Two Kids and a Party

Pinterest for Photos

2011-10-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

Besides DIY projects, crafts and recipes one of my other favorite uses for Pinterest is photo ideas. When I booked my maternity photo shoot I had a specific vision for the kinds of photos that I wanted, so I created a pin board of Maternity Photos. Then sent the link to my photographer.

You can see how the photo shoot went by taking a look at the Shutterfly book that I made:

Click here to view this photo book larger

You'll love award-winning Shutterfly photo books. Start your own today.

Hair-spiration

2011-10-19T10:30:00.001-07:00

A while back I got a little hair inspired by Pinterest. My daughter is getting to the age where she wants to do her hair more than she lets me do it, so was very honored when she let me try a few of my new hair style finds.
First up, the criss cross

Source: shedoeshair.blogspot.com via Amber on Pinterest

and here is how it turned out:

Pretty good if I do say so myself

You Pin, I Pin

2011-10-18T10:30:00.001-07:00

Everyone Pins! I am talking about Pinterest of course. I have an addiction to pinning and repinning, and not to actually DOING what I have pinned. I am determined to change that though!
I am going to "Get PINspired with the Subfertile Frugalista!"

Source: subfertilefrugalista.com via Christina on Pinterest

I have over 500 pins from the last 38 weeks. I went and looked to see what my first pin was it was this nursery:

I think that should give me some place to start, especially since we are finishing up all the prep work for the Boo Bash. Here are a few of the items I am hoping to get completed:

Pumpkin Pop

Source: marthastewart.com via Amber on Pinterest

Pretzel Spider Webs

Source: momendeavors.com via Amber on Pinterest

Pumpkin Clementines

Source: princessandthefrogblog.blogspot.com via Amber on Pinterest

Spider Lollipops

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Amber on Pinterest

October Photo Challenge Day 11 - something blue

2011-10-11T22:12:00.001-07:00

Day 11 - something blue, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

I love this ring! It is my "princess" ring.

October Photo Challenge Day 10 - childhood memory

2011-10-10T22:11:00.001-07:00

Day 10 - childhood memory, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

I loved this book when I read it in the 4th grade. This was actually the copy my mom saved and now my daughter is reading it!

October Photo Challenge Day 9 - someone you love

2011-10-09T22:07:00.001-07:00

Day 9 - someone you love, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

My #1 love

October Photo Challenge Day 8 - a bad habit

2011-10-08T22:06:00.001-07:00

Day 8 - a bad habit, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

My 44oz Diet Coke

October Photo Challenge: Day 7 - fruit

2011-10-07T22:04:00.001-07:00

Day 7 - fruit, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

October Photo Challenge: Day 6: From a low angle

2011-10-06T22:04:00.001-07:00

Day 6, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

October Photo Challenge: Day 5: From a high angle

2011-10-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

Day 5, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

October Photo Challenge: Day 4: Something Green

2011-10-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

Green in more ways than one! These are a few of our green gDiapers. They are a part of our cloth diaper stash.

October Photo Challenge: Day 3: Clouds

2011-10-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

IMG_1039.JPG, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

This morning I woke up to an almost cloudless sky. I decided then my cloud photo would either be boring or a sunset shot.

Then I left to go pick up the kids from school. As I was driving the sky transformed and a storm moved in. Looking one direction the sky was still bright blue with fluffy white clouds. The opposite direction was grey skies. As I waited for the kids the clouds opened and rain started pouring. At one point the rain was pounding so hard I swore it was hailing. The rain lasted about 30 minutes then it was bright and sunny again. Only in Arizona do we have a 100 degree rainy day.

October Photo Challenge: Day 2: What you wore

2011-10-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

IMG_1036.JPG, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

I did take a few outfit photos with the self-timer, but I didn't like how they came out. I was just going to post one and be done, but then I saw that a few others had taken a creative spin on today's prompt. I liked that idea better, so I snapped this photo. This necklace is a family necklace designed by my late paternal grandmother. I love the story so I want to document it and share.

My grandma only had 3 boys. When the first of the boys got married she wanted a special way to welcome the new daughter-in-law to the family. The design she came up with was a grapevine with a bunch of 6 grapes, one grape for each family member. I guess I should mention our family lived in Napa, CA, the heart of wine country. The engraving on the back always said "Welcome to the bunch."

This pendant design was used each time one of her son's got married, each time adding a grape to the bunch. For example, my mother was the second so her necklace has 7 grapes. One Christmas the daughter-in-laws even took the design and had one with just the 5 original grapes and Engraved "The original bunch" on the back.

My necklace was given to me on my 16th birthday. I was the oldest of the 6 grandkids on that side of the family, and one of only 2 granddaughters. As you can see my necklace has 2 bunches. One bunch with the original 5 and a new bunch with 6 grapes. We are the "New bunch"

This necklace is very special and irreplaceable. The jeweler went out of business many years ago. I only wear it on days that I feel like I need my grandma with me. I had a memorial to attend this afternoon that I knew would be difficult. Wearing the necklace helped give me some inner peace.

October Photo Challenge: Day 1: Self Portrait

2011-10-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

IMG_1014.JPG, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

I decided to snap my self portrait standing outside to get the best light. It was a little too bright though, hence the squinty eyes. You do get a little peak at the little man in the photo though. His Old Navy outfit is really adorable today if I do say so myself.

October Photo Challenge

2011-10-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

Yep, time for another photo challenge!!

This is the list of daily challenges:

Source: whitepeachphoto.com via Merissa on Pinterest

I already took my first photo and it is uploading. Head over to Our Wired Lives to join in the fun! Here is the link up as well:

A Thomas Party

2011-08-29T11:30:00.001-07:00

Our grandson, Little Man, wanted a Thomas Party. For this 6 year old, it’s been Thomas for a few years now. He loves his trains. We had taken him to A Day Out With Thomas back in March which put a smile on his face and will be something he will always remember.

A Thomas party it was to be, but with a twist…WATER ~~FIGHT~~ PLAY was to be our activities. With temperatures of 113, or there about, what better games are there. We also had a twist with date and locations which caused some conflicts but allowed us to have two parties. Around here, with 9 grandchildren, work schedules, visitations, timing, with all the extended families, it can be tricky with the scheduling, but we have learned to just roll with it. And we did just that!

What was involved in the creating this Water Fun Time?

First you need a lot of buckets. Big and small. Lots of water squirting toys, water spray bottles, sponges and water balloons. LOTS OF WATER BALLOONS!

I shopped at the dollar store for most of it and Walmart for the larger buckets, separated color water balloons (they were perfect, thinking I should now stock up on some) and water guns ( we have used the Dollar Store ones before and they either don’t work or the kids can’t squeeze the stiff trigger). We hand tested each of the $1 ones at Walmart and they came in matching colors to the balloons. Perfect! Some of the water supplies were also used in each dollar store buckets, along with bubbles, goggles, lollipop, and a silly straw cup as their favor, not only to take home but to use at the party as well.

Place settings were from Party City as were the cute, easy to use, Thomas visors. The table covering was left over from the carwash supplies coming up next.

This is what inspired the water play party! I found this idea at Design Dazzle and her Summer Camp Link Up Party and changed it up some for our party, theme and colors. In searching, I found so many different ways of constructing one. With a design planned out and a list of supplies needed…

Eight 10-foot lengths of 3/4-inch PVC pipe

The following 3/4-inch PVC fittings:

12 T's

2 crosses

7 elbows

4 caps

one 1-inch to 3/4-inch T

1 straight fitting

1 female hose adapter (threaded)

….once home from Home Depot, Grandpa got to work building the frame.

Then it was my turn to transform it into our version of the car wash.

I used Dollar Store noodles and their plastic table covers to jazz it up. Using just a steak knife I cut the noodle on one side only and was able to slip it over the top pipes. The two in the front, the green ones, I actually pushed them over the pipe. I used PAM cooking oil spray first and just worked them down the pipe. Make sure you do this on a towel as the oil will make a mess! Fishing line was used to hang the blue ones from the middle pipe,then top with a noodle. The curtain was cut in equal strips, 2 blue, 2 green, 1 orange, then cut again into smaller strips, stopping about 6 inches from the top. I overlapped them and used duck tape to hold in place then slip the noodle over it. The short orange ones were pushed over the pipe like the green ones. At house we supported it with the porch post. At our sons, we had some difficulty due to wind. We forgot to bring small bags of rock to weigh it down. Unfortunately it blew over a couple times and the last crash broke a fitting. Fixable but it closed the car wash for the day.

As things were coming together, I remembered I had some slings from years ago so I hunted them down and found that of the 2 we had, 1 had been destroyed by our great weather. No problem, we can work with it. If your interested in where I found them Amazon has the ones I bought. I was amazed how many different ones there are now, since mine are almost 10 years old.

Now to figure out how to hook it up. The directions call for two to hold the handles while one pulls back and launches the balloon. Well, with teens or older, yes, but with 9 and under kids, they didn’t have enough ump to launch it far nor could they hold strong enough to stretch it. In my searching around the house I found the bar bell holder thing, or what ever it is called, and thought, it just might do the job. What do you think?

We still have it out and think it will be used on my Grandma Wednesdays for awhile. We put out targets for them to shoot at, but I think they had more fun shooting them high for Bella. The “Grands” were introduced to and soon discovered that water balloons are a LOT of fun!

Back to party prepping….

Decorations were made from supplies on hand. Construction paper, fancy scissors, and streamers folded like….

…were transformed…

…and remember those pom-poms I made for this party, and recycled them again and again for these…well they got used one last time.

The blue fans were bought with the Thomas supplies. I used the front of the invitation and cut out Thomas then attached it to the fan with double sided tape.

Another decoration that came from supplies on hand were the balloon bowls. I found the directions at Martha Stewart. They are made out of paper plates. I covered the rubber band with some of the streamer and they worked great for holding the balloons and cost absolutely nothing!

Before we got word of our first celebrations snag, I had put together the cupcake plate, using a multi-colored pack of water balloons, a couple glass containers, and 2different sized glass plates.

I did not want to glue them together, so what I did was blow up a few balloons, just small enough to fit in the container. When you add the balloons you won’t need as many to fill it. Make sure your balloons domes up just a little and position a few of the balloons so that they lay on the rim of the container.When you add the plate, my first layer was a large serving platter so it weighed it down perfectly, the balloons helped it to not move. Add a few balloons in the center of your next plate before adding your next container. This helps the second layer, a dinner size plate, from slipping. If I had some of that no move putty stuff I use for pictures on the wall, I would have used that, but for this event, the balloons worked great. The plan was to have one of the jumbo muffin sized cupcake on the top, with Thomas and his friends around it. The first layer was to hold regular sized cupcakes in primary colors with Thomas toppers. I’m sure we will do a water party again and will use this idea again.

When the first weekends event was over, things were packed down to be set up again at our sons house. While the men kept the birthday boy busy outside working on a motor (typical for this gang) the girls decorated the table area for our next celebration.

This time there was cake!

…And lots of water fun…

What a water-fun-tasticly-filled party we had…not once but twice!

Oh! Don’t forget the adults, we got in on the fun too! There was definitely plenty for everybody to just let lose and have FUN!.

Sneak Peak...

2011-07-26T09:46:00.024-07:00

We're going to have a...

PARTY!

Perfect for an August birthday in the desert! Perfect for this family who needs some out right FUN in our yard! Perfect since we have almost everything we need to pull this together.

It just can't be a simple water fight party...oh no! Not in this house!

With only a couple weeks notice I began searching for idea's, I found this through Design Dazzle and her Summer Camp Link Up Party .

at Yvonne Byatt's Family Fun she shared some wonderful ideas...but the car wash, well it was the icing on the cake, the item that will take a regular water party over the top! So this weekend, with the tutorial provided, hubby and son will be making our own version of the car wash and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

With that delegated out, knowing we leave in a week for a mini much needed vacation, I need to get some of the decorations done before we leave.

Just a sneak peak into the making of a water fight party!

Gentlemen…Start Your Engines!

2011-07-12T10:34:00.001-07:00

Boogity, Boogity, Boogity…let’s go racin boys!

We had a blast putting this party together.

The concession stand was one of our make it from what you got cuz I don’t feel up to shopping creations! We had seen many ways of doing this and had intentions of attempting at least one of them but things just didn’t go that way. The valance was an old white sheet I cut to the size I wanted, allowing for it to fold over the rod, painted on the words and hung the rod on top of the curtain rods of the bay window.

Again we used that table hubby made me oh so long ago…like a couple years actually. We use it for just about everything now. With sheets from the linen closet I created the table cover and skirt. The gas signs are bandana’s pinned to a foam board. I used color matching photo boxes for the chips and kettle corn. It needed some other color so I found wrapping paper to make flags from and added it to the warmer as well. Found rick rack in the sewing cabinet and with double sided tape added some color.

The favors….

Thank you Wypall for all the bags, Sprint for the lanyards, O’Rielly for all the pens and stickers, Lucas for the chap sticks, and gee, there were just so many race vendors that gave us supplies the list would be so long!. One cool thing was the kids got Green Lantern posters and tattoo's as they had revealed the car and movie at the races that weekend. Oh and my daughter made those authentic looking pit passes.

Beverages were served out side by where the kids table to eat was set up. Everyone complemented my daughter on the use of the gas can for the beverages. DO NOT use used ones. We bought new one and washed them before using.

The table was simple and the center piece was a last minute put together. Fish bowl, flags and some tissue paper is all it was and took all of about 5 minutes to put together.

I had an old Kevin Harvick stand-up that I cut the head off. Using a chair to help support it as well as a place to kneel or for some stand, it helped get their head to fit in the right place.

They really had a lot of fun with it.

Once their photo was taken it was time to create their frame while I printed out the pictures.

There was also wood race cars to paint thinking maybe they could use them along with the frame, like a 2 dimension thing, but they kind of just did their own thing with all the supplies provided. All the pictures had magnets attached to the back for displaying on the fridge at home.

While I finished up attaching the pictures to the drying frames they all went out to the lawn where grandpa had painted an outline of a track. With a green flag they were off participating in a number of different foot race games. When the checker flag was thrown each winner won a trip to the prize table…

The cars and sticks up front on the table were used for one of the races they had on the track. All the supplies came from the NASCAR race we went to last November. If you haven’t figured it out, we are HUGE fans and have been season ticket holders at PIR (Phoenix International Raceway) since 1996. For our grandsons 5th birthday we took him to his first race and created the next generation of fans because he goes every year now. Now we take 5 of the grandchildren and their parents and…ok, I am going off the party here. If you want to see life outside of partying, check out my personal blog, Our Journey Through LIFE!

After games came gifts…

…and cake…

Ok, we cheated here! With a first trimester momma and an under the weather grandma, and usually the cake is NOT something we skimp on, but when the birthday boy saw this cake and liked it, we made it work.

It’s great to put the work into a party when it creates happy guest…

We now throw the checker flag on this NASCAR ~~race~~ party.

Do You Recycle?

2011-07-11T12:43:00.001-07:00

Not like aluminum or glass!

Party Props!

I’m sure you have if your like us!

Back in January we had a NASCAR Party (post to come soon) and I made pompoms for my light. Thank God I made them because they would save us down the road….

In February I threw up the lilac ones for one of the granddaughters birthday…

I used the yellow ones for Easter and Mother Day tables but for some reason (we all know why) I don’t have pictures.

Then for the 4th of July, I whipped them out again, using the red and the blue to add some festivity to an unplanned celebration….

It might be time to retire these recycled pompoms! They can only be flattened and puffed out so many times before they start to tear. I bet I could get some more mileage on them though…we’ll see if they make it to another party. We still have 4 more grandchildren's whose Birthdays are coming up and since life around here lately has been unpredictable, they might just come in handy again.

LIFE’s Been a Party!

2011-07-11T09:09:00.001-07:00

I have a number (ok, a lot!) of post to get together of parties we managed to do in between our craziness. Before I do that though, I wanted to explain where we have been and what we have been doing. I wish I could say we were off on some world cruise…!

With the news of our daughter expecting in November, we knew then the roller coaster we just climbed on. Our daughter does not carry a child well. It’s like her body thinks the baby is a foreign object or something. What we didn’t know then was that this would be the first of what was to come.

In December, an MRI of our son’s pelvic showed a LARGE growth. Already being hit by that bug back then that kicked ones butt, this news left me numb. I have been on this roller coaster before, happy on one hand (A new baby on the way), sad on the other hand (for what we know is ahead)!It is possible this news and the worries made that bug linger around. I was just zapped! Had no idea then it would be months before we knew exactly what we were dealing with and the news was not good. An osteochondoroma had transformed into a Chondrosacoma and the journey ahead was going to be rough one. In April they removed the LARGE tumor, and our son’s leg was saved, a rare thing with this type of cancer, but it hasn’t been easy for him. he is now learning to walk again and is driven to be back on the fire truck by next month. I think he can, I think he can….If you knew our son, this is a possibility. While in rehab when something new was introduced, he would say, I think I can or I can try….it was NEVER I can’t, I don’t want to…So yes, I think he can!

Dealing with his cancer and our daughters high risk pregnancy, we were bouncing back and forth like a tennis ball. Here for her, there for him, and in between we had birthdays, showers, and a birth. I’ll let my daughter share her birth story but for this mom, is was scary and after having gone through what we have with our son, the feeling of losing my daughter, well, let’s just say I WANT OFF THIS RIDE!

LIFE has been a party though and I will get to sharing those here soon.

Introducing

2011-06-28T20:14:00.003-07:00

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

A new Shutterfly Project

2011-05-14T17:25:00.001-07:00

I love using shutterfly! They have such a great array of products. These are the thank you cards I just made for my baby shower gifts.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Shabby Chic Tea Baby Shower

2010-11-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

I was honored to be able to plan and host a baby shower for my very best friend. She is expecting her second little boy, so early in the planning we decided it would be a small intimate affair at a local garden restaurant.

As guests sat down they were greeted with a packet. I found an adorable poem:

Inside the packet was a few games for the guests to play while we waited for lunch to arrive. There was a celebrity baby matching game and a fill in the blank “mother” game. Since we were not playing for prizes I included the answers at the back of the packet. The best part of the packet was the labor story mad lib game that I found. The mom-to-be actually collected the stories at the end because they were so funny.

I knew that the tables would be small, so I made a small topiary for each table and limited the “extras” to a water bottle and favor. We did bring our own tablecloths. The ones at the restaurant are a fruit pattern that didn’t match my color scheme.

The water bottle labels were very simple and only said “Welcome Baby Ben”

The favors were little boxes that I cut out of kraft paper with my Cricut. I attached a teacup to each favor and instructed guests to write their name on them to be used during the drawing for door prizes. The candy inside was a miniature Take 5 bar – the Mom-to-be’s favorite candy bar.

The shower was exactly what I had hoped for, a small quite affair that honored the Mom-to-be. The best part was that there was very little clean up! That is always my least favorite part of any shower.

Boo Bash - a Recap

2010-11-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Our Boo Bash was fantastic. We had 22 kids plus parents attend and the party was rocking!
As guests entered I took their picture at the Photo area we had set up.

Then they were directed around back for some beverages and food inside.

After most of the guests arrived we started playing games with the kids

Pin the Nose on Jack (o' Lantern)

Cupcake/Treat Walk:

Spider Web Bulls Eye

Ring Around The Pumpkin

Bobbing For Apples:

The Candy Bar was a huge hit. To keep it organized we divided the kids by age and let them “Trick or Treat” at the candy bar.

And some close up’s from the cupcake & treat table:

I loved how our candy corn tissue poms came out:

and the Ghost lanterns

The party was such a hit and I know the guests enjoyed themselves!

Christmas is coming

2010-11-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

Since 2005 I have been designing and printing my own Christmas cards. The past few years I have used digital scrapbooking supplies and a digital picture to try and top last year's card.

2005 - We Wish You a Merry Kissmas
Printed at home with a scanned photo of the kids, then mounted on cardstock.

2006 -
Printed at Walgreen's it- took 3 times to get it not cut off wording on the edges.

2007 – This was the first year I used Shutterfly it print my Christmas cards and I loved the results.

2008 - Our first "family" Christmas card with Bill. We were not officially engaged yet, but I was wishing and hoping it would be happening soon in preparation for our September 2009 wedding.

2009 - Printed with Shutterfly again. I originally made a card with black and white photos of the kids and us from the wedding, but when they arrived from Shutterfly the pictures were too dark. The fabulous customer service at Shutterfly helped me and I was able to upload a 2nd design with photos of just the kids that looked much better.

This year we are excited to announce that our Christmas card will be sharing the news of a new addition that is on the way!

My computer time at home is more limited with this new addition taking a lot of my extra energy, so instead of making a card from scratch I am trying to decide on one of the Holiday Photo Cards from Shutterfly. I love the new 5x5 Holiday cards that they have this year, and it is something new and different that I haven’t done before:

I also like that they have folded Christmas Cards that they will print on the inside of the card as well. These are some of my favorite folded cards:

In addition to my Christmas cards, I am planning to have my 2011 calendars printed at Shutterfly too. I made one for 2008 and loved the quality and everyone loved them!

I was already planning on using Shutterfly this year, but when I found out that Shutterfly was offering bloggers 50 free cards, I took the time to put this post together and show off my past cards.

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Missing in Action!

2010-10-22T15:27:00.001-07:00

Sorry we haven’t posted in a while…life in our neck of the desert has been busy!

It began with the birth of this little girl on October 3rd.

And …

And ours!

All the cousins got to meet her the following weekend and it was 4 fun-filled days of memories and partying.

They put on puppet shows, complete with popcorn…

It was full of sushi making…dress ups…riding bikes…swimming…park visits…and family meals unlimited! All around it was the best 4 days that will be remembered by all!

We have also been busy making treats and decorating for our upcoming Halloween Boo Bash!

Since I have been a bit under the weather as well, I haven’t been clicking away with the camera so pictures will have to wait till it is all put together. With the antibiotics doing their job, the last couple of days have been even more productive.

With a 25th Birthday Concert here tomorrow I am glad to be feeling better and we will capture the event for you all to check out.

Stay tune, there will be even more happening next week as the final touches unfold for our bash!

Friday Freebie!

2010-10-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

As I am sure you know, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month This year the tag line is:

Celebrating 25 Years of Awareness, Education, and Empowerment

In honor of this month Latisha at Eccentric Design Studio has put together an adorable printable freebie for everyone.

Head over and pick up this beautiful set on Eccentric Designs and leave her a note to say thanks.

A little Cricut Love

2010-09-29T11:08:00.002-07:00

As a scrapbooker/crafter I tend to always want the latest and greatest new gadget. Last year was no exception. After playing with a Cricut at the local scrapbook store while making the cut-outs for our cake walk wheel for the Boo Bash, I fell in love. It went to the top of my Christmas List!

I was so excited when I opened my gift from my mom, and I had a brand new Cricut Expression! I had heard so many great things from other crafters and scrapbookers that I was envisioning all the cool things I would be able to make. Then I saw the price of the cartridges and got discouraged. I played around a little with the two that I had and was able to make some cute Valentine's for my daughter's class:

I was pretty impressed with how quickly I was able to make these. I had 30+ of the little lollipop flowers done in one evening. After this project the Cricut just sat back in the corner waiting for the next time I would need it.

I don't think I turned it on for almost 4 months until I needed it to help me make the Closet Clothes Dividers that I made for my friends Candy Coated Baby Shower. Again, I just used basic shapes and letters. I still wasn't willing to make any investment into cartridges.

Then I read a blog by Kelleigh Ratzlaff about programs you could use with your Cricut to cut ANY design and ANY font! I have worked with digital scrapbooking supplies and was familiar with what could be done with Photoshop and a Printer. I just always hated the cutting part. Now that Kelleigh and Mari were offering cutting files I was very interested. It still took 3 more months, but I finally bit the bullet and bought Sure Cuts A Lot. I have spent the last few weeks finding cutting files and downloading them. Now I have SO many ideas in my head. Banners, favor boxes, cupcake wrappers, cupcake toppers, party supplies galore right at my fingertips!! I have also found a few more digital scrapbook stores that sell cutting files, and I am always on the lookout for more:

Later this week I will be showing you how I made our adorable Boo Bash invitations with digital scrapbooking supplies and my Cricut. I can't wait till you see them!

How To Make a Cake Walk Wheel

2010-09-28T12:34:00.001-07:00

I am by no means a carpenter. But my hubby is a jack of most trades and when I have an idea that requires a saw, hammer or any mechanics he is my knight in shining armor.

I wanted a cake walk wheel for our Halloween Boo Bash and he again rode in on a white horse to my rescue.

The Wheel

We used a 30 inch round precut particle board table top. I believe we found it at Home Depot. I don’t know how much they are as we bought this years ago. It is used for the ‘Grands’ table for just about all holidays.

My hubby drilled a hole in the center and inserted a nylon bushing. This allows the round to spin on the base. You can see the bushing in the center of the table. I just leave it in and it isn’t ever in the way.

Before we reconstruct the wheel for this years Boo Bash I will paint the table top. I used foam sheets from Michaels in Halloween colors for the floor squares and matching wheel squares. You can get 4 squares from one 8 x 11 sheet for the wheel. Since I wanted them to be temporary I used double stick tape to attach them. My daughter has one of those cutting machines and made all the numbers for me and I found the cute silhouette’s at Michaels also. I added the pumpkin to the stand to mark the winning number. We thought about tacking small nails around the edge but since we use this table top we decided not to. If you decide to add the tacks nail them between the numbers and add a piece to the stand with a spring load of some kind so that it will bend as the wheel turns and make the usual spin sound.

The Walk

Using the same foam sheets as the wheel I spaced them around the treat table and secured them to the floor with double sided tape.

The Stand

My hubby used a left over metal fence post. He drilled holes in the top to attach the wheel to the post.

The base was something left over from an old weight bench set. It was the perfect size and the fence post slid right into it. This too will receive a coat of paint this year.

To secure it for our first party, he screwed it through the holes he drilled in the base to our subfloor. Not something I recommend unless you are under construction like we were. This year it will be set up outside on the deck. I’m not sure I want screw holes in my deck either so we will probably use a bungee cord and secure it to the post of the patio cover. I can add webbing and spiders along with some pumpkins to camouflage it. If it had a bigger base, securing might not be a problem. You just don’t want it to move when you spin the wheel.

The only problem we had was with balance. Because I attached the foam pieces I had to play around with it to not land on the same numbers all the time. This can be resolved with painting on your numbers and designs. Like I mentioned above, this year I will be painting it to match the floor mats. All I need to do is trace the numbers and silhouette’s and paint them in.

So there you have how we made our cake walk wheel.

Ghoulishly Gorgeous Gravestones by Susie Coelho

2010-09-24T14:33:00.001-07:00

Do you remember Susie?

I remember her hit series, “Surprise Gardener,” and would have loved for her to surprise me. Now she has “Outer Spaces,” where she and her team surprise homeowners with a beautiful outdoor living spaces.

She also has a website and of course I signed up for her newsletter. Today I received this awesome idea and immediately thought of my brother. He loves to spook up his yard for all the trick or treater’s he is fortunate to get.

Here are her directions to make these ghoulishly gorgeous gravestones:

Materials

Krylon Make It Stone!® Textured Paints - Black Granite (#18201) I LOVE this paint and have used it to repaint planter boxes to give them a new look.
Krylon Spray Adhesive - Spray Adhesive (#7010)
Krylon Glowz® - Glow-in-the-Dark (#3150)

Boxes - Various sizes (old shipping boxes work great)
Foam or wood letters
Various Halloween decorations
Hot glue or super glue

General Supplies

Packing tape
Newspaper or drop cloth
Large nails or ground stake
Scissors or craft knife

Instructions

Set up a spray area by covering a table or other work surface with newspaper or drop cloth in a well-ventilated area.
Assemble box leaving one end open (this will be the bottom of your gravestone).
Tape over folded seams.
Cut a name plaque to fit box from the cardboard of another and glue on using spray adhesive or hot glue.
Glue on letters to name plaque.
Embellish top of gravestone with glued on Halloween decoration: skull, bat or even a rat.
Paint entire gravestone with 2-3 coats of the Make It Stone color of your choice. Let dry between coats.
Once dry highlight areas with Krylon GLOWZ.
Place a stake in the ground and prop your boxes up, or you can nail them into the ground, using the flap.

Another simple idea from your friends at Two Kids and a Party. Have fun and if you make some, link back up to us and show us your creative work.

Ghostly Chair Covers

2010-09-23T21:37:00.004-07:00

Last Year when my daughter and I put together our 1st Boo bash I had found these cute chair covers from somewhere but for the life of me I can’t remember.

They are so, no sew, simple to make.

All you need are white pillow cases and a black fabric maker or two.

Put the pillow case over the back of the chair and mark where one side touches the seat. Remove it and cut across to remove this section of fabric. To finish the edge you can use iron on hem tape (my favorite thing) or sew it, or not, leaving a rough edge. it is your choice.

Place it back on the chair when finished. Out of wax paper, craft paper, printer paper, what ever you have available, cut your eyes. Position the pattern on the pillow where and how you are happy with them. Remove the case from the chair and insert a piece of cardboard inside the case where the eyes are pinned in place. Trace around the patterns then remove the pattern and finish by coloring in the eyes. .

That is all there is to it.

Then I thought, why not cover the bar stools. Each bar stool required two cases. Placing one on top of the other, then cutting at the side seams to fan over the legs. Position the top case so that it has the second case showing where your cut was. Do the same thing as with the chairs. Position your eyes where you want them on the top case and paint them in. I didn’t finish my raw edges but you can if you want.

I think I am going to go out a get a few orange cases and turn them into pumpkins for the kid size chairs. There are so many other possibilities, just let your imagination go with it.

Featured on

A Black and White Affair

2010-09-23T09:33:00.001-07:00

originally posted 5/9/2009

This was one of the classiest bridal showers I have attended in a long time. The bride's colors are simply black & white. There is no "pop" of color ... just black and white. Her wedding is May 22nd so I will be sure to have some pictures from then as well.

The shower was set up in the home of a friend and had multiple tables set up around the dining room and living room for everyone to sit at. Each table had a different black & white fabric under the centerpiece with a vase of flowers and frames with the bride and groom growing up.

The food was a wonderful mix of bunch items and a delicious cake. Lots of fresh fruit. My favorite was the potato casserole.

The cake was made and decorated by a friend of the bride's mom. It was a light and fluffy cherry chip cake with the most decedent buttercream frosting.

I don't have permission to post pictures of the guests but I wanted to show off the gift that I made for the bride. It is a bath towel wedding cake.

The bottom layer is 2 bath towels folded in thirds and rolled. The middle layer is 2 hand towels and the top layer 2 washcloths. To decorate the layers I printed off digital scrapbook paper and made 2" wide strips. Then added the white grosgrain ribbon. The monogram hand towel was the final touch that really pulled it all together. It took me less than an hour to assemble and decorate the cake. It was also a HUGE hit at the shower.

Halloween Treat bags

2010-09-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

Martha Stewart has some great idea's for favor/treat bags. Whenever we throw a party, Martha seems to show up in one way or another. So these are my favorites:

Witch's Broom

I loved this one so much, I actually made a sample. Kind of a trial run to see if I could do it. It was so simple so I shot the few stages it took to create it. Now I only have to make 11 more.

All you need is 2 bags per broom.

Punch out the bottom of the first bag, creating a triangle at the bottom.

This is the bag that will be the broom. Make thin cuts down to the base of the bag. There is no need to make perfect straight cuts, it is an old broom.

Take the second bag and cut strips down about 2 inches to form fringe as well.

Add your treat to this bag.

Place the treat bag on top of the first bag. Pull the fringe from the first bag up over the treat bag. Gather at the top and secure with a rubber band. The rubber band holds it while you wrap and tie the black twine around it. I just covered the rubber band with the twine.

I used a longer stick and actually pushed it through the rubber banded top till it touched the bottom. I found that only inserting part way made the bag top heavy. This way it became more stable and didn't try to fall over.

I Love how they came out.

Paper-Mache Treat Balls

I LOVE these...

And Martha's direction's make it seem so simple to make. I will have to try these also.

Her directions say to cover a small balloons with one layer of orange tissue paper and then one layer of yellow. To add the embellishment just cut out your shapes using black tissue paper, and attach them with diluted glue. When they are dry, enlarge the hole which is made by the knot of the balloon. Use a utility knife, then finish with scissors. Make a decent size hole so your treat fit through it. Once you have your party favors inside, paste a circle of orange tissue paper over the hole.

Halloween Crackers

We always have Christmas Crackers on our table and the kids love them.

Not sure we will make these for our party but I thought they were so cute.

If you like them, hop on over to Martha’s and see how she does it.

Goody Witches

I love these witches and who doesn't like popcorn ball.
It's been years since I have made popcorn balls and I will let you know how they turn out.
If I flop them, there are store bought ones available.
I think they will make a great addition to our treat table.

With all these cute little treats, any one of our Halloween party guest would be so happy and would love to take them home.

“Party Ideas” Challenge

2010-09-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Perfect…a party idea challenge by…

…and wouldn't you know, I am putting together 2 parties for next month.

Most have submitted party idea’s they already have done. I on the other hand will submit one that shows what I am planning and the steps it takes for us to create a great party.

The first one is for a wonderful ladies 25th birthday and not only will we be celebrating but will also have a concert. Her hubby plays in a band and so he wants to serenade her. How sweet!

So a theme board is the first thing constructed.

We just got through throwing a Rock Baby/BaBy-Q Shower, so a few of the items will be reused for this party. The table covers will be yellow and orange, so we can reuse them for the Boo Bash, and the water bottles will get labels celebrating her 25th. This function will be at night, and I have these perfect black tea lamps that will be perfect for the centerpiece's and blend well with the cardboard notes spread around the table.

To set the mood for the outdoor concert on the lawn, complete with lawn chairs and blankets, above the seating area will be the lanterns we used for our daughters wedding. Changing out the blue light to an orange one will work for the Concert Party, as it will for the Halloween Boo Bash. Also the pom-pom's will work great for her party and we will reuse them the following week.

I'm sure all our guest will have a really nice time, enjoying some awesome music and friends.

Happy 25th "T"!

So back to the oven I go to make a few more of these…

For directions on how to make them, click here here.

The next week we will be holding our 2nd Annual Halloween Boo Bash. Once again, a theme board is created. Though I would love to change it out, my budget this year is limited, so we will reuse again.

Using a lot of our decorations from last year, or even from other parties, will eliminate buying a lot of new things. Of course we will need plastic table covers that I pick up from the dollar store, treats, and maybe some other items to make the gala a notch better. One of our new things this year will be the Skull Putt-Putt my hubby will make for me. Having wood products left over from our remodel really helps, and an example of how to use what you have.

To see what else we plan to do check it out here.

I have been doing parties on a budget - that looked like I spent a fortune, since my kids were little. Back then we didn't have the internet or blogs to feed our imagination. Now I get to enjoy seeing how creative and enthused my daughter is to follow in my foot steps. The creativity has been passed on to all my children in one way or another, and they are now passing that creativity along to their children. It's become a Family Tradition to create all these wonderful parties. With eight grandchildren spanning most of the year, we get to create some really awesome celebrations for each of them. Toss in Baby Shower's, Easter, 4th of July, and Halloween, to name a few, the parties flow from one to the next. It is always a blessing to create these events for them, to see the joy on their faces, celebrating the family God has given us.

As I have said, reusing our party supplies really helps on the budget. Buy in bulk, buy on sale or clearance, tuck it away in a tub till needed. There is always a party around the corner at this house.

With good planning, anyone can create a memory without breaking the bank.

It’s all in the planning!

Very Adorable Baby Shower

2010-09-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

This Saturday afternoon I attended a baby shower for a friend at church. The ladies that put the shower together did a GREAT job putting together a “Very Hungry Caterpillar” baby shower for the mom to be. I don’t have any pictures from the actual party, so I decided to put together an inspiration board based on the ideas the ladies used at the event and some extras I thought would be fun to incorporate.

sources:
Food Display Signs
Table Decorations/Centerpieces
Lollipop Favor
caterpillar quilt
Fruit and Cheese Snack
Spinach Dip
Mini Cherry Cheesecake Tarts
Cake
Lantern Caterpillar
Diaper Cake

Preparing For Our 2nd Annual Boo Bash!

2010-09-21T10:40:00.001-07:00

Last year we had so much fun putting this together, that we plan to do something's the same, while adding some new things this year.

One of our new treats will be these cute little witches...

These came from Taste of Home, and will be a perfect addition to our bash. Also new will be witches broom treat bags, and witch popcorn balls that I found at Martha Stewart, they will tie in great with our Witch’s Wands we made last year and will do again this year.

Instead of our treat table being a covered up hutch,

It will go in the window where we had the candy buffet for the BaBy-Q Shower, using that table hubby made for me.

We will also get to actually use the dining room table for food this year. Some of our favorites will include the Candy Corn Pizza we did last year. It is so simple to make and who doesn’t like cheese pizza. Of course it will go along with the Mummy Dogs and Bone Bread Sticks we served . Last year I didn’t make enough so I will be making more this year so we don’t run out.

They were a big hit and thanks to Best Bites who had some really great food ideas last year. I can't wait to see what she comes up with this year. After all, one never has enough food with all the hungry ghouls and goblins running around.

Another new thing will be the pom-pom's that were so simple to make for the baby shower. Only this time I will use three colors to create these. My apologize to the creator of them. I forgot to copy her link.

They will hang perfectly over the craft table that I cover using $1 store table covers cut to resemble candy corn. Last year they made scarecrows, paper plate pumpkins, and decorate their own goody bag.

It will surely make a festive craft spot where the kids will get to paint their own pumpkins this year along with decorating their own candy bar bag. Our guest always seem to go home with lots of goodies. Not nutritious, but surely a lot of fun. Who needs to go trick–or–treating after they have been to our party!

With a completed dining room this year I will enjoy decorating it where I don't have to figure out how to cover up construction. This was our space last year. There were wires hanging from the ceiling that the cheese cloth ghost covered up, unfinished walls that made it feel kind of like a haunted house, and no flooring, just subfloor. It really did make it easy actually. No furniture allowed us so much space, we even had a cake walk around the goody bar. This year the cake walk will go outside. My hubby made the wheel for the cake walk for me. It turned out great and it worked out quite well. Even the cake walk will be able to be expanded out there. What else will be outside? There is a ghoulish corner where they will bob for apples and the opposite corner has a pumpkin toss (bean bags) game.

This year one of our new games will be a Skull Putt-Putt game.

My hubby will cut me out a huge skull and we’ll place it behind one of our tailgate bean bag toss games, which will give us a small ramp. It won’t be as good as this one, but it will work just fine. We’ll cover the ramp and a runway with fake grass and even add 2x4’s to the sides. The object will be to putt their ball into his open mouth without falling into the hole on the ramp.

We will also revise our Witches Brew (we used popcorn instead of water) race. The problem we had was with the dish we used to transport her brew. This year we will find a deeper container so we don’t have popcorn everywhere and they make it to the end with more then a couple kernels.

Time to pull out the Halloween boxes and plan our map of ghoulish games and stations.

Wait till you see how we pull it off this year!

Alice's Adventure to Wonderland

2010-09-21T07:00:00.039-07:00

My granddaughter wants an Alice in Wonderland party for her 7th Birthday ... but not the traditional Disney cartoon version, she wants a Tim Burton live action Alice in Wonderland party. The movie is her new favorite right now. She even wants to have an Alice costume like the one above for Halloween, so I plan on sewing one up this month. Since I have been looking at pictures and blogs to get inspiration for the costume, I thought I would begin doing all the pre-searching for party idea's as well. It's never to early to start the planning, right? Especially when we have 2 parties next month, a shower in November, then Christmas, and my grandson's 9th Birthday in January.

I found some party idea's, fun games and favors from Party Animal's Blog.

Originally my granddaughter wanted an "Out Party", which means one somewhere other then home. My daughter did some inquiring and there is a new place in town called Wild Imagination where the kids could paint tea cups and have a tea party afterwards. Though this is a great idea and would mean less work for us, I hope to persuade her to have one at the house instead. If am I unsuccessful, the favors and maybe the musical teacup game would be something we could take there.

Painted Teacups: To incorporate the Out Party with our In Party, I found a number of kits available for the kids to paint. They can go home with their own personal teacup they created.

The Favors - I loved the idea of a book bag, which can either be a plain gift bag, or as I tend to always do, take it a step further and actually make some out of canvas. They can be picked up at Micheal's for a couple dollar's, painted or appliqued with embellishments for the occasion. We'll see how creative I get between now and then. Her bookmarks are surely something my daughter will be able to create with no problem at all. In the bag she put a drink (Drink Me), a cookie (Eat Me) and a copy of the book with the bookmark (Read Me).

Flamingo Croquet - What better game to play then croquet, just like in the movie. This will surely be a lot of fun. I already have a croquet set so all I have to do is tweak it a bit.

Either we can buy some of these plastic guys or check out these from Kara's Party Blog and her guest party that had these cute flamingo's. I might be able to get grandpa to make one or two of these. Maybe searching the Internet will also be helpful. Making the wire tunnels into cards won't be hard at all. Some cardboard paper and paint will do the trick.

Tea Cup Races – I love this game idea. With teams, each team gets a tea cup and has to race to the other end, trying not to spill their tea (water) along the way and fill either a teapot or bucket. The first to do so wins. Another idea, since we plan to have our craft be the girls painting teacups, they could use their own teacup they made earlier.

We love music games as well so how about...

Musical Tea Party - Instead of musical chairs and the kids running around them, use teacups. On the bottom of one of the teacups place a sticker. Start the music and the kids begin passing the teacups around the table. When the music stops, the one holding the teacup with the sticker, leaves the table. Remove a teacup and start the music again.

How could I pass up this party game idea...our 'Grands' love bubbles, and what kid doesn't.

Catepillar’s Bubble Blowing Contest – Just like the Caterpillar (Absolem) who likes to smoke his Hookah, and is always blowing his smoke around, the kids can blow bubbles. Instead of smoke, like dah, we will use bubble solution. Instructing them to blow slow to form as big a bubble as they can until all the kids have had a chance. With each kid, they are measured by Alice (an adult). When one blows a bubble bigger then the child before, that child remains standing to be compared to the next child's attempt. At Animal Party, she used bubble gum. I like the idea of regular bubbles though and I figured out, we can use a Hookah and fill the dish on the top with the bubble solution and stick a bubble wand in the end of the tube. I went even further with my idea and decided I would make a big caterpillar to sit by it as well. After all, it's all about the props, right! One of the body pillows, banded ever so often, a bit of paint, some embellishing and Walla!

Since this party isn't until March, I have plenty of time to make, paint, and create all the pops to turn our yard into a wonderland.

http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com/2010/07/alice-in-wonderland-tea-party.html

DIY: Record Bowls

2010-09-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

These were so simple to make and I really had to control myself to not make more then I needed. I took some pictures of the process and put together a quick tutorial.

First preheat the oven to 200.
Place an oven safe bowl (I used a metal bowl) upside down on top of a cookie sheet.

Place the record on top of the bowl and put in the oven. It doesn't take long for the record to heat up and begin to droop.

At this point it is a matter of preference and how you want your bowl to look. You can pull it out, shape, put it back in and shape some more. I used an oven mitt to create my folds. If you don't like how it is forming, just stick it back in the oven and let it heat up again. You can make your changes over and over till you are happy with the shape. It cools rather quickly once removed from the oven.

I liked how my scalloped edges came out and it wasn't hard to make at all. Give it a try!

Over the next few weeks I will be making more for a special ladies 25th Birthday concert at our house. I think they will fit the scene perfectly and will hold some snacks for the occasion.

Parties from the Past: Pirate Party

2010-09-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

For my son's 6th birthday he was at the height of his pirate phase. When it was time to pick a theme for his birthday it was no surprise that it was a pirate themed birthday he chose. My first step as usual was to create the invitation. I had a lot of fun finding the wording and changing it to fit our party and activities.

I will admit that my cake didn't turn out exactly how I planned. The cake was just too moist to carve the treasure chest. Luckily candy can hide a multitude of mistake's., and still tastes great.

The morning of the party my two swashbuckling pirates got all dressed up and posed with the decorations for grandma.

Everything was set up for the pirate invasion. The table in the middle of the yard is where lunch would be served. It also doubled as a tattoo shop for our pirate guests.

Once everyone arrived it was time for the first activity. The search for gold coins that the pirates lost on the beach. Even the littlest guest was able to participate in this game.

Then it was time to walk the plank. We set up a balance beam over a blue tablecloth so that the kids had to walk over the water without falling in. It is much harder than it looks when you have an eye patch on!

Then they needed to swab the deck. We purchased cheap string mops at the dollar store and painted Styrofoam balls black to look like cannon balls. We divided all the pirates into two teams and had relay races.

Then our Captain was delivered a special message from Grandpa the Pirate. His treasure had been taken and hidden! They unrolled the map and began their treasure hunt.

After their treasure had been found (and a mess of gold foil littered the beach) it was time for the piñata. I am not sure where this HUGE wooden stick came from that the birthday pirate used, but it was quickly swapped out for a regular bat for the rest of the pirates.

The pirates then sat down for some lunch and cake before we opened presents and said goodbye. All the kids went hope with their treasure bags full of gold coins, pirate bandanas, eye patches, tatoos and LOTS of candy!

35th Birthday Party

2010-09-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to be able to throw a fantastic birthday party for my husband's 35th birthday this year. He had never had a birthday as a child growing up, so I wanted his 35th to be special. I had it all planned in my head. A San Diego Charger's theme with a yellow and blue color scheme to match. I hired Sugar Mama Cakes to make him a lightening bolt cake. I asked our friend at HD Audio to set up his DJ equipment so that we had music. I planned a great menu of all his favorite foods (carne asada, faijtas, chile con queso dip, jalepeno popper dip and all the trimmings) I did not expect life to get in the way. His first birthday party ever was not what I thought it would be, but we had a wonderful time with the friends that were able to come and celebrate with us. We had LOTS of cake left over, but I don’t think that is a problem when you have a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling.

DIY: Tissue Paper Pom-Poms

2010-09-15T07:00:00.001-07:00

We've all seen these cute little balls floating above party tables.

So I found a tutorial by Martha Stewart and began making some.
First, fold your tissue.

I used 8 sheets for the large one, 6 sheets for the smaller ones. For the large ones fold full size sheets. For the medium size I cut the full size sheets in half and for the smaller ones I cut the half sheets in half again. Once you have your fans folded cut wire to wrap at the center of your fan.

Once secure, cut your ends. Some cut points and others round the ends. I chose to round mine. With 8 sheets it is rather thick so I made my cuts by taking a few folds at a time. Once done I was able to trim so they were all even. The medium and smaller ones weren't so bad to cut.

With that done, you are ready to fluff. Be careful as the tissue tears easily. Start with one side and make your center. Pull it up and out carefully. The next layers fan around the center. Turn it over and do the other side the same way. I learned that by how you placed your wire determined how they hang. I like the wire coming out the center of one side. If you place it on the side, your pom-pom will look like the one on the left of our beverage table. I guess it's a matter of preference, so play around with it.

I used two mediums and 2 small to transform our chandelier over the table.

I added raffia to cover the wire and pink daisy's to accent. It still needed something else so I took some ribbon, tied it to a rubber band stretched between the chair.

Once I had them tied on I bunched them up.

I then tied the two ends of the rubber band around the top of the chandelier and let the ribbons drape down.

It really created a very beautiful table.

Rock Baby, BaBy-Q Shower

2010-09-14T20:22:00.001-07:00

This shower was a challenge. Our son didn't want us to go all out, but my daughter and I just can't seem to do anything simple. You may remember that we started collection our inspiration and planning out the party. This week you have also seen some of the DIY projects we worked on before the shower. Here is your first look at how everything came together.

The Candy Buffet was my favorite as it was with all the kids in attendance. The kids were all really good about not putting their fingers in the candy jars. I can't say the same thing for my sons! As we started setting up where the candy buffet would be set up I thought I was running out of table space. Then I remember this 2 tiered corner table my husband made me. It fits perfectly under the three windows in the corner of my dining room. It was originally made for my Christmas village, but it is the perfect table for our candy buffet.
For the back drop behind the table I used the comforter from the nursery bedding's the mom to be had picked out. I also used dollar store table covers to drape the table. (Goal-to someday make covers for this table that can be used over and over again)

We started prepping the candy jars and the treats between other family events during the 3 days before the baby shower. I love how the chocolate marshmallow's came out.

Amber made all the candy labels that coordinated perfectly with the invitation she designed.

I also love the record bowls that held the pop rocks.

One thing I would have changed is the size of my table. We had it extended prior for all the family dinners. I think if we had taken out the leaf, the table would have looked a bit better.

I love how the diaper cake came together and was the perfect centerpiece on the sweets table.

I can't say I am in love with our outside table. I love the album place mats. Amber made both the record labels and water bottle labels (she is so talented). I had planned to add raffia, rolled utensils and a few other embellishments but the wind was not working with us. Plus, for the first time in all my party planning, I didn't create a centerpiece. How did that happen?

I loved how the beverage table turned out though. This arch has been used for Amber's wedding, our 1st annual Halloween Boo Bash and now the baby shower. It is so simple to change out the flowers for any occasions. Something we will be using again this Halloween and for a friends 25th Birthday a few week before.

Up Close With Laundry

2010-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

We always thrive to come up with a unique gift for showers or birthdays. For the Candy Coated Shower of a very dear friend we wanted to go all out. I bought all the clothes while my daughter created these awesome dividers and clothes pin. This has got to be one of my favorite all time gifts.

Candy Coated Baby Shower

2010-08-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of helping a friend put together the cutest candy themed baby shower. The Mom to be loves candy, so the hostess designed the whole shower around a bag of skittles. It was a “taste the rainbow” color scheme with black and white as the neutrals. It turned out fabulous. I helped by first designing the invitation. I loved how it turned out and it got rave reviews from the guests.

The hostess did a lot of planning during the months leading up to the baby shower, and there were many planning and crafting days to get everything perfect. One of the biggest projects was putting together the lollipop and skittle centerpieces.

The day of the party everything came together beautifully, I helped with setting up the candy buffet, while others set the tables and arranged the food.

The best part of the party (in my opinion) was the gift that my mom and I put together. It started with a simple idea of a gift basket and exploded into the best baby shower laundry gift basket ever put together.

The basket contained:

Altered Letters (that spelled the baby’s name)
A clothesline with clothes attached for each age from 0-3 months up to 4T
Altered clothespins
Altered plastic closet dividers for each size of clothing
Hangers
Dreft laundry detergent
Dreft Stain Remover
Snuggles dryer sheets
Tide To Go pens

Everything altered was done using the same scrapbook paper that matched the nursery (tiffany blue/turquoise, black and white), that I also used on the candy buffet table.

4th of July BBQ

2010-08-21T07:00:00.001-07:00

Not all of our parties are grandiose and planned weeks and month in advance. Sometimes the best times are had when we just have a few family friends over for some fun, food and swimming. Our 4th of July BBQ this year was just that.

A Flag Cake made after reading a few different bloggers attempt to make one as well.

The Jalepeno Popper Dip that has become the guy's favorite since I made it for the first time in March.

A simple tablescape for the outdoor table

And a few decorations to transform the back porch as well.

The centerpiece was more useful once the sun went down and the candles were lit.

As you can see my flag cake didn’t come out as I had hoped. In the assembly process I somehow mixed up the top two layers. At least it tasted good!

Super 8 Party

2010-08-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

For my son’s 8th birthday we made it a “Super 8” party. I made a super sized rainbow layered cake, that I surrounded with Super Heros. We held the party at a new “Super” location in town called the Fun Factory. They have everything a kid would want: miniature golf, go karts, water bumper boats, an arcade and a Wii on a Super-sized screen in the party area. The kids had unlimited access to the activites and they took full advantage!

Pink and Brown Dessert Buffet

2010-08-19T19:27:00.002-07:00

During our planning we have decided to add more than just candy to our buffet. We started with a list of the Mom-to-be’s favorite candy:

Sour Patch Kids (we found the Sour Patch Green Rind Watermelon so they are mostly pink)

Swedish Fish (yes, they are red not pink, but it is close enough)

M&M's

Strawberry Laffy Taffy

Reese Peanut Butter Cups – We wanted to find the pink wrapped ones, but they are only available at Easter. I did find this idea of making personalized stickers for Hershey Kisses, and the 3/4” stickers should fit on the Reese Peanut Butter Cups as well.

Hershey Kiss stickers

Jujubes – not sure how we will work these into the pink and brown color scheme. If the small Halloween “fun sized” boxes are out in stores we could wrap them in pink and brown paper.

We found a few extra kinds of candy that match our pink and brown color scheme:

Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers

Good n' Plenty

Jelly Belly’s (straight from the factory!)

A&W® Root Beer

Bubble Gum

Chocolate Pudding

Strawberry Cheesecake

Toasted Marshmallow

Plus we have seen some great ideas from a few of our favorite blogs:

Swiss Rolls from Grey Grey Designs

Dipped Marshmellows

Brownie Pops

Dipped Oreo’s

We are not doing to get a cake, we thought cupcakes would work a lot better with the buffet. We are trying to decide which kind of cupcakes to make. My inspiration started with this Neapolitan “cup”cake on Beat Until Fluffy!

I have made layered cupcakes with just colored white cake, so I think I could make these in regular cupcake liners, the layers would just be smaller. Then mom found this this picture of a cupcake turned into a rattle:

Again it is just a standard cupcake that I can easily transform.

We are down to just 2 more weekends of “prep” time before the party weekend! I can’t wait to show off the whole party.

Candy Skewers

2010-08-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

I just saw the CUTEST candy idea on the Sweets Indeed blog. I clicked over after seeing their Train Party featured on Affection for Detail.

Look at these candy kabobs! She calls them Sweet Skewers. I need to either figure out how to make them, or save up so I can buy them!! The are available for purchase at her etsy shop: Sweets Indeed.

Party Planning: Shabby Chic Baby Shower

2010-08-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

My best friend found out last week that she is having a boy! Now I get to start planning for her baby shower. Since this is her second baby, we scaled down the guest list and picked one of her favorite restaurants. It is cute local garden cafe with a tea store attached, so I have decided on a fun baby theme: A Baby Boy is Brewing

It will be a shabby chic tea party with no games, just a great atmosphere with friends and family to help her celebrate. Her first baby shower was Brown and Sage. The colors this time will be more muted; robin’s egg blue, sage green, butter yellow.

celebrations at home

amy atlas

I will make the custom invitations again, these are a few of the Scrapbook Kits I have picked out:

The Very Thought of You by Krystal Hartley and ScrapKitchen Designs

Shabby Baby by Misty Cato and Krystal Hartley

Baby O' Mine-Boy by Melissa Bennett

I have a feeling this party is doing to turn out adorable. What do you think?

DIY Diaper Cake

2010-08-16T11:00:00.001-07:00

The first time I made a diaper cake (almost 2 years ago now) I wrote up a tutorial. Simple Creative Insanity asked for tips, so I am reposting that original diaper cake tutorial again.

I don’t know about you but it seems like EVERYONE around me is pregnant. I have had to attend quite a few baby showers recenly, with more invites pending. I decided it was time to get creative with my gifts. I searched online, and in galleries to find some new ideas that I could make for the Mom-to-be. One of my favorite ideas was a diaper cake. This is not a new concept, but I decided it was a whole lot more fun that just handing the Mom-to-be a pack of diapers. After many searches online I found a few variations on how to make them. This tutorial is how I made them.

Supplies:
1 1/2 packs of Pampers Swaddlers (because they are almost completely white)
1 bottle of baby powder
1 4 oz baby bottle
lots of rubber bands
a platter or piece of cardboard for the base (I got my clear platter at the Dollar Tree)
printed out digital papers & elements (I used Land Of Nod by Dani Mogstad)

Step 1 – Roll the diapers
The idea is to roll the diapers so that only white is showing. To do this open the diaper flat. Start and the end with the printed strip and roll tightly, then secure with a rubber band. I found that occasionally I had to tuck some bits of yellow back into the roll. Repeat this with the rest of the diapers. I used a little less than 1 1/2 packs of the size 1 swaddlers or roughly 65-70 diapers.

Step 2 – Assembling the layers
To make the bottom layer we are going to start with the bottle of baby powder in the center of your platter or cardboard. There is no need to secure the baby powder to the surface, but you may want to if there will be a lot of traveling with the cake before the shower.

To begin place a large rubberband around the baby powder. Then take your rolled diapers and slip them behind the rubberband, making a circle around the baby powder. Add another rubberband around that circle and repeat to make 3 rings of diapers. On the outside ring be sure that only white is showing and that the diaper ends are all towards the middle and not facing out.

The second layer is the same as the first going around the baby powder, but only making 2 rings of diapers. After you complete the second layer use some double stick tape or glue dots to attach the baby bottle to the top of the baby powder. You want them secured together, but not taped so much the Mom-to-be can’t get them apart.

Use the baby bottle just like you did the baby powder and make one final ring of diapers. Depending on the baby powder & bottle you may have a bit of the bottle sticking up. I did, but I just covered it later in the decorating portion.

Step 3 – Decorate.
I printed out a few sheets of paper from Dani Mogstad’s Land Of Nod digital scrapbooking kit. This diaper cake was for a little girl and I did not know how the mom was decorating the nursery, so I went a little more generic with my papers and elements. I printed a solid pink and one of the striped papers. Using a piece of scratch paper I decided I wanted to make my paper bands 2″ in diameter. To add interest I added a 1″ band of the contrasting paper on top of the 2″ band. Because this isn’t anything that will be saved I just used a little 3M paper glue to attach my strips together to form a long enough strip to go around the diaper layer. I did need assistance to hold the strip in place while I glued the end down. It is very important to NOT attach anything to the diapers directly. Any tape or glue on the diaper will make them useless to the Mom-to-be.

After I covered all 3 layers with the paper I had fun and added the elements that I cut out from the Land of Nod kit. I had various stars and then the blocks that spelled out “baby”. I also added a few bows that I made with some of my ribbon stash.

To cover the top of my cake I decided to just make a paper bow and add some curling ribbon. You can add other items like stuffed animals or flowers depending on your theme as well.

Since this was a gift and I had also purchased a little outfit for the baby I made a matching gift bag. I bought a plain white gift bag at the dollar store. I used my leftover papers and elements to make a decorated front on the bag

From start to finish my first time it was about 4-5 hours. Now that I have made a few of them it goes much faster. I made a small one in under 2 hours once. It wasn't as decorated, but it got the job done.

I would love to see your diaper cake, so please leave a link in the comments

Party Planning: Pink and Brown Co-ed BaByQ Shower

2010-08-15T14:00:00.001-07:00

Pulling together a co-ed baby shower is challenging! Add to that a BaByQ/Rock Star theme and we have our work cut out for us to stay on budget. Here are some of our ideas in the works with some money saving DIY tips for throwing a co-ed baby shower.

The invitations:

Like all of our past parties we save money by designing and printing our own invitations. Amber really has a gift for creating some awesome invites and this one will surely challenge her!The inspiration for the invitation will be a combination of this invite from The DIY Showoff. We loved her original BaByQ shower and pulled a few ideas from her fantastic baby shower to use at ours.

Since we are adding in the Rockabilly/Rock Star theme to our baby shower I also found this invitation on Zazzle that is almost our color scheme as well.

The invitation will include some of the following wording:

Maddie will Rock Their World.
Come celebrate with us at a BaBy-Q for the parents to be.

Bring your swimsuits and prepare to splash and have fun!

Decor:

For our placemats we already went to the second hand shop (Goodwill actually). Every other Saturday they have a 50% off sale (did you know that? It is a great money saver on top of low prices) and we were able to pick up vinyl record albums for .50 each. Amber will make a new party label for the albums to match the decor. Since we plan on using round tables and don't want the table to look too crowded, we will opt to use one album at every other place setting. Guest will be allowed to take home the albums if they choose.

In addition I have also been busy DIY tissue paper poms to hang from the ceiling inside. It had been years since I had made them, but it came back to me quickly. The poms are all the rage in decor right now and they are so inexpensive, and give a great splash of color to the room. The package of 20 pieces of tissue paper that I bought made 4 poms total: 2 large, 1 medium and 1 small. I will grab another pack or two of paper to have a nice variety of sizes and shades of pink.

Candy Buffet:
Of course we also are planning to have a Candy Buffet and maybe even a Cake Buffet. Again a trip to the second hand shop and we bought all our containers for less then $10.00! This was a HUGE savings over buying them brand new at Joann's or Michael's where they are typically $10-$15 each. I will use the Mother to Be's nursery bedding for the back drop. It is not only perfect for the decor, but she will get to take it home with her! We have a list of the Mom to be’s favorite candies and have been on the look out for the most pink options possible. Here are some of the pink and brown candy buffets we have been inspired by for the set up:

Food & Drinks:
It is a BaByQ after all, so our menu will consist of BBQ pork ribs and chicken kabobs for the adults with hamburgers and hotdogs for the kids. Along with traditional sides like corn on the cob, baked beans and a pasta salad. This is menu that is easy to prepare and can stretch your food budget while also giving guests a variety of food to eat. No co-ed party is complete without a few adult refreshments. To keep costs low and on budget we plan to have 2 signature drinks. The alcoholic cocktail will be Strawberry Margaritas and we will give it a fun name (any suggestions?). For the non-alcoholic signature drink We will have pink punch or pink lemonade. I also found RockStar beverages. My hubby wondered if we really wanted to serve energy drinks, but I can't resist that the cans fit our theme! I have been watching the grocery store sales to get a good price on them.

Outside Decor:
Outdoor decor always has special considerations to take into account. We never know when the wind will kick up or even if a slight drizzle will occur during Monsoon season. To take that into account I have become a pro at using the Dollar Store plastic tablecloths to my advantage. They are a great low cost way of adding color, hiding unmentionables and transforming a room for the cost of a few dollars. For the coed baby shower I plan on using pink and brown plastic tablecloths to make swags on the back patio fence, and to make a flags for the front by the driveway.

We will also be using some of the paper lanterns from Amber’s wedding around the edges of the outdoor area. Even if we don’t light them, they will add some interest to the areas around the house.
Games:
We haven't narrowed down our games ideas but these are on our "possible" list:

"Bun In The Oven." Make felt dresses with a small slit cut into the back which allow a cotton ball to be inserted into the dress (looks like a baby bump!). Female Guests are asked to take one dress. When everyone has a dress, they pulled out the cotton ball looking for the "bun" (made from play dough and painted with white icing and glitter). The person who found the bun wins the prize.

"Stroller Obstacle Course" Testing the new dad's ability to take care of a child while adding a fun twist. Place a baby doll in a stroller and set up obstacles for him to maneuver around. Time him on speed and his ability to keep the baby safe. Test other guests to see who is the fastest.

"Don't break the water!" This is an outdoor game that works great for a co-ed party! Start with an aluminum bucket full of water balloons. Guests need to hold the water balloon between their legs and run from one point to another without breaking their water.

The centerpieces will be taking on double duty to save money and will be the prizes for the games. They'll be numbered and winners from the game will draw a number to receive their prize.

BBQ Bibs:
I thought that since we are incorporating the BBQ theme and serving BBQ ribs that it would be a nice touch to have some plastic bibs. I am going to use the Dollar Store plastic tablecloths to cut out ones that will match the decor.
Only three more weeks till the big party weekend!

Parties from the Past: Rocker Girl

2010-08-14T09:00:00.001-07:00

For her 5th birthday our little Princess decided it was time to rock out, so her 5th birthday was a Rocker Girl party. We took a 1950’s rock n’ roll color scheme of pink, black and white and added some Hannah Montana purple and the empty room turned into a rockin party place. Amber made the custom rock themed invitation

We set the table and added the music notes and star sunglasses. Amber made the adorable pink guitar cake from a DIY article in Family Fun.

Once again made a banner and used Dollar Store tablecloths to transform the corner into a stage. The walls didn’t match our decor so we hung the black plastic tablecloths so it really gave the atmosphere of a stage.

Amber bought a guitar piñata and the kids had a blast trying to break it open.

The craft that we made with the kids were microphones. We used half circles of Styrofoam from the Dollar Store and the kids wrapped them in aluminum foil. Grandpa cut sections of PVC pipe and painted them black before the party. Then an adult helped hot glue the 2 pieces together.

Then we played music and the kids all rocked out on stage wearing their star glasses.

Our final game before opening presents was music chairs, by request of the birthday girl. The party was a blast and the kids all had a rocking good time.

Help Kate, Help You!

2010-08-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Months ago my mom linked me to a party she like on a blog. I loved the ideas and started browsing the site reading about more parties, and clicking on links to OTHER party blogs, and so on and so on. My "Party" catagory on my Google Reader now has exploded and I get great eye candy whenever I have time to go through all the blogs that I have piled up. It is also what inspired me to post about our parties on this blog!

Had I not waited till this weekend to play catch up on my blog reading I am sure that I would have seen the blog posts on Kate Landers Events about her Big Giveaway. You see, Kate did a stunning Woodland Fairy Birthday a month ago. I would LOVE some tutorials on how she put together this party. That is where YOU can help. Katie is running a 2 week giveaway and it ends Monday, August 16th at 11:59pm EST! YIKES, that's tonight!

SO ... hurry over to Kate Lander's Events and enter the Big Giveaway and become a fan on Facebook.

(p.s. Two Kids and a Party has a Facebook page there as well that we would love you to join too.)

What are you waiting for!?!?!

We were featured!

2010-07-28T09:39:00.002-07:00

Our Brown & Sage Baby Shower was featured on Catch My Party as the Party of the Day!

Parties from the Past: Princess Party for Two

2010-07-28T09:30:00.002-07:00

My daughter Ellie and her cousin Lillian are only 6 weeks apart, so for their 4th birthday we decided to have a combined birthday. We chose a date in between both birthdays to have the party at Grandma's house. The girls wanted it to be a Princess Party. Grandma got busy doing what she does best and transformed the dining room into a Princesses Palace.

There was a Princess dressing room, with a rack of play clothes, a table full of jewelry and tiaras and of course a great big mirror to admire their new attire.

Grandma commissioned Grandpa into making a large kids sized table. It has been very useful in the many years since. No plastic tablecloth in this royal setting, Grandma decorated with real linens, fresh flowers, and silverware.

The invitation had instructed our guests to come dressed in their best princess attire, but we also had extra's just in case. After the guests had all arrived and transformed into princesses they sat down to work on their craft. I had found a set of photo frames shaped like a carriage. We had pre-sorted all the pieces into individual kits for each princess. While the girls were busy making their masterpieces, a special guest arrived. One of my recently married friends arrived dressed in her wedding gown to be our Princess.

When Princess Justine arrived the girls were so excited. We cleaned up their crafts and got ready for our snack. Then Princess Justine read them the "Princess and the Pea" while we served the girls snacks on Grandma's china.
We had a simple menu:

finger sandwiches (PB & J cut into hearts)
fruit tarts (mini graham cracker pie shells with strawberry yogurt and berries)
fresh fruit

We even served the punch in champagne glasses!

When the girls finished eating we moved over to the sitting area to open gifts. Grandma had created two thrones buy covering two of the dining chairs with beautiful ivory chair covers and made a backdrop that attached to the window and draped down behind the chairs. Ellie and Lillian each sat on their throne and everyone was able to watch them open the gifts.

After gifts we let the girls play a little with the dress up stuff while we cleared the table and got ready for cake, I had baked each of the birthday girls their very own cake. While researching princess parties we had found this photo of the perfect cake on cake central:

Each cake was topped with a real tiara, and each of the birthday girl's got to blow out their own candles. The birthday girls had helped me make cupcakes for the guests the night before so that we didn't have to cut into their cakes right away. Each cupcake was topped with either a mini candy tiara or a princess wand.

All our princesses had a fabulous time, I only wish we had taken more photos!

Parties From the Past: JoJo's Big Top Circus

2010-07-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

This was one of my favorite birthday parties. The kids all had such great time. My hubby cut and I painted the welcome sign and attached it to the top of our gate. One of my favorite things to use when setting the scenes are plastic $1 store table clothes. Here I cut them in half length wise and draped them from each corner of the Big Tent (flag pole and blue tarp).

We had popcorn bagged and ready for the guests. We couldn't find the popcorn bags in a small enough quantity so my daughter printed onto regular white bags.

No circus would be complete without Cotton Candy! We had accidentally ordered two piñatas so we made one into a cotton candy holder.

Even Uncle had fun with the Cotton Candy!

There were clowns, that did face painting and fake tattoos!

No kid's party would be complete without a Pinata.

Everyone had these adorable bags, made by my daughter, to collect all the goodies.

The table was set...

And our local Alberston's made the cupcakes that my daughter transformed into little JoJo's with the help of some candy.

A very Happy 2nd Birthday!

Parties from the Past: Super Mario

2010-07-20T19:06:00.001-07:00

For a year or so while we were under construction, the room that became our kitchen gave us the perfect place to throw parties. Some might have thought I was a bit crazy, but I just couldn't stand the bare subfloor so one day I painted it. I guess I have gotten really good at making something out of just about anything.

So when Amber wanted to have a Super Mario Party for Anthony, I jumped right in. I ordered plain red and green ball caps, cut out white circle of felt and added a cut out letter to each circle; green for Luigi and red for Mario. We used them on the table when we set up. Along with a fake mustache and some gold coins and gold stars around the place settings.

The centerpiece for the kids table was a 3 tiered dessert stand that Amber filled with 1-up mushroom cupcakes and a Mario star cake for the very top tier.

I turned my dining room buffet into a Mario Candy Shop with the help of a Dollar Tree tablecloth. We found some candies similar to the candy in the Super Mario Party game. It was our very first candy buffet.

We served kid friendly foods; english muffin pizzas, chips, apples and carrots. We added more gold stars and coins on this table as well.

The fake mustaches I picked up from the party store were adorable on the kids when paired with their Mario or Luigi hat.

The boys had a blast playing Super Mario Party on the Wii.

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday and have him blow out his 7 candles.

After cake the birthday boy sat down to open gifts. I made a banner and used my Dollar Store tablecloths to make a special chair for the birthday boy.

The guests all had a great time and filled their goodie bags with candy and took their hats home as favors.

Baby Shower: Sage and Brown

2010-07-20T16:30:00.001-07:00

I wrote about this baby shower originally when while I was in the middle of planning my own wedding on this blog. It got a little buried since then, so I thought I would update it a bit and repost it.

With the shower falling right after my own engagement I was already in party planning mode, so it was easy to look for some fun new ideas while I was looking for wedding inspiration as well. The Mother To Be didn't plan on using a specific theme in the nursery, so we decided to just use the color scheme she had picked out for the nursery and make a sophisticated party to celebrate her 1st child.

An invitation really sets the mood for the whole event. I designed a custom invite using digital scrapbook supplies and then printed and assembled them myself. The invite portion was a pull out card with all the info with a hand-tied bow attached to the top. Each pocket envelope had to each be cut, scored, and assembled by hand. The invitation was mailed out in a cream envelope to all the guests.

The day of the shower was a beautiful day so everything looked great set up outside.

The guest tables were the majority of the decorations since we were outside. In keeping with the color scheme we used ivory table clothes with a sage accent. For the centerpieces we used wooden alphabet boxes from Michael's that we painted brown and sage. We purchased some potted planted that fit inside the blocks and used some moss to camouflage the dirt and pots. Two of the four tables had a single block.

The other two tables had a stack of three blocks with the top one having the flowers. Each table also had 2 photos, one of Mother To Be and one of Daddy To Be as babies. Each table had different baby photos.

The frames were another DIY project. We had plain 5x7 photos mats already. The front of the mats were painted brown. Then after gluing the photo in place the back was covered with a piece of printed out patterned paper . Two small alphabet blocks were glued to the front so that the photo would stand up. It was a great touch!

At each place setting I put a "program" The cover had all the info of what the guests needed to do as they arrived and waited to each:

We are so pleased that you have taken the time to come

and celebrate the coming arrival of Baby M.

If you haven’t done so already,

please find your name tag on the board

and make sure to give Ms. A or Mrs. E your baby photo

to be used in a game a little later.

Please take a moment and use the card provided to write

Daddy and Mommy a special note, prayer or Bible Verse

to help support them as they begin a new chapter

in their lives as parents.

To help Mommy with her Thank You notes

we have also provided a blank envelope.

Please self address the envelope and we will collect them.

Inside the cover was a blank envelope, a cream note card and then all the games printed out that we would be playing after we ate. Placed on top of each program was a custom RSVP pen that I had added a piece of patterned paper inside of so that it matched everything and the clothes pin for the "don't say baby" game. Each place setting also the silverware wrapped in a napkin and tied with a sage bow and a water bottle with a customized label.

A few of the details to highlight:
The Diaper Cake

A Baby Sock Bouquet

The clothes line along the porch

The "Welcome Table" with printed out name tags, the guest book, and the babies name.

We served a simple lunch buffet of croissant sandwiches, fruit, chips and beverages (Lemonade and Mint Iced Tea).

We then played some games, a few traditional and a few new ones that I found as well. We all laughed while we cut the pieces of yarn.

The games in the packet included matching the word "Baby" in different languages, fill in the blank nursery rhymes, and a blank Bingo card to be used while we opened gifts. We had also asked guests to bring a baby picture of themselves for one of the games. I thought it would be easy to figure out who was who, but nobody got them all right.

We then we played Baby Bingo while we showered the Mother To Be with presents.

After presents we had a Dessert Buffet that featured a Dark Forest cake, an Italian Cream cake and assorted cheesecakes.

Before guests started to leave I made sure to take a picture of each guest with the Mother To Be to put in the Guest Book with their index card of advice.

Ice Cream Party Inspiration

2010-07-18T17:36:00.002-07:00

I have a couple of friends who are planning a baby shower for one of the other Mom's at our church. This is the couples second little boy, so they already had all the basics for the new baby. The hostesses decided to throw an Ice Cream party themed Baby Shower.

I helped Hostess J find the invitations on etsy. She decided to go with MommiesInk's Etsy Shop and picked out these adorable invitations.

The main theme of the party will be the Ice Cream Sundaes. Hostess B wanted to see some tablescape ideas for the toppings table so I did some blog surfing and found some.
This is a birthday party set up from Ramblings from the Sunshine State that I found via The Creative Party Place

The next tablescape I found featured on a lot of the blogs on my google reader. It was hosted by How Does She for her adorable twin daughter's 1st birthday.

Last but not least I couldn't leave out the amazing toppings bar created by Amy Atlas for the Kelly Ripa/Electrolux Event.

I really love the table that Amy Atlas put together, although I always wonder at large scale parties who refills the containers. Don't you?

Hopefully this has helped my friends, (and you )with some ideas of creating a toppings bar.

Parties from the Past: Tinkerbell

2010-07-18T00:43:00.004-07:00

I thought I would kick of the "Parties from the Past" with one of my first parties. It was my daughters 1st birthday and it was a Tinkerbell theme. Please excuse the picture quality. The party was held in 2005 before I owned a digital camera. Here is my little Princess sitting in her thrown.

I made my daughter's smash cake. It was modeled after a cookie jar I had seen online.

To make the mushroom shaped cake the right size for my little princess, I used a jumbo muffin pan.

I purchased a plastic tinkerbell from a vendor on ebay since I couldn't find anything in town. I was very proud of the final results.

The rest of the decorations were very simple. A few streamers, balloons, and a birthday banner. We had a make your own sandwich bar with a variety of chips and dips and a cake from a local bakery.

The kids played with a few toys in the living room, while the adults ate dinner. I didn't have any organized game since the kids were so young.

Then the birthday girl got to have her cake and eat it too!

Before There Was Baby

2010-07-17T23:51:00.008-07:00

In 2004 I put together a Baby Shower for our daughter with the help of her dear friend Martha. As I look back on these earlier events, I am amazed as to how far we have come.

She was (okay, may I was helping her)putting together a Tinkerbell Nursery so we used the colors sage, purple, pink and yellow from the nursery for the decorations. The cradle below was my daughters' when she was born and I used a patchwork pattern for the bedding I made for the nursery. To make the canopy I used an embroidery hoop, netting and trim.

Let the Parties Begin

2010-07-17T23:04:00.097-07:00

With my daughters help and my helping her, we have created some awesome cakes and parties for the kids over the years.

Each one taught us something for the next one.

With the 'Grands' now 8, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2 and 2, we have come up with an array of different themes for each of them..

Before we move onto current or upcoming events, let's start at the beginning and I will show off, yes sometimes I like to ring my own bell, especially when it comes to our parties and my daughters cakes, just what we have created.

Let me take you back to 2003 and the 'Grand' Bugs 1st Noah's Ark Birthday. It was a very small gathering and we didn't really do much in the way of decorating.

Back then, it was mainly about the cake. This cake portraited his nursery and began with a picture out of a magazine my SIL sent, knowing I could create the cake. You see, my kids always had theme parties growing up. How well the family knew me, that now a grandmother, I would continue, improve and create some awesome cakes and parties for the 'Grands'. This cake was very easy to make. Using a single layer of round, I cut it in half. So that it would sit on the plate, I cut a small section off the rounded in that also helped in forming the ark. The top of the boat was created by stacking rectangle cookies. The animals were from a box of animal cookies that I painted with icing. As you can see he really enjoyed his cake.

Looking back, never did we think then that our parties would become what they are today. I hope you enjoy reading as much as we enjoy sharing the parties we have created.

4-13-2010

2010-04-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

This is my "You Capture" photo for the week. The theme is "Fresh" this week.

I am sure I could find other photos on my flickr account that would work, but I like this one. This is his "fresh" haircut, only a few minutes old. Of course he wouldn't turn to the camera. Why would he want to do that LOL.

4-4-2010

2010-04-13T09:32:00.000-07:00

This week's photo challenge at I ♥ Faces is "I heart desserts" I love this photo from our Easter dessert ... the chocolate fountain.

4-3-2010

2010-04-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

How to Dye Easter Eggs ... our way LOL

Step One: Boil Eggs
We had a minor incident on the drive over to my parent's house that resulted in a few cracked eggs. (Stupid teenage driver trying to whip a u-turn in front of me) So we ended up with 27 eggs total. I didn't want to mess them up so I followed a recipe/directions from Tasty Kitchen. Yes, I needed a recipe to boil eggs. I ~~failed~~ never took Home Economics.

Step Two: Set Up
I covered the new butcher block island so Dad wouldn't freak out if the dye got spilled. I did a layer of parchment paper and then a layer of paper towels. The set out the plastic cups to get the dye ready.

Step Three: Prepare the Dye
Went to the cupboard to grab the vinegar. There was none. OPPS #2! A quick call to my parent's and they said they would pick it up on the way home. Mom also told me to switch out the plastic cups and use her white mugs.

Step Three (take two): Prepare the Dye
The box had said 9 colors but there was 12 tablets. I guess we bought the pack with the "Bonus Neon Colors"

Step Four: ~~Make a Mess~~ Dye the Eggs

Step Five: Admire Our Creations

3-28-2010

2010-03-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

IMG_0247-5, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

Filling plastic eggs for our family Egg Hunt.

3-26-2010

2010-03-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

IMG_9527.JPG, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

Egg hunt at school today!

3-25-2010

2010-03-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

IMG_9522.JPG, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

Getting change out of the glass jar to donate at school.

3-24-2010

2010-03-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

IMG_0212-1, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

Birthday Girl!

3-23-2010

2010-03-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

IMG_0204, originally uploaded by sunflwrdesigns.

Ellie's last day of being 5 years old.