Teacher Appreciation Gifts

This was Ava's first year in school, I love her teachers she had this year for Pre-K. They set the bar high for all future teachers. All teachers give so much to their students and the families, I love that there's Teacher Appreciation Week set aside to give them all the love they deserve. Truthfully I think we should do this year round for our teachers, but it's nice that there's a week set aside for them. 

I whipped up a set of mason jar tumblers to give to her teachers this year. These are super simple and I've been making them for a while whenever I need a quick gift. I used this tutorial for the lids.

I added some Starbucks Via packets to the inside of the jars. You could also add Crystal Light packets or something similar. I also had Ava write each of her teachers a personal thank you to add to each gift. 

The colorful straws are from World Market. I just love how bright and fun they are! Put them in a gift bag and you're set to go! These would also make adorable end of the year gifts for your teachers too!

What are some of your favorite things to give the teachers in your life?

NEW Wedding Stationary from Shutterfly + $100 Giveaway!

This post is sponsored by Shutterfly. 

Shutterfly has come out with a line of new wedding invitations and suites. I love all things Shutterfly, we've used them for our birth announcements, holiday cards and of coarse photo books we make each year. 

Their new line of wedding invitations has something for everyone, with beautiful designs and coordinating RSVP cards, address labels and thank you notes you can't go wrong with their beautiful collections. I've chosen four of my favorite designs to show you below. 

Forever Hearts

With beautiful trim options, tons of designs to choose from and everything can be personalized there are tons of ways to customize your invitations (you can add designs to the back) and make them your own. 

Love Never Fades

Love and Laughter Forever

If you're planning a rustic, glam or vintage inspired wedding I think this collection is just perfect for that! 

Graceful Elegance

Each invitation is sized 5x7 and includes direction enclosure cards, address labels, RSVP cards, and thank you cards for your choosing. 

Does this post have you planning your wedding all over again?! I love how easy that make it for couples to choose and plan their invitations. 

Not getting married anytime soon? No problem Shutterfly has tons of amazing things on their site to choose from! Today, Shutterfly is giving away 1 lucky blog reader a $100 shop credit to their site. Giveaway will run from today till Friday 4/24. Use the Rafflecopter below for your entries. 

Styling  | The TomKat Studio

Photography  |  Ten22 Studio 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This post is sponsored by Shutterfly in exchange I received compensation and or product for my review. As always my thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. As I only promote products/services that I use and truly love and think my readers will as well. 

Ava's Modern Elsa Party

Ava turned five a few weeks ago. I can hardly believe that she's five. I'm pretty sure each birthday that goes by I say that, but it's true. This year though, I think because five is such a milestone year I was more of a mess about it. She's five now, she's so big and I feel like over night she just grew. 

This birthday she had lots of ideas and opinions of her own for what she wanted her birthday party to be. Truthfully I was thinking that we'd just not have a party this year, but then when she came to me with all her ideas I thought "how can we not have a party?"

She wanted and "Elsa" party, not a Frozen party..... just Elsa. She wanted to make crowns and decorate cupcakes as well. So we set out to throw a fabulous Elsa themed party, but a modern one. As much as my five year old loves all things Elsa and Frozen Mama does not. So I set out to do a Elsa themed party without buying everything Oriental Trading Co had to offer. 

I found the Pinwheel party collection from Minted and I knew it would be perfect for this party. I loved the icy blues and the chevron details. Also the swirls looked like snow to me and I thought it would coordinate well. All of the table confetti, Hooray flags, bunting, and food signs are from this line. Minted has some great party collections, check them out here. 

All the parties I throw start with an invitation, for me they set the tone. I found a few that I liked on Etsy and then let Ava choose the one she likes best from the ones I choose. She choose this one from Paper Tinker. I had Beca change the wording a bit since this was an "Elsa" party. She was great to work with and I love how the invite turned out. Every year I put them in her baby book as well. 

Dessert tables are always so fun to put together. This year we kept the really simple and just had a variety of desserts. I made them all myself a day before the party to keep party day stress free. I frosted my cupcakes an hour before to make sure they were fresh. The adorable donut trees are inspired by Paging Super Mom. When I saw them online I knew I wanted to make them for this party. They just scream snow! 

Frozen drink station, simple punch and water. The glass bottles with paper straws are always a favorite of mine. The paper straws are from The TomKat Studio. Drink dispensers are from Zulily. 

We set up a dress up station for all the girls that came. We asked them to come in their favorite party dress or princess dress. It was fun watching them change outfits over and over again throughout the party. 

As I said, Ava wanted to make crowns. Lucky for me crowns were apart of the Pinwheel Collection from Minted. They each had a different pattern already on them, we just jazzed them up with some glitter and gems from the craft store. The crowns also came with a string that you could add so you could keep it on. 

We also let each girl decorate their own cupcakes. Cupcake wrappers and plates from The TomKat Studio.

I kept the party favors simple this year, I found these mini Frozen coloring books in the dollar section and added a Frozen lip balm that I found in a multi pack at WalMart. They were the perfect little treat to take home. 

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl, Mommy and Daddy can't believe you're five! Please stop growing now! 

Trying to get all these girls to look and smile at the same time... good luck! It was so fun watching Ava with all her friends. I love seeing them interact together. 

Paper Straw, Cupcake Wrappers, Plates TomKat Studio

Invitation Paper Tinker

Pinwheel Party Decor c/o Minted

Happy 5th Birthday Ava!

Today our sweet baby girl turns five. I can hardly believe that this milestone is already here for her and our family. Five years ago today, she made me a mama. She made us parents and what a joyful ride it's been.

She's kinda, smart and sweet. She is sensitive and caring towards others. She loves people deeply already. She is strong willed and one day I know she'll change the world. 

She loves Jesus. She has shown me even more these last five years how deep the Father's love for us is, and she doesn't even know it. Sometimes I think she's taught me more than I've taught her. 

Happy 5th Birthday Ava! from Andrea Worley on Vimeo.

I'm so glad she's ours, and we're so proud to be her Mommy & Daddy. We love you Ava, Happy Birthday! 

Behind the Scenes on the World Market Easter Shoot with JustDestiny Mag.

A couple weekends ago Ava and I got to participate in a fun photo shoot with JustDestiny Mag & World Market showcasing some of their Easter stuff. We had a really fun morning just us girls. Ava and I got up and went to breakfast early before the shoot, it was a fun Mommy & Ava day! 

I thought it would be fun to share with you a little behind the scenes video I took of our experience that day! To view all the posts and see the talented work of the team of bloggers behind this shoot, visit JustDestiny Mag here for more. Enjoy the video!