Perfect Photo Props

I bet ya'll thought I forgot ... as promised, I thought I'd share the ever so simple steps to create your own perfectly funny photo props.  We used these at our Little Man gathering for Baby B and they were just a hoot!  I must confess, these simple props made picture taking so much more fun and definitely broke up the oh so ordinary sorority squat pictures that we usually all take.

The Dish (what you need):
thin sheets of foam with adhesive back in brown or black (available at craft store)
craft sticks
scissors or exacto knife
pencil
template

Craft in a Flash (what you do):
1.  Enlarge and print the moustache template.  You can either use the picture below, google "handlebar moustache" to find your own or follow this link.

2.  Cut out template and trace onto foam.  Cut out foam 'staches.

3.  Take two foam 'staches and face sticky sides together. 
4.  Insert a craft stick between them and remove the backing from foam.
5.  Secure with additional glue if desired.

Voila! 

Get creative - wouldn't an old timey pipe be funny?  What about different moustaches .... oh, the endless possibilities!

Say Cheese!

~charmed, b

This post is partying over at I Heart Naptime

But Wait ... There's More!

For shame ... in my posting about my front door decor just a few days back I realized I neglected to give any celebrity to the giant stork that graced my front yard for our first week home. It was just cute as pie!  If you are in the metro Atlanta area and in need of an adorable stork to welcome home a new baby, you absolutely must call Storks Over Atlanta.  Terri w SOA will do a great job to hustle over and have the stork waiting when you arrive home from the hospital.

SOA also provides other cute services for birthdays and celebrations.  Check out their website!

Star Provisions

It's no secret I love a good restaurant.  I'm southern ... I work with restaurants ... and a fab meal is like a mini vacation in my book!  Now, while most of my fave list is classified as a finer or fancier establishment ... Star Provisions takes one of the top spots and continues to impress! 

Star Provisions is a little gem nestled into the West Midtown / Waterworks area of the good ol' ATL.  It's one of those spots you would probably miss at first glance because it is surrounded by other culinary delights like Bacchanalia, Abattoir and JCT Kitchen; but once you visit ... you are hooked.

Part restaurant, part gourmet culinary creations and part gift shop; I could just spend days at this spot!  Everything on the menu could classify as my favorite.  I just love the shrimp po boy sandwich and it doesn't get any better than the homemade peanut butter and marshmellow creme sand!  They are just to die for!  Another little trick I've picked up is to buy their delish salads to go so I have something to take home and savor later.  My favorites include the black eyed pea salad and the marinated cucumbers.  Oh ... and if this all doesn't sound tasty enough, you can't leave without tryin the homemade smores!  They are absolutely FAB!  Yes, it's true ... I have a fave dish in every category! 

While Star isn't exactly in my backyard, I do try and stop down every few weeks for my fix.  Bestie M and I spent lunch there with our littles just two weeks ago and to our surprise the littles were perfect little angels!  M's sweet Jay Bird busied himself admiring the lovely items in the gift shop (a trait his momma clearly passed onto him through many tireless shopping trips!) and Baby B actually slept right through our visit.  The best part, it is within walking distance of a few adorable shops - so since they were so well behaved, we decided to press our luck and add a little shopping onto our day.  So far so good ... we will be back!

~charmed, b    

Big Creek Arts Show

Charmed Life Kids has stepped out of the virtual world and is making our debute in person at the Big Creek Arts and Crafts Festival today.  The festival is at First Redeemer Church in Cumming, GA from 9 am - 4pm.  So if you are in the area - drop by and say hello! 

While I work full time in the fast paced world of information technology and deal with big corporations day in and day out; CLK has tested my business accumen and expanded my business saviness into tons of directions I never would have imagined.  From learning tax laws and importing regulations to sales and virtual marketing ... this has been a great experience and we are definitely learning as we go.  (Who knew there were so many options for shipping???)  I feel blessed every day to be able to work on something as fun as CLK and am just pleased as punch to join the festival today!

If you haven't already joined us ... hop on over to like us on facebook!    


~charmed, b

Little Man

Wow, ya'll ... I sure have been MIA this week.  It's just gotten past me and when I finally looked up, I realized that it's already the middle of the week!  I guess this is how this wild ride of motherhood goes and some weeks just fly by.  Speaking of ... Baby B just celebrated his very first month birthday this week and we just continue to be amazed by how fantastic life is with him here.

It's hard to believe our little man is one month.  And, just like this week has flown by ... this month has passed like the blink of an eye!  And as expected, this first time mom had to make this moment a cause for celebration.

In addition to cake and a lovely dinner prepared by Zsa Zsa and La La, I threw in my own little touches to celebrate the little man.  What's more "little man" than a big handlebar mustache?  And so ... we had a little fun "little man" style!

These cupcakes have a sweet chocolate mustache pop on top.  To make, you just simply use molding chocolate (available at craft stores) and find a cute mold that works for your theme.  This mold was purchased on Amazon.  The pops are made in just a jiffy and made plain cupcakes that much more sweet!

This cute sign was made compliments of one of my etsy faves, GoJumpInTheLake.  I've had them make a few signs for me and they are all just too cute.  This one will go in Baby B's playroom as a funny reminder that he will always be our little man!

And the most fun part ... picture props!  The "how to" for this is so darn simple, you must try (more on that later this week - promise).  I know these will be recreated for other party photo ops in the future!  At first, everyone's reaction was simply confused wondering what on Earth I had in mind with these things ... but then when we started taking a few pics, the laughs just wouldn't stop!

And so, with laughter and love ... we wish our little Baby B a Happy One Month Birthday!

~charmed, b

This post is partying over at 733

Deals of the Week

 It's very possible I'm suffering from retail withdrawl, but I found some great deals this past weekend and I'm just pleased as punch at how cute these finds are that I must share!  Where oh where did these amazing deals come from?  Of all the random places, Lowes!  While on a seek and discover mission with Dear Hubs for yard supplies and flooring (more on that chaos later), I found the most darling lamp shade and lanterns for a steal of a price!

This lamp shade replaced a cream silk one in my family room.  The lovely cream silk just didn't fit the lamp that perfectly and it had a small snag in it.  You know the kind ... not big enough to warrant replacing right away, but for the right deal - it's worthy of a replacement.

My most prized find are these lanterns.  I've been on the hunt for something like these for a few weeks now and finding them has been permanently placed on my "to buy" list.  These are 24 inches tall and will be just perfect on my front porch flanking the dogs and planters!  I know they will be just perfect on the front porch come this fall.  And the best part ... the price.  These were on sale for $15 each!  WOW!

I may just have to start shopping here more often - look out Dear Hubs!

~charmed, b

Front Door Festivities

Ya'll know by now that I'm just a sucker for front door festivities.  Whether it's wreathes, flags or some other fun accents to make my front porch more hospitable ... I'm all about it.  To welcome home Baby B (and yes, I realize every post seems to be consumed with crafts and such related to the babe, but when in Rome ... well. just go with it), I pre-planned a little front door decor suitable to bring home the guest of honor. 

The nice part of these crafts is that (1) I reused a quick fix crafty wreath from earlier this summer and (2) the other pieces are versatile and can be used for other things in the future.

First, the wreathes were made using the easy to follow outline on a previous post.  Check it out for instructions for this so easy and inexpensive summer wreath.  Then, for the monogrammed additions to the wreathes and the "baby" signs for the planters, I simply purchased pre-cut wooden letters from the craft store.  These are readily available and most stores have some super cute, fun fonts now in addition to the basic fonts.  Using my trusty glue gun, I attached the letters to one another to make them into a plaque of sorts.  Once dried completely, to the "baby" signs, I added two wooden dowels to the back of the letters to support it.  The entire thing was then spray painted a cheery blue and voila ... adorable decor is complete!

Today, I realized that these sweet front door decorations must come down at some point and the monograms have new life already planned for their future careers.  A quick coat of gold or red spray paint and these monograms will be ready for Christmas!  As for the "baby" sign, well ... it may need to wait for it's second coming with baby #2 (no ... no date set at this point thank you very much!) but nonetheless I promise I will make it useful again! 

And, new idea ... how cute would this sign idea be for Halloween?  Hmmm.... I think I see a new craft in my future!


~charmed, b

This post is partying over at 733