Shutterfly Galore

Since I was actually able to take family pictures this year, I have been looking around for some Christmas Cards to send out!

And then imagine my delight when I heard the news about Shutterfly's Holiday Card Promotion!

They are giving away 50 free HOliday cards to bloggers...

which means you too can get 50 free Holiday cards this year :)

I can't list all the many ones that I love.  But here are a few:

I have to say that this one might be my favorite though.  I love the contrast!

Do you need Christmas Cards this year?
Planning a birthday Party?

How about giving a Calender for Christmas?

Shutterfly has pretty much everything for you needs.  I suggest  you go check them out now.

And for you bloggers out there that want in on this promotion,

go here: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Princess Tea Party

Boy this has been in the works foreva! 

I mean, I started preparing for it a couple of weeks before the party BUT in my mind, like a year. 

seriously.

And I was nervous how things would go down. 

Yet i have come to realize a few things:

-5 year olds could care LESS about the intricate details of a birthday party

-tried & true games are still TRUE.

But the OCD that I am, I could not allow her party to happen without it being PERFECT...in my mind at least ;)

Exhibit A:

I got these bird cages from Michaels for $1 each.  I cut out some birds and placed them in the cage then hung them from the chandelier.  The kids loved that. 

I do too. 

They are still up and I'm leaving them there.

 I made her another barbie doll cake, like the one HERE and if you want to try to make one, go HERE.

she wanted to use her "good" Belle barbie for it but I would not have it.  You know, I do try to have her toys last longer than a week...

So i grabbed some fairy doll at the dollar tree...

scary, isn't she?  but she was small enough to fit perfectly :)

 I wanted to have the girls bring home a party favor that didn't go straight to the trash.  So i thought it would be fun to make some crowns.  I asked their mom's beforehand what their daughter's favorite color was and went from there.  I am a felt crown pro now! (tutorial HERE)

 Ready to crown each girl as they arrive.  They also got to pick a necklace to wear ;)

 Food table, partially filled. 
I'm missing the fruit tray adn the chocolate pretzels (tutorial HERE)...they were there ready to eat but just hadn't been placed on the table.

On a side note, I had a lot of fun decorating this area. 
I found the plates and candlesticks at goodwill and made some cake plates (tutorial HERE)  i found that adorable cat/cookie jar there too. 
I used my cricut for the 5's and "E". 
I grabbed some doilies from the dollar tree. 
I had that table cloth that I got from my grandma. 
I used napkins from the Dollar Tree to make those puff balls that are hanging from the ceiling.  (I am a pro at those too.  I made like 20 of those! Tutorial HERE)

 So as the girls came in, I crowned them and directed them to the table to color.  I originally planned on printing out some princess coloring pages but my printer ran out of ink!  So I just had blank paper and they still did awesome!

Once all the girls were there, we came to the main room and played "Kiss the frog on the Lips" aka "pin the tail on the donkey"  Joe drew a large frog aka prince naveen ;) on some tissue paper.  I then traced it with a sharpie on green scrapbook paper.  And that's the end result!  It turned out aewsome.  I cut out red lips for each girl and initialled them.  They had fun seeing where their's ended up! 

Next was the tea hot chocolate party! 

I grabbed each girl a tea cup and saucer from good will.  I found a cute little tea pot too that I used to fill up.  I used the crock pot to make the large quantity of hot chocolate.  Then we had them go get food from the table.  I used pretty much crap food.  but I figured it was a party so I did'nt care.  The pink marshmellows were a big hit!

During this, I painted their finger nails.  They loved that!  I'm sad i didn't have pictures of the activities but I have only so many hands!  Speaking of, thank you Megas for helping me out!

Next was the singing and candles!

Then opening of the presents!

And at that point, time was up!
Emma was estatic about the whole thing and loved having all her friends there. 

Each girl was adorable all dressed up!

I had fun too getting creative since it's been awhile!

I have been definitely burnt out from this, but it was worth it!

LInked this to my fav Linky parties found  under  Linky Party button above :)

Princess Tea Party: Chocolate Pretzel Rods

 This may be the easiest things to make with the best end results!

Chocolate Pretzel Rods are perfect for any occasion and they are so simple.

So I'll show you what I did.

What you need:

pretzel rods, chocolate chips of your choice and some sprinkles

Dump your chocolate chips in a bowl and nuke them for about a minute.  Do it in small increments so you don't burn them!

 Next, place a pretzel rod in the bowl, grab a spatula glob a bunch of chocolate on is, leaving a few inches on one end so that you can hold it.


From there, you smear the chocolate all over the pretzel.  If there is excess, I like to twist teh pretzel while I use the spatula to get any off.  Then it leaves a cool, twistly design!

 Then grab some parchment paper or anything like that and place them on there.  Then grab your sprinkles and go to town :)  Place them in your freezer for a couple of hours and before your party, take them out and display them however you want!

Crappy pictures of the end result.  I was running around like a headless chicken that I forgot to do that!  but you can see it well enough, right?

Next up, pictures from the party!  I am excited to show you how it all turned out :)
And keep those followers coming!  I will be doing another giveaway when I reach 100 followers!!



PROJECT: craft

This past Saturday I was able to attend PROJECT: craft.
boy do I wish it was every night.
Danyelle and Lindsay did an AMAZING job.
They spared nothing.
Every detail was accounted for.
Jenn hosted it over at Greenies and the atmosphere was perfect.
And of course, I didn't take any pictures of the night since I was busy crafting...or sewing :)
We were spoiled with goodies for the eye and the belly. 
We were all given a fun little project to work on, a craft kit, if you will.
YUMMY cookies were made from the Breadman's Wife. 
There were giveaways and I won a beautiful bag by Harper Road!!
We also got a Creative Mix by the Passionista.  I am loving it.  I bring it with me everywhere.
Freshly Picked supplied everyone with a wallet.
ANd not to mention everyone who came, it was fun to meet some new crafty ladies.
Oh it was the best night ever. 
Thank you again ladies!

Princess Tea Party: puff ball decorations

my daughter's 5th birthday party was this past saturday, among other things that was that day:

Relief Society Conference

project: CRAFT

Boy what a day!

but i wanted to showcase the preparations that were made for emma's party. 

first off, puff balls to hang from the ceiling :)

now, I know most of you use tissue paper and I have in the past.  But I didn't want to deal with cutting the tissue paper  and blah blah blah...it was pretty much just being lazy.

So I had a thought..napkins!  They came in a pack of 20 from the dollar tree.

I came home and tested it out...and it worked.  So easy and so what I was looking for :)

So grab 5 napkins and some string and come along with me :)

Step 1: open the napkins and stack them in a pile.

 Step 2: start folding them in an acordian style

 Step 3 : cut string to desired length

 Step 4:  Tie in the middle of the napkins.

 Step 5: Take the napkins and hold it up like this:

 Step 6: start taking one sheet at a time and peeling them back, like this:  Be very delicate so you don't rip the napkins :)

 Once you ahve done one side, flip it around and do the other side.

 Now flip it upside down and do the other half.

 Walla!!  see?  very simple and so adorable.  I made about 20 of these babies and put them strategically on my ceiling...ok, fine.  I just threw them up randomly before my guests arrived!



ruffle birthday shirt.

my eldest "baby" will turn 5 tomorrow...WHAT?! When did this happen? A little bittersweet really.
I love this little girl so much and she has grown into such a wonderful little thing. So I wanted to make her something fun to wear tomorrow ALL DAY :)
I saw this from somewhere, and I have no idea where from my journeyings through hundreds of blogs. So if you know, let me know!
But here's the breakdown:
1-grab some scrap fabric, like 4 strips of it, about 1-2 inches wide.
2- do basting stitches down all 4 strips and then gather, ruffle, and bunch :)
3- find a shirt. This one had some stains that I wanted to cover :)

4- place 1 strip across for the top of the "5"
5- place another 1 strip vertically.
6- place the last two strips as the curvy part of the "5". Place pins where needed.

7- take your sewing machine and sew it down. And your done!

Happy Birthday Sweetie :)
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