Frozen Birthday

My sweet Clarissa turned five last month and picked Frozen for the theme of her birthday. 

I was surprised when I went out to gather supplies for our little party that "Frozen" stuff is actually really hard to find. Luckily, her only real request was that there would be an Olaf piñata.  I knew I could make that and then mix in other items to fit the theme. 

She was thrilled with her Olaf piñata. I used the same method that I used to make Kate's Minnie Mouse Piñata, HERE. Sorry, I didn't take pictures of the process. 

The head was separate from the body (It does not hold candy).  I attached it with hot glue and then tied it to the body using string and a giant needle. I built up the mouth by layering pieces of cardboard cut into the shape. The nose is made from orange felt, and attached with hot glue. There is a great tutorial for that HERE. The rest of the details were cut from card-stock and attached with craft glue. 

For these kids it was the hit of the night!

I kept the decorations super simple with white pom-poms, a few clearance snowflakes from the party store, and white paper doilies.

Of course, I also whipped up a quick banner for the fireplace in Shilouette Studio. I know I say this all the time, but this program is FREE to download and easy to use. You don't have to own a Shilouette to download and use it.  

I also made her a crown, which she loved but only wore for a few minutes, plus pictures. 

The Cake! I ended up really loving this cake. Unfortunately, I forgot something. Do you see it?

I forgot to add Olaf's buttons! Oh well. Honestly, this little guy was a bit of a nightmare. The basic construction was fine. I followed this tutorial by Pucky Cakes, HERE. This was my first time using modeling chocolate, and all those little details kept melting in my hot hands. Arrrggghhh...It took three hours to make him. 

My favorite part of the cake was the snowflakes. They were made using royal icing and Sugar Gems. I got the sugar gems at Walmart in the baking department. I'm pretty sure I paid less than $2 for the bottle. 

I simply piped the snowflakes onto a cookie sheet that was covered in parchment paper. Then I sprinkled the Sugar Gem on top, while the frosting is still wet. *They need to dry for at least 24 hours* After that, they will slide right off the parchment paper. But be careful, they are very delicate! I would recommend making at least double the number you want. I broke several snowflakes in the process of transferring them to the cake. I printed off a couple sheets of snowflake images to place under my parchment paper as a guide, but actually liked my freehand snowflakes more. 

Here is my royal icing recipe:

3 egg whites

1 pound of powdered sugar

1/2- tsp cream of tartar

Beat until stiff, keep covered as it dries fast.

I used some reserved royal icing to glue the snowflakes onto the cake. 

It was a fun night with family, where Clarissa was cherished and spoiled. I'm glad we could make her feel special for at least one day this year.

For me, the intense game of Freeze Dance was the highlight of the party.

Jefferson turns 1!

My baby turned ONE last week. I really can't believe it. How did this happen so fast?

With the crazy schedules we are on and just trying to get through each day, his birthday totally snuck up on me. I wasn't able to throw a big party, but we did have a fun evening with our family to celebrate. 

1st Birthday stats. I wish these were popular when my other kids turned 1. I reused my chalkboard from THIS post.

1st year picture garland. 

Minutes before the party started, I handed my sister a stack of photos, paper, and some ribbon. I asked her to come up with something, anything, before people arrived. I love what she did. She found some upholstery tacks and tacked the pictures to the ribbon after matting them with the paper. 

I made a simple cake that matched the fabric for his "birthday outfit."

My favorite part of the 1st birthday is the Cake Smash. Since Jefferson is my last, I wanted to get super cheesy with it and made him a cake smash outfit. My husband was a good sport, despite a few comments about how it looked more like a baby Chip and Dales outfit. Ha, he may have been right!

We were all hoping for a repeat of my daughter Kate, who ate her whole cake and made quite a mess.  

Unfortunately, he got distracted by those darn polka dots and wasn't interested in the cake.  

Eventually, he got tired of all the pressure and told us what he thought of the cake smash.  

I'm just glad he's healthy, happy, mine and my last. 

Happy Birthday Jefferson!

A Royal Birthday

 My baby girl turned 4. It was a bitter sweet birthday for me. She chose Disney's newest princess, Sofia the First, as a theme.  Even though I'm not a big fan of the whole disney princess thing, I've tried to embrace it over the last 8 or so year for the sake of my girls. During my preparations, I realized that this would probably be the last time I did a princess themed party. I thought I would be thrilled and I am, but a small part of me was sad that I've reached the end of a phase.  

I shouldn't really call our little celebration a party. We simply had a family dinner and cake, but it was perfect. 

My little princess, I think she looks just like Sofia.

I decorated the house the night before so she would be surprised when she woke up. My husband thinks I'm crazy when I decorate for a small family dinner, but I love making things magical.

I was so excited about this Sofia bunting, she didn't even notice it with all the balloons on the floor. 

I usually make a special outfit for birthdays. I debated on making a real sofia dress or a simple dress she  could wear to church and school. I went with a Sofia-inspired dress. While I was sewing it up, she kept telling me I was making it all wrong and it didn't look like Sofia's. I was worried, but turns out she loves it and won't take off. 

There has been a lot of twirling. 

The Crown Jewels

The Cake

I love how it turned out. I'm so grateful to my sister who showed up and helped decorate. As always, I had way more on my plate than I planned, and it wouldn't have been finished on time without her. 

I used Wilton Sugar Sheets for the flowers. I got mine at Walmart. I'm a big fan. In fact, I've used them with my Silhouette before too.

I love the tufting and pearls on the top layer. 

Lucky for me we live by a Disney store, I used the sofia from a figure set for the topper.  

I think I'll enjoy every last moment of her being a princess before it ends.

Linking to {You Inspired}, {Make It Wear It}

{sweet} baby cakes

I love it when good things happen to good people, to much of life is unfair. After 12 years of waiting, one of my dear friends was finally able to start a family through adoption.  It was a miracle and happened suddenly, so some friends and I whipped up a shower over the weekend.

Of course I had to dress up the mantle for the affair.

First, I made this painted burlap banner.  It's a project I've wanted to try for a while and I love how it turned out. 

Once I was done with the banner, I had all this leftover paint and just wanted to use it on something. That is when I remembered some wood blocks I had from a past project. I used my western stamp set for the letters. It wasn't necessary but turned out to be a nice gift for baby.  

Does my sign look familiar? I used it HERE. It used to say FAITH but I altered the lettering a little. If you look close you can see what was erased and what I kept.

I got a new chalk marker since my old one ran out. I don't think I can tell you enough how much I love chalk art and these chalk markers. AMAZING.  

The drink station. We served a mint lime punch and pretty flavored water. 

I'm loving multi layered bunting right now. I found a package of oblong paper doilies that were perfect and altered my SPRING banner to spell out the new baby's name.  I think I put about 30minutes total into all four banners. 

Since it was a late-afternoon open house, we stuck with simple finger foods and a few desserts, including my favorite mint brownies. 

The invite. I was able to make these up in minutes using my FREE Silhouette Studio software. If you are like me and don't own photoshop it's a great way to design and print your own invitations. I've told you about it in the past, but wanted to give it another shout-out.

It was nice to celebrate something so wonderful and exciting.

HERE is a list of parties I link to.

Rapunzel's birthday

We celebrated Kate's 5th birthday last month. Despite being sick, I had to pull something together since 5th birthdays are one of the few birthday's we celebrate with a friend party. She's patiently waited 2 years for this and won't have another friend party for three years, so I wanted to make it as special as I could.

As guests arrived they recieved a purple glitter crown. (found at JoAnn's $1 bins)

Then everyone was sent outside to develop their artistic talents in sidewalk paintings.  

 I loved this one of rapunzel and her floating lanterns. (please ignore the rust stains)

 Next we beaded necklaces.

I was so worried about entaining the girls, but really they just enjoyed playing outside together.  

After working up and appetite, we went inside for lunch, presents, cake and ice cream. 

This was one of the hardest cakes I've ever done. I ran out of time and wasn't able to do half of what I wanted to. 

I was so upset, and felt like a huge failure until I saw her reaction. 

She doesn't care that the tower is going to fall any second. 

the decorations:

Thanks to my silhouette, these banners were a breeze to make. 

I loved the look of the chandelier.

We hung several of these Flynn Rider wanted posters inside and out. You can find the image HERE.

I forgot to get a picture of these all wrapped up, but here is what we sent home in a goodie bag. 

I have to give a huge shout out to my mom for helping me make the amazing Rapunzel dress. 

I couldn't have done it without her. 

I had a really complicated idea of how to make it, luckily my mom has years of experience and showed me a much, much simpler way of putting it together. Sorry no pattern- we totally winged it. 

Honestly this dress was my favorite part of the party and I think it may have been Kate's too. 

I have to laugh, I had created this great plan years ago to make my life easier and only celebrate 3rd, 5th, 8th and 12th birthdays with friend parties. Funny how all three girls ended up with a friend party this spring. I was so  sick for the 3 year old's birthday that I had to cancel it, but I'm hoping I have the energy to pull off the 8 year olds next month.