Little Girls Paint Party

so I got the idea for a paint party from Ashley Ann's blog Under the Sycamore.

as it got closer to little girl's birthday I asked her if she would like to have a paint party. she loves all things crafty so she was in love with the idea. I asked her what it would be that she wanted to paint. her immediate response, no hesitation, was a butterfly.

I got to work purchasing the canvases. (12x12 ones) the transfer paper to trace the butterfly on, the easels, paint and brushes. I had her tell me all of the colors that she wanted to use for the butterfly too. we got on pinterest and searched for butterfly designs that she liked.

If you can kind of see, this is what all of the girls butterflies looked like

I bought paint pallets from Wal-Mart for under a dollar and decided to go with a set of five brushes for each girl to use to paint with.

my initial thought was that they would all paint it the same. we had an example that we painted the week or so before. but once the girls got there, they were all asking if they could paint it any way that they wanted and I didn't have it in me to tell them no. it was fun to see all that they came up with and they did ask for held in mixing the colors up for different colors.

we ordered pizza and had cookie cake (birthday girls request)

she wanted this pretty pink lemonade and sprite. we wanted to make sure that everything we were doing was what she wanted and she told me one day. well mom, I love everything but I would really like to have sprite at the party.

I am so proud of how they all did

Teacher Appreciation

I was looking all over for a cute way for my kids to bring their teacher a Starbucks gift card this week for Teacher Appreciation week and I came across this link at Thrifty NW Mom.

Pinterest has a ton of links to other ways you can do this but this was just happened to be my favorite.

this is the final project!

I just need to have the kids sign their name to the card and we are done.

supplies needed:

scissors

tape

bakers twine or regular twine

Starbucks card

coffee sleeve holder

(I just asked the lady at Starbucks if I could grab two, she smiled and said that was fine and thought it would be a cute addition to the card.)

and the printable from Thrifty NW Mom here

this is what one side of the coffee sleeve looked like

this is what the other side of it looked like

I cut the one side off and then it fit on the printable cup better

see, looks like a real Starbucks cup.

you can see that when you cut the coffee sleeve it comes apart

I used some double stick tape to attach the two ends together

then  slid the gift card into the sleeve and taped the sleeve onto the printable card.

They gave me this gift card holder so I decided to tape it to the back of the card with the total amount that is on the gift card. then I wrapped the card in the bakers twine.

fun easy teacher appreciation gift and a quick way for me to get my craft on. thank you Thrifty NW Mom for the great idea and printable.

Blue Baby Shower

My good friend Mrs JCrew is having baby #3 and baby #3 will be her 3rd baby boy. we were so excited to celebrate with her.

we asked her some of her food cravings. here is what she listed

marshmallows

peanut butter

bananas

she is the momma and she gets to crave what she wants

we had some fruit, veggies, hummus, chips, strawberry cream cheese sandwiches, marshmallows (of course), peanut butter and banana sandwiches and peanut better fudge.

Jessica made these cute favors.

we had tossed around a few ideas and decide on this. I think they came out to great. she did an awesome job.

 we had a good group of ladies that were able to attend and some sweet littles that came too.

The Party hostesses and mom to be.

excited to meet baby #3.

Beatrix Potter Baby Shower

After searching pinterest for ideas for Beatrix Potter Baby Shower I think we were able to come put with a pretty cute shower

6 friends got together to celebrate another friend and the upcoming birth of her third daughter.

Follow Jennifer's board Parties on Pinterest.

Kelly made this awesome bunting banner and provided some carrots and dip for the food table. she wasn't available to come to the shower and she was greatly missed

Melissa made these bunny cake balls

she also made these cute chocolate cupcakes that she baked in tiny mason jars and topped with orange colored dipped strawberries to look like baby carrots. they were precious and delicious 

Lindsay brought these clay pots that were used to hold up some platters for the food. so cute and clever. She also made the punch that is on the drink table that is a few photos lower.
The books are ones that Jessica (who's house the shower was held at) had in her Beatrix Potter collection of things.

Cute Beatrix Potter cupcake liners for the fruit

Onion Souffle (recipe below) 

The drink Area, Water, Tea and Pink Punch

Clay pots with Beatrix Potter printable for decor, made by Blakeley and a basket filled with the favors for the ladies as a thank you for coming. 

these were the little favors, little glass bunny tapered candle holders

a view of the whole food table topped with a diaper cake and cake plate tutu that you can order here

I saw here this cute idea of using a book for a guest book sign in. someone had given my son this Beatrix Potter book that was just sitting in his closet so i grabbed it for the shower. Set up with a clay pot to hold pens and paired with Jessica's tiny Peter Rabbit tea set and Blakeley's watering can and a small vase of flowers (that i didn't fully get in the photograph) make the table so pretty

finally Jessica now only used her fine china for the food but she set out her tea set as well with some fruit tea for guests.