Frock Me Friday > Nail It Down

I know Friday's are usually reserved for fashion, but lately me and every other women's magazine seems obsessed with bright summery nail polish colors and nail art.

Summer is the universal time for prettily painted fingers and sassy finger polished toes. Right now, I even bet there are a few of you sitting here as we speak, that have a rhinestone flower shellacked on your big toe.

I'm right, aren't I?!

I love that nail art has made a huge come back, because let's be honest, I'd jump at the chance to bedazzle anything. If you are a little nervous about straying from your classic one color manicure and looking like your 8 year old painted your nails, check out some of the new pedicure/manicure design ideas that are everywhere these days. Inspired by graphic art and some of the amazing nail products that have come out, nails have never looked so good!

Check out some of these great looks from our Pinterest boards that will look fabulous on your fingers OR your toes! 

First up is my personal favorite, black & white:

Source: erineverafter.blogspot.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: lovemaegan.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: rollingout.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Or, how about the ever popular ombre:

Source: beautylish.tumblr.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: itsallhappeninglulu.blogspot.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

How about some fancy tips?

Source: todaybeautytips.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: stylecaster.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: bodycare.becomegorgeous.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Some glitz:

Source: soulhunting.tumblr.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: lyndarthemerciless.blogspot.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: bodycare.becomegorgeous.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Or, why not go bold and go for some fun colors and designs:

Source: lovemaegan.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: thekit.ca via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: data.whicdn.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: blog.shopdirtylaundry.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

 Happy Friday!

~Angela

Recycle Repurpose Redecorate > Vintage Door Message Board

Have I mentioned how lovely my friends are and how lucky I am to have them? And as if they couldn't get any better, they are also CRAFTY.

I love that word. In my book, it's right up there in the good friend check box along with "funny" and "non-judgemental"; which all of my lovely gal pals are. They are the kind of girls that will hang with you not only thru the thick and thin, but be on speed dial to go and get a pedicure with you, help you laugh at your worst mothering experiences, try to soothe your tears with a frappacino, and bail you out of jail, if you if should ever need it. (Remember that "non-judgemental" part...?)

The other perk to having amazing friends is seeing them create cool and amazing stuff like this:

My talented friend made this from an 80 year old screen door she found on her family's old homestead. She brought it home and had her handy hubby lightly sand the ruff bits and then sealed it with a couple of coats of polyurethane.

Next she got some metal sheeting to use for three magnetic memo boards and gave each one a border using scrapbook paper and adhevisive. She then created a chore/behavoir chart for her kiddos on one of the panels by using a paint pen, which you can find at any craft store.

For a cool final touch she had a family friend laser cut the top memo sheet with their family name and the year they were married. She used eye hooks and chain from a home improvement store to hang the boards all together and then mounted the whole thing on the wall.

How cool is this?! I'm scrounging around for an old door as we speak.

Thanks Mystie for sharing!

~Angela

P.S. Take a peak at how she made her little girls butterfly wings with some paint, wire hangers, and a pair of nylons! We will beg her to share this project with us on another day.

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > 4th of July

Don't you just love the 4th of July?!  All the best things happen on the 4th - great company with family and friends, delicious food, fun games, beautiful fireworks, and festive decor - all to honor living in the greatest country in the world!


A great way to celebrate is with a Seafood Boil!  We are seafood lovers around here and are lucky enough to have access to fresh seafood.  It's the perfect, easy, no stress, menu to serve lots of hungry people.  It all cooks together and you only need a couple of extras to go with it to make a complete fantastic party.  Another huge plus for me is the clean up is easy cause you don't need a lot of serving bowls.  The seafood boil is placed directly on a paper covered table.  I use brown kraft paper, sold in rolls to cover the table.  Easy, peasy.


Make some cole slaw, cheesy bread, cupcakes and have everyone bring an appetizer, salad or dessert and you have a spectacular 4th of July celebration!

SEAFOOD BOIL

Water

1/4 c. Old Bay seasoning

2 teaspoons salt

2 lemons, halved

5 lbs petite small red potatoes

9 ears corn, cut in half

4 lbs kielbasa, cut in 2 in pieces

5 lbs shrimp with shells, cleaned

5 lbs clams, cleaned

I use a large stockpot with the removable inner basket.  Fill half way with water, Old Bay seasoning, and salt.  Squeeze the lemons  into pot and then throw them in.  Bring to a boil.

Add potatoes and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Add corn and kielbasa, bring to a boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Add clams and shrimp, bring to a boil.  Simmer 8 minutes or until shrimp are pink and clams are open.

Remove inner basket, let drain and empty contents onto paper covered table.

Serve with melted butter and cocktail sauce.

Enjoy!

To get you started on your very own 4th July Seafood Boil, we have made you some free downloadable printables:

 Printables include:

• 1 sheet of 2" cupcake circles
• 1 sheet of food label tent cards
• 1 sheet of invitations

Print as many of each as you need.  The cupcake circles are really easy to punch out with a 2" circle punch.  Check the settings on your printer - be sure print quality is not set on draft.  Print either on cardstock or matte photo paper.  

~Laurie


Linking up to: 
DIY ShowOff
A Bowl Full of Lemons

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > Printable Wedding Planner Pages

Thanks to everyone on Pinterest who pinned our "Bride's Emergency Survival Kit"!  Tis' the season for "Going to the Chapel."  If you're not heading down the aisle right now but are planning for the big day; we have lots more info, printables, and the "How To's", just for you!  


Today we are sharing with you a great link to a printable Wedding Planner. In this "Bride's Best Friend" printable, you will find handy checklists and timelines to keep you and your groom on task, right up until the "I Do's".  Print some of the pages, all of the pages, or just open it up and take a peek:

Keep those bridal eye's peeled next month when we will be posting a amazing tutorial on how to make a modern and stylish Broach Wedding Bouquet.  Check out this beautiful one that our bride's mother made for her.

Lisa Marie Photography

We will also be posting a fun and sassy bachelorette party for all those bridesmaids out there.  


Keep on coming back to visit with us and click "Wedding" under the category list to see our other fabulous wedding related posts.


~Laurie

Summer Shack > DIY Water Ski Towel Hooks

Did anyone notice that the first day of summer was yesterday, or the day before or a couple of days ago?  Okay, I know I just gave you almost no useable information except that summer has officially begun, I just don't know when and am too lazy to look it up.  


I just looked it up and I stand corrected, the first day of summer is tomorrow.  Now I have nothing to say cause I was going to wax poetic about the summers of my childhood and how warm the summers were when my children were young.


All that was going to be a build up to:


The summer's were so hot back in the day that we would spend almost every evening after work and weekends on the river with my sister-in-law, her husband and all our kids.  Our kids all learned how to water ski, kneeboard, and tube.  This was before wakeboards, so everyone water skied.  I feel so sad for those poor lonely water skis.  You hardly ever see them out on the river now.  


Where I do see a lot of water skis are at thrift stores and at yard sales,  When I see them, it always brings back so many great memories of hanging at the river!  For Mother's Day last year, my son took our poor, sad, lonely water skis and made outdoor towel racks for the pool towels!

Upcycled Water Skis

Here's some more ideas:

seibelsblog.blogspot.com

alifesdesign.blogspot.com

pinterest.com

Next time your out and about and you see some poor lonely water skis, grab them and give them a new home and a new purpose!


~ Laurie

Frock Me Friday > Wedding Watching Wear

It's that time of year again, and judging by the traffic we've been receiving on our wedding posts, you all love weddings as much as we do!

Tis the season to receive many beautiful wedding invites in the mail only to have your very next thought be: What in the heck am I going to wear to this?

Summer weddings present unique challenges to a wedding guests attire simply because; there are way more venues to have weddings at when the sun is out and weather is warm. I've seen weddings (and attended a few) thrown in rose gardens, boats, parks, barns, in front of mountains, wineries, backyards, and sandy beaches. These shindigs are great to attend, but not so great at trying to figure out what kind of dress to wear so that those mountain winds and beachy breezes don't show off your wedding underwear.

The bonuses of dressing for a summer wedding are the fun summery colors, open toed sandals, fabulous hats, and maybe getting a little tan in while you watch the happy couple say I do. Bottom line: have fun with it! 

Here are a few options that will having you looking mhaaarvelous at any venue:

Garden Summer Wedding

Cocktail Dresses
Sandals

summer Wedding On The Beach

Day Dresses
Sandals

Day Dresses
Sandals

Boat Cruise Summer Wedding

Day Dresses
Sandals

Evening Summer Wedding

Cocktail Dresses
Sandals

Happy Wedding Season!

~Angela

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > Flag Day!



Did you all know that June 14th is Flag Day here in the good ole U.S. of A? No? Don't feel bad, I didn't realize the stars and stripes had it's own holiday either, until a couple of years ago. As usual, I'm one of the last to know.

According to Wikipedia,  in 1916 Flag Day was established to celebrate the official adoption of the flag of the United States of America in 1777. Incidentally, our beloved flag also shares a birthday with the United States Army. Happy birthday you guys! I think I need to have dessert today in their honor. I mean, it's the patriotic thing to do, right?

The other patriotic thing you could do today that won't add junk to your trunk is to of course, hang out your flag. Will any old flag decor do, you ask? Would I pass up free furniture on the side of the road on garbage day? Well I could, but it would go against my very soul.

So to get those creative powers fired up, check out some of these great Flag Day inspired ideas: (Of course they are from our addiction: Pinterest, visit our board for resources.)

Source: dreamhomediy.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: oodlekadoodleprimitives.blogspot.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: sugartotdesigns.blogspot.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: blog.thecelebrationshoppe.com via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: afterninetofive.net via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Source: afterninetofive.net via GlossyFlossy on Pinterest

Happy Flag Day!

~Angela

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > Update to Bride's Emergency Survival Kit

patinastores.com

I think this is a direct quote from my blog to me.


The title of this post should be how to take an easy 30 minute job and turn it into 3 hours of angst, despair and swearing or let me list a few thoughts I've had:

• Are you kidding me - where did it go!
• Oh no, no, no, I'm paraphrasing because it really went Oh ****, ****, ****.
• I should call Ange and see if she can fix this.  What time is it, will she be awake?  (It is the first day of summer break.)
• How can I get back to where I started from.

and one last one:

• Please let this work.  Okay I said that several times and finally it did work.

This was a supposed to be a simple post.  I was going to let you know that I updated the "Bride's Emergency Survival Kit" post to include a link to the printable sign so that you could use it when you make your own kit for your special bride.  Easy, Peasy - unless you also decide to add a new category called "Printables" under the Category list on the right side of the blog.


That also should be easy to do, but when I added Printables, the whole Category list disappeared from the blog completely - the blog Fairy of Confusion struck!  That's when all the above comments began.


I now, finally, have a new Category list on the blog and to tell you the truth I have no idea if those categories were what were listed before, I'm just glad to have something there.


Now back to the 30 minute post and link:


If you would like to print your own "Bride's Emergency Survival Kit," sign, go here to the original post and click on the link.


Okay, I stand corrected, it would have taken about 5 minutes.


~ Laurie

Dear Me > Last Day Of School

In what feels like a blink of an eye, once again school is out for summer. All across the country, mother's everywhere are gearing up for a three month free-for-all, by stocking up on pool toys, sunscreen, ear plugs, and for some of us, large glasses of wine.

 

Personally I sort of have a mixed bag of feelings about summer vacation. Part of me breaks into a cold sweat thinking about three wild boys running around my house looking for mischief something to do for eight hours a day. The images that come to my mind look a little like "Lord of the Flies".

A much bigger part of me though, delights in the idea of laid back mornings in our jammies, afternoons by the pool, dripping ice cream cones, and evenings spent roasting marshmallows. What's not to love about that?

Most of all, what I really love about summer break, is that it gives us moms (and grandmas!), after nine months of school projects, sports practice, flash cards and homework, the time to rediscover our children all over again.

Most of the time it feels as though my family and I are just on one big hamster wheel of life during the school year. We rise with the sun and rush to get ready for the day, scramble to make school lunches, and then race for the bus. Then it's off to run errands, doctor and dentist appointments, emptying the dishwasher, and folding never ending mountains of laundry. When the kids come from school it's a race for a quick snack, homework, then we all spread out for practice for whichever sport we are playing at the time. Dinner comes late in the evening, after which we finish up the rest of the homework, shower off the boy stink, and then collapse into bed. Then we wake up the next day and do it all over again. And on and on, around the hamster wheel we go.

Don't get me wrong though, my family weirdly thrives on a packed schedule and we do spend a lot of time together as a family because of it; but in our daily rush some of the spontaneity and closeness of just having some down time together gets lost in the hustle.

Summertime is a time to get silly with your kids, to stay up late gazing up at the stars to catch a comet, and for eating ice cream for breakfast. Somewhere in between the long bike rides, lazy picnic lunches, and skipping rock contests, it happens. Everyone's shoulders start to relax, those goofy personalities we love so much come out to play, and we once again see our carefree children that had once been so stressed out about playing, "Bah Bah Black Sheep" in their upcoming recorder concert.

Instead of fighting who gets to the bus first, brothers once again share whispered secrets while digging in the mud for worms, or giggles over inappropriate songs about body parts; instead of throwing erasers at each other's heads at the homework table. 

Moms get sweet hugs with sticky fingers and late night cuddles on the couch. On long walks by the river; preteen boys (who are still little boys to their mamas) share tales of their school friends that their mom didn't even know they had, and ask big questions their moms are never prepared to answer.

Mostly, summer for me, gives back some of that time from when they were little and we had them all to ourselves. We knew every triumph and tragedy in their little world and mostly all of their secrets.

I think back on how I couldn't wait for them to start preschool - for a tiny bit of independence for them and for me, but now I count the days until the summer sun comes out, and I see glimpses of those grubby little boys whose only worry is when their next snack is. I've got three months and gallons of ice cream ahead of me and I couldn't be happier!

Happy Summer Break!

~Angela