ready for take off!

Man, I'm on a roll tonight!! Amazing parties just keep finding me.  Check out this adorable airplane themed party by Amy Atlas HERE. I LOVE the runway table. SOOO CUTE!

THERES MORE!!!

AHHH!! Theres even a tutorial to make a RUFFLED birdie mobile just like the ribbon birdies!! Im totally freaking out. YAY!  Find it HERE!

PEEP PEEEP!!!!

ok, so I'm in LOVE! This "birds nest baby shower" from Vickie @ the city cradle.  It is nothing short of miraculous.  I just can't get over the ribbon birdies flying everywhere.

I want to make them for no reason. I think I just might one day soon.  If only I had more time for needless crafting before we have to move for the summer. 

My VERY favorite part is the napkin holder/ place settings.  What a terrific idea.  The whole party is soo put together and totally TO DIE FOR!

Even the food is cute...

They filled one plastic egg with dressing, one with a nut/berry combo. SOO ADORABLE!

Not that I am in ANY way more creative than Vickie (trust me its quite the opposite) but woudlnt this be even CUTER if you put ultra sound pics on the peep show board?? LOVEEE!!!

Check it out HERE!

Polka dot baby shower cake!

I made this cake for my friends baby shower.  She was having a little boy.  I used the cake recipe in the last post, and covered it in fondant.  I used ribbon to cover my messy bottom, and just used a sterilized pin to hold it in place. and set a ribbon bow on the top. TADA!

Best Cake Recipe EVER!

My friend Heather gave me this recipe when I was going to try and make my first cake for Alyvia's first birthday party.  I have NO idea where she got it from or who to give proper credit to, but whoever or wherever it came from I LOVE YOU.  here goes....

1 box cake mix
1 package pudding (4 serving size)
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cups of oil
1 Tbls vanilla

Mix the cake and the dry pudding mix together. (Get as many lumps out as possible...i use a flour sifter because im psycho about lumps but really probably not needed.)
Add eggs, water, oil, and vanilla and beat together.

Bake @ 350 degrees for usually around an hour or untill done. 
The time will have crazy variations depending on pan size and shape.  It is VERY wet when going into the oven so it takes quite a while to cook.  Dip a wooden skewer and when it comes out clean its done. 

Variations:
Chocolate: Devils food cake mix and chocolate or fudge pudding
Lemon: Lemond cake mix and lemon pudding
Spice: Spice cake mix and butterscotch pudding

ENJOY!!


oh and ps. it rises TONS!! and i mean TONS!! leave at least an inch maybe an inch and a half from the top of the pan. or youll end up with this.....

Mama's Mother's Day Rag Quilt!

Me and my Rediculously Beautiful Mother, Rita Jo!!

My mother is the most amazing person in the world.  Literally.  She is now fighting cancer for the third time, unfortunately, and not doing quite as well as she has before.  We are not giving up, however, she is such a fighter and I know with the Lords help she can do anything...including beat this cancer!! For mothers day this year I decided to make her a rag quilt to remind her of all of the people that are rooting and praying for her to win this battle!! So I went to the fabric store, and I searched and searched for a fabric that would represent each member of our family.  I got one for my daddy, 2 for each of us kids, and one for each of the grandkids.  I was going to keep going and get some for my Grandaddy, Aunt and cousins, but I figured 15 different fabrics was enough.  Then I patterned them by age of the person they represent (i like the idea of random quilting, but my personality forbids it haha). 

 Anyways, I cut out 12 squares of each fabric all 6x6in. You need 2 squares of fabric per square on your quilt (one for the back and one for the front).  So I ended up with 90 squares. I did 9 square across and 10 squares down.  I love rag quilting because it is SO much easier than actually making a quilt. Having to back it and quilt it and yada yada.  Plus I think a rag quilt is more comfy like a "blanky" than a regular quilt. 

 Anyways, since my squares were so small I didnt need to sew an X on them or anything.  I just sewed them together by rows and then sewed the rows together making sure the seams would all end up on the same side of the blanket.  Then you cut the fabric so its fringey and wash and dry it so it will fray.  TA DA so easy cute, and special!! 

I think it turned out really well and I love the total mis match look of it.  I know she'll love it! I'm so proud of you mama!!

Baby Box!

This was a baby/pregnancy gift I made for my cousin for her first baby.  I got a photo box from the dollar store, ofcourse, and used scrapbook paper and ribbon to cover it in. 

Her husband served a mission for our church in Mexico and he gives his family Spanish lessons every week for FHE by reading from the BOM in Spanish, so I put "nino precioso" on the top with stickers (which means precious child in spanish). 
Then I filled the box with long ribbons with tags tied to them that I wrote a number of weeks on.  I did them in about 2 week increments, so as she grows she can tie them around her belly and cut off the excess and keep them in her box to measure her growth.  I also put some little note card so she could write down anything special about a paticular time in her pregnancy she wanted to remember.  You could put little photo albums or whatever else you wanted in there, too. 
And, depending on how close you were to the mother and how far she is in the pregnancy... you could write a letter to the baby and put it in there and tell about how wonderful the mother to be has been in taking care of the new baby during pregnancy, or if there were any funny stories from the pregnancy that the mother to be might not write down that you thought would be endearing for the baby to read one day.  Anyways Hope you like it!

april fools?? maybe not so much!!

Ok...I know this is suppose to be an april fools gag....and on pots it obviously is.  But what if you put all of those cute little ruffles on elastics and put them around your serving dishes. I think its ADORABLE!! They could slip on and off of your bowls and casserole dishes etc.  I may be taking crafting too far but i dont care I LOVE THIS!! Screams amazing hostess to me!!  Check it out HERE! from Make It and Love It!

Holy cuteness!

I LOVE these twine napkin holders from Kat at Black Kat's Design.  Part of being good hostess is having nice clean guests;)  Check out the tutorial HERE!

Come on in!!

Ever have people come over for a dinner/cocktail party, girls night, etc. and sit like a hawk by the front door to make sure you catch everyone before they knock or ring the door bell? I've done that... How much cuter, and less crazy would it be to make an ADORABLE sign like this one to hang on the front door.  If you added "Come on In, Prince Sleeping" to it.  It's  PERFECT! LOVE!  Check out the tutorial by Dena at Sweet Pickles and Chocolate HERE!

My second favorite....

theme is DAMASK PRINT!!  I love it on everything and everywhere.  Stacey at Fun to Craft made over this $1 tray from Good Will and I think it is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!!  Hello who doesn't love a damask themed cocktail/dinner party??!! I DO I DO!  Check it out HERE!

It's official...I can't wait till September!

So, a friend of mine from back home has 2 little girl 364 days apart!! This year she wants to do a Pink Zebra themed birthday party for her girls, and luckily for both of us ILL BE THERE!! So we get to do it together.  I can NOT wait to do the "dollar store DIY" version of this party.  It's going to be spectacular. Check it out from Top Party Ideas HERE!

An apple a day...

LOOKS DELICIOUS!!  I found these Chocolate and caramel covered apples at My Sweet Creations!! They look SO yummy I can't wait to try them.  They would be PERFECTLY with a ton of party themes....cowboy, carnival, beachy, pool parties, etc.  Go Check em out HERE!

Lady bug Birthday!!

Seriously, not many things get cuter than this Lady Bug themed Birthday by Nichole.  It is SO thought out and put together!! What a dedicated mother..and party planner! Check it out for ideas and explanations HERE! SO CUTE!

"flip flops and sand box"

OK...HOW CUTE WOULD THESE BE AS INVITATIONS!!?? I found these at Michaels, and they were only 1.69 (and thats canada pricing they are cheaper in the states im sure...everything is!) If you painted them up nice, used a fine tip sharpie to write the info. on them, and glued a magnet to the back...they would double as an invitation AND a pre-party party favor! Plus, your invitation will be stuck to the fridge under everyones nose! YAY!!! I may do a theme like this next year.  I'm so excited about this.

mmmmMMMmm....

I love this idea from Polka Dot Birthday!! How fun are Cookie Pops?? These could be changed up and made appropriate for ANY occasion!! I can't wait to make some.  Find the tutorial HERE!

E-I-E-I-O

Holy Moly am I in love?!? Like I have said before, I love the cowboy, barnyard, farmer theme!  This cake and cupcake tutorial is so AMAZING!! Find it HERE! from Better Crocker.  I LOVE THIS!!! .....AND to make this even better, you could use this type of layout for SO many other themes....you could do a castle and princesses, a pond and frogs, a bassinet and babies for a baby shower, backpack and little dora and boots, a little bed and the monster that live underneath it, the list is never ending!! So cute!

For Jaimie...

A friend of mine asked me if I had any ideas for a "flip flops and sand box" themed birthday party.  I  don't really know exactly what she wants as far as how "beachy/luau" she wants to go.  But here are some ideas I really liked....

Photos found via:

http://www.karaspartyideas.blogspot.com/

http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/

http://www.ourcozynest.blogspot.com/

http://partyperfectblog.blogspot.com/

http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com/

Anyways...just some cute things I though would be easy to DIY.  I'm sure your party will be wonderful!!

My favorite part of any party....

no matter what kind of celebration it is, is ALWAYS the CAKE!! I love making cakes.  (and honestly, I think I'm kinda good at it.)  One of my favorite websites for cake ideas is Coolest Birthday Cakes.  It is a compialation of all home made cakes and tutorials!  I LOVE IT!! I find myself searching through it when I'm bored....even when I have no parties or events anywhere in the the near future!! lol.  Anyways, the previous posting got me searching out horse cakes and I found THIS.  My favorite is number 34 by Anna H.  You have to check out this website the next time you need to make a cake! It's the best!

YEE-HAW!!

I LOVE THIS horse themed party inspiration board by Chris @ Celebrations at home! Cowboy theme is my favorite theme for anything, not just parties...home decor, too!  These may be some of the cutest ideas I've ever seen.  Check it out HERE!

Candles...

So last night at this little dinner party I went to the hostess put candles all over the house.  It was so pretty, it made it go from people hanging out and coming over to eat and talk...to a cocktail party.  They were her only decor, and it was perfectly simple and elegant!

Wanna be the Hostess with the Mostess??

Ok....so update on this.  I tried this last night, and I have a few pointers. 

#1 He says to heat up the chocolate and strawberry syrup, DONT.  It makes it tooo runny.

#2 Make sure the plate you are decorating is COMPLETELY flat.

#3 Do not try and take this to a party after you have decorated the plate because I promise it will run in the car:(

I made this for my party, and after a couple of tries I realized it was too runny when you heat it, so I tried again and it turned out beautifully.  I figured I'd take pics when I got to the party since I was hurrying, but it didn't make it to the party lol.  By the time I got there it was just a cheese cake puddle.

The mostess beautiful dessert that is!  I was watching TV last night when a commercial came on for some fancy restaurant, and when I saw the desserts a light came on. Hey I wanna do thaaat!! What an easy and inexpensive way to spice up your dessert plate all the while adding tastey dipping sauce!  I found a Video tutorial HERE on youtube from "Cooking with Johan".  There's tons of other videos from him that have some great ideas of how to make all your food have a great presentation!  I'm so excited.  I'm going to a party tonight and I was going to bring an appetizer, but nope changed my mind! Now I'm bringing a fancy dessert! I'll put pictures up of how it turns out!!

For baby Aiden...

A friend of mines little boy Aiden is going to be a big 1 year old in two short months.  She asked me to help her find some ideas for his first birthday.  This next post is a selection just for you Kaela!(and fyi, I'll be down so we can DIY some of these ideas together! YAY)

Thomas the train birthday party!  I don't know how you feel about Thomas the Train but my daughter LOVES him, so im sure all the little boys out there must die over him.  HERE is a step by step tutorial on how to make a Thomas the Tank Engine cake!

This beautiful party was featured by Kara's Party Ideas, and it is so adorable (plus it'd give us lots of opportunity to play with the Cricut) find it HERE!



OOOH!!! Here is another party theme that I LOVE!!  Carrie from Stationary Scoop threw this AMAZING Monster Party Check it out HERE!

This is SO CREATIVE!! And I think a Monster theme would be PERFECT for Aiden!

Flower dots....

This birthday party by Our Cozy Nest is simply beautiful.  It's elegant and well put together.  My favorite part is the fact that the polks dots aren't all polka dots.  Half of them are little flower dots.  HOW CUTE!! I love this! Check it out HERE!

I'm Invited too.

I just realized I never put up pics of the Invitations I did for either one of my daughters Birthday Parties. 

Here are the ones from her Princess Party.  They were done like a Kings Scroll. I just printed them on antiqued paper I got at Walmart and sprayed them with Aerosole Glitter.  Then added rinestone stickers and Wax Seal from Michaels.  Burnt the edges, rolled them up, tied them and WAH LA! Beaufiul!
I work on finding pics from the Safari party last year.

You're Invited

Invitations are one of the funnest parts of a party.  They are the first impression your guests will get of what is to come!  Disney from Ruffles and Stuff made these incredible Polka dots and Posies Invitations HERE.  What I love about them the most is that NONE OF THEM MATCH!  What a good idea!  Each of is individual and beautiful on its own.  I love the unique-ness!

Finally, I made it!

One of the best parts of having parties of any sort is being able to play Hostess!  and one of the best parts of being able to play Hostess is getting to look the part!  I instantly fell in love with this fabric LAST SUMMER and JUST now decided to go out and finally break down and buy it.  This is what I decided to do with it.  I love it, I'll post a tutorial soon!

ps. sorry for the pic quality, my camera was being very uncooperative, and so was my 2 year old.

I want to be...

Somewhere over the Rainbow!! How cute is this "Rainbow and Ruffles" theme by Hip Hooray? It is so creative, and different which is probably why I love it so much.   This would be such a fun party to DIY. 

The rainboots and streamers decoration is to die for! and how easy and inexpensive!!

Plus not only is the cake adorable, but its a RAINBOW TOO!! Inside and out!

AND the ruffle table cloth is my favorite part.  HERE is a Free PDF tutorial on using a ruffle foot(which I only recently dicovered excisted. and it is the new love of my life!!) from You can make this!

Speaking of Luau!

Those flip flops got me excited and now I'm kind of on a Luau roll.  Decorating a Luau would be one of the funest themes to decorate for.  Carved fruit would make GREAT centerpieces. (and make you look like you know what you're doing in the kitchen, AND in party planning)  Here are instructions for a whole list of different watermelon carving designs!!  I LOVE THESE!