My Insanity Spring Cleaning Party.

Ok...so not as much fun as Maci's Party, actually not fun at all! BUT it was a party so I did it. One project only. I was too busy planning parties to clean for goodness sakes. :)
Here's my before picture of the cupboard under the kitchen sink~

And the after~ look, I have a garbage disposal in there!!! And pipes!!

That's ONE cupboard in ONE room. Can you imagine how much other spring cleaning I should be doing!! :)

Maci's Party!

Well today was the big day! :) Maci's 1st Birthday Party. It was such a joy to see her smile and clap. She was so happy!
Here's the precious birthday girl...eating her cake.Some of the decor ~

I had hung all those little BUTterflies (about 100 of them!) on fishing line and taped them to the ceiling light and then out to the ceiling. My niece took this picture just so show the idea of the flying butterflies or whatever they were.

Each child ~ there were 7 ~ got a little pail filled with goodies. There were pixie stick flowers, marshmallow flowers, lollipop flowers, rings, tattoos and candy.

This is the bouquet of marshmallow flowers we made last night.

The table~ The butterfly cake made by Maci's mommy. Isn't is adorable!!

We served flower shaped egg salad and Bologna / cheese sandwiches, fruit, cut out cookies, chips and juice. I had made each of the little girls a tutu ~ using this tutorial (which was super easy to follow!). The girls LOVED their tutus. I had posted before about the flower headbands and how excited I was that my daughter bought some for today's party. Well, she was not able to make it home this weekend so...no flower headbands for me. I improvised and sometimes I think that is when some of my better ideas come about. I had bought these large felt flowers from Hobby Lobby not really knowing what I was going to use them for...but today they got hot glued onto barrettes and became hair decorations for the girls.

We made candy necklaces ~ using gummie lifesavers, fruity cheerios,
and candy from a packaged mix for making necklaces.

So fun!

Busy busy

My nieces are here tonight and we made some marshmallow candy. They are for Maci's Party tomorrow. I thought the girls would enjoy making them...and I was right!! They were easy enough for all of them (ages 12, 4 and 2) to do. Here's a couple pictures. I wish I could remember where I saw them online. I'm thinking it was No Fuss Fabulous...but I'm not sure.


First we stuck the sticks into the center of the marshmallow. Dipped in candy melts. Dipped in sprinkles. Let dry. Package up. Enjoy. :)


Also, the Under the Sea tablescape that I've been working on got put together today and here's the photos. I'm sorry they are such bad pictures.

Ant Party

Since my son Anthony has been little we have nicknamed him Ant. He's 22 and still called Ant alot. Because of that I am always looking for ant items and I have put together a little post today to show some things that could be used for an Ant Party. I never did give him an Ant Party when he was little...what was I thinking???

Ant Party - by Lisalyn on Polyvore.com

For snacks you could always do the celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins. And here's another cool snack.
Tomato Army Ants
Ingredients:
3 small cherry tomatoes for each ant
9 toothpicks or grape stems for each ant

Directions:
Rinse the cherry tomatoes in cold water. Attach the three tomatoes with two of the toothpicks or grape stems. Use six more to create the ant’s legs, and two for the antennae. Make as many as you can to create a whole army of ants.
And a cake:

2 COOL Parties....

Natalie at Little Shindigs is sharing a rollerskating party today.
You remember roller skating, don't you?? :)

Each day this week she is taking an invitation from Invitation Consultants and putting a party together with that theme. Here's her invite for today........to see the rest, just visit her site ~ Little Shindigs.

and

Donna at Party Wishes is sharing a Slumber Party.
This is a very cool take on a girls night in party. Love the colors and fun that this party shows. Great idea. Here's a peek at her party..... .....to see the rest, just visit her site ~ Party Wishes.

I have to share.

I've been working on the tablescape for my sister-in-law's bank table that they are sponsoring this weekend. Posted about it here. It is SO fun!! I've been doing alot of spray painting though and I think it's getting to me! I've been trying to remember to take before and after pictures. Here's of the fish.
Before ~

After ~

I think I am going to use them on the napkin rings. Not totally sure yet. These are just plastic fish that I spray painted a metalic silver nickle color and dry brushed with green and blue.

Wine goblet markers ~I saw some at Pier One and decided they were too expensive so I went to Walmart and bought a pack of Under The Sea beads for $1.99 and made my own.

I think I'm on my way to a nice setting. We'll see. I'm sure trying my best. :)

Invitation Giveaway

Natalie at Little Shindigs is having a contest!
She is offering some invites from Invitation Consultants.
Check out here blog to get the information to enter. If you win, you'll be glad you entered. :)
And as always, the visit to Little Shindigs will be worth your time, whether or not you win.
Here is one of my favorites from IC.

Another Award and Sea Tablescape......

Wow..I just received another blog award! I'm so thankful for that. It makes me happy that other Party Girls can get inspiration from what I post. This award comes from Donna at Party Wishes. She does alot of amazing parties! Check out her site for some inspiration or maybe if you are in here area....hire her to do your party!! :)
Here's my award.
Alth0ugh it is the same award as I received before....it's from a different person. :)
So...THANK YOU Donna.

I just got back from a weekend in Bismarck. I was able to pick up the rest of the supplies needed for the Under The Sea tablescape that I am working on. I have quite a bit of painting to do...but it should be fun. My mom, bless her heart, sewed the tablecloth, chaircovers and napkins. AND she's been sick all weekend! I owe her big time. I would have done it myself, but I really wanted this stuff to turn out nice...and sewing is not my friend. :) The tablescape is for this coming weekend, so I'll post pictures of it after that.

Flower Headbands

I'm so excited!! My daughter is at Target and she is picking up some of these:

I NEED them for Maci's Party ~ well I suppose need is not necessarily so, but I do want them. I saw them at Party Planning Mom and was hoping I would be able to get some before they are gone. My Target is about 100 miles away.

I love candy....and candy loves me!

I've always liked candy. I think it's the bright colors, the fun it portrays in candy that gets me. Open up a bag of skittles and tell me...it makes you smile! :)

Here's a few candy ideas for you.
I love candy grams too ~ I'll maybe do a post on them someday.

From Family Fun....a candy bracelet. ~ I love this!

And these bugs...mmmm ~ love them, also from Family fun.

From edible crafts online....here's an Easter candy sundae. :)

Go get some candy and have a SWEET day!

You are my Sunshine

This party was posted by the fabulous people at No Fuss Fabulous and I HAD to share it and here's the reason why: This makes me think of my Grandma. The song "You are my sunshine" is one of her favorites and she loves to hear her grandkids and greatgrandkids sing this to her. I would love to do a "Sunshine" party for her.

Sunshine Party - by Lisalyn on Polyvore.com

Projects I've done for Maci's Party

I have this vision of little butterflies flying through the air over the table at the party so I started cutting out butterflies and attaching them to fishing line. Well I figured out that they are not really butterflies but dragonflies and I had planned to cut the butts off of them and decided that Maci is ONE...she doesn't care!! :) I have to say that I LOVE my Cricut...just wish I had more cartridges. This one I am using isn't even mine. (Thanks Marsha). This picture shows about 8 strands of the BUTTerflies.
Here are the spoons/forks. Found this idea online.
I have little pails with the girls' names on and in Maci's I just have pixie sticks with paper flowers attached. I'll divide them all up evenly for the party. Maci doesn't get them all. :) This last picture is air head lollipops inserted into a paper flower. Need to make flowers for the straws yet and since I haven't been able to find grass mats I think I will just cut out a large flower for the mat. That should work. :)

Inspiration for Maci's 1st Birthday

I have found many very neat ideas for Maci's 1st Birthday with the theme of
Flowers and Butterflies.
I actually have been working on this party....must hurry, it's in a couple weeks.
But here's my inspiration board. (My FIRST board!!!) :)

Great find!

I'm searching the Internet for some iridescent fabrics for an Under The Sea theme and I don't particularly want to use plain gossamer although it's looking as if I will be. Mostly because the metallic or iridescent fabrics do not come in both greens and blues. Usually only blues. Anybody have any sources? I've checked Stumps, Shindigs and Andersons. I could possibly just add some glitter to the gossamer to get the effect I need. ANYWAY....as I was searching around I found the fabulous store!! It's call Wild Things and wow do they have stuff. Their home page says "You can now relax. No more hunting all over the Internet. You've found us."
It's fun stuff like beaded and mirrored curtains and cool tablecoverings. Amazing stuff that is used by the Big...Important people. :) I didn't think SOME of their stuff wasn't too expensive...however, some is VERY expensive! Here's a few of my favorites.

The tablecoverings in this picture are very unique.
And a question....for an Under the Sea theme, would you go with Olive and Turquoise or Lime Green and Aqua??? :)
This is my Inspiration Picture:

Paper Purses

I made these 7 purses for gifts. Tucked inside are some little goodies. They were very easy to make. They would be fun and very easy to use for any party favor.
Found the directions at Creative with Julia.
I made my circles 5 1/2 inches...but you easily could change that size.
Jen...if you are reading this, you can close your eyes now and just find a different blog to read till after next weekend!! :)

Popcorn cones

Another post about popcorn!!
I just love the look of popcorn cones. They are fun and easy to make.
Over at wikiHow there are some pretty easy directions.

or you could buy thesefrom popcornireland.

or thesefrom thinkgarnish and decorate them yourself.

Here's a sample from the blog Imprintables.

Fire & Ice

A few days ago I asked for suggestions for a tablescape that I would be doing for an event related to my job. Well I came up with what I think was a pretty unique/unexpected idea. I have the entire picture in my head...all worked out. Perfect!! However, it is not going to work out for us to do a tablescape this year....so....here I am with this idea that I don't know what to do with, So I'll just share it on my blog and save it for a rainy day. :)

The theme was to be Fire & Ice.
I wanted to start with a red....possibly printed with flames for the tablecloth,
a iridescent cool bluish table runner.
Three large glass cylinders each on a round mirror for the centerpieces.
Inside the center cylinder would be red water with dry ice in it to make it smoky.
On the 2 outside cylinders I wanted to put real ice with some blue gems.
Sitting around the cylinders were to be clear votive cups with red candles...the fire.
Napkins would be made of one side red other side blue fabric.
On each place setting would be a box of Hot tamales and Ice gum tied together to represent
Fire & Ice.
I wish I could just put this together so I could see it for real and not just in my head. Hopefully something will come up so I can actually do it. :)
I am going to help my sister-in-law do a table for this same event and we are narrowing our options down to two different themes. I'll share once I know what our plan is.

Operation Shower

Amy from STEM Parties has become part of a
non-profit organization honoring expecting women of Military families with Baby Showers.
You can find more information out on her site. What a nice way for us to say thank you to these families that are serving our country while waiting for the arrival of their blessings.