Parties – A Diamond in the Stuff

Custom Wedding Signs

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 10:00:49 +0000

Several months ago a friend I’ve known for years contacted me about making Custom Wedding Signs for her. I absolutely love being able to make items for people to take home and treasure, but being involved in someones BIG day is awesome! I had a great time working with the bride to create some truly custom, beautiful signs.

I tried a new technique with these signs to get some colored accent words. I had never done this before but I created a step by step tutorial for any of those that may want to try the same thing!

Step 1: Paint the wood in the color you want your letters to be. In this case I painted my wood black.

Step 2: Paint any accent lettering areas. I needed some of the words to be a different color other than black, so I measured out the areas where the letters would go and I painted out a block of the accent color. Some were easier than others to create the color blocking.

Step 3: Place your vinyl lettering down on the wood. I had to be very careful to make sure that all my lettering was placed in the right colored areas.

Step 4: Paint over the vinyl lettering with the LETTER color. This will help to prevent bleeding of the top coat under the vinyl.

Step 5: Add the top coat. This will be the color you want your signs to be. I used an off white paint on all of my signs.

Step 6: Once all the paint is dry, remove the vinyl letters. I usually use a craft weeding tool to help me peel them up.

I created 8 signs in all. The signs were used for both the ceremony and reception, everything from the ring bearer sign to the bride and groom’s table.

Some of the signs had holes drilled in them so the bride could add ribbon of her choice to them.

The bride also wanted table numbers. I made them out of a 2×6 and cut it into 14 blocks. I made them using basically the same process as the signs.

I am very proud of how they all turned out and I was so honored to be a part of the couple’s big day! From the looks of things it looks like their wedding day went beautifully! Congrats Laura and Kevin!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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If you happen to be planning a wedding for know someone who is, check out this Wedding Day Emergency Kit I put together.

Wedding Day Emergency Kit

Courtney Carmean — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 10:00:54 +0000

Wedding Day Emergency Kit

This past weekend I headed out of town to celebrate my soon to be sister-in-law’s bridal shower and bachelorette party. I had an absolute blast, especially getting to know the bride and her family better. When it came time to decide what I wanted to give as a gift at the shower I decided that my Wedding Day Emergency Kit was a must. I’ve made my kit for other weddings and it has always come in handy. You never know when a zipper will fail, a heal will break, something gets spilled, or someone forgot deodorant!

So are you curious what I put in the Emergency Kit? Let me break it down for ya…..

I boxed everything up in a little tub which I of course had to customize with a little vinyl. Couldn’t help myself.

I think there is something in there for everything that may go wrong. Hopefully this means that no matter what might be thrown at us the day of the wedding, we can handle it. Oh and I also threw some straws in there at the last minute so all the girls can drink their….um beverages….without ruining their makeup!

What do you think of the Wedding Day Emergency Kit that I put together? Is there anything you would of added?

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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I am saying it now….there will most definitely be lots of wedding related posts happening in the next few months. I hope y’all don’t mind and I REALLY hope there are some of you that are inspired by them.

End of School Ideas

Courtney Carmean — Thu, 22 May 2014 10:00:58 +0000

Today is the last day of school for my kiddos. Seriously how can that be possible??? This school year is a blur. My youngest graduated from Kindergarten this year and I’m feeling very…..proud and a bit sad. I feel like this school year needs to be celebrated, the kids achieved so much this year!

Here are some awesome ways to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer….

“Run through” beginning of summer banner from The Poe Fam.

End of year class favors by The Crafted Sparrow.

Last day of school signs from Chickabug.

The Crafting Chicks created this Summer fun list ideas.

Super cute first and last day of school photos by How Does She.

Summer schedule for kids by Somewhat Simple.

Do you have any awesome end of school celebration ideas? Tell me what you and your kids do celebrate summer…….

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

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Need some ideas for teacher gifts?

Happy summer!!!

Buzz Lightyear Birthday Party

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:00:44 +0000

A few weeks ago we celebrated my baby boy’s 5th birthday. Saying “baby” seems a little out of place, but he will always be my baby! When I asked him what sort of party he wanted to have he quickly knew what he wanted. A birthday party at the local indoor aquatic center with a Buzz Lightyear theme! Alright kid you got it! Now I don’t claim to be any great party planner. I do love me a good “theme” party and usually have lots of fun thinking of cute ways to play with themes. Without further ado here is my Buzz Lightyear Birthday Party!!!

I decided to stick with lime green and blue as my main colors. I had a lot of fun finding all of the goodies for the party! They were fun bright colors to work with.

I think my favorite part of the party was these Alien Favor Bags. I used some lime green paper bags to start with. Then I cut them down a bit to make them shorter and added three googly eyes to each bag. I used some green curly straws to create the alien’s antennae. A couple glue dots help keep the bags closed and the “antennae” in place.

Aren’t they stinkin adorable??? I filled them with a flying saucer Frisbee, anti-gravity bouncy balls, glow sticks, and colored coordinated candy. Plus the curly straws of course!

Since I am not exactly a wizard in the kitchen….especially in the making things look cute department….I outsourced the cake to someone else. I decided what I wanted the cake to look like and the Goodie Godmother made it happen. She is a fellow military spouse and as you can see, very talented as well.

She also made the alien cake pops!!! I mean, what’s a Buzz Lightyear Birthday Party with out aliens??? I put the cake pops in some lime green buckets that also doubled as balloon weights. I filled the bottom of the buckets with brown sugar instead of sand, that way if any got on the cake pops it would just add to the tastiness!

Here’s one last one of the very happy birthday boy!!! All in all it was a great party and we had lots of fun celebrating the birthday boy! Wow 5. Can any other mamas relate?

Linking to these great link parties!!!

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On Wednesday I shared my latest furniture re-make, my Emerald Green Dresser. I am just in love with it. Come check out what it looked like before and how I got there!

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Anyone ready for the Sassy Steal Giveaway winner??? Drum roll……

Shelly

who said
“Hi, I follow along through google reader.”

Congrats Shelly!!! Please contact me at adiamondinthestuff(at)hotmail(dot)com to claim your prize!

Junk Drink Stand

Courtney Carmean — Fri, 25 May 2012 07:00:00 +0000

I just love when all the pieces to a puzzle come together. After months of searching, I finally found a metal bucket for a project I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I showed off the holy grail bucket yesterday during Thrifty Thursday.

The story all started with this broken stool that I shared in a Thrifty Thursday almost a year ago. My hubby and I found the stool on a curb for trash. I of course HAD to go check it out. It was broken and basically useless as a stool but I KNEW I could do something with it. It took awhile, but I finally knew that I wanted to turn this broken stool into a functional Junk Drink Stand.

It was all pretty simple. I popped off the two remaining pieces of the stool’s seat so I could have a more even surface to work with. Then all it took was some Gorilla Glue to attach the bucket to the top of the stool.

The stool gives the bucket some height so that you don’t have to squat down to pick your beverage. The bucket is big enough to hold a variety of beverages; whether it’s a bunch of capri suns for the kids, a pile of sodas for a party, or a few bottles of wine for ladies night. The added feature of the handle on the bucket makes for easy transportation.

I love the junky look of this Junk Drink Stand. Even better than the junky look is turning unusable objects into functional ones. This stool would of otherwise been sitting in the dump somewhere, now it is full of personality and function. Any big junk fans out there?

My husband thought it should be called a country cooler. I told him I’d think about it. ; )

I thought it would be fun to use some red, white, and blue beverages to try out my bucket. With Memorial day and the 4th of July not far off I’m getting in the mood for some patriotic fun!!!

I’m really debating about this one……keep or sell, keep or sell???

Linking up to these great link parties!!!

Nest & Eggs Cupcake

Courtney Carmean — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

I don’t consider myself to be all that great in the kitchen. I mean, I don’t think I’m BAD at cooking and baking. I just don’t get a ton of joy from it and honestly don’t know a whole lot about it. I basically follow recipes and keep it pretty basic. Which is why it’s odd that I have done a few food posts lately. What can I say? I do love me some cute desserts and these Nest & Egg Cupcakes are cute!

I wanted to make a dessert for our Easter party, but not just any dessert. I have seen some nest cupcakes floating around blogland and Pinterest. They were all really cute, so I decided to create my own version.

I made some vanilla cupcakes per the directions on the box (remember when I said I can only follow a recipe, ya). I piped on some vanilla frosting in the shape of a nest. I didn’t worry about getting the nest to look just perfect or for them all to look the same. After all, don’t all bird nests look different? I used some blue candy eggs for the….well, the eggs!

I love that they look like little robin eggs! Not only did they turn out adorable, but they were so very yummy too. I guess there is something to say for keeping things simple.

I know they are nothing ground breaking…..but I am always a little proud of myself when I get creative in the kitchen. Thanks for check out my sweet little Nest & Egg Cupcakes!!!

Linking up to these great link parties!