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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Ask and Ye Shall Receive; I'm on Creative Parties & Showers!


So, on my birthday I had this awesome awakening of all that I deserved to have in my life. Being a mom, I took care of everyone else, I worried about everyone else and what they thought about me if I didn't do what they wanted me to. I was at that place where I was ruled by everyone else's opinion of me and what I did. I became suffocated by it and really felt poorly about anything I did. Clearly, this isn't the mindset I needed to have to move forward in a positive direction in my life. I knew this was not the person I am, but I was slowly fading into this idea of what I thought other people should have of me. So, I decided on that day to change my mind and my thoughts and create the life I should have. Since that moment, so much of what I've envisioned, felt, believed, thought, dreamed has started to come to fruition and I am so thankful for it.

One example of my hopes and wishes coming to be was that I really wanted my parties to be featured on Creative Parties and Showers. For those of you not familiar with CP&S, it is a blog that features, amongst other things, the hard work and effort of so many creative people and the talent they have at planning parties. You can see the passion that these people have for just creating these really fun & unique party spaces. I think the site is awesome and I've referred to it many a time for ideas and inspiration.

For me, it really meant a lot to be featured on the blog. This morning I received an email from Shannon with CP&S informing me that the Spiderman Party I did a few months back would be featured on the site. You cannot imagine how excited I was and how grateful I am to be up there.

I sent details about the party with the thought that, "Oh, it'll never be up there. They probably get hundreds of submissions everyday." Well, when I changed my mind, I literally changed so much of what happens in my life. I started visualizing my work on the site (even when it eally wasn't there) and as recently as yesterday I was talking to a friend about my hopes to be featured on the site; well, now I am. I hope that in the future more of my work will be up there for others to see. This happening is just another testament to my belief that if you change your mind, you change your life.

Click here to see photos from the party.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Race Car & Elmo Inspiration Boards



So, here it is, I promised I'd post some of the inspiration for my next two parties. I know I said I'd do it last week, but for Pete's sake I was busy making party hats, cleaning up mud pies and tending to toddlers!

For the Race Car Party (above) my inspiration came from the cupcake I saw on roundaboutsleeves.com. I decided I'd go with a black, white & green theme and I might throw in some blue. The party is going to be at Chuck E. Cheese, so I'm limited as to all the decorating I'd like to do, but I know I can work it out. So far, I've got to make a candy cake centerpiece (more on that in a later post), cupcake picks, table bunting, party hats and the invitations. Since that party is more towards the end of the month, I am working on the Elmo party bit by bit.

So, here is the inspiration board for the Elmo Party:


When I was first (ahem) approached about making the decorations I remembered the Sesame Street party that was done over at Hostess With the Mostess and thought that I could do a lot with bright colors and patterns. From there, I thought about the invitations and figured that I could set up my own in home photo session and take some pictures of Little Chunkies and Baby Elmo. That's when I came up with a take on Elmo's World and instead we would have Elmo's Playground. I decided, I'd turn the back yard into a fun playground for the kids. This works out perfectly because the party is for a one-year old and the majority of kids are all under four. There won't be a need to play games or have a bunch of activities. Plus, it's a sure-fire way to tucker their little hynees out!

After I did the invitations - which I will post at a later date - it was on to the other items, such as the banner (click here for the sneak peak), hats, high chair bunting and so on and so forth.
There is so much more for me to do and I just keep coming up with new ideas everyday. I know at some point I will have to stop myself, but for now I'm still in insane mode. Pray for me.

Please see the links below for photo credits from the inspiration boards.

Race Car Pictures:
Card Invite: Daily Gnome
Balloons: Best Birthdays
Race Car Flags: Fun Party Supplies
Race car food: tasteofhome.com
Race Car Candy Cake: pamcake.com
Cupcake Sleeves Roundaboutsleeves.com

Elmo Pictures:
Balloons: (No photo credit available)
Polka Dot Fabric: dreamstime.com
Curling Ribbon: eHow.com (not sure of the exact article)
Elmo Candy Buffet: Madden Family Blog
Elmo Invitation: eHow article
Candy Tree, Elmo toy & candy, Izze Sodas: Hostess With the Mostess
Elmo Party Decorations: Garbonzobeenz blog - this blog has some really cute ideas on it if you enjoy scrapping

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Allowing the Universe to Do Its Magic by Working Smart!



Ya know, I admit I just can't do it all sometimes. I mean, the Martha in me (we both have the same bday, btw - crazy) wants to put my creative hand into every single detail of all my parties and events. I 'm a touch insane when it comes to nitty-ditty details, I truly am.

Recently, I've decided to do a lot of self development and exploration in the unlimited abundance that the universe provides me. My good friend calls it the emotional work or peeling the onion. In this process I realized that, I'm a bit anal about my work and craft and maybe, I could sit up all night making cupcake sleeves using craft paper and a border punch, it's not so hard to do. I mean I enjoy it, but I lose sleep and apparently transform into 'Meanie Mommy'. I don't really like that term and I can only imagine what I look like to my poor kids and husband - but when it's all said and done I can just be a bear to deal with. In my personal development, I've learned that it really isn't such a bad idea to just let go and work smart.

I'd like to touch back on yesterday's post in regard to the car cupcake picture with the speedway wrapper from roundaboutsleeves.com. I went back to that site today, and I just have to say that the smart ladies who thought of this idea are just brilliant in my mind! I love cupcakes and I love fun cupcakes and these cupcake sleeves are great for just about any and every occassion.

Just take a look at some of the fun cupcakes they make:











Aren't those fun? Just love that I now have an option when I don't want to stay up all night transforming into 'Meanie Mommy'. There is enough out there for all of us to utilize each other's creativity. I'm sure we creative crazies could replicate this idea into our own, but why do all the extra work when it's already been done for you? They definitely have a customer in me!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Vrooom! Vrooom! Vrooooommmmm!!!!!



Okay - so, my next project is quick and fast approaching! I'm doing a car themed birthday party for an adorable lil' boy! He'll be turning 2 and I can't decide if I want to do a race car theme, or something like just little cutesy cars. Any ideas????

I already pulled pictures for my inspiration board and I'll be sharing those with you before the week is out. I gotta work quick on this party because it actually is the same weekend as the Elmo party - and that is 2 weeks away! Aaaaaah - let the insanity begin!

In the meantime, I'm still plugging away at my other projects for the Baby Elmo party and the 'Wild Things' party. I'm super excited about both. Speaking of Baby Elmo, I was at a community fair in my neighborhood and there was a vendor there who makes her own party hats, cards and cute little tchotchkies. Unfortunately, I was sans camera (shame, shame on me) and didn't get a picture of the adorably fuzzy Elmo party hat she'd made. Here's a picture of something similar that I found on thetwoofus.org:



Pretty cute right? I think I'll make a special fabric one for the birthday boy and paper ones for the guests. Still haven't decided yet.

Well, stay tuned for more! I have party creations galore -- haha, I made a rhyme!

Photo Credit: Car Cupcake was found on roundaboutsleeves.com - check their site out - they have a very unique way of presenting cupcakes!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Kelly Ketcham winner of the adorable handmade tutu! Kelly has a little ballerina of her own that I'm sure will love to dance around all over the place in it.



I apologize for the late notice of the contest winner. I've been doing a bit of personal & professional'house cleaning' so to speak, but I wanted to make sure I got at least one post in this week.

I'm so excited for the next few events I'm creating party designs for. Here is a sneak peek at one:



It's for an Elmo party for my Little Chunkies - he's so cute. I can't wait to get the whole set complete. I'm also working on getting party kits together to sell on Etsy; very excited about that as well. I will definitely let you know when that gets up and running.

Get ready for some big things coming up in the next few weeks! I am working on getting a website designed (by my super-talented mother) for Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams - the actual business side of my party planning services and sweet baked confections. Can't wait for all the exciting projects that are on the way. I'm embarking on a fantastic new journey in my life, and I'm so glad to be able to share it with others!!! Have a great weekend!

Monday, August 3, 2009

GO KIKI! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!! B-Day Giveaway!!!



It's my birthday!!!!! HOORAY! To celebrate, I'm going to do a really fun giveaway. You will get an adorable handmade tutu like the one shown. It's perfect for the little ballerina in your life!



Here's how it will work: In order to qualify, you have to become one of my VIPP's (Very Important Party Person). To do this you'll need to subscribe to my blog by clicking the Google Friends Connect button on my page (if you already subscribe, you're already entered). You might need to sign up for an account in order to subscribe.

Once you're subscribed to my blog, leave a comment on my page telling me who the tutu is for! But wait - there's more! You can qualify to re-enter your name in the running when you refer a friend and they subscribe - you can refer as many friends as you want. It's important to use the Google Friends Connect button in order to qualify. RSS feeds don't count - sorry.

The contest ends on Thursday Aug. 6th at 11:59 pm. I'll do a random drawing and will announce the winner at Noon on Friday. Good Luck!!!!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Inspiration, Where the Wild Thing Went & Birthday Giveaway!



As promised, here is the inspiration board for my 'Wild Things' party (above). I'll add the refereces for the photos at the end of the post. I decided to take one of the ideas from my inspiration board and make a cute paper boat for Max's boat. In the photo for the inspiration board, the boat was used as a gift topper instead of a bow (note to self: when you're out of bows....). I also saw a similar paper boat idea on Martha's site (I hope I do NOT need to explain who Martha is), but in this case it was used as part of a place setting. I think that's the idea I'll go with for the tablescape for the party. It's actually a simple craft and took less than 20 minutes. The Mini Diva played with it for a while, but consequentially, it was destroyed by 10 tiny toddler fingers.

Here's the boat before it was demolished:


I thought, along with showing you my inspiration board, I'd also show you my idea board for this party collection. Idea boards just give me a general idea of some of the custom paper items I want to make for my parties. They don't always come out exactly as they are conceived, but I do try to stay on target as much as possible.

My Where the Wild Things Are Party Collection Idea Board:




Funny thing happened to me the other day. I was trying to decide my color scheme for the party collection, so, I went to go grab my 'WTWTA' book off the shelf in my daughter's room and it was MIA! I looked high and low, up and under, left and right, and I just couldn't find the book. Just when I thought I'd mistakenly sold it at last year's yard sale, I realized that it was probably in the basement packed away in a box of books that I kept when I was clearing the house out for the aforementioned sale. Luckily enough, that's exactly where it was. I'm happy to say that even though the cover is faded, the illustrations inside the book still look fabulous.


I even finally decided on the right colors to use for the party. The inside covers for the book have these beautifully muted hues of primary colors. I think that the color scheme will be perfect for any party during the fall season.




So, Monday is my birthday and I'll still be perpetually 25, thank you very much! As a fun way to celebrate it, I'm doing a giveaway! You'll have to check back on Monday for more details, but to clue you in, this giveaway is fit for a princess who loves to leap, spin and twirl!

References for inspiration board:

Snack Table Setup & Wall Game: Familyfun.go.com
Cake: Cake Central
Favor Bags, Max Game, Vines: PartyPerfect
Games, Growth Chart: Amazon.com
Paper boat: ohdeedoh.com
Book images random scanned images.

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