Fiesta Time

It's quite fitting that Cinco de Mayo falls on a Saturday this year. More fiesta time with less hesitation to imbibe one more margarita-- knowing that the office bell doesn't ring in the morning (just Church or something like that). But, anyways, it's party time. If you're having a few friends over with no extraordinary plans in mind, no need to hustle and bustle over the setup, just pull out the salted rims, gauc and chips and maybe a sweet treat like these adorable cacti cookies.

If you're feeling extra festive, then maybe a few of my decor ideas will lend a hand. I pulled together some of the cactus plants I had laying around the house to spruce up my table along with a colorful woven tablecloth from my latest travels to Mexico. A clever use of some extra terra-cotta pot saucers made for the perfect app size plates. A fun centerpiece idea, a piñata! If you don't have the time to make my DIY version, I'm sure the party store has a few Cinco de Mayo worthy paper pieces in stock. The mini margarita glasses were a Homegoods, as were the tassel trimmed napkins. Find more alike pieces linked below. Enjoy!

Creep It Real Bar Cart

I love Halloween. I love candy, dressing up in ridiculous and creative costumes, seeing kids dress up as their icons, decorating with monsters and blood and all that scary stuff. No parties happening over here at the Nord house, but I absolutely decked out our bar cart for my own interest. I went with an underworld theme, using a RIP garland from Target, faux bones from the party store, along with my DIY bloody pumpkins, and more. I couldn't pass up a spider web either! Happy Halloween! xo RCN

Pretty Paper Soaps

I always appreciate a beautiful bar of soap, especially one that smells nice. Recently, I have been obsessing over bars of soap. So weird, but not really, right? A friend came over my house for drinks a couple weeks ago and brought me an aloe scented soap. I would not have expected a thing for just coming over for drinks, but what a thoughtful and posh gesture? I loved it! 

For Valentine's Day I decided I wanted to wrap up soaps myself, as a Valentine's gift for our Moms, Mom Mom, and sisters (Sorry Shaina and Courtney - we didn't mail them to you at school, but I'll make you something cute next time I see you!).

Whole Foods Market has a nice selection of organic Good soaps, all unwrapped and ready for a personal touch. The assortment includes scents from Wild Strawberry to Peppermint and Praire Rose. I shopped at both A.C.Moore and Jo Ann in search of pretty pink and purple paper to wrap the soaps. Shopping for patterned paper and ribbon to complete the wrapping was thoroughly enjoyable. I am a paper goods junkie! Scrap booking paper is usually reversible with different patterns on either side, perfect for mix and matching the wrap and name tags. I also suggest vellum or sheer paper for a more refined elegant approach. The final touch of adding a bow, sticker initials, and faux floral trim goes a long way in making the gift look sweet and charming. Have a lovely Valentine's Day. Kiss, kiss, smooch, smooch!! xo RCN

That's A Wrap

For all the last minute shoppers and wrappers out there, here are some pics of the presents I put together. It may be a little inspo for you, if you are in a major crunch mode. Nothing too fancy. It's really just paper and some pretty bows and ribbon. Most paper and ribbons were all bought at Homegoods. Homegoods continues to be my favorite for wrapping paper. There is always a large assortment, and some fun, kitschy, and classic patterns. All of which I love to mix and match together. Most gifts I wrapped this holiday go back to natural color (or material), metallics, stripes, plaid and pom poms. This year may be the first time I am finished wrapping before Christmas Eve. SOOO proud of myself for that. xo RCN

Pine Magnolia Garland

Garlands are very festive and naturally beautiful when made out of greens, flowers, and leaves. This holiday I wanted to emphasize our floor to ceiling length mirror with a green garland. When we bought our Christmas tree, the tree farm allowed us to recycle and take as many extra greens as we liked. I took a few dried stems of Magnolia leaves from the bedroom, the extra greens from the tee farm, and voila! The base of the garland is a faux wired garland, that I simply attached and wired the greens onto. At the end of the season, I will remove the fresh greens and save the faux garland as my base for next year, again. xo RCN

Wrap It Like You Mean It

There are a few reasons why I love giving and getting gifts. One of the reasons is solely about the wrapping. Being the visual person I am, I absolutely LOVE when a gift is as stunning on the outside as on the inside. Because, I love wrapping so much, I am thrilled that Anthropologie is having a gift wrapping contest this year. One prize is being given for the best recycled gift wrap, among other prizes. My wrapping will be entered into a few categories, and I am happy to say it qualifies as recycled. Here are my specially wrapped gifts that will be entered into the contest.

I thought, what better to use then some beautiful lace and baubles. I collect an abundance of vintage lace doilies, collars, ribbon, brooches, and earrings as I travel. I have more than enough to gift away. The presents will be personable and pretty, something well deserved of all my loved ones. No paper, scissors, tape or glue. The vintage lace and baubles will perfectly do! This is exactly the type of recycled gift wrap I would like to receive. A hint of fresh evergreen adds a natural touch, those greens were all clipped straight from the Christmas tree.

Hint: If you decide to try something like this at home, clip on earrings and hair pieces with bobby pins serve very well as closure pieces. They easily wrap and intertwine between the crocheted holes of the lace and work great as fasteners along with ribbon. Or, they just work great as the trim on the center of a bow. xo RCN

Bottoms Up Bar Cart

It's only natural that your bar cart gets a face lift when it comes to the holidays. Not only, does it likely need re-stocking of the booze, but also some festive primping. Here is a snapshot of our bar cart mood and necessities for the upcoming hosting, partying, and drinking that will be had. When it comes to Christmas, I can't help, but be a little over the top with all the decorations. What are your must haves on the bar cart?  Oh, and if you are not hosting anyone this year, then I have just the thing to bring along with you to your hostess. Keep scrolling and you'll see. xo RCN

I like to use the bottom of the bar cart for glasses and bottles. I used a polka dot place mat beneath the clear glasses to give them a foundation on our glass and plexi bar cart. The glasses stand out more without mixing into all the other glass.

My Mom gave me a pack of mini trees, from Target, when I was home for Thanksgiving. I went back and bought a couple more packs! $3 and so worth it. The "Party" bottle opener was a $2 find at Homegoods.

If you are going to have the wine flowing, beautiful bottle stoppers are a must. I like to keep a few on hand that mesh nice with the theme. It's nice to include something personal, and something seasonal.

Cocktail napkins are important, especially if you don't want to be cleaning up millions of sticky rings off of your counters and tables. I found these cute "Cheers" napkins at Homegoods.

The confetti was also a Target find. A pack for $3. Can't beat it. I love that they are wood, too.

Straws and stirrers are also a must on the bar cart. I'll admit, not many people love to use paper straws, but they are so darn cute that I can't stop buying them. If not for nothing, the polka dot pattern ties in well with the look of the cart and adds more color.

Our glasses come from many places, Crate & Barrel, Target, Vintage, Anthropologie, Homegoods...I can go on. For Christmas, I like to bring out some of our festive glasses, like the "Oh Deer" beer mugs from Target.

Lastly, if the party is happening elsewhere, pack the booze and bring it with you. If you want to update your wine host and hostess gifts, think about bringing a different liquor. Packaging always sells me, and Smirnoff does a great job with their Peppermint Vodka. I picked up a wine bag for one dollar at Total Wine, added some peppermint candies and a matchy-matchy bow. Easy and different than last year. Cheers!

Pom Pom Wrapping

One of my easiest gift wrapping ideas, is also one of my most favorite ideas. Instead of using tissue paper or scraps of paper confetti, or anything else for that matter, I like to use pom poms for the inside stuffing of a present. Pom Poms are even cushy enough to use for something more fragile, as long as you use enough of them. They are also quite lovely and cute to throw in a box along with some tissue, just to add some festiveness to the package. For Christmas I am coordinating tones of green and red with certain small packages. A double handful of green pom poms worked perfectly in this little gift bag. I threw some poms in the bag first, then added one fragile gator salt shaker, followed by more poms and the paired pepper shaker. I made sure to move the poms around all sides of the bag, and now I am ready to go. I am obsessed with this idea. Chances are, if you receive a present from me this holiday, there will probably be pom poms inside. Sorry to ruin the surprise! xo RCN

All pom poms and gift bags from Target. Target sells color coordinated boxes of pom poms in their craft section.

Thanksgiving Mood

Once November hits, I am full throttle in the Autumn mood. Earth tones, pumpkins, apple pies, cinnamon, magnolia leaves are all part of the best things at the start of Holiday time. Here's a quick caption of the Fall vibe happening at our apartment right now. Check out the links below to some of the easy recipes and DIY projects I created and tested out for this upcoming Thanksgiving dinner. xo RCN

A Little Bit' Of Spooky, A Lot A Bit' Of Sparkley

What you will need to create a Halloween garland and some additional sparkle bats for your entryway...

1. Cookie cutters or stencils shaped like a Bat and Pumpkin OR any other Halloween shapes you like

2. 3-4 sheets of oak tag paper

3. Scissors

4. Orange and Black glitter

5. Elmer's tacky glue

6. Pencil

7. 2 Paper plates (for glitter)

8. Newspaper

9. Paint brush (for glue)

10. Sewing needle and five feet of string (festive Halloween colors)

11. Hole punch or 9 mini laundry clips

12. 16 Orange and 16 Black Pom Poms

13. Clear reversible Scotch tape

Trace pumpkin and bat cookie cutters onto thick paper.  Cut out all traced figures once you have them all marked.  A trick is to trace a third of your final amount and stack three papers together and cut through all three papers at once.  Saves a lot of time! 

This five foot garland requires 9 pumpkins. While I worked on the garland I also made 30 additional bats for the entry wall in our apartment. 

Pour a round circle of sparkles onto a paper plate, big enough to dip your bats and pumpkins into.  You will need more orange sparkles for pumpkins since they are larger than the bats.  Paint tacky glue to cover the complete surface of your bat or pumpkin.  Once covered with glue, push glue side down into sparkles on paper plate and continue to move it around until surface is covered.  Be sure to put enough glue on the paper to cover it completely, don't be stingy with the glue.  The sparkles will look 10 times better if it is applied relatively thick.

 The last step is creating the garland itself.  I was inspired by a Halloween garland I saw for sale at Target.  So if lucky and you are tight on time you may find this pre-made, but if not, it's quite simple to do it yourself.

Cut thread to the length of your desired garland.   Pictured above is one individual (about) 5 foot strand.  Once cut, slip thread through the eye of you sewing needle and pull thread to be about ten inches on one side and the remainder of your garland on other.  Start by pushing needle through center of either black or orange pom pom.  Rotate every other color and continue to thread and string pom poms along until you have filled the length of garland. If you do not have mini clothes pins to clip your sparkle pumpkins onto the final garland, use a hole punch and thread the pumpkins onto the string as you thread the pom poms.  Doing so, every five to three pom poms.  Tie a small knot at both ends of your string, and finito! The more garlands you make, the more festive your place will look for Halloween!

Lastly, my thirty some odd bats look fabulous taped directly onto my entry wall, just beside our front door. We have a solid white wall there and I thought what better way to decorate a blank space for all the Halloween trick-or-treaters to see! xo RCN