Our Brave Party!

Somehow our sweet Kiddo turned 5 this past week and ended up having three, yes three parties! Today was her last party - a Merida Brave themed celebration. I've tried hard to reign back the amount of work I put into these parties, but some things are just too fun! Here are some highlights..

Archery target cupcakes - chocolate of course!

 Mason jars full of little chocolate bears - just like the triplets..

Carrot and celery "arrows" with ranch dip dressing.. We also bought a ton of pizza from Costco. You can order in advance and have them baked. Easy, peasy!

Slightly spooky witch lime pineapple punch..
(OK, so where's the spooky part of this punch? Ugh. Apparently you can't store dry ice for long in a normal freezer. My best attempts to prepare in advance backfired on me bad this time. The ice had completely dissipated by this morning.. so the punch was not too spooky..oh, well!)

My husband gave me pink and purple tulips the day Kiddo was born; we have to have them present at each birthday of course.

A really easy rag  plaid wreath..

Blue wisps filled our home leading our lads and lasses to the festivities..

We were blessed with a gorgeous day of sun.. and so the kids spent most of the day playing on our swing set and running around..

And a gorgeous day requires an impromptu picnic.. There is nothing Kiddo loves more than laying on a blanket in the sun.. I honestly couldn't have planned this, I was thrilled this day was full of so much relaxed fun.

I've decided to NOT plan too many games and activities for toddler parties. They just want to play- that's all. I did however spend the last couple of nights making this Brave archery target pinata. Jam packed with over 7 pounds of candy. Sorry parents!

With so much candy, even our littles had bags overflowing with sugar..

Kiddo with one of her sweet friends..

And the favors for the party? Again, I tried to scale back but had to make a few fun things. An easy tartan sash with Celtic pin. Simple brown bags stamped with the same Celtic sign to hold all their candy. The stamp did not take long to carve and I love adding a few handmade touches.

It was really such a fun day. The parents were relaxed, the kiddos were happy and the sun was shining. I couldn't ask for more!

If you would like tutorials or in depth information on anything, please drop me a line!

Strawberry Shortcake Garden Party

I don't know how it happened, but my sweet Kiddo turns four this week. She has been asking for a Strawberry Shortcake party since the day after she turned three. When we went to the Red Butte Garden this past Halloween, I knew that it would be the perfect place for her birthday, and it was! If you are in Utah, I highly recommend the Garden for an event. The price was reasonable, the grounds are beautiful and the staff was truly amazing.

We had a berry bonanza! 

Fresh berries, strawberry/cream cheese sandwiches and strawberry/sesame paste sandwiches, strawberry applesauce, berry juices, and berry tea..

There is my little piece of sunshine! She and her sister wore matching strawberry dresses.

 Serged muslin knapsacks with Strawberry Shortcake pencils..

 Filled with homemade strawberry play dough in little fabric bags with strawberrry Whopper candy..

 Our party had storytimes of ladybugs..

 and painting flower pots..

 And hunting for aphids

And planting pretty flowers in our freshly painted pots..

Finally enjoying strawberry cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting... all decorated with chocolate dipped strawberries..

We had a great time and I think Kiddo was in heaven.. 

oh, and yes I've been informed she would like a  Tangled Rapunzel party for next year....

Tats, Bloggers, and Cheesecake

One of my favorite Etsy stores, Rae Gun, posted about a blogger party being hosted by Crafty Cupcake & Tootsie Wootsie at the Cheesecake Factory. How fun does that sound? Even though this is the evening before my Tri, I wanted to go. I spent time doing my hair just right and picking out a cute outfit... And before I went to the party, I registered for my Tri..and was subsequently tatted up. In very large pretty stamps, my reg number was imprinted up and down both bare arms..

Right... So I went to the blogger party tatted up. The waiter was super impressed by my street cred and I was asked by several attendees what the importance of "112" was. Oh well, instead of chic quilt designer, I looked more like gansta blogger ..

But what a fun, cute party it was!

Look at the decor they set up..

And here are the hosts.. Aren't they adorable? They worked so hard to make sure everyone (and there was TONS of ladies) had a good time. Lots of prizes (I won a super cute Halloween subway art piece...pics soon), yummy food, and fun networking.
They made the sweetest little badges for everyone!
I didn't partake in the cheesecake.. With the Tri tomorrow, I instead loaded up protein and carbs. I won't say which blogger enjoyed this delicious cheesecake..but doesn't it look amazing??
Met some fabulous ladies! I was excited to meet Amy from Naptime Crafters. Did you know she sells patterns too? She has the most adorable pattern for western boots!

Spent time chatting with the lovely Camilla from First Lady of the House. I think I may have talked her into sewing! I am loving her fall wreath.. and such beautiful pics of it on the blog!

And I probably scared Meagan & Kristi of Meags & Me. I get super excited when I meet other quilt designers. Love to talk about quilting, designing, and sharing ideas. They have some adorable designs!

It is way past my bedtime. The Tri is literally in a couple hours.. Wish me luck!