Birthday Memories

At our house we are busy preparing for my daughter's fourth birthday party. This year she has requested a Strawberry Shortcake party and while I did pick up a few Strawberry Shortcake items, the main theme is really just berries.

All this party planning and the fact that she is already four has me looking back at her past three parties and I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things from them.

Her first birthday party was a Winnie the Pooh party. I purchased almost everything that year, except the cake which I made to look like a beehive. I thought it came out pretty cute.

I found the perfect flag for the day too...

Just love this shot...

For her second birthday we went with a fairy theme. I was a little more crafty that year and made the invitations as well as the favors. I purchased cupcakes topped with a variety of icing flowers and added little butterfiles from Michael's to them. Here is the invitation which had a sliding inner panel.

These little fairies were the favors. My sister-in-law helped me make up a bunch of these little cuties. They were super easy to make. I will share more details about them in another post.

For her third birthday we had a mermaid party, not neccessarily Ariel, just mermaids. I found the perfect cake at Market Basket of all places! It was so good that I ordered this year's cake from there too.

I also made some extra cupcakes adorned with seashells that I made with Sizzlits dies that I had.  

And my favoritest creation of all is this paper-mache mermaid that I made. I admit it was a labor of love but came out so great. It is hanging on the wall in her room now.

Wow, that was a long post, but I could not resist!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

~ Julie D.

Tuesday Trigger: The Pyrex Effect

I played along with the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger again this week. This week's inspiration is The Pyrex Effect. I loved the vibrant colors and bold designs, so cheery and sunny!

Here is my take on this week's challenge. We had bowls like these when I was growing up but they were white and blue and had dots that formed little flowers and scallops around the rims. I think one or two may still live in a cupboard at our camp.

All supplies are from A Muse Studio except for the border punch which is by Martha Stewart and the brad which I have no idea where it came from (it was lurking in the deep dark depths of my embellishment box). I just love how you can color the paper flowers with Copics to match anything!

Card Recipe:

Papers: Sugar, Cherry & Orange Polka Dot

Cranberry Pigment Ink

Birthday Greeting Stamp Set

Meadow Mix Paper Flowers

Copic Markers (YR16 & R29) 

Orange Satin Ribbon

Brad

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you are enjoying some sunshine!

~ Julie D.

Tuesday Trigger: Some Royal Fun

I decided I would play along (for the first time ever) with this week's Tuesday Trigger Challenge over at Moxie Fab World.  Here is the inspiration for this week: Some Royal Fun.

As soon as I saw the inspiration photo I immediately thought of this piece of cake stamp. Here is my take on this week's challenge.

I added a little glitter to the frosting...yummy!

All supplies, with the exception of the punches, are from a muse studio.

If you have never been to the Moxie Fab World's blog you should check it out, it is very inspiring. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Hope you have a great day!

~ Julie D.

Recycled Flowers

My son's school held a Green Event this weekend to raise awareness in our community on being eco-friendly and recycling. So I thought I would share these great paper flowers that I made using a variety of recycled papers, a few embellishments and Nestabilities dies.

I have an old dictionary that I absolutely love to use for projects like this. There is something about the text and the worn and yellowed paper that I find appealing, once it has been inked and spritzed that is! I also like to use pages torn from the map sections of old phone books, tissue paper saved from gifts, and school lined paper & paper with music notes pulled from the recycle bins at home and work.

I have this huge collection of mismatched buttons, you know, those extra buttons in little packets that come with most new garments, and buttons that I have been saving for who knows what. For years I have been putting these packets and loose buttons in a box and decided to repurpose them since I realized that I no longer even have the clothing that most of them belong to or were intended for anyway. I think they make the perfect centers for these flowers.

I made this one into a pin. I simply used hot glue to attach a piece of felt to the back and then added a pin back. I gave the flower a light coat of crystal clear glaze to make it a bit more sturdy.  

These flowers were inspired by Donna Salazar and a detailed video tutorial can be found here. I hope you give it a try, they are super easy to make and are a good way to reuse a variety of papers. I also think they look great used on a gift instead of a bow, even cuter if the gift is in a recycled paper bag or wrapped with recycled paper!

Paper flower embellishments, crystal clear glaze and Nestabilities dies are all available through my A Muse Studio website!

Thanks for visiting!

~ Julie D.

Swinging Day!...New Shipping Rates!

Yesterday did not feel like spring here at all. I am so ready for warmer weather, it seems like it is taking forever to come. Today is going to be warmer so I thought I would share this cute card I made using stamps from the A Muse Studio Swinging Day stamp set. All supplies are from a|s with the exception of the embossing folder used for the ball, which is from Cuttlebug. It is very springy!

I am pleased to announce that a|s has just reduced their shipping charges for orders that are part of a qualifying workshop to 10% of the merchandise total. We spoke and they listened! Any order of $150 or more qualifies as a workshop and the hostess earns free product! If you have a large order for yourself or have a few friends who would like to order, they can be combined into a workshop order and qualify for reduced shipping and free product! You do not even have to "host", just contact me to place your order! Of course if you do host a workshop you get to try the products before you buy them and have some fun creating with friends!

If you would like to purchase A Muse Studio goodies from my a|s website and have them ship directly to you the regular shipping rates will apply ($6.95 for orders up to $50 - for orders over $50, shipping is $6.95 for the first $50 plus 10% of the amount over $50). 

Hope you have a swinging day!

~ Julie D.