Announcement!

I am super excited to tell you I have opened an Etsy Shop!!

Every year I make a birthday banner for my kids and this year I started making some for friends and neighbors. When a friend suggested I sell them on Etsy I decided to go for it. I love making banners and other paper signs, now I could do more than just a few a year. And since I got a Silhouette for Christmas I am always looking for ways to use it.

So I wanted to share some of my creations with you in case you are looking for birthday banners or photography props.

I made a SISTERS banner that would work great in a shared girls bedroom or for a prop for a photo. I also have it in purple and could do any color you wanted.

Here is a heart birthday banner I made for my daughters birthday. I could easily add any name.

My latest banners are this elephant and owl birthday banners. They turned out so cute and could be customized with your child's name.

One of my favorites is this rainbow happy birthday banner. It is smaller so your child could hold it up for a picture. My 7 year old can easily hold it on her own.

Here is a Thank You banner great for a wedding or shower picture to send off to guests. It could also be customized to your color theme.

Stop by and check out the shop to see even more choices!

I would love to make a banner for you.

Thanks and have an awesome day!

Heart Birthday Party

It has been a whirlwind of birthday parties, celebrations and cake at our house lately. As I mentioned before, my two oldest kids birthdays are 7 days apart. So I go from very little baking for 6 months to non stop baking for two weeks. And I am happy to report we finished the last of the cake today so their is no more for me to eat. I sure do like cake and now it is time to get in the gym and work off all the dessert. It has been so fun to celebrate the kids these past few weeks but I have missed blogging so I am happy to work on some home projects next.

My daughter had her friend birthday party this past weekend and I was really worried how it was going to go with 7 seven year olds, but I was pleasantly surprised, the girls did really well. It was my daughters first friend party, my kids get a friend party every other year and it was her turn. She was so excited and had so much fun.

Emily wanted a heart birthday party with red, white and pink, so that is what she got.

I made a banner on my silhouette I got for Christmas. I finally figured out how to use it. I just needed a good excuse to practice.

I put tassels on the mantle. Which were easy but a little time consuming to make, but I love how they turned out. I am not ready to take them down.

For the table I used some burlap and laid ribbon over top for some color. I bought some valentines M&M's and saved them for her party. They had to be hidden well.

I got some cute straws from the dollar section at Target a while back and I added a heart to each straw and some washi tape to a clear plastic cup. Such simple things to dress up a plastic cup.

And of course a heart cake. I made the heart using one round and one square pan. I cut the circle in half and added it to sides. It worked perfect, got the idea from Pinterest of course.

For a little craft for the girls, I had supplies for each to make a necklace. I cut out little hearts and cut up paper straws and had them thread them onto bakers twine. They turned out really cute and all the girls did something a little different. 

I was really excited to partner with Tiny Prints for this party. They had so many choices for thank you cards and gift tags to personalized Emily's treat bags for her friends.

The treat bags were super easy, I just took some lunch bags and cute the top off with pinking shears. I used a hole punch on the top and tied them shut with bakers twine. I stamped each girls name on a bag.

My daughter picked out the thank you notes, and was so excited to get something special that matched her party. We also got return address labels that matched, I LOVE it!

I can't believe how big my kids are getting it is a good reminder to not rush things. It goes so fast all on its own.

As always have a wonderful day!

Featured at: My Snippets of Inspiration

Sharing over at: Lil Mrs. Tori, Tiny Sidekick, Winthrop Chronicles, A few miner adjustments, Carolyn's homework, Sugar bee crafts, A stroll thru life, Not Just a Housewife, The Turquiose Home, Someday Crafts, 733 Blog, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, Ginger Snap Crafts, Cherished Bliss, Lamberts Lately, Living Well Spending Less, Imparting Grace, Liz Marie Blog, Jennifer Rizzo, The 36th Avenue, The dedicated House, Remodelaholic, Tatertots and Jello, Yesterday on Tuesday, Home Stories A to Z, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, My Snippets of Inspiration, Skip to my Lou, Mad in Crafts, Thrifty Decor Chick

Pink and Navy Birthday Party

We had such a fun weekend celebrating my daughters 4th Birthday. I can't believe my baby is 4! I don't think it is going to get any easier. Time is going too fast and school will start soon and then it feel like it goes even faster.

I love decorating for the kids birthdays. It is always a fun project I can involve them in. They always help pick the theme or colors, sometimes with a little help (or coaxing) from me of course. The girls always want pink on pink on pink. So I have to help with an accent color.  I apologize in advance for picture overload.

First, here is the wreath I made last year, pre-blogging. It was easy to make and is so festive.

My daughter agreed to pink and navy so I made her birthday banner first. I have my Mother in Laws Cricuit on loan so this project was pretty fast and easy.

I used left over scrapbook paper to make a pennant banner for the mantle.

I added a few touches of pink and navy in the kitchen.

Here is the centerpiece with pink and white marshmallows. They were the perfect color and the kids enjoyed munching on them. I got the fabric at Joanns and just folded it to the right size.

We had to have a pink cake of course, with lots of sprinkles and pearl beads.  And the flags may or may not have caught fire, so make sure the flame on your lighter is not to large. Just a friendly warning I am not saying that actually happened!

Such a cutie! I can't believe she is 4!

This coming weekend is our Backyard BBQ and I am so excited. I have been playing with lighting the back patio and if I can figure out how to plug everything in I will be good. Lots of planning this week. The only sad thing is that it is the last weekend of summer. I am ready for school to start and get back into a routine but I will miss my kids so much.

Do you have any Labor Day plans? Has anyone added party lights to your back patio? What did you do?