I love using Pastene products because, well, they’re delicious, and I’m always finding ways to repurpose their recyclable and reusable glass jars, like in this recent DIY project! We eat dinner out in our garden most nights in the summer, and with some small gatherings coming back on our social calendar, it’s nice to have a grab-and-go set of entertaining items that I can tote outside for easy access. I made this DIY outdoor entertaining tray with recycled glass Pastene jars in various sizes, decorate them with festive blue and white patterned tissue paper and napkins, and then filled the jars up with essentials like utensils, toothpicks, and other festive serveware. Get the step by step details below:
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The snow is coming down outside, and I’d venture to guess lots of other parents like me are trying to figure out how to entertain their kids this morning. I love a seasonal DIY project, Jane loves a seasonal DIY project, and we both had a really fun time making this one for Valentine’s Day: recycled heart crayons! We have a big plastic container in our playroom that holds all the random crayons — broken crayons, crayons from restaurants, crayons from craft kits, crayons that somehow ended up in the bottom of my purse. With a little bit of prep work, a silicon mold, and some color sorting, we recycled the abandoned crayons and melted them down into festive heart shapes to share with our friends. 
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I am quickly realizing during social distancing just how much we take for granted on a daily basis. But as I mourn the convenience of popping out the store for just one thing, I’m also energized by being creative with what we already have at home. That means digging into our pantry and making use of leftovers in the fridge (I’m pretending I’m on a cooking challenge show, what can I make with these ingredients!?). I’ve also been more resourceful with the projects I’ve been thinking up to keep Jane occupied and learning while we’re at home. The recycling bin has been fueling our imagination (see what we created last week out of paper towel rolls and egg cartons in this toddler craft round up).
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Every time I host a party I swear to myself that I’m going to keep things simple, and then usually about 48 hours before the party starts I’ve got half a dozen active craft projects in-progress. It’s always worth it in the end though, because those custom details are the things that stand out! I made a bunch of fun DIY elements for my sister’s recent bridal shower, and thought I’d share a few of the super-easy ideas I crafted up to make the day feel personalized to our guest of honor! The best part is, each one of incredibly easy to do! 
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I was really excited to get to dye Easter eggs with Jane and had one of the kits in my hand at the grocery store last week. I paused for a second though and had a vision in my head of the dye splashing everywhere and hard boiled eggs getting broken and smashed by her not-so-gentle toddler hands. I quickly returned the kit to the shelves and my excitement dissipated. But flash forward to earlier this week and I found some white craft eggs at Target and my crafting enthusiasm resurfaced! These are the exact eggs I found in-stores, and there are similar sets on Amazon with white eggs or natural eggs (there’s even a cute egg painting craft kit!). I ducked into the craft aisle at Target and grabbed some sponge brushes and the prettiest brightly colored acrylic paints and we were ready to go.
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The holidays take on a whole new meaning with kids; I love that there’s magic in the season from seeing Jane get excited about the lights and decorations. Now that she’s starting to understand the specialness of the holiday season a little bit more, I’m eager to start some new holiday traditions that she’ll remember. One tradition that I was thinking would be really fun to try with her this year is decorating gingerbread houses. She’s very into arts and crafts, and let’s be honest, she’s veryinto eating cookies and sweets.
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Of all of the times to entertain throughout the year, I think that summer entertaining is my favorite. It’s typically casual and laid-back, means we get to fire up the grill and eat outside, and often uses my favorite color palette: red white and blue! The easy DIY chambray napkins I have to share today are perfect for all of those elements that make summer entertaining so special. This set that I made for upcoming Fourth of July celebrations has a patriotic twist, but they could be customized with monograms for bridal showers, dates for anniversaries or birthdays, or even some simple shapes for a graphic design. 
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I spent this past weekend up in Portland, Maine celebrating one of my best friend’s bachelorette weekend. We had a blast — eating lobster rolls, taking in a baseball game, soaking up the most gorgeous summer weather, and of course, enjoying some cocktails and bar hopping. I’m still recovering — apparently it takes 3-4 days to recover from bachelorette parties once you hit your thirties — here’s hoping I’m back to normal by Thursday of this week. The good thing about bachelorette parties in your thirties though is that we have quite a few of these girl’s weekend celebrations under our belt. All of that experience adds up, and makes it much easier to put together perfect activities, itineraries and party swag! 
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Over the long weekend we had several barbecues to attend, and I got the idea to make a little homemade hostess gift to bring along to each party. I felt like a real rockstar for coming up with the idea, some homemade limoncello infused with a lemon thyme simple syrup, and getting them packaged up in pretty glass bottles tied with baker’s twine and fresh thyme sprigs. Let me tell you what was not a rockstar move: forgetting them all in the fridge before we embarked on our day of BBQ-hopping! I didn’t realize until I got home that night, that all of my cute hostess gifts were still chilling in the fridge. The good news is, the recipe won’t go to waste — you can find it below to DIY yourself — and the drinks won’t go to waste either. I’ll be pouring myself a limoncello and soda spritzer tonight! 
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Can you believe Easter is next weekend? It snuck up on me, which means this week I’m making sure Jane has a cute dress to wear, finishing up her Easter basket, and figuring out what I’m going to bring to my in-law’s dinner! One item already marked off my Easter prep list is coming up with a cute (and oh so simple!) hostess gift idea made with egg cartons and some chocolates. 
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