Ainsley's Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party!

(Click on collage to enlarge)


I spent a month putting Ainsley's Strawberry Shortcake 4th Birthday party together in between doing and still doing a big project for a lady in my mom's ward (color booklets that I've talked about before). I think I had more fun doing and attending the party than Ainsley did.  I got too carried away doing crafts, dressing up and baking, but it was fun and here's what I did:

 I was Blueberry Muffin, Arabella was Lemon Merigue (she had to wear that ugly white wig because Ainsley had one- good thing I had another one from my HS spirit days) and Ainsley was of course Strawberry Shortcake! 

I made all with what I had except I bought my blue skirt, Ainsley's tights which was a shirt, and Ainsley's pink shoes from the DI. I had to go to a costume shop for my green striped tights and had to buy Ainsley's wig from Amazon.com and her foam green hat bill from Micheal's. All totaling maybe $25 when a child's size Strawberry Shortcake costume would cost $20-33 + $10-15 for the wig alone.

I made the cake which is the best cake I've ever attempted to make.  I used a Giant Cupcake pan for the bottom which I bought on Amazon.com for $25 a year ago and I used a large cupcake pan for the top.  I bought a $7 Wilton cupcake decorating kit at Walmart, OH! and I bought pink sprinkles of course and a candle.  I used Ainsley's Strawberry Shortcake doll from MacDonald's.

 I made the cupcake stands from items at DI and bought the polka dot cardboard one at Walmart for $2 after Valentine's Day.
I didn't have time to finish the other stands, but I would like them to look like the blue ones below.

Inspirtation craft pic.

I made a "Happy 4th Birthday Ainsley" banner from scrapbook paper I had.

I made this pinata out of cereal boxes, pink streamer $1, scrapbook paper, package tape $3, string, and print outs from www.Strawberryshortcake.com which is where I got invitations, coloring pages, games and other decor. I filled the pinata with gummy treats, skittles and starburts. Beats the $20 castle pinata I saw at Walmart, plus I could customize it Strawberry Shortcake Style!

Silly Snake & Super Cape

I made a cute silly snake and cape as a b-day gift for Ainsley's Joy School friend, Malakai.  I found this cute "silly snake" idea on youtube and made it my own with what I had- go upcycling!  I filled it with lentils and it really feels like a real snake complete with a rattle on the end of it's tail.  Perfect for a 5 yr. old boy!

Dino's Babies for Karma's B-day

Karma is one of the kids I teach Joy School to and Ainsley's friend and her mom is my friend and VT companion. Anyway she had a cute "Tangle" themed b-day and they made the cutest Pascul lizard creatures out of some sticky foam and party favors that worked for a lizard tongue (Ainsley lost her lizard before I got a picture, but you can learn how to make it at www.disneykids.com I think).

Ha I did have a pic of Karma holding the Pascul creature.

Isn't her cake so cute!?

We made Karma a cute basket of Dino babies since she loves dinosauers. She is such a funny random girl. She even had a Dino cake aside from her "Tangled" one her aunt made her.

Some dinos were stuffed and some were bean bags. My inspiration was the dino puzzle behind the dino babies. I also added some jelly beans for dino eggs and each dino on the flower had a letter spelling Karma's name.

75 cent at the DI- brand new!

All the fabric is scraps I collected from my mom as a kid.

All in all I probably spent $5, the most being for the jelly beans.

April Craft Projects

Upcycle Easter Dresses- I didn't have the time to make full on dresses so I took some dresses that still fit the girls, but were too short and added some fabric that my sweet bishop's wife gave me and put a tutu under Ainsley's to give it poof. They turned out way cuter than the pic and I'm working on a flower bow from the scraps. I even made a sash for me to match.

I finally made myself a bow holder, but I neet to make another.

Wish I had a big wall to make a bigger one instead of little ones.

Speaking of bigger bow holders. My dad and I made this one for my sis-in-law's b-day and soon to be baby girl. My snl is sewing and crafting up a bow storm and needed something big to start storing them.

Joy School Valentine's Party

Ainsley has had lots of fun doing joy school. I was incharge of our Valentine's Party which was a lot of work, but it was fun. We did games, read Valentine books, made Valentines and crafts, watched a Valentine show at the end and decorated mini cupcakes while us Moms dug into the giant chocolate/strawberry cupcake.

Again don't judge the non-baker.

Hey it's just going to get eaten and poked at by the kids.

These little love bugs and animals were made from recycled egg cartons and the monkey from plastic plates (was a Valentine Holder).

Backtoback Babyshowers

I had backtoback babyshowers Saturday and one a week ago which are my favorite because it means craft time. My Aunt Shawna was having a boy and I haven't done much with boy themes so this was going to be fun. My other shower was for a good friend I grew up with and she even moved out to Vancouver, WA when I was out there in Salem, OR. She was going to have her first baby girl and if she was going to be anything like her mom and aunts, she would have gorgeous long blonde hair. I had the perfect idea. And last week I helped throw a small ward babyshower for our former Primary President who is also having a girl. Yeah we love girl themed stuff! So here's what I came up with:

If I had had more time I would've gone more crazy with this.

I just love diaper cakes and a good frog theme for a boy.

This is a hair bow display holder.

So easy, fits budget, fun to make and display.

We did a panda theme since our former Pres. loves pandas and she's having a girl so our colors were hot pink, black and white. My presidency put me incharge of all the creative stuff which took a lot of time, but Christine loved it all so it was even more worth it. Here's what I did:

Tissue Paper Pom Poms

Cake (Would've had a cute stuffed Panda on top, but I didn't want to ruin it and I didn't have $$/ time to get and do a Wilton 3D Bear)

Panda Cupcakes (Not a baker, don't judge, but she loved them and took all the rest home)

Grand finale was my gift the Panda Diaper Cake.

She loved the Panda and all the flowers are hair clips I made.

It's topped with a pink soothie pacifier.

Invitations I made (I had typed up the info and pasted inside on finished ones).

2010 Homemade Gifts

So I've been busy getting into the Christmas Spirit by teaching lessons in Primary about Christmas and our Savior all this month, doing joy school, some baking (I wished I had had time & $ to have done that Ivory Home Gingerbread contest), Christmas/Birthday/Baby Shower parties, Visiting Teaching, Primary Visits, getting sick (an annual Christmas Holiday tradition) and making gifts.

Here are some of my *homemade gifts: (more coming)

Cards, cards, cards

Not my thing, but I had fun

The 3 hair bows were for my VT companion's little girl who turned 1!

This little huggie bear was for my friend's baby boy's first Christmas

which I filled with goodies for her whole fam.

These were gifts for my VT people and RS pres.

This was a lonely candle stick holder which I glued a candy dish on top and filled the snow ball with candy and trinkets that went with my note to a dear friend going through a hard time.

One of my bestest friends is having a boy around Jan. 7th! I went out to Eagle Mountain to her baby shower. It was a lot of fun and I had fun making her present.

The bear's bib says "A hug a day keeps the grouchies away."

"On the go" bag. Open because sometimes you barely only have one hand at the store and you need to get to things quickly.

Nursing Cover/blankie

Baby mittons to keep them from scratching themselves.

My Arabelli model

This hat idea I found on Etsy and I found a hat Arabella had and made a pattern from that.

*(Nothing was bought except the candy and baby booties on bear. I used what I had and well upcycled.)