Decorated Sugar Cookies

I think decorated Christmas cookies are a must at any Christmas party. Especially if there are children there! They really love them and do not have difficulty choosing their favorites. So, since our Christmas Eve party had children I decided to treat them to some "treats"!  I really had fun decorating these and the children really loved them.

Merry Christmas!

We wish many blessings for you and your family this Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cake Pops

It's been about a year since I've made cake pops but when a friend asked for some for her Christmas party I could not say no.  She wanted reindeer, Christmas trees and some plain ones.  Before starting this project I decided to invest in the Wilton Candy Melting Pot.  What a great investment.  It really simplified the process.  Instead of putting your candy melts in and out of the microwave to melt, the little pot does the work for you.  Plus it keeps the candy at the perfect temperature.  It still took me a while to complete all four dozen but I tend to be slow and try to get things just perfect.  The trees were a little challenge but I'm anxious to make more.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

We took a little break from baking this weekend and broke out the cricut for a few Christmas crafts! The first thing we tackled was step stools for the kids. I have seen these and loved the simplicity ... just the child's name in the center without any other decorations. We were going for the Pottery Barn look.

I purchased these stools at Target's Black Friday sale. At $6.50 a piece, I think they were a steal! I wish I would have loaded two carts full! Such a precious gift for those little ones!

The next project was a really fun and cheap one! We made a cookie plate for Santa! I got the plate and mug from Dollar Tree so this project was just a little over $2 total!

So that's about it for this weekend. I'd better go prepare for the week ahead... only 2 more weeks until we are out for the Christmas Holidays!

A "tweet" baby shower

My bestie is having a baby girl six years after her last son. We could not be more thrilled for her and her family.

She went with a beautiful paisley bedding for the baby and we used that to plan the theme around. We also used the little birdie! I just love the birdie and I am so excited because I actually have another friend using the theme for her little ones first birthday!

These ribbon topiaries make an appearance again! Reduce and reuse, right?



It was a great morning with the mommy to be! All the ladies who came together to put this shower together were awesome girls! 



Lucy's Princess Party

I cringed at Lucy's answer when I asked her what type of party she wanted for her 5th birthday. Princess... I tried to talk her out of it but in the end it was what she truly wanted. I'm not sure why the princess party didn't appeal to me... maybe because it's over used, maybe because I wanted to plan something more unique. In the end though, the one that matters is the birthday girl. So princess it was!

I knew that I wasn't going to go with the Disney Princess theme because she isn't into it all that much. I asked her what colors she wanted her party to be and we went from there.

Our goal in planning this party was to make Lucy and a few of her close little friends feel like a real princess that morning and for all of the mommas to be able to visit and enjoy good conversation over warm cups of coffee. Mission accomplished I believe! The party was from 10 am to noon and at 1 pm some of our guests where just beginning to leave.

So I'll get on with the pictures already!

I made Lucy's skirt after seeing the tutorial on this awesome website. I brought the scrap fabric to a local friend that monograms and this is the shirt that she came up with.

K made the wand she is holding... plus about 9 more of them! Aren't they adorable?



She also made the ribbon topiary. I'm not sure what site we found those on but I'm sure a quick google search would return many hits. They were simple but time consuming. I'm anxious to make some Christmas ones for my dining room table.

We had place settings for each little princess that included their tea cup, plate, bracelet, a huge diamond ring that doubled as a napkin ring and a cape (more on those later!).

At the beginning of the planning I picked out scrap booking paper in the colors that Lucy had specified. I went with that as a base for all of the decorations. I loved the way her banner came out. In fact, I must really love it because it's still hanging in my dining room right now, ha!



Pom Poms! What is not to love about these? They are so simple and inexpensive to make. They just make the room seem so much more festive!

Moving on now to the dessert table!

I wanted her cake to be spectacular. She sees the other cakes we do and so I didn't want hers to pale in comparison to any of those. We made her a chocolate, strawberry and vanilla cake. We used the cricut to cut the crown and her name. I'm pleased with the simplicity of this cake and loved the daintiness that the edible sugar pearls added.

K made the cookies and they were adorable and delicious! We made the marshmallow pops to add some color to the table but they ended up being a favorite among the children. Easily accessible and everything is more fun if it's a pop!

The garland in the picture above was so simple to make and added more color to the desert table. We used scrap booking paper and punched 1 1/2" circles. Then all you do is set your sewing machine to a basting stitch and slide one circle in after the other! YES! You can sew paper! I think I'll make some for every season!

Next I'd like to show you the capes I referred to earlier. These were the easiest little things to make and I think the girls loved them. My mother-in-law had a pattern for a boy's super hero cape that she modified slightly for our princess capes. We used felt as it would be the easiest route for making ten of them (no hemming or turning under needed to prevent fraying). We used a gold bias tape for the tie and that proved to be the simplest way to go. I hand cut the crowns and K used Heat n' Bond to adhere them to the capes. She came back and appliqued jewels to the points to give them a little added "bling". I loved the way they came out!

I believe that is it! We had such a fun time planning and preparing for this party. Lucy and the girls had a great time and us mommas did too!

Thanks for looking!

KandA

I just....

bought this pattern and can't wait to make it!
Along with the other 500 projects we've got going on right now!

Love,
KandA