A little break.

I hate to do this, since I do have some followers, but I am going to take a bit of a break from this blog for about a week.
I do have a very good reason!! My son is getting married this Sunday!! :)
I have programs and table placecards to work on.
Also am trying to do some favors for Rehearsal supper. We are going on a Riverboat Cruise for the supper and I am not allowed to take any food on the boat so I will just do a little something at the rehearsal. I've chosen the theme of fish, since my son's major is in Wildlife and Fisheries.
The colors I am working with are orange and bright blue.
I've purchased several flavors of goldfish crackers and am going to put them in little bags amd attach a tag with some sort of saying to it....maybe.....
"there are lots of fish in the sea, but only one for Anthony".
Sound ok?? Any other wording ideas? I'm pretty bad at that sort of thing! :)
Here's an engagement picutre of my son and his fiance'.
He will be home this week sometime. He lives in NE and got to ND yesterday but is spending some time with his fiance' and her family. I think today they are making the chocolate chip cookies for the wedding. No cake here! They are keeping it very simple. A wedding in the park with a picnic reception. Will post some pictures next week.

Seriously now!!!

This has to be one of the cutest most colorful candy party I have ever seen!
What is not to enjoy with this party?
Cotton candy cupcakes, dum dum topiaries, ice cream and candy, candy and more candy!!
It's a Sugar, Sweet and Spicy themed party.
This Amazing party was done by Kara. You can find her very creative ideas on her blog
Kara's Party Ideas.
I just read that the circus party she planned and worked very hard on got rained out....is she a quitter? Absolutely not...she's trying again for this weekend.
Now that's a dedicated party girl there. :)

Some answers :)

There are a couple questions about Amy's party so I thought I'd just do a quick post to answer them. Actually I had intended on explaining things a bit more when I did the post, but I got in a hurry and forgot.
The napkin rings ~ I cut 4 circles out of the fabric and just sort of bunched them together and put a few stitches in them and then added the button. They were then attached/stitched to a pipe cleaner that wrapped around the napkin. :)
The tablecloth is a piece of fabric I found at Hobby Lobby. When I was in line to pay for it there were 2 young ladies with dreads that said, "hey, she got some of that cool fabric". I knew then I had made a good choice. :)
You probably wonder why I didn't just dump the skittles out of the large vase and put the flower bouquet in there. The answer....I don't know!! What was I thinking? I did like the colorful look of the skittles, but goodness, I had flowers too. Oh well.

Scenes from Amy's Birthday Party

I had this fabulous birthday picnic planned for my daughter this past week.
Well fabulous turned into just a
"let's get this done"
kind of party. Let me explain.....
We went to the park because that was my plan. :)
It was so windy and a bit cold so I quickly laid out the tablecloth and anchored it
down with whatever items I could. Put the placemats down while setting the plates
and napkins on top as fast as I could so they would not blow away.
I bought a nice bouquet of flowers to put into a vase that was filled with skittles
on the outside and a mini vase inside (to hold the water and stems).
Well the beautiful bouquet didn't fit inside the mini vase so we put the vase on the table,
flowers in the storage Rubbermaid container on the other table
just so they wouldn't blow away.
The flies were literally sticking to the food and flowers!! Sticking!! We had to like flick them off, not just swish them away...nope.
I didn't get to set the table all fancy and everything but I did what I could and I think,
well I know, the attempt was appreciated. :)

I did get some random pictures of the table..........

The cupcakes
( I made these from scratch using a Martha Stewart recipe....I think I mixed them too much...they were really dense....but the frosting was good!)

I had some of the food in little jars and labeled. This was the sour patch kids jar. (Amy's favorite candy). Also had corn salsa in a cute little jar too.

The flowerless vase....

A taste of the a placesetting.... the plates were red, placemats and napkins were various colors.

The Amazing Fruit Tart that Amy made!! Very yummy. and pretty too.

And...the birthday girl.

I guess I learned that you have to go with the flow. It wasn't perfect (because of the weather), but it was special. :)

Jar Lighting

3I have been a big fan of jar lighting for along time. When I did my daughter's college graduation celebration in our backyard we had all sorts of jars with tea lights in them hanging and setting around. It was so pretty. I'd show pictures, but I'd have to go searching somewhere for them...it was a few years ago. I don't even think they are on a disk anymore.

Now I want to go looking. :)

anyway,
When I saw this picture I just fell in love with it. It's so romantic and yet very simple. It is from Apartment Therapy.

As usual I had to go searching for more jar lighting.
This is what I found at Martha Stewart.

And this is from Design Sponge. A Backyard Wedding gives a great tutorial on how to add the wire to the jars.

Who says jars are just for canning??? I don't even know how to can anyway. :)

Party hats and packages

Donna from Party Wishes shared about this site that sells these unique party hats and packages. I had to go look and wow, they have some pretty cool stuff. What caught my eye is the monkey package.
And look at this little bunny foo foo hat. How cute is that!! :)

For more very cute hats and party packages check out Silver Spoon Scraps. And while you are blogging around check out Party Wishes....always good inspiration there!

Corn on the cob

Cupcake style! :)

How creative are these. They would be perfect for a picnic setting party of any kind.
They look yummy. Martha shares the recipe here.

Kabobs

Well these are probably not the usual kabobs you are thinking.
I sure wasn't expecting these. But how cool!! :)
These are from
Cupcakes take the cake.Here's a tutorial too! :)

Don't forget! Tip Junkie Bash.

Head on over to Tip Junkie,
enter for some fabulous prizes!!

Etsy party packages from Picnic.

I came across this seller who I found on her blog Picnic. She has an amazing Pirate package for sell. It's fun and unique.

Her etsy store is Pearlandpirates. She offers an ice cream social package there! I do like ice cream. :)

Outdoor chandelier

This is from Sunset.com Oh how pretty.

Create an enchanting retreat in a corner of your yard with a chandelier you can make in an hour. All you need is a wire basket, a few jam jars, and some pretty crystals.

Pick out a wire basket with a handle and a flat base. (We've seen them in home and garden shops such as Crate & Barrel, online auctions, and thrift stores.) It's great to find one designed to hold glassware or small pots ― the built-in partitions will hold your jars in place.

Then hang crystals from the base and top; for a real Cinderella look, loop two strands of glass beads across the bottom. Seattle's Swanky Nest (425/432-4893) has a great selection of baubles.

Attach your chandelier to a patio roof or tree with a length of matching chain (or use a metal plant hanger). When you're seated, it should float just above eye level.

Pop tea lights or votives into the jars, light the candles, and enjoy the glow.

Happy Birthday to Him & Her!

Today is my husbands birthday and it is also my daughter's 27th birthday!
What a surprise it was to have a baby on the same day as my husbands birthday. What a gift! She was 7 days late and I never really thought about her really being born on
her dad's birthday.
Our son missed my birthday by 1 day! I suppose I should have had the Dr. induce me as he was due anyway.
Today we are celebrating with a fun picnic in the park for my daughter (husband will not be home). I've planned a fun tablescape and will show pictures as soon as I get home and get them downloaded. (next week)
This picture is a few years old...

This one was in May.

I'm featured!!! Yay!

I know I already have a post for today...but I just have to say this:

I am Featured today at Creative Parties and Showers!!!!
I'm pretty excited about it! :) Yes, I am!
It's great to share something that I worked so hard on.
It gives me the push to do more.

Head on over to Creative Parties and Showers and see their amazing blog,
check out my feature and leave a comment, if you'd like.
And, have a marvelous day!

LollyChops

So, you like cupcakes, huh!
After yesterday's post maybe you are wanting to get more involved in them! :)
If so...you might want to check out Lollychops.
They just recently featured cupcakes. There are craft ideas, recipes and downloads, all free! :) Cute and Yummy stuff all happening at
Lollychops.

Cupcake tower

Cupcakes are all the rage right now even for weddings. I really like this tower that is a diy project. You can adapt it to any theme. Designer Lori Federico gives a great tutorial on My DIY Wedding Day. It looks pretty easy to do...and fairly inexpensive too.

Today is the day!

It's the start of Tip Junkies Party. Their NEW blog turned into dot com debuts today.
You might want to check out the happenings. Lots of fun tips, ideas, and prizes! Yay. :)

Have you seen TomKat on Esty? Oh my....cute stuff! Here's a sample, in case you haven't been so lucky to see some of her things.

And a party scene from one of her customers.

So incredibly cute!

It is my desire to eventually come up with a party packages like this to sell. So far I have come up with 2 that I put together to sell, but I'm just not sold on them yet myself. Something is missing. I'm frustrated that I have not been able to put it all together in a way that makes me happy yet. I thought I had my "party packges" all figured out. I will not sell something I am not ok with. So.........work to do yet. Thoughts to get together. I think what I "need" is a theme.
Stuff like tomkat sells inspires me.

Tiny Prints

Look what Tiny Prints has put together for an inspiration board!
This tropical color theme takes on an eclectic twist that would be perfect for an outdoor party on a summer day.

Did I tell you that Tiny Prints also has some awesome sweet invites? Seriously, check them out. They are so fun....like this one

and this one

and here's something a bit different

Am I right? They are cute, aren't they. :) And that's just kids birthday ones. They have ALL kinds of invites, stationary, gifts, etc.

Bubbly Ducky Baby Shower

I think this shower theme is just the cutest! Although the ducky theme is nothing new to the baby shower themes, this one seems to add some unique touches to it, which I like. :)

The table setting:
It's fresh, clean and simple. Aqua, white and sunny yellow. Little blue gems have been hot glued to the chargers (easy to remove).

The centerpieces:
A fish bowl, of course! But did you notice first of all it's platform? A simple clear glass or acrylic dish will do. And inside that bowl....Various sizes of Styrofoam ball and clear glass bubbles!

The ceiling decor (gotta hang something!!):

Those same styrofoam and clear glass balls hung from fishing line. Perfect. :)

This party is from Better Homes and Gardens. They have several party themes posted.
Great ideas.

A sweet shoppe.

Swoozies
has what you need when it comes to sweets!



and that's just a sampling of the sweets! They have paper products, invitations ~ order 1 or several, gifts, bags, gift wrap. Lots of good stuff.

It's time for flowers.

Just sharing some ideas with flowers today...incase you are doing a flower party.

These all from bright ideas.

fudgy flower blooms


colorful flowers
These are adorable from american crafts

This is from the celebration shoppe

You can make your own re-cycled flower bouquet like this one from Intimate Weddings.

Mermaids & Pirates

Pottery Barn has the cutest little Mermaid Party!!

Aren't the colors just perfect? pink and aqua and lime green. love it. See that pirate in there too. Boys COULD come to this party if you added a few pirates in. :)
It all just looks fun and easy to do.
The prices are a bit high (for me anyway!) but this could easily be improvised
(sorry Pottery Barn).
There are some other fun party ideas and gifts at Pottery Barn.
Check them out...ideas are always good! :)

silverware.....and beans.

If you don't want to wrap up those silverware for your event,
here are a couple cute ideas for you.
Cans that have been painted...cheap, easy, and nice.

A pail filled with beans! Hum. Good idea, but not totally sure I'd really do that. :)

BUT if you want a better idea for beans, check this idea out from Just something I made blog (which by the way has some very cool ideas!). I have thought of candy and coffee beans and rocks, but beans? I really like this!

A unique recycled way to wrap the silverware if that is what you prefer.
This set from williamslenny on etsy.

And this one is neither a wrap or a pail of silverware. A neat idea from Country Living.