Easy Fabric Strip Banner

So, if I am being honest, I made the decorations for the Stache or Sash Bash party the night before the big event! Therefore, I needed an easy and quick decoration to put above the entry table.



I knew I wanted something with some texture and not just a printed banner. So, I cut strips of scrap fabric and knotted them around a length of ribbon. This was a fabulous way to use some of my fabric stash.





I am going to do this again for my Halloween/fall mantel, but I think I will put a lot more fabric strips on the ribbon to make it a bit more full.

Do you have any super easy (& last minute!) ways to add decorations to your parties?

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Valentine's Day Party {flashbacks}

So, Valentine's Day is NEXT WEEK! I usually throw the annual pizza party at my house but this year I decided I just couldn't make it work with trying to get the house ready to sell. As I took out my decorations tonight to let the boys decorate the 'school area', I was a little sad in not having the party this year. At least I can look forward to having the party next year in our new (bigger!) house!

I realized, however, I never posted about the parties from the last two years. So, I am going to go back in time, pull up old pictures, and share some Valentine's party love.

Let's start with the most important part of any party; the dessert. Actually, my favorite part of the party last year was the dessert set up. I used ribbon to hang over the mirror over my buffet to make the area look festive. Then I set up a bunch of yummy desserts.





These are my impostor whoopie pies. Well, I don't really know what whoopie pies are, so I only assume these are similar to whoopie pies. I used a muffin top tins to bake cupcakes. Then I sandwiched yummy icing in between two cupcakes. They are quite delicious. I mean, who doesn't like to eat two cupcakes at one time?!



I found the 'keep calm' sign somewhere around the internet (they are not hard to find!) and used some old wedding favor organza bags to fill with kisses as favors for the guests. You know, 'guests' sounds fancy but if we are being honest, it is just family over at the house. Do they really count as guests??



One thing I love about my house is that the dining room and formal living room is one big space. So when I have the whole family over, I can line up three tables and we can all sit together. Here is the table set up from last year. I used THESE place mats that I made about two years ago with my sweet hubby.



If you look carefully, you can see my thrifty (and scrawny) table toppers. When trying to fit so many people at the table, there is little room for decorations. I am also too cheap to make a huge display. I found almost everything for these decorations at the dollar store. I got the tin from the 'garden/flower' area (and covered with scrapbook paper I had already). Then I took some of the boy's playdoh and put the containers in the tins. I stuck the hear picks in the playdoh so they would stand upright at different angles. This will dry out the playdoh, but we had so many I could sacrifice a couple containers. Then I filled the tins with tissue paper and the poured some bags of conversation hearts to cover up the tissue paper. This all probably makes no sense, but I can't find the pictures that explains what I did! Sorry Charlie!



We always have an assortment of pizzas. Brad is our Pizza Master and does a fabulous job! Some are heart shaped, some are square, and some are round. We don't discriminate over here!





Way back in 2010, I made these cupcake toppers using mini candy canes left over from Christmas. I used THIS tutorial to make them. They were really easy to do and turned out really cute!



I actually had a crafty activity planned for this party. I made peanut butter rice crispie treats prior to the party. At the party, we used heart cookie cutters to cut out the treats, dip them in melted chocolate, then decorate with sprinkles. They were quite tasty, although most people left theirs at my house. I may, or may not, have eaten them by myself.



See, I told you we need the space to fit the whole gang!



This year we are getting together at my mom's house but I look forward to next year when I can hopefully host again!

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Build-a-Library Baby Shower!

After what felt like months of prepping and planning, we finally had our Build-a-Library baby shower last weekend! We had an amazing turn out (about 40 guests!) and the shower was a complete success! Not only did my sister receive many many gifts, but she now has 50 new books for Baby Emma's new library. For that reason alone, I am SO glad we chose this theme for the shower!

So, here is a huge post on everything that we had going on a this shower!

Remember these?



We started out with these precious invites that we made to set the theme of the shower. I love that we asked guests to bring books so baby Emma is now set for a while on book!

Having a guest list of 60 people, we knew hosting this shower at one of our homes wouldn't fit everyone. So, we had the shower at a local botannical gardens that had a nice open space in an air conditioned building. This was a nice room to rent, but that meant we had to plan for much more in decor so the room wouldn't be so plain. Since we were having guests bring books, we based all the decorations around books.

Starting with the sign in table...

We put up a chalkboard at this table to help welcome guests when they arrived. My sister made the chalkboard for the party (and has a wonderful blog HERE for all her remodeling projects!). Isn't it cute?!



My sister, Allison, and I made a pretty diaper cake. I used to not like diaper cakes because the diapers get all rolled up and funky. However, I saw the swirled diaper cakes which are much prettier and are easier to make. I used an old baby book to make paper flowers for the decorations as well as the paper bunting topper. I wrote 'emma' on the bunting with a marker. I love the simple look of the cake!





We used a quote from the book "Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes" by Mem Fox for an activity during the shower, so we ordered a copy of the book for guests to sign the inside cover. I think it will be so sweet for the baby to read later and see all the names of the people who were at the shower!



The third item on this table were the party favors. I used the library card template to make a thank-you card. We made easy bookmarks out of scrap material and paper clips. After clipping the bookmarks to the cards, we set them out for guests to take with them on their way home. Easy and practical!



Moving on to the fireplace...



We made a canvas quote from Dr. Seuss' "Oh, The Places You'll Go". Didn't it turn out so sweet for a baby girl? I posted the instructions on how to make this canvas HERE. It was SUPER easy to make and it fits the theme of the shower perfectly. I also love that Emily can take it home and put it in her nursery after the shower. Emily has a collection of E's at her house, so we took those and put them on the fireplace since the baby's name will be Emma. Another personal touch for the decorations.



Again using an old baby book, I made a bunting to hang across the fireplace. Another easy project that looks so cute at this shower.



The food table...

We had tons of food (of course!). My sisters and I all have an old set of Beatrix Potter baby dishes from when we were babies. So we tried to use those for some of the food items. We used books covered in pink paper and our own kid's books as part of the decoration on the food table as well.

For the cupcakes, I made the cupcake toppers out of...you guessed it...old baby books! I used the cricut to cut out a bunch of circles and then hot glued them to tooth picks. Easy? YES!













Guest tables...

We found a thick children's book at a thrift store, cut out the pages, and then turned them into table runners. We simply hot glued the pages together and then used scalloped scissors to trim the edges. We had grand plans of making these all ruffled and cute, but it was taking WAY to look to do all the folding and sewing. So, we went with the simple look. We added flowers, candles, and books for more decoration.







At each seat, we put out a post card with a quote from "Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes". I made the postcards at Vistaprint when they were offering 100 free postcards. So I just had to pay shipping for these! We also printed out instructions for each guest that asked them to write a message of encouragement for Emily and Jeremy for certain time periods (ie when the baby is 1 month, 2 months, etc). Then we collected those, put an address sticker on it, and will mail them to her at the appropriate time. Seeing as how this is Emily's first baby, I think it will be so nice for her to get some encouraging mail especially on those days when you want to rip your hair out! :) We didn't want to play games at the shower (and didn't really have time considering Emily had to open a million presents) so we thought this would be a nice activity they could do at their leisure while chatting with friends at their tables.



The craft table...

Last, but not least, we had a craft table set up for the shower. Again, we didn't want to play games, so this was another activity for guests to do at their leisure. I originally wanted to have people make onesies, but I feel like that has become too popular. Plus, having 40 people makine onesies might difficult! After doing a google search, I found an ABC printable book on another blog. (The free printable isn't offered there anymore!) I loved the idea and it fit the shower perfectly. We put directions on a chalkboard and set out markers for people to make their pages. Now that the shower is over, I will laminate the pages and bind them together for Baby Emma! We used the Beatrix Potter nursery dishes for candy at this table.













I made the banner above the craft table by hot glueing circles that were cut out of baby books. I became best friends with my hot glue gun with all these projects!

We ended up making decorations for the gift table. With over 40 guests, Em got a TON of gifts so she is extremely lucky to have such caring people in her life!



So, there you have it! I think we had a wonderful shower for my sister and she is set for the new baby. I can't wait for my neice to arrive in September!!





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Pirate Party Bunting {tutorial!}

So, when your computer crashes, your posts still get posted even if they weren't done yet! :) You found out my secret- I write up several posts at once, schedule them, and then add in the pictures and links later. Well, that 'later' didn't come today since my computer is MIA. So....I will get this post up to lil Mop Top standards in no time (which won't be hard to do since I have low standards!)

Hope you don't think I put up a totally lame tutorials with no pictures!



I am throwing Matthew's pirate party at the end of the month. (Check out these posts on the invites and a pirate party shirt for John!) I made this fabric bunting to help bring color to the pavillion we will be in at the party.

This was a VERY easy project! I got a bunch of fabric from The Fat Quarter Shop because I won a gift card through KoJo Design. AWESOME!! I got the pom pom trim at JoAnn's. Don't forget your coupon!

I made a triangle template out of carboard. Using a pinking blade on my rotary cutter, I cut out lots of triangles from the different fabrics.

I pinned the triangles along the trim and then zipped them through the sewing machine.

And there you have it- the easiest tutorial ever!

I think it turned out so cute! I even made a smaller one with left over ribbon so I could hang it on the food table at the party. I am so excited to see how it all looks put together. Be sure to keep checking back to see what else I am making for the party. I have a couple more fun things to share!

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Easy Food Labels

About a month or two ago, I saw these plant stakes at Target in their Dollar Spot. Don't we all just love the Dollar Spot?!



I actually was looking around for stuff for John's tot school and these caught my eye because we were doing a gardening unit. However, I decided I could use these for when I have parties and want to label the food on the table. I have been been able to find any nice and reusable labels so I figured for a buck, I could see how this turned out.

So, I took the stakes, bent the wires backwards, used an overhead marker to write a food dish, and voila...a food label for my most recent NY themed party!



So, I kind of threw this party together last minute (as in printing stuff 30 minutes before my family showed up!) so the labels are pretty basic. However, I am sure with some craftiness, they could be SO cute! I think some ribbon will spruce them up for the next party I throw. All in all, not bad at 20 cents each!


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