What's Happening: Crafty Fun!

Spring is here and it's been busy!
Here is a little of what I've been up to lately:

Camo Hearts

A few weeks ago I was adding patches to my valentine quilt and realized that the Little Man is underrepresented.  For some reason, he is lacking in pink and red sparkly clothing :D

Since it was time to go through his clothing again anyway (the kid is growing like a weed) I decided to take one of his camouflage shirts and make a few valentin-ey patches out of it.  By flipping the fabric over and using a heart shaped ornament, it was easy to trace and cut out a few heart patches.

I stashed the patches away with the valentine quilt until next year when I work on that sort of thing again.

(You can click here to see the valentine quilt)

Holiday Paper

I was browsing through the craft section of Wal-Mart when I found a package of holiday themed scrapbooking paper.  I have been wanting to purchase this pack for awhile now, but just never did.  Since it had been marked down to $2.50 and was the last one in stock, I snapped it up!  

Some of the paper I will use for actual scrapbooking, but the rest (pictured here) I plan on using as part of my holiday decor.  Many of the sheets I will probably cut into various sizes and frame on their own while others will make a nice background sheet for family photos (I like to switch out framed family photos with my holiday decor).  Time will tell, and I'll keep you posted!

Birdhouses

In keeping with one of our spring traditions, the kids painted new birdhouses.
The Little Man's is on the left and Baby Girl's rainbow house is on the right.  I love the way she did this one!

(You can click  to see last year's birdhouses)

What else has been going on?  Lots of fun faux cake making, prepping for the re-launch of my Etsy shop and the upcoming Easter holiday, and planning for a couple of wedding sets involving orchids and succulents...whew!

I'll keep you posted on everything as it comes.  But for now, I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2016

Frozen Party: Decor Pictures!

Has it been over a week already since we held our Frozen birthday party?!  Yikes!

Check out these photos of all the party decor:

Napkin Cut-Outs

I started out my decorating by cutting the blue flower design from my leftover napkins.  I didn't realize it when I made the invitations, but cutting through the folded layers also created this lovely pink floral design! 

 (You can click here to see the invitations that I am talking about, or you can click here to see the treasure hunting haul that these napkins came from)

I used the napkin cut-outs everywhere...

Taped to cups to act as a decorative container for the flatware...

...and layered on the table tops with the plastic snowflakes and faux ice cubes.

Olaf

Isn't this little Olaf figurine adorable?  It came with one of Baby Girl's Frozen Toddler Dolls.  I was busy working away when she brought it in because she thought we should include it in the party decor.  She even made the scarf herself!  I love her creativity and design interest!

I taped the printables up above the dessert and food counters.

Printable Close-Ups

(I made sure to take all of these down carefully - they will be great recycled into scrapbook pages)

More Details

On the left you can see a candle that I dressed up by taping on one of the napkin cut-outs.

On the right you can see more of the wall decor and the party napkins.  

Tip:  I always purchase two different types of napkins and layer them on the counter this way.  It's an easy way to add a decorative touch.

Easy Balloon Decor

Remember the shiny garland and ceiling streamers from the treasure hunting haul?  I decided to combine them with the balloons.  It was super easy to tie the balloons to the garland.

A Little Secret:  I was just trying to find ways to incorporate all the decor items that we ended up with when I hung the garland this way....but it ended up being probably my favorite style of balloon arrangement yet!  Not only is it easier to tie the balloons to the garland (as opposed to a skinny piece of curling ribbon), but it looks great with fewer balloons.  I also like the fact that the garland can be stored and re-used.

Balloon Close-Up

Birthday Chair

One of the lengths of garland was falling apart so I cut it apart.  I tied one section to the chair pictured here (with a bit of extra table cloth), and the rest I stashed in the backyard.  The chunky pieces made perfect 'snowballs' for the kids to toss around when they went outside.

Tip:  The plastic table coverings that you can find in the party section are large enough to cut in half and still fit most tables.  I usually buy two; one to cut in half and cover my kitchen/ dining tables and the other to cut in half to cover my coffee table and then I decorate with the rest.

Dining Room

Dessert Counter

Vanilla Cake With Marshmallow Frosting

Lemon Cupcakes With Vanilla Frosting

***Bakery update coming soon!***

I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Frozen Birthday Party: The Invitations

If you remember from my treasure hunting/ Frozen birthday party supply post, I ended up with a stack of adorable, but unsealed, paper napkins.  I didn't want to use already opened napkins at my table, but I knew I could put them to good use elsewhere.  Check out how I turned paper napkins into adorable party invitations!

 (You can click here if you missed the treasure hunting post)

Supplies

For these invitations I used purple paper, snowflake shaped foam cut-outs and Frozen napkins.  Aside from the paper (which is from my scrapbook stash) everything came from our $2 treasure hunting haul!

Side Note:  In real life, the paper that I used is a standard shade of purple.  Sometimes it photographed as dark purple, sometimes as bright blue....I don't know what the deal is!

(The very last photo in this post shows the invitation with the correct shade of purple)

Invitation Wording

The first thing I did was to figure out what I wanted my invites to say.  I searched and searched through Pinterest but couldn't find anything I liked so I decided to make up my own wording.

I ended up combining the party information with a couple of lines from Do you want to build a snowman? to make these cute invites.

 In case you can't read it from the photo, here is the text:

  Do you want to build a snowman?

Come on, let's go and play!

Celebrate with us,

It's Baby Girl's 6th Birthday!

***I challenge you to read this without singing it in your head!  :D :D :D***

Printout

Here is a shot of the wording printout before I  trimmed it down.  I like to choose a font style and size that allows room for four separate paragraphs, and center align them all.  This makes cutting the text out (and trimming it to size) much easier.

Background Strips

I cut each standard sized sheet of colored paper into strips of three to create the background for the invitations.  (This is the perfect size needed to fit into a letter sized envelope)

Tip:  Take the size of your background paper into consideration before printing your wording, you'll want to make sure that your text sheets fit nicely.  I prefer to use standard sized letter envelopes, but there are many styles to choose from.

Re-Purposed Napkins

After I had my wording and invitation background taken care of, I got busy cutting out the circular design from the paper napkins.

Tip:  When it comes to gluing, you will only want to attach one layer of the napkin to your invitation.  However when it comes to cutting, it is much easier to cut out your design while the napkin is still folded up (into four layers).

Attach the Design

I used a glue stick to carefully attach the thin paper cut-outs to the background sheet.  Hot glue or liquid glue would have ruined the thin paper or the napkin.  The glue stick worked well, but you have to apply the 'dry' glue very carefully so as not to tear the napkin.

Add the Wording

Once the decorative cut-outs were in place, I layered on the invitation wording...

Snowflakes!

...and then followed up with a sprinkle of the foam snowflakes.

And there you have it, cute and easy party invitations re-purposed from napkins!

I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Welcome Baby Party: The Invitations (2015)

I have been working lately to host a welcome baby party for my sister and newest niece who are staying in town for a couple of weeks. Since my sister lives a few hours away (and she's all newborn exhausted) we thought it would be better to wait until she got here to set the date for her party.  That way we could make sure to plan it when my sister was (hopefully) a bit more rested.

I took a few photos of my niece on a Monday, made the invitations that night and planned the party for the following Saturday.  It was a whirlwind, but well worth it!

Usually I like to construct paper invitations, but there was no time for that (or the time it would take to mail them).  I knew I needed to send the invites out electronically but still wanted them to be cute, so I turned to MyScrapNook to quickly create adorable invitations.

 Pretty in Pink

The theme of the party included daisies and lots of pink.  when creating this invite, I first chose a pink polka-dot background, then layered the white 'sheet' on top.  This gave me a nice clean space to add the text and a photo of Baby D (not included here).  I added a a few pink daisies at the corners, then popped in the text.  ....Not too bad for 12:30 on a Monday night, huh?  :D

 In case you can't see it clearly, here is the text:

We are tickled pink & excited to say

That baby ____ has made our day!

Join us for a 'meet & eat'

(Cake & punch to be served)

***Don't forget to add the date, time, ect!

Free Printable

I included this blank template in case anyone wanted to use the same theme.  Just right click on the image and save to your computer.  You can print out the image as it is here, add text, use it electronically...the possibilities are endless!

I hope you enjoyed, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Rainbow Party - Table Decor! (2015)

I'm back today with the rainbow pizza party/ graduation celebration wrap-up!

In case you missed it:

Click here to view the invitations.

Click here for behind the scenes baking fun.

Click here to see the streamer and balloon decor.

Otherwise, keep reading to see our rainbow tables :)

Kindergarten Diploma

Each student received a diploma from their teacher during the school ceremony.

The colorful certificate featured Baby Girl's name and the name of her teacher as well.  I thought it would make a great addition to our party decor and decided to (temporarily) put it into a frame.

I used the framed diploma as part of the back drop for the dessert station. This was an easy way to personalize the party decor using things I already had.  The diploma came home with Baby Girl and the frame was from my stash.

(Now that the party is over, I will be putting this into Baby Girl's scrapbook.)

Table Tops

This colorful graduation table covering and confetti were both found at Dollar Tree for $1.

I was very please with the graduation selection found at Dollar Tree!

Bubble Favors

You may remember these (Dollar Tree) bubble favors from this post.  I wanted to display them in my milk glass pedestal bowl but all of the white on white looked a little boring.  I ended up creating a nest with a few streamer scraps and liked the look much better!  By adding a rainbow of color, the centerpiece tied into the overall decor perfectly.

Baby Girl added the confetti to the table top herself ;)

Bubble Close-Up

There was no rhyme or reason here, just crunch up some paper streamers and tuck in the bubbles!

Recycled Streamers

Remember when I showed you how we re-purposed the ceremony balloons for the actual party?  When I left off you saw the photo of this weight surrounded with a handful of streamer scraps.  The colorful scraps helped to brighten up the table top, but looked a little like...well...garbage!  Hahaha! 

 Not to worry though, the addition of confetti took the look from messy to intentional.  Now the streamers look as though they are supposed to be there, instead of like someone forgot to pick up a mess!

Funfetti Cake

Complete with rainbow sprinkles and a decorative tassel, this cake was a big hit!

Chocolate Cupcakes

These were my favorite.  I can pass up most sweets, but I have a special love for chocolate!

Right:  I wasn't able to create a hanging tag for these cupcakes so I made a flat one in instead.  I cut the photo and label from the box, taped them together and then tucked the tag in among the cupcakes.

***Did you notice that my three tiered cupcake stand is now a two tiered cupcake stand?!?!?!  I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I know that the Little Man was involved ;)

One day he couldn't reach that high, the next day I was down to two cupcake stands!  I was just glad that he didn't get hurt and used a clear glass platter to make up the loss :)

Dessert Station

Here you can see the cake, cupcakes and framed diploma together.  I didn't purchase plates or napkins for this party, but instead 'shopped' my cabinet for leftover birthday supplies.  By pulling out an assortment of colorful party ware, I was easily able to convey the rainbow theme.

The addition of confetti pulled everything together.  That is what I love about table confetti; it  helps to visually connect the various items together.

I hope you enjoyed our party, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Birthday Wrap to Birthday Decor! (2015)

Those of you that have been following this blog know that in addition to holidays, I enjoy LOVE decorating for birthdays as well!  I also really like to recycle as much as possible.  Not only is it financially savvy, but it's good for the Earth too.

Given that, I always have an assortment of gift bags on hand.  Of course you can always reuse your gift bags for future gifts, but this time I decided to upcycle them into birthday decor.  Read on to see how I completed this easy project.

(You can see the rest of my birthday decor by clicking here)

A couple of cute birthday gift bags from my wrapping stash.

This is probably one of the easiest projects ever.  All you have to do is cut out the portions of the bags that you want to highlight, and pop them into a frame.  It's that simple!

(And if you use frames that you already have like I did, the project is free too!)

 I decided to cut out the individual cakes from the blue gift bag on the left.  I thought they would make a nice trio of smaller frames.  I liked the 'Happy Birthday' printing on the white gift bag, so this one I left as a full 8X10 sheet.

Tip:  If you are having a hard time deciding what part of the bag you want to frame, or just need help measuring - use the glass.  Carefully remove the glass from the frame and position it on top of your artwork.  Move it around until you find  a position that you like, then lightly trace around the glass.  Be careful though, the straight edges of the glass can sometimes cut your hands and fingers.

Scroll on to see how the frames turned out!

Orange Cake

Green Cake

Chocolate Cake

8X10 Happy Birthday

I found the little birthday hat when searching through some scrapbooking supplies and thought it would look cute in a frame as well.  I like the way it turned out next to the large happy birthday cake.

(And in case anybody is wondering...no, I didn't get out the birthday decor just to take these pictures.  This project -and these photos- were taken in January when I was preparing for Little Man's first birthday...better a late blog share than a never blog share, right?  Haha!)

 And there you have it, another easy and inexpensive decor project!
I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015

Hunting Themed 1st Birthday Party (2015)

Little Man got to enjoy his very first birthday party!

Come on in and check out our hunting themed celebration:

Balloons

I kept things simple with green and black balloons suspended from the ceiling.

Click here to read all of my balloon inflating tips!

Kitchen Supplies

I used camouflage printed plates and napkins to really bring home our hunting theme.  I found these at Wal-Mart and since they were generic (as opposed to Mossy Oak or Realtree), they were only $1 a pack.  I also mixed in a few green napkins to break up the camo print and add color to the serving ware cups.  A bit of camouflage duct tape helped to dress up the cups as well, and a paper target finished the display.

Camo Candle

A cookie scented candle, along with cupcake wax cubes in the Scentsy warmer, added yummy smells to the kitchen.

Click here to read more about this jar candle upgrade.

Dessert Station

A couple more of the paper targets and a few scattered leaves dressed up the dessert station nicely.  I also had another set of plates and napkins here as well.  Not only does it make things easier when serving the cake, but the prints add another decorative touch.

Chocolate Cupcakes

Camouflage Cakes

Miniature Cake

The Little Man got to have this cake all to himself.....He wasn't all that interested in it and wanted milk instead, but still it was adorable!

Click here to read more about how I created these cakes.

Dining Room Table

Living Room Table

Top View

Kitchen Table

After first covering the tables in brown fabric I then arranged deer antlers, paper targets and cylinder vases.  The vases were filled with spent shotgun shells/ empty brass casings and I sprinkled faux leaves among the antlers.

Click here to read more about the creation of the vases and paper targets.
 Click here to read about these living room curtains turned into table coverings.


~~~~~~~~~A Look at the Numbers~~~~~~~~~~

Table Coverings: Owned
Paper Targets:  $2, and will be re-purposed as scrapbooking paper
Antlers:  Borrowed
Shotgun Shells/ Brass Casings:  Borrowed
Vases:  Owned
Leaves:  Owned
Balloons:  $2
Plates & Napkins:  $4
Candle & Camouflage Duct Tape:  $2

That's $10 for the decor of the entire party!  Yay!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


My Little Man had such a great time that he fell asleep right after his cake.  The rest of us had a great time as well, and many memories were made :)

I hope you enjoyed reading about our party as much as I enjoyed throwing it, 
thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2015