Hair Dye Double Take

We all love a good Hair pinstrosity, right? Well my daughter and I did a little experimenting back in April. Here is our story...  

A little back story, my daughter has been friends/classmates with a wonderful little girl named Maureen since kindergarten. In March Maureen was rushed to the Children's Hospital and was diagnosed with a very rare form of Leukemia. Less than 2 weeks later she passed away from complications from an infection. The school organized a "wear blue" week in honor of Maureen leading up to her memorial.  My daughter wanted to go an extra step.

She wanted blue hair!!  

I had no idea how to do this so I turned to Pinterest.  I found a few different ways to dye hair, but I wanted a non-permanent option. I decided to try this pin: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/258042253624145081/

The blog post showed nice easy directions - I even had everything on hand!! Score a Use It Up challenge as well!!  I used a hotel sized bottle of white conditioner & a bottle of blue food coloring. I even pre cut my foil into easy to use sheets like my hairstylist uses. 

Mixing it up seemed to go okay, just like the steps on the blog. 

I put a towel over my daughters shoulders and my lap. Divided up her hair in sections so I could easily apply the mixture. I foiled each section. I thought it looked a little light, but I figured the blue would show up with her blond hair so it didn't need to be too dark.

I continued on until her whole head was foiled. Following the blog's instructions we let her sleep in them over night. I wrapped her head in a scarf and then put a knit cap over it so that nothing would fall out and possibly stain her new sheets. 

The next morning she jumped out of bed (a rare occurrence for her) and we took out the foil for the big reveal. 

Not bad!!  

 

The last step of the blog said to rinse but not to use shampoo. My daughter put her hair over the edge of the tub and I watched all the blue rinse away down the drain. OH NO!!!! It was Monday morning, less than an hour before school.  No time to run to the beauty store and buy blue dye (if they even have it) and I am about to have a very disappointed daughter when she realizes that this pin was just BUSTED!  No color remained in her hair at all!

I didn't even have that much blue food coloring left, some but not a lot.  In a hail mary pass I put the ends of her hair in the bowl and put the blue food dye directly on her hair with the help of my handy dandy sponge brush. I had no idea if this was going to work, if the dye would stain everything or be permanent. All I knew is my daughter wanted blue hair and it had to be this morning. 

To lessen the chance of having blue food coloring everywhere I went ahead and blow dried her hair.  It seemed to seal the majority of the color onto her hair.  It did have a nice effect. 

It lasted the week that she wanted it too. She was turning a little smurf-esk by the end of the week, but she didn't ruin any clothes at least.  The night of the memorial when we got home she took a bath, we all laughed at the results.

Little Man 1st Birthday Party

This party was so much fun to plan. 

We had talked with the mom multiple times to get a feel for what theme she wanted for her Little Man’s first birthday.  She really loved the idea of a vintage feel Little Man party full of mustaches’, newsboy hats and neckties.  Back in July & August we started collecting ideas on our Pinterest Inspiration Board for the party planned for the middle of December.

Plans started coming together after our Boo Bash and by the time the party rolled around we had completed many of the ideas from our board.

The kit used for printed paper products I designed

Source: sweetshoppedesigns.com via Amber on Pinterest

... 1 year banner

Source: vanessascraftynest.blogspot.com via Amber on Pinterest

... for the cupcakes

Source: remarkable-home.blogspot.com via Amber on Pinterest

...the chocolate covered pretzels

Source: lottelu.blogspot.com via Amber on Pinterest

...the mustache cookies

Source: catchmyparty.com via Amber on Pinterest

And this is how our party turned out…

Our Little Man

Our version of the banner. We were able to email it to the parents, they printed, cut, and assembled it.

The other grandma did the cupcakes

Our chocolate covered mini pretzel sticks.

  

                    Our mustache cookies

Almond Bark covered Oreo’s are always a hit and gone in a split

I (Amber) did not get to actually attend the party because of a commitment at church, but I loved seeing all the pictures from the party. The kids had been asked to dress up for the party and everyone looked so cute.

Shabby Chic Tea Baby Shower

I was honored to be able to plan and host a baby shower for my very best friend.  She is expecting her second little boy, so early in the planning we decided it would be a small intimate affair at a local garden restaurant. 

As guests sat down they were greeted with a packet. I found an adorable poem:

Inside the packet was a few games for the guests to play while we waited for lunch to arrive.  There was a celebrity baby matching game and a fill in the blank “mother” game.  Since we were not playing for prizes I included the answers at the back of the packet. The best part of the packet was the labor story mad lib game that I found.  The mom-to-be actually collected the stories at the end because they were so funny.

I knew that the tables would be small, so I made a small topiary for each table and limited the “extras” to a water bottle and favor.  We did bring our own tablecloths.  The ones at the restaurant are a fruit pattern that didn’t match my color scheme.

The water bottle labels were very simple and only said “Welcome Baby Ben”

The favors were little boxes that I cut out of kraft paper with my Cricut.  I attached a teacup to each favor and instructed guests to write their name on them to be used during the drawing for door prizes. The candy inside was a miniature Take 5 bar – the Mom-to-be’s favorite candy bar.

     

The shower was exactly what I had hoped for, a small quite affair that honored the Mom-to-be.  The best part was that there was very little clean up!  That is always my least favorite part of any shower.

35th Birthday Party

I had hoped to be able to throw a fantastic birthday party for my husband's 35th birthday this year. He had never had a birthday as a child growing up, so I wanted his 35th to be special. I had it all planned in my head. A San Diego Charger's theme with a yellow and blue color scheme to match. I hired Sugar Mama Cakes to make him a lightening bolt cake. I asked our friend at HD Audio to set up his DJ equipment so that we had music. I planned a great menu of all his favorite foods (carne asada, faijtas, chile con queso dip, jalepeno popper dip and all the trimmings) I did not expect life to get in the way. His first birthday party ever was not what I thought it would be, but we had a wonderful time with the friends that were able to come and celebrate with us.  We had LOTS of cake left over, but I don’t think that is a problem when you have a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling.

 

Up Close With Laundry

We always thrive to come up with a unique gift for showers or birthdays. For the Candy Coated Shower of a very dear friend we wanted to go all out. I bought all the clothes while my daughter created these awesome dividers and clothes pin. This has got to be one of my favorite all time gifts.