It was kind of fun to let the frog prince put down his crown and celebrate something near and dear to his heart–Leap Year! Brittany at Grey Grey Designs threw this cute froggy party to commemorate this once every four years event for Baby Lifestyles Magazine. There was all manner of frog-filled fun at her little party for her kids!
Be sure to hop over to Brittany’s blog to see the rest of this lovely styled shoot!
For all those who may be a bit behind on their Valentines planning, I have a ale that might help you along! I’m offering all four of our Valentines sets for $16 until 8pm on Valentines Day, February 14th! Click here to see the listing and check out!
You’ll get the sets used in these photo shoots:
Purchased separately, they are $44. And if not for use this year, there is always next year!
It’s one of my very favorite things to get pictures from cool client parties, and it’s even more incredible when those clients are colleagues that I admire! Melissa at Buckets of Grace thought on the Gingerbread Christmas Cookie printables for an entire year before she hosted her family gingerbread house party. And I just love all the details she came up with!
Design Dazzle recently asked me to share DIY project in her 100 ideas of Christmas wonderful series. I was hard at work at the Penguin Christmas Party from last weekend at the time, and since I had so many DIY projects going on, I shared this starburst ornament that I used to decorate the trees and presents at the party. They were so pretty and I loved the handmade look of them.
Click HERE to go see the how-to steps yourself!
Having a fall birthday is a perfect reason to celebrate pumpkin style! The fall has it’s own spectrum of wonderful decorations that make a seasonal ‘Little Pumpkin’ party so much more fun. Ellen of Ellen Bessette Events styled this fabulous homage to the pumpkin patch for our little Maddy. There were lots of treats, cider, s’mores, apple bobbing, and of course pumpkins. Thank you to Jill Luecht Photography for photoediting.
I have to say, it’s a hard thing to turn a Florida back yard in August to a beautiful fall scene, but Ellen did it with flair. Straw bales, autumn leaves, mums and scarecrows dotted the yard with a punches of color. I especially love the wreath she hand crafted to hang over the dessert table. The pretty arbor the table was set in was swathed in leaf garlands and the table covered in another handmade creation, a pom-pom trimmed tablecloth.
Sweet treats from Lynlee’s Petite Cakes (fondant toppers) and The Cookie Jar (sugar cookies) starred on the table along with cinnamon flavored popcorn, lollipops and rock candy treats.
The kid-sized table used a pumpkin filled with flowers as the centerpiece. Ellen made the party hats from scrapbook paper, maribou and ribbon for the little ones to wear. To decorate the backs of the chairs, she used oversized felt pumpkins and tulle to create a chair swag that really popped!
A sweet little smash cakes with a pumpkin top from Something Sweet Cake Studio sat on top of the straw bales that lined the party area along with some cinnamon sticks and cider to wash it all down!
Our little Maddy made an appearance to eat some birthday cake in a little pumpkin tutu and matching hairband byTiti’s Tutus .
Ellen’s fun and colorful fall party stylings were truly enjoyed by the children as they ate, drank and played games!
This set is available in the shop here ~ and without the birthday theme for classrooms by request!
*****
VENDOR CREDITS:
– Styling: Ellen Bessette Events
– Paperie & Photography: Frog Prince Paperie
– Photo Editing: Jill Leucht Photography
– Fondant Toppers: Lynlee’s Petite Cakes
– Sugar Cookies: The Cookie Jar
– Smash Cake: Something Sweet Cake Studio
– Tutu and Headband: Titi’s Tutus
Something wicked this way comes! This stylized sign came from the Bewitching Halloween party, and I’m happy to now be able to offer it to all my readers as a 5×7 free printable.
It’s perfect to add a little spooky to your table, or your foyer like I did here!
Click here to download the file.
Nicole from Tradewind Tiaras is the most incredible DIYer I know. Every party she throws has the most amazing handcrafted details that not only shows her talent, but her love for what she does and the people that she celebrates. I was truly honored to be able to help a bit with her daughter’s Bright Butterfly party.
Butterflies was definitely the theme for the party–her daughter’s nickname is Tykki-dyw, “butterfly” in Cornish. For the colors and feel of the party, she found inspiration in a set of fabrics. I used those fabrics to design a party suite for little Niamh’s event.
All these details are handmade–the butterfly streamers, the ruffled pinata, the cake (!). And Nicole is a generous soul in addition to being talented. She provides tutorials for all the things she makes for her parties. You can see how to make this gorgous pinata here.
There are over 200 individually made roses on that beautiful butterfly cake. I think it would pain me to eat it after all that work! I am in love with these little molded sugar flower pots, the tutorial for them can be found here.
Even the favors were handmade; these perfect sheets of old-fashioned candy buttons were given to each little (and big!) guest. Nicole provides a tutorial for these here.
So many wonderful details! The little handsewn bunting was one of my favorites. Nicole has a tutorial on how to make these fabric hats, but also has them ready mad in her Etsy store.
Even the birthday girl’s dress was handmade! See how it was done here. And I was happy to lend a little inspiration to the lace and ribbon badmitton net the little guest played with.
It looks like it was a positively magic, wonderful party, and I was happy to lend a very small hand in it. There are so many more party pictures posted on the Tradewind Tiara blog, make sure to see part I, part II and part III!
We are in a very small (five families) playgroup for my son, and it was a wild coincidence that three of were all sorority sisters, albeit at different colleges. Much joking has gone on the past year about our little sisterhood. When Courtney’s birthday came around and she really wanted to celebrate, we decided to make it fun and play on this bond of ours. We made up our own sorority (Mu Theta Mu a.k.a MOM) and made her a pledge for the evening…creating a “Birthday Rush” for her.
Before taking a 4-hour limosine trip through Melbourne, we had a nice dinner with all Courtney’s favorites. There was lots of pink, fancy little appetizers, liquor infused cupcakes and beautiful macaron favors from Sucre Azucar. Beautiful AND tasty. Like melt in your mouth fabulously good.
A refreshing tray of mojitos was served up while we waited for dinner to finish.
The centerpiece for the table was created with a mirrored tray, a dozen tea-light candles and about 25 tiny vases. Each vase held a gerber daisy and the resulting mound of daises was really wonderful. Once the sun went down, we lit the candles (which reflected off the mirrored tray) and the whole arrangement simply glowed! Thanks again to Patti from Buds, Etc. Floral Studio for the herculean effort that went into finding just the right shade and enough of the gerbers for the arrangement.
Activities at an adult birthday party? Of course we did! You can’t have a pledge without asking them to do a few silly things. We draped her in pink boas, pacifiers, glow sticks, and let her refuse to wear an embarrassing t-shirt. Courtney was in love with Maddie’s tiara by Tradewind Tiaras from her birthday party, so we also let her wear that for the evening. We made her eat a goldfish and say the greek alphabet before the match burned out. And while we were out we had a little bag of mingling activities for her to complete. Turns out you CAN use the word “shinizzle” in a 90 second conversation with a stranger at least 7 times.
All in all, it was a memorable evening! The gerber daisy printables (Modern Daisy) at Courtney’s party are now available in the Esty Shop, with or without the “Birthday Rush” theme.
WITH GRATITUDE TO MY VENDORS:
Photography | John McLaughlin
Photo Editing | Jill Luecht Photography
Macarons | Sucre Azucar
Flowers | Buds, Etc. Floral Studio
The circle garlands from the graduation shoot were super easy to make and created a nice pop of color and fun to the backdrop. They did require the use of a sewing machine–but I promise that I only have rudimentary sewing skills and by no means can I do much more than sew a straight line. Sometimes not even that. (It’s made me pretty handy with a seam ripper!)
Supplies:
- Colored card stock. I liked the effect using several shades of the same color together created.
- Circle puncher : in these photos, a 2 inch and 1 inch was used
- Sewing machine loaded with complimentary colored thread
To Make:
1. Punch your circles.
2. Fire up your sewing machine! This part is easy, I promise. Stick the paper circle under the foot and hit the gas, stitching through the circle.
As soon as the paper clears the foot, stick the next one in. I think this garland looks best perfectly imperfect, so I in no way tried to create even spacing. Which makes it even easier to make.
3. Repeat until garland is the desired length.
I used a repeating pattern (for the most part) of two big circles to three small circles. To create the backdrop in the graduation table, I made six separate strings of garland and hung them. Easy peasy! Hope it helps add a little extra easy festive to your next party!
Sandy toes and sunkissed cheeks are always the best part about an adventure at the beach, and I just couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate a little beach baby’s birthday than to be out on the sand.
After meeting at the Central Florida Martha Stewart Dreamers into Doers event, Jennifer from Party Dreamz started to working on this “Beach Baby Birthday” piece. We designed a table setting and a dessert/snack table and picked the best back drop ever–the beach–to have our party. Thanks to Jill from Luecht Photography for photo-editing our pictures – a service she now offers internationally! Renee from Bees Knees Creative supplied the gorgeous cookies, and Debra from Titi’s Tutu’s the girl’s headbands and pink tutu.
The table was set in pretty pinks and yellows with glittery shells and pearly pinwheels. Each child had a glittered place card at their seat along with a party hat, pink plate and sparkly napkin. Our little birthday girl, Taylor, just loved wearing the tutu and headband from Titi’s Tutus that was made just for her! The older girls adored the headbands that matched the party as well.
A big part about having a party at the beach is making sure everything you bring doesn’t fly away in the ocean breeze. Our table cloth was weighted down with these ties at each corner. I simply gathered the material, wrapped the corner in jute and glued two shells to another string of jute and tied it on. Pretty AND functional!
After a while, our little models got restless and tired of being shooed away from the sweets, so they took a fully-clothed dip in the ocean. The sandcastle cake was graciously provided by Susan at Sweet Designs Kitchen in Orlando.
The children were treated to a snack table with fruit, star shaped cheese “sand”wiches, a bucket of goldfish to scoop out with a shovel and into little snack cups and a few really special treats. The marshmallows were served in tiny tin buckets and set in a do-it-yourself “zen garden” for kids. The little fork and spook were there to groom the sand with! Renee from Bees Knees Creative sent a set of pink and white sea-themed cookies with sea shells and starfish to match the party.
One of my favorite details of this shoot was the ribbon garland. It helped to create a sense of intimacy on a very public beach, and looked magical with the breeze caught the streamers. The construction was simple; pvc pipe, some cut up strips of fabric, and a few lengths of ribbon added a lot of atmosphere to our day!
Thank you again to all those who assisted in the production of this photo shoot!
Frog Prince Paperie | Paperie, Party Styling & Photography
Jennifer Staples of Party Dreamz | Party Styling
Jill Luecht of Luecht Photography | Photo Editing
Sweet Designs Kitchen | Sandcastle Cake
Bees Knees Creative | Sea-themed Sugar Cookies
Titi’s Tutus | Tutu and Hair Accessories
