{Trendy Tuesday} Crepe Paper Crazy

I'm in love with all the different ways to use crepe paper streamers to brighten up a party space these days. Lately, I've come across some really cool ways to use paper streamers.  Paper streamers are proving to be really versatile and offers so many different uses,  I like to use fringed streamers to decorate my party hats.  There are so many possibilities!

Using bright bold colors, shapes, fringe, layering and stringing crepe paper flowers can liven up a room and create a festive atmosphere for any party setting.  Check out these party decorations for great ideas and inspiration.

Photo Credits: A. Hanging Fringe Banner, B. Colorful Fringe Crepe Paper, C. Square Crepe Paper Banner 

D. Rainbow Hanging Crepe Streamers, E. Crepe Streamer Table Covering, F. Floral Crepe Banner

Do you have a unique way you've used crepe streamers to decorate your party?  Click here to share.

{Shop Talk} NEW Memermaid Party Collection on Etsy

THIS GIRL HERE IS TUCKERED OUT!  I have been diligently working on completing a handful of party kits and designs, along with finishing up some July 4th party items for our annual family cookout.  So, forgive me if I'm a little off lately.

I did want to share my latest party kit with you that is now available on my Etsy shop!

Isn't that little mermaid princess just the cutest?  Well, she's got ALL kinds of friends to choose from!!!!

I'm working on getting some photos together for this collection - it's the cutest, right?!!!  If you want one for your own little mermaid princess, check out my Etsy shop!

{Friday Freebie} Celebrate Memorial Day

While we're enjoying our barbecue and family this weekend, let's also remember what our brave soldiers and troops have sacrificed for this country.  I'll be doing that by adding these festive Patriotic toppers to my party items!

You can use these tags to enhance your event space.  Create sandwich and cupcake toppers by adhering tags or punched circles to lollipop or wooden sticks.  Create fun medallions by adding punched circles to small paper rosettes or simply cut out the square tag, punch a small hole in the upper corner, string and add to any favor bag or hostess gift. 

The PDF is available for download here.  I hope you enjoy using these decorative embellishments to create a festive setting your holiday festivities this weekend!

{Party Recap} Part 2: Bubble-Riffic Birthday Party

As promised here are more pictures and details about the Bubble-Riffic Blowout Bash I threw for my daughter’s 6th birthday.  While it was ultimately a good time to be had by all, the day started off rough and caused us to change course a bit because…

It rained.


Our plan was to have the party outdoors, with lots of fun games and activities but, with the wet weather and the chill in the air, we brought the fun inside!



We waited up until the last moment (about 30 minutes till the party)  to accept that Mother Nature was not having it.  Once we realized that we would have to nix setting up the party outside, we quickly moved out our dining room set and coffee table and created a space in both rooms for the party.   Once everything was set up, we decorated the room with lots of balloons, and bright, colorful linens.

The tablescape was a steady line of bubble gum fun!  For a pop of color, mini pom balls were strewn across the table to resemble gum balls.  Literally the day before the party, I found the most adorable tabletop gum ball machines at Dollar Tree.

For the main centerpieces, I  filled empty glass jars with Double Bubble and used them as double-duty by serving as anchors for swirl pops from Oriental Trading. I also added crazy straws to the display.  A variety of jars and vases were also filled with an assortment of bubble gum candies and Blow-Pops.




Part favors were festive blowers and glow stick bracelets that were displayed in a simple white tin bucket.



I designed the party hats, tags and bags myself and used a stamp kit to create the gumball machine favor tags that included actual gumballs.  The birthday girl wanted her party hat to stand out.  So, I embellished it with a paper rosette and glitter paper to create a fancy medallion and then added pretty satin ribbon to tie it off!




When Mother Nature would ease up on us, we let the kids play with bubbles, in between the rain showers.  This allowed us to set up for other activities, games and lunch.  I had different bubble sets displayed in a bucket and each guest got to choose their favorite.



Since we didn’t have the space indoors to do a balloon pop relay, we just let them go crazy and  pop lots of balloons!


Bubble-Gum themed prizes were given out for the games and the person who could guess the number of gumballs in the jar.




There was also a contest to see who could blow the biggest bubble and the birthday girl won!


After chowing down on hot dogs, tri-color pasta salad and melon balls, we sang Happy Birthday and the guests enjoyed a delicious slice of bubble gum cake from a ‘gumball machine’ and sugary sweet  gumball topped cupcakes!  I also made gumball machine cake pops! (btw, these were a bit of a chore to make, but they final result turned out great - I might do a tutorial on them at a later date).




Guests left with goodie bags filled with bubble gum and bubbles!

Even though it may have rained, my Mini Diva had a blast!  Check out my yarn poms hanging from the ceiling! 


Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!


If you are planning your own BUBBLE GUM THEMED party, you can now purchase this party collection in my Etsy shop!

See more on this party here.

Where to Find:

Table Top Gumball Machines - Dollar Tree
Bubble Sets - Dollar Tree, Oriental Trading & Target
Gumball Tutu - Atutudes
Limb Warmers - 3plcouture
Candy - Target, Oriental Trading, Dollar Tree
Party Hats, Party Tags, Favor Bags, Favor Bag Tags, Bubble Gum Machine Cake, Cupcakes, Birthday Girl Shirt - Created by Yours Truly

{Keepin' It Crafty} Festive Pom Garland

Inspired by this post, I spent the better part of my weekend making a handful of these babies!  I plan on using them for The Mini Diva's Bubble-Riffic birthday party in April.


Determined to get them done I got up early Saturday morning (unheard of) and I headed out to my local Joann's Craft store and got me one a' deez and some yarn.  After hitting up a few other stores, I got home,  grilled some burgers, ate dinner, put Thing 1 and Thing 2 to bed, and me and my Mister ordered two movies On Demand then I got to pomming.  Four hours later, I'd made about forty poms!  The gals over at HonestlyWTF were right, making the poms are quite addicting, by 5 pm on Sunday, I'd made enough to make a pretty long garland.....

 Likey?  Me too.


I think they look like gumballs and will look just peachy with the other party decor.

Christmas and New Year's Eve Round Up

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and is getting off to a great 2011!

I've been 'off' for almost 2 weeks now and during that time, I've been mostly.....lazy.  I have loads of laundry to still do and a couple of rooms and closets to de-clutter, but because I've been a bit under the weather with some whack stomach thing and just burned out from the holidays, I decided to hang back a bit on a few chores.  HOWEVAH, I did manage to squeeze in some baking - well more than I intended, some decorating, and some party styling.

Here's how my holiday went:

I helped Thing 1 and Thing 2 make Santa sugary Sugar Cookies.

They did a bang up job.

I even made my Red Velvet Bundt Cake, but didn't get a picture of it in all it's glory - but I tried my best to get a picture of it before it was entirely devoured....

Then I stayed up all night wrappin' gifts!

And making sure that Sant's gifts arrived and were appropriately placed under the tree.  I made Special Deliver Tags with the North Pole post mark with a lil' clip art found here

(Please excuse the quality of my photos - it was VERY early in the morning when I took these and I just couldn't.....)

Lucky little Thing 1 got just what she wanted for Christmas....

And insisted that we immediately try it out.  Yeah.

So, there I was at 8 am in the morning pushing a teeny weeny cake through a plastic lightbulb oven.

It's been years since I used one of these things, but I don't remember the cakes being this big!

Here's my darling daughter's final product - I caught her before she went overboard on the sprinkles. 

Very cute.

Here's a little montage of how I decorated for the holidays....

Our Red & Gold decorated tree (which I'm absolutely over - more on that later)

These were on the fireplace mantel

My coffee filter wreath a la Martha

Noisemakers that we found on the Island of Misfit Toys - not really but they do tend to cause mischief when their buttons are pushed - get it? buttons pushed......????

I don't think I have ever expressed this, but along with the Christmas Tree and it's red & gold color scheme, I'm also over my dining room chairs.  They need some help - they're old and they are falling apart.  I needed to give them something festive to add to my tablescape.  I'd seen a picture in a magazine where they designer hung stockings on the chairs to use as a place card and gift.  I decided to do that and then I added a sheer red bow to pretty it up.

This is our holiday table!



I swapped out some of my xmas decorations for a small New Year's Eve Cupcakes & Cocktails Station I set up at my house to toast us into 2011!

We did a very small celebration at home and I have a favorite Pink sparkling wine that I love.  I took the idea of Pink Champagne and used that as the inspiration for my toasting station.  I added black and gold because I thought they meshed well with the pink.  Plus LOTS of gold for prosperity and black because I don't want to be in the red this year!  Ha-ha!

I've used this tiered plate stand more times than I can count - but we used it to put Santa's Cookies on!  Now, they show off  Pink Champagne & Tuxedo Cupcakes.  The gold tree was an after Xmas sale clearance find.  I made cupcake wrappers using scrapbook paper and cut out shapes to make the tuxedos.

I designed some toppers and  signs on my computer for decoration  and added pink rhinestones for a bit of sparkle.

I borrowed the gold lace runner from my holiday table and the gold beads and ornaments came off of my Christmas tree!

These Pink Champagne Cupcakes are delicious.  I just altered the recipe that I use for my Mimosa cupcakes and with a little dye - made them pink!

Remember how I said I was over the whole Red and Gold theme?  I'm thinking that I'll work with these colors come December!

I'm already inspired!!!!