the glittered nest

Art Birthday Party

 All I can say about Abby's art party is WOW!  These 8 year old little girls blew me away with their mixed media art.

Let me share our party with you.

 

Setting up: brushes/paint/paper/water/paper towels(lots and lots of paper towels).

The girls made mixed media art.  They cut or tore scrapbook paper and gessod it to their painting. 

I first showed them some examples of mixed media art and took them step by step through the process.

I had tables set up all over the entrance of my house so the girls had plenty of space to create.  

 This is Madi and our cousin Kyleigh hard at work. 

Lots of bright and colorful paint was used for backgrounds.  One tip I can share with you is to keep wipes handy.  If you make a mistake with acrylics, you can generally wipe it off right away before it dries.  

  

 

 

The girls really enjoyed using paper as the dresses and flowers in their paintings.

 

After the girls were done with their paintings, we laid them on the floor to dry and we moved on to eating our french style foods. 

 

We had mini croissant sandwiches, eiffel tower cookies, petits fours, lemonade and chocolate cupcakes.

 

  

Candle time for the birthday girl Abby!

 

After the girls ate I helped them iron on their appliques on the aprons while Abby opened gifts.

 

Now for the little artists and their masterpieces:

Anna:

 Kennedy:

 Emily:

 

Anna:

Haley:

 Addie:

 Darby:

Kyleigh:

Sandi:

  

I had so much fun with the girls!  I will definitely have more art parties in the future.  Maybe the next one will be for adults!!!

 

Baking Party

 

Madi's baking party was so amazing.  The girls had a great time and really created some yummy stuff!

Party Breakdown:

1. Girls come in and put on their aprons

2. Decorate hats with flowers

3. Make pizza dough

4. Top pizzas with dough that I previousely made

5. Pizzas go in oven and girls put fruit on skewers

6. Girls assigned a partner to ice their own cake. 

7. Each girl was given a bag of colored buttercream icing to learn how to pipe decorations

8. Each partnership had to come up with a design for their cake

9. Girls iced their cakes

10. Time to eat of all of the girls' creations

This party was a huge hit.  The schedule above worked like a charm and kept the girls' attention. They loved getting their hands in the dough and decorating their own cakes.

  Adding flowers to their hats.

I found these cute flowers at Michaels.  

Me and my little chef!

 
   Each little chef got to put her hands in the dough. (We did not cook with this dough.  I made the dough early in the morning so it would have time to rise for the party.)

 

As you can see the girls made funny faces with the ingredients.

 

Putting fruit on skewers was a nice transition activity when we finished pizzas and put them in the oven.

 

Everyone practiced piping their icing onto parchment before adding designs to their cakes.

The girls did such a great job icing their cakes.  They came up with the cutest designs.

  This was Madi and Sandi's cake design.

 

 

Darby and Mia's design.  They were so detailed.  They even put dots around the base of the cake.

 

 

Madi and Abby blowing out their candle.

 

Last but not least, the girls all took a goodie box home and a happy and full tummy!  Thanks girls for a great time.

Party Props

Here are just a couple of ideas for the baking party.  This first one is going to be part of the centerpiece on the table where the girls will eat their creations. Instead of buying expensive centerpieces, look for items around your house.  These were all in my kitchen.  Brock let us borrow the little bear for the party!

  

 

I dressed up this dress form I have in my craft room with one of my favorite anthropologie aprons.  (I promise the cotton flower tutorial will be coming soon!)

 

Parties are tomorrow...can't wait. Now onto baking eiffel tower cookies! 

More Apron fun

 

Today I am working on cutting out fabric and ironing them onto fusible backing.  The girls at the party will be able to iron these onto their aprons(with an adult's help of course).  The little puppy is something I embroidered months ago.  The pattern is from weewonderfuls.  I am making this little bag for my sister-n-law.  She shares the girls' birthday!!!!

 

This is another one of her patterns. This is going on Madi's apron.

 I bought this fabric from Hobby Lobby and cut out the little shapes to iron on the fusible paper.  These aprons are going to be soooo cute.  Can't wait.

Apron and Art Goodie Bag

 

Here are Abby's Art party goodie bags.  I found the bags online at  cheaptotes.com.  They were only a dollar each!!!! I cut out fabric and used fusible iron backing found at any craft store(I bought at Walmart).  I also formed a flower pin with matching fabric.  Inside of the bag is a little stack of art goodies: three types of paper, small canvas, foam brush, three templates and a butterfly.

    

Abby's guests will have plain aprons that they will get to add iron transfers that I have ready for them to choose.  I got the idea from michelle over at vintagesquirrel.com She shows how to anthropologize a skirt.  Here are Madi's aprons for her baking party.  Aprons were found online at ebay for 2.00 each! Cheap Cheap Cheap!

 MaryAnna from Whimsy Papers was so kind to send me this graphic to use on the girls' aprons.  I printed it on Iron transfer paper found at Office Max.  I love these aprons because they come with removable ties.  So, I tied on some rainbow colored ribbon.

 

I went a little nuts with iron and added some fabric to a bag for my son:

  And a little went onto his shirt...

I hope I have helped you with some ideas for your parties and where to get the supplies.  On to making some cookies! 

Baking Party Favors

 

I think the best part of a party is the little goodie you get to take home.  It ties the whole party together and puts a smile on the guest's face.  I had so much fun assembling these boxes.  Let me show you what's in them:

 

From left to right:

Little goodie bags from Martha Stewart(Walmart) Little baking cups inside

The labels are from Whimsy Papers

Salt water taffy purchased at Whole Foods

Little cake erasers purchased at Learning Express (I have three different styles in the girls' boxes...some are cakes, donuts and slices of strawberry cake)You should see the little sushi erasers they have.

zebra cupcake liners from Bake it Pretty(the boxes are from there too)

Sprinkles purchased at walmart that I put in cellophane bags and tied with ribbon

Underneath it all are recipe cards and small shredded raffia

The best part...besides all of the yummies inside is ...this project only cost me 5 dollars per box.

I bought an assortment of cupcake liners for the goodie boxes and for the party at Bakeitpretty.com(link above)

 

 

They are ready to go!  I don't know about you, but I would love to have one of these little boxes of treats! I can't wait for Madi's baking party!  Now onto Abby's Art party favors!

Here's my little baker ready for her party!

If you ever need ideas for party favors, please feel free to email me.  I love parties!!!!

Sweet Etsy Treats!

I love shopping on Etsy.  I think you receive your item packaged so nice because these artists take such pride in their homemade goods.  Here's what I have purchased for my girls' upcoming parties:

These are from the shop: Sudsy Mugsy

 

 They are little cupcake bath fizzies.  I am giving my overnight guests each one wrapped in cellophane for Madi's baking party.  They look cute in her bathroom...I might have to get some more!

 

This is how they came packaged.  How cute.  These would be great birthday gifts for little girls.  If you specify they are for children, she will make them without the fizzy part. Here is how they come packaged.

 

Here are some goodies I bought for the party favors. You must visit her shop! Whimsy Papers

She custom made labels and gift tags for Madi's Baking Party:

 These are the goodie boxes for her party.  They are filled with goodies for a little baker.  I will show you the contents in another post!

If you haven't been on Etsy yet...YOU MUST GO LOOK!  I have never been dissapointed with my purchases.  Have a sweet day!

 

Come back to see Abby's goodie bags!

Petits Fours, Once again!

Hello everyone...here is my second attempt to these cute little cakes.  I had a fellow blogger give me some advice...use store bought icing and microwave it!!!! Wow...totally worked.   These little cuties are a little difficult to ice.  With more practice I feel they will improve in smoothness. I found if the icing was just a little thick it didn't coat evenly.  You will have to microwave it several times while using it b/c it hardens quick.  Well, here they are:

 

I used a store bought frozen pound cake this time and felt it was much easier to work with.  I cut it up while it was near frozen.  I did find it easier to evenly coat the round shape over the squares.

 

 

I'm proud to say I made the icing flower on the left.  They are really easy to make with royal icing.

If you are wondering why I am going to all this trouble to make them instead of buy them?  IT IS ACTUALLY FUN TO DO!!!!  Try it with your daughters.  I feel ready to show my daughter this baking lesson.  She will probably look back when she is an adult baker and laugh at my feeble attempts!  Building these memories while baking is so worth it.

 I love the round shape and they are much easier to coat.

 

Here's a cute little heart with another flower I made.

Well I'm off to have a private little tea party for myself before the kids get home!!!!!

More birthdays on the way

I've been working on invitations and wanted to share:

 

I fell in love with the colors of these reversible tags at Target.  I purchased the little cupcake stickers in the Martha Stewart section at Michaels.  The whole project cost 7.50.  I love it when I came make something I love cheaply! We are having a baking party for Madi:

 

On the same day we are having Abby's art party...later that evening.

 

These are also from Target.  I just printed the invitation on regular printer paper and added a little clip art I had on top.  The cookie below is something I am working on for her party.  I found this cookie cutter at Sur La Table.

  

I did a test run on this one today...I have a new found respect for professional bakers.  Wow...this was hard for me.  Hopefully I'll get the hang of it by the party!

The party favors and decorations are going to be a blast for these parties.  I have found some great items from my new favorite shop: Bake it Pretty

I bought the hats without the girl so the girls could decorate them right when they come in.

More birthday party planning coming!

My little three year old Monkey!

 

My little Brock is three years old today.  Where does the time go?  It seems like it was just yesterday when  he was crawling around fascinated by everything he touched.  Now he is full of energy, jumps off of everything and pushes trains around the house.  When I tucked him in bed tonight I didn't want today to end for some reason.  I don't want to forget his little sweet eyes and his sweet little voice when he says "goodnight momma".  I know this doesn't last forever and I want him to stay my little boy. 

We had a little family party for him today.  His one year old party had a sock monkey theme because my girls called him a little monkey while I was pregnant with him.  I think we will incorporate some sort of monkey into all of his future parties. Here's what I did today.

I made this monkey for him when he was one. He used to drag it around the house so it lost an eye and is pretty roughed up.  I will never repair it b/c it is so precious worn and loved on.

 I had to take a picture of the candle with a bite taken out of it!  Yes, my son thought it looked that yummy, he had to try it.

Good night sweet boy...Happy Birthday.