Thanksgiving Crafts

Well, I'm a little late on posting this, but hey....Better Late than Never, right?

Me and the kiddos had a craft day at my sisters...Thanksgiving style. It was so fun, and the kids had a blast too :)

The kiddos made turkey's, and wrote on the tail feathers what they were thankful for.... and Miss Ali decided to be a little funny with hers....

She's a funny one I tell ya :)

I remember making these when I was a kid. :)

And my sister Ari and I had a little craft time of our own :) We made these fall garlands that we saw on A Beautiful Mess posted Here.

Now it's my turn....We are going to have Christmas Craft Day at my house :) I've been collecting ideas for both the kiddos and my sister and I.

Any suggestions?

Much Aloha,

Monika :)

The Monsters are coming!!!!

So this is what I've been up to lately....sewing Lil' Monsters!! :) Aren't they just the cutest??!!

These cuties are going to a super cool, hip boutique in Albuquerque, NM called Stilo Lifestyle Accessories.

I'm super excited for these little guys to find new homes. And if you live in the Albuquerque area, be sure to stop by Stilo and go check out all their great stuff!

Hope you had a fabulous Wednesday!!

Much Aloha,

Monika :)

Making Progress

It's been pretty crazy around here. We're in the midst of preparing for Missy Miss' Birthday Party.... Nothing gets you super motivated to get things done quite like a party at your house, right? :)

Oh... procrastination is a horrible curse!

So, needless to say, we are BUSY! But, it's the good kind of busy. The kind of busy that when you look at what you've accomplished, you feel proud and satisfied.

This is what our backyard looked like 2 weeks ago.......

Pretty scary, right?? :(

Now... two weeks later we are ready to sod!!! :)

All this work done in 90+ degree weather.... WHAT WERE WE THINKING??!!?? and YES... We did all the work ourselves!!! (with help from my F.I.L and B.I.L...thanks guys!!)

As I was taking one of our many breaks from the heat I snapped a few little pics.

and Missy Miss got a new Bubble shooter from her Grammy & Papa :)

 She literally filled the whole backyard with bubbles!! :)

The sooner we are done with this backyard, the happier I will be!! :)

On to this week....getting the sod in, getting Ali ready for back to school, getting ready for the birthday party for Missy Miss.....goodness.....can anything else be happening??!!

After Labor Day we are done with house projects for a while....then it's time for the Palm Springs Countdown!! ;)  (I'll get to that in a later post) :D

Hope you are enjoying the last few days of summer!!

Much Aloha,

Monika :)

In need of some color!

Some things just need a little bit of color...don't you agree? I have to admit, I've been a bit on a spray paint kick lately. NO...I'm not roaming around the streets tagging up the city! I know that's what you were thinking ;o)

But isn't it amazing how you can change something "OK" into something really cool? A little paint can do that.

A while back I bought this Aldo Luongo print at the thrift. I LOVED the picture of the boy and girl holding hands, though the frame was not that cute. I figured I would find a cute frame and replace it. Easy, Right?? Well...I just haven't found the right frame. So instead of keeping the cute picture in the garage, waiting for the "perfect" frame to drop from the sky, I decided, SPRAY PAINT!!

Here's a peek at the "before":

I busted out the spray paint and painters tape:

And Voila!

I didn't realize the I picked a paint that was the same color as Miss Kourt's radio. But oh well...I still like it A LOT better! :) and Kourt loves the new art in her room.

Now the only question left is.....What else can I spray paint???? :)

Much Aloha,

Monika :)

4 Years & 11 Months (the countdown begins...)

Today is June 21st (you probably already know that, but just in case you didnt). So that means, in one month exactly, Mike and I will be celebrating our 5 Year Wedding Anniversary!!!.....5 YEARS!!!  WOW!! It feels like its flown by, but at the same time, its like we've been married forever :)

So once a week until our Anniversary, I thought I'd share some of our wedding festivities!

Like most couples, we were on a tight budget for our wedding. So we did a lot ourselves. All the way down to the invitations! But you know what??? I loved it!! I got to put my own touch into everything, and kept everything very cohesive.

So to commemmorate our 4 year 11 month anniversary, I thought I would share some of  the DIY's that we did for our wedding.

We had a Hawaiian Style beach wedding, so making these slipper "Save the Dates" was so fun!!

These were are invitations & our RSVP post card. We went to the beach, carved RSVP into the sand and took the picture. I played with the pic in Photoshop and made the colors pop more and Voila! :)

We had some of my family come over to help with making the favors. Since our first initials are both "M", we put m&m's in our favor boxes (I KNOW, it's cheesy...but we all need a little cheese now and then!!!) HA!! :) The favors came out adorable.... m&m's wrapped in tulle inside Tiny Lauhala Boxes..

 And last but not least...this was probably my Favorite DIY of the whole wedding....my name cards and card box. We made the name cards, and my sister Ari made the card box. It was SO cute!!!!

We did so many other things (programs, table numbers, signs, etc.), but these were just a few of my favorites. If you are willing to put a little work in, on ANY budget, you can have the wedding of your dreams..... I did ;)

Happy 4 Year 11 Month Anniversary Babe!!!

Can't wait till next month!!

Next week I'll have a peek at our pre-wedding fun with family and friends. So stay tuned!!

Much Aloha,

Monika :)