Sage's Birthday Party

This past Saturday, Sage turned 11.

To celebrate, we invited a few of her friends over for an art party.

Now, we'd already been thinking of an art party for her next birthday last year.

So, when Betsy Veldman's Masterpiece kit came out,

we had to get it -- it was exactly what we needed!

We used the stamps/dies to create the invitations

(which I forgot to photograph before we delivered-- oops!)

and the treat bags.

We had the dining room table set up with butcher paper

and canvases before the girls arrived:

Their first activity was painting canvases with acrylic paint.

Sage and I had created place cards for the guests using the Masterpiece kit

-- and those sweet easel dies!

I printed the names on the computer, trimmed the cardstock to 2" square

and stamped a butterfly from the Masterpiece kit on each one.

This is the canvas Sage painted -- it will go perfectly in her room!

The girls got to hang out for a bit -- I think they created Miis for themselves on our Wii U.

Our next activity was painting on watercolour paper with watercolours.

After we cleaned up from that, it was time for our snack, which I set up on our piano.

I added a couple of the watercolour pictures Sage & Clara had painted.

Using the same idea as the placecards, we created frames on easels for the food.

For the cupcake toppers, Sage and I diecut the printed easels from the Masterpiece kit.

I think the girls would be super disappointed if I didn't serve Butter Crunch at 

Sage's party -- it's definitely a favourite!

Thanks for looking!

Owls & Butterflies: Sage's 10th Birthday Party

Yesterday, we had Sage's birthday party and 

went with a combination of owls & butterflies for the theme.

The party started with a photo shoot outside on our front steps...

Then, we went inside and the girls played while I printed out the photos.

Once copies were printed out for each girl, they made mini-books with them.

One of the girls had to leave early, unfortunately.

We did a second craft after that -- they decorated EOS lip balms with

some patterned paper I die cut using PTI's Critter Cuties: Owl die.

Aren't they cute! Thanks to Betsy Veldman for the idea!

I hung butterflies from the chandelier and arranged the snack on the piano...

We made cupcake toppers using the Life is Beautiful dies.

Sage & I found the cupcake holder at a garage sale and Austin spray

painted it gold for me.

I also made some owl cookies 

(sorry for the poor photo!)

I think, all in all, that it was a success!

Thanks for looking!

A Pumpkin Party -- Part 2

Yesterday, I shared photos of the pumpkin party that I hosted for my Sunday School class.

Today, I just wanted to share the treat bags that I made for them to take home.

I used brown paper lunch bags.

I die cut some tags from rustic white card stock. 

On these, I stamped a little pumpkin onto each one. 

I diecut banners from kraft card stock.

I stamped on these with the woodgrain image and then overtop with the sentiment.

The images and sentiment are all from Reverse Confetti's Forever Fall stamp set.

Thanks for looking!

A Pumpkin Party -- Part 1

 On the last Saturday in October, I hosted a Pumpkin Party for my Sunday School class.

I have a group of 10 eight and nine years olds and
I thought it would be fun to have them over for a little party.

Sage and I had fun getting ready.

We changed up our chalk board for the party and added some little fake pumpkins for
decoration on the piano.

We also covered the table with paper and I wrote each child's name on it to mark their place.

It was Sage's idea to make a garland from leaves. 

We die cut these from patterned paper and my four leaf dies and I sewed them together.

We draped some of the garland over the chalkboard frame and 

the rest, we hung in our dining room window.

When the kids arrived, we had them hunt for the pumpkins we'd hidden in the house. 

Then, they got to decorate them, using feathers, felt, patterned paper and markers.

The end results were pretty adorable!

And the kids seemed pretty pleased with them, too.

After we were done with our craft, the kids played outside in the backyard, 

while I set up the food.

I had to use my beverage server, because, well, I just love it! 

I made a homemade iced-tea recipe and 

then Jonah and I combined a lemonade frozen concentrate 

with a berry frozen concentrate to make a second drink that was a huge hit!

I also served...

I was inspired by the cookies that Elena decorated 

and attempted to decorate mine in the same fashion.

I made up the little cards for the food by printing the names on card stock with my printer and then stamping some images from Reverse Confetti's Forever Fall stamp set.

Thanks for looking!

Sage's Jungle Party

As I said when I shared her birthday invitations, Sage chose the theme of her birthday party when she got some wooden African skewers given to her at a garage sale this summer. 

Because the thought of so many colours/patterns made my head spin, 

we decided to go with a black, white and pink colour palette.

I set up the food/drinks on the piano.

Here are some close ups.

I had to use my new drink dispenser that I got this summer-- isn't it fabulous?

We had a choice of beverages...

And here are the cookies we made 

(thanks to my friend, Elena who inspired me to make the cookies and then 

endured many, many questions about icing them!)

Here's how we used the skewers...

And, for the cake, I decided to try to make an elephant. It turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

A photo of Sage and her guests....

And one more, posing with the journals we decorated for our craft...

Thanks for looking!