This past Saturday, Sis Vanessa from our church had an 80's themed birthday party and boy was it fun to see everybody all dressed in their 80's clothes! I bought most of our stuff at Goodwill, but Chandler's sunglasses came from the party store.


Here is the birthday girl and her husband. Happy 25th Birthday!


Our 80's Family



You know, you think it is going to be easy to try and find 80's clothes at the thrift store, right? WRONG. I found Jeremy's outfit and a shirt for me, that I cut the neck out of, but finding outfits for the kids was near impossible. Some of my crafting blog friends suggested Bill Cosby sweaters and such, but I just couldn't find them in kids sizes. Chandler was a little sad that I only brought him home the crazy sunglasses, but then I had a bright idea. I took one of Chandler's long sleeve shirts and cut a V down the front. Next, we found 3 matching buttons and hot-glued them directly to the bottom of the shirt. This gave it an 80's cardigan look. Finally, after much convincing, I talked Chandler into gluing on a skinny tie made out of felt on his t-shirt. Voila. 80's fo' sure!



Lincoln, rockin' the 80's glasses



All the boys that were at the party. A little ninja, body builder, Jackie Chan, tie dye look. LOL!



All of us girls that were dressed in our 80's gear. Too funny!



All of the guys. Whoa, a blast from the past.



The Delgados. I think this is Revenge of the Nerds?!



A little Michael Jackson and Madonna...



And Sis Tina with Nicholas and Danielle sporting their 80's attire.



This party was a blast and now Chandler is already planning his 'theme' party!

It was a great week on Pinterest for me! I finally reached the 1,000 pin mark (yea!) and the Rapunzel Braid Tutorial that I featured in the post below, has been pinned and re-pinned numerous times!! Thank you!

So, here are a few of my favorite pins this week...enjoy!

Love these dollar store serving pieces to use for parties.



I really want to do something likie this in my kid's toy room.



I really want to try this as party favors for Moriah's b-day party this week!



Mmmm Mmmmm, this looks AMAZING!


I love broken glass, like this sea glass and think this is a really great idea. (Plus, this blogger is one of my friends!)


So, what great pins where your favorite this week?

Raise your hand if your princess loves Rapunzel. Raise your hand (or your princess's hand) if she would love a Rapunzel braid to clip in her hair...


A few weeks ago, one of my loyal customers contacted me and asked if I could make a Rapunzel braid hair clip for her daughter's birthday. I jumped at the chance to make something different than what I normally do and decided that I just had to share it on my blog.

And for those of you that love to look at crafts but would rather buy, you can purchase one through missyprissybowboutique.com


Rapunzel Braid Hair Clip


Supply List

Yarn (I chose a soft cotton blend)
Felt
French clip
Scissors
Hot Glue
Rhinestones or Buttons



1. Started off by using my two barstools to wind the yarn. Once I got a nice thick section of yarn, I cut it through both ends and combined. This provided me with a good section of yarn hair for the braid. I also used a small piece of yarn to tie around and secure it.

2. Next, I cut out 2 felt circles, in which I would secure the braid to.

3. I then braided the yarn, just like a normal 'human' braid.

4. Glued a felt circle on each side of the braid and then glued the excess felt together. This makes a strong backing that can hold the weight of the braid.

5. I cut out a few different size and colors of felt flowers and glued them together, stacking when necessary. The big flowers were glued to the round felt pieces and the small flowers were glued to the braid itself.

6. This flower was slightly smaller and was glued to the bottom of the braid.

7. Here it is on the bottom of the braid, with the tail of 'hair' sticking out.

8. Next, I took my french clip and removed the spring from it and ran a bead of glue on the back. I then secured it to the felt circle.

9. I glued a small piece of felt over the clip and replaced the spring.

10. Voila! A Rapunzel Braid Hair Clip, fit for a Princess!


I would LOVE to give away one of these braids, so if you are interested, please leave a comment at the end of this post and a random comment will be chosen March 22 at 12pm cst!


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Love this sweet & easy burlap crystal mobile/chandelier!




Really great tip for hanging pictures or frames.



Very useful tip for ridding your clothes of those pesky pills!




Favorite idea of this week...balloons with dollars inside and shipped to birthday child! Can't wait to do this for my niece and nephew this year!



What about you? What were your favorite pins this week?

So excited to have my first guest blogger today and it is none other than the FABULOUS Amy from the MEGA blog Mod Podge Rocks! Thank you Amy for guesting today and for the easy tutorial!



This is Amy from Mod Podge Rocks, so pleased to be here at Lovin' Our Chaos today! I have been blogging for almost four years at MPR, and I am (as you can guess) addicted to crafts and DIY. I love creating, but I also love writing. I co-own Decor Hacks with Heather Mann, and I contribute to Babble.com's The New Home Ec. Not to mention that I have a new book coming out this June called Mod Podge Rocks. You could say I keep busy.
I hope you enjoy my button coat rack. I had a blast making it, and the more colors the better (in my humble opinion). Customize a coat rack to fit your decor! Here's how I made mine.




I’ve been obsessed with buttons since I was little. I’m also obsessed with shopping bags, and so I decided to bring the two loves together in this button coat rack. Are you one of those people that has a healthy bag collection? Me too – and there’s nowhere for the bags to go except jammed into the bottom of my closet. I decided to remedy that situation by organizing my bags on a coat rack distressed and accented with buttons. Here’s how I did it.



Wood coat rack

FolkArt Acrylic Paint

Assorted Buttons

Craft Glue

Flat Paint Brush

Stencil Décor Stencil Tape

Candle or piece of wax

Sandpaper – medium grit, one piece



Basecoat the rack with a color – I used a shade of pink. This color is only going to show through the overcoat slightly, so don’t worry about doing a bang-up job. I just painted two coats and I did NOT paint the hangers. Allow to dry.


Your next step is to rub the candle or piece of wax in certain areas on the rack that you would like distressed. I just picked random patches on the front of the rack and edges. Rub a little wax here and here.

Now that your coat rack has been waxed like a pair of skis, paint over it with another paint color. I chose a shade of white and so had to paint about three coats to fully cover the pink. This time I painted the hangers. Once you are satisfied with the coverage, allow to dry.



Take your rack outside and begin sanding with your paper. Check out the picture – do you see the pink starting to show through? Those are the areas I waxed! The paint just sands right off. Don’t sand too hard or you will sand down to the wood. Sand very lightly for less distressing and a little more for a more distressed look. Stop when you are happy with the effect. Wipe the sanding dust off of your rack.



I love stripes – did I mention that? I decided while doing this project that stripes would be a nice backdrop for my buttons. I used stencil tape to make stripes going in different directions. The thickness of the stencil tape doesn’t matter, you just need to space the pieces so that you have the thickness of stripes that you want. I wanted mine to be relatively thin, as you can see. Paint the stripes (I did three coats with a blue) and then remove the tape immediately. Allow to dry.



To jazz my rack up even further, I used more stencil tape and a lighter blue to make stripes going in other directions. Same applies as before – paint about three coats, and then remove the tape immediately. Allow to dry.



Finally, I added the buttons with craft glue. Before I glued anything down, I laid all of the buttons out to make sure that I was happy with the way they looked and the colors. I highly recommend ALWAYS doing this before you glue anything down.

Now my bags have a place to go and I have a crazy button rack like I’ve always wanted. The world is good.

Another family favorite at our house! Quinoa Fiesta Salad

Never heard of Quinoa? Well simply put, it's a whole grain and super nutritious! I generally buy mine from Trader Joe's, but I am sure you can find it at other grocery stores as well.


1 cup of Quinoa, cooked with broth
2 cups of broth (I found that it doesn't matter what kind)
15oz can of Black Beans
2 cups of Roasted Corn Kernels (I buy these at Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
3/4 cup Cilantro Salad Dressing (Trader Joe's)
1/2 bunch of cilantro, washed & chopped
Splash of Olive Oil
Splash of Lime juice
Sea Salt & Pepper

Optional Ingredients:
1 Avocado, sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 pint Grape Tomatoes



1. Begin by making the Quinoa according to the directions
2. While the Quinoa is simmering, combine the black beans, corn, and diced onions. Mix well.


3. Add the chopped cilantro and dressing. Mix well.


Quinoa cooks really fast and this is what it looks like when it is ready.


4. Add the cooked Quinoa to the fiesta blend and mix well. Add splash of olive oil, lime juice, salt & pepper to taste.


5. Quinoa Fiesta Salad is now complete and ready to serve.



At our house, we eat it with tortilla chips or just plain. It is also delicious just made or straight out of the refrigerator cold!


Enjoy!

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