After the Sangria Station at the Denver themed baby shower, I knew that we’d be doing another sangria bar sometime this summer. Sangria is just too summer-y, and refreshing (and great for a crowd) to pass up as a drink station at a party (or in this case, for a friend’s wedding!).
I know I say this all the time, but this really is one of those party elements that is fabulous, simple to put together, and not that expensive (especially compared to any drink station that includes alcohol).
There were three jars of sangria- red, white and alcohol free.
And summer is the perfect time to add an entire rainbow of fruit…
…as well as some mint-and-gold dipped pots with mint, lavendar, basil and rosemary for muddling.
The decor was similarly simple- rows of mason jars with paper straws and flags…
…a big mint chalkboard (the ‘Sangria Bar’ sign is paper, and the fancy writing was mine [and I do not have great handwriting, so I can't wait to show you guys how I did it!]), and a tassel garland.
And even though one of the three Sangria base options was sans alcohol, I also put together jars of “Kid’s Sangria” in a wheel barrel for the littlest wedding guests.
Did I mention that I love the Sangria Bar? Seriously, friends, love.
Since we’ve been doing so many drink stations (and even food stations) lately, and since we get emails all the time asking about the signage, we’ve started putting party bar signage in the Shiny Happy Sprinkles etsy shop.
If you know a bride (or party hostess) who is wanting to DIY a drink station or food bar, send her our way (the printable packs come with recipes, shopping lists and DIY directions to help with every detail)! The Donut Bar and Limeade Bar printables are already in there, the Milk Bar, Lemonade Bar and Sangria Bar printables should be up soon.
One of my favorite parts of summer is a backyard garden full of fresh fruits, veggies and herbs. We are still in planting mode around here even though the raised beds are at capacity- which means that we’re in need of some planter pots. And the pretty plants and herbs require pretty homes, right?
When I saw these 
I made a whole pile of the nests (I thought they were flowers, but my kids quickly corrected me). The Mod Melts work just like hot glue- you put them in a high heat glue gun and then squirt them into the mold. After letting them cool (and repeating and repeating and repeating in my case), you have the perfect project accessories.
Then, after the entire planter was covered in a pattern of nests, I turned it upside down on some cardboard and sprayed it with shiny gold spray paint (and then touched up from all sorts of different angles for full coverage).
I love the textured effect that the nests add to the planters (and can think of all sorts of other projects to embellish with the Mod Melts)!
I love mojitos. Love them. I think mint and lime were made to go together (incidentally, I love the mint limeade at Cafe Rio as well!). And I lo-ove adding fruit, like blueberries, to this yummiest of drink concoctions.
DIRECTIONS- Add lime juice, mint leaves, blueberries and sugar to the bottom of a cup. Muddle, mashing the berries and the mint leaves. Add rum and club soda. Mix well and serve.
To make a pitcher of blueberry mojitos-
Put this pitcher on a picnic table- see how quickly the blueberry mojitos disappear!
I absolutely love dresses… and I love the sundress series at 
I’m so excited to share this Seaside Stripes dress tutorial as part of the sundress series goodness!
This dress is super simple to make. And by super simple, I mean, it’s basically a big pillowcase with a collar opening (lined with bias tape), sleeve openings (also, lined up with bias tape) that’s cinched with a belt.
Cut two rectangles of fabric (a little longer than the length of a dress that you like). For the width, I just left my fabric the width that I bought it, 42” wide.
Use a cap sleeved dress to figure out the angle of the sleeves, cut (so now you have a rounded rectangle on your top edge).
Cinch with a belt and you’re ready for a beach-y stroll!
Easy right? Even though the series doesn’t start yet (it starts June 24) we are starting the giveaway fun today! So, from today through the end of our series, midnight (MDT) July 20, 2013, any image you tag to #coloryoursummer could win you one of these great prizes:
Hey friends! Just wanted to let you know that I’m over at 
I am pretty much in love with the gourmet s’mores bars that grace summer soirees (and weddings). And until I put together a S’mores Party Bar with flavored marshmallows and fun nicknames like “Chunky Monkey” (peanut butter, banana, dark chocolate, chocolate graham cracker, of course), I will take out every opportunity I can to try out smaller scale s’mores buffets on my family and friends.
Like this s’mores sampler platter, for example. We put it together last weekend with one grocery store trip and then spent Memorial Day trying out various s’mores combinations.
A s’mores sampler platter is as easy as it sounds to put together- buy a lineup of various chocolate combinations (we got classic Hershey’s, Hershey’s Cookies and Cream, Reese’s cups, Junior Mints, Ghiardelli’s Midnight Dark Chocolate Squares and Almond Joys) as well as graham crackers and marshmallows (we got the flat s’mores ones), Nutella and peanut butter, set out on a platter (and a chalkboard if you’re extra excited about this like Trish and I were), and roast up all sorts of s’mores combinations.
My favorites? Double mallow with junior mints s’mores…
…and Reese’s, Hershey’s milk chocolate, and double marshmallows. Also, Adam loved the basic s’more with dark chocolate.
I think every. single. party. this summer needs a s’mores sample platter. Maybe every family dinner as well?
I’m sure you’ve seen ‘summer bucket lists’ floating around- the idea is that your family makes a summer to do list and then, as you make popsicles and eat ice cream and go to the zoo, each item on your list is checked off (and you have a whole summer of memories!).
It’s not rocket science (you just make a to do list and then do the activities), but making the list poster sized was easy and cheap and turned out great, so I thought I’d share the details here in case you want to make a giant summer bucket list as well.
First, we collected ideas as a family. Then I made a poster (in Photoshop) with our ideas, all in outline fonts (the ones I used- Vintage One, skinny jeans, NeoRetroDraw, Budmo, Chalkline). After that, I had the print made into a 24″ x 36″ sized engineers print at Staples.
After we brought it home, I added color outlines to the words (mostly because I uploaded the sign as a low resolution file and it made the edges of each word blurry- but I like the rainbow of colors it adds to our sign).
