OMG...WHAT A SURPRISE!

I was just in the middle of writing a different post, which I will publish later today, but was so excited when I got an email from my friend Julie from OTDC... she wanted to let me know that some of my party decor was featured on The Hostess With the Mostess. I LOVE this site...the only thing I hate about it is that I don't have enough time to go on it as much as I'd like.

I first heard about HWTM when my sister in law Lindsey was looking for ideas for her daughter Addie's party. If you remember they did the Candyland theme that son of The Bachelorette's stars Trista and Ryan Sutter had for his 1st birthday bash. Ever since then I've had a slight obsession with the site.

So to hear this morning that Michelle, one of my clients, had her party featured, I was ecstatic! It was this circus theme for 1 year old Darrian that I did earlier in the summer. There are a bunch of other great Etsy sellers she used that are featured, too! Go check it out!

Cupcakes and Lollipops

A few weeks ago I showed you the invitations that I made for little Ava for her first birthday. Her mom sent me these lollipops that she was using at the party for some inspiration:
She's actually going to stick them into the cupcakes as decorations, so we decided to make that the main illustration on all the partyware. I drew up a cupcake and some lollipops and got going! Now I've finished the rest of Ava's partyware...so here it is!

Just a reminder of the invitations:Then for the new decor...the banner,

the door sign,

sticker for her favors (they're round even though its hard to tell from this pic),

the napkin rings,

and the confetti.

From my stat counter I find that not as many of you read this during the weekend, so I'll be back Monday with more!

4th Time's a Charm...

I know its been a few days...all I can say is that things have been so crazy busy that I honestly didn't have a second to post anything! After recovering from Beckett's party on Sunday and getting back to work, the kids and I left Monday afternoon for a trip to my parents' house where we watched my sister Kasey as she was crowned homecoming queen! We're so happy for her...she's had kind of a tough fall with knee surgery and such. She is SO deserving.


















Here is a pic of my sisters and I...we've all been up for queen, but Kas is the first to win. 4th times a charm!


This is my cousin Tyler...who was crowned King that night, too! Yes, we're from a small town, but this is VERY UNUSUAL, even in a town of 1200! He is my godchild, too...I always take a picture kissing his cheek. He asked me the other night when I was going to stop doing that. I asked him when he was going to stop acting like he didn't like it!! :)



We also got to attend Kasey's "Senior Spotlight Night" at her volleyball game on Tuesday. Even though she can't play she continues to support the team by going to every practice and every game. The kids had so much fun cheering them on!

Okay...I better include some party decor...here is my 3rd run at a circus theme, and I have another on the way! These are the invitations that Maddox's mom gave me to match the banner and confetti to:

I love the turqoise, chocolate, and red together. And here they are:

Our Little Monkey Turns 1!

It was a big weekend in the Newman household! Beckett, our youngest (and final, according to my husband) child turned one. We had a wonderful day on Saturday celebrating with family and friends. The party started at 3 and our last guests left at 10:45...so I'm hoping everyone else had a good time, too!

Now usually when I blog about a party, I give you the inspiration the client sent me for the party to show you where I started. The inspiration for Beckett's monkey party came from 2 places. First of all, he sleeps with a monkey that his aunt Kasey gave him when he was a baby. He loves to cuddle him to fall asleep. Secondly, we call him "our little monkey" because he's always climbing and crawling around on everything, trying to give me premature gray hair!

So after doing a little looking for a good monkey to use, I found one that looked a lot like the monkey he sleeps with, only it was wearing a party hat...perfect! The color combo I used are just colors I love, so I changed the monkey that I found so that his hat matched the decor.


As far as party pictures, there were far too many to choose just a few, so here are 33 of my favorites. I tried to include mostly pics that included decor (since that IS what this blog is for), but couldn't resist putting a few others in, too...hope you don't mind! All you other mothers will understand that in spite of my best intentions, I took very few photos at this party. Thank God my sisters and Mom were there to step up to the plate! Thanks, ladies!

I made everything you see except the bib, which came from my friend Rachel at Golden Shop...isn't she talented?! A PERFECT match. It was "the icing on the cake" as they say!

During the process of making Beckett's party items, a client requested monkey items, too. So, I changed the hat color again and made Coen's blue and brown monkey items. Click here to see how they turned out!

Thanks to everyone for being patient last week as I prepared for the party. It was a whirlwind but a good time. Now it's back to work...right after I clean up the party hangover which we call our family room!

It's a girl!

If you remember a few months ago I made these decorations for one of my best friends from college's baby shower. Well fast forward a few months and Georgia Lorraine Olson is here! We are so excited for Molly and Rick because they will be such great and FUN parents.

I ordered my favorite baby gift for baby Georgia, but it won't be here for a week or so and I couldn't go to the hospital today empty handed. I decided since the rooms are so drab the way it is, why not make one of my banner minis? I will be adding both this and "it's a boy!" banner minis to my shop soon. Here it is before we left my house:

It was the perfect size for the wall at the hospital:

My kids could just not get enough of her! They were actually petting her. I couldn't get them to look at the camera because they were so into holding her. It is hard to imagine just one short year ago Beckett was that small!

Congratulations, Olson family!

Just as a side note...I am not going to be posting again until Sunday night. Though I still have 5 projects to blog about, I just HAVE to get ready for Beckett's big day on Saturday! So...more next week!

A little birdy told me...

...that its hot in Florida these days! This customer wanted a few of the things I normally make, but she also had me make a few things I'd never made before, including some handheld fans for the hot Florida weather.

Here is what she sent me as a starting off point for her daughter Harper's 1st birthday party in a birdy theme:
The bib was made by Rachel at Golden Shop, who actually sent this client my way. Adorable, as always!

I was able to find lots of cute paper in the pink and orange sherbert colors and I even found the same font that was used on her invitations. Here is how her collection turned out:

The banner...
A cake topper for her "smash cake"...
A cake topper...
Cupcake toppers...
And the hand held fans...
Aren't they fun? They would be great for summer wedding favors, too!

Time flies when you're having fun...

After our fun weekend of birthday partying and spending one last day on the boat, let me just say today was not the best of days! Bad luck, a crabby 4 year old, almost getting in a car accident, and a shady manager at Office Max contributed to the events of the day. Let's just say I hope time "flies" this week with days better than today! :) Praise God there are always tomorrows.

I did this airplane theme earlier in the summer. A girl from my hometown decided she wanted to do the same theme for her son Owen's first birthday. I sent her to get her invitations from b|e creative and then got to work on the rest. Jen is so easy going that she said "Just do what you think looks good." Yes! Music to my ears.

So here it is, Owen's airplanes:
The banner...
The crown and party hats...The cake topper...
The door sign...
And finally, the confetti...
Then another client also wanted me to do an airplane theme, but wanted me to make invitations that were a little "busier" (her words, not mine!). I went in search of the kind of plane she wanted and sent her a few samples. After I found something she liked, I redrew it in the colors we wanted to use and added the details. Sara loved the invitations, but she said "Simple is not my way...can we add some of the papers you got to the back instead of just the solid?" Of course we can! So here is how they turned out:
There will be a lot more coming in the next few weeks from this party, too!