Strawberry Shortcake Party - Noelle Turns FIVE!

My girl is five. I look at my baby - fun-loving and shy - but gracefully maturing into a beautiful little lady. She starts Kindergarten this year and I'm terrified. When we talk about it and she sees the tears welling up in my eyes she reassures me with this speech, "Mommy, it's going to be okay. It will just be for a little while and you can go to Target while I'm gone. I have to go to school to learn stuff." I've heard it a dozen times already. She's so brave.

In May we went on our annual Disneyland trip during Mother's Day weekend to kick off the summer and celebrate her birthday. She agreed to have a small birthday party but insisted it have a Strawberry Shortcake theme. I grabbed her Strawberry Shortcake doll and we headed to JoAnn's for a few supplies. Six yards of fabric, a box of 12 mason jars, a string of Martha Stewart pom-poms and we were pretty much ready to party.

Since it was June and the day heats up quickly we decided on a mid-morning brunch. The menu included Sausage Quiche, Muffins, Strawberry Greek Yogurt with granola, Fruit Salad and Cinnamon Rolls. 

For the backdrop, I cut the fabric into 5-inch strips and tied them using a slip knot onto a birch tree branch. I had the crates but painted them white and added the strawberry to the inside of the large crate.

The table was very quick and easy to set up. I found vintage Strawberry Shortcake fabric at Walmart for $3/yard. 

At Walmart I also picked up a couple bundles of cheap flowers and a bag of limes. 

Noelle's refinished desk was used as the beverage table. 

Mr. G drilled holes into the mason jar lids just big enough for the paper straws. It's a one time deal since the lids will rust if they are washed. 

In the dining room I set up the dessert (strawberry shortcake and cupcakes) along with Noelle's previous birthday party invitations. 

When frosting cupcakes, I always whip a half teaspoon of vanilla extract into the frosting and pipe it onto the cupcakes for a bakery-style look. 

For the craft, the friends decorated a clay pot with foam stickers and then planted a flower. 

I'm certain that no flower made it more than a day but it kept them busy for 10 minutes. 

It was a lovely morning! 

My girl. 

Strawberry Shortcake hair bow from The Palmetto Baby on Etsy

Noelle's Strawberry Stand was an easy project that she loves and plays with every day. The total cost was about $20. 

Here's what you need from Michael's:

(2) Crates - They were half off for $7 each

(2) 24" sticks

4"x 24" plywood

From Home Depot:

Berry Pink Spray Paint

Wood Screws

Once all the pieces are sprayed with paint, stack the crates and line them up. Then drill the screws through the top crate into the bottom crate. 

The 24" sticks fit perfectly snug in between the gaps on the side of the crate. Mr. G used wood glue to hold them in place. You can touch up the glue with spray paint when you're done assembling the stand.

Lastly, paint the plywood slab and use wood glue to secure it to the top of the sticks. Done! Such a cute little stand that can be used as a ticket counter for a circus party, lemonade stand, grocery store play, etc.

A family photo for once!

Happy 5th Birthday sweet girl! I love you so.

Colorful Race Car Birthday Party- Noah is TWO!

My baby is now my big boy. Noah turned two on February 15th! We celebrated with a colorful race car themed party which included his favorite activities. It was a fun, exhausting, absolutely gorgeous day. We all had a blast!
The food table is always one of the first things I plan for parties. Once we decided to go with a race car theme, I asked my dad if we could borrow his race track. Watching the cars zoom around the track was an unexpected element. I love the way it turned out.
Here's a quick clip of the race track in action.

For Noah's Red Wagon first birthday party, I purchased a printable package from Dimpleprints. All of the personalized touches really made that party special so I asked Carli for help once again. She is such a pleasure to work with and customized the package to fit the colors of the party.
I made the "Three TWO One Go!" sign out of a 2ftx2ft slab of plywood. The flashing traffic light is from Amazon.

When the friends arrived, they grabbed a car to race on the track and an official Pit Pass. I have framed the kids birth announcements and invitations to display at their parties. I usually put them on the cake table so guests can see how they've grown.

Aaron's mom, Nana, made this delicious cake. The dent in the cake is from Noah reaching up to grab the car on top. Of course it was the only car he couldn't have that day, therefore the only one he wanted. And how sweet are these stop light Rice Krispies treats?

The weather was amazing, a huge blessing since we partied outside. 

I mentioned in Noah's birthday post that he loves the movie Cars. There were a few touches of Cars here and there. The "Rust-eze" tub is made from one of Aaron's empty Muscle Milk containers. I cut out the logo with the Silhouette machine using black vinyl. More printables from the race car package. I used the cupcake toppers for the water bottles and added text on a couple of the larger circles for the drink pitchers.

A successful party keeps the kiddos busy having fun. And when the kids are having a good time, the parents are able to enjoy their time as well. I set up four "stations" of activities for the party.
1. Noah's Auto Body Shop

The kids painted mini cars (Oriental Trading Company). I picked up the acrylic paint and brushes from Michael's. The aprons are from the Dollar Tree.

Noah very seriously painted three cars. Then came back to paint another one.


Noelle is a bit of a perfectionist. Wonder where she gets it...

The cars dried in the sunshine on brown construction paper.

2. NJ Gardner Tattoo Parlor

My nephew, Evan, showing off his new ink. Tattoos also from Oriental Trading Co.


3. Bean Bag Tire Toss

The best part of these activities - they were inexpensive to put together.
Tire toss = free (borrowed materials).
Tattoos = $5.
Painting Cars = $15

4. Race Track (not that inexpensive)

The kids loved racing their new cars. For the "official" races, Aaron flipped the release lever so 4 cars could start at the same time.



Aaron drew out the plans and picked up the materials at Lowe's. The total cost was about $60 including the spray paint.

Once the track was built, he sprayed it by gradually adding yellow, orange and red. Then he covered the top of the colors with a flame stencil I cut out of vinyl, and sprayed on the blue. The end result was an awesome flame on the track as well as on the side poles. 

The last steps included putting on the lanes, painting lane numbers and "START" to the top, then spraying the entire track with a clear sealer. 

Here's a tutorial on how the track was built! DIY Race Track

And one more "Cars" touch. Lightning McQueen's eyes on Aaron's truck. Just two pieces of construction paper and eyes glued on. Super easy and a fun way to welcome our guests.

Something that I heard several times was, "I wish I had that race track growing up" from the guys at the party. They were just as excited as their kids, probably because they are just big kids themselves!



A huge thanks again to Carli at Dimpleprints for the printables, to my handy husband for all he does, to my mother-in-law for the delicious cake, to my best friends and sister (my bridesmaids) for sharing the day with us and helping in many ways, to my mom and dad for all they do to make everything run perfectly smooth.

And one last HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little man. I love you to the moon!
-Amanda

First We Had Each Other - Personalized Onesie Silhouette Cameo Heat Transfer Material Project

Our dear friends recently welcomed their baby girl, Olive, to the world. Jeff and Nicole had a co-ed baby shower in San Luis Obispo, CA which was airplane themed and so much fun. For Olive's gift, I purchased a crate from Michael's, stained it, painted it white, distressed it, then used my Cameo to cut out "Olive" in hot pink vinyl. I also added her monogram to the other side of the crate and gave it a coat of weather-proof varnish.

When it was finished, I filled the crate with all of my must-have baby items and the most adorable lace outfit and headband on earth (from this Etsy seller). On each gift, I taped a tag which said what the item was for and why I love it. 

Now that Olive is here, and we are going to visit her tomorrow for the first time, I decided to make her a little onesie using my Silhouette Cameo and Smooth Heat Transfer Material. 

I had an idea of what I wanted the onesie to look like. Olive's daddy is an airline pilot (I flew with him back when I was a flight attendant), so I searched for a cute airplane in the Silhouette Store and found this little fella for .99. For the back of the onesie, I created a design with the adorable saying, "First we had each other. Then we had you. Now we have everything." Seriously cute.

When I was satisfied with the design I did the most important step - Mirror the Image! I wasted a good 6 inches of material by forgetting this step on a previous craft - major bummer.

This is how the image looks mirrored. Since you'll be placing the image material side down, it will be right-side up when you iron it on.

After a couple of test cuts, I found this setting to be the most efficient for my machine: Smooth Heat Transfer, Speed 8, Thickness 14, Blade 1. No cutting mat.

Once cut, I slowly peeled the excess material off the plastic sheet to reveal the image.

I love the handy dandy hook tool and used it to pick the small pieces of extra material off the sheet. Side note - holy crap, the plastic sheet is sticky! And try not to touch the material too much or it will be tough to transfer.

Then I placed the image on the fabric and fired up the iron. I use the highest cotton setting on my iron. 

After a minute or two, I removed the protective sheet (which comes in the Heat Transfer box) and ironed directly on the plastic sheet for a few seconds. Also, after I carefully removed the plastic, I quickly pressed the iron over the material to give it a good seal. I'm not sure if this step is effective or not, it just makes sense to do it.

The curly letters were a bit tricky and wouldn't transfer right away. I allowed the plastic sheet to cool before attempting to peel it away and that worked. If you're working with chunkier letters, it is easier to take the sheet off when it is still warm. 

Here's the final result!

I've enjoyed the few times I've been able to use the Heat Transfer material. This morning my sister ran  in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon at Disneyland (along with 12,000 others). I made this EAT MY PIXIE DUST shirt (with Tinkerbell on the front) for her first 13.1mi race. Way to go, sis!

-Amanda