Tutorial :: Easter Gift Cones

As much as I love these adorable paper Easter cones, I think my kids love them even more! They look forward to getting early Easter surprises in them - sometimes candy, sometimes a small toy and sometimes a nice little note from the Bunny-Man himself!

What you need:
12 x 12 scrapbook cardstock paper (double sided is best!)
Another piece of patterned paper that will go well with your cone paper
Chip board letters, mod podge & glitter OR Sparkley cardstock paper
Streamer
hot glue
ribbon for hanging

Start by twisting/folding over your paper into a tube shape then tighten the pull on the bottom part until it makes a cone shape with a small opening at the bottom. Do your best to line the cross over in the front with the peak in the back. This is tricky but keep at it, it can be done :)

When you get your desired shape, tape or hot glue your paper into place.

Now for the initials:

Step 1: I used my 3 inch scalloped punch to punch out a backing for my letters on the corresponding patterned paper.
Step 2: Instead of paying $2.00 each for chip board + mod podge + glitter, I saved some $$$ by getting one sheet of pre-glittered cardstock, printed templates out of a cute font (I used "Saddlebag") and cut them out myself. - Hot glue to background paper.
Step 3: Next I took a long string of streamer and ran a thin line of hot glue down one side and gathered pieces together as I pressed them to the back of the background paper. Gather & press, gather & press... till you make your way all the way around. Hot glue it to the front of your cone.

Now just add the ruffle to the bottom!

Step 5 & 6: Repeat step 3 by gluing and gathering your streamer into a little bunch.

Step 7: Cut a few small lines into the bunch and fluff it out.

Step 8: Add some hot glue to the top of the ruffle and stick it into the opening at the bottom of the cone.

Then I just added a loop of ribbon to the back to hang them from. And a fun little side note, since they weigh practically nothing I just opted to hot glue my hooks to the fireplace mantle rather than drilling holes. When it's time to take them down the hot glue peels right off!

These are probably one of my favorite holiday decorations! I remember as a kid always checking my Christmas stalking on the days leading to Christmas just to see if Santa may have had time for a quick little stop. I still totally remember those feelings and it is so much fun being a mom now and getting to watch my kids experience those same exciting feelings not only at Christmas but Easter time too!

Happy Easter to all!

 May the Easter Bunny always have a spare minute to visit your house early too!

Coming Soon:: Frog Prince Collection

I've been having fun making this custom collection for one of my customer's

Little Prince Charmings!

It looks like it's going to be a really fun party! We even made her a "Pin the Crown on the Frog" poster with little crown cut-outs!

Keep your eye out for this and other new items coming to the shop very soon!

Spring & Easter Decor

One of the things that I love the most about my living room is all of the windows and natural light that comes in, yet it leaves little space for decor. I love decorating for seasons and holidays and I really wanted my living room - where we spend most of our time - to be a bright cheerful place. I've been doing lots of DIY projects for spring and they look so cute on my fireplace!

I enlarged my Free Printable to a 16 x 20 (Only $5 bucks at Sam's Club or Costco - but be sure to select "turn off auto enhance" when ordering or you will get a yucky brownish tint to your prints) Then I added some of my most recent "Spring-y" projects up there to add more color! I brought the rosette flower balls down from the girls room and set them on my newly painted candle sconces - they used to be black. And speaking of spray painting, I also found that adorable yellow tile at a garage sale for 25 cents but it was a brownish black color. Oh, how I love my spray paint! I also saw an adorable Egg ornament tree at Anthropology for WAY too much money so I decided to make one of my own. Just took a few dried Oak Tree branches, gave them a thin layer of white spray paint and stuck them into a bucket. Sophisticated, I know.

The two things that took me the most time were the Spring Banner & the Paper Cones but they were so worth it because they bring in so much color! My kids especially love the cones because I fill them with little notes, small gifts or treats. Stay tuned for more pictures and tutorials on both these items!

Real Party:: Kyla Paige

I have been looking forward to this party for so long! Kyla is one of my best friend's daughters and this party girl needed a party that was just as sassy as she is! Everything went together so perfectly thanks to Kyla's mom, Jana. While I was busy on the printables, and baked goods, Jana was creating a scavenger hunt, hand-making all the girls matching flower bows, stuffing goodie bags, getting all the coordinating plates, napkins etc... And of course Kyla's outfit and hair was done to perfection! 

Everything was so adorable you would probably never guess that we dropped the cake, lost a few cupcakes, broke a candy dish and got a blurry group picture. I'm glad that plenty of us brought our cameras!

So, as you can see, we doctored up the cake before the guests even arrived.

BEFORE we had fondant zebra stripes with gum paste bow and butter cream border

AFTER we had fondant zebra stripes and thanks to the Hallmark store and some quick thinking we had a ribbon bow and border!

 

Look at how cute these Gift bags turned out! Since it was a shopping/fashion themed party each bag had a ring pop, bracelets, lip gloss, nail polish and a few other goodies and was clipped shut with Jana's adorable hand made flower bows!

For this party I made the decorative flower rosette balls, fondant cake, cupcakes with gum paste flowers, and zebra striped cake pops. I also provided cake stands, candy dishes and decorative candies. Jana chose items from the Barbie Silhouette package in my etsy shop: Bloom Events. Her order included:

cupcake toppers

cake topper

candy dish tags

gift tags

invitations

thank you cards

iron-on shirt graphic with name

triangle banner

drink wraps

8 x 10 poster

Visit the shop for this collection and many more! Don't see what you like? Custom orders are always welcome!

Tutorial::DIY "Little Man" Shirt & Tie

When I made these little shirts for my kids' Valenitne pictures I had so many people tell me how stinkin' cute they were! Well, I'd have to agree and they were soooo easy! My only regret was that I used temporary fabric glue. I had never made them before and I wasn't sure I wanted to fully commit their 3 brand new white shirts to my "trial-and-error-make-it-up-as-i-go" crafty project. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you all the limitless possibilities there are for this cute idea: hearts, flowers, animal shapes, initial(s)... Oh-so many possibilities and at about $2.00 per shirt you can make a closet-full! 

 Now that I know I love them, I decided they would be PERFECT for Jake's

"Little Man" themed birthday party coming up next month. I had a hay-day at Beverly's digging thru all the pre-cut fat quarters. Looks like we're going with blues and greens - Thanks Bev'!

 Supplies:

White shirts - If you're making several, do yourself a favor and get a 5 pack for 6 bucks instead of buying individuals for $7.00 each yikes!

Cute fabric

Fabric glue

scissors

 Step 1) Cut a template out of paper and trace onto the BACK of your cute fabric & cut it out

 Step 2) Apply fabric glue and apply to shirt (I wanted mine super even so after I applied the glue I ran over it with a paint brush to get it on all the edges) Lay them flat over night to dry.

 These are going to make the CUTEST party favors for my "Little Man's" second birthday! Stay tuned for more party details!

Real Party & New to the Shop: Blue and Red Train

Megan came to me and asked me to make a Choo-Coo Train collection for her Birthday Boy, Brett. She wanted navy blue & red. She was so happy with the finished result and it was so nice to get this email from her:

 "Thank you so much for doing the cupcakes and cakepops and all the design for Bretts Party. Everything was super cute. Gary really loved it too. 

All my family keeps telling me how cute everything was....and they all loved those cakepops!! There were two left, and Gary and I enjoyed them after everyone left and the kids were in bed. 

Thank you so much for all of your help!"

-Megan

I really appreciate the kind words and I love taking a small part in these special memories!

Happy 2nd Birthday Brett!

Visit my Etsy Shop for all the details on this new collection for your own little train lover!