Hosting Boho Baby Shower & DIY Balloon Garland

Last month I was blessed enough to host a baby shower for one of my great friends, Lynda. She is pregnant with her first child, a baby girl. Putting together this shower and the details was so fun for me, I thought I would share some of the details with you all.

Decor & Theme: 

I based the theme and decorations a bit off how Lynda had decorated her nursery. I used that as a jumping off point. Fist with the invitations, we used these below featuring a floral cow skull, a real version was also included in the nursery created by mama herself.

Play off the invite and theme I wanted to DIY some dreamcatchers to use as decor for the shower, but also to match the nursery colors so Lynda could take them home. Along with the dreamcatchers I wanted to create a "backdrop" for the food table with the majority of the decor for the party. I also added a rose gold "baby"balloon as well as a balloon garland. Then I also hung a gold dipped feather on the table.

Here are the pictures while we were setting up and preparing the food.

Here is another once all the food was ready. 

Food & Treats: 

For the shower food we wanted to stick with finger foods and snacks, small and easy things for the guests to eat. Each of my friends helped and pitched in with food so we had lots of yummy goodies to choose from. 

The Menu: Fruit tray, veggie tray, caprese skewers, salmon puff pastries, apple slices with chicken salad, taco cups, jalapeño poppers, TJ's pigs in a blanket, TJ's macaroni balls, TJ's puff pastries

The Drinks: Champagne punch, Tropical punch spritzer, water, la Croix

The Treats: Berry Chantilly cake from Whole Foods & Mini Rebel Donuts 

Balloon Garland: 

I knew from early on in the planning process that I wanted to try and create a balloon garland for the decor. I looked up several tutorials and they made it seem pretty straight forward and doable, I hoped that was the truth and it was something I could pull off. 

Well in the end it was pretty simple and I absolutely love the way it turned out. The video below goes into full detail on how I created it and the steps I took to get the final look. 

Watch Video for Full Tour and Details & Balloon Garland Instructions: 

Sources:

Invitation: https://www.etsy.com/transaction/1367697645

Dream Big Little One Cake Topper: http://amzn.to/2EMVkGA

Pink Foil Baby Balloon Letters: http://amzn.to/2mCgH5X

Feather Garland: http://amzn.to/2mD0j5h

Metallic Purple Balloons: http://amzn.to/2Dbkka4

Mason Jar Drink Dispenser: http://amzn.to/2DaCJ71

Gold Plastic Silverware: http://amzn.to/2DBaqPX

Similar Heart String lights: (found in the Target dollar spot)
http://amzn.to/2mCPyQx
http://amzn.to/2DEQsUJ

Mini Donuts: Rebel Donuts

Cake: Berry Chantilly Cake from Whole Foods

Spring & Easter Decor 2018

Hello All,

Today I am popping in to share some of my Spring and Easter decor with you, I also filmed a video which I will link below that shows me setting up and the tour.  I absolutely love decorating for the different seasons and holidays, so I hope this may give you a little inspiration.

It was so exciting to break out the bright colored decorations and flowers for this decor, and just looking at it makes me happy. I centered all of this decor downstairs in our home in the kitchen, dining and living room.

Starting with the kitchen. We have a corner sink with this little ledge above it, so right when we moved in I picked up this tiered tray to put there and change out for the seasons. It works perfect in the space and adds a lot to the kitchen. For Spring I decorated with a Rae Dunn Easter egg mug, painted Easter eggs, pink florals (napkin rings), a Happy Easter sign and a little white bunny.

Then also in the kitchen I got some Spring hand towels from the Target dollar spot and put those on the stove.

Moving into the dining room. I always have this mirrored planter on our dining table, it was a gift from our relator when we purchased our first home. I just swap out what is inside based on the season. Last year I purchased these tulip stems and stuck them into flower foam to fill the planter, and did the same this year.

Then finally in our living room I decorated the mantle with a banner of paper roses from the Target dollar spot, added some cherry blossom stems to the magnolia buckets and filled the planter on the Tv stand with some florals.

I hope you guys liked taking a look at my Spring decor, the full decorating process with tour and details can be found in the video below:

Sources: 

Tiered Tray: Home goods

On Tiered Tray: Painted eggs- Homegoods, Flower napkin rings- Hobby Lobby, Easter Sign- Hobby Lobby, Bunny- Target dollar spot

Spring Towels: Target dollar spot

Tulip Stems: Michael's

Mantle Banner: Target Dollar spot

Galvanized buckets: Magnolia market

Pregnancy Update Weeks 9-13

Hi Everyone,

Back for my second pregnancy update. You can read the first one here, on weeks 6,7,& 8. Also again you can watch the video recap below. In the video I mention that I intended for these weeks to be two separate updates however I really wasn't feeling well when it would've been time to film that so I did it all together. This update ends up recapping the majority of the first trimester.

Watch Video Here: 

Recap: 

Weeks of Pregnancy: 9-13 ( the rest of the first trimester)

Important Events: 12 week Doctors appointment with in depth ultrasound and genetic testing. We also told out parents during this time and our close friends as well. 

Symptoms: 

• Fatigue: during the last update fatigue was my biggest symptom, it stuck around but gradually got a little bit better with each week to a normal degree by the end of the first trimester.
• Nausea: my nausea began in week 8 and opposite the fatigue got worse with the weeks, sticking around until a bit after the end of the first trimester. I may have also mentioned this before but I experienced pretty much all of my nausea in the evenings, usually around dinner time or before until I went to bed at night. Honestly I think I prefer that to during the day when I needed to get stuff done but it was still no fun. It also meant there were many nights I couldn't stand to eat dinner or needed a very revised dinner. The smells from cooking dinner also really aggravated or brought on the nausea so I was just not interested in that. 
• Congestion: In my first recap I mentioned how bad my nasal congestion was, often not being able to breath out of my nose. That continued for all weeks 9-13 but I did have to start using an allergy nasal spray. I could tell my allergies were getting bad and I was worried if I left them untreated they would develop into an infection. Once I started that spray things were much better but still congested overall. 
• Breakouts: I suffered from breakouts all through the first trimester, primarily on my chest and back which is unusual for me. I did have some on my face in the very beginning but they cleared up first. The chest and back stuck around until the very end of the trimester, then mostly cleared up. This is so frustrating mostly because there are so many acne products they don't recommend using during pregnancy so there was a limited amount I could do to improve it. 

Cravings: Still not many just ate a lot of carbs. Bread, crackers, etc were my best friend. I also ate a lot of goldfish when I got sick of plain crackers. I also had a lot of "wants" for food that was in Dallas and not here so that has been tough. Its hard to move across state lines right before getting pregnant. Someone ship me all my favorites please :)

Aversions: My aversions during this time were pretty much only to smells, which sometimes meant I was unwilling to eat something due to the smell. The smells of cooking dinner in the evenings was rough for me. I also ended up putting our kitchen trash can outside most days. 

Miss Anything: Didn't miss much during this time, not really missing alcohol or anything like that. 

Weight Gain: Started my weight count from what I weighed in at my 8 week appointment since I hadn't weighed myself prior to that. I mention in the video I was scared to see that number as my appointment was right after the holidays but was pleasantly surprised and thought it was a good starting number. Will update on weight gain in the next update. 

Favorites: Didn't have many favorites yet during this time. However the humidifier was super helpful. 

Pregnancy Update Weeks 6,7 & 8

Hello All!

As part of this pregnancy journey I decided to document the weeks through regular pregnancy update videos, that I will also quickly recap here.

Watch Video Here: 

Recap: 

Weeks of Pregnancy: 6,7 & 8

Important Events: First Doctors appointment at 8 weeks, got first mini ultrasound and to hear the babies heartbeat, everything looked great

Symptoms: 

• Fatigue: the biggest symptom I suffered from during this time was fatigue, exhaustion like I had rarely felt. It often hit the hardest in the early to mid afternoon. This forced to me to modify my days in case I couldn't get much accomplished during that time
• Congestion: I experienced some extreme nasal congestion during these weeks, in many instances I couldn't breath out of my nose at all. My doctor said to start with using a humidifier and saline nasal spray and see how that helped. I think my allergies were combining with the pregnancy congestion and really kicking my butt. 
• Nausea: some nausea started in week 8, primarily in the evenings. No morning sickness or throwing up. 
• Upset stomach: Although the nausea eventually made an appearance originally I was just getting upset stomach, similar to those you get when you eat something that doesn't agree with you

Cravings: Didn't have any cravings just really steered towards much carrier foods and things easier on my stomach. I also had a mini bagel as soon as I woke up every morning just to have something in my stomach right away.

Aversions: My aversions during this time were pretty much only to smells, which sometimes meant I was unwilling to eat something due to the smell. The smells of cooking dinner in the evenings was rough for me. I also ended up putting our kitchen trash can outside most days. 

Miss Anything: Didn't miss much during this time, not really missing alcohol or anything like that. 

Weight Gain: Started my weight count from what I weighed in at my 8 week appointment since I hadn't weighed myself prior to that. I mention in the video I was scared to see that number as my appointment was right after the holidays but was pleasantly surprised and thought it was a good starting number. Will update on weight gain in the next update. 

Favorites: Didn't have many favorites yet during this time. However the humidifier was super helpful. 

Pregnancy Announcement Photos

Towards the end of my first trimester I mentioned to my husband I thought it would be fun to take pregnancy announcement photos to share with our family and friends and also to treasure as a keepsake. They would both be the last photos of us as a family of two but also technically the very first photos of us as a family of three.

When the time got closer I knew that if we could find it, taking pictures in the snow would be the dream, but honestly we have had a very dry and warm winter here and I wasn't sure it would happen. However while the city may not have snow the mountain might.

I reached out to a photographer I found on Instagram and got the shoot set up. She said she knew a spot at the top of the mountain that had snow and would be great for pictures. So the day of we packed up the car and drove the twisty road to the top of the mountain (not fun while pregnant and not something we considered) and were met at the top by a winter wonderland. Here are the beautiful pictures we took:

Photos Taken by: Coryn Kiefer Photography in Albuquerque, NM: http://www.corynkiefer.com

Announcement: I am Pregnant!!!

I am so thrilled to announce that I am pregnant and we are expecting baby Burn in August of 2018! I put together a short video of the moments in the first trimester such as finding out, telling my husband and how we told our family. This is such a special and exciting time in our lives and we couldn't be more thrilled to have these memories. I also started filming pregnancy updates during my first trimester that I will hopefully continue throughout the pregnancy.

Watch the video and share in our joy here: 

House Tour 3 Month Update with Before and Afters Video

Here is the 3 month update after moving into our new house. The video shows what the house looked like when we moved in and what it looks like at 3 months in. So much changed in 3 months and there is still many things we want to do.

Kitchen Cabinet Makeover/ Painting our Kitchen Cabinets

When we purchased our house we knew before the offer was in that we wanted to do some updates to the kitchen: Paint the cabinets white, change the hardware, get new appliances and install a backsplash. We budgeted the money to do these projects and planned to get started on them as soon as majority of the boxes were unpacked. One thing we learned with our first home is the longer you wait to get started on a home project the less likely it will actually get done.

So about a month after we moved in, maybe a bit more we had some local companies come out and give us quotes for ONLY painting the cabinets white. You would not believe these quotes, we were in complete shock. After getting these quotes going all the way up to $7000, for yes only paint and nothing else we realized this was a project we should probably take on ourselves.

I had several friends who had used the Rustoleom kit to redo their kitchen cabinets and they had recommended it to us so I started researching and watching videos. I felt pretty confident this needed to be our route. Here are the before pictures of our kitchen, from the listing.

As you can see there was nothing wrong with the kitchen it was just not our style. The whole kitchen, with the floors was just too much orange tone wood for us. We knew how much just simply painting the cabinets would change and brighten up the space. We also had the exact same granite in our last house with white cabinets so we knew it would work.

For the actual process of painting the cabinets I filmed the process along the way, the video is below at the bottom of the post so you can get a better idea of the steps.

Part of the reason we were hesitant to take on this project originally is because we were afraid it was going to take weeks and weeks. However we were pleasantly surprised that it did not, we committed to cranking it out as fast as possible with everything else we had going on. We spent about a week and a half total painting and split it up between the upper cabinet and the bottom cabinets. The use of a paint sprayer also was a time saver and gave a really nice to the cabinets. Here are the after pictures:

We are so happy with how the cabinets came out and that it only end up costing us a couple hundred dollars to do the work rather then thousands. Next we will be installing the backsplash, changing out the light fixture, and the sink faucet, we will be having someone else do this work for us. Then lastly we would like to replace the appliances with stainless steal. I will come back with updates and show you the progress along the way.

Watch the Full Tutorial and Process Here: 

Sources: 

Get Rustoleum kit- here
** We used the color Linen for our cabinets

Get Paint Sprayer- here

Get Cabinet Door Knobs here: http://amzn.to/2l1yE0N

Get Cabinet Drawer Pulls here (12 pack): http://amzn.to/2B9WmON

Follow me on Instagram: @emilyburn01
instagram.com/emilyburn01

Christmas Home Decor Tour

When we moved into our house in October I was already thinking about decorating for Christmas and so excited. One of the things that set this house apart from our first home in Dallas was the fact that there was a fireplace and mantle to decorate for the holidays.

We only had a tiny Christmas tree from our apartment days so we decided to get a new one this year. I had been eyeing flocked trees for some time but many of them were way out of budget. However I noticed that King of Christmas was now selling their trees on Amazon, also I noticed that by buying the non-lighted version you save over $100 for the same size so we did just that. We got the 7.5' flocked King of Christmas tree, non-lighted version. The tree was absolutely stunning and we were so happy with our decision. A random plus to flocked trees is they look great on their own so you can get away with a lot less decor.

We went with a "winter wonderland" theme for the tree with mostly silver, white and pops of red berries. We topped the tree with an assortment of sparkly silver picks.

We also did a flocked garland with similar color scheme on the mantle, along with our stockings. 

See Full Video Tour Here: 

Sources: 

Christmas Tree: http://amzn.to/2hYzZk0

Mesh Ribbon: http://amzn.to/2id8as8

Berry Picks: http://amzn.to/2j0PCsl

Vintage Christmas Pillow Cover: (Similar) http://amzn.to/2iaCjbp

Got Mine on Etsy, cant find listing but there are lots of great options there!

Magnolia Buckets: https://shop.magnoliamarket.com/products/galvanized-hanging-bucket

Follow me on Instagram: @emilyburn01

instagram.com/emilyburn01

Follow my Boutique: @shopburnboutique 

instagram.com/shopburnboutique 

www.BurnBoutique.com