Create & Celebrate Art Party!

This is at least 7 months late at this point, but I'm so proud of how Charlie's 4th birthday party turned out, I have to share! Let's pretend I've just been ruminating on the perfect way to present it...

When I asked Charlie what he wanted to do for his birthday, he quickly told us he wanted to, "paint with [his] friends." Done, buddy. After a few trips to Hobby Lobby, Amazon, and Target, Charlie's art party came together relatively easily.

Hobby Lobby had...

• Tiny easels (4 for $5)
• Washable paint ($1.50 bottle)
• Paint pallets (8 for $5)
• Chip board letters ($1 each)
• Paint theme cupcake liners ($2)
• Paint splotch wall decorations ($3)
• Black butcher block paper ($6 roll)
• 144 paint brushes ($5)
• Brown paper goodie bags (5 for $2)

Target had...

• Back to School sale markers, crayons, chalk, and paint brushes (various prices, all under a dollar)

Amazon had...

• ABC silicone molds for favors ($12)
• Smocks ($7.50 dozen)

All in all, I was able to purchase the snacks, supplies, favors, etc. for under $75. The back to school sales going on the months leading up to the party really helped out with the various art supplies used for favors and decorations. Crayons were a quarter a box, which I'm thankful for as we went through tons of them!

My favorite decoration for the party was the "cake." Since we planned to decorate cupcakes, there was no centerpiece to the food table. I saw this art supply cake on Pinterest and just had to recreate it. Thankfully, we had enough art supplies laying around to put it together at no additional cost. 

Another fun Pinterest find were these "spilling paint" can decorations. The empty paint cans were about $5 each at Lowe's and the plastic table cloths were from the dollar store. I used tripods (one was mine, one I borrowed) to prop up the paint can to look like it was spilling paint all over the food table. The space under the "paint" tablecloth also made for a good place to stash extra snacks, cupcakes, and supplies out of sight. 

To keep the kids occupied, we set up three activities for them - a chalk wall (black butcher block paper and chalk), a painting activity, and cupcake decorating. Alternating between the activity and free play time worked well for the kids and their parents. It seemed to mix things up and be just the right amount of entertainment while giving parents a break to eat and chat. 

Each child's station had the first letter of their name, smock, brushes, and paint in cut up egg cartons. I grabbed some small canvases as well in case little siblings wanted to do hand/foot print art. We included instructions on the invitation to come dress in clothes appropriate to paint in, which was appreciated by the parents. The paint was washable, but things happen!

I wasn't sure how the cupcake decorating activity would go, but they loved it! A plain cupcake along with little bits of different decorations (sprinkles, candies, Teddy Grahams, mini marshmallows, colored sugar, etc.) entertained them for way longer than I could have imagined. Clean up was as simple as dumping the excess decorations in the trash and throwing the paint pallets in the dishwasher.

Charlie's favorite part was blowing out his "4" candle. He had so much fun painting with his friends and playing the afternoon away. 

Each child got a splatter painted goodie bag with their name in crayons (tutorial on the way!) a scroll of paper, paint brushes, and of course their smock and painted letter. There were some beautiful masterpieces created that day!

The best part of this party theme is that the supplies to make it happen are easy to come by, inexpensive, and if you don't happen to need 100 tiny paintbrushes or big bottles of paint afterwards, can be donated to a daycare or preschool. 

Thanks for checking out Charlie's art party (and being patient with it's slow posting!) Even now, 7 months later, Charlie still talks about his paint party and has kept up his love of everything art. 

Tis the Pinterest Season

That day you go into the store and the Christmas decorations are out (you know, around October), you begin thinking about the impending holiday season and all it brings....your to do list. Decorate the house, put up the tree, find matching outfits for kids, send approximately 8,564 cards, the ever growing list of gifts to hunt down, and don't forget about the holiday themed festivities at daycare, school, work, Mom's group...

Holiday prep is fun and I genuinely enjoy spreading the love, but over the years I've noticed myself turning my focus further and further from my family and my home; gifts to buy, things to do, people to see, places to be. With an addition of Pinterest inspired desserts, gifts, and projects to the already crushing layer of Christmas cheer, I feel like the expectations (whether real or imagined) are more overwhelming than ever. This year, I'm taking a step back and changing my focus using the culprit of holiday pressure itself; Pinterest.

Why Pinterest? Why not. It's already a tremendous collection of creative ideas ranging from hand print art to stunning ornaments that cannot possibly be made by a normal person. Why not take advantage of it. Plus, this way we can share.

Follow Jen (All Four Love)'s board Advent Calendar on Pinterest.

Follow Jen (All Four Love)'s board The 12 Dates of Christmas on Pinterest.

We aren't doing fancy Christmas portraits or matching holiday outfits. I'm not going to obsess over menus for Christmas breakfast and dinner. If holiday socials don't fit into our family schedule, I'm not going to stress about it. Now, don't get me wrong; this isn't about locking my family in the house and ignoring everyone for a month. This December is, however, going to be about us and sharing the things we love with those we love.

A few weeks ago, I started two Pinterest boards; Our Family Advent Calendar and the 12 Dates of Christmas. One for our family and one for Jeff and I as a couple. As a family, we've been scouring Pinterest and our imagination, adding activities to these boards; activities we're excited to do together as a family or as a couple. There's no order, no requirements; just 24 activities (and 12 dates) that we hope to enjoy as we countdown to Christmas, together.

The activities aren't rocket science and don't require a BA in Fine Arts or a culinary degree to accomplish. It's simple things like baking cookies for a neighbor, bringing Great Grandpa holiday decorations for his retirement home, watching a holiday movie together, or having a camp out in the living room around the lit tree. It sounds simple because it IS simple, but it's things that I, admittedly, haven't made time for in past years. As the kids get older I want them to look back on the holiday season with memories of love, kindness, family, and fun.

I'm hoping our new Advent calendar sparks tradition for years to come, but if not, that's okay too. We'll try something else, pick new activities. Maybe that will be our tradition. Regardless of what works for us, the important part is that it works for us and doesn't become a season of stress and rushing.

That is my wish for you out there. Drink hot cocoa before bed, make more popcorn and Froot Loop garland than is logically necessary, watch cheesy movies, and keep your lap warm with little ones in Christmas PJs. May you have a holiday season full of love, kindness, family, and fun.

Fitness Friday: Annapolis Classic Recap & New Footwear

No, not new running shoes, unfortunately. This.

But we'll get to that. First, the race that got me here.

Way back five years ago, I married this guy. Don't we look so young and well rested?

For our 5th wedding anniversary I knew that we didn't need more "stuff," so instead I bought us registration for the Annapolis Classic Half Marathon. He's always wanted to run a half, I am practically addicted to race bling at this point, and Annapolis is the place we were married. Brilliant, right? Though our anniversary was Halloween, the race wasn't until November 22nd. Plenty of time to get a sitter, find somewhere to stay, and finish getting trained up.

One thing I didn't think about was the weather. End of November on the waterfront is COLD. I am entirely too non-committal to dress myself properly for running in these kind of temperatures. Do I wear this? Or this? Too much? Too little? It's enough to make me crazy. I settled on my new Under Armour Infrared hoodie and hat, Under Armour cold gear tights, and this sweet Bay Six shirt I got at the Diva's expo back in September. Finished off with Feetures socks and my good ol' Brooks, I was ready to roll.

When we arrived on Saturday morning, it wasn't nearly as crowded as we though it would be - there was a ton of signage, friendly volunteers, and parking was a breeze. Easy races are my favorite!

Here we are, bundled up at the starting line ready for 13.1 miles of freezing our butts off!

Truth be told, the weather didn't turn out to be too much of an issue. Our layers were good and kept us at the right temperature, especially once the sun came up into the cloudless sky. The sub-freezing temps did affect, however, the water stations. Carelessly tossed water + freezing temperatures = ice. Runners + ice = bad. I'm so grateful that I didn't fall, because normally I would have been one of the first ones to bite it. A huge thanks to the volunteers for trying their hardest to keep the ice melted! Not a fun job, but greatly appreciated.

Then there was the scenery; Annapolis. This was the reason I wanted to do this race. Annapolis is such a gorgeous city. The water, the boats, the bridges, and shops. Absolutely gorgeous. Part of the race took us down Main Street and across the water front, then over a few bridges.

Though we stopped for one pee break, we clocked in at just over 2 1/2 hours. I appreciate that Jeff stayed with me without complaint despite being a faster runner. Towards the end, he thanked me for pacing him and keeping him grounded; he realized that he probably would have blazed out in the beginning and been wrecked by the end. Ah, the run/walk method claims another supporter.

After our 13.1 mile date.

I even got jewelry out of the deal.

Thank you Annapolis Running Classic for a gorgeous race and sweet medal! We'll be back next year!


Onto the boot...

Most of Saturday I felt fine; the typical just ran 13.1 miles fatigue. The race was uneventful, pain wise. By Sunday morning, however, my left foot hurt something awful when I walked. Not when I stood, just when I walked. I stretched, I rubbed, I took meds - nothing helped. The first few steps didn't hurt, but as I kept walking it got to the point where I'd limp. Monday was awful at work, hobbling around the office to and from meetings. Tuesday morning I went to the doctor and Tuesday afternoon I was in x-ray. Though nothing definitive showed up on the x-ray, my doctor is fairly confident based on my symptoms that I have a 5th metatarsal stress fracture. Whomp whomp whomp.

The good news is that with the boot I can walk on it and it doesn't hurt. The bad news is that I'm out of running for at least three weeks. The other good news is that apparently this kind of injury heals quickly without much issue. I'm bummed that I can't run, but let's be honest, I wasn't exactly planning on doing a ton between Thanksgiving and Christmas anyway. I guess this is a good time as any to chill out.

So what is to become of Fitness Friday in the meantime? I've got a "Runner's Wish List" next week, my spring race list coming together (hopefully), as well as a cool review of the Hipster Running Dog Leash, courtesy of my still able bodied hubby. With our hot mess of a dog, this will be a fun one folks!

Stay warm out there, runners!

Countdown to Four

This week will be all about Charlie to celebrate his birthday! Stay tuned for a 4 year old gift guide of his favorite things, a Frozen themed review you won't want to miss, a fabulous VTech giveaway, and of course a recap of his birthday and party!

Have I said that I can't believe he'll be four? Because, yeah, I still can't.

Party Planning with Minted.com

**Although this post is sponsored by Minted.com, I only agree to write about products, sites, and services I truly enjoy and would use myself. All opinions are my own.**

If you can't tell by my posts, I absolutely love planning parties. I love the theme, coming up with ideas and decor, making everything match, and making things myself. Well, that last one has begun to wane. I still love to make decorations and supplies for the party, but the problem is finding the time. As it stands, I have less than 2 weeks until Charlie's birthday party to get things together and my ideal "to get done" list is much longer than realistically possible. I've certainly prioritized it, but to help, I went on the hunt for decor that would match without breaking the bank. I often like what I find on Etsy, but the back and forth and back and forth while designing and tweaking can take an eternity.

Have you heard of Minted.com? I hadn't, but am very glad I found out about it! Not just for decor, but for thank you cards, and even holiday cards. It's all there.

Here's how it works. Minted is a market place for independent design. Founded by Mariam Naficy, this is a place for all artists to introduce their work to the public in an accessible way regardless of where they were educated or what type of personal capital or connections they have. The only thing that decides what work is showcased and sold through Minted is the community. That's right - new designs and ideas are voted upon by us, the consumers. How cool is that? Currently, Minted has designers from 43 countries and the number of participating artists is increasing all the time. 

So check this out, whether you need to design your family holiday card, pick decor for your child's party, or outfit your entire wedding from save the dates to the reception, you can find it on Minted. You can even print business cards, day planners, and personalized wrapping paper. 

For Charlie's party, I was specifically searching for a birthday banner and thank you cards. Under the banner menu alone there were 280 options! Banners come with 16 flags and can be personalized with a message, spacers, and even pictures. 

Once I found a banner that matched his party, other coordinating pieces from other categories was listed right on the page. No hunting around if want other things to match. Purchasing multiple party items in a package reduces the overall cost, helping you buy what you need without excess items you're not going to use. 

The thank you card search yielded over 1,400 gorgeous, unique designs (don't worry, the search function helps you narrow things down!) That's the cool part of this, since they're all independent and different artists and designers, all of the designs have their own unique look about them. Sometimes when you're surfing other stationary sites, it's easy to see the same things over and over. 

While it makes me feel old to say it, I'm at that point in my life where I want good, quality stuff at a fair price, recognizing the individual responsible for making it. Since designers get paid a commission from each sale, this has a small business feel with big business convenience. 

I haven't started to really look at the Christmas card options, but once Charlie's party is over, you can bet that's on my to do list. With gorgeous foil pressed cards and free (for a limited time) Pinterest-esque card addressing, it's going to be a pretty Christmas. On a first pass through, however, I did find this one, which would be perfect, especially for little Miss Ginny. ;-)

Check out Minted and their social media outlets for updates about new artists and designs, coupons and sales, and gorgeous Pinteresty inspiration. Tis the season!

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Art Party Update

Invitations are out and there's only about 3 more weeks until Charlie's 4th birthday party! I swear, planning my wedding was a chore, but for some reason I LOVE planning kid birthday parties. Seriously, someone hire me. ;-)

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Charlie requested to "paint with friends" this year for his birthday, so an art party is on the schedule. This will be his first party with little friends from daycare and with their age, it'll also be the first year that we have actual activities vs. throwing a bunch of toys out to keep the toddlers occupied.

I did a little googling for inspiration for the invitation. I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I had a general idea ahead of time, so that's what I went with; an artist pallet with party info on the paints. I made sure to include a little message about wearing paint clothes - don't want any angry, unprepared parents at this party! Printed on card stock and cut out, I punched two holes and threaded a thin paint brush through. The brushes were $1 for a dozen at WalMart.

With invites out, next comes activity and menu planning. I started on the hunt for birthday supplies at the dollar spot in Target. Sometimes they have Crayola themed stuff, but no dice. I headed to Michaels, but even with coupons things were on the expensive side and there wasn't much I wanted to use for decorations. I hadn't been to Hobby Lobby in a long time, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Come to find out that not only did Hobby Lobby have decorations, but they had an entire line of art themed birthday supplies and decorations! Ugh, I love to hate to love you, HL.

I scored some tiny easels to mark food and drinks, streamer decorations, punch outs to hang up, cupcake liners, and stickers that look like paint drips. I also found big chip board letters on sale for $1 each for the kids to paint. I bought the first initial for each kid and will just return the letters for whoever cannot come. While we were shopping, Charlie found a chip board music note that he simply fell in love with, so I figured he could test out the tempera paint on it.

Not only did the paint stick and spread well on the chip board, but it dried super fast. Perfect! Ginny got in on our little paint experiment too, but mostly just to make a big mess.

I also found tempera paint for $1.50 a bottle and small pallet trays to use as "decorate your own cupcake" plates a la Pinterest. All in all, I'm into this party about $40 so far for decorations and activities. I'm hoping to find child size smocks to personalize for the kids' favor, but so far I have to choose between expensive or poor quality. There has got to be something in between!

Image credit: Hostess with the Mostess

Other than painting letters and decorating cupcakes, there will be a few toys out to play with as well as a crayon drawing wall VERY well protected with butcher block paper. That should be fun and reinforce not drawing on the walls, right? This party is full of positive messages. I also want to create a birthday banner for behind the cake table with the butcher block with splatter painting (kids can't have all the fun!)

I also hope to make on of these "cakes"with art supplies we already own, cutting down on cost while still making for a really fun centerpiece.

As for food, the party is at 2PM, so the food will be light. Veggies, fruit, crackers, cheese, all manners of dips, a few snacky appetizers, a few sweets, and cupcakes for dessert. Voila! I'm a huge fan of ordering party trays from Giant, so that part will be easy and since we're not making a crazy complicated cake this year, I'm anticipating it to be fairly low key. Ya know, aside from the 10 or so four year olds running around with paint!

To Do List

• Design, print, and send invitations
• Buy decorations
• Find a birthday shirt/outfit for Charlie
• Paper goods
• Supplies for letter painting activity
• Butcher block paper for walls
• Smocks for kids
• Order party trays
• Figure out appetizers and drinks
• Balloons
• Make thank you cards
• Other things I'll think of later........

I'm super ridiculously excited for this party and keep finding the coolest stuff on Pinterest. Follow along as I go pin happy!

Follow Jen (All Four Love)'s board Charlie's Birthday on Pinterest.

Pumpkin Picking is....Scary?

October is a favorite month in this house; fall, leaves, pumpkins, a birthday, an anniversary, and the coolest holiday of the year! It also ends up being one of our busiest months of the year, but busy isn't always a bad thing. One thing we always try to do is go pumpkin picking.

This year, Jeff was away for the weekend with friends, so I thought it would be a good idea to take the kids to the pumpkin patch by myself.

Hahahahahahahaha

Isn't that hilarious? We all survived, thanks to some help from family friends who met up with us there, but man oh man. It was a long 90 minutes at the farm, and not for the reason you'd think.

When it comes to trying new things and going with the flow, Ginny is a champ. She loved the petting zoo, the hay ride, and spent a good half hour walking around the field trying to pick up as many gourds as she could. Generally, a happy, excited kid.

Then there is the preschooler. Oy vey. Terrible two's weren't that terrible and the "threenager" stage has only crept in very recently. So, what, fearsome fours? What is going on here?! Charlie didn't want to get out of the car, wanted to go home. Then he liked the petting zoo, but threw an unholy fit about getting on the hay ride and had a panic attack the entire way out to the patch. Thank goodness I had someone to hand Ginny to so she didn't do laps around the trailer while I held Charlie. I felt so bad for the kid; he genuinely didn't want to go, but what could we do? We can't pack up and go home every time he doesn't want to do something. All I can do is speak calmly, but not in way to make him think there is a reason to be scared, and encourage him to take baby steps. The other part of me can't help but think, "It's a freaking hay ride. Chill." It's easy to think that way when it's not me that's upset, but sometimes I just have a hard time wrapping my mind around the things that make him uncomfortable.

Once we got out to the patch, he was fine (until we had to go back again), but I just don't understand this new stage of his. Maybe he was tired, maybe he was not into the whole pumpkin thing, but this stage has seriously got to end - for his sake as much as mine. I want him to enjoy the things we're out about doing. It breaks my heart that he wants to sit at home.

Oh well, whine over. Here are some pictures I got from when we were out in the patch. At least he enjoyed that part! I promise, despite all that it WAS a fun day and I'm glad we went. Hopefully, he will enjoy painting his pumpkin more than he enjoyed retrieving it.

Birthday Prep for the Big F-O-U-R

I can't even believe I'm writing this post. Charlie is going to be four in just over a month. FOUR! Every year that goes by, time flies faster and faster. I keep hoping it'll get easier to watch them get older, but it doesn't. So instead, I drown my sorrows in over the top Pinterest inspired party planning!

Now, I completely understand that I don't have to do a party with a fancy theme. Truth is, I really enjoy doing it! I think party planning is a ton of fun and gives me an opportunity to do something crafty.

Charlie's first birthday was Very Hungry Caterpillar, his second was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, his third we went to Disney World, and this year will be his first "friends from school" party. I asked him what he wanted to do with his friends at his birthday party, to which he answered, "I want to paint!" Honestly, I was shocked I got an answer at all, so I'm going to run with it. An art party it is.

Luckily, there is a ton of cool stuff on Pinterest about preschoolers and art from projects to decorations. I'M SO EXCITED!

So far, I've been focusing on activities and gathering up supplies. I scored $.25 Crayola crayons and paints at the back to school clearance sections in Target and WalMart. They'll be great for favors, decorations, and activities. I am on the hunt for paint trays (though we may just recycle egg cartons), brushes, markers, and something for the kids to paint. I'm torn between some kind of little wooden car or figure or their first initial (about $2 a piece at Michaels). Some other things I'd like to put together are...

• A scribbling wall
• Smocks with their names on them as favors
• Decorate your own cupcake (instead of cake)

I love this idea for decorations, so I'll also need to find some empty, blank paint cans. I'm not sure where to get those just yet, but I'll figure it out.

Lots to do and time is ticking away. First on the list is going to be invitations to send to his friends at school.

Ten 4 year olds with paint....what could possibly go wrong?

Follow along with my birthday Pinterest board as I pin the heck out of this party.

Follow Jen (All Four Love)'s board Charlie's Birthday on Pinterest.

Bridesmaid Dress Bunny

This is one of those rare times where I saw something on Pinterest, was inspired, and ACTUALLY DID IT. Seriously folks, mark this day down or something. So here's the story.

My best friend, Mary (who also happens to blog!), is pregnant with her second little one. Her first, Parker just turned two this summer and will be getting a little sister in just a few weeks! For Parker's shower, I put together a neat basket of all of the medication, first aid, and health things that Mary and Rob would need for Parker's first year or two. Being second time parents, however, they've got all of that under control this time around. I really wanted to find something special for baby girl; something they didn't already have. 

In comes Pinterest. I saw a pin about turning a bridesmaid dress into a baby blanket for the bride when they had their first child. That's cool and all, but babies end up with A LOT of blankets and most of them sit in a drawer. What else could I do?

When I was in 2nd grade and did my First Holy Communion, my Aunt Pat made me a beautiful stuffed bunny with an eyelet dress and pearls - all dressed up like my Communion dress. I loved it! I recently got that bunny back from my Dad's house and it all clicked; turn the bridesmaid dress from Mary and Rob's wedding into a doll. 

I'll be honest, I loved this dress and thought it was completely a "you could wear this again!" sort of deal. The problem is that I live in an apartment, am therefore limited on space, and had nowhere to wear it again in the foreseeable future. It will live a much more productive life as a bunny, trust me. 

Excuse the wrinkles; it has been in my closet for a few years! I broke out my Ginghers and seam ripper and went to town. Within the first 30 seconds I realized that this dress was made much, much better than I had anticipated. It took a LOT of seam ripping, tearing, and cutting. 

When all was said and done, I had a nice little pile of fabric to work with. Being a shorter dress, I could only hope it was enough to fit the bunny pattern. It ended up being just perfect, with some pieces left over.

I used the dress lining as the lining to the bunny ears since it was a slightly different shade and texture. With no filling, the ears were nice and floppy - perfect for a bunny!

For this project, I ended up buying a Simplicity pattern (#9524) on sale at JoAnn's after searching the internet for a free one. It ended up being a super simple pattern with a lot less pieces than I was anticipating. Coupled with locking eye and nose pieces for safety, the bunny came together in under 2 hours. 

I am so happy with this sweet pink bunny. I've had it made for a few weeks now, just waiting for our next visit so I can give it to Mary. Thankfully, we got together this weekend, so I can finally post about it! Plus, my kids can stop asking me if its for them as it sits on the bookshelf. Guess I'm making some stuffies for Ginny and Charlie next!

Happy Fourth of July!