Tuesday, February 21, 2012

my favorite free fonts


I've been collecting some great new fonts via blogs and Pinterest lately and enjoying them thoroughly as a self-proclaimed font addict.  I decided to return the favor and share some of my go-to favorites.  All fonts are free for download  (Click the font name below to link to the download for that particular font).

Viper Nora

Channel

Alegre Sans

Carnevalle Freakshow

Payday

Doris Day

Neou

Thursday, February 16, 2012

(the secret to a simple) Strawberry Shortcake birthday Party



Friend, I have the secret to making your children's birthday parties extremely quick and easy.  Are you ready for the inside scoop?  Here it is:  run out of time. It's true. I've never had a simpler party to prepare for that my daughter's Strawberry Shortcake birthday party simply because I didn't have much time.  It's funny, but true.   I admit to getting carried away when it comes to party planning. The longer I have to prepare, the more complicated the project becomes.  I pinned lots of birthday party inspiration on Pinterest. I had loads of intricate plans and then life happened. Having a short amount of time forced me to keep it simple.  

I made a quick trip to Zurcher's for all of the licensed Strawberry Shortcake party supplies.  I also found the polka dot balloons there. You can purchase just about any theme or licensed-character party supplies from Zurchers.com if you don't have a store near you. 


I used the same DIY cupcake stand I used for my son's birthday party. The cupcakes were pretty atrocious-looking (another side-effect of running out of time) BUT they tasted great- and really, that is all the kids cared about.

I found the polka-dot napkins at Dollar Tree and tucked them in glittered party boxes also from Dollar Tree.

 I shopped my daughter's bedroom for a few little details: the vase full of pink carnations, a pink and green storage basket to hold party favors.





 My daughter came up with this  party game idea all on her own and it was a hit: Pin the Seed on the Strawberry.  It follows the same format as Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  I printed a BIG strawberry shape from Photoshop .  We cut out seeds from basic card stock, blindfolded each kid and sent them on their way with a seed.  Obviously, this was a big target, and better geared toward younger children.  I think this idea could be adapted to almost any party theme.
 I designed cupcake flags in Photoshop, printed them on card stock and stuck them on toothpicks.
 

The Strawberry-shaped marshmallows are one of my favorite elements of the party! Pretty candies are always my go-to cake decorations to camouflage my complete lack of cake-decorating skills.  The marshmallows made a perfect and SIMPLE decoration for my otherwise pathetic cupcakes. The strawberry marshmallows are available at WalMart in the baking aisle with the regular marshmallows.  They come in a package of 12-15 for about $2.00 per package.  Did I mention they have a chocolate filling?! Pretty amazing find!

 I propped the cute paper plates  from Zurchers in a clear napkin holder- making them a decorative element. I did something similar at my son's party.

Pressed for time or not, my daughter loved it, so I am calling it a success....even if there were no decorative cupcake liners ;)

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Book page vase filler/gift wrap

Are you ready for V-day, friend?  I'm not even close ;) but here is a simple vase filler or gift wrap filler that I created for Valentine purposes.




It's a fun alternative to the tiny, solid-colored crinkled paper.


I took 8-10 pages from and old book, accordion folded each sheet.




I snipped the folded sheet every 1/4 inch or so.




 Very quickly I had some pretty filler for my jar and my Valentine gift wrapping.


I'm using it for some V-day projects, but obviously it would great for any gift wrapping or filling any container for any holiday or occasion.