Watermelon drinks for a hot day

Well it is in the nineties today with a heat index of 100. The air is thick, and it is the perfect night for a light fruity drink. I put some watermelon in the blender and mixed it up. Below are two options to cool off.

For the kids I mixed the pureed watermelon with Wegmans blood orange soda and ice cubes.

For my husband and myself, I mixed the puree with seltzer and Tangueray gin on the rocks. The sun is setting, the temperature is dropping. What a relaxing evening.

An Initial Cake Topper

Ok, you just have to visit Studio D Sharp. I love love love everything this woman does creatively. (So much so, that my daughter had one of her birthday tiaras for her first birthday party, more on that later! :) Denise Sharp has a shop over at Etsy here, and a blog here. Many of her creative projects consist of paper with the most wonderful vintage style german glass glitter.

How about this fantastic cake topper? It's elegant and unique with a vintage flair. So pretty.

She makes the most delightful birthday crowns and tiaras. You can order a custom crown for your occasion, perhaps a first birthday or anniversary?

These two beautiful replicas of the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa are actually candy containers. A great way to present an extra special gift. Perhaps a ring? What a wonderful keepsake.

You can check out her wonderful stamp garlands for cakes on her Etsy site. There are a variety of colors to choose from.

These tailored letterpress buckles are sure to dress up any gift. Stop by her sites, and I am sure you will find an occasion to use these special adornments.

Make Your Own Lighted Garland

I found some really interesting lighted garlands on Once Wed. You can personalize them however you would like. It's a wonderful idea for a wedding, and could be made in any color of your choosing. Imagine your child's name in lights! A camping themed party or movie night in the yard! Go over to Once Wed for the full set of easy directions and have at it!

A Pinkalicious Party

My daughter just loves Victoria and Elizabeth Kann's book Pinkalicious. So when it was time for the fourth birthday party, this was an obvious theme.

You can visit the Cupcakes for All website for printables and party ideas. It's very pink! You can purchase the book at Barnes and Noble, one of our favorites haunts!

How easy is that, go out and buy everything Pink? I found pink Hershey's Kisses in honor of the breast cancer awareness. At Target, I found pink M&M's in support of the Susan G. Komen Brest Cancer Foundation. I picked up a bunch of pink roses and pink carnations at our local grocery store. I chose pink plates, cups and napkins at Party City.

I had these adorable little tea cups packed away in the attic, so I pulled them out, filled them with floral foam and carnations. Didn't they turn out well? My sister and I used to have cups at tea parties with our grandmother. They bring back some wonderful memories.

I found this lovely little suitcase styled box at Home Goods. They even have sterling handles! (Oh, my - I hadn't taken the wrapping off the silver for the shot! :) The organdy pouches were found at Party City. We filled them with lip glosses & nail files.

Of course, I had to make some cookies. I made these little flowers with stylized "e's" for my daughter's name and some luster dust for extra sparkle. You can find luster dust at Global Sugar Art.

A simple mint julep cup and three roses makes a beautiful centerpiece on the sweet little ice cream table and chair set. My mom and I found the table and chair set at an antique show and sale. Well, if you must know where, the Pottersville Antique Show and Sale is the place!

I had these wonderful cupcakes made at our local Wegman's to save myself some time. I think they turned out great and they were moist and delicious.

I found some pink tulle at Joanne Fabrics. I draped it around for added decoration.

We searched high and low for an all pink pinata. This one fit the bill. It was a wonderful event, with simple old fashioned games like putting the clothes pins in a bottle, and an egg race. A fun and wonderful theme that can be adapted from almost any favorite story. Happy celebrations!

A Bug Party

My son has been into bugs ever since I can remember. He wants to be a "bug scientist" when he grows up.

I saw this amazing Nordic Ware pan and I immediately knew what the theme for his next birthday party would be.

The cakelets were a little challenging to decorate, but well worth the effort! (I was so lucky that my sister was in town to help.) We made a double batch. We spread them with icing and let the sugar fill in the details.

I also picked up some plain cupcakes at our local Wegmans. I found some sweet little sugar bugs online at Fancy Flours.

I found these cute little bug houses at Oriental Trading. Don't they look great on the ribbon clothes line? I filled them with bug erasers, bug finger puppets and temporary bug tatoos.

I found the bug nets on Ebay. I put some sand in galvanized buckets so they would stand up straight. They worked wonderfully as decorations and take home favors.

We had easy games for the kids where they had to forage for toy bugs in the yard, a pinata, and some bug coloring pages to lure them in for the cakelets. Boys and girls alike had a wonderful time at this party.

Happy Fourth!

Gorgeous Invitations

If you are like me, you probably enjoy picking out beautiful paper invitations to send to your guests.  You most likely don't have a lot of time to get said invitations out in the mail.  Introducing Paperless Post, a new custom online invitation service that can send wonderful invitations right to your guests' inboxes.  

 Not only are these invitations classic and rich, they are green.  The classic formal looking invitations truly look like traditional heavy card stock.  The card arrives in a guest's email box and appears as a creamy envelope, which opens to show the invitation.  The Paperless Post service also keeps track of responses.  Go check them out, you will be amazed.