A Magical Birthday Party

Today is my youngest daughter's 10th birthday, and we had a Harry Potter-themed birthday party for her this past weekend.  So, I thought I'd show you all of the party goodies I worked on to help make her day special.  I'll show you everything first (be prepared for LOTS of photos), then I'll post most of the items I used to create the goodies at the end of the post.

First, I created these invitations for her.  I decided to do one I could just print out, and I printed them on pre-cut photo paper to save some trimming time. Of course, I blocked out our personal info so I could post a pic here. :)

Then, I made a birthday banner for her:

I kept it pretty small so it would fit across our mantel.  Each banner piece is just 3 inches wide.

We had trouble finding a Harry Potter cake, so I decided to buy a premade one from a local grocery store and add some decorations myself:

Then, I worked on yummy snacks for the party. I can't take credit for these ideas...I found most of them on Pinterest somewhere.  But, I had a blast putting everything together. I labeled everything with some free journalling cards I found online that I folded over in half. I made these Chocolate Frogs with a mold I found on Amazon.com.

Store-bought lemon drops became magical by name:

These Snitch Truffles are actually doughnut holes with wings added:

Of course, some Jelly Bellys became Every Flavour Beans:

And, I made some Troll Boogers with some microwave popcorn and lime jello (I found the recipe online HERE).  It's hard to tell in the photo, but the popcorn is covered in a snotty green sticky slime...LOL! I put them in a trick-or-trick bucket we had stored with our Halloween decorations.

Of course, a Harry Potter party wouldn't be a party without some Butter Beer (it's really just root beer).

I also created some fun party favors for the kids to take home with them (along with some Harry Potter glasses I bought on Amazon. I cut all of the boxes by hand...can you believe that???  You can find the links for the boxes I used at the end of the post:

I used some old suitcases I have, an owl and scarf I found on Amazon.com, and some Harry Potter stuff we had around the house already to create this little table decoration.  My hubby also hung up an old Halloween costume he had to create a Dementor in our kitchen.  

Finally, here's a the party setup all together.  Luckily, we had a sorting hat already (can you tell we love Harry around here?).

Whew!  That's a bunch of decorations.  I can't forget to show you the card I made for her, too:

Thanks so much for stopping by today and reading my EXTRA LONG post.  As I promised, here are (most of) the items I used to create the invitations, decorations, and card:

Wizard Academy Cutting Files	Wizard Academy Pattern Pack Digital Papers	Simple Banner Shapes Cutting Files	Sunburst Shapes Cutting Files
Sentiment Spots 1 Cutting Files	Similar Beans Boxes Choices	Chocolate Frog Box Template	Butterbeer Labels
JB My Favorite Wizard Stamp Set

InLinkz.com

Little Prince Blog Hop ~ Day 1

Happy Easter, everyone!  I hope you are all having a wonderful day and spending lots of time with family.  Welcome to Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons and the Little Prince Blog Hop.  We're celebrating Jessica's little prince's 2nd birthday during this 3-day hop, and we have lots of boy-themed projects to share with you.  There is also a TON of blog candy along the way, so be sure to stop by each and every blog.  

If you've arrived here from Debbie's Blog, then you're in the right place.  If you've just stumbled upon my post and would like to start from the beginning, head on over to Jessica's Blog. 

Okay, I decided to create some dinosaur-themed  party items.  Here they are:

I created 4 cupcake toppers and 4 matching treat bag toppers.  The dinosaur images came from the Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons Dino-Mite Cutting Files Set.  I placed the images inside a circle shape in Silhouette Studio, filled the circle with a light blue color, and used the print and cut feature to cut the circles.  The scalloped circles came from this week's Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbon's Friday Freebie: Scalloped Circles Cutting Files.  I ensured that the circles would match the dinosaur images perfectly by using the eyedropper tool to sample the colors from the clip art and fill the circles with those colors.  Then, I used the print and cut feature to cut them out.

I attached 4 of the dinosaur circles to lollipop sticks with foam tape and hot glue, sandwiching the sticks between the larger and smaller scalloped circles.  The cupcake wrappers were left over from another project, but they with with these dinosaurs perfectly, I think!

 

For the treat bag toppers, I used the Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons Oval Treat Bag Topper Cutting Files. I removed the oval and the strip that comes with the files, and I replaced it with the scalloped circles.  I embossed the topper with my Cuttlebug Mesh embossing folder. The topper is attached to the bag with a staple, which is easily hidden under the scalloped circle.

That's it, that's my project.  I think this theme could easily be expanded to include invitations, thank you cards, a banner, gift tags, etc., and a little boy could have an AWESOME dinosaur party. :)  

Okay, now...how about some BLOG CANDY???

*****Giveaway CLOSED*****

One lucky follower of my blog will receive the Dino-Mite Cutting Files set I used for this project and the matching Pink by Design Dino-Mite Stamp Set.  YAY!  Here's what you need to do for a chance to win:

1.  Be a follower of  my blog and leave me a comment telling me you are.  Be sure to leave me your e-mail address.

That's all you have to do.  If you would like an EXTRA entry, you can also:

3.  Like the Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons Facebook Page.  Leave me a separate comment on this blog telling me you did.  Don't forget to leave your e-mail address.

*****Giveaway CLOSED*****

I'll be choosing a winner sometime next week (I'll be out of town, so I'm not sure just when I'll be choosing).

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  You're next stop on the hop is Betty's Blog.  Be sure to return to Jessica's blog tomorrow for Day 2 of the hop.  

Here's today's lineup, just in case you get lost along the way: 

Jessica ~  http://www.homespunelegance.blogspot.com/

Candace ~ http://www.scrappin2littleprincesses.blogspot.com/

Lori A ~ http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/

Claire  ~ http://www.scrapmyway.blogspot.com/

Debbie ~ http://www.papersweeties.com/category/blog/

Lisa ~ http://prettypaperprettyribbons.blogspot.com/

Betty  ~ http://www.justabitofpaper.blogspot.com/

Heather  ~ http://www.papercrafteranonymous.com/

Puppy Birthday Party

Happy Monday, everyone!  I'm taking some time today to recuperate from a very busy weekend.  Yesterday was my youngest daughter's 8th birthday party, so I've been running around like a maniac trying to get everything ready.  I wanted to share the decorations I made for her party.  She wanted a pool party, so I limited the decorations to cupcake toppers/wrappers, table decorations, and treat bags.  We weren't allowed to hang anything on the walls, so a banner was out.  So, here's some pics from her party:

I used my Cricut Expression for all of these cuts. The poodle, cupcake, and bone are all from Create a Critter.  I got the party hat from Sweet Treats and the Happy Birthday from Once Upon a Princess.  I added ink, doodle marks, and little blue jewels to dress everything up.  I just noticed that some of my ribbon fell off of the Happy Birthday sign...oh, well.  I guess it didn't bother me at the time.  :)

For the cupcake toppers, I got all of the puppies from Create a Critter and the party hats from Sweet Treats.  The wrappers were cut from Life's a Party.

 All of the cuts in this table decoration are from Create a Critter except for the puppy's hat, which is from Sweet Treats.  I added ink, some stickers, some doodles, and some jewels to add a little umph.

The puppy and gifts in this table decoration came from Create a Critter.  Her hat and 8 candle came from Sweet Treats. A jewel, ink, and doodles were added here, also.

Here's a close-up of the treat bags.  I made the topper base from Art Philosophy, the puppies came from Create a Critter, and the hats came from Sweet Treats.  The paw print stamp came from Pink By Design's Furry Friends Stamp Set, and the sentiment came from Pink By Design's Big Thoughts Stamp Set.

Oh, and, in case you missed them, here are the invitations I sent out for the party.  You can learn more about them in this post.

Taylor loved all of the decorations and had a blast at her party.  From the looks of it, she really enjoyed her cupcake, too...LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a marvelous Monday!!!



My Daughter's Birthday

Whew!  This has been a REALLY busy last couple of weeks.  My husband left for his deployment today, so we've all been busy preparing for that.  The great thing about this deployment is that he's only 2.5 hours away...so we'll get to visit every few weeks.  Plus, we're in the same time zone, so we should be able to talk on the phone regularly.  The bad thing is that, like always, we'll miss having him around for all of the day-to-day stuff.  Needless to say, it was just a big tear-fest when he left this afternoon.  At least we can now start counting down to when we'll see him again...hopefully sometime in late June.

Well, since my hubby had to leave today, he'll be missing my daughter's 10th birthday, which is on Wednesday.  So, she's had 2 early parties...one with her friends and one at home with us.  Of course, since I wanted to make all the stuff for her party, the last two weeks have been even more stressful.  Hey, at least I had fun making all the stuff.  :o)

Madi wanted to have a Rock n Roll themed party, so I made her some cupcake toppers and wrappers that I already had listed in my Etsy store.  Then, I made some invitations and treat bags to match the theme.  Here's all of her goodies:

The guitar on these invitations is from Rock Princess, and I believe the stars are from Toy Story (I think). 

I used a Photoshop Elements Brush to create the star shapes on the picture and then created the inside of the invitation in Microsoft Word.  I made up an extra one with fake info so I could show you here and then list it on Etsy. :o)

The black background piece is embossed with the Spots and Dots Cuttlebug folder, and the large star is embossed with Candycane Stripes.  The sentiment on the front is from Pink By Design's Rock On Stamp Set.  I added another stamp to the envelopes.

 Here are the cupcake toppers (also from Rock Princess) and the cupcake wrappers (from Life's a Party) I made.

 Here's my goofy girl with her cupcake..all in GREEN, of course! (Her favorite color.)

Okay, I had to get a smiley one, too!

And...here are the treat bags I put together for her guests.

The guitars were the little pieces left over from the cupcake wrappers (I couldn't let those cute little guys go to waste, you know!).  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Oh, and before I forget...here is the card I made for my little rocker chick:

 If it looks familiar, it's because I made a similar one a few months ago.  Madison loved it so much that I decided to make one for her.  I just changed out the Rock Princess girl on the front.  I also added a sentiment from the Taylored Expressions You're My Hero Stamp Set.  The card base is from Birthday Bash.

Whew!  I hope you like all of this birthday stuff...I had a lot of fun making it!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a great week, and Happy Memorial Day!