Ruffles, Pearls and Polka Dots Party

Today I am so excited that Heidi from Cherry Blossoms is sharing her daughter's "Pink Ruffles & Pearls" with us!  She picked our hot pink polka dot balloons for the photo shoot above (love the pearls).  Let me show you all of the beautiful touches Heidi created for her daughter Elle's special first birthday party:



Heidi set up a beautiful display table for the birthday cake, cupcakes, candies and perfectly selected accents to show off her "Pink Ruffles & Pearls" theme.  She made the ruffled paper streamers (tutorial) and the pink letter "E" studded with pearls too!  Fresh Chick Designs created the sweet cupcake topper and candy tag printables.



Of course, the princess needs some strawberry milk to pair with her theme...such a pretty touch with the glass milk bottles and gray stripe paper straws too.  Did I tell you that Heidi made this gorgeous felt birthday hat too?



Birthday cake and tiny smash cake both designed by In Pockets Bakery of Chandler, Arizona.



Thank you so much for sharing your daughter's special 1st birthday party with us, Heidi!  See lots more beautiful party ideas on her blog every day @ Cherry Blossoms.

Tiny Nest Napkin Rings with a Personalized Banner {Tutorial}

 

We just received a shipment of the sweetest tiny nests (only $2.00 for a bag of 6 tiny nests) and since Thanksgiving is next week, I wanted to make something for our table.

This is a quick and easy tutorial on how to make napkin rings with your hot glue gun, about 8" of your favorite ribbon per napkin ring, cardstock paper scraps, scissors, a Sharpie marker and our tiny nests (or twigs from your backyard would work great too).

I found some lime green gingham check scrapbook cardstock scraps and cut these little flags with my scissors.  They are about 3 1/2" long and 3/4" tall.  Then I wrote "Lauren" by hand with my Sharpie.  Now it's time to hot glue my tiny banner to my nest (or sticks):

Next, flip over your nest with the banner now attached.  We are going to hot glue the bottom of the nest to the center of your ribbon:

After your nest is secured to the top center of your ribbon, flip that over and we are going to form a loop and hot glue the ends:

When I flipped the finished napkin ring over, I added a few more drops of hot glue as needed to secure the nest to the ribbon ring.  All ready for a napkin roll with utensils here:

Ready for my Thanksgiving table!  Now I just need to make12 more....

Let me know what you think of this little napkin ring...and Happy Thanksgiving!  -Sally

Two Free Printables = One Last-Minute Halloween Party Invitation

Every year our family hosts a casual drop-in party on Halloween night.  Some families come before trick-or-treating for our slow cooker white chicken chili, pigs in a blanket and photos of the kids in their costumes.  Some families stop by after trick-or-treating so the kids can dump their candy bags and they can sit down in a warm house and relax with a cup of coffee or a bowl of chili.  Either way, we love to have our neighbors over on Halloween!


But what if I just moved to a new neighborhood and haven't even told my new neighbors about our tradition yet?  Eeek!


I now have 4 days to tell our neighbors about our annual "Trick-or-Treat Tailgate".  I needed something cute, but definitely QUICK.  Here's what I did (in about one hour this morning):


I headed straight for my computer files labeled "DIY" - these are mostly free printables I save when I find them.  Kim's Chevron Invitations were one of the first ideas that popped into my mind.


She made a six-page PDF of the cutest Chevron Invitations for HGTV.com (she owns The TomKat Studio).  I knew that would work for Halloween (the black and white version is on page 6 of the free PDF).  Find the free PDF here:  The TomKat Studio Chevron Invitations for HGTV.


But it needed a little extra somethin'...


BAM!  AndersRuff to the rescue with another DIY file I saved - the cutest "Happy Halloween" tags a girl could ever ask for.  Prints six tags to a page, which I love.  Find the free PDF file for the cute shipping-style tags here:  AndersRuff Halloween Printable Tags (originally designed for The Twinery).


Next up, your paper cutter, scissors, a single-hole puncher and some jute twine to put your two freebie printables together into ONE totallly cute and unique Halloween party invitation!


You did it!  Maybe planning ahead isn't good all the time...I really like how this last-minute DIY invitation project turned out (and I hope my neighbors do too).


Do you have a favorite Halloween printable invitation too?


Happy Halloween, friends!  - Sally