FlashBack Friday: Eggs!

These pictures are from around this time last year. We started a tradition (one of my favorite parts of having a family is the traditions!) of painting ceramic Easter Eggs at a local ceramics shop. I love the idea that for years to come, we will have an ever-growing bowl of hand-painted Easter Eggs to display. I actually kept our eggs from last year out all year long!

We will be painting our second set of eggs this Sunday, and I'm so looking forward to it! It will surely be a family day to remember. And this year, since we will have six eggs total, I'm on the hunt for a pretty bowl or dish to display them in.

My Little Valentine

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. 

Err, scratch that. 

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays to prepare for. 

The actual day itself usually kind of sucks for one reason or another. 

But the hearts and the candy and the flowery centerpieces I love. 

To the cheesy valentines and random acts of love/kindness that the holiday brings about I say "bring it on"!!

I know Elliott is not old enough to "get" it yet, and in fact she doesn't even have any classmates to hand valentine's out to just yet. But, that's okay. I'll use her as a fabulous excuse to whip up some cute little valentine's and I will pass them out to all of my her good friends!

This idea may be SO last year, but I couldn't help myself! I thought that Ellie would be a little more cooperative for these photos, but who was I kidding?! She's two!!

So, without further ado, here are Elliott's Valentines:

I can't wait to hand them out to all of OUR friends next week ;)

And, as promised, here are the rest of the pictures and some outtakes.....all of this for just one picture!!

And finally! We have a winner!! 

It's not the typical pose for this particular valentine, but it was as 

good as it was going to get for us:

I photoshopped out the sucker, and replaced it with a real one. I added the text in photoshop as well, and then printed them out at Costco. I'm so please with how they turned out! 

And now I am curious and in the Valentinesy mood.....so, tell me, what's the most creative valentine you've seen?  

Hey Girl

Ummmm, I wasn't going to post about this here.....but now I've decided that I must. 

I'm not usually one for celebrity crushes and such, but I've been open with Scott and I don't think he'll mind if I just go ahead and do you all a little favor......

My obsession with Ryan Gosling started with pinterest. 

I know that you've all seen the "Hey Girl" photos, right? 

Right?!

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Because they're amazing. They make me swoon, and then giggle.

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The other day, I stumbled across the motherload, and I tell you, I almost lost it, y'all.

I was having a crappy, crappy day. But when I found this site here, I kept going back to it. Wouldn't you know it, my day started to turn right around! I would read these over and over, and it he quickly turned my frown upside down. The ones on this particular blog are centered around crafty/nerdy/etsy stuff and I felt like there are actually other people out there who really, truly get me......one of those being Ryan Gosling, obviously.

I actually laughed so hard my stomach hurt that night. I kept showing them to Scott from my phone and making him read them. He'd give a little smirk while I busted out the snort-laugh. Poor guy. 

He knew I was having a rough day. I'm sure he was happy just to see me laughing. But, his night was about to get a little worse......

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My mood lightened and I shrugged off my bad day. Scott asked if I would like him to bathe the toddler or go fill up my car with gas. Let me stop right there because this man? Knows how to make me weak in the knees. Both of his ideas were super sweet and thoughtful, and would save me time and it was just a nice gesture all around. Instead of picking one of his generous options, I showed him this:

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and asked, "what would Ryan say?"

I only kept a straight face for about .5 second, and then I lost it. Scott didn't even crack a smile.

Poor guy. I should probably promise never to say that again.......

Then I was thinking, I wonder if Ryan Gosling knows not only how much the ladies of America love him, but that we also love how caring and sensitive he is......I mean, it's not the images that win us over, but the sentiments that go with them, am I right?!

The original site (I suppose, there's lots of them out there) for these temptingly funny pictures is linked here. The name is inappropriate, so I normally wouldn't share it with you all, but I want to give credit where credit is due. There are some pretty hilarious ones on there, too.

And in case you were also wondering if Ryan knows about how much we love him, then there's this too:

Sorry hubs. I love you!

Wordless Wednesday: Random

So, this post might be a little all over the place. I have a million ideas swirling around in my head, and none of them quite fit on the "schedule" that I have planned out for my blog this week. 

So, Wordless Wednesday seems like the best place to vomit my thoughts and photos all over. 

Sounds lovely, huh?

Well, here we go.......

1. I listed some new items in my Etsy shop yesterday. I've had these ideas for a while now, but I just got around to photographing and listing them. 

I added a new package deal, so that you can order essentially everything you need to decorate your party. I'm excited about that one, since I've made them for a few friends already......I can't wait to make some more!

Second are these Mustache Straw Huggers. Seriously, I can't believe something so simple could be so silly and fun! I've already sold one set since listing them yesterday......I think they're so fun!

2. I was working on a little something for Ellie's Valentine's, and I got this photo. I call it a "happy accident". 

I have really, really been working on my photography lately, 

but I can tell you that this particular pose and mood were not planned at all.

 I did get some other great shots that I took intentionally, but I can't share those with you just yet ;) 

This one, however, I love......regardless of how it was captured. So, I'm showing it off!

3. And finally, I wanted to give a little shout-out to my wonderful sponsors! I've been doing an ad swap for a few months now, and I have really loved connecting with all of the talented, sweet, and caring ladies whose buttons you see over there -------> on the right.I've made new friends and kept some old ones, and I'm so grateful for their continued support. So please, pay each of those ladies a visit! And, if you'd like to sponsor Pretty Little Life in February or in future months, please contact me or visit the "sponsors" page for more details. 

Happy Wednesday, y'all!
Linking up with And then, She Snapped, Jenni From the Blog, Live and Love Outloud, and Naptime Momtog

Birthday Party Recap

As promised (and almost a week later), I've finally gotten around to going through Ellie's Birthday Party pictures. We seriously had such a good time at this party.....the house was packed, and I had a full week before the party snowed in at home to hand craft more and more sweet little details for this rootin' tootin' cowboy bash!

I think that love is in the details, which is why I spent countless hours staying up late at night cutting, gluing, coloring, baking, and scurrying around finishing up sweet treats and wild western decorations. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty proud of how it all came together. But, it wouldn't have happened without a lot of help from friends and family. And, while the decorations and the theme were fun, I would have been just as happy with a simple little celebration......my daughter is so special to me, and any day with her is special (cheesy, I know. But it's the truth!)

So, be prepared for this mondo photo dump.......all out of order and full of sprinkles and rainbows and sunshine and cute.

(Oh and? There will be a second installment tomorrow. You're welcome.)

This isn't the greatest picture, but here's the birthday girl in all her glory!

This was the only picture we snapped before she took off that too-cute-for-words suede vest.

I was so bummed she didn't want to wear it.

Scott had a friend who generously donated some hay bales for our party!

I was ecstatic (even if they couldn't come inside. They looked just as great on the front porch!)

Elliott's babysitter is also a very talented artist. She took a left-over cardboard box from Christmas and turned it into this fabulous barn for the kids to play in!

I was so impressed with her handy-work, and the kids loved it!

As a last-minute addition, I decided I wanted to throw together a photo-booth. I would love to try this again sometime, with a little more planning. But, it was still really fun!

I'll share the photo-booth pictures in tomorrow's post.

The birthday girl with some of her favorite gifts.

I am in love with these flashcards that I colored and strung up around the house. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but.....**toot toot**

We are notorious for not taking family pictures at big events. Maybe this is why?!

When I said full house.......I meant full.

Ribbon pinatas (and tall brothers-in-law) are pretty much a genius idea.

Ellie pulled the magic ribbon!

While the kids scrambled to fill their bags with goodies, Ellie was content with just a sucker ;)

My birthday girl!!

I was so shocked that she just shoved that big ol' cupcake in her face! Way to go, little cowgirl!

Presents!

I've got crazy eyes, but Ellie was just too cute opening presents. The things that she picks as her "favorites" always surprise me. Like a toothbrush, a Dora rolling backpack, and a plastic "iPhone" that's not an iPhone at all. I just love her!

We kept the food simple: chili (GASP! from a can!!!), turkey dogs, chips, salad, and cornbread. Preparing food for other people scares me, but this was the easiest, most stress free party ever!

Oh, and I might have had lots of help in the kitchen (thanks mom and Katie!)

This was the waterin' hole *snort* I'm so clever ;) Boy do I love mason jars and paper straws.

Oh, and Solo brand sells small plastic cups that come with lids and straws for the kids......genius, I tell ya!

The sweets table was probably my favorite part of the party (duh). Ellie's babysitter (again) is very talented, and makes her a cake every year. I love what she did this year, and the cake and cupcakes were delicious!

I also made some "cow pie cookies" and s'mores on a stick. Yum!

See the cake?! Crazy cute.

Marshmallows, melted chocolate, graham cracker crumbs. Boom.

I would seriously be lost without my Cricut, too. So many of the decorations for this party were made with that trusty sidekick!

Ellie says "y'all come back now, ya hear?"

Phew, that's a lot of cowboy cuteness! I still wanted to put up some pictures of all the little details that I spent so much time on: the banners, the goodie bags, the water bottle wrappers, etc but I really don't want to bore you all to tears. Just know, a lot of hard work, scrap booking paper, and tape runners went into this party, all right? Tomorrow, prepare yourself for one more photo dump! I want to share all of the cute and silly photo booth pictures with you because, well, it's fun!