Mommy Chronicles: 1st Birthday on A Budget

 My little turned one at the beginning of the month and I can't be more surprised at how fast a whole year has flown by me. I truly understand the old adage "they grow up so fast" now more than ever. 

I've always been into planning things, being crafty, and finding new and exciting ways to stretch my budget so I was super excited to be able to arrange and execute my son's very first birthday successfully.

Might I warn you that planning a first birthday, or any birthday for that matter, is slightly overwhelming as a single mother.  Since I knew that I was pretty much in this alone, I began planning as early as September-setting deadlines, writing out the menu, thinking of a theme, and creating the invite list. 

I went with a 'Rainbow Theme' full of bright, primary colors in order to eliminate having to search all over for specifics. The invite was customized by Styles With Charm and printed at Office Max. 

The cake was homemade by a local small business owner. (I'm all about supporting small business lately by the way). The same person made the cake for my baby shower last year. You can see that cake here. Let me tell you, this lady puts her whole foot in her cakes. Not only are they beautifully made, but the taste and consistency is perfection. Visit her FB page here if you are local. 

The balloons were a big hit. They brought extra pizazz to the room and my Bubby absolutely loved tugging on them throughout the party. It's amazing how the simplest things can bring so much joy to little ones. 

The balloons actually bring me to my first Budget Party Planning tip: To cut down on expenses, have each of your immediate family members, god mommies, and/or aunties be responsible for bringing an item for the party. This will also cut down on some of the last minute party errands for Mommy. For example, for our party the cutlery, balloons, tablecloths, and a few other items were provided by family members. 

And speaking of budget tips, check out the high chair that my Mother thrifted for 10 bucks at a yard sale. By any means necessary we will remain 'Thrifty and Shameless'!

The gift table was one of my favorites. I decorated it with a Welcome Sign, a fun, personalized one year statistics chart customized by Inky Invite, and a photo from his most recent photo shoot with Erica Nicole Imagery. I decorated it using colorful DIY confetti circles and numbers that I cut using an Ellis machine. The cardstock was actually left over from a DIY project that I did for my baby shower last December. 

Enough of the good stuff. Everything that could go wrong, went ALL THE WAY wrong on the day of the party. For starters, I wasn't given clear instructions on how to gain entrance into the clubhouse that I had rented so I got started with setup super, duper late.  

Budget Party Planning Tip: if you must rent a location for your party make certain to rent a place with a refundable deposit. That way a portion of your monies will be returned to you provided you don't trash the place. 

These girls saved my sanity. You know you have true friends when you don't have to tell them you're in need, they just show up-ready to help, hug, and listen to you vent. I love these two in ways that can't be explained.

Here are some of the other decorations. Everything here was customized by Sweet Scarlet Designs. The candy jars were purchased from Dollar Tree and the rainbow popcorn boxes were $.99 for a pack of 5 at Party City. The Rice Krispie Treats were another DIY project. The treats, candy, and popcorn were free after the coupons that I used.

Bubby absolutely enjoyed every part of the event. He was truly the life of the party. He had a ball getting loved on by everyone, showing his latest dance moves, and playing peek-a-boo with all of us. 

We are so blessed to have such a beautiful family. 

Happy 1st Birthday Bubby. Mommy and Daddy love you!!

I would love to hear from other Mommies about your birthday party experiences. 

Thank You for reading!

XOXOXOXO

Savin' Maven: DIY Valentine's Day Mail

Hello my loves.

Listen, I know I'm late as hell; please forgive me as I'm still trying to get accustomed to life with a newborn. Its like my days are literally stuck on fast forward. Seriously though, every waking moment that I have is spent on my lil one. 

I did however want to stop by today to share a quick,  easy, and fairly inexpensive holiday DIY project with you all. This project can really be done for any occasion bit since my family just recently had Valentine's Day pictures taken we will roll with that. 

Alls you need are some fancy scissors, a few pieces of solid color printing paper, and some washi tape.

I started by searching for a nice quote online and creating a Publisher document that would allow me  to print several of them on one sheet. i decided upon a nice quote about friends and family and since it's Valentine's Day I chose red paper.

Next,  I used the fancy scissors to cut the 'quote cards' out. All of the scissor designs were so pretty.  I ended up going with the 'Sculptured' pair for nice, frilly edge. 

I added washi tape to the outside of the envelopes just for character. After using my coupon the tape was almost free, $.05, from Target. I figured this was a great way to use it.

So there you have it-a quick and easy way to spruce up your holiday mail. By the way,  I love how great our family portraits came out. The JCPenny's portrait studio did an awesome job. See how we saved a ton of money on them by viewing this post. 

Until next time-thanks reading!

XOXOXOXOXO

Savin' Maven Monday: DIY Washi Tape Makeup Jars

Hello and Happy Monday my loves. 

I know it's been a while...(sticks hand out for you to pop)! I've been a horrible blogger but I promise I've been doing productive things.

I've gotten my little man registered at yet another store and I've really been working on preparing for a stockpile yard sale that I will be participating in with my mother this weekend.  I was also able to attend a Baby Expo at my local Convention center over the weekend and I learned a wealth of information so I'm really thankful for that. 

I had mentioned in a previous post that I had my blog business all planned out for the month of September. And, I DID. It's just that life happened and I got a little sidetracked but this is one of the many posts that I had planned for the month.

I've really been in the mood to create and do some DIY projects so today I'm sharing with you just that.

I saw this wonderful DIY on I Spy DIY a while ago and I thought it was soooo fun and creative. 

DIY Washi Tape Votives

Most importantly I knew it would be inexpensive and quick so it was right up my alley.

Over the years, I've really become a hoarder of all things-especially these jars which once held pickles, pasta sauce, etc.
 

I couldn't muster the strength to throw them away because I was convinced that there was something I could use them for.

So when I went into my bathroom and found this underneath my sink, I had the perfect idea.

 

Believe it or not, I'm not even a huge makeup wearer! But I do have a really weird obsession with purchasing lip glosses, lipsticks, lip butters, and the like. I don't know what it is but I can't seem to keep myself away from these things. 

Anywho, I felt that this makeup situation was a little too unorganized and it needed a bit of taming. Besides, these flat bins took up too much of my space. So I came up with what I thought was the perfect idea for up cycling my old jars when I got this washi tape for free while couponing a couple of months ago.

I really loved the great colors that I found. The patterns together with the solid actually made for a great combination. 

I put these together while watching an episode of Oprah's Lifeclass so it didn't take me long to finish at all.

I'm really digging how they turned out too.
 

And even after I filled all 5 of them up to the brim, I still had more makeup left. Needless to say, I will either be hosting another giveaway in the near future or attempting to sell what remains.
 

I'm thoroughly pleased that I was able to take some ordinary materials and create something unique and creative for little to no cost out of pocket. Now I'm scrambling around my house trying to see what other items I can use to craft with.

What types of things do you like to up cycle around your home?

I can't wait to hear from you.

Thanks for being such faithful readers.

Savin' Maven Monday: DIY Dope Hat

When I saw my blogger friend Mo wearing this hat on her Instagram feed I knew I had to have it.

I haven't seen any hats quite like this at any of the stores in my area so I decided that I would make my own. This had to be the easiest DIY that I have done to date. Here's what all I used:

*Skull cap

*Iron on adhesive letters

*Glue gun

I found this hat at my local Goodwill for $1.25! I love the red and charcoal stripes.

These letters were found at Walmart. They're supposed to be iron on letters but I decided to use my hot glue gun as well as the iron to ensure that they wouldn't peel off of the hat.

Once I figured out how I wanted the letters placed on the front of the hat....

I glued them down, went over them with an iron to secure them and viola....

My new 'Dope' girl fresh hat. 

I can't wait to wear it!!! Thanks Mo for the inspiration!!!

What do you think???

I can't wait to hear from you!!

Thanks for reading!

XOXOXOXO

Savin' Maven Monday: DIY Polka Dot Sneakers...

I IMMEDIATELY fell in love with these shoes when I saw Eboni from

The Fashionista Next Door

style them here....

Keds $45

Thrifty and Shamlessly speaking, I really didn't wanna pay that much for them so I was super excited when I saw these blue Mossimo sneakers on clearance for $3.88.

This is another one of those easy peasy DIY projects that takes no more than 5 minutes to create. 

Here's what you will need:

~Mossimo Canvas Sneakers ($3.88 from Target)

~Craft Paint

~These round stick thingies that came with my DIY Picture Frames.

~Newspaper

That's it. You're ready to begin.

Before I even started I balled up 2 large pieces of newspaper and stuffed one in each shoe. This provided be  with more of a smooth surface.

STEP 1: Take one of the round stick thingies and dip it in the acrylic paint...

Make sure the tip is fully covered...

STEP 2: Begin dotting. Again there no rhyme nor reason as to how I placed the dots on the shoe. This is how the shoe looked after I dotted half of the toe.

STEP 3:  Dot some more and viola...

I thought of doing more of the tan color on the seams but the white is speaking to me.

So I left them like this!!

I can't wait to wear them...

Stay tuned for styling posts to come.

Thanks for reading...

Savin' Maven Monday: DIY Jeweled Heels

Happy Monday my loves.

I hope everyone had an amazing weekend. Mine was actually very productive. I was able to post some new things in my boutique, Miss Rockwells Racks, as well as work on a DIY project that I've had saved in my Pinterest folder for a while.

 When I found these jeweled heels (originally pinned from Boss Chicks) I immediately died.

I knew I had to recreate. And that I did. 

Here's what I used to create my very own.

**Colored Pumps (on clearance for $9 from Target)

**Assorted Acrylic Jewels

**Glue Gun

That's it.

Let me first warn you that these pictures are crap with a capital C! I had to take them with my phone because my honey and I swapped the big boy camera for the weekend so he could get some filming done. 

Anyhow these are the jewels that I decided to use. 

There really was no rhyme or reason to that went into the design process here. I totally winged it and the shoes came out like so....

This was by far thee easiest DIY ever. 

Just pick out the jewels.Glue.And wait for them to dry.

I'm actually in love with how they turned out. These pics don't do the shoes any justice at all but you will most definitely get a better view of them when I style them. 

Pinterest is hella amazing for giving me so much inspiration. You should totally follow me.

And stay tuned for more super easy and frugal DIY projects.

Thanks for reading!