A Super Bowl Party for the Ladies

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The men in our lives {and our mom} LOVE football. We love sports in general, but on Super Bowl Sunday, we expect the men to sit all day to watch pre-game, game and post-game coverage. With our hometown team, the Denver Broncos, in Super Bowl 50 the whole family will be wearing orange and blue with all eyes watching. Not just for the half-time show and commercials, but to cheer on our boys.

With the exception of Jenna, we like football, too. As women who watch football, we can make any game a fun event for us and our girlfriends! To prove this, we teamed up with fashionista and party planner Kaitlin of The Every Hostess, Lindsey, the chic and sweet owner of Denver Street Boutique {its fabulous fashion on wheels}, our go-to photographer Meredith Moran Photography and our favorite local distillery 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit. We couldn’t resist a few DIY’s for the party either.

Here’s some tips for all you ladies throwing a Super Bowl party.

What to wear?
Wear your team’s colors. We cheer for Bronco orange and blue, the whole way through, so Lindsey helped us find cute orange and blue options without wearing a jersey. Jodi paired her long blue sweater with slits on the side, with white jeans, booties and Bourbon and Boweties stone bracelets.

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Kaitlin paired a blue and orange chunky knit sweater with jeans and booties. Her wrists were adorned with stunning bracelets…plus she had a pretty braid.

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Lindsey’s biggest piece of advice for all your ladies is, “Stylish comfort,” she says. “Without wearing sweats you can watch the game and not feel constricted!”
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Follow Denver Street Boutique on Instagram to see where she will be, so you can shop for the game {and everyday after}. She will be at iThrive women’s marketplace on Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

What cocktail to serve?
Make a specialty cocktail. One of favorite stops in Vail is the 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit tasting room. If you’re ever in Vail, make it a point to visit their beautiful tasting room and raise a glass. Their alcohol is a must-have on our bar cart. We’re Whiskey girls at heart! We take after our dad on that one, but we went with Vodka for this shoot because well, we wanted an orange drink. Jodi named this cocktail Bronco Babe. It’s a delicious cocktail with a bright orange color and it has sherbet – yum!

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Bronco Babe Cocktail 
serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 cans orange Izze, chilled
  • 2 large shots of 10th Mountain Vodka {or more – based on preference}
  • Orange Sherbet
  • Ice
  • California Cuties or orange slices, blueberries for garnish

Directions:

Add 1-2 scoops Sherbet per glass.

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Pour the 10th Mountain Vodka. We just poured, but it was probably 1-2 shots per glass.

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Pour 1/2 can Izze per cup, or more if you want.

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Add garnish. We added a touch of blue with blueberries on a gold star toothpick, and another touch of orange with a slice of orange on the rim of the glass.

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Cheers.

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A drink is always better with friends, don’t you think?

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How to decorate?
You can throw a Super Bowl party without spending a lot of money. Don’t go overboard – keep it simple and pretty.

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Incorporate color and current trends. Balloons are an easy and cheap way to add a pop of color. Buy your teams colors, blow them up or add helium.

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Weaving art and yarn banners {the ones that were big in the 70s} are trendy now. We incorporated fashion with a white hanger, and bright colors and pattern with blue, orange and white yarn. Here’s the tutorial for this affordable DIY art.

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Incorporate DIY details. A simple way to add color and pattern to a bar cart or serving tray is with coasters. We made DIY Marbled Coasters for the shoot with orange and blue nail polish. You can {and should} make them. Follow the tutorial here.

© 2015 Meredith Moran Photography

How cute are those DIY field goal drink stirrers made with popsicle sticks painted yellow, and of course the DIY football pennant drink stirrers?

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Another easy way to add your team’s colors to party decor is with edible foods. For a touch of orange on the tray, we couldn’t resist California Cuties and orange Tic-Tacs.

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The invite list can include little furry friends, too. As long as they are well-behaved and smell good, like Winston.

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VENDOR LOVE
Photographer: Meredith Moran | @meredithmoranphoto
Clothing and Jewelry: Denver Street Boutique | @denverstreetboutique
Vodka: 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit | @10thmtnwhiskey
Event Stylist: J. Sorelle | @jsorelle3 and The Every Hostess | @theeveryhostess
Models: Jodi, the beautiful brunette of J. Sorelle | @jsorelle3 and Kaitlin, the bombshell blonde of The Every Hostess |  @theeveryhostess
Bar Cart: West Elm
DIY coaster and yarn wall hangings: J. Sorelle

 

Valentine’s Day Party for Kids

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This Valentine’s Day party is simple, and a bright dose of yellow sunshine in the middle of a snowy, cold winter. It’s just what we needed, and it’s just what our kids needed to celebrate love this Valentine’s Day. Love comes in all shapes and forms, and we try to teach and show them what love means everyday. Love for themselves and love for others.

As you know, it’s wonderful when the sibling bickering subsides and they can hug, kiss and play with one another. We captured it on camera, so next time they are fighting, we can remind them how much they love each other.

Banana’s For You stemmed from a recent find similar to those Silly Bandz we were obsessed with in 2010. The tiny banana bracelets are going to be our kids Valentine’s this year, but we wanted to have a little extra fun at home, too. It was an everything banana party, including the color yellow, banana ice cream, banana cut-out details, and banana bracelets.

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Materials:

Directions:

  • Cut out the letters for Banana’s For You. We used our amazing Silhouette to cut out the letters, bananas, hearts and arrows.

bananas-for-you-yellow-valentines-day-party-kid-birthday-hearts This Valentine's Day party is simple, and a bright dose of yellow sunshine in the middle of a snowy, cold winter. It's just what we needed, and it's just what our kids needed to celebrate love this Valentine's Day. Love comes in all shapes and forms, and we try to teach them what love means everyday. Love for themselves and love for others. It's wonderful when the sibling bickering subsides and they can hug, kiss and play with one another.  We captured it on camera, so next time they are fighting, we can remind them how much they love each other.  Banana's For You stemmed from a recent find similar to those Silly Bandz we were obsessed with. The tiny banana bracelets are going to be our kids Valentine's this year, but we wanted to have a little extra fun at home, too. It was everything banana, including the color yellow, banana ice cream, banana cut-out details, and banana bracelets.  bananas-for-you-yellow-valentines-day-party-kid-birthday-silly-bandz  Materials:  Astrobrights Paper, yellow and pink yellow washi tape banana bracelets X-acto knife Double-sided tape bowls or ice cream pint containers Directions:  Cut out the letters for Banana's For You. We used our amazing Silhouette Electronic cutting tool to cut out the letters, bananas, hearts and arrows. bananas-for-you-yellow-valentines-day-party-kid-birthday-hearts  Find a wall and use washi tape to hang the letter and bananas. bananas-for-you-yellow-valentines-day-party-kid-birthday-hearts-cupids-arrow     bananas-for-you-kid-party-valentines-day-diy-yellow-banana-pink-hearts  For the placemats, trace a banana on yellow paper with a black sharpie. Fill in the ends and lines in the middle with black marker. Use an X-acto knife to cut the side of the top-half of the banana and the line down the middle, half-way down. This will be the 'peel' effect. Place double-sided tape on all 4 corners and tape to a sheet of pink paper. Draw the name of the child on the pink paper under the banana peel, and add the words PEEL ME on top of the banana peel. banana-peel-me-placemat-kid-party  banana-peel-me-placemat-kid-party  banana-peel-me-placemat-kid-party-ice-cream-pint  banana-peel-me-placemat-kid-party  Glue or tape the small size bananas and mini hearts on the lid of the pint container. banana-peel-me-placemat-kid-party-silly-bandz-banana-ice-cream-pint  Make banana ice cream. Follow this recipe. It's amazing - frozen banana's blended in a food processor literally makes ice cream. Fill a bowl with toppings so the kids can their chocolate fix. banana-chocolate-ice-cream-party-yellow-bananas-for-you  Serve and par-tay. ice-cream-valentines-party-bananas-for-you-yellow-hearts  ice-cream-valentines-party-bananas-for-you-yellow-hearts  ice-cream-valentines-party-bananas-for-you-yellow-hearts  ice-cream-valentines-party-bananas-for-you-yellow-heartsice-cream-valentines-party-bananas-for-you-yellow-hearts

  • Find a wall and use washi tape to hang the letter and bananas.

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  • For the placemats, trace a banana on yellow paper with a black sharpie. Fill in the ends and lines in the middle with black marker. Use an X-acto knife to cut the side of the top-half of the banana and the line down the middle, half-way down. This will be the ‘peel’ effect. Place double-sided tape on all 4 corners and tape to a sheet of pink paper. Draw the name of the child on the pink paper under the banana peel, and add the words PEEL ME on top of the banana peel.

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  • Glue or tape the small bananas and mini hearts on the lid of the pint container.

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  • Make banana ice cream. Follow this recipe. It’s amazing – frozen banana’s blended in a food processor literally makes ice cream.
  • Fill a bowl with yummy toppings so the kids can their chocolate fix.

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  • Serve and par-tay.

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If you loved this, you’re going to love these IG feeds:
@astrobrights
@silhouetteamerica
@jsorelle3
@mustardgifts

 

DIY Cross Stitch Coffee Sleeve

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As we bundle up and head outside this winter, we like to keep a to-go mug of coffee or tea between our hands. It’s a habitual thing. Sure, we need to caffeine most days {okay, everyday}, and we like the taste of tea, but it really comes down to the fact that we like to have something warm in our hands. It feels comfortable and cozy.

Well, we’ve made our comfy habit a bit cuter with our latest DIY featured at our Make & Mingle last week – a DIY cross-stitch coffee sleeve. Anyone can do it…even with no sewing experience.

Thanks to Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Cherry Creek North for the cups and hot coffee, and Colby Elizabeth Photography for the photos.

Materials:

Directions:

  • Find a pattern or shape to cross-stitch. We used this file from Fleur de Lis, a paperie, and printed them at 30% or 40%, so the stars were small enough to fit on our coffee sleeves.
  • Set the print out of the shape on the coffee sleeve, and with your pearl pin in hand, punch small holes on the ends of every line where you will stitch. When you remove the paper, you should see the shape that you want to design on your coffee sleeve. If you need to make the holes more visible, punch them again once the paper is removed.
  • Cut the embroidery string, insert one end through the needle loop, and tie a knot on the other end of the string.
  • Insert the needle from inside the coffee sleeve up through the top of the coffee sleeve. Then go back down through the next hole. Continue going up and down through each hole until you have completed the shape.
  • Once you stitch the last line, tie a knot inside the coffee sleeve with the original knot.

Warm wishes to you this winter!

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Photography: Copyright Colby Elizabeth Photography

DIY Merry & Bright Ornament

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‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through blogging land,
bloggers were hustling with super glue in their hand.

Ornaments were hung on the tree with care,
but one was missing from bloggers who hope to put one of their own there.

We knew in a moment, it must be #swapthatdiy time,
For those who read our first one, it was a sublime.

Lifestyle, DIY, food and fashion – not one of them the same,
A Joyful Riot, Pretty Life Girls, DIY Candy, Cut, Cut, Craft!, A Bubbly Life, The Bold Adobe, The Sweetest Occasion, Tell Love and Party and One Little Minute Blog – we called them each by name!

Happy ornament making to all, and to all a good night.

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It’s our 2nd official DIY swap, and it’s a good one. We made Merry & Bright ornaments to brighten up the sisters of A Joyful Riot holidays. We couldn’t do a Merry without a Bright, so we sent all three. Our ornaments were inspired by big, 36” balloons by Big Ass Balloons, so the ornaments are meant to be 36” balloons with the string of tassels.

Merry Christmas, Malissa and Machelle, and everyone who participated.

Materials:

  • Bulb ornament, less than $1
  • Gold mylar
  • White tissue paper
  • Red acrylic paint
  • Paintbrush
  • Hot glue and hot glue gun
  • Red embroidery string
  • Red craft/jewelry wire, Michaels
  • Drill

 Directions:

Drill two small holes on the top of the ornament, one of each side of the top of the ornament.

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Trace or free-hand the word Merry & Bright on the ornaments, then paint the words with a small paintbrush and red paint.

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Fill the ornaments with confetti {we cut small squares of the gold mylar and hole-punched tissue paper for white confetti}. There is a natural static that occurs, so some of the confetti will stick to the sides of the ornament.

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Cut a piece of string about 1 foot long for the tassel string. We made little tassels from the white tissue paper and gold mylar. We tied each mini tassel to the string with a knot, one above the other. Once all the tassels were in a row, we dabbed a bit of super glue on top each one, to keep them in a straight line.

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Cut a 4-inch piece of the red wire and string it through the two holes on top of the ornament. To add a touch of cuteness, make a bow out of the red wire, and wrap additional wire around center of the bow to keep it in place.

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