Fourth of July Decorations

Fourth of July and parties go together like Batman and Robin.  What's better than a 4th of July party featuring lots of decorations?  Our weatherman says the Pacific Northwest is one of the the few places in the country that is going to have great weather for The Fourth.


A big hurrah to the weatherman. Now I'm going to run around like a crazy woman decorating my patio and backyard for the party we're going to have.


These were last year's decorations:

I love the red, white and blue bunting which came from the Dollar Store and use them every year.  You can read the rest of the post here to check out where the rest of the decor and plates came from.


Here's some more inspiration for your Fourth of July.

Homegoods.com

Don't forget to outfit your pup on the Fourth!

Tinyprints.com

Simpletreats.wordpress.com

Get out there and decorate your bicycle!  How cute is that!  

www.bellini.com

If you need some cupcake toppers or food labels you can print these for free.

Free Fourth of July Printables

Have a great Fourth of July!


~Laurie

Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate > Sweet Valentines Day Decor

Are you one of those people that the second the Christmas decor is back in the garage, your house is shellacked in Valentine's red, pink, and white?

I'm a little late in the game this year but I decided to shoot for a fabulous, last minute finish, in the Valentine's day decor department:

I used my Halloween tree because I love it so much, and let's face it- it's too cool to be in a box; and I strung it with a fringed crepe paper garland. You all know how I love feathers, so I put some white ones in clear heart ornaments that I got from Hobby Lobby. Then I added in the sweet little Valentine's Day Banner that Laurie Glossy had made from paint chip samples; and a recycled book page garland that she had given me. (Okay I admit - I stole it. But my tree needed it!) The finishing touch was a sweet little pink sparrow that I roosted in the top of the tree.

I also found this adorable wood rosette wreath that I scored on clearance for only $6!

It looks just as fabulous as the price, hung over my mirror. Better late than never right?

 Have some photos of your own fabulous Valentine's day decor? Send us a pic! We would love to see it!

~Angela

Dress This Mess > Fall Decor

The quirkiness and fun of Halloween decorations is over. By now I'm sure you've packed up all your spooks and ghosts, and swept up all the black glitter like I have (*cough *cough...). Now it's on to Thanksgiving!

Truthfully for me, it's so hard to really get excited about fall decor like I do for Halloween or Christmas. The day is a WHOLE LOTTA WORK in one single, jam-packed day. Then, in a blur, it's over, with nothing left but a WHOLE LOTTA dirty dishes. The holiday is such a typical middle child (sorry Scott)! It's sandwiched in between the drama queen of Halloween and the "can do no wrong, over achiever" oldest child, Christmas. But middle child Thanksgiving needs some love and attention too! So here are some great decor ideas to celebrate overlooked Thanksgiving.

Simple leaf artwork in inexpensive frames

Leaf door monogram. BHG

Simple banner from twigs, grasses, and acorn tops. BHG

Mum flocked pumpkins. BHG

Wool felted Acorns from Etsy

Fall wreath from painted acorns, from Little Things Bring Big Smiles

Easy and inexpensive!

Painted glass bottles. Love the possibilities!

Maybe some of you reading this are thinking, "My Thanksgiving decor was up at exactly 9am, November 1st. I mean really! It's the 9th of November already, AND we were even given a whole extra hour on Sunday to decorate, and they are now just posting this?!" If this is you, then I'm surprised you are even here reading Chaos and Gloss and it's lazy ways - but we love you anyway! Maybe some of your fancy ways will rub off on us...

We have a special fall decor project we are working on so stay tuned!

~Angela

Dress This Mess > Save the Pumpkins!

Poor little pumpkins...They get snatched from their cozy leafy beds, thrown on a truck, and then tossed into a super sized cardboard box with hundreds of other scared little pumpkins. If that's not bad enough, they are then plucked up by seemingly cute midgets who take them home only to be (gasp!) brutally gutted and have their flesh carved with strange symbols and pictures. THEN (how can it get any worse!) they are thrown out into the cold with a candle up their butt. Oh, the horror!

Haha! I'm sure that this time of year is very stressful for the PETG. You know, the People For Ethical Treatment of Gourds.

In an effort to protected our nation's vulnerable pumpkins In an effort to help out all of those who are, too lazy, too grossed and freaked out by the slimy innards of a pumpkin, or for those of you that just cannot face YET another mess to clean up; here are 8 ways to fabulously decorate your pumpkins without ever having to pick up a knife.

Gold Thumbtack Pumpkins

The crafty gal over at Madigan Made crafty these beauties with lots and lots of gold thumbtacks and Elmer's glue. This would keep your kiddos busy for hours and they are gorgeous!

Ummm, how unbelievably cute are these?! I want to adopt a whole "Angelina & Brad" bunch of them. Two Shades of Pink blog made these cuties and she has a great tutorial. Don't they make you feel all warm and cozy?

Sexy Pumpkins

The only thing these sexy girls will do is glam up your Halloween decor, and they won't try to steal your man or embarrass your family. These are made with old nylons stretched over pumpkins. How clever is that?! What a great way to recycle and reuse.

Candy Corn Pumpkins

These tie-dyed looking goodies were painted with quick and easy spray paint

Mummy Pumpkin

Hand the kids some googly eyes, gauze, and glue; and let them go to town!

Silhouette Pumpkins

These pumpkins use templates and paint to spook up your haunt. You can download the templates over at Women's Day. Wouldn't some silhouettes of your kids or family, or even the dog, be cute all lined up on your porch or mantel?

Ribbon Pumpkins

Got tons of leftover ribbon? Grab your glue gun and some pumpkins and go to town!

Chalkboard Pumpkins

Crafty Lindsey over at LRstitched made this fun pumpkin with black chalkboard spray paint from Lowe's. Think of all the possibilities!

Other people around here, not as lazy or squeamish as me, made some fantastic carved pumpkins this week. They even brought out the power tools:

Me? I'm all cruelty free with my Halloween pumpkins.

~Angela

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > Circus Baby Shower

The future Mrs. 2Wicked has thrown a baby shower for her sister!  Of course we at the Glossy Flossy's had to stick our nose into her business because....  that's what we do!  The inspiration for this party was an animal print fabric that was used in the nursery.  (I would show you a picture but it is 6 in the morning and I don't have one and I'm pretty sure anyone I called to take a picture and send it to me would be irritated with me.)  FM2W picked this cute invitation and we were off to the land of elephants, circus tents and all things circus.  Okay, I admit it FM2W was only off to make one "It's a Boy" banner, but I was off to the other land.  


First up was my other love (ruffled crepe paper is my first love) - accordion pleated paper made into medallions, or fans or rosettes or whatever you want to call them.  I have a serious crush on them.  I also really like them when someone else is folding and pleating the paper.




We made this cute "It's A Boy" banner with elephants and circus tents.  The color is a little off because I took this pic and I'm obviously not a professional photographer or even a very good amateur photographer.

 FM2W was happy and finished but..... I wasn't finished.  Some say it's a sickness or as I heard someone say, "You just can't stop, can you?"  I made mini banners, treat bags, silverware/napkin wrappers that say "BABY", cake stand and Circus entry sign (check out the eeny meeny mini rosettes on the corners of the sign.)  FM2W caught a little of the illness and made the little onesies for guests to leave a message, "Ready to POP" sign for the caramel corn and dug out her hat and gloves as props from when she was the Ringmaster.   Maybe we couldn't stop but look how cute everything turned out.

The food was a delicious.  We mixed up the menu with a Watermelon Feta Salad, Chicken Artichoke Pesto Bundles, Galuptsi (mini cabbage rolls) , Caramel Corn, Mini Cupcakes, Cotton Candy, Cheese Platter, Brownies, Mint Lemonade, and for the favors we had mini bags of frosted animal crackers. Yum!

Next week we will be showing you the animal silhouettes that FM2W and I made for the nursery.
-Laurie