Strawberry Shortcake Gymnastics Themed Birthday Party!

My boo turned SIX years old!
She wanted a gymnastics party. I was whacking my brain on how to make the invitations. All of a sudden, a light bulb went off - gymnastics...Olympics...gold medal! I love how they turned out:



I got a few rolls of this Red, white & blue ribbon from Hobby Lobby:


I cut off a strip and used fabric glue to secure the end:





I cut out 3.75 inch circles out of this glitter paper from Hobby Lobby:




And super glued the ribbon on the back of the circles:


I designed the wording and printed it on pale yellow cardstock. I cut them out into circles and superglued them on top of the glitter circles. Make sure they are smaller so the glitter creates a border:


For party foods, these are my staples (not in the picture is the Chik Fil A chicken nugget platter):
On the gold plate are  jumbo marshmallows dipped in icing and in gold sprinkles.
In the silver star bowl are rolled up salami and cheese cubes on a gold star pick.


I just used the gold stars to fit the party theme...kind of perfect, right? =)

Cake time! This year, Miss Sugar wanted an ice cream cake. Which meant I would not be able to make her cake like I do every year.  I was kind of sad, but it was easier and less stressful this way. She picked out the coordinating Strawberry Shortcake ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. We bought all the little figurines and she loved them. It's actually a busy book set that came with the toys, and they were exactly what we wanted:

I recently discovered Big Birthday Cake Sparkler Candles. You can get them from Amazon but I got the same thing on Ebay because of the quicker shipping.  I'm getting these candles for every birthday from now on! The "Elle" custom glitter cake topper is from HomemadeXOjules at etsy.com. It is even more gorgeous in person!


The sparkle custom green gymnastics shorts (for the Strawberry Shortcake colors) is from CathyKelly2 at etys.com. Super fast turnaround time, and A+ on communication as I requested a color that she did not make available at that time. She made it the day we spoke and shipped it out the very next day:


And lastly, something that is Pinterest-inspired! I drew this with sidewalk chalk in my backyard. <3


Happy Birthday, Boo! I love you.

Floral Letter

I love this so much!


This is a great decor piece for every room and every event! It is super simple to do, and looks lovely and impressive. I chose to use all sorts of colors, but it would also be beautiful using a solid color for the entire letter.

Materials:

Wooden Letter

Flowers

Hot Glue
Wire Cutter
Scissors

I picked this 18" wooden letter from Hobby Lobby. With a coupon, it was $7.79 plus tax:



I got a bunch of flowers from the Dollar Tree. I ended up not needing so much, but I wanted an assortment of colors and different kinds of flowers:


Step 1: Cut off the flowers from stems. Get as close to the base of the flower as possible. The flatter the base, the better for the glue to adhere to the letter. If the flower comes apart, it's ok because you'll be hot gluing it down anyways:


Some of my flower had these long green things...cut those of too:


Step 2: Cut and prep the leaves. Just pull the leaves off the stems, and cut them into individual leaves:


Step 3: We are going to cover the corners with the leaves:


It will give dimension to the letter, and help make the flowers look lush as if they are falling off:






Step 4: Arrangement the flowers but don't hot glue yet!


Get it exactly how you want it, and you might even need extra flowers later:




Step 5: Once you have the flowers how you want it, take a photo of it.  You'll be taking the flowers off and gluing them back on one at a time, so you will want that photo as a guide. Start by gluing the leaves and flowers at corners of the letter first. Then start filling in. Every so often, glue a leaf behind or in between flowers. There is no right or wrong...just keep gluing!


Step 6: Every so often, take a step back and look at your progress.  If there are any gaps, fill them in with more flowers or leaves:


It's all done and looking gorgeous. It's ready to be hung on the wall or propped on a shelf.
Good luck!
=)