I {heart} Parties! The Fabulous 4th Edition!

I hope you all had a terrific week.  We most certainly did on our surprise Disneyland vacation.  The boys had a great time and I can't wait to share it all with you soon.  Although coming back to the 113 degree temps, I can most definitely live without.  Oh well, what are you going to do.

This week on I {heart} Parties I am featuring some fun and patriotic Independence Day inspired parties.  Just in time to get you all in the mood for the fabulous 4th!

Vintage 4th

4th of July BBQ

Nautical Party Printables

A Nautical 4th

4th of July Party

Rustic 4th of July

Happy 4th Printable

4th of July Party Spread

Happy 4th

4th of July Party

4th of July Party Kit

Americana 4th

A Vintage 4th

Patriotic 4th

Red, White & Blue Table

4th of July Brunch

Americana Block Party

Linking up with The Crafted Sparrow #13

Welcome to Linking up with The Crafted Sparrow #13!  Wow 13 weeks already.  You guys had some great stuff last week, let's get to it shall we...

My Top 3 Picks:

Check out Reannah from Shaped by Grace and her adorable Washi Tape Apple wreath for 4th of July.  Good job thinking outside the box!

@ Shaped by Grace

Next up is Southern Flair Crafts, they made this simple earring display.  It turned out great.

@ Southern Flair Crafts

Thanks to all of you that linked up there were some great ideas last week.  Can't wait to see what you all have in store this week.  If you were featured please feel free to grab a button from the home page and share the news. 

  

Now on to this week's party!  You know the rules...only link directly to your blog tutorials and ideas, no giveaway links please or etsy shops.

BIRCHBOX {Love}

It's BIRCHBOX time!  I got mine in the mail last week and I wanted to take a second and share all the goodies I received.  If you haven't heard of BIRCHBOX yet then let me tell you all about them.  I love this concept.  Basically you pay a monthly $10 fee, much like a membership fee.  Every month you will receive a BIRCHBOX that contains multiple health & beauty products from a variety of well known companies. This is my second month receiving a box and it's so fun to see that pink box in the mailbox.  

Here's my June BIRCHBOX goodies...

My favorites are definitely the Stainiac Lip Tint, and the band-aids.  The parfum had almost completely spilled out when I got it, probably due to these ridiculous temps in Arizona.  And my least favorite thing in this box which almost gave me an instant migraine was the Rose Water spray, wowza is that strong.  

Dr. Jart + {Premium Beauty Balm SPF 45+}

This four-in-one moisturizer, serum, sunscreen, and skin-perfecting tint is made with an innovative bio-peptide complex to boost collagen levels.  

Full size, $39

Joya {Parfum} - A scent of soulmates

Star perfumer Frederick Bouchardy designed this new scent, a blend of bright orange blossoms, smoky incense, and sweet musk. 

 Full size, $28

Melvita {Rose Floral Water}

This organic mist works as a light toner and mid-day skin refresher.  

Full size, $22

Oribe {Shampoo & Conditioner for Beautiful Color}

This ultra luxe duo doesn't just stop hair color from fading; it also replenishes dehydrated strands and adds a glossy sheen.  

Full size, $36-$39

The Balm Cosmetics {Stainiac in Beauty Queen}

Two-in-one lip and cheek stain; the sheer gel formula delivers a subtle, long-wearing flush.  

Full size, $17

Band-Aid {Cynthia Rowley Dress Up Band-Aids}

Super stylish designer band-aids.  

Pack of 20, $15

If you are interested in receiving your own Birchbox you can go here:

BIRCHBOX

4th of July Treats

I thought I would share some yummy 4th of July treats today.  There are so many fun things to choose from.  The tradition is to usually have a bbq with the family right?  Well there are so many things you can make to give it that extra special touch.  

Patriotic Fruit Pops

4th of July Peppermint Patties

4th of July Candy Corn

Firecracker Cakelette

DIY Nautical Inspired Nail Decals

I am not typically one for always having the perfectly polished nails or toes.  I do love them don't get me wrong, but I'm just too lazy sometimes to actually hunch over and attempt to paint my own toenails.  {It tends to be a little tricky when your carrying a few extra pounds around the middle}  Lately though I've been trying to keep my nails polished, it's summer and I figured I should attempt to keep it up.  I totally bite my fingernails like crazy...you'd think no one ever feed me or something {well then you see my junk in the trunk and now that isn't true, ha ha} but I started putting polish on them too and they are growing and actually look decent for the first time I think in my whole adult life.  I love it.  Since it is so hard for me to hunch over and paint a straight line on my toenail to make cute designs I decided to give something a try.  I grabbed some masking tape, nail polish, scissors and my xacto knife.  I made my own nail decals for the stripes and anchor.  It made my pedi super easy and I think it turned out cute.  It's kinda hard to see the anchor well in the picture but you get the idea.  

Start by cutting your design out of your masking tape.  I cut three strips for my design, all different sizes.  I stuck them to a ziplock bag that I taped down.  You then just paint the strips with your polish and let it dry.

 I chose to use a Coral, Bright Blue, and Yellow for my polishes.  

 I then took another piece of masking tape and drew some small anchors, I then used my xacto knife to cut them out.  I then painted them with a great Metallic Gold color I had.

 Once everything is dry you peel it up carefully, make sure the excess nail polish is off all the edges of the tape.  Now they are ready for you to use.

 All I did was paint a couple coats of white on my big toe, then I placed my decals on the nail when it was dry and trimmed it to fit the edges.  Be sure to press your decal on the nail all the way.  After I did my stripes I just added my anchor on top and pressed it down.  After you have everything on you just apply a few coats of your clear top coat.  You can make any decal you want.  It's easy, and inexpensive and for someone with a shaky hand you get straight lines.  

My 4th of July Mantle

Today I'm showing you all my 4th of July mantle.  Even though I won't be here for the next week to enjoy looking at it.  I just scavenged around the house for things to throw together to create my mantle.  I had everything on hand except my new eagle you will see closer in a minute, and the two little polka dot bowls I found in the dollar section at Target.  

This anchor was originally blue and in my oldest sons room, I recently painted it black for his new room re-do.  Then I realized yesterday I really wanted to use it in this display so I painted it white.  It will be getting painted black again when this holiday is over!

At the center of my display is my large patinaed clock and I hate taking it down so I just made a circle to fit in the center of the clock and printed out a star.  I just taped it to the glass of the clock.

This fella came from Ross last week and was marked down to $3.99, he was originally brown but I thought he would look a little more majestic painted white.

This special lady came from Goodwill a while back, it's actually for Corbyn's room makeover...he's collecting weird things and spray painting them.  It was green, then I spray painted it white too.  I love  spray paint!