AMAZING Sesame Street Party!

I'm a sucker for primary colors at parties! And the Sesame Street theme gets me every time -- I just LOVE it!! And today I'm sharing one of my favorite Sesame Street parties ever from Kate of And Everything Sweet. This lady is CRAZY TALENTED! Just take a look at these photos and you'll see what I mean. Kate did everything.... EVERYTHING herself!

From the party decor to the sweet treats, the favor buckets, the costumes (Yes, even the Elmo costume!), the games and signs, and of course, her specialty... that amazing Sesame Street cake!

Nothing short of AH-Mazing! Thanks so much to Kate for inspiring us all! And if you'd like to see even more photos from Kate's daughter's party, be sure to visit And Everything Sweet, Kate's fabulous blog where she shares her parties and her beautiful bakery creations.

And now that you're inspired to throw a Sesame Street party for your own little one, be sure to visit my shop for Sesame Street inspired printables.... I've got lots of versions to choose from.... even pink for little girls! It's simple, too.... just print, cut and CELEBRATE!

Thanks Kate for sharing your beautiful party. Olivia is one lucky little girl!

Easter Topiaries

It's time to start decorating for Easter. Yay! Bright colors.... springy themes. I'm so ready for some color and warmth after a long, cold winter.

And topiaries are a great way to start. They are easy to make and can be used all around the house from your mantle, to buffet tables and even in bathrooms. Take a look at some cute ideas I found around the web.

She's Kinda Crafty has a cute idea for an ribbon topiary using an egg-shaped

paper mache form. I just love her creations.

And this one is adorable, too, from Creek Water Mommies.... an Easter ribbon tree.

Love, Laughter and Decor has a fabulous tutorial for this moss covered Easter egg topiary.

And these beautiful moss covered topiaries are from The Creativity Exchange . Made from posterboard forms, these are a simple solution to those expensive moss creations we see in all the stores these days. Posterboard! I love it!

Twigglebox has some sweet tissue paper, egg-shaped topiaries with a tutorial.

And how about this adorable set of jelly bean topiaries from My Garden of Eden?

A gumdrop topiary from She Knows is a pretty simple candy themed topiary, too.

How cute would it look next to this sweet gumdrop wreath from Huckleberry Prairie?

I hope these ideas bring you lots of inspiration for your own Easter decorating!

Lamb Cakes - Perfect for Easter treats!

Adorable, right? Ingenious too, I think! These sweet LAMB CUPCAKES from Cookies and Cups will surely make your little ones smile.

Just a few easy to find supplies and a great tutorial HERE, and you can make these little cuties lickety-split!

Can you believe the cuteness??

And this one is easy enough to involve the kids, too. Thanks Cookies and Cups for the great idea!

Cupcake Wrap Easter Basket Favors

Easter is just around the corner and I can't wait to share some fun ideas I've been seeing around the web. So many creative girls out there!!

Today I thought I'd share a simple little tutorial of Easter basket favors made from the cupcake wraps and party flags from my EASTER PRINTABLES COLLECTION. How much fun are these! And so simple to make, too.

Here's what you'll need:

- Mini Robin's Eggs (Whoppers brand malted eggs)
- Green Easter grass
- Paper Nut/candy cups (find on cake decorating aisle of craft stores)
- Printable cupcake wraps and straw flags (or some scrapbook paper of your choice)
- Hot glue and gun
- Scissors
- Scotch tape
- Easter suckers (mine are from the Dollar Tree - $1.00/6pieces)
- Piece of green florist foam or styrofoam

Step 1: Print and cut your cupcake wraps and toothpick flags out.

Step 2: Assemble cupcake wrap by wrapping around nut cup and securing with tape.

Step 3: Now take your straw flag piece and hot glue one edge inside the cupcake wrap.... then glue down the other side to create a basket.

Step 4: Cut small pieces of green florist foam or styrofoam into squares and hot glue to the bottom of your paper nut cup.

Step 5: Stick Easter egg sucker into your florist foam and add a few robin's egg to weigh down the cup so it won't tip over.

Step 6: Add Easter grass and robin's eggs.

Step 7: Dab a small bit of hot glue to the back of your sucker where it meets the handle of your basket and adhere the sucker to the handle. This way the sucker will stay in place.

You're done -- that's all. EASY! If you'd like, at this point, you could wrap each basket in some cellophane and tie it up with a sweet ribbon and favor tag to give to classmates, teachers or Sunday School classes.

I hope you enjoyed this simple little Easter project. More to come soon! Have a wonderful weekend!

Linking up to: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, Craftomaniac, Tater Tots and Jello, Skip to my Lou, Under the Table and Dreaming, Blue Cricket Design, Someday Crafts, Fireflies and Jelly Beans, House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, Tidy Mom, Romantic Home,Shabby Nest, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, The Girl Creative,Tater Tots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Today's Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, The Idea Room, C.R.A.F.T., Today's Creative Blog

Birthday {EASTER} Printables!

After releasing Shindig Parties TO GO's Easter printables set last week, I've had quite a few requests for BIRTHDAY packages. What a wonderful idea! Do you have a little one with an April birthday? An Easter egg hunt party is the perfect theme!

So I'm happy to announce that I've put a BIRTHDAY EASTER PRINTABLE set in the shop this morning. It's super cute and includes a personalized invitation and a thank you note, too! Just take a look at some of the files below:

It also includes these cute bunny topper silhouettes, cupcake wraps and flags that you can make cute paper Easter baskets from for favors, drink wraps, cupcake toppers, candy bar wraps and more!








And at only $25.00 for the SET, with all the personalization of the invitation and other printables included, it's affordable, too!

Linked to: Blue Cricket Design, Someday Crafts, Fireflies and Jelly Beans, House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, Tidy Mom, Romantic Home,Shabby Nest, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, The Girl Creative, Tater Tots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors

Rainbow Jello Recipe

Take a look at this RAINBOW JELLO from Funky Polka Dot Giraffe. Too cute!

Wouldn't this be perfect for so many kinds of spring parties.... anything colorful with rainbows like garden parties, rainbow parties, or even Wizard of Oz parties. You could even go more pastel for Easter parties. Oh, I get so excited when I think of all the ways to use colorful food! Having a Buzz Lightyear party? How about a blue, green, yellow and orange jello combo. A Strawberry Shortcake party.... red, pinks and white. A pool party.... different shades of blues...... this recipe is so versatile.

So now for the how-to.....

RAINBOW JELLO INGREDIENTS:

- Five 6 oz boxes of Jell-O in 5 different colors
- Two boxes of Knox Gelatin
- One can sweetened condensed milk

Mix 3 packages of Knox gelatin in 1 1/2 cups boiling water until dissolved. Add sweetened condensed milk to Knox gelatin mixture and set aside. Mix 3 packages of Knox gelatin with 1 1/4 cups boiling water until dissolved and set aside. Dissolve 1 box of Jell-O in 1 cup boiling water. (She started with blue because she wanted it on the bottom. You may begin with the color of your choice.) Add 1/4 cup of the Knox gelatin mixture to the Jell-O and pour into a 9"x13" glass dish.

Let the Jello layer set in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Pour 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk mixture over the Jell-O layer. Let sweetened condensed milk layer set up in refrigerator for about 10 minutes. While waiting, repeat Step 3 with the next color.

Repeat Steps 3-7 with the remaining four flavors. (NOTE: Don't try speeding up the process by using the freezer).

{UNDER $100} Easter Dessert Table

As much as I've always loved parties and all the details involved, I must say that I am quite the cheap-skate. Which means I get a bigger thrill from saving money than spending money. So how do I keep my eye for all those beautiful party decorations and yummy goodies in check with my wallet? Well, I set a budget..... I plan early and do my research (which usually means stalking the Dollar Tree and dollar bins at Target)..... and most of all, I decide to do a good amount of the work myself (which is is sort of fun in a crazy, sadistic kind of way).

For the Easter dessert table I designed to showcase my new Easter Printables Collection, it was especially important to set a budget since I had just hosted my daughter's 10th birthday the week before and was running a little tight on money.

So $100 it was.....

And best of all, I actually did the table in a day by pre-purchasing virtually everything on the table and having a plan.... that little plan I mentioned earlier. Want to take a look?

Isn't it cute? Printables are such a simple way to add a little pizzazz to a party table. They are inexpensive, easy to use and great for carrying out any party theme. With this Easter Collection, there are so many fun and versatile pieces like the Easter egg cutouts and the sweet bunny silhouettes, centerpiece signs, cupcake toppers, drink wraps, a banner and so much more. And at only $10.00 for the full collection, it leaves you lots of money left over for all those Easter sweets!

Trying to stay within a budget also motivates me to take a look around the house for decorative items that I can use for party decor. The wooden bunnies, the teapot silk flower arrangements and all of the dishes came from my house as well as a few other items on the table such as the ribbon, tablecloth and all of the white fabric.

I was also a little strained for time and needed to purchase most of the food items instead of making them myself. And as much as I love those gorgeous decorated sugar cookies that you can order online, at $3.50-$4.50/each plus shipping you can wreck a tight budget in no time at all. So lately I've found the grocery store to be a wonderful source for simple, fun party foods such as these pink Snoballs, chocolate chip cookies, white wedding cookies, and various Easter candies. They are inexpensive and what's easier than opening a box?

Here's a list of my expenses: (rounded for simplicity)

- $2.50.............white wedding cookies

- $3.00............Snoballs

- $5.00............Jordan almonds

- $2.50............marshmallow cookies

- $5.50............candy bars (Cookies 'n Cream bars I found on clearance - Yay!)

- $5.50............Orange Crush soda bottles (we drank the Orange Crush and then I made a pink lemonade to fill the bottles to match the party table)

- $3.00...........large malted eggs

- $2.50...........small malted eggs

- $6.00...........M&M's

- $3.00...........chocolate chip cookies

- $2.00...........white chocolate bunny

- $4.00...........pastel mint drops

- $3.00...........chocolate bunnies (for favors)

- $3.00...........decorative sheep sugar cookies

- $6.00...........rock candy

- $3.00...........non-pareil cookies

- $6.00...........cupcakes

- $1.00...........Easter egg suckers

- $1.00...........pudding

- $1.00...........whipped cream

- $1.50...........can of frosting

- $10.00........tulips

- $2.50..........Easter grass

- $3.00..........cake stands (made using thrift store finds & my own eyelet trim)

- $2.00 ........basket (thrift store find that I spray painted white)

$89.50 TOTAL

Add in about $10.00 for the photo paper I used in printing all of the printables, and there you are..... $100.00 Budget Met!

I hope you all enjoyed the table.... I'll be posting more photos and some quick tutorials and details soon.

Linking up to: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, Craftomaniac, Tater Tots and Jello, Skip to my Lou, Under the Table and Dreaming, Blue Cricket Design, Someday Crafts, Fireflies and Jelly Beans, House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, Tidy Mom, Romantic Home,Shabby Nest, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Finding Fabulous, The Girl Creative,Tater Tots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors,Today's Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, The Idea Room, C.R.A.F.T., Today's Creative Blog, Between Naps on the Porch

{ NEW } Easter Printables!

Hippity Hoppity..... Easter's On It's Way!

I'm so excited to give you a few sneak peeks of my brand new EASTER PRINTABLES Collection..... Adorable Easter printables for all of your Easter parties, brunches and of course, Easter Egg Hunts!

There are so many cute items for food toppers like these 2" designs featuring a cross,

a silhouette of a bunny, an Easter egg and "Happy Easter."

The drink wraps feature pastel polka dots with multi-color bunny silhouette....

here I also used some of the lavender polka dot papers that come with the collection

to create a scalloped border around the drink wraps.

To add a little whimsy, I love using the striped flags that come with the collection to wrap around straws, toothpicks or even various desserts such as cookie, cake or marshmallow pops.

One of my favorite items are these bunny silhouette cutouts which are so versatile.

Here I've hot glued them to a toothpick and added a cute white pom pom for a bunny tail.

I love them as sweet food toppers such as for these marshmallow cookies, but they could also be used as tags on favor bags or for Easter crafts.

Here I used the pastel polka dot cupcake wraps and the striped flags that come with the collection to make an easy Easter basket favor for the kids. These would be sweet wrapped in cellophane and given to preschool or even Sunday school classmates.

First, I glued a small piece of styrofoam to the bottom of a nut cup (you can buy these at the craft store on the cake decorating aisle). This is for anchoring the Easter suckers (Dollar Tree). Next, I wrapped a cupcake wrap around the nut cup and secured it on the back with a piece of scotch tape. Then I used the striped straw flags as a basket handle and glue it in place. I filled the nut cups with green shredded Easter grass and added a few chocolate Easter eggs.

The "Happy Easter" banner that comes with the collection has cross, bunny and Easter egg

end pieces which makes it perfect for any kind of Easter celebration. And how fun

are these Easter egg cutouts that could be used for cupcake toppers as in the photo above

or for crafts and favor tags, too.

Wrapping yummy Easter cookies and adding this "Happy Easter" favor tag would be

the perfect send off for your Easter guests.

The collection is in the SHOP now at 60% OFF for only $10.00

and includes 31 Easter printables files!

So grab your set today and get a jump start on your Easter celebrations!