Pearl River? Yes Please!

I have no idea how I found an image of this nylon shopping bag, but while doing an image search, there it was! I was drawn to the rich colors, patriotic bunting and circus-like quality.  Isn't it fun?

I did a little investigating and found the bag at this super cute online shop called Pearl River. They have loads of fun stuff! Beautiful papers for paper crafting, gorgeous silk fabrics, embroidered lipstick cases, kitchy decorations, dozens of different butterfly garlands (hello, fairy birthday parties), tons I tell you!  You've just gotta check it out.

So, this is my awesome find of the day, or month or whenever I find another awesome thing. You're welcome.

Mini Address Book Tutorial

This is a great little rainy day project that's perfect for teens-- a fun way to spend the afternoon.  I found these cute mini address books at Hobby Lobby for $2 just begging to be cute-ified! Have fun crafting it up!


Ingredients


scrapping paper
scissors
glue
felt pen  (I use Sakura Microns)
adhesive laminating sheet- optional (I use Avery sheets)
mini address book


Prep It


The covers of the books have plastic-coating which doesn't like to stay glued to paper, so you'll need to peel that off first-- just the top layer, not the whole cover.   Now you can cover your book with a cute paper of your choice.  Then, set your little book under a heavy one for a bit while it dries.


Decorate It







After that, it's all up to you!  I cut a strip of patterned paper and a few birds and leaves from the cover paper and made a little collage. Then I drew a few doodles and added a little "bookplate" on the inside cover.  You could use stickers, ribbon, rubber stamps or rub-ons.  Look around the house for cool stuff like magazine clippings, postage stamps and candy wrappers.  It's a great way to reuse and recycle, plus it doesn't cost a penny!


Seal It


This step is optional.  My address book is going in my purse, so I thought it would be a good idea to seal it so it doesn't get all crummy.  Just cut a piece of the laminating sheet, stick it on your book, trim around the edges and rub it on really good with a spoon or something.


Share It- Gift It- Use It!

That's it!  Wrap them up with a cute gel pen to give as party favors, a teacher's gift, a Secret Santa or for yourself!  They would also be a fun activity for a girls slumber party.  Afterward, they can pass them around and fill in their addresses and cell numbers, for emergency texting only of course (like who's crushing on who)!

*tip--  Hobby Lobby only keeps a few address books in stock at once, so if you plan to make several to give as gifts or need a bunch for a group activity, you can purchase larger quantities in packs of 12 here.

***Update-- it looks like the address books aren't available on the office supply website any longer.  Try these Moleskine books or these Mead books instead.  You can also use mini composition books which are super cute.


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Today's Creative Blog's Get Your Craft On! Fireflies and Jellybeans' Show Off Your Stuff Party 88

Fiesta Friday- Super Hero Coloring Page

Just a quick freebie for a Friday afternoon! 

I designed this coloring page for a health fair and thought it would be great for a kids super hero party, so I adapted the original to make it more festive and share it with you!

The "Break the Code" puzzle has an empty sign so you can add your own message. Just draw lines for the correct number of letters and write the corresponding numbers underneath.  I also left a space under the banner where you can add the child's name.

To snag the coloring page, just click on the download button--the one that looks like a cloud--in the window below! Enjoy!


Super Party Coloring Page

Fiesta Friday- Tea Party Favors!

When I was in grade school, my mom always made friendship tea in cute tins for teacher gifts.  They were always a big hit.  So, when I was thinking about party favors for the Candy in Wonderland Tea Party, I remembered Mom's friendship tea and knew it was a perfect fit!






I shared the recipe for the mix with the other hostesses who put together the prettiest favors for the party.  Cat found some lovely cups and saucers and Lisa created the cute tags which coordinated with the darling invitations she made.





The mix is delicious and is perfect for Secret Santas, Bunco door prizes and Sunday school teacher gifts.   The fun is in finding cute containers to present it in!  To print out (and share) the friendship tea recipe, click on the card below.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 - 18 oz jar Tang mix
1 - 4 oz pkg lemonade mix (powder)
1 c instant tea (powder)
2 1/2 c sugar
2 1/2 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. ground cloves

Method:
1. Mix all ingredients and store in an air-tight container.
2. Use 2-3 t. per cup hot water



 
click to enlarge and print


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Fiesta Friday- The Emmas

I am so excited to share this party! Well, I've actually shared a bunch of it already. But, I am really excited to introduce the Emmas:  Ericka and Leslie are a couple cool chickadees with whom I work, Kandi is one of my sorority sisters and bridesmaids, Diane is a hilarious lady that I met through my close-to-home BFF Christy and Leti is my little sister.  Don't we look lovely in our colorful cardigans?





from left: Ericka, Leslie, Kandi, Diane, Christy, me and Leti
We went out to dinner last Friday in a torrential downpour dressed like my new fashion idol, Emma Pillsbury and even though they could have stayed home and kept dry, my girls didn't let me down. They were troupers...troupers in cardis!





This is the invitation I designed and emailed to the Emmas. We met at my house, took some pictures, grabbed umbrellas and ran to our cars. It was ridiculous! There was flooding all around the city. The windshield kept fogging up and I had to wipe it with a towel every few minutes so Christy could drive!  But we quickly put the tropical storm behind us and ordered cocktails that matched our cardigans.  Mine was a lemon drop, of course!







You know I am addicted to party favors, and even though we were just going out to eat, I couldn't resist the opportunity to put together some little pressies that Emma just might give out at one of her parties. The cello bags had a package of tissues, latex gloves and antibacterial wipes. I also gave them Glee cds with cover sleeves that matched the invitation design. If you are hosting your own Emma party, you might want to give each girl a flowered brooch or a bento box with celery and grapes. Or, all of the above!






So, that's it. I'd like to give a HUGE thank you to the Emmas for my fun birthday adventure. You are all golden in my book! Now, go disinfect. That keyboard is a breeding ground for germies.

Fiesta Friday- Fast Times

Last month my girl Christy had a totally tubular birthday roller skating party. Talk about a blast from the past! I had not been in a roller rink since high school (for a "retro" roller skating party) and I was rushed back like Martie McFly to Izod shirts, Vanderbilt jeans, grosgrain ribbon belts and penny loafers! Wow. The look of the concession stand, the smell of the old carpet, the sound of wheels on the rink, the hokey pokey totally brought me back. The only difference was this time, the keeper of the skates asked "roller or inline?" I suppose not many kids use roller skates anymore, because they were, like, practically brand new! I was totally relieved because I was not at all interested in putting my foot in some nasty 30 year-old skates. Gag me with a spoon!

We had soooo much fun. I wasn't brave enough to get on the rink, actually I was smart enough to stay off the rink. Note the picture of Diane in the middle-- she started with roller skates, but quickly figured out that she was safest on inlines. I wonder if in roller skating you are liable for pile-ups that you have caused accidentally like in snow skiing. Anyway, back to the party...

I was amazed at the number of wicked partiers who took to the wood like they slept with skates on. Then there was one poor guy who could barely stand up and kept falling over and over and over again. But, the dude was determined to "shake it all about!"

I helped Christy out by making the invitations and party favors. I looked all over for some roller skating party invitation ideas, but came up without a one. So, I found a photo of some rollers skates online and used that as a template to make a pattern. I added some legwarmers with different neon papers and a cute pom. I probably would have gone with a bigger one, but the invitation still had to fit into the padded envelope. Remember the giant poms that had a jingle bell in them? Those were totally kickin'.

We saved money by using some of my decorations from my 80s prom party. We created a photo booth with balloons and mylar curtains from the party. (Note to self, blog about 80s prom party.)

Christy wanted to give out a party cd with rad tunes to all her guests, so the hubster made them for her and used a scan of the invite for the cd sleeve. I was super excited to find these pencil pouches at Target in tubular colors and knew I had to have them for the cds. Then, I saw the pencils and the candy and before I knew it, we had wicked party favors!

The roller rink referee/dj played the greatest big hair and new wave hits and everyone looked so fine in their 80s gear. It was a regular Breakfast Club: the prep, the stud, the valley girl, the Square Pegs and the Jersey girl (direct from New Jersey in all her rad Lita Fordness!) I put together an outfit complete with slouchy black suede-ish ankle boots, white leather studded belt, black legwarmers and fingerless lace gloves. I bought everything but the lace gloves, not in a thrift store, but at Target, on the shelf, brand new in 2009. That's scary. I also found some really cute Betsey Johnson jewelry and narrowed the choices down to the animal print cross necklace and animal print heart and bow dangle earrings. I had a pair of earrings very similar to those when I was in jr. high.

It was a laaaate night, well past curfew, but Christy pumped us up with Mountain Dew, Capri Sun, Fruit Rollups, Sushi (calling Molly Ringwald!), giant pickles in a jar (a la roller rink concession) and tons of delicious candy and snack cakes! I personally enjoyed a PB&J Uncrustable, a pickle, some California rolls, Capri Sun, a Mountain Dew and some Pop Rocks. Let's just say I ate like a bird the next day!

Happy 35th, Christy! You're like totally rad and 2 cute 2 be 4 gotten! LYLAS!

Yay, Me! I'm on Tip Junkie!

Eeeeep! I'm verklempt! Tip Junkie featured another one of my ideas on their fabulous blog! It's a post about creative party favors and they included the little gift bags that I did for Leti's bridesmaids slumber party, Breakfast at Melly's (item #4.) If you would be so kind, please click on the image above and leave a comment about my party favor. I'm verklempt, I tell you! Comment amongst yourselves.

Fiesta Friday- Bee is for Birthday!

Saturday was a fabulous day!

We celebrated my mom's big birthday and it was soooo much fun. My sister, a few of Mom's girlfriends and I hosted Queen Bea's Surprise Birthday Jubilee! The party brought together a group of amazing women from across the country who have been awesome friends to Mom over the years. It was a great afternoon and so much fun visiting with old friends and new. Boy was she surprised!!!

The theme was bees and circles representing Mom's circle of friends. The party room was decorated in white and shades of yellow, which just happened to match my dining room! (No, I didn't paint the walls to match, Silly Miss Sillypants). Round paper lanterns, honeycomb-style paper globes and handmade tissue paper flowers hung from the ceiling above the food table and in the corners of the den.




I made different sizes of tissue paper flowers for the decorations and corsages (corsage tutorial can be found here).  All the ladies wore yellow corsages and the hostesses wore pretty white ones dipped in glitter.




My bright Easter table cloth was perfect and I found a beautiful embroidered organza to use as a table runner. The fabric store had only 4 feet left, but I had to have it! So, I cut it in half lengthwise and draped it over the table. I wanted to use a sheer fabric to cover the entire table, but the table runner worked just fine. I mainly wanted the white cloth to make the flower pots pop since they were the same color of the yellow cloth. I hid the raw edges under a big pot in the middle. I'll hem it later!




The flower arrangements were another brilliant find! I found the flower pots for $3.99! They had two different sizes and I thought the smaller ones really resembled honey pots, so I bought a bunch of those. I was so excited I almost jumped up and down in the middle of the garden section of Walmart! Then, I wandered over to the floral department (because I was running out of time to go to the flower market downtown) and found these beautiful yummy smelling white flowers. I was looking for daisies, but these were much better and they didn't have many daisies anyway. I'm telling you, serendipity!




For nibbles, we served a beautiful fruit salad with poppy seed dressing and mini quiches. The gorgeous cupcakes and bonbons were made by one of the hostess bees who makes delicious and amazing desserts! I made the other sweets, cajeta cookies, pan de polvo and super easy peasy lemon tarts all of which were gobbled up. I think I had only 10 cookies left for my husband and dad! (Recipes coming.) My husband (the willing cocktail master) concocted a special cocktail which I named "Bea's Nectar"; those too, were gobbled up (I can say that because there was a cherry at the bottom.) We also served lemonade and sweet tea. This is Texas after all!




Because the party was for Queen Bea, I couldn't have her walking around without a crown! So, I found a tiara at the bridal department of Michael's and glued on (with E6000) a fuzzy bee from the floral department! I also scattered some of those little bees among the flowers just for fun.




I found the pretty white frames and several white ceramic serving pieces at Marshall's Home Goods. They were a steal. I think the highest price I paid was about $20 for the large serving bowl! I've got white ceramic platters out the wazoo! The next party I host will have to include the color white! (Note to self: host a fiesta to use the yellow lanterns again.) I scanned in some of Mom's beautimous portraits for the girly frou frou frames so her guests could ooh and ahh at her sheer gorgeousness. Everyone loved trying to guess her age in each of the pictures. "Well, she's wearing a flip in this one...the one with the little bob just has to be Jr. High..."




My sister made fun party favors with cute little jars and yellow Jelly Bellys-one of Mom's faves. She also made fabulous baskets for the door prize winners filled with loads of Burt's Bees products and a yummy candle. She even sewed a little bee onto the baskets! The biggest basket went to the party game winner- the one who knew the most facts of Queen Bea's life. (Q- Where did Bea meet Victor? A- At the Hurry Burger. Dad flipped hamburgers and Mom was the shake girl.)

One of Mom's pressies was a beautiful Brighton bracelet that everyone contributed to. It was absolutely gorgeous. There were large letter medallions on it that read FAITH. Mom said that was the icing on the cake!




Last but certainly not least, I made a pretty framed piece of art for all her friends to sign. Again, it represented the great circle of friends who love and support Mom. It was deceivingly simple to make. Don't tell Mom! (Tutorial coming soon.)




So, the party was a huge success and Mom has more fun memories of time spent with her circle of friends. A special thanks to the hostess bees! Besos, besos!

Tutorial links:
Paper Carnation Corsages
Luscious Lemon Tarts

Bee is for Birthday was featured on Simply Creative Insanity, The Creative Party Place, Creative Hostess, A Few of my Favorite Things, One Pretty Thing, Tweedle Dee Designs, Australia Entertains, The Tom Kat Studio, Design Dazzle, Peach Pizzazz, Birthday Girl, Divine Party Concepts, Fun Favors, Hey Little Birdie, From Kays to Wilson and ModEco Kids. Thank you, chickadees! Everyone's crazy for bees!

Fiesta Friday- Breakfast at Melly's

It’s about time for a Fiesta Friday! This time I thought I would share ideas from the slumber party I hosted for my sister and her bridesmaids. The theme was Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I wanted to have a fun, non-shower, casual, girls-only night for Leti and her bridesmaids to have a chance to get to know each other and give Leti a much needed break from wedding planning. One of Leti’s (and my) favorite actresses is Audrey Hepburn, so it seemed only fitting that we should have a private screening of the fabulous movie based on Truman Capote’s book, Breakfast at Tiffany’s! Has anyone read the book? As many times as I have seen the movie, I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t! (Note to self—must pick up a copy.)

The invitation to the pajama party had to be fabulous, of course (one of my party-planning rules!) So, I came up with a trivia quiz invitation. I put as many Breakfast at Tiffany’s-inspired items on the invitation and challenged all the girls to email me with the answers. I forgot to mention to Leti that she couldn’t play, so I got a quick response from her with all the answers! Although, I did stump her on a couple. Hee hee. See if you can catch all the answers to the clues.

Moving on…When I have a theme party, I want to go all out. I decided watching the movie on our regular-sized tv wouldn’t be spectacular enough. So, I did a bit of research and rented a projector unit that we could hook up to our DVD player. Then, I pinned a king-sized white sheet to my drapes, and threw a bunch of pillows and blankets on the floor. Instant home theater! It was rad! I watched Star Wars on the “big screen” the next day with my husband… AWESOME!

For snacks, I served Cokes, wine, popcorn (in popcorn boxes, of course), Cracker Jacks (you know why if you’re a die-hard Breakfast at Tiffany’s fan) and other movie theater candy-- Jr. Mints, please! One of the girls brought a stuffed pizza roll, which was yummy, too.

Of course, there are ALWAYS party favors! Each girl got a little Tiffany-blue canvas tote with her name on it stuffed with a little tiara from Claire’s, a strand of “pearls” and a giant diamond blinky ring from Party City tucked into a Tiffany-style box (also from Party City). They were a big hit! And, to top it off, I made a little scrapbook for Leti to insert pictures of the festivities into. (Another note to self—must print out pictures for Leti’s album!)

If you don’t have an ultra-swanky home theater, try my bed sheet and projector combo. Wouldn’t it be so cute for a little girls slumber party…a Hannah Montana Movie premiere party complete with sunglasses and boas and a red carpet from the front door to the screening room! And, remember to arm your little paparazzi with disposable cameras! Whatever movie you premier, make sure to bring the Milk Duds!

Update: Breakfast at Melly's was featured on Tip Junkie and Not Just a Mommy!  Thanks, chickadees!

Fiesta Friday- Party Favors

Party favors are essential to any funtastic party. Give your guests something cute and silly, or edible and practical-- something that they'll truly enjoy holding on to or using. You definitely want to tie in your party favor to your theme. Don't send people home with a bag of candy, unless it's a Halloween party and you use really cute bags!


I discovered these cute paper cake boxes years ago (before the manufacturer even made them). Just kidding. But, I did come up with this idea before people started decorating them and selling them. At the time, they were only used for wedding cake slices. Anyhoooo, you know I'm all about making your own stuff and saving money. Plus, if you make it yourself, you can really personalize it.



This is my too-pretty-to-eat-even-though-you-can't-eat-it-anyway paper cake. (Click on the photo to enlarge.) I bought the plain cake boxes at Party City, but you can find them at Michael's, too. To make a paper cake like mine, you'll need some craft glue, cute trim, rickrack, adhesive crystals, ribbon and a big pretty silk flower. First assemble each box. Then, decide how you want your cake to look and get to gluing! I measured and cut lengths of rickrack and fancy trim to glue onto the boxes, then added some blingy goodness to the tops. The rickrack was glued around the sides of the boxes to look like chocolate filling.

The flower in the middle was super easy, too. Just cut the stem of the silk flower down to the height of the cake boxes and tie pretty ribbons on it. While I was decorating, I decided the cake needed some more bling, so I added adhesive crystals to the flower petals and the ribbons.

Finally, arrange your boxes on a pretty cake stand, tie a ribbon around the cake (I used two ribbons) and place the flower in the middle with the ribbons hanging out. Voila! This party favor would be great for a bridesmaids shower. You could put a little wedding charm or their wedding jewelry that you've picked out for them in each box. It's a whole lot cleaner than putting cake pulls in a messy cake!

For some other cute ideas, wander around your craft store and find some doodads that you can affix to the top of the box. Or, buy some silk flowers with little blooms that you can pull apart and glue onto each box. Some items might require hot glue. Whatever you do, make sure you can still open the boxes without messing up your embellishments.



The Wish Cake.
My cake box was used as a big gift for my boss. She has everything, so instead of another fancy picture frame, I decided that clever birthday wishes from the heart would be perfect. I asked my coworkers to come up with some fun little goodies that corresponded with special birthday wishes to put in each box. Once we bought all the stuff, I made a little tag for each one, and stuck numbers on the inside of the cake slice so the birthday girl could open each box in order. I think the first box had a note it in that said something like, "On your birthday we wish for you..." Here are some of the birthday wishes:
1- good luck (fortune cookie)
2- happy meetings (ear plugs)
3- love and laughter (Hershey's kisses and Laffy Taffy)
4- a little spice in your life (little Tabasco bottle)
There were a bunch of others, but I can't remember them all. She loved it and that's all that counts!

So, that's it for our first Fiesta Friday featuring party favors. I hope you enjoyed it and will make a paper cake of your own! Email me pics if you do!