The Boy Takes the Spotlight: DIY Farmhouse Table

Last week Nhan and I flew out to New Jersey and Philadelphia to visit his family and a few of our friends. We got to meet our new 1 week old baby niece Hannah and spend time with her wonderful big sister Gabriella. It's been quite a while since I've played with Legos and Play-doh but boy we had so much fun! 

Towards the middle of our week there, Nhan thought, why not work on a small 4 hour project that we could give to his family before we leave. We decided on a farmhouse table and benches that we saw on Pinterest. With detailed plans from Ana White and a step-by-step tutorial by Whitney and Ashley from Shanty 2 Chic we managed to complete the table over two days (not quite the 4 hour project we aimed for, but a great starter weekend project nonetheless). We bought all the wood for the benches too but never got around to that. We'll save that for our next visit I guess. 

I Mustache You a Question

A DIY Baby Shower: Little Man

I recently had the pleasure of helping my friends plan their first baby shower, and by plan I mean bake :]. Dulce and her cousins created out of this world decorations. I can truly say that Dulce is my crafty counterpart. As much as I love to bake and craft, this girl loves to design and decorate. Together we make the perfect party planning duo. From pom-poms, to streamers, and even down to the little cupcake liners and cupcake toppers, she thought of everything. Get your mustaches and bowties on because this little man is ready to party!

Links to a few of the recipes and Silhouette Cameo templates are posted below.

Wedding Cornhole

Make Your Own Cornhole: a DIY Tutorial

What is a rustic barn wedding without a game of cornhole? Some may ask, "what is a cornhole?" Having grown up in southern California, I too would have asked that question not too long ago; but after spending a few years in rural Pennsylvania for college, I'd have to say that "cornhole" is no longer such a foreign term. I think my midwesterner friends would agree. Cornhole, aka "bean bag toss" or just "bags" is a popular carnival or tailgate game more often played in the midwest or east. The objective of the game is to toss a bean bag, or corn bag in this case, into a hole at the end of an elevated board. We decided to make our own cornhole game for our wedding cocktail hour along with giant Jenga for our wonderful guests to play. Now that the wedding is over, it serves as another piece of entertainment for our future backyard BBQs, picnics, and parties. 

Chevron Bean Bags

Make your own bean bags

These cute little chevron bean bags were made to go with our wedding cornhole. Of course we had to get baby blue buttons to match! I only wish we had a sewing machine. Nhan and I hand cut and sewed these bean bags for about 5 hours. I suspect if you have a sewing machine, these should take you 1.5-2 hours at max. Please bear with my hand drawn diagrams below to help you better understand the first few steps. 

Happy sewing!

It's going down, I'm yelling timber!

Giant Jenga Tutorial

Our flower girl playing Jenga at the wedding. 

What could be better than playing Jenga with friends? Playing GIANT Jenga with friends. This game brings me back to the days when we would go to the Barcade in Fishtown Philadelphia then stroll on over to Frankford Hall, a German-style beer garden, for a few drinks and a nice game of classic building blocks. Imagine my excitement when we found a giant jenga set at Ritual Brewing Co. right here in Redlands. We had so much fun with it and knew we had to make a set for our wedding cocktail hour. Now that the wedding is over, it serves as the perfect backyard prop for barbecues, parties, and all sorts of get-togethers. 

Fun Fact from good ole Wiki:

Jenga is derived from a Swahili word meaning "to build."