!) and hold on to these suckers until the glue dries. This will take about 3-5 minutes PER fork. But I mean… look how cute they turned out! 
DIY FRINGY TOPPERS
Once you get the hang of it, they’re super fast and easy. Use these for drink stirrers or cake toppers or whatever! These pretties brighten up any party.
PHOTO BOOTH
Time consuming? Yes. Easy? Ridiculously. 
All you need is a roll of butcher paper or bulletin board paper, craft paint, and a wine cork. For the photo booth backdrop, I measured neurotically so the dots would be even, but for the tablecloth below, I stamped randomly.
 More cork stamping! Paper mache letters hung on the door. 
CHALKBOARD TRAYS
I bought inexpensive silver plastic trays and spray painted the boarder with the same paint I used on the animals. When dry, paint the center with two layers of chalkboard paint. Easy!
For Part 1 of Ari’s animal themed party pictures click HERE
Part 3 HERE
Party Favors / Games for the kiddos / Details
-L

ARI’S ANIMAL THEMED PARTY: PART 1

Today’s #TBT party series features Ari’s 2nd birthday. At two, Ari was obsessed with going to the zoo, so I went with a “Party Animal” theme and made it modern with solid, bright colors. Everything I did was DIY– you can totally pull this off if you have the time and plan ahead!
My talented twin sister, Ellie, of Aunt Ellie’s Sweet Treats, made her famous gourmet rice krispie treats Campfire Crispies and cut them out in animal shapes. These. Are. Amazing. If you’ve never tried, you’re missin’ out on life, my friend. Order HERE. You deserve it.
DIY chalkboard trays tutorial HERE / Spoons by Shop Sweet Lulu
DIY fringy toppers tutorial HERE / Baking cups by Shop Sweet Lulu
Remember those yummy frosted animal cookies you ate as a kid? I made them out of sugar cookies, tinted frosting, and sprinkles. 
Not gonna lie… these bad boys took me a loooong time. But worth it right? Tutorial HERE.
’cause it’s a camel.. get it?
Nana Lou’s famous punch (for adults!). This zookeeper needed three one after all this DIY-ing!
Yep, that’s me enjoying zookeeper punch. 
I made teeny little party hats for these fellas.
Animal canister DIY – fill with animal food: goldfish, teddy grahams, and animal crackers
I took a picture of Ari every month – well worth torture! See all three years HERE.
PHOTO BOOTH
Photo booth backdrop and party hat tutorial HERE. 
I absolutely adore this picture! Lauren and Piper, Ari and me, Amara and Jenni. Obviously our kids are super photogenic.
Homemade funfetti cake! Mmmm… Topped with spray-painted animals of course.
Part 2 of Ari’s Animal Theme Birthday Party click HERE: DIY’s
Part 3 click HERE: Party favors, games for the kiddos, details
-L

GOLD, WHITE, AND BURLAP INSPIRATION BOARD

My dear friend, Beth, is turning the ripe old age of 31 only 29 this week and is throwing a fabulous dinner party for friends. She wanted a party with a gold, white, and burlap color story. Elegant but a touch rustic. Jenni and I put together an inspiration board for decor. See our Pinterest board for even more ideas, many of them inexpensive and DIY which of course we love! 
wine glasses / mason jar / feathers / gold glasses / rose / burlap candles / straws / garland / 
21 candles / burlap bunting banner / balloon
Happy Birthday, Beth! You are simply stunning- inside and out- and deserve only the BEST. Love you!!
-L
P.S. We love to put together boards like this if any of you have parties you’re throwing- let us know!

VALENTINES DAY CRAFT: CONVERSATION HEARTS

We ran out of play-doh at our house and apparently to a three-year-old, that’s a tragedy. We needed a quick fix. The answer? Salt dough! Three ingredients: salt, flour, and water. After Ari made his own masterpieces, Mama needed a turn! I’ve been dying to use my new Martha Stewart glitter set, so I decided to make gift tags for Valentine’s Day. Martha Stewart, you crafty minx, you have so many different types of glorious glitter! Have you guys seen the tinsel glitter? And the heart glitter?? Want it. Need it.
The colors are so vibrant! Eek!
Salt dough is super simple to make:
1 cup salt
1 cup water
2 cups flour
Mix until consistency is like play-doh
Roll dough out on a floured surface, cut into shapes, use a toothpick for the holes, and stamp letters.
Bake at 200 degrees for 3 hours and cool completely on a wire rack. I left mine out overnight to make sure the dough was completely dry. You could probably bake them longer!
Here are my pretties! Paint glue on the heart and sprinkle away! Tap off extra glitter and let dry. If you want to use these tags over and over again, cover completely with decoupage or a clear sealant. 

These worked best as gift tags. Originally I thought these would be cute as garland but they were super heavy! What are you making for Valentine’s Day?

-L

WINTER WHITE BABY SHOWER FOR LAUREN

As part our #TBT Party Series, we’re sharing Lauren’s baby shower today! Lauren is our bestie and the owner of Rock Paper Scissors, where Jenni and I met and worked pre-babies. It’s quite possibly the cutest and most creative paper boutique… we’re planning a comprehensive post on this later, but for now, here is her baby shower for little Piper (who is turning 2 next week!). She and husband, Tim, wanted a party that wasn’t too girly since it was a couple’s shower, so we decided on a winter white theme. The party was in January and the weather certainly fit the theme. Lauren’s good friends Pauline (who’s gorgeous home you see here), Randi, and  sister-in-law Gretchen were the gracious co-hostesses.

We hung parasols from the ceiling using fishing line and clear 3M Command hooks.
All white dessert table with vanilla cupcakes, macarons, meringues, sparkling sugar cookies, and white candy covered oreo truffle pops to match the winter white theme. The middle… is a diaper cake! 
Most of the guys were truly disappointed to find out this was a diaper cake and not a real cake. I’ll share the tutorial with you soon! It’s pretty easy and is a great gift for the parents-to-be.

My favorite project to make was this “family tree”. I asked Lauren and Tim’s parents to secretly send me three generations of family photos. I scanned in the photos and made them the same size, mounted them on sparkly white paper to match the theme and hung on a branch spray-painted white. On the bottom level, I hung a blank card that said “Baby Rauter”. Oh, and Maggie, their sweet dog, is on there too! She’s the big sis after all.  
Little babies Lauren and Tim! 
Instead of a traditional guest book I tied 12 envelopes together, one for each month of Piper’s first year. Then we asked the guests to write advice or encouragement on the cards and place it in the corresponding envelope. Lauren and Tim opened an envelope each month and got to read what their family and friends wrote throughout the year!
Gorgeous letterpress invitation designed by Lauren’s BFF, Dabney of Dabney Lee. The back was covered in a silver snowflake pattern. Perfection.
Lauren and Tim sipped hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows and opened gifts in style in the all white indoor tent. 
Party favors were tiny milk jars and mini pumpkin donuts from Ellie’s Donuts– everyone’s fav in Franklin, Tennessee. Drooling right now.
Pauline’s insanely beautiful home with projected snowflakes and faux snow lining the walk way. That’s how you enter a party, am I right?
*Photographs by Twinkle Twinkle Images
-L

BALLOON VALENTINES FOR KIDS (FREE PRINTABLE)

My three-year-old, Ari, loves balloons. We play catch with them (really good practice for spazzy toddler coordination), we draw funny faces on them, whenever there’s a holiday we have tons and tons of balloons, so I thought it would be fun for him to hand them out to his little friends at preschool this year. After I designed this I thought… does this make sense? You make my heart pop? Whatever, the kids will just be excited about the balloon, right? I printed my cards on kraft paper, but you could certainly print it on white or red paper.
1. Download free printable HERE
2. Cut using our fav cutting board HERE
3. Attach balloon with washi tape HERE
Do you know how hard it is to photograph a toddler and a balloon? Exercise for the week day- check.
-L

ARI’S THIRD BIRTHDAY PARTY

We LOVE to throw parties here at Love & Lion and wanted to share some past parties with you as sort of a #TBT kinda thing 🙂 So this Throw Back Thursday, it’s Ari’s third birthday party. 
At this point in time I had just had Max, so a major party with lots of details (like Jenni and I normally do) was out of the question. I held the party at an indoor play place and brought in minimal decorations and food – just enough to make the party look personal and cute. When you’re not in your own space it can be a challenge to make it look the way you want (like trying to cover up a cheesy mural on the wall!). My advice is stick to a simple theme like colors or patterns and weave them into each aspect- decor, food table, invites, and favors. I went with black and white with a yellow accent and the slogan “Yippee Ari is 3!” 
I think the biggest transformation of the room was covering the tables with this chevron wrapping paper found at Hobby Lobby.
The theme all began with invites designed by none other than Lauren of Rock Paper Scissors.
 I just did very simple food – pizza, pretzel chips, hummus, veggies, fruit squeezies, and cupcakes.
 For favor bags I printed on paper lunch sacks and sealed with yellow washi tape.

Here you can see 36 months of (well worth) torture. When I told Ari it was time to take his chair picture last month he replied, “Oooh boy. That’s gonna be hard. I move around a lot.”

 I covered store bought party hats with patterned paper to match the theme.

Ari’s number 3 shirt from our favorite kids store, Tweed.
And here’s my favorite picture from the day. That would be my husband dropping a LIT cupcake on Amara while everyone sang “Happy Birthday”. Classic. Amara was unfazed and Ari asked if he could another cupcake. My reaction was so scarily slow you can literally see my brain trying to process what just happened. Sorry, Amara! 
That’s it! Super simple but considering I had just had a child, I was very happy with how it turned out. Can you say, control freak? Ha! Hope this gives you a few ideas for when you throw a party not in your own space
-L

AMARA’S SIMPLE WHITE TODDLER ROOM

I just recently did a wall of gold dot decals from urban decals. I am totally in love with all of their designs. The customer service is awesome as well! (my product plug for the day! 😉 Moving on…. 
This is not the room we started with when my daughter was born. She was in a different room in our house, there was a lot of pink, a chevron wall, and it was right at the top of our staircase with two french doors. As Amara grew, I realized it wasn’t the most practical room to have her in. So, I decided to start fresh in a new room with white paint (Glidden’s parchment white color matched in Behr). It is the “perfect” white. I even have it as my dining room color. I love fresh white walls with pops of color.
Overall, I just wanted to create a simple, sleek space for her. It is one of my favorite rooms to be in!
^The kitchen was a DIY gift from our dear friends for Amara’s first birthday! I fell in love with Vivi’s kitchen from Lay Baby Lay , so that is what they mimicked! Amara loves it!!! ^

Gotta have a place for tea parties 😉
^ There is no really great shot of the curtains due to the lighting in this room, but they were my first real sewing project that I did on. my. own! I splurged on some of the most beautiful white linen fabric and some seafoam pom pom trim. I even lined them with a blackout liner. I followed this tutorial if you are ever interested in giving it a try. Take it from me…I can’t even sew a straight line. You might surprise yourself! There is no way I could have afforded the curtains that my little beginner skills made me. ^
^ These wooden photos from Picture Bungalow are one of my favorite things in the room. I love these photos so much, and was so happy with the print quality! ^
^ I found a pedant shade at West Elm for $15 dollars. I knew I wanted something yellow against all of that white, and I scooped it right up. My husband installed it using a light kit and I simply wrapped the cord in fuschia pink yarn! ^
^ I ordered a pack of felt balls and strung them myself to create this garland. Easy Peasy, and half the price if you do it yourself. I don’t remember who I got them from, but they are allllll over Etsy! ^
^ Amara’s first piece of artwork she created at the top is my favorite! ^
^ I saw this idea on Pinterest and totally copied it! 😉 I just cut some little plastic animals in half, spray painted them, hot glued them to card stock and voila! ^
^ I wanted something with Amara’s birth details on it, and I found this cute little alphabet print (you can customize your colors) on Etsy! ^

^ Found this old french provencial looking dresser on Craigslist. I painted it gray and added my own handles. I lined the drawers with Snow & Graham wrapping paper from Rock Paper Scissors ^
^ Hooks for hanging and a toddler height mirror, which I found at Goodwill and spray painted! ^

-J

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