Buckets of Easter Buckets

This weekend we are hosting some family and friends for a small Egg Hunt and brunch at our house.  The snow has melted (yay!) and the grass is slowly starting to turn green.  We may have to rain our rain boots and jackets, but there shouldn't be any ice pellets raining down on us while we hunt for eggs!  One Easter we literally hunted for eggs in the snow.  When I see all the cute pictures of girls in their pretty Easter dresses and boys in their cute seersucker shorts hunting for eggs, I realize that will never happen here - even if Easter is at the end of April.

When I saw this adorable printable set featured on Pizzazerie by Green Beansie Cards, I knew that was the perfect inspiration for the Egg Hunt and brunch.  I absolutely love the color combinations.

The color combination perfectly matches my dining room.  In preparation for Sunday, I put together the banner and hung it between my barn windows and Easter egg wreaths.

 

Instead of filling the eggs with lots of candy, I decided that each child will find one of each color (prevents my daughter from hoarding because I know she'd be "that kid.")  When they have found one egg of each color, they can turn them in for a prize.  Each mom agreed to bring one "prize" for each child - chalk from the dollar aisle, bubbles, etc.  I was racking my brain of what we could put those cute prizes in when I came across these perfectly colored pastel sand buckets at Michael's for $1! 

Using my Silhouette, I cut out a bunny and each of the kids' names and added them to the bucket.  Add a little polka dot ribbon to the buckets and voila! an adorable Easter bucket!

Here's hoping for a Sunny Sunday!

Buckets of Gratitude!

You know how it's the little things that just make your day?  Well that's what I received today!  Today Buckets of Grace was featured by the Uber-cool and sweet Kristy from the Purple Pug as the Crush of the Day. 

Thank you Kristy for making my day!  I am honored and humbled to have the blog featured by such a talented and crafty super-party designer! 

Here is a link to the post!
http://thepurplepug.blogspot.com/2011/04/buckets-of-inspiration-tuesday-super.html

Lollipop Lost....

Next project for the Enchanted Prom...  The Whirly Pops...

I purchased these lollipops a while ago and wanted to put them on the favors table for Grace's Enchanted Prom Party.  Problem is, I don't know how to display them.  Instead of a traditional "sweets" table, I am going to do a "favor table" - at least that's what I think today.  I have all sorts of trinkets for the girls to grab and to use to dress up as a Prom Princess - white gloves, prom sashes, jewels, etc. 

I also have a few sweets for them, including ring pops (as their bling for the night), large pixie sticks and these Whirly Pops.  I am stuck though as to how to display them.  I'd love to hear your talented ideas!

It was hard to get a good picture of what I did to the Whirly Pops.

I added a disco ball sticker that says "Grace's 7th Birthday Enchanted Prom." 

I also added the ribbon that coordinates with the colors of the Prom.

In the past, this is how I've displayed Whirly Pops, but I just don't think the grapes crate will cut it for the Prom.

To see some of the other things I have for the Prom, check them out here.and here.  I'd love to hear your thoughts as you are all so much more talented than I :)



Carrot-esq Treat Cones

When I think Easter, I think bunnies.  And what bunny doesn't love a carrot treat!  In honor of all those Wascally Wabbits out there, tonight's Easter craft project are these carrot-esq treat cones. 

To make 8 of these treat cones, here are the supplies you will need:

• 8-10 sheets of scrapbook paper (I found mine at Hobby Lobby.  I think orange gingham would be adorable, but they did not have any.)
• 1 roll of 25' green tissue festooning.  (I purchased mine from Shindigz.com.)
• 10 yards of coordinating ribbon (I purchased mine from Hobby Lobby.)
• Paper punch
• Hot glue gun
• Paper cone template (I used the Silhouette cone template.)

Step 1:  Cut the paper into cone shapes.

Step 2:  Form the cones.

Step 3:  Hot glue the tissue festooning to the top of the cone. 

I doubled the festooning, going around the cone two times.

Here is what the cones will look like after you've added a double layer of the tissue festooning.

Step 4:  Punch a hole on each side of the cone.

Step 5:  Cut ribbon to desired length (I made my ribbon about 2 feet each.

I can't wait to fill the cones with treats for my nieces and nephews and Grace and Ethan for Easter day.  I think they'd look cute hanging from an Easter basket handle as well.

Happy Easter Crafting!

Cute Find for Superhero Parties - Target to the Rescue!

Have you seen Anders Ruff's latest Super Hero spectacular?  If you missed it, check out all the fabulousness here.

I LOVE how they took a theme that could easily be commercialized and made it adorable without the commercial characters.

I particularly LOVED their city scape background for the treats tabletop and the use of city scape elements throughout the party.

 

In case their efforts make you feel intimidated, I spotted this fabulous City Scape shower curtain from Target in this weekend's flyer for only $13!  If you are not up to making your own city scape for your little super hero, this shower curtain would make the perfect back drop for a sweets table!  It would also make a great backdrop for a photo booth opportunity.

And, when your little super hero is all partied out, you could always use it for what it was intended.  Nothing like multi-tasking a shower curtain!

Buckets of Pottery Barn Easter Inspiration

Despite the 18 inches of snow sitting outside my window, we have Spring Fever here!  And with Spring Fever comes getting ready for Easter.  This Spring's Pottery Barn magazine has so many inspirational ideas!  I want them all!

 

Here are some of my favorites:

 

The "Egg-a-labra!"  (Who knew!)

 

The $149 price tag is a little too much for this girl.  If anyone can figure out how to make these, I'd love to hear!

 

I love this entire setting!!!

 

 

Absent winning the lottery, I narrowed down Pottery Barn's ideas to what I could reproduce - these eggs:

 

 

 

I found eggs at Hobby Lobby for 40% off.  I knew I wanted to have the eggs on my dining room table and wanted them to match my new table runner so I decided to paint them a chocolate brown.  I then used my Silhouette to cut out the letters in a light blue vinyl.  You could use scrapbook sticker as well.  Here's what I came up with:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Ethan says, "It's Bunny Time."  Happy Easter deorating!

Buckets of Inspiration

I'm back...I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post.  Since that time, I turned another year older (which I refuse to acknowledge) and have gone through quite a lot of heartache and sadness in my professional life.  But in that time and despite the horrendous roller coaster my family and all of my brothers and sisters have been riding, I have never been more proud to work for who I do, stand with those who have chosen to stand up, and hold out hope and continue to have faith that in the end, good triumphs over evil.  The battle has just begun and believe me, someone has picked the wrong fight this time. 

In addition to the inspiration I've gotten from those I have the honor of working for every day, I also have gathered tons and tons of inspiration for planning Grace's 7th Birthday Enchanted Prom.  Because as every party gal knows, "the show must go on!"

So after a month or so on hiatus fighting the good fight, I've returned to working little by little on getting ready for The Prom.  Grace is on spring break this week and I managed to take a few days vacation.  Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature it is Spring - we received almost 18 inches of snow since yesterday!  I have to remind myself that it is March 24th!  Ahhh....spring time in Wisconsin!

Since we are stuck inside, I wanted to work on a few things for The Prom.  My first inspiration came from Amy's BEAUTIFUL Glittery Ballerina Birthday Party she gave her daughter.  The details of this party are truly amazing.  It makes the Ballerina Princess Party I gave Grace a few years ago look like amateur night :)  As soon as I saw Amy's party, I knew I had to steal some of her ideas for The Prom.  In fact, I told Amy so and she gave me permission to copy away :) 

I just LOVED the glittery ballet dancer she made for the backdrop of the sweets table.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I found my inspiration for the backdrop of Grace's sweets table.  Instead of the ballerina, I thought I'd incorporate the "prom girl" from the invitation my talented cousin designed.

And here is what I came up with (yes I know it's backwards!):

The frame was on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $11 (marked down from $111!).  I know it is not the exact correct size, but that adds character :)  I placed light pink fabric behind the frame.  It has a touch of sparkle that the camera did not pick up.  The pink sparkly tulle matches Grace's "prom dress" she'll be wearing.

 And a close up...

I'm particularly proud of the little wrist corsage I added :)

I plan on anchoring the prom girl with 2 of these ribbon mirror balls on each side.

The inspiration for my second project comes from Lindi at Love the Day.  Would it be cheesy to say that I Love Lindi!  Her ideas are modern yet classic, clean yet detailed.  A while back she posted pictures of these beautiful yard stakes that are for sale in her Etsy shop. 

I'm no graphics designer, but I managed to put my Silhouette to work and use some of the materials I gathered for the party and put together my own yard stakes.  I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out!

The crown and disco ball are actually invitations I originally purchased a while back to use for the invites.  After deciding not to use them, I think they've found a good re-purpose!

I added "bling" to the crown.

Now let's just hope the snow melts in the next month or so or these stakes will be finding a cold home in a snow drift!

In closing tonight's post, I just want to express my gratitude to all of you who have sent your prayers and thoughts over the past month.  As I keep reminding myself, God doesn't give you more than you can handle!  And as my mother keeps telling me, "everything happens for a reason."  Let's just hope that reason turns out to be a good one!