A Farm Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for my youngest's second birthday two weeks ago. She has a thing for farm animals – cows in particular – so we went with a farm theme for her party this year. Here's a rundown of the party...

These are the invitations that I made...

We read Big Red Barn every single night, so I went with the book cover for the invitation. I just cropped out the book title, etc in Paint, then added my own wording in Picnik. I printed that out, glued it onto a piece of green gingham paper, then added a little piece of black and white polka dot washi tape at the top.

I found these cute mini red takeout boxes at Michaels to hold the party favors...

I just decorated them with stickers and made little stamped tags with each child's name. The favor boxes held a little pig-shaped flashlight, stickers, and one of these most-adorable little cow erasers (found at the party store)...

I reused some little red buckets that we had from my oldest's Hello Kitty birthday party last year. I stuck on some fancy farm stickers (found on clearance!) and used them to hold utensils...

The hit of the party, however, was the cupcakes. I usually like to do all of the cupcake/cake stuff myself, but this year it just wasn't going to happen. We were away for a week just before my daughter's birthday... something had to give. So, I ordered fondant cupcake toppers from Cookie Covers. (I am so glad I found this woman's Etsy shop. She does amazing work.) They were so adorable, and everyone just loved them...

So cute! I tried to make the frosting look like grass and hay. The hay came out a little on the orange side, though...

The pig was by far everyone's favorite...

A cow print tablecloth, a few balloons, and some multicolored buntings completed the decor. It was a nice little party, and my daughter had a really great day.




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Printables of Autumn Past

I thought I'd repost my autumn printables from last year since I had just started this blog when I first created and posted them. These are great for scrapbooking, parties, craft projects, gift tags, little notes, etc. The graphics on all of my printables are original, created by me. Printables are for personal use only please. Thanks!

First up are my Autumn Recipe Cards and Canning Labels/Tags...

Click HERE for the links to download these files and instructions for printing.

Next up are my "Welcome Autumn" Mini Banner and Cupcake/Muffin Toppers...

Click HERE for the links to download these files and instructions for printing.

Enjoy!




Make sure you enter for a chance to win an AccuQuilt Go! Baby. Giveaway ends Monday, October 3rd at 11:59pm (EST).

Hello Kitty Party: Letterpress Invitations

I mentioned in my previous Hello Kitty birthday party post that I would share the invitations that I made. Back in April I won the Lifestyle Crafts Epic Letterpress giveaway on Craftaholics Anonymous (thanks again, Linda :)! I was in complete shock. I was so excited to receive my package in the mail and try it out. I adore letterpress, and I really wanted to use it to make my daughter's birthday party invitations, but I had to come up with a way to incorporate the Hello Kitty theme with the letterpress. I purchased some additional printing plates and some red ink and got to work.

The first thing I did was run the letterpress paper through my inkjet printer to print the pink wording on the bottom half of the invitation. I downloaded a free font called CAC Pinafore from Dafont because I read that this was the closest font to what Sanrio uses on its Hello Kitty products. I have to agree that it's pretty close. I then ran each sheet of paper through the letterpress to add the polka dots and my daughter's name. Luckily I only had to make seven invitations because you have to re-ink the letterpress each time you run a piece of paper through. Finally, I used my inkjet printer to print out some cute Hello Kitty faces and used a scallop punch to cut them out. I then used double-sided tape to attach the Hello Kitty faces in the center of the letterpressed polka dots on the invitations. (Unfortunately, it's hard to show a birthday party invitation with a letterpressed name on it when I don't share my daughters' names on my blog. I covered up my daughter's name and added "Jane" in its place below... Use your imagination :)

The invitations turned out better than I ever expected them to. My practice runs with inking the letterpress were less than stellar, so I didn't have high hopes, but every single invitation turned out great. Honestly, they were a lot of work, but I was so darn proud of them, and my daughter really liked them, too.

Products Used: Scholastic Printing Plates, Wintertide Printing Plates,

Letterpress Ink - Red, Letterpress Paper - A7 Flat (White)

If you are considering purchasing a letterpress, know that there is definitely a learning curve associated with it and that it does take patience (something that I am severely lacking). I do love the finished product, though, so I won't let my lack of patience deter me from using the letterpress again soon :)

On a side note, I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but it's time for Point of View again... where did June go?!? This month's theme is "shelves", so get ready for the collage reveal and link party this Friday, June 24th.




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Hello Kitty Party: Favor Pouches and Wallets

My oldest daughter's fourth birthday was yesterday, but we celebrated with a Hello Kitty birthday party almost two weeks ago while we were up in Vermont visiting our family. I made the birthday invitations using my Epic Letterpress that I won a few months ago, but I'll save that for another post coming up soon.

I wanted something handmade to add to the goody bags. There were three little girls at the party, and this is what I made for them...

The fabric is called Hello Kitty Flowers and Foxes. It's so cute. I used a permanent fabric pen to write each of the girls' names in the bottom right corner on the other side of the pouch. They really seemed to like them.

Now for my nephews. Knowing that they probably would not want a Hello Kitty zipper pouch, I went over to Ameroonie Designs and used Amy's little wallet tutorial to make these little gray wallets...

They loved the little pockets inside. These were really easy to make, too.

I used a rubber stamp and some fabric paint to add their initial to the flap.

On to the cake. Prior to this year I have made cupcakes for every one of my daughter's birthdays, but this year she wanted a cake. I went ahead and bought the Hello Kitty cake pan, and this was the result...

I forgot her whiskers! I didn't even realize it until we were back in Connecticut and I looked through the pictures from the party. No one else noticed, either, so I guess it didn't really matter :)

I also made a "Pin The Bow on Hello Kitty" game. I found a black and white image of Hello Kitty online, blew it up, printed it, and glued it onto a piece of foam core. I then printed the bows directly onto different colored pieces of construction paper and cut them out. The kids had a good time with this one, and the grandmothers played along, too :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. It has been really nice to slow down and spend less time blogging and more time playing with and enjoying the girls. I got an amazing new camera lens that I'll tell you about in a couple of weeks. It has been so fun to play around with, and I finally feel like I'm getting a handle on how to use my camera after six months of owning it.

I also want to let everyone know about a really neat series that is starting on Monday over on My Own Road. Jen will be hosting Button Down Rehab, a two-week series sharing some great tutorials from some talented bloggers who will be creating new things out of old button down shirts. (And you just may see me over there guest posting during the second week :)

Have a great weekend everyone!



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Printable: Winter Recipe Cards, Labels, and Cupcake Toppers

Before I share my new printable today, I want to thank everyone for being so patient while I get my "sew-jo" back (Thanks Amy for putting words to my creative issues!). My new sewing closet is about 80% complete. I just need to wire up a new electrical outlet and do a little decorating. I'm dying to show it to you guys... it turned out 10 times better than I ever expected. Hopefully by the beginning of next week I can give you the big reveal. I have six different projects worked out in my head, and I'm itching to get sewing again, so I'm on my way back!

Now to the printables. Back in August I made a set of printable autumn recipe cards and canning labels. I also made a set of matching autumn cupcake toppers. I've decided to do a set for each season using the same tree design but changing it up for each season. Here are my winter printables (with original graphics created by me). The full downloads are at the bottom of this post...

This is perfect timing, too. We woke up to over a foot of snow this morning. I can't complain at all because some parts of Connecticut got over two feet last night! Here's a look at the door into our garage...

The entire state shut down. Even my husband had a snow day!

OK, back to the printables. Here are the downloads...

Download the winter recipe cards HERE:




Download the winter labels/tags HERE:




Download the winter cupcake/muffin toppers HERE:




Instructions: Print on white cardstock at 100% (no scaling). Carefully cut out each piece using scissors or a 2" punch for the labels and toppers.

All printables are for personal, non-commercial use only.

I love the snow covered tree on these. I can't believe I'll be making another set for spring in a few short months. Hope you enjoy! Oh, and I haven't forgotten all the requests for additional clothes for the Halloween paper dolls. They are on my list!

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Printable: Thanksgiving Place Cards

When I was a kid, I made place cards for every major holiday. It's not like we really needed them, but they always added a nice festive touch to the table. And there's something about seeing your name at the table that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So I have a printable for you today... two sets of Thanksgiving place cards (with original graphics created by me).

The first set is my personal favorite. They are about 3" tall by 3.5" wide, so they're a bit bigger than your average place card, but I love them... especially the turkey!

I think he would look especially cute on the kids' table at Thanksgiving dinner.

Many of you probably recognize the acorn graphics from some of my previous printables (like this and this).

I just can't get enough of the acorns! And there's a whole lot of acorn love out there at this time of year. They would look perfect on the table for Thanksgiving.

Since some people may find these large place cards to be a bit too chunky for their liking, I also created a smaller set. They are 1.5" tall by 3.25" wide.

These are just as cute but on a smaller scale. And I love the little scallop border!

So there you have it... six different place cards to mix and match as you choose for your holiday table. They could also be used for scrapbooking!

Download or print the large Thanksgiving place cards HERE:



Download or print the small Thanksgiving place cards HERE:

Instructions: Print on white cardstock at 100% (no scaling). Carefully cut out each place card. Fold each place card in half to stand up.

All printables are for personal, non-commercial use only.

I love these place cards, and I can't wait to see them on the table at Thanksgiving dinner. Hope you enjoy!
(On a side note, I've been getting lots of requests for additional clothes for the Halloween paper dolls. I have plans to create some non-Halloween outfits for them, but it probably won't be until after Christmas since there is so much to cram into the next two months. I do have them on my list, though!)

Linking up here...