Cupcake Party - Part II

Hi there! I'm back with more [exciting] scenes from our cupcake party....here's our party table with some of the components from yesterday's post. I found the tablecloth at Target two weeks ago as part of their 50% off summer sale. I thought the colors were perfect for our party.
This is how I sorted the toppings that the girls used on their cupcake designs. I found this sweet divided tray at a garage sale for $1.00. We used two different kinds of sprinkles, flowers and dots, mini chocolate chips, and teeny tiny gummy bears. I also had cherries on stand by for toppers.

Next up is a picture of my kitchen/party craft space. I removed my kitchen table and chairs and brought in this 5-foot folding table and covered it with kraft paper. I also hung some Martha Stewart paper flowers that I found on clearance a few months back at Wal-Mart. They are so pretty, we don't want to take them down....what a bargain for $5.00/5. I also hung up my "Celebrate" fabric banner. On the table, each girl had their own place mat (neon copy paper) and supplies to create a set of cupcake stationery to take home. This was the set I bought from Oriental Trading and it was a huge hit. The cards each girl made turned out so pretty. We had some creative girls making some wonderful creations.

Here's a shot of the dining room table and the party girl. Right behind her is the chair I decorated just for her using two colors of ribbon and some tulle....this was really easy and she felt special having a particular chair for her very own. More Martha Stewart flowers, I had 10 in all.

And here's a cute picture of the birthday girl - not looking at me - which I thought was cool - and her pull-apart cupcake birthday cake. She didn't want a regular cake or an ice cream cake, she wanted a pull-apart cake this year so we watched a video from You Tube and came up with this design. It certainly beat out the $35 price tag from Publix. We think we invested about $7 on ours.

That's it for now...I may have a few stray pictures coming back to you now and then....I hope you don't mind. We had a great time!!

Cupcake Party - Part I

We had such a fun time celebrating my daughter's 7th birthday yesterday with a custom-designed [by me, of course] Cupcake Party!!! There were lots of these....I baked 8 dozen for us to eat and play with...I happened on this professional cupcake pan at an antique store and it bakes two dozen at one time...what a time saver.
Next are the party boxes that each guest filled with their own cupcake creations. I found these for a good deal at the restaurant supply for 25/cents each. We painted each box with polka dots in pink, aqua and lime green. The cupcake name labels were found at the Dollar Tree just last week in their back to school department.

Here is how I sorted the three different frosting colors that the girls used to decorate their own cupcakes. I used some small Solo condiment cups that I found sold by the sleeve of 500 at the flea market for 50/cents. These always come in handy for craft projects to hold glue, paint and glitter.

Next is more cupcakes, these in vanilla and chocolate. These are displayed on a Pampered Chef platter that I've had for many years. It comes in handy once in a while and earned its keep in my dining room hutch. In the middle are the cupcake toppers I made from a download from Lollychops website.

And here's a cupcake tower that a friend gave me...I've been waiting since last December to use it and I loved it on the table. I'll have to find more uses for it because it's so pretty.

And that's it for now...but there's more to come....check back for Part II...tomorrow.

Cupcake Party Previews

I've been working on the details for my daughter's 7th birthday party, which, this year, will be a cupcake party. I didn't have much trouble finding lots of goodies, in fact, it was probably harder trying to narrow things down because there is so much cupcake goodness out there right now. So, for today, while I'm away at CHA, I thought I would share with you what I've put together so far:

Here are the finished invitations:
These were made using some Colorbok papers with a Quickutz cupcake die and American Crafts cupcake ribbon. I lucked out on the ribbon and found the last roll at my local Michael's, it was just enough to finish 10 invitations. The number "7" was cut using my Cricut Cuttin' Up cartridge.

Here's the close-up:

Next up are some cupcake pics I made using a download from a website that I printed a long time ago...I'm sorry, I can't remember where they're from. I glued them onto some "craft picks" that I picked up at Michael's for 25/cents on their clearance table. I also used the small scallop die from my Spellbinders set.

And, last for today are the Thank You cards that I've already made using my Swiss Dot embossing folder, some clearanced cardstock from Michael's and a package of Martha Stewart cupcake (feltie) stickers. I also used the Trendy Trees stamp set from Stampin' Up for the sentiment. I love the felties because they already had dimensional stickers on them and that meant less work for me!!

And here's the close-up:

I'll be back with more....we've got a few other things planned for the girls and I'll be sure to share everything! Take care!

Cupcakes & CHA

This week it's all about cupcakes, as in a cupcake birthday party for my 6-year old, and then I'm headed to CHA in Orlando on Friday!! Yippee, skippee...I can't wait!

Here is the beginning view of the invitations I made yesterday:
I used a QuicKutz die and some American Crafts cupcake ribbon. I still need to put the finishing touches on them so I'll save the close up for later.

And here's the scoop on CHA (in case you haven't heard about it):

My hubby is driving a group of 4 of us down so I don't have to worry about the complicated directions and parking at the convention center. I'll try to get as many pictures as I can and have lots to share with you beginning Saturday....take care!

Candles & Cake

We celebrated Cayla's birthday last night with dinner at home (her favorite meal prepared by Daddy) and a simple cake that I put together at the last minute. She told me that she was "tired of cake and frosting" so I wasn't going to do anything...(we will also celebrate her birthday with a party on Saturday where we will have a cookie cake) but my instincts told me I needed to do something. So, in the afternoon while she was at school, I took this mini cake out of the freezer, used some frosting I had on hand and put together this really yummy cake with a Littlest Pet Shop "Sugar Glider" cake topper. She loved it and was really excited. Oh...and she asked for seconds! :)

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to you....Happy Birthday to you! Here's a quick picture I took this morning while Cayla was still in her jammies. She wanted to open a few of her gifts and save some tonight for our family celebration. She is so quick to guess what's in each package, even without unwrapping them, I decided to trick her this year by hiding one of her Nintendo games in a Cakester box.
She didn't know what was going on. She said, "Did you get me food?" Aha---you gotta be quick with this clever Mom. She's off to school and we'll share the rest of the day when she gets home.

Twenty-Five Cent Explosion

Well, not an explosion in the real sense of the word, but an "explosion card." [I needed a catchy title.] My daughter finally decided what she wanted to do for her 9th birthday party so I got to work on some invitations yesterday afternoon. After having some "down time" in the creative department, I was a little stumped about what to do. I left the pieces to sit overnight on my desk until the ideas came to me this morning.
I used two pieces of American Crafts cardstock I picked up at Michael's for $.12/each and pieces of scrap red & yellow cardstock. I also remembered my awesome Cuttlebug embossing folder with random numbers that I love to use on anything related to birthdays. The aqua blue square was punched using my Nestabilities dies and is actually the reverse side of this American Crafts patterned paper. The yellow tab was made from the Stampin' Up round tab punch, another favorite. I placed the tab on the left side of the card so that the girls would know how to open the card.

Here's a shot of the inside which expands to reveal all of the party information. This was easy using the computer and a journaling font.

The next thing I had to decide was how to encase the card inside of an envelope. The yellow tab made that a little tricky. I decided to use a white CD envelope. I sliced the flap off with my X-acto knife and slid in the invitation. I think I will print the recipient's name on a round label and attach it to the front. All together these invitations were less than $1.00 for 4. Nothing like having a week to plan a party....it's easy with simple projects like this.

Happy Birthday Hubby

Today is my hubby's birthday! Happy Birthday Dear! Wow! I can't believe we've made it this far...I remember when I thought 40 was old, but I feel so young (on most days at least). We had a small celebration last night with the girls....just sharing a few little gifts with you, things you've mentioned lately that you wanted but were too humble to buy for yourself. We will celebrate tonight with a nice steak dinner (cooked on the grill, of course) and homemade desert! And your other desire today...taking a trip to a huge used book store in town...I think I can accommodate that request. Best wishes for a terrific day! We are so glad to have you in our lives!

Puppy Party - A Few More

Well, the big day arrived and the girls had a BLAST! We had a total of 11 girls and 1 really brave boy attend the party along with a few parents. It was definitely the fullest my house has been in a long time. I took a few more pictures to share with you along with a picture of the birthday girl and her Momma....that's me!

Puppy Party a few days Prior

As promised, I have a few pictures to share of the games & stuff we will have on Saturday for our puppy party. I have been known to not take any pictures beforehand, have the event, the event is over and "Uh-oh....no pictures." So, this time, I decided to take some BEFORE the big day! I'm so glad I began the preparation on all of this stuff way ahead of time....back in June, because now I can sit back and have lazy mornings like today and not be so stressed out. We are taking the birthday girl on a fun-filled day at the beach and pool on Thursday (her official birthday) and Friday will be left for cleaning and decorating. And, sometime in between, maybe beginning tomorrow, I will cook the cake and decorate it. The pictures today include a "Feed the Dog" game board that my crafty husband made, a "Dog Bone Count" guessing jar which is also another game the kiddos will play, my famous goodie bags stuffed with really neat stuff, and our "Welcome" sign for the front door. I've also made paw print lollipops out of chocolate which I will share later. And, I took some really inexpensive plastic bowls from Target and put each child's name on the front with a paint pen. We will use those for their "dog bowls" to serve with cake and ice cream. We've really been able to accomplish a lot on a small scale budget and a big bank of imagination. I can't wait for Saturday!!

Puppy Party Favors

One of the things I've been working on this week has been the party favors for my daughter's Puppy Party. The date is fast approaching, so I have an unwritten schedule of things I want to get done before the big day. When the children arrive we thought it would be fun to have them each wear a "Dog Tag" necklace with their name on it. I searched everywhere for a dog bone die cut but instead decided to use this pattern and my good old fashioned scissors. The ribbon collars have velcro strips for the closures.