My Crafty Birthday Party

I had the best birthday party EVER!

I really wanted to have a party where my friends could do something fun and take something home with them...kinda like a Build A Bear party...but for big people ;-)

My friend Andi had sent me this link and I was so inspired by the wreath that I decided to have a Crafty Birthday Party.  The base craft was the fabric flowers, but we made lots of different things out of them.

Ring - the inspiration link

Necklace - the inspiration link

Wreath - the inspiration link

Picture Frame - the inspiration link

Paper Mache Letter - the inspiration link

Here's a couple tutorials on how to make the fabric flowers

Emily's at The Anderson Crew - here

V and Co's - here

The only thing I would add to the tutorials would be: USE A LOW TEMP GLUE GUN!

About half the glue guns we used at the party were high temp and we learned pretty fast the difference between high and low temp, because you DO get glue on your fingers.  Low temp glue doesn't hurt.  High temp glue makes you squeal a little.

Ok...ready for some pics??? 

Here you go...



everyone working away

Before this party I owned no fabric.

I shopped the fabric scraps half price bins every time I went to a craft store for weeks.

And a couple of my friends brought their fabric too.

the messy supply table

I loved getting awkward candid pics of people working ;-)

Erin's concentration face

Diet Coke, outlets, and happy crafters!

 

Silly Jill :-)

 

 



my first fabric flower!



 



some of my flowers



Have you ever heard of Strawberry Cassata Cake?  My friend's mom use to make this fabulous cake for my birthday parties when I was little.  Apparently it's a Cleveland thing (where I grew up).  Who knew?!  Well, it's really yummy and Jill labored over it and we all uber-appreciated it!

 

 

yummo!

The everyone-is-singing-and-looking-at-me-therefore-I-am-embarrassed look.

happy birthday to me

We left the cake to continue crafting and this is what we found a little while later.  How sad is that?!  It was still totally edible...hubby and I can testify to that ;-)

sad little strawberry cassata cake

Here comes the fun pics...everyone's finished projects!!

Janel's daughters were super jealous that Mom was going to a craft party without them ;-)

Kelly had her baby the very next day!!  Woohoo!!

Kristin was busy making all her fun fabric flower crafts



Rene made the green and orange frame specifically for her 3yo daughter (her favorite colors)...who ended up not caring about it at all.  {sigh} 3 year olds {shakes head}

Erin was cranking out the crafts.  She brought fabric that she used in her living room...now her wreath matches her living room.  Great idea!

Andi is a fan of brown, blue, and white...can you tell??

Jill - the cake maker - also had fun making her crafts

Kim is a self-professed non-crafty person...but she still managed to bust out some fabric flowers and take some fabric home to work on later.

all my handiwork....SO.MUCH.FUN

still need to find a mantel...could you even imagine this fireplace any other color...ya me neither!

LOVE

I wore my necklace the very next day :-)  And you don't even want to know how many tries it took to get this picture...goodness gracious!

Hope you're inspired to do a Crafty Birthday Party sometime!  I highly recommend it!

Birthday Memories

Birthday party post I wrote a long time ago and never posted...ENJOY!

I don't know why I started this tradition, but I am SO stinkin glad I did.  Every birthday party my children have (and even a friend's 30th party I hosted lol) I make...really...I MAKE everyone fill out a card before they leave with a memory of the child's year.  I think they will LOVE reading these when they get older.  I know I will.

 


Anna's 1st Birthday

   

Anna's 2nd Birthday - This time if you filled out the card, then you got a picture collage of my cute little one :-)

 
 

Anna's 2nd Birthday

  



Anna's 3rd Birthday

  


Anna's 3rd Birthday

 


Ellie's 1st Birthday

  

Then I find a cute little photo album to put all the cards into.  One album for each birthday.  It's so easy!  You could even just get a small journal and have each guest write on a different page.  Or I'm sure there are lots of creative and super crafty ways you could do this.

Nesting Themed Baby Shower

My friend Liz and I hosted a baby shower for our friend Andi.  We had such a fun time planning this shower and coming up with cute creative ideas to go with the Nesting theme Liz chose.

Here are some pics of what we came up with.

Andi's Nesting Shower

I made the sign for the front door.  I did not make the wreath ;-)  The sign isn't centered...that bothers me.

close-up of the sign

close up of our bird's nest

yummy chocolate bird's nests -made by Liz

Favor Tags -made by me

cake to match my sign -made by Liz

the cutest little birdy cupcakes ever!  -made by Liz

Birdy Brownies - I made them with a bird cookie cutter

The Gift Table (before most of the gifts arrived)

- I painted the two little birdhouses

close-up of the birdhouses-
the one on the right was painted to match Eden's bedding,
the one on the left was a prize for a game we played
(that Andi won anyways :-))

Thanks for having a baby Andi so I had a reason to be creative!!  Can't wait to meet Eden!

Wedding Dress Party

I had the most amazing idea for a Girl's Night.  How many women out there have their wedding dress still hanging in a garment bag in the back of their closet? I do! I've always wanted to try it on again before I get it preserved in one of those boxes (if that ever happens...it's already been 5 years...doesn't seem likely).

I want to have a Wedding Dress Party!  Everyone gets another chance to show off their beautiful dress and bring back memories of that special day. We could have wedding cake and a sparkling cider toast :-). Have you heard of anyone doing this before? I can't be the first to have this idea. So who's with me?!

I swear I come up with the best ideas at 2am :-)