I have always just loved their “bee” logo! I made a quick tour yesterday and it was inspiring.  How could it not be..look at the rows and rows of gorgeous paper…paper and ribbon are just below fabric on my list of favorite things in the world..such a product of creativity and source of beauty!

And they are creative in many areas, not just with paper, look at this use of doors behind their “card wall”..so cute!

Oh and look what’s is right next door to Paper Source’s Houston location…

That’s right…Sprinkles Cupcake bar..I did not go in..but it sure looks fun!

Have you ever had a Sprinkles cupcake?? How about this place?  I actually saw mention on google homepage this morning that cupcakes are going “out of style?”  funny thought..what do you think? are you over cupcakes..how did I get from Paper Source to Cupcakes?! ha!

Oh and thanks for the Lego love and empathy on the last post!

I sort of feel like the monkey..”get me away from the legos!”  Its chaos keeping the legos away from Henry when that is all Drew wants to do…we are about to move all legos upstairs!

Oh and Drew hates this monkey..he hates all monkeys..can’t believe he put him on the lamp like this… I am sure he was creating a “scene”..like the other night when he asked me to be a saloon girl because we are a western town now (too many Boomerang cartoons, not exactly PC) or the other night when I asked him if he was ready for his bath and he said “No but I would love a cigar!” GO pick up legos Butch Cassidy! Don’t you love the “cuddle blankets” situated near the TANK! (and yes it makes firing sounds!) mercy.

Seriously, it’s like a war zone around here some days, I am sure many of you can relate. Between the high chair “bombs” and turned over play tables..and the legos… Henry is about to walk..he has FOUR new teeth, Drew is LOSING teeth left and right…it’s nuts..no time to research pretty uses of bamboo blinds like on my blog to do list;; If I have to say “stop shooting at the baby” one more time!  It’s just not right.

Yesterday I did attempt to do something “design wise” while Henry napped and Drew ran wild.  It didn’t turn out.  Precious time wasted.  See. 

Too crowded..they all need to be landscapes I think.  This is the upstairs bath that will be “boy zone” soon..I may collect a few retro “paint by numbers” to hang here eventually…I will just chalk this up as a test run, and go back to scouring for legos!

On a similar note, Jenny at Little Green Notebook has an interesting post up about children and “nice things” on her blog..check it out..will be fun to see the viewpoints…My opinion depends on the day!;;

And of course at the end of the day, people are more important than things.  And a home full of life is more beautiful than one full of treasures..my home was “straight” but without the sound of little people way too long so I get the what’s important thing BUT I also get the “mess is driving me crazy” viewpoint now too..and I used to think those moms were so whiny and ungrateful.  ha!

My super stylish friend Windy sent me this image…we love it and have dissected and discussed..so fun! It is from talented designer Amie Corley.

We are excited because we hear she will have a blog soon. Amie is based out of St. Louis, MO..talk about Midwest Modern!  She is so talented and got her start via a contest at Elle Decor. Click here to see what Jonathan Adler has to say about her happy style!

So what do you think..does this room appear to be for a boy or girl???  Notice the chair is different in the various pictures..it is hard to find the perfect chair–I think these both look great. Windy tracked down the drapes at Anthropologie. We love the giraffe lamp. And of course the tree! and the monogrammed shams.

Be sure and watch for Amie Corley!

You’ve seen this blogger’s amazing kitchen and bathroom redo on my blog and others, and even in a national magazine but have you seen her etsy shop Coastline???? Grace is so talented and nice.  Her burlap creations are the first of their kind on etsy.  Just this past weekend I saw burlap runners at Pottery Barn but hers are much cuter…some have scallops which i love and some have white accents..i LOVE white with burlap..so fresh.

and pom poms. love the pom poms..

I am about to have a wing chair slipped in simple ticking stripe for my living room..So i love this runner below too..hard to decide which is my favorite.

and banners..she makes banners too..I have a banner addiction.  You  may have noticed at Henry’s birthday party.  Those finally had to come down.  But lucky me, look what just came in the mail?!

Just in time to spruce up my porch and get over the post party “bare porch” blues…thanks Grace.  Y’all be sure and check out Coastline and Grace’s blog..you are sure to be inspired!

Isn’t that deer so interesting;;  I love it!  It looks like Wilton Armatele but its from Pier One… I really wanted to buy some caribou horns I saw today but they were too tall for the ceiling;(..I love horns and hides I must admit, I guess I am a little Texas after all!  But only when mixed with things like these urns below..I really wanted this trio from a nearby antique store but we went for larger and more vibrant reproductions for a console in the conference room.. You can never go wrong mixing in blue and white to lighten up dark, masculine (this is a heavily ”male” office;;) spaces…Blue and white continues to be one of my all time favorite things!

Ignore the sofa and painting in the background..These photos are all from my blackberry obviously!;;  This antique store was full of great stuff..awesome selection..next to a TJMaxx on Memorial in Houston, in the Nottingham/Kirkwood area..right outside of the tollway..near Memorial Drive Methodist Church..wish I knew the name of the store..you should check it out if in the area..great stuff..

Stay tuned for more on The Office!

Living near Houston, the shopping is endless..in fact overwhelming at times and the budget furniture deals abound.  For instance, look what i happened across on Thursday while shopping with a client to furnish a COMMERCIAL space..That’s right, Big Furniture Deals..my new favorite saying..classy right?!

And where do we go for “BIG ACCESSORY DEALS??  B.A.D….yes, Super Marshalls..where everyone now officially hates me…three carts maybe four carts later, we had to beg someone to check us out…but it was all worth it because i found the big leaf…which so reminds me of THIS image below from Cottage living (or maybe it was in Southern Living but it is the Coastal Living editor’s home???  Design Sponge via the Newlywed Diaries blog..read more about it there)….Please correct me in the comments if you know more about the sourcing…The large, organic  look of these pressed leaves has stuck with me..just adore it..come to find out..the blog above reports they are POSTERS from www.allposters.com  I can’t find them on their site but they have some great botanicals…it just confirms that large makes such an impact.

I am sure many of you remember this now…I totally thought of this when I saw the leaf in Marshalls…maybe I am nuts..luckily my client’s wife was game…

anyway, the big leaf coupled with inexpensive leather and a few manly, Texas-y items (like kilim pillows, cowhide rug, HUGE framed Texas map that is black and white and large iron scrolly console, chunky corbel lamp with grasscloth shade) HOPEFULLY will translate into a nice coastal Texas, masculine feel for this office..stay tuned to see more from this project and more BDF!;;

I just wanted to answer a few questions I had in comments and emails regarding the party. 

First off, the galvanized cupcake stand and this napkin/utensil “thing” ARE from Pottery Barn, other galvanized items are from Lowe’s/Home Depot. The “word” dishes are Emma Bridgewater’s Black Toast..the cheese stand is reproduction from Portobello Rd. Napkins from Target.

The cute blocks are from Target! In fact, I think all of their vintage-inspired Fisher Price items are on sale right now!

Henry’s outfit is from here. Melia is great!

The kraft paper tablecloth is kraft wrap from Michaels..i just doubled it over..the seam is not even in the middle of the table..its off to the side..i creased with my hand at the corners and put duck tape underneath in several spots to anchor!

The cupcake “wrappers” were made with a cricut cartridge..I know nothing about the cricut but my friend Lori does and our friend Edna had the cartridge so voila!  You can also order these from etsy…there is a girl paper doll template and boy paper doll (woohoo!) as well as many others including a sweet scalloped one..i wanted to use book pages for the paper but it would not go through the machine but the jbs paper looked great..I will say they are a little wonky size wise..you have to get it just right  so you might want to do a practice run with cupcakes before your party…also double sided paper might look better if you use you a “tall” wrapper design.

{Cousin Charlie always has a great time at these parties!}

And that rounds out party week…wheww!

So we set up the food and drinks on the porch.  Henry’s Party: Part 1 posted here.

  Cupcakes, brunch food..yummy lemonade..Jones soda and Dad’s root beer…Jones is so good!

Enough! I could go on and on about the porch (like about this fun JBS birthday bingo card banner with book pages)…but I won’t;; ha! Let’s go outside!

OK let me just admit, the game area was a total flop..vintage-y ring toss and rubber horseshoes (kid safe)..total flop..who wants to play those games when you can play on the new treehouse fort! (Thanks Dad!) My husband was so right about this one BUT the chalk cloth (yes it is CHALK cloth) made a cute and easy sign! I bought the chalk cloth at fabric.com and you season it just like regular chalk paint.

And below, tables and centerpieces..in front of our shed! kraft paper coverings..

The centerpieces were paint cans. I was going to chalk spray paint terra cotta pots but too rainy so i just did the paint cans with Jenni Bowlin scalloped crepe paper edging and her paper for pennants, the small version of the birthday bingo cards, and notice cute chipboard buttons.so vintagey! I love her stuff! I just used 99 cent monkey grass from the garden center…if I had put in chalk painted pots I was going to write “GROW” on some and “Henry is One” on others..but this worked out fine and was much simpler! I would have used little galvanized buckets but Home Depot (THE place to get galvanized buckets of variouse sizes..or Lowes) but they did not have so I bought what they did have…little paint cans! Little buckets of crayons would have been fine too!

And lots of sweet friends and family…

{Debbie, Lynsey & Ruthie and Henry with Grandmother}

The picture above is so funny to me…I wasn’t going to have Henry open gifts…he was getting sleepy but the little girls were so funny curious about “present time” so I had them bring them over and help him and he actually enjoyed it!

I have a zillion photos I could share but will stop droning on..thank you for all of your kind comments…we had no cake time with the baby or even a photo of our family of four..but it was still such a great day..thanks to everyone who helped prepare and celebrate!

Thanks for listening to my mommy ramble about my party!

Wow! Parties are work..but fun!  Please remember it is not all cupcakes and balloons around here everyday BUT on Saturday we had a blast celebrating Henry and the joy he brings to our family….We don’t do this every year but we had a big party for Drew’s first birthday so we did the same for little brother! So grab a cup of coffee, this may get long!

First off, some of the food and treats! We had cupcakes instead of a big cake and that was perfect.  The crayons went on the kraft covered tables outside. The adorable papers on the banner and cupcake wrappers are from Jenni Bowlin Studio…I used several of her things for the party, more on that later..I love her stuff! Thanks to our friend Lori for the help with the banner!

Blowing up balloons before the party…I just bought one of those $19 bottles of helium in a box at Target…..it was just enough to tie around the tables outside…I can’t believe for Drew”s party I actually rented a big bottle from the local welding supply place! The fabric scraps (I mean tablecloths;;)  are from Premier fabrics. I did not even hem them.

Our house is small but this screen porch is large and so great for parties….I set up the brunch food (mostly from Sam’s if you are wondering how I had time to decorate, well I only made one casserole myself, the rest of the food was ordered, fruit or made by a friend!)…My sweet father-in-law supplied the fresh watermelon and my friend Jill made a ton of sausage balls…thanks Jill!

We had candy and cupcakes on the kids dessert table and on the “adult table” we had carrot, red velvet and chocolate cupcakes from a local bakery AND gourmet chocolate chip cookies (HEB’s Central Market) in bags…the grown up party favors!.. Recognize the stickers from Jones Design Company?!

You can see the kid dessert table below in the background..it was located too out of the way though, I was shocked they did not raid it as much as I anticipated..their moms were probably glad!

Below…bags of chalk for favors and balsam wood vintage airplanes from here. I love the blue plumbago that we ran out of time to plant so we stuck in a pot! We’ll have to get that in the ground soon.  The star pillow is borrowed from Drew’s room!

All of this, and the birthday boy just wanted a cracker! We love you Henry!  Happy Birthday!

[More party fun tomorrow!]

I love the happy colors and mix of pattern Robyn used on the banner. And y’all, their kitchen is SOO unique, what a backdrop!..notice the ceiling, the hanging windows, the door trim!..And of course the adorable family! Robyn sews in the cutest little basement and made all of this, even the cute baby shoes and hair flower! Good job mama!

Next, This amazing baby shower from the Cookie Mondays blog. This party is gender neutral..I love the yellow and the kraft paper accents..Oh how i love kraft paper!

..so much inspiration here..love the black ink on the coke crate AND the “naked” lampshades (Hey Missy didnt we sell a bunch of those for nothing?!)

Next, I just discovered the Jack & Izzy blog..she has a a darlin “Party in the Park” theme that is inspiring …love the circle banner..it’s all so clean and modern.

…but what really blew me away on her blog is THIS party by Suann Song where the little boy dressed up like IKE..as in EISENHOWER/campaign theme..hilarious…

and the favors…

PERSONALIZED STAMPS for each child..wow! This is unique..he is so cute! I LIKE IKE! (I couldn’t resist);;

And last but not least, this mama ALWAYS inspires…and reminds us what it is all about..not the stuff..not the banners and stickers but the PEOPLE!

I love the way she writes about her children.  Her post made me slow down and enjoy this week and my boys a bit more!…thanks Lisa! and thanks to all of the mamas + blog that inspire us…not to exhaust ourselves and feel inadequate..not the point but rather to enjoy a new idea and celebrate life! So take a fun idea but leave the stress behind..that is my theme this week…and if it doesn’t all get done, we’ll call it “editing”… well edited design is so chic!

[Pray it doesn't rain for Henry's shindig!..if it does, i will send pictures from our garage!]