Oct 31
Happy Halloween
I can’t believe that it’s October 31st. Can it really be? Really? Well, despite my lack of wanting to admit the truth, it doesn’t stop the dates from changing! I feel like it’s still September 1st. While I play catch up and hurry up, I wanted to share some photos of my little munchkins! I always send out a Halloween card, but since I have two birthday parties and Christmas all in the month of December, I decided to skip sending them out this year.
Here are some more photos of my little dudes in their costumes. I made the lego costume for Skyler. If you are interested in making your own here is the link to the lego costume instructions. The other two costumes we got at Old Navy. It is my favorite place to get kids costumes. They are warm (which is a must in Oregon), durable, easy to get on and off, machine washable, and I think they are really cute. We probably own the majority of the costumes that are appropriate for boys.
Here’s our little lego man! He was surprisingly the most cooperative child during this photo shoot!
A few more because he’s so cute!
Jackson is our hungry shark. He wasn’t so into taking photos though!
Here’s some more of our little shark!
Lastly, here’s our little stinker! He’s a little skunk! I loved it when Jackson wore this costume and I love it still! Yay for skunks!
What are your children wearing this year? Do you have a plan for next year? I think it would be so fun to have the whole family go as different colors of legos. Wouldn’t that be fun? Maybe next year. . .
Have a safe and fun Halloween!
Jessica
Jackson is going to preschool at the same school where we sent Skyler. This year, we have a set of all new Moms. After spending two years planning parties as the “new Mom,” this year I am the seasoned Mom who gets to pass down all of my wisdom. Hahaha! Okay, just kidding.
Seriously though, there were several Moms last year that had sent their previous children to the same preschool and this party planning thing was old hat to them since they had done it before. This year, I am in the same boat. I helped plan all of Skyler’s parties now I get to assist in Jackson’s too.
I was ready to do something different, something that we hadn’t done the previous two years. So, we had a meeting and came up with a bunch of fun ideas! We always “give” the kids a little gift or treat that they can take home along with all of their other goodies. One year we made spiders out of pipe cleaners and tootsie pops, another year we made the ghosts out of kleenex and tootsie pops, and this year we made 4″ candy corn clay pots.
I emailed one of the Moms from last year asking her where she got her “famous” or “imfamous” pass the pumpkin. It’s a little pumpkin that opens up that you pass around full of prizes and when the music stops whoever it lands on gets to open it up and pick a prize. Anyways, she mentioned these adorable clay candy corn pots. I did a “google” search and found these instructions. {Thanks Kristy for the awesome idea! You rock!} Several moms volunteered to paint them. They turned out amazing! Thank you for all of your hard work!
Of course, I wanted them to be personalized with their names on them so I cut out each kids name in vinyl and had my master vinyl applier (a.k.a my hubby Lincoln) apply the vinyl. Since the pot was curved it was a bit of a pain, but I did the best I could.
They would be super cute filled with candy too!! I just happened to have some candy corn and threw them in a cute little white bag and added them to the pot! You could put any candy or goodies in them though!
Then I created little hang tags that say “Happy Halloween!” to hang from the pots with hemp cord. What do you think? Do you think you could use these tags for something? Well, here you go!! You’re welcome to use these tags however you’d like. Just don’t resell them, please! I couldn’t decide which one I liked better so I did a version with a spider web and a version without. You decide!
Happy Halloween!
Jessica
PS- I’d love to see how you use these tags! Send me some photos, please!
Lately, all I can think about is Emerson’s first birthday party. This time last year, I was so uncomfortable and spent most of my time wishing he would come out. It’s funny how different things can be in just a year. Now, I find myself trying to slow down time, so I can keep him from having his first birthday. Is it possible that my baby is turning one?
Despite my somber feelings about Emerson turning one, I decided to plan a cheerier party for him. He’s only going to be one once, right? I’m planning a “Hip Hip Hooray” vintage style birthday party. I just can’t kick the vintage feel lately!
His party will be adorn with red, teal, and chocolate brown decor. I have a ton of fun ideas. To help me execute them, I am creating several (that is not an understatement) inspiration boards. In fact, I had created one large inspiration board, but thought it would look better to separate them out.
Over the next several weeks, I will post a different inspiration board relating to his party! I would LOVE any suggestions, ideas, etc. The more ideas the merrier. Also, Skyler is turning 6 and I’m planning on doing the same thing for him. He is having a Lego party, so start thinking about his party too. Believe me, I don’t have a shortage of ideas for his party either!
He’s just a sneak peak of all my ideas. . . .
Christmas is one of my favorite times of year, but also my busiest. Designing Christmas cards and filling orders keeps me very busy! If all that isn’t enough, I have two children who were born in December {Stay tuned for party planning details. They are in full swing around the Wilcox residence.}.
Our Christmas card is usually an after thought because of my schedule and lack of time. Last year, we were waiting for Emerson to finally show up and we didn’t take our photos until right before Christmas. By the way, I love how my card turned out last year. I’ll be selling that in my shop this year! I hope to be adding Christmas card designs really soon. My goal was September and now it’s already mid-October! Oh well, at least it’s not December, right?
Okay, where was I? Right, back to my own Christmas card. I wanted to do something different this year. I had a client ask me to design an “anthropologie inspired” birthday invitation. Here is the invite that I created. I just loved how it turned out and I wanted to use the concept for our Christmas card.
I don’t have the budget for Anthropologie, but I thought I could create something similar. I love how tailored and feminine their cloths are. Since I am surrounded by men, I really wanted to be girly. I also love all the hair accessories and jewlery that Anthropologie has.
So, I went to the next best place for my budget, Forever 21. I took my personal stylist (I kid, I kid, but she did help me select my outfit and my props), my friend Laura. I found the perfect dress and little jacket to wear over it. I also bought a ton of jewelry! I had already selected the PERFECT hair accessory from Dolce Vita Mia (stay tuned for a blog giveaway).
I dressed all the boys in sweaters and skinny jeans. I don’t think I will ever be able to talk Lincoln into wearing skinny jeans, but the boys looked super cute.
We did our shoot in downtown Portland along the park blocks. I think doing family photos is super stressful. I always spend a ton of time planning our outfits and you never know how your photos are going to turn out. Thankfully, my amazingly talented brother-in-law Ryan shot our photos. His wife, Tiffany, also came along to help style the shoot.
I brought a ton of props from cupcakes (of course, I brought cupcakes), to a vintage typewrite, and a bunch of suitcases. I had a ton of help from my sister Jamie, Lincoln, and Ryan and Tiff to carry around my props. I can’t wait to see how the photos turn out. Ryan only shoots in film now, so I have to wait three weeks to see the photos. If you know me at all, you know that is going to kill me. I am probably the least patient person you will ever meet! I know it will all be worth it though!
So, in the meantime, here is some of my inspiration photos including a shot of my hair. Since I am so impatient, I came home and had my sister Kellie take some photos of it! I like instant gratification, what can I say?
Alright, so the waiting begins. . . until we get our photos back, these are going to have to tide us both over. In the meantime, check out my fabulously talented brother-in-law. He is the owner/photographer for You Look Nice Today Photographer. You have to check out his blog too. He is going to be featured on Martha Stewart Weddings Online next month! Yay, Ryan!
