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.

Folding Plastic Bags for Easy Storage

Storing plastic bags frustrates me. You know what I'm talking about...all those Target and grocery bags! I have a few reusable fabric bags, but it's never enough and I always leave the store with 10 more plastic bags.

I reuse plastic bags but I have a hard them storing them. They are crumbled and wadded up into balls. Then stuffed in a drawer. It's a mess and takes up a lot of room.

My mother in law introduced me to folding them into little triangles, and oh my gosh, how that changed my life! Hah. It is so simple and clever.

I found a tutorial on Youtube - here it is:


Isn't that great? =)
Good luck and start folding away, my friends!

Folding T-Shirts

I found a neat way on YouTube, of folding up T-shirts, especially for The Husband.  This technique has the shirt practically folding itself!

Please excuse the wrinkled shirts. ;)



And again: