Monday, November 18, 2013

"Elf" Movie Themed Christmas Party

santa's coming!  i know him!

Last Christmas Eve we celebrated with one of my very favorite holiday icons, Buddy the Elf.  One of my absolute favorite holiday movies is Elf, so I thought it'd be fun to incorporate Buddy into our holiday.

 
 
 
cotton candy "cotton balls"



 
 
 
Feel free to use my printables, for FREE!

Large Banner                            Small Banner                              Tags and Flags
 



 

 
 
 

Got a couple extra minutes?  I'd love for you to be one of my "100 people surveyed"!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Wordless Wednesday - Disney Transporation



Center: The plane Walt used to scout locations for the "Florida Project" found on the Studio Backlot Tour at Hollywood Studios.  Clockwise from top: RC at Disney's All Star Movies Resort, getting on the Ferryboat to the Magic Kingdom at TTC, Disney bus and Iron Man Monorail from the bus stop at the Magic Kingdom, infamous purple road signs!, my kids first Monorail ride, waiting for the monorail inside Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Wanna join in the fun?  Share your Wordless Wednesday photos by visiting Focused on the Magic NOW!



Got a couple extra minutes?  I'd love for you to be one of my "100 people surveyed"!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Frog Party

My bestie's birthday was coming and I was thrilled when her hubby asked me to help plan a froggy birthday party for her.  Have a look.
 

 
To make these lily pad cookies, I cut a wedge out of round, green sugar cookies before baking them.  They were inspired by these.
 
Oh, yum.  Just thinking about this delicious Strawberry Puppy Chow makes my mouth water.  As a matter of fact, I think I'll go make some right now....
 
Ok... I'm back.  The jars are filled with green malted milk balls and Canada Mints.  The small plates have Peppermint Patties, drizzled with green and pink chocolate, to match the theme.  The pink cookies are chocolate chip cookies, tinted with pink food coloring.

Our Frogs on Logs are Little Debbie Swiss Rolls, drizzled with melted chocolate and topped with Gummy Frogs.  They were inspired by Gourmet Mom on the Go.

To drink, we enjoyed pink lemonade and green Hawaiian Punch.  The frogs on the front of the dispensers were cut on my Cricut.  Feel free to use them for yourself.  Frog.svg
 
 
These adorable pudding cups were inspired by Bird's Party.  I cut the lily pad on my Cricut.  The cups are 5oz tumblers.  The frog stickers came from Michaels.
 
  
 I found this adorable frog planter at Michaels, in their summer clearance.  His bucket is filled with pink and green rock candy.
 
  
 Mmm, cake!  The cake was frosted with an ombre style and topped with fondant lily pads and cattails.  It was inspired by Building Butter Cream.  The cake pops were topped with Wilton candy eyes and 1/2 a Wilton candy heart used at the tongue.  They were inspired by pops I saw on Cakepops.org.
 
 
just for fun
 
We had a blast playing with the party blowouts made to look like frog tongues.  Want to make your own?
 
If you have a Cricut, you can use this file Frog Blowouts.svg.  Be sure to add a 1/2" circle for the blowout before cutting.
 
If you don't have a Cricut, print this frog face 5" wide.  Once printed, cut out and use a 1/2" hole punch in the center of the smile for the blowout.  Add 2 large google eyes.
 
 Guests brought her a copy of their favorite book, as a gift.  Check it out here.

Books Make Great Gifts

My bestie birthday-girl is an avid reader, so we asked guests to bring her a copy of their favorite book when we had her birthday party, recently.  Take a look!
 
I made bookmarks for people to use as gift tags, if they didn't have one.  The adorable book garland was inspired by Martha Stewart.
 
 Feel free to use my books signs.
 
 
 

Wordless Wednesday - Dog Days of Summer

This week's Wordless Wednesday theme is August calendar.  When I think August, I think HOT!  So here you have it, those hot "Dog Days of Summer".


Want to join in on Wordless Wednesday?  Visit Focused on the Magic, today!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Wordless Wednesday: Disney World - All things "M"

This week is all about Disney and the letter M... have a look.


Center photos: Left top, Mickey Mouse dancing with Sami, (clockwise) my sister and I with Mr. Smee (1987), Main Street USA, the Little Mermaid with the kids.

Outer photos: Left top, Chocolate Moose at Le Cellier, (clockwise) Mrs. Potts at Beauty & the Beast - Live on Stage, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Mulan, Mr. Potato Head, Merida, Mary Poppins, Monkey in Toy Story Midway Mania que, Mickey Mouse, Monorail (from the front of another, back when we could ride there, back in 2007), Monster's University (and Mike), Magic Kingdom entrance, Mr. Ray at the Art of the Animation Resort, Mission Space, Minnie Mouse, Munchkin Land in the Great Movie Ride, Meg, McDonalds on Disney property, Mice inside Cinderella's Castle.

To join in on Wordless Wednesday, click the link on the right!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Sew Sweet Lalaloopsy Birthday

 
These adorable "rag dolls" are my Sami's favorite little toys.  Her collection started on her 3rd birthday with an original Blossom Flowerpot, but has now grown into double, possible triple, digits.  We incorporated many of them, and their "buttons", into her 5th birthday party this year.

the invitation
 
 The inviation is made of 3 layers of card stock.  A paterned layer (measuring 5.25" square), a solid layer and the printed layer.  Buttons in the corners, yarn hair and bows were glued on after the layers were double-sided taped together.  I've seen a few of these sorts of Lalaloopsy inviations online.  One that inspired mine was from my sweet little family.
 
 the cake
 
 How gorgeous is *this* cake?!  I found a tutorial for the petal design at Bird on a Cake.  She's right, it's easier than it looks!  Not that I want to downgrade all the hard work I put into it.  *wink* 

I also made cupcakes to go along with the cake, since they can be easier to serve (and easier for little hands to eat!).

 
To add the swirl-color effect to the frosting, I added the food coloring to the edges of the piping bag, then added white frosting.  As you pipe, the color incorporates.
 
 
These adorable Lala toppers came from etsy seller Party in a Box.

the food

 Table skirt, inspired by this photo on Catch My Party.  The button are trees made from actual tree limbs, felt and buttons. I got my inspiration for these from this photo on Pinterest. Sorry to say that it has no credit linked, so if you who made them, let me know! I'd be happy to give credit where credit's due!
 
 
  (L) Pinwheel sandwiches. (R) Chocolate button pops were made using molds from Fancy Flours.  The yarn on the jars was inspired by this party, over on Catch My Party.
 
Balls of yarn used to decorate the table were actually foam balls with yarn wrapped around them. I got this idea from the Cute as a Button party over at Kiss Me Kate.

 Spool Cake Pops. Fantastic tutorial by Pure Joy Events
 
I cut quilt patterned scrapbooking paper to line these 5oz cups before filling them with treats.  These have white chocolate covered pretzels.  The liners were cut using my Cricut.  This is the svg file: Cup Liner.  Or the jpg file for those cutting by hand: Cup Liner.
 Button number frames, inspired by Style Me Pretty.  Be sure to add the paper, then glue the buttons on if using these top-loading frames.

The holes in the button sugar cookies were added after the cookies baked.  Poke holes in them with a straw while they're still warm.

 These 5oz tumblers are filled with Cupcake Puppy Chow.
 
I just loved how And Everything Sweet decorated their water bottles with fabric for this baby shower. I was inspired to do the same, only I replaced the pin with a button, of course!  In addition to water, we enjoyed strawberry milk and Golden Wedding Punch.

activities



This adorable Pin the Bow on Crumbs Sugar Cookies game is available to purchase from etsy seller One Love Designs.  For prizes the kids got Lalaloopsy coloring books I'd found at Dollar Tree.
 
"Decorate your own Crown with Jewel Sparkles"
 
Paper crowns on headbands, decorated with glitter glue pens.
 
Jewel Sign                            Crown Template
 
 
"Make a Hat with Pete R. Canfly"
 
Green posterboard, red feathers. (elastics and tape optional)
 
Pete Sign                             Hat Directions
 

 
 "Make an Eye Patch with Patch Treasurechest"
 
Black eye patches, assorted stickers
 
 
 
"Sewing Cards with Blossom Flowerpot"
 
I got some adorable sewing cards from etsy seller Lemon Tree Studio.  Those, yarn and child safe needles made up this fun activity spot.
 
 
 
Hanging over the gift table.
 
 
What boys do at a Lalaloopsy party. *wink*
 
  
 Happy 5th birthday to my little princess!!
 
 
These are only some of the great Lalaloopsy party ideas I found online.  I couldn't possiblly use all of them.  If you'd like to see more, please visit My Pinterest page.