Sneak Peek: Shabby Chic 1st Birthday Tea Party

I first “met” Sommer when I bought a headband from her etsy shop for my Mia’s birthday.  After checking out the Winter One-derland, she joked that if I were in TX in May, she could use my help for her Mia's first birthday. Don’t joke with me people, I will take you up on your offers! I put together a party plan for Sommer a few weeks before the party and here’s a sneak peek of how the Shabby Chic First Birthday Tea Party turned out!

How adorable is her Mia?! And those sweets! Check out Mia's first birthday shoot here, with Photography by Brie. Full party details to come! May I put together a party plan for you? Email me at mindysukan{at}gmail{dot}com for more details!

Have a great weekend!

As Seen On {Posh Little}

The first party I styled and photographed (not for myself…and the $1 budget party doesn’t count either) was featured on the Posh Little Baby Blog today! J

Thank you so much Tracy for trusting me with your vision and letting me capture all the fun! Janice's invite set the playful and colorful tone while Geneve's cupcakes and rainbow cake, Danielle Shannon's cake pops and Momma Tre's DIY marshmallow pops were the highlights of the sweets table.  Great job ladies! Check out the Monster First Birthday Party here and inspiration board here. Thanks for the feature Posh Little!

How can I help with your next event? Email me at  mindysukan{at}gmail{dot}com for more info! I sent a party plan off to Oklahoma a few weeks ago and with 700 pictures for the photorapher to go through, you'll have to wait to see how the Shabby Chic First Birthday Tea Party came out. I know I can't wait!!

Just Like Mommy - Artsy Fartsy

I see a creative little girl in our future J

I’m impressed with how she holds her writing utensils considering no one taught her that. That’s just how she naturally picks them up! It makes my heart hurt to see certain traits that are just like Mommy or just like Daddy and she's only 16 months old. I actually see more of Great Grandma in this picture though. I probably get all my creative genes from her and her wide variety of skills. Thanks Great Grandma…kisses!

linked up here:

Toast - Lincoln Park

Hi there! How was your weekend? Ours included Mia’s first music class, a failed attempt to go to the pool, brunch at Toast and a festival. Summers in Chicago are short, so we’re making the most of it!

Since my Groupon was about to expire, I finally made it Toast! It’s a hot brunch spot in Chicago, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that the wait was 45 minutes on a Sunday morning. We decided to go to the Lincoln Park location instead of Bucktown simply because Oz Park was nearby. The 45 minute wait went by quickly as Mia happily weeeeeeeeeeee’d along on the swings. J When out to eat with a toddler, I definitely recommend:

1) Calling in advance to find out how long the wait is.

2) Seeing what’s in the area to kill time with an antsy toddler.

3) Getting a booth seat if your little one can't sit still in a chair for the entire length of a meal.

4) Checking out the menu so you know what to order right when you sit down.
5) This little travel utensil set kept Mia busy for most of the time. Then a straw held her over until the end.

There's a lot of buzz about Toast, but I wasn’t all that impressed. Doug had the huevos w/ chorizo & cheddar (scrambled eggs served w/ chorizo, cheddar & jalapenos) and I had stuffed French toast (one of each: puréed fresh strawberry, mascarpone and mexican chocolate). I’m usually a sweets over savories kinda brunch girl, but I liked Doug’s better than mine. Although, I’ve never encountered a chorizo & eggs plate that I didn’t like. I was envisioning ooey goodness to be oozing out of the middle of my French toasts, but instead the flavors were mixed into the batter or something and I thought it was a little dry. Maybe a dollop of whip cream would've saved it? Should I have gotten something else? L

Oh well, at least Mia was well behaved and the noise level was busy enough so she didn't bother others if she did decide to go crazy. Despite not being as great as I thought it'd be, I still enjoyed our morning out and about in the city. We finished off the afternoon with our first festival of the year. Mia enjoyed her doggie balloon, the playground, dancing to an awesome cover band and eating her first strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. **aahh** summer in the city J

Hmmm...this is starting to look like a Mia blog, whoops! I haven't had a chance to craft lately, but as always, I have a million ideas in mind. Projects coming soon eventually!

linked up here:

Party Ideas: Girls’ Night Out/Bachelorette Party

You’ve already seen my friend’s super fun Top Chef Potluck and Easter Brunch where I helped with decorating ideas. This time, since Seema is a bridesmaid but won’t be able to attend the bride’s real bachelorette party, she was making up for it by hosting a Girls’ Night Out.

Seema is a busy lawyer in DC but still managed to add fun little details to have drinks at her place before they went out on the town. The bride was “really touched by all the details and effort she put into the evening.” And that’s all that matters J See! Even without a lot of time, a car, or a craft store nearby, you can make an ordinary night special by paying attention to the details. Thanks for letting me throw some ideas your way again J

Tips~

♥ Use what you already have.

♥ Cardstock – cheap and easy way to add a lot of color.

♥ White dishes are a good investment and can be used for all occasions.

♥ It’s ok if you can’t use a printer – hand write, duh!

Resources~

♥ Straws, Favor Boxes and Mini-Cupcake Liners: Etsy shop - The Bakers Convention

♥ Custom Lingerie Cookies: Etsy shop - Au Courant Cookie Co

♥ Bachelorette Party Stickers: K and Company via Amazon

I can't remember the last time I've had a girls' night out!

linked up here and here:

DIY Tea Stained Canvas Art

It was my wedding anniversary this week and I want to share with you some special art I have in our living room. After hearing all about our anniversary vacation last week, I told you I’d get back to artsy fartsy didn’t I?

This painting is the first piece of artwork we invested in for our home. It’s made up of the flowers from our wedding! How cool is that!? I came across Flowers Into Paintings in a bridal magazine and thought, “What a creative and unique way to make the gorgeous (and expensive) flowers from our wedding last forever!” You can look for me and five other pictures of my flowers at the Vale of Enna’s portfolio or the rest of my wedding by the one and only Misha Media. 

Oh yes, I said there was a DIY project here haha.  So Doug and I wrote our own wedding vows.  And I wanted to display them in our home somehow as a daily reminder of the promises we made each other, the values we share and the foundation we’d continue to build for family. Since our painting looked pretty basic on it’s own, I rewrote each of our vows on canvases to place on each side. I wanted an old romantic handwritten love letter type of feel to it (and wished I had some calligraphy skills). Here’s my tutorial:

1. I bought 2 square canvases.
2. Prepared a cup of tea.
3. Took the tea bag and strained some liquid out of it so my canvas wouldn’t be soaked. Brushed the tea bag all over the canvas making sure not too much liquid came out otherwise there’d be visible drippy spots. Dab up any drips with paper towels.
4. I let it air dry for a little bit and then came back to brush the tea bag on the canvas again until the color of the tea stained the canvas. I did this until I was left with an old time look rather than new bright white.  
5. I envisioned the vows painted on as if it were written with a quill and ink. But my paint brush and cursive was just not cooperating. So I busted out my trusty puffy paints! I wrote our vows on an angle. Then went back over certain words in a different color for emphasis. And that’s it!

My very own personal and meaningful living room art! J

linked up with Home Stories A to Z and here:

Memorial Day Lakefront Madness

**Warning: This is a mommy post involving baby poop**

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Did you have a BBQ or enjoy the beautiful weather? We planned on going to the lakefront to take in the 90° sunshine (just like thousands of other Chicagoans) but it didn’t turn out to be a relaxing trip at all!

We drove down towards the lake, which should be like 10 minutes, but it turned out we were in the car for AN HOUR! There were droves of people migrating towards the lake and a ridiculous amount of cars lined up for blocks on Lake Shore Drive to exit at the popular spots (Belmont, Diversey, Fullerton, Montrose, etc). We decided to exit at Wilson (maybe?) and parked in a pretty big lot.

Mia felt wet as I got her out of her car seat, so I turned her over to check out if she leaked some pee…and there was chunky corn poo all over her legs, me and the car seat! I literally had to pick corn poop off my hands and feet! I freaked out for Doug to hurry back from the pay box to clean up this mess of a situation on our hands (literally). Even with a plastic bag, clorox wipes, sanitizing wipes and baby wipes, I felt like there was still poo on us. I was seriously traumatized even at home when cleaning the sh*t from her clothes in the sink. Like gagging. Blech! Clearly this was my first big poopy mishap.

Ok, back to the lake...Now that we were all cleaned up (ALWAYS have an extra outfit with you mommas!), it was time to relax at the lakefront. We walk towards the water, which we can’t really see from the parking lot…and we’re at a flippin’ doggie beach! Doug and I are not pet people. We were not happy.

We walked further away from the beach towards the rocks/grass to plant our blankie down and accept that this day was not how we envisioned lol. We took in the sun for a bit, packed up, grabbed some sorbet, and went home to wash up.

Lesson learned: We are taking the bus from now on! I mean, I love lakefront days and last year’s trips were nothing like this. And we're usually lucky with parking at our usual spots. Yes, I know, the madness was because it was the first nice day of the year + a holiday, but still. Let's hope the rest of the summer isn’t as disastrous as this year’s first trip!