Personalizing a "Home Party"

A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a Matilda Jane party. It is my absolute favorite line of clothing. I originally started buying it for S.R. Almost everything is made of soft knits in this line, and S.R. loves to be cute but most importantly, comfortable. 

I only recently started buying pieces for myself. If I could live in these clothes day and night, I would. 

The new spring line is called "A Wonderful Parade." 

You all know that I need very little excuse to decorate for an occasion and this one was definitely right up my alley. Super girly, and so much fun.

It's not mandatory to pull out all the stops for a home party, but I think that the guests and the person selling the merchandise really appreciate it. It never hurts to put a little effort into a party like this to make it more personal.

Super cute right?
So how do you come up with a personalized, super awesomely cute home party??
Pay attention to what the theme happens to be. What do they use as far advertising their products? What kind of flowers do they use in the background? What kind of food do they have on display? What is the color scheme on the brochure that will be handed out?
Those small details can make a huge impact when decorating for your party.

Here is a list of the items that I purchased for this party..the rest of what you see was already apart of the arsenal of party supplies;o)

Cookies-Telah's Cozy Cookies

Popcorn Boxes-Hobby Lobby

Tray for Popcorn Boxes- Marshall's

Napkins and Pink Straws-Hobby Lobby

Lemon Drops & Cotton Candy- Dollar Tree

Flowers & Balloons-Publix

Jar Lids-Etsy

I hope this inspires you to think outside of the box when you host your next home party!

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Engagement Party

This past weekend, I had the honor of helping put together an engagement party for a very sweet friend's nephew. It wasn't supposed to be at her house originally, so when I got the call, we had to put all crafty gears into over drive.

I had her email me a few pictures of things she wanted to see at the party and ran with it.

I'll provide some of the details, but I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking.

This little sign was at the base of the stairs as you walked up to the front porch. It's made of balsa wood. The sign was stained and hand painted with their names and the date of their wedding.

 In the front entrance, there was an heirloom Bible for guests to sign or highlight their favorite verse along with photos of the bride and groom when they were children.

The gift table

Aren't the flower arrangements beautiful? I love hydrangeas and blue mason jars...you can never go wrong with either of those:o)

There was additional seating outside.

 Here are the center pieces for the tables. Battery operated votives and tea lights were life savers for this outdoor affair.

This was the drink station. I thought it was pretty lucky that we share the same last initial...The mother of the groom made the little flags for the paper straws. I wish I had taken a closer shot of them. They were adorable. 

I had a lot of helpers in putting this together, and it wouldn't have happened without all of their help. 

I was so grateful to be apart of making this sweet little couple feel extra special and I wish them great joy and happiness in the years ahead! 

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Getting Crafty-A Fall Party

Fall is here, and I love it! Whenever there is a new season, I feel the need to have a party. 

I invited a few of my girlfriends over, and we had a fall crafting party. Since it was in the afternoon, I kept the menu simple, and just made desserts.

We had S'more Cups, Pumpkin Maple Trifle, Caramel Corn, and strawberries. I also made some delicious apple cider that made my house smell wonderful.

 For our craft, we made owls. I found the inspiration at The Diary of Daves Wife. 

I got all of my supplies from Hobby Lobby.

 Here is a candid shot of the girls hard at work...punching, mod podging, and painting away.

 And another shot of them hot-gluing the ribbon on the backs of the owls.

 Their owls turned out really cute, and they were all proud of what they came up with. I love it when they leave with smiles on their faces;o)

Here is a shot of mine.

 They were so easy to make, and it was so fun to sit and gab while crafting the afternoon away.

When everyone left, they got to take home a jar of homemade apple butter.

I can't wait to have another crafting party. It's good for the crafting soul;o)

I'll be sharing some more sewing projects throughout the week. I can't seem to stay away from my sewing machine for very long...I'm lovin' it!!

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Gearing Up for all kinds of fun!

I have missed you all...have you missed me?;o) Last week I was M.I.A. because the hubs was working from home...which means he had the one and only computer in the house. 

So I haven't been able to fill you in on what I have been up to. I have lots to share, but I'll share a little at a time, so that your brain doesn't explode:o)

Anyway, I'm sure you all have noticed that football season is in full swing. I have always wanted to do a kick off party, but never got around to doing it until this season.

 The hubs is a big University of Alabama fan. 

So we invited some of our close buds(also BAMA fans) over for a taco bar, and had fun watching the game while the kiddos played the night away.

Below was the set up for the table. I kept the snacky foods in the living room for quick access, and the rest of the dinner food was in the kitchen.

I made this yummy....let me re-phrase...oh, so delicious caramel corn for my guests to take home with them.

 I filled these glass jars(dollar tree) with the caramel corn. I added the ribbon and the little football cutouts.

 You can find the recipe and the cutouts over at The Party Press. You really need to make this stuff...for reals.

 Here's a shot of all the babies...they were so good!! They played so well, and laughed the whole night. It was GREAT!!

I can't wait to do it again!

September seems to be the month of parties...I'll give you one guess as to what is coming up next...and for those of you who have been following me for a while know that I love throwing kids parties. I can't wait to start sharing some of the details for E's 6th birthday party.

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Owl Themed Baby Shower

Hey there! Long time no see:o) You would not believe how busy I have been these past few weeks. Ever since school let out, we have literally had almost every day filled with something to do or somewhere to go. I am exhausted just thinking about it:o) That has left little to no time to do any crafting...I have been so busy that I haven't even desired to do anything crafty...crazy, right?

So anyway, some of you know that I am in the local homemakers club, and we had our monthly meeting at our house last night. One of our members is expecting a baby in August, so we also had a baby shower..you know me..I jumped at the chance to have a special party:o)

The mommy-to-be is decorating her nursery in owls, and as we all know, owls are VERY popular right now, so there were a slew of ideas online to choose from.

Below is a picture of our food table.

The grandmother-to-be made this whimsical center piece...I LOVE hydrangeas:o)

 She also made this cute little fruit baby buggy..she said she found it on Pinterest.

I had some large old blue mason jars, and I filled them as full as I could with flowers. 

 This was one of my favorites of the shower...owl cupcakes:o) They were super easy to make, and would be great for any time of year. I used chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. The eyes are made from 2 Oreo cookies & Reese's pieces for the pupils and beak. The platters are just slices of a walnut tree trunk that I borrowed from a good friend.

 The gift table

 My first attempt at a diaper cake...not too shabby..;o)

When the ladies left, they got to take home one of these goody bags filled with chocolate and mints.

We had a wonderful time and the mommy-to-be left with tons of great gifts:o)

Where I found my goodies:

Large White paper lanterns: Oriental Trading Company

Flowers: Costco

Owl on Diaper Cake: Hobby Lobby

How to make a Diaper Cake: Instruction Video on YouTube

Owl Images: Prettiful Designs

White Favor boxes: Dollar Tree in wedding section

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Wizard of Oz Mini Coloring Books

I am hard at work putting the finishing touches on The Wizard of Oz birthday party. The house has started to transform into Munchkin-land...it's actually really neat looking:o)

Since I am on a strict budget right now, I am trying to come up with inexpensive and free favors.

I am not usually one for handing out coloring books, but most of the girls attending love to color.

I found a site, Kids-n-Fun.com, that has a great selection of W.o.O. color sheets. I copied and pasted them in Publisher to turn them into a mini color book.

Here's how I did it.

Supplies you need:

Blue & white gingham paper cut into 9.25"x6" sheets(folded in half)

Scissors

Print outs of Pages 1, 2 & Cover

Double sided tape

Sewing Machine

 Start out by printing your color sheets. To make them double sided, I printed page 1 first. I then laid the printed side UP into the printer with the Tin Man going in first...see pic below...& then printed page 2.

 

Once you have printed your pictures, fold into quarters with Dorothy being the first.

 Now trim very carefully across the top of the folds.

 Make sure to leave just a snippet in the very center..this will make it easier to keep everything in line when sewing the seam.

 Now fold it back in place. Line the middle seam of the gingham paper and the middle seam of the color sheets together, and run a basting stitch down the center. 

 It should look a little something like this.

 Adhere the Cover to the front, and you're done!

 A quick, easy & super inexpensive party favor.

I'll share their goody baskets very soon..they are adorable!!

To download each page, click on the links below.

Page 1

Page 2

Cover

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