{Girly} Super Hero Decor

Some of you may know that my BFF and I co-founded an organization called BirthMom Buds that provides support to birthmothers and each year, the weekend before Mother's Day we host a retreat and celebration in Charlotte, North Carolina. I really enjoy the task of decorating for the retreat. Each year, we choose a theme each year for the retreat and try to carry it out through out the whole weekend. This being our 9th event, we are starting to get a little more creative and out of the box with our themes and chose this year's theme to be (girly) Super Heroes. Our colors were pink, yellow, lavender, green, and light teal and we created one table in each color.

My Silhouette machine makes creating decor SO easy. I seriously wonder how I ever did this before I had a Silhouette! ha! 

My BFF created some amazing buildings out of cardboard boxes by painting them black and adding and cutting out little windows. Those were the main part of the centerpiece and then I created other things to go around the buildings.

The clock tower is my favorite part of the building. So cute!

To go around the buildings, I created several thing. First up, is the candle holders below. I spray painted them black. The masks are fabric and were made using a simple mask shape from the Silhouette store.

I also took glass vases and spray painted them black. I filled them with beans for weight and then silver shred. I created super hero bubbles (using this shape from the Silhouette store) with different words like "pow," "wow," and "bam." I created a colored bubble and then a slightly larger black bubbled and sandwiched two of the bubbles in between a small dowel rod that I painted black. I applied the letters with pop dots to give it a small bit of dimension.

I think my favorite part of the tables was the girls popping out of the building. This same girl is in the retreat logo. I traced the logo in the Silhouette software and cut just the girl out. She is on a small black dowel and is secured inside the building using floral foam. The initials BMB were cut from black vinyl.

I also printed some super hero themed quotes on colored card stock, framed those in frames we used in a previous year's decor, and placed them around the buildings as well.

The last thing I created for the tables was some table scatter/confetti to sprinkle around the centerpieces. The bubbles are the same shape from the Silhouette store. I used the print and cut feature to create a lot of these easily. Sometimes, creating mass quantities of something using the print and cut feature can be a little tedious so my tip is to print everything all at once and then use two mats. While the Silhouette is cutting, you can be peeling off and getting the next page ready to go in.

Lastly I created a banner using the tag line for the retreat, "Super Birthmoms Unite." I found some printable comic book pages online, then turned them into black and white prints in my photo editing software. Then I cut out triangles and letters in solid block using the Silhouette.

And now, here are some more pictures:

The BFF and I were super pleased at how it turned out!

There we are rocking our super hero attire at our Friday Night Mixer.

(I'm "C Kent" and she's wonder woman!)

This post is part of a monthly Silhouette challenge created by Lauren at The Thinking Closet. Check out the links below for more projects by some talented crafty ladies using their Silhouette machines.

Spring Hoop Home Decor - Daily Dwelling

I Heart Labels: Flour & Sugar Jar Edition - The Thinking Closet

Bleeding Heart Card with Free Flower Download - Creative Turn

A Numbers Game - Learning Numbers with Your Preschooler - Lil Mrs. Tori

My First Silhouette Challenge Group Project - Tanya's Creative Space

Personalized Garden Post & Grandma Book (Silhouette Mother's Day Presents) - Whole New Leaf

Girly Superhero Decor - Coley's Corner

"A Cup of Tea" Customizable Art Printable - Tried & True

The Lady in Hat "Thinking of You" Card - An Elegant Touch

Interested in joining us for our group posting event next month?  We'd love to have you.  Simply contact Lauren from The Thinking Closet by email.

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My Mom's 60th Birthday Party

I finally have pictures from my Mom's birthday party edited! I wanted her party to be elegant and simple and chose the color scheme of lavender and purple based on her favorite color with hints of silver thrown in. She loves butterflies so I decided to implement those in the decor as well.

I must forewarn you that the lighting in the room where the party was held and the fact that the walls were yellow tinted did not make the most conducive atmosphere for photos, but they are decent. (Click on any of the pictures below to see them larger.)

The invitation set the tone......

I must admit initially that decorating was challenging because the church had many rules like no balloons, no candles, no confetti, nothing on walls, etc. So most of the decor went into the actual centerpieces.

The centerpieces were white vases filled with branches. Dangling from the branches were purple and lavender butterflies that I cut out with my Silhouette machine and then dry embossed them with a pretty swirly pattern. The vases sat on silver cake plates and two photos of my Mom over the years were on each table. There were also two wine glass lamps on each table with vellum shades with battery operated candles inside. We swirled some purple tulle in there to bring in a little more color. 

On the food table, I needed to add some decor without taking up very much room. So I bought two purple potted plants and covered them with some pretty fabric. Then I painted two dowels white and stuck them inside the plants. I tied white twine to the dowels and then clipped on photos of my Mom with friends and family on the "clothesline" using clothespins. I don't know why but that was probably my favorite part of the decorations. 

For munching, we had a variety of finger foods including a meat and cheese tray, small sandwiches, a cheese ball and crackers, a popcorn chicken tray, and more. We had a pretty purple punch (and bottled water) for drinking - I shared the recipe for the punch earlier this week. And the best part was the chocolate fountain with strawberries, raspberries, pineapples, marshmallows, and pound cake for dipping! 

Next up was the butterfly wish tree. It sat on a table that guests saw right as they walked in. My BFF made the actual "tree" out of branches in a large hurricane. We hung a little sign that asked guests to write a birthday wish for my Mom on a butterfly that was sitting on the table that I had cut out with my Silhouette machine. Thread was attached to each butterfly so they could hang it on the tree once they were done signing it. 

The cake was made by a friend and was absolutely gorgeous - and delicious! 

My Mom's favorite charity is Operation Christmas Child. She is a very dedicated year round volunteer and makes about 100 shoe boxes each year! So in lieu of gifts, we asked people to bring items for the shoe boxes and included an insert with the invitation that had a list of suggested items. I thought it would be cute to use my vintage suitcase as a place to put some of the items. The inside of the suitcase was actually blue but  my BFF and I took some of the left over fabric from wrapping the flower pots and pinned it inside suitcase. People ended up bringing so much stuff that it spilled out of the suitcase and all over the table! 

My Mom has always thought personalized M&Ms were neat so my Dad and I decided to splurge (they are pretty pricey!) and get some for the party. I used the baby picture of her from the invitation on the M&Ms as well. They turned out so cute but I just couldn't bear to eat the "baby Anne" M&Ms. 

For "entertainment" I made "things Anne loves" word searches using an online program and we had them along with pens sitting out for guests to complete if they wanted to. I think they all got a kick out of it! 

Lastly, for favors I went small and easy since we needed so many. I wrapped candy bars in different purple and lavender patterned papers and attached a tag that said, "You're so sweet for coming to Anne's party" with ribbon. Simple and cute. 

Whew! That's it! Makes me tired again just typing it all up. It was a great party if I do say so myself and I really think my Mom enjoyed herself. I was thrilled to be able to throw a party for my Mom as a way of saying thanks for all the great birthday parties she threw for my brother and I when we were young. 

PS. Let me give a big shout out to all those who helped make the party a big success - Daddy, Aunt Donna, the BFF, Brother & K! 

Pretty Purple Punch

When I was planning my Mom's 60th birthday bash, I looked high and low for a purple punch recipe. After a lot of searching, I found one that was OK. After some tweaking, it turned out delicious and so many people at my Mom's party raved about how good the punch was and asked for the recipe.

It was actually super simple to make! You'll need:
One large container of Welch's Grape Juice (It has to be Welch's or you are not going to get a good purple.)
One large container of pineapple juice
One 2 liter of Sprite (We used Sprite Zero.)

Mix everything up together in a large bowl and serve cold!

We made some punch ahead of time and poured it into ice cube trays and made punch ice cubes to put in the punch bowl so that the punch would not get watered down from regular ice cubes.

So yummy! I wish I had a glass of it now!

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Planning my Mom's Party

In September, my Mom will turn 60! In honor of this momentous occasion, we are throwing her a big 60th birthday bash. Don't worry, she knows about the party, so I'm not ruining any surprises since she does read my blog (hi Momma Bear!) but what she doesn't know about is the decor so I can't tell you about that yet!

Growing up my Mom always threw these really great birthday parties for my brother and I. Now, they weren't the huge crazy parties you see on TV with castle shaped bouncy houses and petting zoos. They were even better though because they were planned with lots of love and DIY details by my Momma. I can remember cute place settings at tables, games outside, fun favors, and awesome handmade cakes. My Momma's cakes are one of my fondest childhood memories. She could come up with anything for the themes we asked for.

So, now, throwing this party for my Mom is so special to me. I'm putting lots of heart into it because it's my little way of saying thank you for years of fun parties and memories to accompany them.

The Little Touches and the Silhouette

This was the 7th year we have done our Birthmother's Day Celebration but the first year I have ever had a Silhouette to help me create things for it. Let me just tell you, it was awesome for this! It allowed me to kick things up a notch without having to spend a lot of extra time on some of the extra "attention to detail" (as Sandra Lee would say) touches that I think make an event/party so much more personal. 

Let me just share some of the things the Silhouette helped me do..... 

Using the Silhouette, I was able to create these awesome stickers for the bags that were given to attendees staying at the hotel when they checked in. I created a scallop circle using a shape from the Silhouette store out of black and white damask paper. Then I layered a circle with the retreat logo (also cut with the Silhouette) on top of that. 

Remember when I posted awhile back about the drink mix packet holders I made to go on a bottle of water? Well, those were really created for this event. But I knew people who would be attending read this blog so I couldn't show these to you yet but they turned out great! I cut and scored the actual holder using a cut file I created out of black and white damask paper then I print and cut a smaller circle using our retreat logo and layered that on top of a slightly larger circle cut out of black cardstock. 

 

I also made something I call "mint books." They look like a little book of matches but when you open them up there is a mint or Lifesaver inside. I created the cut file for this myself so the Silhouette did all the work for me by scoring and cutting it so all I had to do was add a mint to the inside of each one and secure it with a staple. These would be great for wedding favors too! I'm willing to share the cut file if anyone wants it.)

   

The Silhouette also helped me create an applique for the goodie bags. I ironed on heat and bond to the backs of different black and white fabrics and then cut out a dress I purchased from the Silhouette store. Then I just ironed the dresses on the black bags. Easy peasy!

And I used it to create the name tags. This year we decided to use the plastic sleeve kind that you can get from office stores. I created an insert with each attendee's name for the inside and then cut them out with the Silhouette. We added thin ribbon to tie them on with. They turned out great too. ( Nope, I didn't change my name, just forgot to take a picture of it but my BFF had taken a pic of hers.)

Sometimes I seriously wonder, is there anything this machine can NOT do? ;)

And just so you know, I'm not getting paid by Silhouette to rave about their machine. All opinions are my own. I just big puffy heart love that machine!

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Breakfast at Tiffany's Decor

I am so excited to finally be able to share the decor that we used for this year's retreat theme: Breakfast at Tiffany's. While we used this for a women's retreat, it could easily be adapted to fit a bridal shower, baby shower, or Birthday party. 

First, I knew we needed to bring a modern twist to the theme so I chose to do that with black and white damask print. That was used in the invitations as well as in the decor a little bit. 

Of course you need Tiffany blue boxes with this theme! I bought those thick cardboard boxes at Hobby Lobby and bought one large one per a table and one small one per an attendee. Originally my idea was to paint the boxes Tiffany blue but the boxes were buckling under the paint so I opted to wrap them instead. I got my Tiffany blue wrapping paper at Party City. 

We started off with a black tablecloth and then used black and white damask fabric as an overlay. We put a giant box wrapped in Tiffany blue paper with a white bow in the middle of the fabric overlay. Then we scattered big and small diamonds around, laid some strung pearls around the overlay, and put a couple of candles, and a couple of frames with quotes in them on the overlay as well. 

The frames that were on each table were just silver frames that you can buy in the wedding section of most craft stores to use as place cards. My amazing assistant, Monika, found different quotes by Audrey Hepburn and I typed those up in a pretty font and put them in the frames. (We had more quotes than this but these are just the ones I got shots of.)

Originally, the candle holders were going to be silver. I bought a thing of plain candle holders in the wedding section and sprayed them silver. But I accidentally left the silver candle holders at home. My BFF was coming down a day later than me so I called her and she saved the day by picking up some more candleholders. She knew she wouldn't have time to spray them silver but also knew they needed dolling up a little so she bought some black and white ribbon and just glued that around each one. I love how they turned out and like them better than the silver ones!

At each attendee's spot we had a little box wrapped in Tiffany blue with a white bow. I actually watched a you tube video to learn how to tie the actual Tiffany bow for these boxes! We struggled with what to put in them but finally Lani or I (I don't remember which of us remembered first!) remembered a little poem that goes with an empty box about the box is filled with love so you should never open it. We googled and found several poems. I combined a few of the poems and came up with one I liked. I then used my Silhouette machine to cut out the little tags and tied them to each box. 

And that pretty much sums up the decor. It was simple but elegant and I was really pleased with the way turned out!


* Check out some of the "little touches" for the event that I created using the Silhouette machine in this post.
** Check out this post all about our group craft. 

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Drink Mix Packet Holder Thingie-ma-Jig

Have you ever seen water bottles (at a shower, wedding, or another type of event) that have a holder (usually handmade) containing a Crystal Light drink mix packet? (I have no idea if that's the right name for them but I'm referring to the little mixes that you add into an individual size bottle of water that flavors the water.) 


They can be created in colors to match the event and look like this....

(Photo from Blue Eyed Blessings)

After seeing them, I've always wanted to create one for different events but honestly they look incredibly time consuming if you are making a bunch for an event. Well, I got to thinking the other day, I bet I could use my Silhouette to create one of those a heck of a lot easier and faster.


So I grabbed a bottle of water, a individual sized Crystal Light drink mix pouch, a ruler, and some cardstock and sat down at the computer. I started measuring and creating in the Silhouette software. I cut it out, measured, adjusted, cut again, adjusted some more, and cut again. When I was all done embellishing, it ended up looking like this......

It's a bit different than the original holders that I saw (as pictured above) because it is all on one piece of cardstock instead of multiple pieces. But since I even created the scored fold lines, all you have to do is fold it, then just use a bit of the adhesive of your choice (I used a glue stick) to secure the sides down, add some embellishments to the front if desired, add your mix in pouch, and hang it on the bottle of water. I used paper that was patterned on both sides but I think it'd be cute on solid colored cardstock as well.

How cute would this one be with some Easter treats?

Extreme close up

And here's some I created to match a Breakfast at Tiffany's themed event I did....

(And yes, if you have a Silhouette and want the cut file to create one of these, I'm willing to share, just shoot me an email or leave a comment with your email.)

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