Katie's Two By Two Party

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I know, I'm totally overdue on this post. I started it long ago, but got stalled editing pictures. I've been bugged to get it done, so I'm going to stop putting it off!

As my regular readers know, I'm a ridiculous planner. I started seriously pulling together things for this party in April. And then decided I would use May to focus on Mady's Fancy Nancy Party and June to focus on Katie's party.

I didn't foresee one thing.
Being pregnant in June.
Anyone who has been pregnant probably knows that what that really means is that you can't get out of bed (or at least off the couch) for about 6 weeks (or more!).

But I still needed to pull together a Noah's Ark Two-by-Two party!

I finally started actually putting things together just a few days before her party. I'm glad the plan was pretty simple! The most time consuming part was the outfits that I made the girls and those came together pretty quick. In case you're wondering here is the tutorial for the rainbow skirt and the etsy shop I bought the appliques from is The Applique Patch.

I designed the invitation on my silhouette and printed it out at Staples (I didn't want running ink and their colour laser printers stop that from happening). The Noah's Ark boat and animals were shapes in the library.

(I cheated and just took a screen shot, but this was done as a card style and this was the outside)

(and the inside, personal info blurred)

The week leading up to the party we had fabulous weather. Ridiculously hot even, so I had originally planned that we would have the party outside. But then that morning there was a 40% chance of rain. And in Calgary that basically means it's going to rain.

So we moved to an indoor plan. Which meant it didn't rain.




For decorations I made a birthday banner shaped like raindrops out of paper (again using my silhouette), hung balloons as water drops (and, yet again, if I had been allowed to stand on high ladders I would have strongly considered hanging them from the ceiling for a more watery feel. Why am I always pregnant for second birthday parties??).



I ruffled streamers on my sewing machine and made a rainbow with some tissue paper poms as the clouds. Then on the banisters around the room (we have a sunken living room) I taped up some colourful umbrellas.


For food we had snacks since it was a morning party: cheese, crackers and sausage as "boat building materials," animal crackers, a rainbow fruit platter and jello rainclouds.
 
 
The cake I made to look like an ark using some oval pans and a little loaf pan. And lots of chocolate finger cookies. Which ended up tasting better than my original fondant plan.


That plan got scrapped because one of my pregnancy aversions is looking at fondant. (I seriously haven't read party blogs in 2.5 months. Can't do it.) Mady's cake almost killed me. I knew I couldn't muster up the courage to do it again in a month. And really, I crave lots of chocolate. So this was win/win.


For activities we had the kids make rainbow necklaces out of gimp and frootloops upon arrival. Katie chose instead to just eat them straight out of the bowl.


Then I took the kids into the living room and I went over the basic Noah's ark story (which I was using to guide the activities, but we ran out of time, so technically we didn't finish the story. Good thing I know all the parents can tell it at home!). I bought a pack of little animals off of amazon (free with my swagbucks. Score!) and I hid one from each pair around the room (actually my Father in law did...Thanks Dad!). I gave the kids an animal to go and find the mate of and when they did I had them bring them back to put in the ark (we have a fisher price ark that I used for this). Then I sent them out to find another. They probably could have played this game for an hour if I had enough animals!

(no pictures of any of this because I was leading it. Someone else may have some though so when I get some I'll add them in)

We sang some Noah's ark songs and got all the parents to help us make a rainstorm with our hands (by rubbing your hands, then snapping and then slapping your legs).


Next, I pulled out the playdough and the animal shaped cutters and let them go to town. We had our Noah's ark toys and books out for the non participators and colouring sheets for those who preferred that art outlet.


After that we had snacks and cake and opened presents.

(I wish blogger didn't hate my camera's videos because we have one of her singing along and then pre-blowing the candles before we were done singing)

(Katie enjoying her new bike)

We ran out of time to blow bubbles so I sent them home with the kids.



For the favours each kid got to pick an umbrella to take home (The tag said "Here's an umbrella to keep the rain off you and to help you remember the day I turned two!"), I gave them some of the animals from the game, and (my stroke of genius) a Dove chocolate bar. Because you can't have the ark without a dove, right??? I had wanted dove eggs but forgot to get them at Easter. Whoops.

So that was the party. Katie seemed to like it (as much as two year olds can tell you these things).

We are so blessed to have such lovely friends and family to share these special times with. Thanks everyone for coming! I totally forgot to get a group shot of the kids (someone please start reminding me to do this at parties!)


We Love You Katie Mae! Happy Birthday!

Sneak Peek at Katie's Party and a Feature!

Today I am madly getting ready for Katie's birthday party.

Want a sneak peek?

Here are the outfits I've been making the girls this week. I'm so excited for them to wear them! Can you guess the theme??

And up close of the applique because he's so stinkin' cute!

In the meantime, if you truly can't get enough of my babble, you can head over to Leanne's blog where she is featuring me today. How sweet, right?


 

A Fancy Nancy Soiree

This past weekend was exhausting. I had two huge choir concerts for which Mark's family was in town and so then I decided to throw Mady's party the same weekend so they could attend (they don't like to miss anything). It all went great, but I spent Monday putting my house mostly back together and yesterday just being tired and completely useless.

BUT, I knew I couldn't put off this party post any longer. You guys have been WAY too patient for all the details (and with me being pretty much absent)

This year we hosted a Fancy Nancy Soiree (that's a fancy word for party). Last summer I introduced Mady to Nancy and that was pretty much the end. The theme was decided. She just loves her. She has been asking about when her party is going to be since about Christmas time and counting down the months, weeks and days. Needless to say, she was very excited.

It wouldn't be a Fancy Nancy party without a fancy ensemble (that's a fancy word for outfit). I wasn't sure what to do, so when my sister suggested a pettiskirt I knew it was perfect. But then I'm cheap and there was no way I was paying the ridiculous prices for them. So I made them. And now I know why people charge ridiculous prices. And let me tell you, people, you're getting a steal of a deal! But I love them and they love them! I made the shirts (which are cupcakes if you can't tell) to match using leftovers from the skirts and other stuff from around my house.

Let's start with the invitations. I cut out little purses with my Silhouette, printed all the party info to put inside. Added a flower, ribbon for the handle and some velcro to keep it closed.

I know I could have gone crazy making them more fancy, but sometimes it's just better for me to stop. Apparently quite a few of the kids liked them as I had a few parents calling or emailing me for the party details because their child had wandered off with them! Ha!

Let's just take a quick peek at the decor and then I'll show you the actual party and what we did.

Clockwise: Framed print on mantle, French Happy Birthday Banner, Door Sign, La Chic Boutique sign

 I missed taking a picture of the big pink poms and ruffled streamers between my living room and upstairs (it's a sunken living room), but you can imagine they were there.

Clockwise: Tea Party Set up, King's Crown Sign, Place settings, Food labels, Tea cups with Pinkies up and Mustache Staws

When the kids arrived we played Mady's Fancy Nancy Parfait game until all the kids arrived. I didn't get pictures of this as I was still completing a few last minute food things. But it's a great little game that Mady loves and doesn't torment me as a parent to play so I highly recommend it.

Next we read Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. I chose this book in particular because it's probably Mady's favourite and it introduces Mrs. Devine.

 I have a fabulous friend, Eve, who agreed to come and play the part of Mrs. Devine (Fancy Nancy's neighbour who taught her all about being fancy) and she was perfect! Mady was completely star struck. It made me giggle! It was even better because Mady has never met Eve so she didn't recognize her as my friend at all.

So then Mrs. Devine suggested the kids all get fancy for a fashion show. I had set up the "La Chic Boutique" with all sorts of dress up supplies. For the boys I had some less girly sunglasses, top hats, ties and moustashes. I even found some less feminine rings. For the girls there were necklaces, boas, rings, coloured "hair extension" clips (which Stanley was a huge fan of), and sunglasses.

Then Mrs. Devine showed them all how to walk with a banana on their head (Nancy does this with her sister in one of the books) and for those willing to participate we did a little fashion show.
I had a frame that I painted pink for some extra pictures. I somehow did not get everyone, so if you were at the party and got pictures, you may have kids I missed.

Last we played Mrs. Devine May I. Which most of the kids didn't get. Probably should have gone with Simon says vs. Mother May I. :)

Then we went up to the table for a tea party.

We had peanut butter and jam or honey sandwiches cut into the shape of crowns (my mother in law made them all for me and was so kind as to follow my crazy instructions for how to cut them).

 

My sister in law put together fruit kabobs for me, and we had "tea" in their cups, which was really just raspberry lemonade. And, of course, Mrs Devine showed them how to drink with their pinkies up.

After they finished eating we took them outside for the pinata. This was pretty much the only request from Mady for her party. I had a bit of trouble coming up with an idea for how to make a pinata fancy. Then I remembered seeing one somewhere in blogland that was covered in tissue paper roses. So that's what I did. 250 roses later we had a fancy pinata. One that was apparently not made thin enough for dainty 3 and 4-year-olds to break.

Good thing we had a Dad close by to help! Once it was broken they discovered candy necklaces, ring pops and some pink jelly beans inside (and I put them all in bags before so that it was fair. Maybe that's a kill joy, but I figured at this age all the kids probably don't really understand the candy scramble so if I didn't there was going to be tears).

Then they came inside and decorated some boxes with stickers and such. I tried to gather the nerve to bring in paint, but decided I couldn't quite get to that point of mess. Maybe when she's five... The plan was that they would be jewelry boxes, but since we had boys I didn't call them that. They put various treasures in from the boutique.

Then we had cake, cookies and parfaits.

And lastly we opened presents.

At the end of the party, each child got to pick a Fancy Nancy book to take home as well as keep the butterfly place mat that I made them from the table setting (you can find the tutorial here).

My kids are blessed with such wonderful friends! Thanks everyone for coming and making Mady's fourth birthday so special.

(and thanks Katie for the pictures I stole off of your facebook page of all the things I missed...)

And there you have it! And now I have less than 6 weeks to get the next party together. :)






Ps - I collected ideas from all over the internet for this party. Know that some really fabulous people helped to inspire this party and I couldn't have done it without their ideas.
Here are the ones I could find the inspiration websites for. If I missed something you know is your work or idea, please let me know and I'll add you to the credits.

• For the Pettiskirts I followed this fabulous pettiskirt tutorial. One of these days I'll explain how I did it because I made it more work than necessary and sometimes that comical.

• The t-shirts were inspired by the shirts found in this etsy shop. I'm cheap and was running out of shipping time and since I had everything on hand to make them, I did. But if you're lazy, or not crafty you should buy them from her. And she has TONS of chiffon, at great prices, which I found AFTER I purchased all my non non-fraying kind. Which made my skirt making a pain...

• The fancy pinata was inspired by the pinata in this post. Her's was much prettier. But like I always say, my versions are always slightly dorkier/wonkier/floppier.

• Um this cake is amazing. And I couldn't quit thinking about it. So this is the cake that I modeled mine after. Minus the crown because I got all creative with modelling chocolate, which then fell apart.  -

• The raspberry lemonade punch was a doubled version of a recipe that I found on pinterest. Delish!  

• Invitation Wording – I pieced together from various invitations I found online and now I can't find any of the sources. Sorry. If you recognize your creativity, please send me an email and I'll give you credit!

•  Same with the party signage.

Ragged Butterfly Place Mat Tutorial

Here is the promised tutorial for the Ragged Butterfly Place Mats. There is nothing that is particularly hard about them, but I did find them to take some time (though I also did 10, so it may have just FELT longer!).

I started with a basic butterfly shape. I got mine from the Silhouette online store, but I'm sure you could draw one or use any butterfly clip art. I drew a line down the centre (the middle of the body) so I knew where the halfway mark was.

I sized it so that half of the butterfly filled a vertical (portrait) page. I printed this size and then I shrunk it so that it was about 1/2 inch smaller all the way around. I had to stretch out the wings a bit in order to make the body small enough, but basically you just want a 1/2 inch smaller butterfly as even as possible all the way around (but it doesn't have to be exact).

Once I had printed my butterflies, I cut them out of the fabric that I wanted to use. Use the large butterfly for the outer fabric and the smaller butterfly for the batting. Since you only have half a butterfly, you'll need to place it on the fold. To get better mileage from my fabric, I folded both edges into the centre fold line (and then I was able to cut 2 at once).

I was going with the birthday colours. 8 of the 10 that I did I made pink on one side and purple on the other. 2 of them (for the boys) I made green on both sides. Then for the circles (my butterfly shape came with them) I cut out the small ones all green for the girls (both sides) and opposite pink and purple for the big circles. On the boys I did one side with large purple and small pink and the opposite side was the other way around. It really doesn't matter what colours you use or how you do the dots.
For the 10 place mats I did I had:
8 pink butterflies
8 purple butterflies
4 green butterflies
20  purple large circles
20 pink large circles
4 purple little circles
4 pink little circles
32 little green circles

Cut the smaller butterfly (1 for each mat) out of the batting. I used a thin batting. I have no idea if it has a special name as I got it on a bolt. I just asked the girl at the store to help me find the cheapest and thinnest batting they had.

Once you've got everything cut out it's time to layer it.

Take one of the fabric butterflies, right side down, then place on some batting (centering it), then place the opposite colour fabric right side up. I then placed on my circles, being careful they are more or less in the same spot on the opposite side (I used my fingers to pinch the feel along the outer edge to gauge how close I was. Not all were perfect, but most were good enough). Pin in place.

Using a straight stitch sew around the circles (remember to back stitch) leaving about a 1/2 inch seam allowance. With your needle down lift your presser foot to help swivel around the circles. Again, these don't have to be perfect.

Starting 1/2 inch in from the edge, sew two straight lines on either side of the body of the butterfly. Stop 1/2 inch from the bottom edge (otherwise you won't have anything to fray!). This stitching helps tack everything in the middle down and gives definition to the butterfly.

Then sew around the entire body leaving a half inch edge (I realized after the second line down the centre by the body, you can leave your needle down, turn the butterfly and start sewing around the edge from there).

(if you look closely on this picture you'll see that some of my stitches got too close to the edge. You don't want that because it makes the next part not work as well)

Once you have sewn all the way around, take some snippers (they're the spring loaded scissors, also called ragging scissors) and snip all the edges and around the circles too, about 1/4 of an inch apart. Careful not to clip your stitches! You can do this with regular scissors, but it's very tiring on the hand. I found this to be a good TV watching exercise.

Once you're done throw them in the washer and dryer to help the fringe to curl and look all ragged.

That's it, you're done!