Martha's Chandelier

I found another chandelier! :)
This one is very pretty also.
You could use any color combination that fits your party.
Instructions are here.
It's from Martha Stewart.

DIY chandelier

I seem to be finding these type of chandeliers alot lately...and of course I did try my hand at making a simple one....here.
But check this one out, very cool! AND it's made with dental floss. I suppose I could grab a few packs from work and "pretend" I am going to use it for flossing. :)

This is from Suite Living. She has a great tutorial ....so if you want to make it, head on over to her blog.

Color Combo

So I have a mess in my creative space area.
I finished up the Pink Party and then had to immediately get started on the Rehearsal Supper decorations and I happened to look over at my table and this is what I saw ~

now I'm thinking, wow, that would make a great color combo for a party of some kind!
The yellow tissue paper was just out for wrapping up some vases,
the silver tinsel stuff was in a vase I had to use,
the ribbon was left over from the rock star party i did a couple months ago,
and the silver sequins are suppose to be hanging from the light above the table,
but some little girl pulled them down. :)
I think it's pretty cool how those things just kind of came together.
Now...what party will I use that color combo for?

Baby Shower Game

Head on over to Simply Creative Ideas where you will find a fabulous game
that includes Chocolate!
It's one of those games that are unique and I think your guests would really enjoy it. :)

Here's a peek at it ~

Labor and Delivery
Hospital address (5th Avenue)
Late to hospital (Rocky Road)
Bringing your baby home
Baby giggles (Snickers)
Diapers, formula, medicine (Payday)

Sounds like fun to me!

I scream, U scream, We all Scream...

It's time for ICE CREAM! well, ok.....cake then!
Well I think Summer has finally made it to our state. It's hot and it's time for something cold. Who knows how long it will stay...but we will enjoy it for now. :)

Are these not cute?
from Martha Stewart, of course!

and these are very much like the traditional ones...but I love how they look so real!
from i heart cuppy cakes.And these were made using an actual molded pan. Interesting.
found at ohdeedoh

So there you go, you don't need ice cream to have "ice cream" :)

Sip & See???

I have been seeing baby showers with the theme of "Sip & See" and at first it was kind of weird to me, but that didn't last long once I figured it all out. :)
"The “Sip & See” trend is gaining some serious momentum. Typically held 2-6 weeks after the baby arrives (open-house style with a time frame of 3-4 hours for guests to drop by as they please), the mid-afternoon shindigs are often held in lieu of a baby shower. We love them for their efficiency: invite everyone over all at once to see the baby, so your home doesn’t feel like a revolving door of visitors during those already stressful just-home-from-the-hospital weeks." taken from stroller traffic.
Great idea!
Hostess with the Mostess did a feature on this very thing adding a bit of sparkly to it. :)
Stroller traffic has a great article on this topic...check it out, if you are interested.

Chris from Celebrations at Home just did a fantastic Sip & See shower and she has a post on it today. It's a sailor/nautical theme and it's worth a trip to her blog to see. :)

The surprise PINK PINK Party.

Last night I set up for a surprise birthday party that my sister-in-law had asked me to do.
The guest of honor is a young mom of 4 boys so it was decided that we would use as much pink as possible. :)
In this post I shared some ideas for plates and napkins we would use.
We decided upon the pink snakeskin plates and the brown zebra napkins.
Well, last minute we realized it wasn't going to work out to get them on time, so I had to improvise and I think it turned out just fine anyway.
Here are a few pictures.
The items that were in the favor boxes ~
the paper they are on was just light brown text paper that I found a zebra print as was able to print on there and I think it looked good....matched the tablecloth well. Place setting ~

Table ~
Plastic shoes I had found at the dollar store....filled with m & m's.
The fabric tablecloth was purchased at JoAnn's.
I was on clearance and then another % off that too! :)
I used a $5 door mirror from Walmart for the center of the table.
The vases are filled with coffee beans and used flowers I had on hand.
There are little clear gems sprinkled on the mirror also.
The placemats are just scrapbook paper.
Favor bags were found by my sister-in-law.
I have to say that this party was one that really made me nervous. I left most of the planning of it till very last minute and things DID NOT come together for it very easily. One crazy thing that happend was that my sister-in-law had given me this bag of nail polish and lip gloss and I had it in my car like for a day. I kept smelling something but thought maybe it was the air mattresses that I still had in the car. Well...once I started putting the favor bags together I quickly realized that the smell was from 1 broken bottle of nail polish that spilt in the bag getting some of the other polishes and gloss full of polish! We do not live near a Walmart so I had to quickly try to remove some of the polish...it didn't go well.
I ran out of ribbon for the vases...had to use other stuff I had on hand.
I ran out of coffee beans...had to pay big bucks at the local grocery store for more.
I forgot to buy spoons....thankfully I had some light pink ones that fit right in. :)

I love planning parties. :)

Wow!

Check out this amazing sweet party by Bethany at Hissyfits Photography!
Now I'm planning a sweet candy party for my soon to be 3 year old niece....and I have been totally inspired again.
If I can even come close to pulling off a party like this, I would be the BEST auntie in the world!
Here are a few pictures for you to see....
but seriously, check out her site, you will be glad you did.

Another fabulous party from kara!!

I've shared one of kara's parties with you before...and I HAVE to share this one too.
It is really really something!
It's a Dr. Seuss Baby Shower and you don't want to miss this one!

Here's a peek.... and let me tell you, I had trouble picking just one photo to show you here!

to see more, go to kara's party ideas.

Cow themed baby shower.

I helped a co-worker put together a Baby Shower for her daughter.
Since they are farmers I thought a cow theme would be fitting.
I did not attend the shower so I do not have photos from the actual shower but here are some of the things I put together for it.

The plates, napkins and forks...

little pails with tag attached. I had originally put milk duds candy in the pails and decided it didn't look right so we went with stick pretzels to look more like hay.
Much more appetizing than milk duds which looked liked....well, you know. :)

one of the tables. helium balloons were added to each centerpiece...

confetti...
the bowl for fruit salad....like the cow bandanna?

and the banner at the head table...

Years ago I did this sort of thing. It was for an anniversary. I hand cut (this was way before cricuts where even thought of!) hearts and attatched ribbon. Guests left little messages and or signed the hearts and hung them on a Christmas tree. It was in place of cards. No one needed to even buy cards. The anniversary couple were always very frugal so this was a compliment to them that people didn't need to spend money on them to give them well wishes.

Today....these sort of trees are quite popular and elegant. I really like this look.
Some ideas from ~

Mind Over Matter

My DIY Wedding day

Once Wed

Centerpiece

I am just loving this centerpiece. It is found on oncewed.com I sometimes forget to put clusters of vases, etc together. This is a good reminder to me. So pretty.

DIY Chandelier Bead Garland

This garland is so pretty! And really, it doesn't look too hard to make either.
I wonder if the foil cardstock comes in gold. My niece is getting married next year and she has chosen the colors of Dark Pink and Gold. She wants elegance. This would be elegance. :)
Directions Here.

Sew your own tablecloth

One aspect of party planning is always finding the right tablecovering.
It is a pretty big impact on the setting.
I love looking at fabrics and recently I've been having my mom sew napkins for different parties. With all fabrics out there the possibilities are endless so instead of buying a paper or plastic tablecloth from the Party Store, just DIY. :)
Now for me...sewing is not an easy task and I usually just end up with a bunch of knotted up thread...so it's pretty handy to have a mom that loves to sew and does amazing work!
Directions for this tablecloth are found at Sew 4 Home.
And hey...did you notice the garland in the background of this picture? How cute is that!!

Off again

My daughter and I are off to 5 days of camping at a Christian Music Festival.
We are excited but concerned that our camping skills might be a challenge.
We hope the blessings of the music overshadow the unpleasantness we may find in the bathrooms and shower situations. :)
I have some posts scheduled so my blog should be fresh every day...
I just won't be visiting other blogs for a few days. :(
Have a great week everyone.

Monkey Cake

One more post about monkey's and I'll move on...I promise! :)
I really love this cake.
Look at those mini doughnut ears. :)
It seems like an easy cake to make and decorate and yet looks so real and I think the kids would really like it!
Found the recipe here.

Monkey Banner

First of all...I LOVE Etsy!

This banner is made by LePoppyDesign on Etsy.

Here's a party package from her too:

Her stuff is so fun!
Love it all!
So much talent.
Great ideas.
You might want to check out her items.
I'm glad I did. :)

Monkeys and Banannas!

I'm starting to work on a Monkey party and I found this amazing party at
chica schmica.
Are these not the cutest invites?
And check out the party favor bags!
I'm pretty sure I could talk my mom into making these for me! :)
Love this game and really want to make one...I know the kids would love it!All the details are HERE!

Cupcake Party

Look at this party! Is this amazing or what?
The colors are absolutely inviting and fun.
This was a party for a one year old.
You can find more details at Kevin's Girls blog.

Back to Business.

I'm back! :)
I have alot of catching up to do as far as reading everyone's blogs.
So much to see!
I am just amazed at how much partying is going on in the crazy world.
And such talent.
Wow!
I will be sharing lots in the future.
I'm also working on a few parties myself.
I made a baby shower banner yesterday and I just do not like it SO...we'll see what I can do today to revamp it. Have to figure something out. It's just not right. :(
Here's a picture of it now.
The theme for the party is based around the farm and specifically cows, but
I think I don't like those big cow heads! It also looks to "quilt-y" for me.
I don't have very much of the bandanna paper left so I either reuse that or come up with something totally different.

UPDATE~
Well instead of revamping the banner I redid it.
Here's what it looks like now.

Although it doesn't show up as much on the wall, I like it much better. It's softer. It doesn't have "cowboy" written all over it, which is good. You might notice that I also left the "welcome" off of it. I thought is was better without it.

Wedding Pictures

Well here are some pictures from our amazing weekend.
I would love to take credit for the beautiful decor, and although I helped put things together somewhat, the ideas and creativity came from the bride and her mom.
My son and his new wife!

I did make the programs. Made way too many! They were made on textured cardstock and made great fans in the heat!
Guest book table. The guest book was so cool. It was one of those made at Shutterfly or whatever.
Gift Table. Pictures are of myself and husband and bride's parents on our wedding day.Bridal party table.


This lemonade container was purchased at Hobby Lobby and was absolutlely beautiful! It cracked when cold lemonade was added to it. We think that the glass was hot from the sun and the cold lemonade was not a good mix. All of these pictures were taken by my daughter.