confetti by lexi

starlight movie night

after sharing last weekend's backyard party yesterday, i realized that i never posted the one from last year. our eleventh hour brainstorm then was to rent an inflatable movie screen and have a movie party under the stars. for the invitation i designed a drive in movie style logo on a big screen, complete with retro frame details, stars, and concessions characters - "let's all go to concessions! let's all go to concessions!" i couldn't resist! i even included a few vertical static lines. remember those?!

the invitation design also lent itself well to creating some fun signage. in addition to the welcome sign above, i created others for concessions, the game room, the restroom, enter this way, and thank you for coming. like the banners yesterday, it was an easy element that helped set the scene and personalize the party. ferris bueller's day off was our special feature that night - the kids would stop and watch parts of it here and there, but it really ended up being background noise to the seventh graders more than anything else. although the two fifth graders watched it from start to finish despite the noise and flying objects - boys will throw anything!

you can't have a movie party without popcorn and candy, right? the movie screen company also had popcorn machines available to rent, so it was fresh and hot. as always the candy was a hit. gotta love the bulk choices at sam's - the display boxes they came in were perfect for the movie theater feel. other concessions included quesidillas made to order at the grill - yum!

and last, but not least, i created a popcorn cake. this is a remake of one i've made a couple of times before. it was silly to try to come up with something new. it's such a fun design - and easy, too! i love the added touch of using real popcorn with melted marshmallow to "fill" the container and have a couple of spilled pieces. so there you have it - another take on the back yard bash! and i'm finally sharing things from the very high "to post" pile...

goodnight!
:) lexi

surprise crawfish boil

sunday was my older daughter's 14th birthday, and like almost every year, it was a soccer tournament weekend and we had to wait for her game schedule to be released before making any birthday decisions. it didn't turn out to be a very good schedule, which left her unsure about what she wanted to do, if anything. so, while she was busy being disappointed and indecisive, i secretly took it out of her control and set about planning a last minute surprise back yard bash for saturday night after her game. i knew she'd be hungry and she loves crawfish, so a crawfish boil became my theme. i created the invites as a pic to be texted and sent it off to one of her friends to circulate. then i printed a few variations of it for decorations...

to set a crawfish table, all you really need is newspaper, which was the basis of my invite design. a few full legal copies of it were the perfect addition to our crawfish table for a fun personal touch!

half page print outs cut into flags, alternating with blue cardstock flags, made for a cute banner - and another perfect personal touch. a few uncut ones taped around in different places let the birthday girl see the complete invite she'd missed. don't you love that blue and red washi tape?

a party like this definitely needed a photo booth with fun props. i added another flag banner to my set up and used elements of the invite along with the same fonts and colors to create a logo style caption for the pics. i highly recommend sparkbooth for party photo booths. i love the personalization possibilities and how easy it is to set up and use. kids (and many adults) always have fun when i bring this out!

and last, but definitely not least, i even figured out how to perform surgery on swedish fish to make candy crawfish to embellish the cake (!!), with yet another little piece of the invite, in flag form, flying above. over all, the decorations, mainly created from the invite, really pulled everything together. plus, they were easy to hide and quick to assemble, so the birthday girl was very surprised even though i did it all right under her nose - yay!!

:) lexi

hunger games propaganda

from campaign propaganda to hunger games propaganda! when i left off blogging earlier this year, i was in the middle of throwing a hunger games party for my 11 year old. at that point, i'd only shared a sneak peek of the invitation, but there was so much more to come in the planning and executing of that party. it was actually one of the best we've ever thrown, mostly due to the overwhelming interest in the movie and books among the girls in her class, but also because we went all out with the details. it will take a few posts to show and tell everything - from food and activities to our own version of the hunger games (of course!). i thought i'd start today with the mini posters that i created to hang around the party and send home with the guests. i saw a couple of similar ones on pinterest, but i wanted a consistent look and color scheme to match the invite, and i knew that i could create them myself. and boy did i! once i started, i couldn't stop...

these are the kind of projects that keep me up way past my bedtime! the outcome was exactly what we needed to decorate the house and set the tone for the party. the girls (and other hooked parents!) loved reading them and making connections to the movie and books. the odds were definitely in our favor that night!

:) lexi

p.s. a countdown to new stamps starts tomorrow, so stay tuned! and afterwards, more hunger games...

let the fun begin...

i had so much fun with this little ensemble from the weekend that it gets to jump ahead of the stack! one of my return customers wanted to throw some kind of game night party for her daughter and i showed her mignon's 9th birhtday post for some inspiration. we had turned our family room into a "mini arcade," focusing on the new dance dance revolution for the wii that we had gotten for christmas that year, and borrowing several other games. the biggest hit was scoring a claw machine for the night. it turned out to be just the inspiration my client was looking for. so after she found a place to rent a claw machine, i created a paper one for the invite. i love fun drawing jobs like this!

we carried claw bits and pieces over to the favor bag sticker and a cd sticker for the birthday girl's party mix. "game on" from the invite is changed to "game over" for the favors!

and of course, a claw machine cake was necessary. i think i duplicated the paper one pretty nicely. and judging from the birthday girl's big smile when i delivered it, she thought so too!!

game on!
:) lexi

a blue ribbon birthday

the end of last week turned into cake-week, with two days in a row making cakes.  my kitchen was a mess of sugar, butter, and best of all cake scraps!  this one was created to look like the invitation for the party, pictured above--twin vs. twin in a field day face off!

the ribbon was fairly easy to construct, although a little tricky to ice in a few places, like where the blue ribbon meets at the circle and the ribbon cuts at the bottom.  a great plus to the cake is that it's easy to do both yellow and chocolate cake, because the top is a two layer round cake, and the bottom is cut from two square layers.  options are good--a slice of each for me, please!

in addition to the cake, i also created cup stickers and iron-on tshirt transfers.  i love those details that pull it all together!!

:) lexi

flashback friday :: first communion

yay!  i made it through to the end of week and flashback friday!  today i'm flashing back to my girls' first communions.  judging from my stats again, it seems that many readers are looking for first communion ideas--invitations, cakes, decorations.  we only invited family and god parents, but i still wanted invitations and a matching cake!  this bible cake was made to match the stamp we used for my younger daughter's invite.  for my older daughter, two years earlier, i made a cross in the clouds cake, inspired by a rainbow cake we saw in a magazine which, in turn, inspired the invitation.  i love details even when it is just for family!

happy communion planning!
:) lexi

original posts:  may 3, 2009 and may 6, 2007

glee!

i have so much fun with my girls' birthday parties every year, but this year's glee theme for my now 12 year old was so timely and perfect for her group of girls that it was even more fun than ever!  i used a graphic i found online for the invitation, photoshopping the birthday girl right into the middle of it.  i opted for simple wording, using a font that matches the glee logo, letting the pictures take center stage.

before you even get to the cute invite, i like setting the tone on the envelope with fun details to generate a little excitement.  it was the perfect place to add a slushee, spilling out of the cup, of course!  and since we took several gleek shots of mignon trying to get the perfect one above, i created a personalized sticker with a different image to seal it all shut.

decorations included a sign outside greeting the party girls to william mckinley high school, as well as various posters hung around the party space.  i even found a map of mckinley high that i posted in a few places, highlighting the classrooms and characters around school.  these were both helpful when they were taking a glee trivia test, which was the first of several activities...

the glee trivia (how gleeky are you?!) was a freebie found online--i simply changed the header to include the birthday girl's picture in order to match my other printables.  luckily it comes with an answer key!  another great online find was glee bingo--delivered right to my email inbox, and super easy to print and play.  the bingo markers? cheerios, of course!  we played one round until we had several winners to give little prizes to.  the fan favorite was a slushee facial "game" which involved throwing water slushees (water + snowball ice) into each other's faces, while they tried to protect their clothing behind a big box.  the main event was a sing off, using the glee karaoke revolution for wii.

anyone interested in singing in the karaoke sing off signed up at the beginning of the party.  i love that they signed up as their characters, especially when the first rachel asked for a gold star to mimic the real rachel!

munchies and treats consisted of do-it-yourself slushees (for drinking only!), including personalized "big quench" cups and red twizzler straws, tator tots from the mckinley high cafeteria (mercedes demanded them!), and fruit for a little balance.  it was also pizza day in the cafeteria.

for dessert and song, we had the L hand cake from monday's post and big quench cupcakes.  i wish i could take credit for the cupcakes, but they were another online find--google is invaluable when planning almost any themed party!  the directions included a freebie label, but i decided to create my own, similar but with the addition of a personalized birthday logo!

and finally, at the end of the night the girls were given a few glee-ful treats to take home in a cup with another gleeky sticker--nerds & pop rocks (both very fitting!), hand signs pencil toppers, and a trophy from regionals, along with a couple of official glee accessories from claire's.  the prizes for the games were glee key chains, also from claire's, plus a few extra glee bands. 

i followed it all up the next day with one last keepsake--a collage of all the gleeks at the party, made to match the invite!  it was so much fun, i want to do it all over again!!

gleek-fully yours,
:) lexi

12th bowling extravaganza

last weekend, i printed and ironed another set of bowling t-shirts for the big sister of the 2010 twins.  this time, the color scheme was pink and green.  as i said then, it's such a great way to make your party group stand out at the lanes--and a fun memory of the party every time they wear it afterwards.

:) lexi

shop 'til you drop!

the challenge: an invitation for a mall scavenger hunt party for two girls turning 10.  some requests:  pink & black, something involving a camera and money.  the result:  another top personal favorite!

as i do with many invitations, i started with a logo.  actually, two in this case--a primary "shop" logo on the bag and a secondary one on the camera.  the bag was packed and ready with a camera, money, and even a receipt.  the main party information was on the screen on the back of the camera, with additional information and fun touches on the store receipt.  information aside, the personalized money was the highlight of the whole ensemble!

while the shopping pieces and parts really make it wow, the camera could actually be a great invitation on its own.  with the birthday girls' names and age on the front, and the party info on the back, everything is all on one piece.  i'm thinking neighborhood scavenger hunt or some other photography themed party in its next life!

the birthday "store" logo also came in handy when it came time for cake.  they wanted something easy to serve in the mall, in a coordinating pink and black.  chocolate cupcakes with pink buttercream were the perfect choice!  i topped half of them with cookies & cream hard candies, to pull in a little black and white, and the other half with logos that i punched out and attached with toothpicks.  totally yummy & nicely matched!

:) lexi

2010 twins

a great way to personalize a birthday party is to make tshirts for the guests.  they'd be great favors, but it's especially fun to have the kids put them on when they arrive if the party is in a public place like a bowling alley.  these were designed for twin boys turning 10 last weekend, using classic bowling colors to match their party supplies and a name they gave themselves.  i also created a coordinating cake...

since they're twins, my two pin and ball design was perfect since each could have a cake with his own name.  the ball (baked in a bowl!) is chocolate cake, the pins, yellow.  something for everyone--a 10 twin split!

:) lexi

these boots are made for eating...

i created an invitaton for two cute little cowgirls a couple of weeks ago, and this weekend, i got to bake the cakes, too.  cowboy boots are perfectly pretty in pink!  each one is cut out of a 9 x 13 cake using a hand drawn template, flipped so the boots faced different directions.  to please the crowd, one cake is chocolate, the other yellow.  brown iced heels, "stitching" in a slightly darker pink, and their names as a white center seam were the perfect design details.

pink, brown and white had been the color scheme for our invitation, which is why we chose them for the cakes.  the idea for the invites came from playbill type notices, focusing on a cool western font that is as much the illustration as the text.  to add interest, i pulled in two complimentary text fonts and another dingbat font for the fleurishes.  i've said it before many times, but this invite is proof of the fact that i'm a total font junkie!!

:) lexi

i-sing for cake

one of my little friends came up with the theme "american idol meets icarly" for her birthday party and asked me to make the cake.  she found the topper and wanted a cake similar to the one pictured with it, so that's exactly what i did.  i added the fondant lettering to make it more about her!  she's a very detailed client, and also sketched these for me to create...

the idea was that the newest american idol constestants (i.e. the party guests) were being featured on icarly, performing their songs.  so of course each guest needed a vip stage pass, while the birthday girl received a special all access pass.  i've done these for a variety of birthday party themes--they're super easy and always a hit!

happy friday!
:) lexi

one cake, two cake, orange cake, blue cake!

i did so well posting last week, but got buried under work again this week!  i've created so much over the last few months, but just can't seem to get things photographed or downloaded in order to post them properly and regularly, but i'm trying.  this cake is from a few weeks ago and easily became one of my all time favorites.  i have always loved dr. seuss, so this was a lot of fun to create.  here's a side view...

i wish my hand had been a little steadier on placing the letters!  and the camera always highlights every little flaw that you don't necessarily notice in person.  i'll never make a cake show!!

the real books were perfect party decorations...

along with a welcome sign for the door!

perfect for turning four!!

:) lexi

colleen's candy bar {part 2}

games, games, games!  i didn't want the party to be all about eating candy, so we came up with lots of candy games to play.  the centerpiece, of course, was candy land...

and not just any candy land, but a life-sized, walk around the board version in the front yard!!  this was fun to create and a huge hit.  we just cut the game board squares from posterboard, including the special territory pieces, and placed them out on the grass.  we even made gumdrop pass and the rainbow trail--every detail counts!  i would have liked to decorate each area of the board, but we were threatened with rain and there were so many other decorations that it really wasn't necessary.  there was also time for the real board game version...

along with candy factory, a wii game all about making candy!

as part of the favors, the girls could make "sand art" pens found in the sand art aisle at michael's, made sweeter with pixie sticks!

and each had a turn at the "candy chance" for various candy flavored lip balms.  each dum dum has a number that corresponds to one of the little favor packages--pull one and see what you get.  it's fun to have everyone open up a little present!

i did create a tiny cake, more for show, because at a party like this you really have to let the kids go crazy with candy on their own cupcakes!

we had lots of active games too, spread throughout the party and even in the morning--human candy cane stick relay, wrap one team member with two colors of streamers; lollipop drop, try to pull your lollipop off the moving string with your mouth only; tootsie roll toss, in the bucket for 5, in the hoop for 1; and tower of pillows, stack all the pillows one by one without letting them fall over--tricky with some of the little pillows girls bring!

we even found a breakfast choice that involved candy!

and i almost forgot to share the special shirt i made for colleen to wear...

this was one sweet party!
:) lexi

colleen's candy bar {part 1}

this post has been a long time coming!  i finally sifted through the tons of pictures we took of colleen's candy themed sleepover birthday party and picked out the ones that tell the party story the best.  actually it will be two posts long!  first, i have the invitations and decorations, and then, the activities--and lots of candy all around!  after one of big sister's friends had a "lilly wonka" sleepover that i did the invitation for a couple of years ago, colleen has been determined to have candy as the theme of her first sleepover party.  she loves dylan's candy bar so instead of doing the chocolate/wonka theme, we came up with "colleen's candy bar" and went with a more overall candy land theme.  we still did candy bar birthday invitations, but skipped the golden ticket, making the whole label the invitation.

welcome to colleen's candy bar!  the girls were welcomed by an official sign, foam core/printed lollipops, and...

"plumpy" trees!  (wait 'til you see what else was outside tomorrow!!)

inside, the party table was decorated with a variety of candies, "lollipop stick" straws, and toothbrushes!  most of this was for prizes & party favors.  we got a lot of the fun specialty candy at a cute local candy shop, lucky you!  they even had a small version of the piñata--a sweet keepsake!

there's the full-size piñata--a cute decoration for now, ready to be beaten apart later!  and look at the cute mini candy bins we got from dylan's online, filled with a few of colleen's favorite sugary treats, complete with mini scoops.  the disks in the bucket (also in the big jar on the table) are "flying saucers" from lucky you!  they're flavored wafers filled with sweet and sour sugars and are a huge kid fave--i loved the bright colors they added.

and last, but not least, logo labels on mini water bottles added to the candy store feel--a quick and easy touch!

this was definitely a great theme for decorating--bright colors + candy, candy, and more candy!  we came up with lots to do besided eating candy, too, but you'll have to come back tomorrow for that...

sweet dreams!
:) lexi

another first communion

today was colleen's first communion.  as with most other special milestones, the occasion called for an invitation and cake.  i showed her two options for the invite and she fell in love with the bible in church mice from the saltbox studio...

it took us a while to design the perfect background paper and finalize the color scheme, but it finally came together!  as we were working on it, she asked if i could make the cake match the bible stamp...

so of course, i had to deliver!  it was pretty easy too--a 9 x 13 cake cut in half and stacked.  after icing the three "paper" sides with white buttercream, i used a texture triangle to add lines for the pages.  the look of a cover was easy with a little extra line of icing around the top edges and the base.  rolled fondant made the perfect cross detail, as well as the ribbon marker.  colleen was thrilled with the outcome!

i also printed my blue diamond design on text weight paper so that i could wrap her cross pendant to match the invite...

and onto labels to make favors for our guests--i found these great dove sweet tarts at party city and they were a big hit!  the new a muse anniversary set was also perfect for adding a green frame around the bible to mimic what i'd already done on the invitation.  have you placed an order to recieve your free set yet?  and speaking of a muse's anniversary, don't forget that there are chances to win lots of different a muse stuff on the a muse news blog every other day during the celebration--in fact, i hosted today's contest!  so if you haven't already, be sure to head over there and tell me what your first a muse stamp was...

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

workin' at the car wash!

i finally had a chance to edit the pics from mignon's birthday party last weekend--she had a car wash and it was such a fun party!  as always, it all starts with the perfect invitation.  we started with a car wash name, mignon's splash-n-dash, and created a logo, and then the invitation just took off from there.  it was a bit of a middle of the night project for me (surprise, surprise!), but it all came together!  don't you think every car wash needs a dirty limo to clean?!

so that became the cake too!  although it turned out looking more like a hummer than a limo in the end.  i even gave it "dirty" windows with messages and doodles in every one!  it's a little rough, but it is my first car.  my two favorite parts are the tail lights & license plate, and the sun roofs.  completely 3d cakes are always a little more challenging for me, but it was fun and it all gets cut up and eaten anyway!

one of my last minute ideas was to have t-shirts for the employees!  it had been really hot the week before the party, but was supposed to be cooler that day, so i thought it would be good to have the t's for during their breaks.  wilton t-shirt transfers for inkjet printers made this so easy and the girls looked really cute in them!

along with the car wash, we had a lemonade & cookie stand.  the first girls at the party helped create the signs to place at the front of the house, in front of the lemonade stand, and by the driveway where the actual washing took place.  we also had plenty of refreshments for the girls, too--whenever there were no cars, they were either having water fights complete with water balloons, or camped out around the snacks!  i found the little plastic buckets at the dollar store and used them all around the party and for the party favors...

a few little car wash supplies along with some things just for fun.  the christmas tree air fresheners were probably the biggest hit in the bucket!  when all was said and done, mignon raised $150 and decided on the local SPCA as her charity.  if you have the right space for a party like this, i highly recommend it.  and it really doesn't matter how much money you make.  it's more about the effort and embracing the idea of giving back, and i think turning 10 was a great time to do that in this way.  plus, it really was an absolute blast--good ol' wet & messy fun!

'nite!
:) lexi

fiesta time

today i have an invitation i created a couple of weeks ago for one of mignon's friends.  they're all turning ten this year--boy does time fly!  anyway, the request was for a mexican fiesta and to try to include a tiered cake graphic that i could turn into an actual cake for the party.  the invitation was a quick turn around project, so i drew a simple two dimensional "cake" with bright, funky colors and patterns, topped with a sombrero, also by request.  then, friday and saturday, i created the 3d, sugar and butter version...

i tried to copy the invite as closely as possible, so it would be recognizable, but with the added flair of angling the tiers.  the patterns are created with fondant icing, so that the lines would be crisp.  the hardest part was the zig zag lines, but i really wanted a different pattern on each tier--i did make sure to think the basics through when creating the drawing!  we didn't find a small sombrero, so i got a small straw hat from the doll aisle at michael's and did my best to mimic my drawing.  we added the maracas to help angle it, securing it to the cake with the happy birthday flag--the skewer goes right through the brim.  this was the first cake i've created quite like it, but i think it came out okay.  as always, i learned a little for the next time--mainly, i need to be able to create when i don't have a hundred things going on the same day!

i also created a quick sticker for the piñata bags--can't have a mexican fiesta without a piñata, right?!  i used elements from the invite to tie it together like the hat and the font along with the pattern from the bottom layer of the cake to create the bands of color.

and since that worked so well, i used the same design to create a gift tag for mignon's gift to the birthday girl.  i picked up a carload of girls from the party and my noisy car was definitely proof of a fun fiesta!

:) lexi

birthday olympics

even though i haven't been able to stamp much, i have had a few scattered orders in the midst of my unpacking and traveling.  this one was very last minute and needed to be emailed.  if you have to email an invite, it's still fun to be able to send something cute!  and i can still print out a paper copy for the birthday girl to keep.  i was particulary excited to have an olympic theme to work with--actually this is the first of two olympic designs i created.  i love big, bold and graphic!  i was also excited to be able to create the cake...

the design was a collaborative effort between the mom and me.  sweet and simple--and this week, simple was key!  aren't the flag toothpicks she found perfect?!

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

p.s.  i'm not quite ready to post complete pictures of my studio just yet.  But if you want another peek, i did highlight my two favorite ikea pieces in today's post at craft critique.  go check it out, especially if you're looking for new storage furniture like me!

love, marriage, baby carriage!

one of the things that's been keeping me busy was throwing a baby shower this past weekend for my sister-in-law with a few of her friends.  i was in charge of invitations, location, and cake--my favorite party jobs!  not knowing what the baby is, we chose yellow and green as our colors based on the baby's room and decided on a baby carriage for the invitation, which then led to the age-old phrase about love and marriage.  this was a fun invite to put together and everyone got a kick out of it!  here are a few other party pics...

the invitation also inspired me to create a standing baby buggy cake for the first time.  it was a little ambitious and it almost fell apart at the last minute, but in the end i was able to fix it and brainstorm about what to do if i ever want to attempt it again.  one of my favorite details is the wire handle.  even though the cake wasn't perfect, it was still cute and luckily, it tasted just right!

one of my favorite little touches for the party was using cloth diapers for napkins.  i saw this at a shower i attended way back when i was pregnant and had it filed away in my head ever since, so i was excited to be able to do it myself.  i found a few different patterned ribbons in the party colors and tied them around the wrapped silverware--very cute and a fun surprise for the guests!

i found these cute color coordinated bottles and binkies at target and used them in a few places around the party, including the door and with some flower arrangements that i forgot to photograph.  i also put a binky on a long piece of the pretty yellow ribbon for the honoree to wear--another fun and unique touch rather than the typical corsage or button.

this is a card i printed to record the gifts.  i thought it would be nice to have it on a piece that coordinated with the invite, so she can put them in an album together if she wants to.  i also created a set of thank you notes using the same colors.  since there are sheep on the nursery bedding, i used them on the card--plus sheep just make me think baby, especially this one by the saltbox studio!

speaking of gifts, here's my quick wrapping job.  since i had cut the phrase off of an extra invitation for the cake, i had a leftover buggy scrap--perfect for a gift card!  i also used the last little bit of ribbon from my party ribbon.  it wasn't long enough to tie, so i wrapped it, secured it with monoadhesive, and added a few jewels for added interest, kind of like a buckle.  i know i say it a lot--but i love quick and cute!!

and last, but definitely not least, every party should end with a favor.  one of the other hosts made these adorable onesie cookies.  they're all yellow, but each one has a cute different pattern in white--buttons, scallops, stripes, etc.  aren't they perfect?!  it was fun to throw a grown up party again!

thanks for stopping by...
:) lexi