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 ~ Lightning McQueen Birthday Party

My son Asher turned three this year.  Even at his young age, Asher knows what he wants.  He told me three to four months before his birthday that he wanted a Lightning McQueen birthday party.  Of course, I had to oblige.

This year I skimped on the invitations and just bought a pack from Target.  (See me hang my head in shame.)  As far as the decorations and food, I put a little more effort into it. I lined our driveway with orange safety cones I borrowed from my work.  A bunting of checkered flags made from black and white checked cloth backed with white felt hung from our front porch.  And two checkered flags hung on the front door.  Unfortunately, I only took photos of the front door.

Inside, a smaller bunting of checkered flags with the number 3 hung over the entry to the party area and images from the Cars movie decorated one wall.

The menu consisted of cupcakes, Grem's Goldfish, Sally's Spinach Dip, Luigi's Pizza Dip, Francesco's Franks, and Sarge's Surplus of Sweets which featured Ramone's Pinstripes, Mack's M&Ms, Doc Hudson's Dipsticks and Sheriff's Stoplight Bars.  I had intended to have Chick Hick's Chicken Nuggets and Mater's Tater Salad but ran out of time.  Oh well.  The fuel station offered Flo's Motor Oil (sodas), Fillmore's Organic Fuel (apple juice and fruit punch) and the King's Coolant (bottled water).  The organic fuel and coolant were dressed up with checkered flag duct tape.

Instead of a large sheetcake, my son requested a Lightning McQueen cupcake.  To say Asher LOVES cupcakes is an understatement.  So after seeing the cupcake version of Mater created by Bakerella, I created my own version of Lightning McQueen in cupcake form. It was a hit as you can tell.  (I also made Asher's t-shirt with a graphic I purchased off of Etsy.)

For favors, I found the little bags at Target's Dollar Spot at Halloween, three for a dollar.  I had planned on created treat bags for my son's preschool class but ran out of time. I'm so glad that happened because I was able to make some cute party favor bags with them. 

I attached some Cars themed ribbon I found at Wal-Mart. 

Then I filled the bags with Cars themed toys from Dollar Tree (i.e., tops, crayons, little Piston Cups).

Over all I think the party was a success.  Thanks for looking!

  

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.

A Maid Marian Made Migration ~ Target

Located in downtown Minneapolis is the flagship Target store.  This is a mecca for all you Target lovers like moi.  It is two stories tall and has an escalator that not only carries you between floors but also your shopping cart.  How cool!  I spent about two hours browsing.  Seriously.  I found an adorable dress and this beautiful Liberty of London reusable tote bag.

I love how the bag folds up neatly so that you can carry it in your purse.  The bag was only $1.99!  Tres cute!!! I bought several to use as gift bags for birthdays, baby showers, etc.  Thanks to The Pink Chick for the idea.