circus dessert table

Dessert tables are like the holy grail to me, no matter how much planning I look at them and know I can do better. There is just a something that makes me say "darn it." Overall I am excited to show these pictures. I adore the circus theme, and had so much fun planning it. Next time I will pick a location that is better for pictures, it was too narrow here for me to get a good pictures, and I will make time to iron my linens (rookie mistake!)

beverages circus style

i couldn't resist the big top tent sipper cups (available here). I covered my kitchen island with striped wrapping paper to instantly transform the beverage station to match the circus theme. the stuffed bengal tiger was borrowed from a neighbor!

I custom designed the banners and decided to cut out triangle notches to add a fresh feel to the pennants you see everywhere right now. I love the way they look but needed to change it up a bit.

circus treats table

the party this weekend was so much fun. not mention all the fun i had putting it all toghether! the feature shows off the little treat table. the favor bags were simple kraft bags 3/$1.00 at Hobby Lobby with red and white polka dot tissue. The stamp was out of a dollar bin! There were also red goodie bags to fill with candy. The candy was found at Walgreens and Party City. Another good source of course is Candy Warehouse, but I found mine all locally.

I painted a paper mache hat box to use as the stand for the stuffed elephant, no budget for real animals so my older daughter's toybox was raided for elephants, zebras and tigers. The red and white stripe paper is wrapping paper! The little wood #1 was painted with yellow acrylic craft paint and then I used the trusty end of pencil eraser to make red polka dots.

More to come this week!

sneak peak

our little girl Charlie will be one soon, and this weekend we are having the CUTEST little circus themed celebration for her. i have been seriously neglecting the creative side of myself, so when this came around i had to go wild. hopefully i will have some amazing pictures to share next week. in the mean time here is a wee sneak peek of the inviations!

hand lined "big top" envelopes and custom designed ticket invite

almost famous again...

via amazon

apparently this "ginormous" book is available now, and somewhere in the hundreds of pages is a cute little girl dressed in a KU cheerleader outfit. a scrapbook page made by me! i am dying to see it but they have not sent it out to me yet. something to look forward to in the coming weeks i guess!

my kiddos at halloween

My $15 target monkey costume was transformed into a Flying Monkey from the Wizard of Oz by my wondefully crafty mom! It took like 50 pictures to find 3 cute ones of sweet Charlie. I like to call her Charlie Girl, so that people don't get confused!
Joey wanted to be a pretty vampire. She called it a vampire fairy. I made the vest and cape (which is a keeper! it is awesome!) with my new sewing machine from a special crafty friend. I can't not thank her enough, what a difference it is to my 1970s version! I even made button holes! Button holes people!

halloween = love

we heart it

i adore halloween! and whats better than it being on a weekend. i am super excited because we recently moved to a sweet little culdesac that is apparently the bomb trick-or-treat neighborhood. our old neighborhood was dark, and pretty unfriendly so we got less than a dozen kids. i learned last night our friends bought 12 bags of candy last year and ran out! 12 bags!

i have been working on joey's "vampire fairy" costume here and there. i broke out my new sewing machine (gifted by a crafty goddess, thank you shim you are awesome!) and love it! tonight it gets put to use making the red and black cape. i will post pictures because it is sure to be an interesting costume.

my mom worked her crafty magic last night to turn a plain baby monkey costume into pure awesome-ness. can't wait to put it on charlie! i was just going to add a pink bow, but mom's accessories are WAY better! yes- that is wings and a tiny fez so she can be a wizard of oz flying monkey!