YAY for showers!

Cake pops and new cupcake recipes galore!

This time? Chocolate cake pops. YUMMMM

New cupcake recipes included peanut butter cupcakes made from scratch w/ store-bought chocolate frosting. I used my cool frosting tools from Pampered Chef to make the cool shape on top.

The other new recipe was a vanilla cake with buttercream frosting which I colored pink. They were delish. The frosting was a little runny b/c it was so humid, but I threw them in the fridge for a few minutes to save them.

Lots of compliments to go around and no leftovers at the end. :)

Rapunzel bag Attempt #2=Success!

TA-DAH! The Rapunzel "practice" bag is finished! (well, almost!)

Much to my delight, the second attempt proved to be the best method. While it took me probably about 3 hours to complete this bag, now that i know what I am doing, one can only hope it will take less time to make the actual bags for favors. I am anxiously awaiting my Hobby Lobby order to arrive any day now. The bags I will be making will be much smaller than this one, sized at 6x5. I will sew the tulle all the way around the bags and purchased different tulle for the bags than I used on the sample. (shiny tulle instead for the princess bags--makes it look a bit more glittery).

I pinned three separate levels of tulle and sewed each level individually after pleating and pinning down. I included a bit more white on the top level so it looks more even. This worked out great. I did NOT sew tulle all the way around the practice bag. I may end up giving this bag to another little girl, so decided not to b/c of her size. I thought the tulle on the inside would be too much for her at this point.

I topped it with a row of elastic sequins purchased from JoAnn's (NOTE: Sequins are NOT cheap...bring a coupon when you buy this or look for it to be on sale in the ad on the weekends.) I sewed the bottom of the sequins first and still have the top to do. This was easy and I recommend using the same color thread as the sequins to hide imperfect sewing tactics if you fall into that category. (I sure do!)


Helpful HINT: For up close and personal directions on how to pleat and sew the tulle onto a bag, go here:

http://craftinit.blogspot.com/2011/02/tutu-tote-bag-tutorial.html

That blog was quite helpful.


What's left?

-sewing top of sequins to ensure that it's secure and sewing them on the backside of the bag
-trimming the tulle on the bottom so it's a bit more even
-re-sewing the tulle at each end of the bag if needed


It's always enjoyable when a vision and a "copycat" version of something you see somewhere actually works out and looks super cute. A proud crafting moment, that is for sure. Now the list of girls coming to B's party continues to grow. Seriously girl...haha I am worried what the boys will get because these are SO cute and SO cool. What do you think they would like at at Princess themed party???? Suggestions are welcome!

Tutu bag is coming along

Pleating is definitely the way to go. Now I must decide...to finish it all the way around the bag or only in the front?

Princess tote bag attempt #1: ##FAIL

CUTE BUT FAIL

Yes it was an EPIC fail, actually. I started out making it like I would a traditional tutu using a 1 1/2 inch off white ribbon as the "anchor"...and while the method worked, sewing it onto the bag worked too. However, it was WAY TOO POOFY up top and crooked as you can see. I still needed to sew some sequin strips up there, so this would have made it look too lumpy. I needed it to look flat. Therefore, I scoured Google to see what other tips were out there. Thanks to You Tube, a possible solution was discovered: pleating the tulle. This is pretty easy and it lays FLAT. I should have used my sewing machine, but opted to try it by hand. The pleating and sewing took me about an hour for the first layer. Now I know why people charge so much for them (although they probably use their sewing machines, which I might try with the next bag, which will be a Snow White-themed bag).

I recommend that you use the rolls of tulle, which you can find in the wedding section at Michael's (and probably JoAnn's). They are $2.99 a roll. I am going to try and find some yellow and pink glitter tulle, which I am guessing will be in the fabric section of JoAnn's.

Another recommendation: make the bag using three layers of pleated tulle.

Okay one more: make sure you have pins so you can pin it down while you are pleating.

Because I cut a bunch of purple into long strips to make the first bag, a lot of tulle was wasted. I decided to re-use those pieces and pleated piece by piece because it was not necessary to throw that tulle away. Might as well use it; after all, this was a practice bag anyway. Remember, tulle can also be used for making fun hair pieces, which of course will be attempted later this summer.

Materials:

-while waiting for my 6x5 tote bags (in all colors) from HObby Lobby to arrive, I picked up a bigger purple bag at Michael's for $1.69

-Roll of Tulle (whatever color(s) you need

-sewing machine or a needle and some thread

-scissors

-pins

-Strand of sequins (probably two strands, I am guessing)...haven't purchased this yet, but will soon


By the way...please please please consider making your OWN tutus. They are SOOOO easy to make. (HELLO YOUTUBE!!!) No lie. If you have some time to try it out and LOVE crafting, I say why not?! Use coupons and get the tulle 40% off so it's even cheaper and find some elastic. You can use 1 1/2 inch ribbon or those elastic hair bands can work (that you use when you work out to hold your hair back while it's in a pony tail) b/c they stretch like a waste band. Soooo I am thinking that my beloved niece will get a tutu from me for Christmas and I have the PERFECT IDEA for a color scheme. :) Brynn and C. will have matching tutus. I can't wait! I even might send one to a friend's girlie for her 4th birthday. (pending time and how they turn out)

Pics to come soon of Attempt #2...wish me luck!

Bows are back in business!

Birthday Ideas and Planning

I heart birthdays. I heart birthday party planning. I heart stealing ideas from Etsy and making them myself. I heart ordering things from Etsy when I run out of time or someone else can create something I can't.

I love finding new birthday party themes. Brynn's is coming up in September and we are already planning. I asked her if she wanted a princess party or a cupcake themed party. She went back and forth for awhile and finally settled on the princess theme because she saw this cute Tangled cake at the grocery store. Great. :) It's a go.

#5 will be Princess/Tangled themed...we'll have a little bit of both for the party.

Other themes I want to try and convince my children to have:

-Owl party
-Cupcake or Ice Cream
-Rainbow party
-Honey Bee
-Tea Party (complete with vintage tea cups)
-Rock/Guitar themed/music party
-Batman or Super Hero Party
-Spa Party (@ nail salon)
-Bow Tie Party or a Tie Party
-Monkey or a Safari party
-Hungry Caterpillar Party
-Dance/Ballerina Themed party
-Sweets or Candy party
- Lego-themed party
-Star Wars party
-Pirate party
-Pinaklicious or a Fancy Nancy-ish Party
-Pets Party (dog-themed)
-Circus?
-Pool party
-Monster
-Animal Print Party



Party themes we have used:

-Luau/Hawaiian
-Hello Kitty
-Elmo
-1st Birthday (Pink)--no real theme b/c she was sooo sick around that time

-Cars/Racecar
-Tractor/John Deere
-Camouflage

**Check out the next project I will be attempting for my sweet Bee's 5th birthday--favor bags...depending on how expensive they are. We will see. :) She will probably only invite 3-4 girls, so it could be doable. Tulle is not that expensive at all and making tulle skirts are super easy. I think I just need to figure out how to sew them onto the bag. Luckily, I have a sewing machine, which should help. :) Wish me luck! If I get good at them, you'll be the first to know.

Festive 4th of July bows

These are super cute and easy to make. After you make two boutique styled bows, add your favorite boa feathers around the middle and secure with hot glue. My husband would claim how messy the feathers are, but aren't they just simply adorable? I made these for my sweet Bee for the 4th this year. We decided to get festive!