Porch Planters

I have had a hard time finding the right planters for my porch. 

Just couldn't find the right size, style, and color all in one. So, I finally went to 

the Homey-D (Home Depot) and purchased the size and style I wanted,

then conveniently went to the paint section and selected a fun, bight yellow spray paint 

and adapted the planters to what I wanted.  

I'm happy with the bright, summery statement that they make. 

I still need to add flowers, but am waiting for the weather to cooperate.

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Striped Walls in Mudroom: Gray + White

It finally happened! I have wanted horizontal stripes for quite some time now, 

I just couldn't decide exactly where... hall, bedroom, or mudroom?

It ended up in the mudroom and I'm so excited. Every time I pass through our mudroom,

I have a smile on my face. The stripes just make me happy.

**The organizer above is from IKEA and holds the socks and shoes for my 4 kids. 

They each get a baskets for socks and one for shoes.  

For us, it's hard enough to get out the door even with this organizer, 

but it just simplifies the process a little more. Anything helps, right? ;)

***The random cabinet door on the wall is our hidden organizer.

When we built our home, I had them do a cut-out to put in a cork board 

so we could have our messy papers hidden: 

our calender and all our papers from dance, gymnastics, piano, baseball, etc.

Right now, I'm tempted to paint it with that chalkboard paint so it can be a chalkboard/message board too...

 

Everything is almost complete... 

I just need to find the perfect mudroom rug-- 

with my track history this could take awhile...

I want something funky, bright & the perfect color to hide dirt since it is in a mudroom.

I also need to hang something, possibly hooks, on the wall above the bench.

But for now, I'm super happy.

We did a little more painting... so more photos later! 

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A $50 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO SPEND IN MODERN PALM.

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A Royal Room

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 British inspiration board + Union Jack Coasters from Modern Palm  = A Royal Room 

 

Hope everyone had a lovely royal weekend! 

I didn't watch the entire wedding, but I was able to see bits and clips.  

I was so tempted to have a little "tea party" and watch with friends, however, 

I was a bit preoccupied with another special occasion of my own... 

my 8-year-old son was baptized and we had family and friends over for the occasion.  

I was able to squeeze in a Royal movie, though, and finally watched The King's Speech. 

Have you seen it? I really enjoyed the movie and thought the acting was fantastic. 

I always love a good historical film.

I was trying to explain all the excitement and significance over the Royal wedding 

 to my kiddos, when I realized how neat it REALLY is... 

there is something really historically amazing about  how far back the Royal blood line goes and how Great Britain has held on to the tradition of Royalty. 

I love these photos and think they capture the excitement 

that the British must feel.

The Telegraph

Weekend Highlights

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend!

I'm grateful that we had a little snippet of good weather so at least the

kids could hunt for eggs outside. 

My sweet nephew had a superhero party and since then, 

J Boy has been a superhero non-stop! 

He even had to wear it for the Easter egg hunt. We have to call him Superman and 

he has saved us quite a bit. I love how he stays in character while dressed up. 

Adorable.

  

After years of thinking about getting chickens, we finally did! 

Just in time for Easter. The kids have already had fun taking

care of them and holding them.

Spring is Such a Funny Thing...

Warm, snow, rain, wind... sunny, snowy??-- what will the weather be today?

Time to change the winter berries and add eggs and bunnies...

 La, la, love this elephant mini palm tree from IKEA. It makes me so happy!

I'm Back...

I'm back from a nice vacation with the fam.  The kids are off track, so we went to Las Vegas with Mr. D and enjoyed some amazingly warm weather, while Mr. D had some work to do.  We went to a different park everyday and had frozen yogurt everyday... in fact, it was so warm that the kids were complaining it was too hot. Funny. Their little bodies just didn't have time to adjust! They went from snow & freezing cold, to hot & sunny 80-90 degree weather. We surprised the kids with a little 2 day trip to Cali too. Loved my time with the kids, however, I had a hard time being disconnected from the computer for a week. I usually put the kids to bed and hop on the computer... well, I guess the bonus to no internet is more sleep. :) I now have a lot to catch up with, but am always grateful for playtime with my kiddos. Will post more photos later.

The Daily Dish

Here is a nice fuzzy iphone photo of my morning with the ladies from 

The Daily Dish and Good Things Utah.

I've been a bit preoccupied this week...

 I was invited to go on The Daily Dish, which is a local lifestyle morning show.  

I've never been on TV and I was over-the-top NERVOUS.  Funny thing was, 

I was scheduled to go on toward the end of the show, but the person that was

 scheduled to be in the first segment didn't make it there in time, so I had to rush on! 

They didn't even know she wasn't there until they went to commercial and then they realized she wasn't there... so they rushed my table on the set 

and before I knew it I heard: "5,4,3,2,1 and you're on!" 

I was so frazzled and hadn't quite finished setting up, and had No clue where to stand. Ha! What an experience. At the beginning, my voice was all shaky but after a minute 

I think I was able to pull-it-together a bit. Wow! What an experience. 

I was asked to do a segment on Sprucing up you kitchen for Spring...

{More on that later}

I'm glad I did it and ended up having a lot of fun with the gals on the show. 

 I'm so glad I didn't give-in to my fears, and not do it, even though 
I desperately did not want to go on TV. :)  Now, I know more of what to expect 
when I go back. Yes, I did say that I'd do it again... YIKES! :{/:}

Dear Daily Dish, Thanks for having me on! 

Ladies, You're Fabulous!

Yellow Owl Workshop Stamp Sets at Modern Palm

We've been having a little fun with these Yellow Owl Workshop Stamp sets. 

I have to admit, I may have had just as much fun, if not more, as my kids.  

Here's some fab art that we created, and I even framed a few...

I think when they're framed it makes them look so pro!

These are a few that my oldest 3 put together, cute no?!

I love that the creative possibilities with these sets are endless... 

you can just use one set or mix sets to make the scenes unique.

These are the sets we used for these projects, but we've only just begun.


Modern Palm is very excited to now carry 
Yellow Owl Workshop Stamp Sets! 

Can't wait to see what creative masterpiece y'all can come up with! Send us your photos and we'd LOVE to post them and share. Oh! now that would be fun... Please send us yours!

More art is on it's way, and maybe I'll show what we create. :)

Miss Lisa's Little Book Club

My friend and neighbor, Lisa, is so crazy creative and amazing! Just a few months ago she started My Little Book Club, and lucky me, I get to benefit... well, my children get to benefit. My kids love and adore her and count down the days until they get to go to book club.  Each week she chooses a new theme, new book, and has projects that correspond with the book.  I don't mean she just does a little project... she goes all out. People sometimes find their niche in life, and this is for sure Lisa's niche.  

I just think this is such an amazing idea and am so grateful that my children get to have such good experiences with reading and learning. Thanks Lisa!

Woodland Fairy Birthday Party

I'm finally posting the photos from Ashy's 6th Birthday Party. 

She chose to have a Woodland Fairy Party, which I was excited about, since there are so many fun things to do with that theme! The challenge came with the weather... 

every idea I had would have been great if we didn't have snow on the ground.  

Even without the "woodlands" we had a wonderful time and the girls were darling fairies! 

I contacted Paper & Pigtails to do the invites and cupcake toppers,

 but I also asked her to make a custom Fairy Bingo and I think they turned out so darn cute! 

As the fairies arrived the girls made crowns and door signs. We then had a scavenger hunt where they found pinecones, rocks, leaves, their fairy wings and wands. 

We then had a little tea party, but I forgot to take photos of the fairy food. 

 Afterwards we played fairy bingo and then some traditional games like warm/cold with a pinecone, 

and button, button who-has-the-button, but with a rock.

The red and white polka dot mugs and plates are from Pottery Barn a few years ago. 

 I thought they made a great mushroom-look addition. I used a sequin squirrel and rabbit, white owls, pine cones, moss, rocks, etc. to try and add the woodland effect.  

(this is obviously around Christmas time... yes, I'm totally aware that it has taken me quite a while to post. Yikes!)

Some sites that I referred to for some of our party ideas were:

Stephmodo, Kate Landers Events, and Paper & Pigtails.

Altitude Design Summit 2011

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Do you ever just FREEZE when you get overwhelmed? 
Lately, I have been doing this excessively... 
I just get so overwhelmed with things I should be doing, or want to be doing, and then these little insecurities sneak in too and it's like this triple paralyzing threat to me. Shouldn't I be able to handle life's stresses better as I age, instead of FREEZING?
I've been wanting to write about Alt Summit, but frankly, I don't think that I'm very good at putting my thoughts into words to express what I really would like to convey.  Regardless, I need to write about this just so I can remind myself why I enjoyed two days with some *crazy* amazing people. 

First off, aren't these retro lunch boxes just fantastic? The goodies that were found inside were so fun too! My kids were trying to take over my "treasure box."

 So, Alt Summit is basically a two day conference where there are keynote speakers, blogging classes, panels, DIY workshops, parties, and a lot of socializing with new & old friends!  I loved re-acquainting with those I met last year, and getting to know many new ladies. I am excited to apply my new-found inspiration and motivation to both my blog, a pina colada, and shop, Modern Palm. 

To complete the festivities, a series of mini parties were hosted at the hotel by the sponsors. The Kate Spade party was off the hook fun! Aren't the decorations fantastic? The black and white striped base with the fun, bright colors are P*E*R*F*E*C*T! Loved the black glasses, thanks to the Girls with Glasses who helped host the event. And the Kate Spade goody bag, filled with some lovely treats, was a great way to top off the event.

The keynote lunch on Thursday featured Mondo and Seth Aaron from project runway, and the keynote on Friday was DJ Spooky. They were all very interesting, entertaining and informative! So fun meeting them all too.

I was excited hear from the lovely Tina Roth Eisenberg of Swiss Miss. I really enjoyed her humor and honesty during the closing keynote speech. 

photo via Armelle
{Caitlin of Caitlin Creer Interiors, 
Kirsten of 6th Street Design School, 

Amanda of Recycled Consign and Design, 
Armelle of Armelle Jewelry,& me}

 

It was great meeting the lovely ladies pictured above.

They are all very talented, wonderful, and fun! 

Here are a few of the lovely ladies and friends I was able get to know better: Rachel of Black*Eiffel,Stephanie of StephModo, Suann Song of Simplesong, Jane of See Jane Blog,Courtney of BeauCourt,Alma of Alma Loveland Designs, Kirsten of Simply Grove, Melissa of IS•LY, Dandee of Dandee Designs, Stephanie of Nie Nie Dialogues, Janie of We Heart Paper, Trina of La La Lovely, Madeline of Uber Chic for Cheap,Erin & Rachael of Today's Mama!  WOW! I could go on and on, and I think I just might, in another post...coming soon. :)I'm so grateful for all the new 
knowledge, motivation,and friends I gained from such a great conference.  I'm already looking forward to next year!  

All images courtesy of ALT Design Summit 2011 and 

photo booth images by angela and ithyle