Chloe's Fourth Birthday Gifts

Wow! Has it really been since June that I've put up a blog post??? It's been a busy summer, what with grandchildren sleeping over, vacations, and purchasing some land in southern VA. I've been making a lot of cards - just not had the chance to photograph them and post them.

One of the things I like to do for each grandchild's birthday is to give them something I have made. All my grandchildren have TONS and TONS of toys, so one more toy isn't going to mean much to them. From what I have seen, the things they really like are the things I have made them - the quilts, the books, the stuffed animals and other things. So this year our first granddaughter, Chloe, will be 4 years old - hard to believe!! Whenever Chloe and her sister Sophie come out to spend the night, I like to tell them stories about us, them, and other things. Most of the stories begin with "Once upon a Time", and end with "And they lived Happily Ever After". They are both really into princesses right now, so the fairy tale theme is big.

So this year's main present was a storybook about two beautiful Princesses. :) Here are some pictures of the pages. Lots of glitter paper and bling!

Cover: - I Mod-Podged the cover front and back to protect the tiny little glitter words from little hands. :)

Pages 1&2 - facing each other

Pages 3&4 - facing each other

Pages 5&6 - facing each other

Pages 7&8 - facing each other

 When you open the carriage door, it says "I love you". :)

 Whenever we drive out to our house with the girls, which is an hour drive, we usually sing this song.

Pages 9-10 facing each other

Pages 11&12 - facing each other

Last page and back cover (also Mod-Podged)

Most of the embellishments were cut with my Silhouette from glitter paper. The journaling was done by Print and Cut on my Silhouette. I used a 12 x 12 paper pad I picked up at Michaels. It is called Embellish by Dena.

I also made up a stamping kit for Chloe. I found these neat "Child's First Stamping pads" at Hobby Lobby. They are supposed to be washable and non-toxic. I put them in a box along with some of my cutesy rubber stamps and some scrap paper. Here is a picture of the box:
I used some of the stamps in the box to stamp the top.

 The contents of the box

 A close up of the stamping pads

 And of course I had to make her a Princess card! Complete with glitter paper. I used a stamp set by Darcie.

Thanks for hanging in until the end! I hope she likes all of these gifts! I know a lot of love went into them. :)

W9 Cupcake Fun!

Hello! I purchased Sweet Treats from WPlus9 serveral weeks ago, and just this week was able to order the dies that go with it. I have loved making these sweet little treats! The cupcakes come together so easy, and I just can't stop using the "Seize the Cupcake" sentiment! So fun. The blug tag is from Lil' Inkers.

 I used a sparkly glitter pen on the petals and perfect pearls liquid for the icing. Aren't the little flags in this set so cute?

 This card uses the dies for the cupcakes and the stands. Glitter abounds! Background paper is Lemon Tart Bitty Dots from PTI. Love the "Happy, Happy, Happy" sentiment - always makes me think of Duck Dynasty! haha

 This card uses some cupcake patterned paper (My Minds Eye???) and washi tape for the little flags. The sentiment is from Bountiful Banners by PTI. Below is the inside of the card, which uses the W+9 cupcake and the cute sentiment.

Thanks for looking!

A Party for a Princess

Hello!
I wanted to share some pictures (ok, ALOT of pictures) from my granddaughter's 1st birthday party. My daughter is very creative (and loves Pinterest), and decided to do a winter themed party for her daughter Sophie. She decided to have a Hot Cocoa Bar, a Smore Bar, and other platters of appetizers. The party was from 1:30-4:00pm. so we figured we didn't need to do a full lunch menu. One of the things I love, is that Katie involves me in her party planning. It gives me a chance to use the TONS of paper resources I have, and to feel a part of the festivities.

Hot Cocoa Bar

I gave Katie a recipe for a hot cocoa mix that I had used to send care packages to the kids when they were in college. It consists of varying amounts of powdered sugar, non-dairy creamer, cocoa, malted milk and powdered milk. We mixed up a huge batch, and set some aside for the party and put 2 servings in little half-pint jars for party favors. We also added extra chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, and a chocolate dipped spoon to the party favor. The hot cocoa turned out wonderful. Everyone said it was the best cocoa they ever tasted. I made homemade peppermint marshmallows, and chocolate dipped spoons and we had chocolate chips to add to your cup of cocoa. Here are some pictures of it.

 The half-pint jar with 2 servings of the mix, extra chocolate chips and mini marshmallows, plus a chocolate dipped peppermint spoon to stir it with.
 These were the tags I created and printed and cut using my Silhouette, which were attached to the jars.

Yum! Homemade peppermint marshmallows! They were sooo good!









The cocoa cups with sleeves, adorned with little circle tags that said "one".

And the toppings for the cups of cocoa.

These are all the little jars lined up on the counter ready to hand out to each family.

Smore Bar

We had little clay pots (which Katie painted) out on Katie's kitchen counter, that had Sterno cans in them. These were lit (with LOTS of adult supervision), and then marshmallows (we used store bought ones for these) were roasted to perfection, then sandwiched in between two graham cracker halves and a chocolate bar. Classic yummy goodness!

 Label for the Smore bar above, the marshmallows on a silver platter (actually from the dollar store!)

 The graham crackers on another expensive platter :)

 And the infamous Hershey bars (what would a smore be like without them?). There were also sticks to roast the marshmallows on.

The flower pot and the sterno can to roast the marshmallows. These sterno cans are made for doing this kind of thing - safe for indoors.

A picture of the roasting. That's my daughter Katie on the right in the blue. What a good mom she is!

Other snacks and table decorations

 Purple and white were the party colors.

 Fruit cups for the kids

 Chocolate covered pretzels and star candy.

 Water and sparkling beverages.
 

 Katie purchased the cake pops. These turned out awesome! They matched the party colors and even added a sparkle. Very pretty! There were also several platters from Chilck-Fila to munch on.

 Party Banner and Hat

Here are some pictures of the banner and party hat I made Sophie. I did a post on the Princess book I made her here.

 The party hat. Try keeping a hat with an elastic band on a one year old for more than one minute!

 Sophie's banner - designed and cut on my Silhouette. Each letter has chunky white glitter on it. Vellum snowflakes behind each letter. I think Katie is going to hang this in her room now.

 A Happy Birthday banner for the entrance way. Also designed and cut on my Silhouette.

 Sophie's smash cake - BEFORE

 DURING

AND AFTER! She really got into it - you should have seen her squishing her fingers in it!

Wow! That was alot of pictures! Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this post! It was a great party and worth every minute we spent preparing for it. There were about 50 people (adults and kids) at the party and everyone had a great time.