confetti by lexi

spring break'n

enjoying the sun, sand, and surf with a bunch of girls!  be back soon...

:) lexi

more fun with peeps

i hope you had a nice easter!  before i leave it all behind 'til next year, i wanted to share another peeps treat that we created over the weekend for the family kids.  i saw it on the today show friday morning and thought it was the perfect new idea to try.  the cut cup creates a cracked egg for the peep to pop out of--so cute!  we packed it like a little egg basket, adding a bit of edible easter grass for another fun touch, not to mention something else to eat.  to me, the grass tastes a little like lightweight flavored styrofoam, but it was a novelty that everyone loved!  i call them peeps pops.  i managed to save one to photograph today, because i forgot to yesterday, but they looked so cute all piled up in the basket, too.

:) lexi

flashback friday :: egg-stra special

i thought i'd flash back to one more easter project this week.  i created these glittery eggs for a craft critique review of german glass glitter two years ago.  it would be a great last minute project for a few egg-stra special easter treats and all it takes is plastic eggs, gltter and a strong adhesive.  i used quarter inch tacky tape on the blue egg, and martha stewart double sided stickers on the yellow.  you can also use tacky glue or a crystal effects type product--just paint it on and be sure to let it dry afterward.  once you place your adhesive, smoosh into glitter and shake off excess--voila!  easy, peasy, and oh so cute!

happy easter weekend!
:) lexi

original post: april 9, 2009

fill in the blank

another way to get mail from your campers is the fill in the blank card.  it's the perfect idea for a young camper who may not have a lot of time to write, or who won't know what to say. i was working on just such a card for a brand new camper this week and came up with this fun canoe design.  it can be easily personalized with the camp name and the camper's favorite colors, or with camp colors, if the camp has them.

here it is again with the blue and orange of my girls' camp.  as always, i had a second design for the customer to see, so i thought i'd share that one too.  bright, fun, and easy to use!  if you've been reading for a while you may remember that my girls only wrote me once each of their first years, and the notes were very short.  now, they write slightly more, but maybe i should have sent something like these that first year to get them started!

:) lexi

peace, love, & sunshine!

away camp is only a little more than a month away for some, and the inquiries and orders have started coming in!  this new design is for a brand new camper, whose camp colors are green and white.  the box is the same as the ones i decorated for my girls, with lots of space for letter writing and drawing supplies, but personalized with her camp colors and stationery design.  peace, love, and sunshine is exactly what camp is all about!

:) lexi

40th photo flashback

the majority of invitation orders i get are for kids, which i love.  but it's fun to have some grown up challenges, too.  i don't know if this one qualifies as completely grown up though, since we were using a childhood picture, but it was for a grown up party!  the trick to this kind of full photo invitation is placing the text so that it doesn't interfere too much with the image.  while the words are going to cover parts of the image, you want to place them so that they are not competing with the features in the photo to distraction.  it's also important to make sure the photo doesn't overpower the words--everyone needs to clearly know who, what, when, and where!

:) 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

fashback friday :: peeps s'mores!

with easter quickly approaching, i thought i'd flashback to one of my all-time favorite easter treats:  peeps s'mores!  the idea originally came from fellow a muse crew member, jennie, and has become a staple class gift for us ever since.  as fun as they are to give, they're even more fun to make and eat--be sure to watch the magic happen through the microwave window!

:) lexi

original post: march 22, 2008

another castle cake

i'd intended to share a few more photographs today in keeping with the theme that took over the week.  but i was busy creating in the kitchen and ran out of time to sort through pics, so you get cake!  the request was for a small centerpiece creation for a reception following a school production of beauty and the beast.  i've done this basic cube castle several times--pink, most recently--and it was the perfect starting point.  this time, i added the stone bricks to coordinate with the set design and i love the new look.  even better, i heard it was a hit!

:) lexi

the wizarding world of harry potter

in keeping with the photography theme this week, i thought i'd share some pictures of the wizarding world of harry potter.  this was a small part of our orlando trip, but definitely a highlight!  from the streets of hogsmeade to the halls of hogwarts, it was perfect...

we spent a lot of time looking in the shop windows--so many details!!

the ollivander's experience was really cool.  one of our little group was picked for the wand selection, so that made it even more fun.

the line to the main ride, harry potter and the forbidden journey, takes you through hogwarts, including several recognizable rooms, and past lots of talking portraits.  we loved the line almost as much as the ride!  and the ride is completely awesome!!

the three broomsticks tavern in hogsmeade is the place to eat.  again, so many details to enjoy and the great feast was delicious.  don't forget the butterbeer!

of course, all the expected shops are there--dervish and banges, honeydukes, zonko's, and ollivanders--with fun wizarding wares for little muggles to buy with leftover christmas money!  and buy she did!!

:) lexi

striving for picture perfect

yesterday, i mentioned that my inspiration board had a few items to inspire photography projects.  one thing i've been working on a lot lately is trying to take better pictures.  i got the great camera, and now i want to be able to conquer all those buttons and dials!  i'm just finishing up with a class called oh shoot! on jessicasprague.com that has been really informative.  one class lesson fell during mardi gras week when we went to disney and universal/harry potter world, and it was fun to put the things i was learning to the test.

these pictures of the girls were assignments for a lesson on using the aperture priority setting and getting that blurred background when desired.  waiting for rides and trams provided plenty of time to practice this concept.  it helps that the girls are always willing subjects!  and the sass is such a fun added bonus, don't you think?

i'd already been on expedition everest several times, but the girls hadn't had enough yet, so while they did the single rider thing again and again, i was able to take some time to practice shutter speed priority from an earlier lesson, setting the shutter speed to get blurred motion and again, for frozen motion.  i even got a few of them that i can zoom in on to see the girls' faces!  i've learned so much.  while "picture perfect" is really a constantly moving target, i think i'm making great progress and having fun trying to get close!

:) lexi

inspiration

one of the many projects i accomplished over the time away from blogging was putting together a little inspiration board.  i came across several ideas i liked, but finally decided on a fabric covered coark board in a pretty frame.  there are a lot of straight modern edges in my office, and i thought it would be fun to throw in a little something ornate--i like to mix things up!  this round of found objects and pictures was mainly centered on my photography and doll projects, but i see myself pulling together seasonal displays when i need to focus on a specific project or assignment.  it always helps to have fun things to look at!

:) 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

meet you at the mall!

back in november, i posted a shop 'til you drop mall scavenger hunt invitation.  since then, i've gotten several requests for it and see it googled often in my stats.  it immediately became one of my favorite designs, and i'm happy to see that others love it too.  as with all of my invites, since i make them from scratch, they are completely customizable.

for example, this customer requested different wording and preferred zebra print to the stripes of the original.  but the changes don't have to stop there!  if you'd rather see something else in the bag, i can do that too.  maybe you want the items in a purse instead of a bag.  or how about a wallet?  the possibilities are as great as our combined imagination!

:) lexi

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

vroom! vroom!

i'm still organizing the glee party pics, so i thought i'd share another cake from last week.  gotta keep the posts rolling!  the request: lightning mcqueen.  i hope that's obvious.  lightning decided to change his number and sponsor decal in honor of the birthday boy--special birthday party accessories!  my husband spotted the perfect tire solution for me on the snack aisle.  can you tell what they are?  if you guessed ding dongs, you got it!  parts of it were a little tricky, like the fin, trying to create the right shape, and of course getting a good shade of red (that's always an issue with red), but i think i got as close as you can with cake and icing.  the birthday boy loved it and the parents ate it up, i heard, which is what matters the most!

'til tomorrow...
:) lexi

gleek party peak!

hello!  i'm still here--since before christmas, i've jumped from one big busy project to the next, and lost my will and time to post, but i've been trying to get back for a while now.  finally, here i am!  i had a particularly and glee-fully(!) crafty weekend, throwing a glee themed birthday party for my now 12 year old, so i thought i'd share a quick peak at the little cake--just one of the two desserts of the night.  even though the other was the main one, i couldn't resist making the glee L hand!  the party was a blast--but i think i'll jump back in slowly and share more tomorrow...

stay tuned!
:) lexi