Purple Party

For my daughters birthday this year, we had a purple party. Purple is her favorite color so we colored everything in purple. It was a fun theme. We asked all the guests to dress in purple. Thankful for sweet people who got into it!

I made decorations from construction paper ( ala Planting a Rainbow by Lois Elhert ) to hang in the cased openings. I painted and cut out and then sewed the flowers together. 

We kept it simple with chocolate cupcakes and icing with purple sprinkles. I had a friend say-

" you can always count on a homemade cake here."

Blessed words.

I want to be humble but for all of the late nights saying choice words at my baked goods, I needed to include this quote. 

I sewed purple fabric into a happy garland that I put around this mirror and on my mantle. 

We made a purple paper chain for the chandelier and put purple fabric on the table. 

And pretty flowers from our yard. 

It was a happy purple party and I highly recommend going with one color for a birthday theme. Purple is the color of royalty and my gal is a daughter of the King. So very thankful for her. 

Biggest Girl Birthday

We had our biggest girls birthday a few weeks ago. We decided on a flamingo theme. Happy party, happy hearts. 

It was a chocolate cake that was amozing, yes, amozing. I have made it since. It was a 4 layer chocolate cake with our own pink icing.  We found the flamingo little sticks somewhere but my daughter helped decorate the cake. I like how a flock of flamingos set themselves up right there on our cake. 

I used green fabric on super sale, thank you Chrysalis, for our table cloths. My daughters and I cut out scrap fabrics of pinks and corals and created the garland overhead. I love making those, not only for my sake but little hands and hearts can help too. 

My aunt was here and her birthday is a couple days from my daughters so we celebrated them together. This was a peach crystal. We named it that. Its a twist on my strawberry crumble.  Its an embarrassment as to how many times I have made this dessert. Ahh, delightful. The candles also melted into the peach crystal because it was so hot. We were eager!

The flowers were just.... there are no words. I am so thankful for this house and this yard the Lord has given us to cultivate. My husband has a knack for the yard and gardening. A hobby that came later in life for him but I am grateful to reap the rewards. These flowers were from some of our harvest.

Happy birthday biggest girl! 

Baby Girl Birthday: stars and hearts

We had the season of baby girl birthdays here in June and July. It was fun for them and for me!

For little girl turning 2, she loves stars and hearts. She wants you to draw them, she wants to color them, and she wants to say them. 

All the flowers came from our yard. I was so impressed! My husband has worked very hard in the yard the last few years and it shows. 

I bought small wooden hearts and stars at the craft store and my girls and I used watercolors to paint them. After they dried, we glued sequins on. I used these on the table and the cakes. Plus, it was a fun activity a 2 and 5 year old could do together. 

I finally broke down and bought lots of clear glass jelly jars. It was time. I used them here for flowers but have already used them for straws, forks and more flowers. Good decision. 

We had hotdogs for lunch and I ( or rather I put my mom and dad to work on it) cut out stars from the watermelon. They were cute and festive. 

Our cake was coconut cake and it was something special. Divine. 

I had a new cake plate to bust out. Love the color. I found stars and hearts glow sticks and put them in a jar near the cake. The party hats were decorated with stars and hearts. 

My older daughter made the fabric weaving a few days before and wanted to use it for sisters cake. Sweet. I also made chocolate cake in tin cans. I had seen it on pinterest and wanted to try it. It was fun to experiment and my cake was good. They were a tad tall and wanted to tip over. Either way, my daughters got a kick out of so many candles to blow out.

Happy 2 year old birthday!

Party Shelf

A couple of weeks ago, I was ready to clean everything out. 

And then, I did one room, and haven't done another since. 

I sold a few things on ebay, gave others away and still I have too much stuff. Perhaps its the artist in me?

Either way, I did clean out one of my kitchen shelves. I now call it my party shelf. 

I love that I have a party shelf now.  I keep the upcoming party supplies in there or leftover ones. Its just a happy spot. Even my husband refers to the party shelf. Thats a real win. 

One day, instead of having a wrapping paper room or whatever specialty room that seems ostentatious, I would like to have a party supply room. It would hold all things like this but also the handmade, homemade decor I have made over the years. And when I get too many of them, I would send them out to orphanages or homeless shelters for their own happy days. 

10th birthday party

Last week, we had a 10th birthday party at mi casa. I used the colors out of the napkins for the decor and tried to keep it simple. I had to clean AND decorate. 

This garland took longer than I had hoped so I made him a tad short. I used felt and cut out of the tens and squares and sewed them all together. Our theme was 10. 

I made little signs for each type of food we had. We had a mexican supper so there were lots of toppings. I like that the numbered signs weren't perfect. I like the homemade look for some things. 

And here is our food. The vase of flowers was a glass bottle I painted for a quick pop of color. Easy and I liked. 

For the dining room, I didn't do much but used the same felt from the above garland and made tens to hang from the ceiling. I also used fabric I already had in my stash to cover the table and bought tulips for the center. Tulips are a nice change ( they don't really grow around here in the muggy heat) and they are happy. 

Happy 10th birthday!

Husband: No decor for me birthday party

I realized last week that I do installation art every 2 weeks or whatever is in between birthdays. I have another one in T minus 15 days. I better get to pinning. But for my last party...

My husband wanted little decor for his birthday because he didn't want me to stress. It was kind however, I like to decorate. Excessively though sometimes:)

 So, I turned my decor energy into baking a 4 layer cake. I created a Pioneer Woman strawberry chocolate layer cake. Hello, work. But so good. 

So, so good. It took 3 people to cut it and while we were enjoying the cake, some of it toppled over on the counter. We then turned it into a trifle. Still unbelievably good. I can see why many reviews of the cake said they had trouble with it staying put. I skewered it with lots and lots of skewers but it still had a life of its own...

I lined the table with white paper and put out pots that were planted with succulents. 

My husband can now plant these outside in his latest yard design. We all win!

It was simple decor and a fabulous cake for my main man. 

Say What? Birthday: Charlotte Mason Birthday Party

Fall is birthday time around here. I also thought summer was too but apparently when your family grows, there is more birthdays. Duh. 

For my sisters birthday party, we had a Charlotte Mason themed birthday party. Weird but hold on. My sister is an educator and loves the Charlotte Mason approach to schooling. You can read all about it here. Its kind of addicting to read about it, well, that has been my experience. 

Our cake was covered in coconut with a few blueberries and honeydew on top for a delightful surprise. My cake plate is a white hobnail vintage one. Love it.  

I am sad the above photo is blurry but what are you going to do? I cut up old books ( they weren't any good be assured of that ) and sewed a banner together. It was over my mirror on my buffet as well as the table. I then cut out letters in card stock and taped to the banner to spell Happy Birthday. 

My table was covered in a Heather Bailey fabric called Nicey Jane. I collected books from around my house and stacked up on the table. Childrens literature is key to the Charlotte Mason and living books as well. Confused about it? Read about it above. I also put bugs in jars and that was our dinner entertainment:) I found a frog and a pregnant wolf spider but was worried they might get out. 

Let that sink in. A pregnant wolf spider. 

My mirror over my buffet strewn with the book pages banner and pink pom poms and ribbon. I did like this decor. The pale pink was really great against the black with the old book pages and print mixed in.  

So, Happy Birthday Sister! 

Butterfly Birthday Party

We had a butterfly themed birthday party for my mother in law and her twin sister last weekend. I bought the fabric seen below on the napkins and therefore, our colors were turquoisey green, pink, purple and green. 

I wrapped the utensils in the napkins and then tied with strips of our fabric. My 4 year old and I did it together. We also made Japanese lanterns out of construction paper and hung with raffia. It was a nice touch. 

Our cake was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I decorated the cake with flowers from my yard and thyme( the green stuff.) The butterflies I bought at Joanns which I suppose they are used for wreaths. We also had butterfly wings everyone wore and of course, I don't have a picture. They were cute. 

For the table, I covered it with the pink, purple and green floral. I used vases and cake plates to hold cut flowers from my yard. I always enjoy the final touches of a party- walking outside when there is chaos inside and clipping flowers to put out for people to enjoy. And hopefully, when I come back inside, someone has finished cooking the food!

And supper is ready! The food was good and I especially liked the rolls on the divine cake plate. 

Pony Party

We had a happy pony party for my daughters birthday. We surprised her with a real live pony who came to visit Saturday morning and we took a few rides near the pond across the street from our house. It was an event! It was a super special memorable soiree. 

The cake. I used flowers from our yard along with plastic ponies I bought online. The icing was a pale pink and the turquoise cake plate was a birthday present I hadn't used yet. I am thinking of when I can use it next.

Isn't the cake pretty? I also created a lei for my daughter. The flower necklace was made from 2 different colored carnations. I strung the carnations together with a needle and thread. She had been asking for one and it went along with our fresh flower theme. 

The inside of the cake was a surprise. And surprise! It was rainbow. It really was a beautiful cake. 

 My daughter and I worked on the decor together. We painted styrofoam cups and then I strung them together with thread. I hung them from the doorways, mantle and large mirror over the buffet where the cake lived. 

just now saw the plastic bin in the fireplace- we had a leak, might have been nice to move it.

I used 2 extra cups for small flower arrangements for the table. The fabric on the table was glorious and super happy. I got it from Hawthorne Threads. Love those people- quick and great selection. 

I dyed coffee filters and let them dry. I then sewed them together to create the runner seen below and on my kitchen island. Surprisingly, it went pretty quick. 

We were able to squeeze in our rides in between the rain. It certainly kept the heat away and the bugs. This was the view from our front porch although you can't see the horse in this shot. He was there though!

Here was the spread plus a dirty counter in the background. Whatevs.

We had fruit, donuts, egg casserole, bacon, cereal and breads. It was fun to have a breakfast party. We had just our family so the pressure was off to have it all ready when they arrived and have a clean house:)

For drinks, I had different types of juices in little sippers. And of course, pink chevron straws. 

 Happy Pony Party! We all had a really nice time and it was a special party. My precious little girl loved it and my husband commented on a job well done and he is usually happy with a Pepperidge Farm cake. So hooray!