Our Swheat Girl is Four!

Shortly after our move, this little girl turned four! We spent her birthday weekend river hopping, one of her favorite things; I guess that's a perk of being surrounded by rivers.

I think that's been one of our favorite things about living here, plenty of water time! 

When it came time to planning Grace's 4th birthday party, I really wanted to draw off the uniqueness of this new chapter in her life. When we moved to here, I was taken aback by the amount of cotton fields that surrounded our little town; it was a new experience for us to see random pieces of cotton blowing around in the streets. And then there was our peach house, the whole house (interior) is painted peach! It's not every day you live in a peach paradise, ha! 

I really wanted Grace's party to not just be aesthetically pleasing, but symbolize this new chapter in her life. This house and this town are going to forever be a part of her childhood; we wanted this party to mark the beginning of a beautiful, fun, and enriching year for her.

Inspired by the lovely texture of cotton, I wanted to create something that had unique texture... With a hint of femininity. So I came up with a backdrop that I hope captures the essence of fields of cotton on a cool summer evening.

With accents of peach to tie in our new abode, and plenty of gold sparkle to represent the birthday girl's sparkly personality... The party came into it's own. 

Our guest list was short, we really wanted to keep the party intimate; we wanted Grace to know her guests, and for our guests to already have a rich history with her. Granted my family is massive, and Fort Worth isn't exactly close, so we were thrilled by the fact so many drove down for her day! Nonetheless, we still wanted to send out invites; because they're fun and proper. ;)

I don't know why it looks so heavily pink here, but it's actually a lovely peach shade in real life. ;)

One of the things I enjoyed planning her party this year was getting to branch out and try new vendors! And ya'll, they really made this party come together! :)

We used a bakery in New Braunfels for her cake, 2tarts, they are awesome! If you're local, use them, you won't be disappointed. The cake was exactly what I wanted, and it was delicious! Once home all I had to do was make the toppers for the cake! I bought the florals at Blumen-Meisters right before picking up the cake, it's also in New Braunfels. Each stem you buy is perfectly packaged with a little water bottle to keep it fresh for the ride home. I couldn't have been happier with the service and selection. It made arranging them stress-free, after getting home, yay for no sad blooms!

I really wanted to add a little platter of french macarons to dress up the table, and since our guest list was all adults, I thought it would be fun to be adventurous with the flavors. Suprisingly, green tea wasn't a real crowd pleaser. ;) However, the quality was phenominal on these little souffles. Hello! Macaron in Austin is your girl, if you need a fix! :) In keeping with the theme of hearts jumping out of the desserts, I went ahead and made the macarons into minature stacks and added some home-made glitzy hearts to hold them together.

The four for the table was actually cut by hand by my incredibly talented and loving husband! All I did was cover it in sparkle. I don't think I can bear to part with it or throw it away.... I am a sucker for things made with love, but really... Who isn't? :)

The invitation was made by Oklahoma Ginger, I gave her my vision for the invites, and she made it happen! Also note the lovely peach color. ;)

Since this could potentially be one of her last parties with a mostly adult guest list (she's starting to show a little interest in kids near her age), we decided we should probably take advantage of it and trade in the kid finger-foods for a wine and cheese tasting! It was actually really fun branching out our taste-buds and seeing who liked stinky cheese and who didn't. ;)

What she enjoyed more than all the presents, were "her" people. That and the half-hour serenade she got (because if you're going to be sang to, happy birthday is just not a long enough song)! ;)

I tried getting a regular smiling pic, but my family doesn't know how to do that... And I love it!!!

When I think of her 5th birthday, I hope it is as full of love as this one was. And has lots of water, yes, plenty of that. 

I pray that year four is one for the books. Happy Birthday my Littlest Love, Mommy loves you so very much!

A 'lil Minnie Mouse Party Decor!

  The Banner

Part of the Banner hanging at the Party! :)

The Banner took the MOST time... Now if you have a Cricut or something similar, this should take you no time at all, but if you're like me and don't.... Get ready to put in some hours lol! I printed off A mickey mouse head online to use as my template and then traced it on to an old cereal box. After cutting it out I traced it onto some black felt. Cutting out all the felt is what took the MOST time, so cozy up next to your hubby and use your womanly wiles to talk him into helping you. :) I promise this really helps speed things up haha! 

Then after I had all the heads cut out I used some Iron On Letters for the wording! After ample cooling time, go ahead and cut little slits through the ears for hanging purposes. And then last but not least, whip up some little bows for each of those darling minnie mouse heads! :) All done! :)

Now hindsight is 20/20, so here are some little tips that I would have done differently if I were to make another one. Apparently Iron-On letters are RIDICULOUSLY expensive, and that costed me WAY more than I originally wanted to spend. So here is another route you may want to try if you are wanting to be a little more cost effective. Instead of felt use black cardstock, and this probably wayyyy easier to cut anyways lol (ps if you have the Cricut, this is a GREAT time to use it). Instead of iron-on letters use some punch out letters from your local teacher tools store. You can just hotglue them onto the cardstock. I still think this route would be just as cute and SO much cheaper than the felt, but if you just LOVE the fabric look than by all means jump right on in! :)

The Banner shortly after Completion!

I hope this helps with a banner idea at your next Mickey/Minnie Birthday Party! :)

THE Ears! 

The Birthday Girl rocking those Ears! :)

The Minnie Mouse ears took no time at all!!! 

What you need:

A Sheet of Foam (from your local craft store)

Hot Glue & Gun

Black Headband

Black Felt

Wired Pink Ribbon

Cut four circles out of the foam that are just a smidge smaller than the size you would like for the ears. You tell how technical this is because I just used a cup from the kitchen to trace my circles lol! :) The next part is where you are going to have to eyeball it a bit. Line up two of your circles across from eachother on the felt and then sick your headband in the middle. Now trace a "figure eight" from this, leaving enough slack for them to wrap around the headband in the middle. Also leave a little room around the foam for gluing the opposing pieces of felt together; then cut out another pair. After both have been cut go ahead and glue the foam together, two circles per ear. And then glue the two foam pairs to the two pieces of identical felt cut outs. Now all you have to do is glue the middle part of the felt to the headband and adjoin the the ears together. Do this for both ears and you have some Mickey Mouse ears!!! To make them Minnie, toss on a Bow!!! :) Sorry I didn't have pictures to follow this up, but you can always shoot me some questions if you have them! :)

My 'lil Cutie modeling THE Ears too! :)

I hope my little ears find their way into your next Mickey/Minnie party! :) If you wanna have a lot of fun make enough for all your guests, I am sure you could get a TON of cute and hilarious pics! :)

Happy Crafting!!!

Parties: Easy Table Decor!

One of my favorite parts of party planning is the table decorations. I love being innovative! And I really LOVE saving money! :) Instead of breaking the bank with cupcake stands and such, I went ahead and thought a little outside the box. 

The Cupcake Stand

This was the easiest decoration to make, and it really does it job well! :) You can find about a million tutorials on other blogs showing you how to make one. So I will keep my explanation simple and short. :) A few cardboard boxes, wrapping paper, and your embellishments are all you need! :) If you have a cricket at your disposal this would be a great time to put it to work! :) I used hot glue to help keep them stacked, but since it is wrapping paper, I handled it very carefully so it wouldn't tear or rip. 

The Lollipop Stand

The Lollipop Stand was super super easy to make. All you need is some styrofoam, wrapping paper, a hot glue gun, and tape. The styrofoam that I found at Michaels was perfect in size but wasn't deep enough to hold up the lollipops efficiently so I bought two and hot glued them together. That created the perfect depth! :) You could make really long ones, tall ones, lots of individual short ones, the possibilities are endless! :)  Once you are done assembling your styrofoam base go ahead and wrap it up with the wrapping paper and stick in the yummy goodness! :) You could also add ribbon, lettering, etc. Go crazy with it! :)

**Note: Styrofoam sheds like crazy, if you have a baby I would make sure to craft with it somewhere the baby won't pick up the shavings off the floor or vacuum immediately after crafting.**

Vases

Vases can be pretty pricey, but I found these super cheap ($4 a pop) at Michaels, and just a little ribbon seems to tie them in perfectly with the table. :) Easy peasy!

I hope my little tips today helped give you an idea or two for your next event! If so, I would LOVE to hear about it! :)

Backdrops: Amazing & Affordable!

I hope all of you were able to check out Grace's First Birthday post and I hope it brought a smile to your face! :) Well on today's "Nifty Nook" post I wanted to share how I created the backdrops for her party. I just LOVE backdrops!!! They seem to give parties that extra little something! :)

Now finding a perfect backdrop and then hanging it can be daunting especially when it's your first party! Fortunately I have lived to tell the tale, and am excited to share the easy answer with you!

First off, I cannot put enough emphasis on preparing in advance! :) Since I started shopping early I was able to get some GREAT deals! :) Try to get an early start if possible. :)

A lot of people use flat sheets for their party backdrops and I have seen them displayed beautifully, but goodness the contraptions they have to build to get them to hang seemed a little bulky and time consuming (especially if you are throwing the party in a rented facility). And the sheets can really get expensive! So that got me thinking outside of the box...

While my friend Lauren and I were walking around Target trying to find some reasonably priced sheets we stumbled upon some shower curtains that were on SALE! :) And that was the deal of the day for me!

Room Essentials @ Target

They (the Room Essentials Shower Curtains @ Target) are usually priced at 9.99 but since it was towards the end of the college dorm promo I got them a little cheaper.

Okay, so you are thinking awesome! What a perfect backdrop! But wait... It gets better! The curtains run 72" in width, perfect to match any 6 foot table! Which was an exact match for the tables we were using at the party! :)

Well, now that we have the "perfect" backdrop we need to be able to hang it easily and efficiently.

Since our backdrop moonlights also as a shower curtain, it has perfectly spaced holes at the top meant for hooks. We are going to take advantage of those, but instead of shower hooks we are going to use command hooks. Target sells quite a few hooks that coordinate with their shower curtains and they match perfectly (can it get any easier?!) :)

I found mine @ Target in Pink & Green, but other stores probably sell them also! :)

So now you have your backdrop & hooks, we are ready to Party! 

About 40 minutes before your shindig begins start hanging your command hooks, my husband for the most part eyeballed the spacing; but I would suggest using a tape measurer and a level unless you too are gifted spatially. :)

After hanging the hooks, you can start ironing out and lightly starching (for really tough wrinkles) the backdrops.

The hooks only need 30 minutes of dry time (if you are using 6 or more hooks per curtain) so you can begin hanging the curtains pretty soon after you iron them perfect! :)

The take down is super easy and they leave no trace or damage, and best of all... Everything is RE-usable! :)

I hope this post makes planning your next party a little easier and affordable! If it does, please tell me about it, I always LOVE feedback! :)

Our Baby is One!!!

Grace’s “Sweet” First Birthday!

We had so much fun celebrating Grace's First Birthday! What a milestone! This sweet baby girl has suffered so much this first year (due to health problems) that I wanted to go all out for her special day! I hope each of you enjoy the pictures below and feel that you were there with us celebrating one year of Grace Amaris Wheat! 

On her actual "birthday" we went out for a family dinner and then starbucks followed by cake at the house; we got some great pictures of our little sweetie that day! I posted some of the pictures from our family outing below! :)

Above is my Mommy with her favorite Grandbaby at Starbucks! :) Since she was the photographer for all these pretty pictures you won't see her much below! So I wanted to make sure she had a special picture posted of her with the birthday girl! :) She LOVES that baby!

Her sweet Tia Kiki was playing a soccer game in Tyler the day of the party so we wanted to make sure she had a special debut too! :)

Above is a picture of my sweet pea and her "birthday" cupcake! :) Turns out I have one of the few children that hates cakes, pastries, and other various sweet treats lol. See the picture below for proof haha! 

LOL! She was unhappy when she tasted her fingers! Poor Baby!

We enjoyed spending such a special day with such a special girl; we just couldn't wait until her "First" Birthday Party!

Karyn did a GREAT job on Gracie-Baby's invitations! We hope you all enjoyed receiving them! :)

This was Grace's First Birthday Outfit! It was so precious I couldn't resist! :)

Before entering into the party building, all of our guests were greeted with a festive wreath I made!

Grace's Birthday Party had a "Sweet Treats" theme! So below is one of the Treat Place-Cards I made for her Sweet's Table! :)

The Cake Table

The Cake 

We made the topiaries for the cake table, a little on the tedious side but soooo worth it! I thought they came out so CUTE! :)

Didn't her cake just come out perfect! I have to hand it to Sharon from Creative Memories, she did a fantastic job! :)

The other Birthday Topiary!

This is the back of her Birthday Outfit! :) My favorite part of that Outfit!!! :)

Close up on the Cake! :)

The "Smash Cake" is below! :)

The top of the cake, loved that part! :)

More Cake! :)

Baby Girl playing in her birthday pom-poms!

The Sweet’s Table

The Cupcakes on their pretty stand we made! :)

Cracker Barrel Lolli's! Yum! :)

Side View!

Another... :)

Top of the Stand!

Close-Up! :)

The Refreshments Table

These waterbottles were SO fun! :)

The Punch was a HIT! :)

Our mantle decor! Rachel did a wonderful job on Gracie's frames! TOO precious!!!

Family Picture in front of the Sweet's Table!

Close up of the Birthday Girl!!! :)

Her sweet little bloomers for her Smash Cake Outfit! :)

Time to Sing to the Birthday Girl!

Loved this!!

Blowing out the candle! :)

Again... We are not big on this whole cake in mouth thing lol! :)

The Present’s Table

Opening her gifts! :)

Trying them out! :)

Party Favors!

In the middle of the party favors we featured a book charting the growth of our baby over the past 12 months! :)

I hope our guests enjoyed this book as much as we did! :)

Close-up of the party favors!

We lOVED our Guests!

We tried hard to capture as many complimentary pictures of all our guests but still missed so many of those we LOVE!. :( But we are SOOOOO thankful for each of you coming! It meant the world to us!!!

Grace's sweet cousins made a BIG trip to come celebrate with us! :)

These kids are TOO cute!!!!

Robert & Gracie's Papa!

Lena & Uncle Seth!

Handsome Boys! Elijah & Micah!

Tio Frank & Lita!

Sandy Yu & The Wheats! :)

Lena & Tia Marsha!

Tia Nini & Tio TayTay!

Christle & Zach Peaden! :) We love you guys! Thanks for making the big trip! :)

I hope you all enjoyed this post! :) And felt as if you were there! :) Feel free to comment or email me if you would like any of the pictures for printing purposes! :) And I look forward to posting how I made some of the decor pieces on "The Nifty Nook!" :) Keep checking back. :)

Lots of Love!