Made ~ Vintage Bluebird of Happiness Birthday Party

My little girl, Caleigh, celebrated her first birthday last month. I knew that I wanted a vintage feel for her party and to use her signature colors, aqua and pink. With it being spring, an idea flew into my head to center the party around the bluebird of happiness.  Caleigh is such a happy, little girl and loves music. It would be the perfect theme.  

I designed her invitation using a digital paper from the Ellah Rose Collection from hellolovetoo and with one of my favorite bluebird images.  Then I attached a strip of pink ribbon at the bottom of the invitation. 

The focal point of the party was the shabby chic bunting I created with fabrics from JoAnn, Wal-Mart and Hancock Fabrics.  The majority of the fabric was from Wal-Mart and cost a whopping $1.50 a yard!  I cut 3-inch wide strips x the length of the fabric.  Next, I tied the strip of fabric to a length of rope.  I hung the bunting from two Command hooks that I could remove later.

The candy bar was draped in a light pink ruffled sheet from the Simply Shabby Chic line from Target.  I wrapped my silverware cabinet in a remnant of aqua fabric from my fabric stash.  Then I placed white chocolate eggs wrapped in blue foil, plain M&Ms (aqua and pink) and chocolate dipped pretzels in apothecary jars. 

Peanut M&Ms in the signature colors were placed in a small birdbath type ceramic dish I found at Michael's for half off. 

The aqua and white swirl lollipops came from Oriental Trading.  I tied pink seam binding bows to the sticks and placed the lollipops in a pink wooden tray from Target's Dollar Spot. 

Blue Peeps were displayed in a bluebird accented plate (TJ Maxx) next to a vintage children's book.  Tiny bluebird ornaments from Pier One hung from the topiaries.

Pink lemonade was dispensed from a glass beverage dispenser (Belks, half off) that had a chalkboard necklace of sorts.  I attached a metal bird ornament (Hobby Lobby) using glue dots for easy removal later. 

Plastic milk bottles from Sweet Lulu were dressed up with strips of fabric from Fabric.com.  The pattern is called Spring Hill Birdy.  The blue version is shown but the fabric also comes in pink and white.  The pink polka dot paper straws from Cakes and Kids Too.

Since the party was mid-afternoon, I didn't have a lot of heavy food options for guests.  Chicken salad croissants and spinach dip were offered as well as yellow cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese icing (tinted aqua), bird-shaped sugar cookies and candy pops, cake pops, bird nests and bluebird cookies.  The bluebird cookies were Nutter Butters dipped in blue Wilton candy melts.  Their eyes were mini chocolate chips and their beaks were a dot of yellow frosting.  Bottles of water were also wrapped in fabric and placed in an aqua metal tub that I found at Target's Dollar Spot.  (It also came in pink.)





The birthday cake was homemade and placed on one of my late mother's cake plates.  The cake was made of chocolate with white chocolate cream cheese icing. To continue the bluebird theme, I created a banner on card stock featuring bluebirds.  I cut the banner out and attached it to two lollipop sticks.  I added aqua and pink seam binding to soften the look.  One pink candle was all that was needed to make the perfect birthday cake for my little girl.

For party favors, I used aqua cupcake boxes that my late mother had a supply of.  Inside I placed a stuffed chick and a wooden bird whistle, both from Oriental Trading, and a carton of Whoppers shaped like robin's eggs. 

I wrapped the boxes with ribbon made from the white Spring Hill Birdy fabric and attached a gift tag that said, "It was TWEET of you to come."

To say the least, Caleigh's party was a hit.  Not to mention, is that I can use a lot of the party decorations in Caleigh's room.  The bunting will go on the wall over her bed.  The aqua and pink metal tub containers will hold hair bows and other accessories.  The wooden trays can help organize her dresser drawers and the bird accents can decorate her room. Essentially, I killed two birds with one stone.  No pun intended.  Thanks for stopping by!

Made ~ Bunny Topiary

I participated in my first swap last year and was fortunate enough to be matched up with Sheri in Minnesota.  As part of the matching process, we were asked to list our three favorite magazines or catalogs.  Sheri listed Life Beautiful magazine as one of her favorites.  The 2010 spring edition featured a bunny topiary on the cover.  Without knowing it, I had pretty much all the supplies I needed on hand to recreate this topiary.


I had bought this cute moss-covered bunny at Pier 1 after Easter for a dollar and 25 cents (50 percent off the original price) last year.  I had purchased several galvanized buckets and containers at Target's Dollar Spot to start on my son's nursery to big boy room transformation.  And I had ribbon.  All I needed was a florist foam block and some sheet moss which I picked up at Dollar Tree. 

First, I cut my florist foam to fit inside the galvanized container.  Then I cut the sheet moss to fit the top of the galvanized container in order to cover the foam.  I hot glued the moss to the foam.  Then I inserted the wire stem on the bunny into the center of the moss-covered foam block.  The sheet moss wasn't cutting the mustard so I ran out to Hobby Lobby and purchased some faux grass from the Easter aisle at 50% off.  I hot glued the faux grass plugs to the sheet moss.  Next, I wrapped tied an aqua ribbon around the neck of the bunny.  How cute is that!  For under a Lincoln, I have a tres chic bunny topiary.  Now, that's my kind of decorating.

Thrifty Thursday

This week's Thrifty Thursday find was these baskets at Pier 1 Imports for $7.48 each. They are very comparable to the Sabrina Baskets at Pottery Barn Kids ($18-35), don't you think? The baskets don't have the patterned liners like the PBK ones but I think I can make some.

Also, note that Hobby Lobby has select home decor items for 66% off this week. I wonder what I will find...Happy shopping!

What a steal!

I have been lusting after the Avignon Dining Table from Ballad Designs for eons. Yesterday, thanks to Copy Cat Chic I scored a wonderful and less expensive copy from Pier 1 Imports.

The Avignon table costs $999.00 plus shipping and tax. The Scalloped Dining Table from Pier 1 cost me a whopping $179.98 plus tax!!! It was on clearance. What a steal! I am so happy! Not to mention my hubby gave me the money to buy it. Thanks honey!!! And thank you Copy Cat Chic for the tip. You rock!