Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Hubby's 40th birthday party


I threw my husband a birthday bash for his 4oth birthday! I didn't really go all out, I just did a few little things to make it special. This is my 2nd Cricut banner and I am a lot prouder of this one than the 1st one I did. I think it turned out pretty good.

My mom had just given me these chinese lanterns and I liked the colors, so, that is what I decided to base his party on.
When you plan a party 2 months in advance, you never know what type of weather you will get. Especially in April and in the Midwest. I got this tent and decorated it with white lights. It was really nice at night.

I found this idea of the limes and baby's breath here and wanted to try my hand at it. I also had some frames filled with childhood pictures of him spread throughout the party.

The cake.

Oh-these wine belts were an impulse buy at Pier 1. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them. I love the sayings.

And finally, some cheesy 40th suckers.

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY to my dear husband!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Amish




If you know me, you know that I LOVE the Amish! I have since I was about 8 yrs. old or so. Took a ride out thru Amish country this past weekend. It is so nice. My daughter fell in love with the black bonnet. We had to buy it! She is so adorable! So, it got me to thinking about having a Plain & Simple themed birthday party. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. I have a whole year to plan.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Under the Sea/Mermaid birthday party


Here it is, the Under the Sea/Mermaid birthday bash! I was originally going to get invites with her picture on them and then I read somewhere on the world wide web in an article, how to make these. I thought these would be more fun and she was able to help make her own invite. We used ziploc bags and filled with sand and small shells. I cut the paper with scissors for the wave and stamped the wording. I attached a magnet to the back so they could hang them on their fridge.

A fish plate I found at Tuesday Morning. An impulse buy. Not sure if anyone even noticed it. Will I even use it again? Who knows! tee-hee

I didn't get a very good picture of her outfit, but, of course we had to have a mermaid outfit. I found this here. It was really cute!

The party table!

The cupcakes with edible 'pearls' and blue sanding sugar. YUM!

'Sea' candy!



Notice the watermelon is star shaped. Courtesy of MIL. I love the fruit kabob! We've already had them at previous parties. Colorful!

The party table!

I used the Cricut cartridge Paper Dolls to make these mermaids.


Each child got a treasure chest. I got these at Oriental Trading. I painted them 4 different shades of pink for the girls, brown for the boys and purple for the birthday girl-her favorite color. My original plan was to have the kids decorate them, but, after doing a sample and hot gluing everything, there was no way they would of been able to do this.

So, I decorated them all and had them ready for them to chose the one they wanted.

Me explaining the treasure hunt they were about to go on. It was a picture hunt.

I took about 6 pictures or so and the 1st one I gave to them, it showed our mailbox. They then had to find our mailbox and when they did, there was another picture clue that took them to another part of the house, etc. It was fun! They carried their treasure boxes and collected gold coins along the way.

I had them running up and down and all thru the house.
They found the treasure chest!

The treasure chest I got from Oriental Trading. It was a pinata. I just cut it open in the front and the sides. This worked perfect because I couldn't find anything this large. There were so many things in the treasure chest. First thing you notice is the red headed mermaids. I found these here and fell in love with them! They were easy to make. My mom made these. Each kid got one. There were bubble necklaces, stickers, glow in the dark snakes, erasers, plush sea animals, coloring books, coloring pages, mermaid necklaces (for the girls), gold coins and more gold coins!
Me handing out the treasure!

The birthday cake/cupcakes. I got the inspiration here and thought how easy it would be to make-and it was. We did a 2 layer; chocolate/white round cake with buttercream frosting. The mini marshmallows were cut in half and then I piped green frosting for the seaweed.

The banner. Oh lord, what a story this has. I see these in all the blogs and I finally got to do one with my new Cricut machine. I originally got 2 patterned papers for the circles, but, I didn't buy enough and when I went back to get more, they were out of the one. I waited until the night before and they still hadn't gotten any, so, I had to change the papers. I really wasn't to happy with the choice-the blue is wavy water and the brown is sand. It is under the sea-right? It just looks bland. So, I finally cut all the letters and I came across this extra T, or so I thought. I went to put it all together and I had thrown the T away. If you look closely, the T in birthday is a sideways Y. Worked out fine and no one noticed!

My mom drew this on our dining room window with Crayola Window Markers. A special added touch.

We have an enclosed front porch and I decorated the inside-I got no pictures :(
Anyway, I put streamers up in the doorway, had the bubble machine going and the Little Mermaid-Under the Sea song playing (on repeat). It was really great! My daughter loved it!

Everybody entered and exited Under the Sea! What a fabulous time!

Vintage Book Planner

Found this while looking at blogs today. This is so darn cute! How talented is she? Would be a great gift idea for a teacher. I'll have to remember this one.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Yesss, I finally got to make 'em...




After boring my facebook friends to tears with my posts of a never ending search for bottle caps, I finally found some and got to make these magnets. I'm on vacation right now visiting family and right before I left I got my Family Fun magazine and saw the idea. I thought how easy this was going to be. Well, little did I know that I wouldn't be able to find bottle caps anywhere in the local craft stores. So, I resorted to buy them online later when I got home. Then after days of frustration, my dad informs me that there is a local beer/wine supply place--they had them-a gross for $3.70. Cheap! I was all excited and then I realized after I bought them, that they have this raised, sealant in them and they won't come out. I thought, this isn't going to work. But, I tried it anyway, and IT WORKED! These are so fun and easy and I can't wait to make more!
The End.

Party cups

I was catching up on my Blogs today and I came across this. I think these are totally cool and would love to use these at a party! Something different than using a black, permanent marker.

28 layer color cake


Not sure if I could or would even want to attempt this cake. Looks good though!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Bottle-cap magnets


I am so looking forward to making some of these this week.

***UPDATE: This project is on hold for now. I am having a hard time finding the bottle caps. Apparently, you can't find them in your local craft store. Guess I have to go online and buy them.