STAY FAV FIND: BIRDLING BAGS

This last weekend we had our photo shoot for our STAY COZY Collection that will be hitting our store shortly. We had so many things to get ready and pack and Kailee and I were both so excited that we had our Birdling weekender bags to stuff to the brim with our junk to haul to the shoot. You guys! These bags are top notch, fabulous quality and the details of it are perfection.  It is just the right size for your weekend getaway or to pile all your stuff in when you have too much to carry! 

Birdling is offering 10% OFF TO ALL OUR READERS, all you have to do is use code: STAYBIRDLING at checkout on their site. 

I love the leather accents, gold zippers and attention to detail. The fabric is heavy and durable and their color selections are fab! 

I also really love the separated compartments inside the bag to divide and organize your stuff. So well thought out.

(sneak peek of some of our colors that will be launching soon)

If you can't tell, we love these bags and we know you will too! Check out the Birdling site for my information. 

TRENDING NOW: BLACK & WHITE STRIPES

Today we have Erica from Conflicted Pixie sharing an awesome round-up. She is the queen of finding awesome products and we love this Black & White under $50 collage. Check out her blog for more of her fabulous ideas.

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I have always been a stripes-loving girl and it makes me so very happy to see all the black & white action in stores lately. Whether it is your wardrobe or home, it is easy to insert this modern, graphic pattern into what you already own. I especially love how the combination pairs so well with florals and primary colors like kelly green. 

There is a great selection of budget-friendly black & white striped options available and my favorites are all under $50. 

Happy shopping and pattern mixing! 

|01| Maxi Dress |02| Clutch |03| Bonjour Print |04| Throw |05| Skirt

|06| Bootie |07| Zebra Print |08| Dress |09| Planner |10| T-Shirt |11| Dog Bed

THE CONFLICTED PIXIE
@conflictedpixie

THANKSGIVING TABLETOP: A GEOMETRIC TWIST

This month for our Cricut Design Space Star Challenge, our team chose the theme: Tabletop/On the Table. I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to get something together for the holidays so I chose to think ahead to Thanksgiving. I wanted to put a modern twist on the traditional Thanksgiving decor so I decided on some geometric planters that I plan on putting fresh flowers in for the big turkey day. The more I use my Cricut Explorer, the more I fall in love with it and all the possibilities!

I combined a bunch of elements to get my tabletop centerpiece so I will break it down for you. Check out the tutorial below.

I was inspired by Sara's wooden box centerpieces. But of course, being the gold lover that I am, I knew I needed to throw that in somehow and I wanted to add some color so I decided to make some paper flowers using Cricut's Large Flower Cartridge (downloadable version on design space).

Here is what I did...

Supplies:

• balsa wood (I got mine at Michael's)
• wood glue (or hot glue would work great as well)
• exacto knife
• card stock - gold glitter card stock or whatever you want to decorate your boxes with, as well as colorful card stock for the flowers
• gold Cricut pen 
• plants or flowers (I used my Ikea plants as well as other florals I had in my closet for the styling of the photos)

Directions:

1. Decide how big you want your boxes to be - I wanted 3 varying sizes and heights to make a statement in the middle of my table. I chose to use Balsa wood because it is so easy to cut. I started with the largest and then went from there, kind of eyeballing it and cutting as I went along. Grab something to put under the wood as you cut with your exacto knife and just go for it making sure all your sides are the same size (duh, right?)  Super easy!
2. Once I had all my pieces cut, I glued the edges together with the wood glue. Stand the pieces up as you do this to make sure they are all touching the table so that when they dry, they will stand properly. I used random kitchen objects to help prop up the sides as they dried. I decided not to worry about putting a bottom piece on because I knew I would have to put the pots or flowers in a vase of sorts inside the boxes anyways. Let dry for an hour or so.
3. Once you have assembled your boxes, you are ready to decorate. I chose 3 types of gold paper to vary the looks of each box. In hindsight, I could have used gold vinyl to eliminate the gluing step. Next time!
4. I measured my boxes out to see how big I wanted my geometric shapes to be.
   
5. I then designed my imperfect squares and triangles in Illustrator, uploaded them to Design Space and cut them on my Cricut Explorer. This literally only took like 3 minutes! So much better than cutting everything by hand. I used a basic rectangle that comes free on Design Space and resized it to make my gold strips for the smallest box. 
   
6. Once everything was cut, I laid it out and glued the card stock on the balsa wood using plain old school glue. Let dry and your boxes are done!
7. I used the Cricut Explorer again to make the simple "Thankful" sign. It's awesome that you can write and cut at the same time! I just put the Cricut gold pen in, typed it out in Design Space and added the rectangle around it to cut it.
   
8. I made 2 little legs with the Balsa wood so my "Thankful" sign would stand on it's own in front of my wooden boxes by cutting small squares with a slit to slide the paper in.
   
   
   
9. Once I had these two things done, I wanted to add some color and what better way that with flowers? The Large Flower Cartridge was the perfect touch! I downloaded the templates for the flowers right there on Design Space, sized them and let the Explorer do it's thing. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. The flowers took a little bit of some time to assemble and glue, but nothing you can't do in front of your favorite TV show for 40 minutes. I used this tutorial to follow to put them all together. Once they were made, I just placed them on the table to add the finishing touch to my Thanksgiving centerpiece. 

You can check out the rest of my team's Tabletop ideas below. Such talented ladies! Thanks Cricut for these fun monthly challenges!

To see these amazing projects, click on the links below:

1: Kiki and Company

2: Stay and Co.

3: Kristi Murphy

4: Beauty Babbler

5: Two Thirty Five Designs

6: A Ruffled Life

7: Frenchie Wraps

8: Girl Inspired

9: Sweet C's Designs

10: The Life of the Wife

POST BABY WARDROBE

This post by Sara, our fav fashion contributor from Illume Gowns, comes at the perfect time for me! I know it has only been 3 weeks since baby Neve arrived, but after gaining weight and feeling like I have had no control over my body for 9 months, all I want to do is wear my old clothes again. I know you mamas can relate on this frustration. I love her ideas on the post baby wardrobe options. You better believe I am digging the lounge pants these days. The assortment of looks that Sara came up with below are perfect, check them out...

Make sure to check out Sara's website - she makes the most stunning wedding gowns I have ever seen! She also Instagrams over at @illumegowns

BACK TO SCHOOL PLAYROOM REFRESH

Meet Erica! She runs a fabulous blog called Conflicted Pixie that features all things creative, stylish and on trend. Her posts are chuck full of inspiration and great ideas. Go check it out! We are really super excited to have her as another one of our blog contributors and love this post about a back to school playroom refresh!

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It is hard to believe that summer is winding down and school will soon be back in session. I think it is important to provide a space for little ones to continue learning, creating, and playing at home after the school day is over. Decorating a space for little ones allows for a certain creative freedom you don’t have elsewhere in your home. Black and white with pops of color? Yes, please! And the more color the better.

 |01| Faux Sheepskin Rug | Kids love to be on the floor and these rugs are budget friendly and oh so cozy.

|02| Campaign Desk | The design of this desk will make Mom swoon, the color keeps kids interested. Bonus: Desk is 15% off through Monday, August 25^th.

|03| Free Panda Printable Wall Art | These adorable Panda prints could be framed, hung with washi tape, or decorated and pinned to a cork strip.

|04| Felt Garland | The colors in this garland pair perfectly with the bright green desk.

|05| Gold Pouf | Pouf perfection! Once the kids tire of it, move it to your living room…wink, wink.

|06| Oversized Floor Lamp | I have seen versions of this floor lamp for double…even triple the price of this one.

|07| Desk Chairs | Let each little one pick their own chair color to personalize the space.

|08| Graphic Rug | Add this seriously fun and modern rug to tie it all together.

|09| Wall Clock | Functional décor that looks cool is always a great addition. 

|10| Wall Decals | Do you think the plus sign could be a subliminal reminder to do their math homework?

|11| Cork Strips | A perfect place to display art, projects, and achievements brought home from school. 

|12| Floor Bin | You can never have enough storage and the pattern on this bin gets an A+.

|13| Countdown Chalkboard | It seems as though kids are always counting the days until something special. This chalkboard can help them keep track of their countdown.

AND how could you put all this goodness together? Why not create two unique spaces in one room?

The first being a study space with that beautiful, green desk and oversized floor lamp, and the other could feature a chalkboard painted wall close to the floor. Lounging and doodling…can this Mom play too?

CONFLICTED PIXIE

@conflictedpixie

DIY ARMY INSPIRED BAG

Are you familiar with the Design Space Star Challenge? It's been floating around the internet and we are excited to be part of this challenge! We have joined up with 9 other blogs to create our team, team #16, where we can enter our individual designs into the monthly contest, hoping to win prizes. We are challenged to create a monthly project (through December) based on a category that Cricut gives us, using their Cricut Explore machine. This month the challenge from Cricut was gear/clothing and our team chose Military. I had fun with this one especially because our fall/winter line coming from STAY & Co. has some fun camo's and greens hues. It totally got my pumped for what is coming!

To be honest, I (Megan) was afraid of the machine, even though I have wanted one since they came out at the beginning of the year. I was impressed with how user friendly and easy it is to use. The options are endless - you can cut leather, fabric, vinyl and everything in between. Once you have an idea in your head, the Cricut Explore can do it! Ok, so yeah, I love it.

Back to my project...

I tend to love more simple/basic things, so I made sure I didn't go overboard with my design. I wanted to create something unisex so either of my kids could use it. I created my design in Illustrator from inspiration I found online and let the Cricut Explore do the rest (see basic instructions below):

Directions:

1) I found the bag (and camo scarves) I used at a local Army Surplus store. I had never been and I was instantly obsessed. They had a million bags (new and used) for amazing prices. My kids were in heaven looking at all the military items and cool gadgets. This bag was $8!

2) I looked online for military inspiration and new I wanted to incorporate a star and some gold in there somewhere. I created the decal in Illustrator, uploaded it into Cricut's Design Space online and had the Explore cut it out using black leather that I randomly had in my closet.

3) I also had the Cricut Explore cut the 2 scarves I purchased into strips as well as a small leather strip for detail on the added scarves (see photos below). 

4) I spray painted the smaller star and leather strip gold with my favorite gold spray paint and then glued the decal onto the bag. I tied the scarves to the metal part of the bag and glued the gold leather strip around the top. 

I had a lot of fun doing this month's design challenge and am thrilled to be working with Cricut.  I will keep you posted if I need your votes :) 

*Disclosure: I am a member of the Cricut Blogger Network. I may receive prizes in exchange for my winning projects. Even though I am not being directly compensated for these posts, I am under consideration for a prize with Cricut Design Space Star. All opinion are 100% my own. This post does contain affiliate links.

Identify Your Style

We are more than thrilled to have Sara of Illume Gowns as one of our contributors here on the STAY + Co. blog! You guys, she designs the most gorgeous and unique wedding gowns. I kind of wish I could get remarried so I could get my hands on one of her dresses. I love her post she prepared on identifying your style, check it out.

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ILLUME GOWNS

@illumegowns