The Reindeers have to eat too!

Now Dasher and Dancer and Donner....well....you get it!!

Reindeer! Santa's little fellows that pull that heavy sleigh through the sky. They need food too! Wouldn't you be hungry after doing all that work?

So the boys and I set out to make some Reindeer food for all their friends at their schools. We needed to make a very large batch to make at least 30 pouches not including some for family and neighbors.

First, start with some store brand Oats. You can get them so reasonably priced, this was approx. $1.19

Next, just some craft glitter or "glitter snow" as I call it which is glitter pieces in white "fluff".

Get a giant bowl, pour the oats in, let the kids sprinkle the glitter (you can use any color) and then let them mix it all up. Simple as that!!

Here is a picture of the note cards that we printed up and cut for each bag on cardstock.

Last but not least, plastic ziploc bags. Pour some of the mixture in, one cardstock , seal & you are ready to go!!

Here is a shot of the finished product! I hope the reindeer enjoy!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow Cupcakes

Do you LOVE Cupcakes as much as I do?

I love to bake and my favorite thing to bake is cupcakes so I wanted to try rainbow cupcakes. They were so fun to prepare and to eat!

Here is now you do it:

1) I used boxed cake mix (White)

2) I made the cake mix per the directions on the box and then split the mix in 6 separate bowls.

3) Layer the colors in the baking cups

4) Bake as usual

Here is my little man....I mean...helper :)

Then you pour the mix into the baking cups backwards starting with the purple, then blue, then green, then yellow, then orange and last red. I found that using a teaspoon helped because it allowed me to put small amounts in and it's VERY important to NOT MIX the colors once you drop them into the baking cups. Just allow the color to fill on top of the previous color. I hope that makes sense :)

Here are the finished products after they came out of the oven:

Here is a picture of the cupcake sliced open so you can see the rainbow:

Now to icing and EAT :)

I brought these to a school family picnic and they were a HUGE hit to say the least! Even my helper got to have one.....

The possibilities are endless with these. I posted them on my facebook after I made them and inspired a friend to make red, white and blue versions for a block party. I am thinking orange and purple would be perfect for Halloween!



Arrghh...A Pirate Party

In April, My family and I went to Disney world and one of my son's favorite rides is the Pirates of the Caribbean so of course when we came home to plan his May birthday party, a Pirate theme was just what he had in mind.

I am one for a "theme". I think it's not only fun shopping for things that go together but it also ties everything together and makes for a nice display. I think all the pirate items that I found or made, brought the party together.

So many people have asked me how I did things for the party, so here I am to share them with all of you.

From the invitation to the cake and everything in between, I like to keep the theme.
Here are some pictures from the party and I will try to explain them and what I used, etc. If you see anything and are interested in the items, just let me know. I will be happy to direct you to the right place! :)

First we did a Treasure hunt complete with clues and had all the items hidden around in different places. At the end of the hunt (which included everything to become a "real pirate", they then had to Walk the Plank!

This plank was made by my step father and he did a great job! It had an arrow to show the pirates which way to walk, it was up on blocks but not too high for the little ones and he even painted a pirate on it! It remains in my backyard and the kids still love it!

This is just one of our cakes. This pirate was made by my mom from scratch. She is so talented and really enjoys doing the kids' cakes. It was a hit!

We had everything on the tables and outdoors to reflect the theme throughout. We had a skull holding pirate napkins, the cupcake picks were made by me, personalized with my son's name, age and pirate messages. We had "booty" throughout in small sacks that I purchased at a local craft store and filled with "jewels" and "gold coins". All the serving bowls, platters and popcorn holders were found at Home Goods. I stumbled upon them. If you are a fan of HomeGoods, then you know, you never know what you will find!!

We ALL dressed the part! Even Dad wore a pirate shirt that I made and had a fake mustache, patch and hook (which were all given out in the hunt). I made myself and my mother a BLING Pirate themed shirt! They all turned out so cute. Both my boys wore a skull pirate themed shirt that I made as well.

This was my shirt which sparkled in the sun and I just loved it! Great for the theme!

Here is another cake which was the pirate ship (again, made by my mother). Another delicious addition to the many desserts including a chocolate fountain and pirate cupcakes

This is my mom in her bling pirate shirt! She was on chemo during all of this as well so she is looking great!

This is a treasure chest that I purchased unfinished at a local craft store and painted in in gold and metallic brown, it looked great in person. I filled it with loot. The fabric for the table I purchased at Joann Fabric stores and just had it cut to size. The wooden signs that I had throughout all the tables (shown here) were handpainted by an artist on etsy for just $4 each, all with different sayings to set the mood.

 The small buckets for the silverware were purchased at the craft store for $1 each and I purchased vinyl clings from a woman on etsy that I use all the time. She sold me about a dozen of them for a few dollars. I told her to make them small and all in black and white. They varied from "Ahoy matey" to a skull and crossbones and a pirate ship, etc. They went perfect on these small buckets for utensils and napkins, etc. Most of the napkins and paper products I purchased in straight red or red and white stripes. The dessert plates specifically for the cake, I purchased with pirates on them. I find that the party products that you purchase with a "theme" sell in such small quantities for so much so I rather by coordinating colors and get a higher quality product that won't bend, etc.

All the kids loved walking the plank over and over again with their hooks, pirate hats, mustaches, gold chain necklaces, eye patches, pirate themed clothes and more. We also love the jumping thing that we rented for the day from a local place in our area. My son wanted a slide so bad!! It was a hit with even the adults!

We also did Sand Art so we had one designated table with every color sand that you can think of and bottles, necklaces, key chains and more that the children loved to fill with sand and bring home with them.
All in all the party was a great success! A fun day filled with lots of laughs, smiles and I think the theme really showed through everything that was done. I can't wait to hear what my son has in store for next year (so I can start planning now!!).

Here are some of the other pictures from the party. Enjoy!!!

The buckets that I made with the vinyl:

I used a stencil to paint all of the gift bags and then made the hang tags:

Drink tags to go with the theme:

Cupcake toppers with Age, Name, etc. Displayed not only on this cupcake tower but also on black iron candle holders down center of dessert table. Made a great display!

Decopage with Real pumpkins!

So, I see this idea on the web about a decopaged pumpkin and I instantly fell in love with the idea. I ran out to my local produce junction and purchased 3 pumpkins, ran to the dollar store for some tissue paper and mod podge and some foam craft brushes.

Next, we had fun by ripping the tissue paper into small pieces. No need to cut them in perfect pieces, ripping them is more fun anyway!!  I bought some solid colored tissue paper and also some patterned tissue papers. Wash the pumpkins with some water, dry with a paper towel. Once you start putting pieces of tissue paper on the pumpkin and brushing on the mod podge on, it will go on WHITE, don't worry, that is totally normal, it will dry clear :)

I did mine in dark purple, black and green tissue paper. I think it came out great! Doesn't take long to dry either and then I got some black feathers from the craft store as well and put them around the stem and WAH LA...it's perfect! It's fun, it's easy, it's inexpensive and looks great. I might start decopaging other things now :)

Here is the finished product.

HOODIES

Now that the weather is getting colder, the hoodies come out!!

I love Hoodies myself. I wear them daily both inside around the house and out. I bling some, I pick one up whenever we go away so I have started some sort of collection. I have hoodies from Disney World, Sports Teams, Victorias Secret and anywhere that I can get my hands on a nice zip up hoodie.

I started to offer these on my website about 2 years ago. I wanted to offer them to the Bride because on the day of the wedding, it's so easy to have one of these on, go get your hair and make up done and then unzip to get ready, Nothing goes over your head to mess anything up!! I then expanded into offering them for the Bridesmaids as well and the Bride's love to purchase these for their entire bridal party. Another great use for them is the Bride's love to then wear them on the plane to their honeymoon. If it's cold where you live and you are going somewhere warm, it not only keeps your warm until you get there, it shows that you are a Newlywed!!

You can totally customize these by choosing one of my many fonts that I offer as well as changing the stone color to keep with your theme. They all sparkle!!

I offer many different things that you can get on the hoodie as well. "Just Married", "Mrs. Smith" (your new last name),  "Monogram with date", etc. The possibilities are endless!!!

I offer these in white, black or fuschia. Sizes are Small, Medium, Large & XL.
Here is one I made recently , the bride designed it herself choosing font styles and layout and I did the rest to make her vision come true!!

New to the Blogging World!

I am new to the Blogging world but have been wanting to start one for a while. I guess I just always have a lot to say :) Lucky you!!

I design for a living. I am a mom of 2 boys and I love girly things so my designing allows me to have my fill of all the girly things that I love....Sparkle being what I love most.

What girl doesn't like a little shiny bling? Whether it's your sparkling engagement ring or a tee that you love to wear around, us girly girls all love a little sparkle!!

So with this blog, I will share my new designs, what inspires my designs and add a few other things that I love to do, mostly crafts and themed parties that I love to throw. So many people ask me how I made something or where I purchased it when I have a party so here is a perfect place to put all that info!! I also have a passion for baking so I will definitely be sharing recipes and ideas for that too.

I hope you come back and read some of my future posts and if you ever have a questions for me, just ask, I would love to hear from you!

Tina