Seriously Fun Stuff

I recently entered a Giveaway on one of my favorite blogs, the Tomkat Studio. When I went to find out who had won this fabulous giveaway and saw my comment there as the winner I seriously squealed. The giveaway was for the Martha Stewart Cupcake book and $20 to Bake It Pretty. Well I could hardly wait to go shop at this super cute bake shop. They have SO many things I wanted to get but stuck pretty close to the $20. Guess I'll be going back to finish my long list.

And today I was sitting at my kitchen table and who should drive up but the UPS man, my Martha Stewart Cupcake book was here!!!! I can't wait until bedtime to sit down and devour this book.


(From the Bake it Pretty shop I got retro red cupcake papers, mini black polka dot cupcake papers, mini orange swirl cupcake papers, mini gable boxes, and red stripe paper straws)


The red and white things I got with our cocoa party in mind that's coming up in Dec.(we're doing a peppermint theme this time) and the black and orange for something fun for Halloween, and those cute gable boxes, well they were just too cute to pass up, I'm sure I'll think of something for them.

So a HUGE thank you to the Tomkat Studio for doing one fabulous giveaway!! If you haven't been there to see the uber talented Kim you must go, NOW! She also sells super cute party printables in her etsy shop that are perfect for any party.

2008 Cocoa Party

I was looking through my past parties recently remembering how much fun they were to plan and throw. I've realized I'm in great need of throwing my own party but alas it's just not in the cards at the moment. So while I was reliving these wonderful parties it occured to me that I was missing a very important one. Our very first Cocoa Party. I couldn't find where I'd posted anywhere. So I'm posting it now for future reference. We actually won second place in a holiday party contest where we won some super fun stuff from Crate & Barrel. From this party came an annual event. I'm so excited to begin this years!!!

Cowgirl Carnival

This last weekend I was able to help my sister with my nieces 4th birthday party. The cowgirl carnival theme came about when my niece told my sister she wanted a Buzz Lightyear party. Now my niece is not a girly girl and my sister misses some of the girly things you get to do with a girly girl, not that we would change my niece for anything because she is hilarious! So she talked to her and they decided to do a cowgirl theme because Woody and Jesse were cowboys/cowgirls.

The whole thing turned out soooo cute! The only bummer was the weather decided it would be a good day to be one of the windiest days ever! But we managed to make it work.

I did a banner for her, in the Pink, Yellow, and Red theme we decided on. There were going to be both boys and girls attending the party so we had to make it work for both.

She decided to do a candy buffet for the kids and it was a huge hit.

I helped with the labels, pin wheels, horse shoe banner, and pennents.

She also had cowboy hats that we added a sheriff's stars to and bandanna's for everyone.
(notice the Buzz paper goods in the background, she had to add a little just for her)

There was also popcorn on the table for the kids while they waited their turn for the horse ride she had.

Here's the whole gang decked out in their cowgirl/boy gear.

We also had each child take their picture behind a wanted poster that I'm making into Thank you card, I'll post one as soon as I get them done.

It as all so fun to do. Unfortunately because of the wind we weren't able to set up the carnival games she had like we planned. I had made some cute signs for them but it was just not going to work. She had them play: shoot the can off the railing with water guns, pin the tail on the donkey, and a cowboy ring toss, as well as a ride on a real horses.

This is what the game signs looked like, bummer we couldn't use them. I'll have to use them for something else.

birthday invitations

I am helping my sister with my nieces birthday this weekend and I'm so excited about it! My niece wanted a Toy Story birthday but my sister just could bring herself to do it and instead decided to focus on the fact that Jesse and Woody were cowgirls/boys. So she's doing a Cowgirl Carnival for her theme. I got the invitations done and thought I'd share.

address labels

There will also be pennants, pinwheels, and pony's, so excited!!

Food/decorations

So I have a question for the general party public, what do you do with all the left over candy from the amazing candy buffets that I see? Do people really clean you out when they fill up their take home boxes? Anyway, I just have been wondering for ever especially since I always have food left over after my parties.

So here is the food table. I was pleased with the way it all came together. I think I maybe have to much going on on the table~thoughts? Like I said in the previous post we had great weather, maybe too great. It got to be a little warm and things started melting so it didn't look pretty the whole party because I had to bring things in.

Napkin rings

I ordered colored bread from our local bakery to match the party for the chicken and egg salad sandwiches. I think i should have said pale pink and pale orange because I got bright on both accounts. But it did match really well.

Always have to have cupcakes!

Water bottle labels. I can't believe I didn't get a shot of the other two designs I had, oh well.

So glad there was some salsa left over, this is one of my all time favorites.

Kate (guest of honor) brought a yummy berry trifle.

I spyed these dipped Oreo's on How Does She a while back and put them in my "must try folder". They turned out super cute, then I brought them outside and they melted in minutes.

My original idea was to do the dessert shots in shot glasses but I couldn't find the right shot glasses or substitute for that matter. So I used what I had, wine glasses. I did two different desserts in them. One was chocolate mousse on a brownie with whip cream the other lemon curd on angel food cake with whip cream. Both yummy!

Fun way to add a little more color and some birds as well.

Kate was such a huge help for her own Sprinkle. She and I got together to make the favors for the guests to take home. We made these cute felt birds in the coordinating colors of the Sprinkle.

So glad you stopped by to see the party. Hope you enjoyed it and will come again.

(More in the post below)

Tweet Decorations

I had the pleasure this weekend of hosting a baby sprinkle for a good friend and neighbor of mine who is having her first girl. When deciding on a theme for this "Sprinkle" I was drawn to the bird theme that is popular right now. When I asked her about that and what she thought she was thrilled. As it turns out she is doing the babies room in a bird theme so this was perfect.

When I was gathering ideas I came across a lot of different options but most of them were more out "doorsy" looking bird parties, I wanted more of a crafty, non-realistic look. The colors I found from this digital color paper pack and I loved them immediately. (because of my camera you may not be able to tell really well what the colors are, sorry. they are red, hot pink, brown and a melon orange)

I love having parties outside. I also hate it. Love the atmosphere and nice weather. Hate the unpredictability and wind. But I decided to brave it and hope for the best. So we held this in my backyard and we were blessed with sunshine and low winds.

This was the sign across my walk to the front door.

The gift table and wish tree

The flowers are clips and were the prize for the ONE game we did.

Tissue poms every where. They were put to good use after the party in the baby's room.

I had these birds everywhere as well.

My daughter set up the chairs for me. It looks like were having a meeting of some kind, she does love order.

This is the food table pre-food and the banner I made for this fun occasion.



I also made these strings of circle garlands to hang in the awnings. They were super simple but brought a lot of color to the space.

poms

I am in Pom heaven at the moment. I finished cutting and fluffing my poms for the "sprinkle" this weekend and I 've got them all on the bed down stairs. Every time I walk into the room it makes me giggle, sometimes I just go peek so I can. I can't even tell you how excited I am for this party. It just makes me happy. : )

"Tweet" invitations

These are the invitations that I designed just for this "Sprinkle". I found the digital paper on line and the bird mask as well and the whole party came from there. It was fun to design and I'm still learning, not sure which I love more digital or actual handmade.

toppers

I am so excited for this weekend! It's the "Tweet" baby shower I've been prepping for and I am almost ready. Here's a peek at the cupcake toppers I made. Looking forward to posting so much more.