Home Making

Name: Chole, 4Location: Toronto, CN Chloe loves all things princess so we dreamed up a royal celebration for her and ten of her friends.  More

Hostess with the Mostess®Glam, gold and favorites… what’s not to love! I am swooning over all the chalkboard inspired details and sparkly accents in this Glam Favorite Things Party by Mindy from a a {day} with lil mama (and not just because she used some of HWTM’s free printables)! ;) This year, Mindy and her best girlfriends are all turning 30… so she decided to throw a birthday bash to celebrate! And, as part of a group gift exchange she asked each guest to bring 3 gifts containing one of their “favorite things,” how fun!PARTY HIGHLIGHTS to look out for:– Fun “Guess What Year” Game + Clever “Favorite Things” Gift Exchange – HWTM Wine & Cheese Party Printables {Free download here!} – DIY Gold tissue fringe backdrop with big pink bows – White hydrangeas in pink ribbon wrapped vases + black candle votive *****PARTY DETAILS, as told by Mindy… ;My girlfriends and I are turning 30 this year. I wanted to do something different for my birthday where we could celebrate all of us.Each person thought of a $10 item they love. They brought 3 of that same item. Each person’s wine glass had a number 1-12 at the bottom and I had numbers 1-12 folded up in a bowl. The first guest to arrive at the party had the honors of drawing a number from the bowl first. Whoever’s number she drew, she received their favorite thing. Then that person drew a number from the bowl and received that person’s favorite thing and so forth. Everyone explained their gifts as they were given out. We repeated the drawing from 1-12 three times so everyone went home with three different favorite things!I embellished plain white gift bags so everyone could take their new favorite things home. Since the party was to celebrate all our birthdays, every bag included a simple {~$10} gift that I specifically picked out for each long-time friend.In addition to their favorite things, I also requested everyone bring a favorite appetizer, drink or dessert. We enjoyed a delicious spread of food as we reminisced about the past 15+ years. After our bellies were full, we played a quick little game of Guess What Year?! I displayed an old picture of me and each guest.  The person that guessed the most years (and places) correctly was the winner! I love that I’ve known each of these girls anywhere from 9 to 27 years ago!*****VENDOR CREDITS & RESOURCES:– Party Styling & Photography: a {day} with lil mama – Invitation: TinyPrints – Free Wine Printables: Hostess with the Mostess – Free Gift Tag Printables: Ellinee – DIY Fringe Backdrop: inspired by Shiny Happy SprinklesHostess with the Mostess®

Hostess with the Mostess®Have you ever wished you could have an assistant to keep you organized all the time? Ya… I know the feeling! ;)But since personal closet cleaners and menu planners and please-clean-up-my-life-in-general assistants aren’t typically in the cards for most of us, I’m super excited to tell you about something that IS attainable… and it comes with a GIVEAWAY! Clean Mama Printables is offering up a $100 Shopping Spree towards helpful organizational lists & starter kits from their Etsy Shop. What area of life needs a little “tidying up” for you? From Budget & Bill Paying to Vacation Planning (um…yes, please!), chances are good that Clean Mama has a tool for it…With “spring cleaning” right about… now? – these printables will help make organizing easier, and it will feel so good to check off those boxes and cross off that list! Visit their shop to find kits like: The Baby Brain Kit, Shopping Kit, Project Kit, Budget & Bill Pay Kit, The Work @ Home Kit, and lots more!And as a nice cherry on top, Becky is giving 20% off to all HWTM readers through the end of May! Use coupon code 20HWTM. Good luck with the giveaway and happy organizing! :)*****HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:– Post a comment here telling us which printable package from Clean Mama Printables you’d like to get if you win! The winner can use their $100 credit however they like!– Giveaway ends, Monday May 27th at midnight PST. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced here as soon as they’ve accepted the prize.Hostess with the Mostess®

We have a weekly Movie Night at our house. It's sacred, and it's the time when we make it a point to discover a new film we haven't seen yet, preferably something that's not mainstream.   More

Since reading about the ultra-efficient, small space friendly, 7 Minute Workout, I've incorporated it as one of the very first things I do each morning. But for such a simple routine, how I actually executed it was sort of complex: I'd set an interval timer app for the 30 seconds on/10 seconds rest configuration on my phone, while using a screencap of the helpful graphic on a tablet to refer to. But now I don't have to juggle two devices while I memorize the routine to memory... More

One of the highlights of the Google I/O keynote this year was the introduction of the newly refreshed Google Maps. With updated design and information features throughout, I jumped at the opportunity to sit down with Jonah Jones, Staff UX Designer and Lead Designer of Google Maps, and learn a bit more about the design inspiration behind the new Maps.  More

DIY bloggers Chris and Julia Marcum (of Chris Loves Julia) finally got to working on a project they've been meaning to for years (hey, we've all been there!):  More

Name: Parker (8), Monty (5) & Elliot (3)Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin My boys have recently moved in together in preparation of their sister's arrival! We gave this room a makeover to make it extra special for them, putting some fresh paint on the walls and buying new beds with matching duvets.   More

Memorial Day is May 27th and many of you are headed to the beach this holiday wekeend! I rounded up some colorful beach towels to add to your beach tote.  Colorful Beach Towels From bright colors and stripes, to cool patterns, here is a variety of vibrant beach towels to choose from. ralph lauren mosaic [...]

i have not been reading nearly enough lately. and i love reading and get immense joy from it. it’s the perfect summer escape. so when go mighty and rivet & sway eyeglasses offered to sponsor a find your joy post based on my goal of reading more i thought i’d give back to you readers a little and sponsor a find your joy summer reading group. i can’t read without eyeglasses, which is what inspired me to promote reading — it seemed like the perfect fit. so, here’s my plan: i’m going to give away one pair of women’s prescription rivet & sway eyeglasses, and i’m also going to give away 10 books to kick off the summer reading club — one hardcover book to 10 sfgirlbybay readers who’d like to join the group and read along together. then, i’ll host an evening of book club, live on twitter so we can all share our thoughts on the book. anyone will be welcome to read the book and join in on the online book discussion! the first book of the summer is gillian flynn’s novel gone girl. have you heard about this book? it’s a really intriguing whodunit which has been at the top of the new york times best sellers list for a while now. we’re going to read three books this summer, and i’ll announce the other two book giveaways in late june and july. to enter to win a chance at the one pair of women’s prescription rivet & sway eyeglasses, and one of the 10 gone girl hardcover books and join our summer reading group for june, simply: • visit rivet & sway and tell us — what’s your favorite pair of eyeglasses? • share your favorite rivet & sway glasses here by tuesday, may 28th at midnight PST. • so sorry, this giveaway is for U.S. residents only. • as always, please be sure to leave a way to contact you via twitter, facebook, your blog or email. • we’ll announce a random winner friday of the one pair of rivet & sway eyeglasses and the 10 winners of the book, on may 24th on my twitter account, so be sure to follow along. • if you enter, please be prepared to read the book and join us if you can in an online book discussion one evening the last week of june, live on twitter. i will email winners with date to be announced and announce it on twitter so anyone can join in on the discussion. all rivet & sway glasses are on sale at $50* off right now through May 31st, too! rivet & sway offers free home try-ons exclusively for women’s eyeglasses. they also ship your designer glasses directly to your home, with or without a prescription once you choose the pair that suits you best. so happy reading, people! let’s start the sfgirlbybay summer reading club! • *Offer valid on the purchase of glasses from Rivet & Sway through May 31, 2013, 11:59 ET. This post in partnership with go mighty and rivet & sway, but all opinions are my own. Tweet#call_to_action h4{padding:0px 5px;}