New Printable Collection :: Red, White & Blue Party

Glee had an episode where the whole group sang a song while they were synchronized swimming. The girls wore these adorable red, white and blue swimsuits with white flowers in their hair. I loved the styling of that part so much, it inspired me to create this collection. I think it would be perfect for a 4th of July party, a nautical party, or a french-inspired party or baby shower.

I was lucky enough to have a great location to photograph it.  The location is in the south of France in a small town close to St. Tropez and was taken at a gorgeous private residence. Being in France also made it easy to get the beautiful desserts that are shown here. They sell a large selection of beautiful desserts in the regular supermarket. It was difficult to pick just a few!

If I had to describe this collection, I would say it is a little bit retro, a little bit French, and a little bit nautical.  It is now available in my Etsy shop. Here come all the pictures!

Open For Business!

I am now ready for business! I opened up my Etsy shop last week and am so happy to say that I have already made a sale (insert me jumping up and down here). It is a really nice feeling to know that someone else likes my designs.

I only have two party collections in the shop at the moment, but have a few more in the works.  Stay tuned tomorrow to view one of the new printable collections that I have been working on.

What kinds of parties would you like to have printables for? Leave your ideas and suggestions in the comments below.  Looking forward to hearing from you.

Indoor Camping Party Part 2

A few weeks ago, I showed you the invitation for my daughter's indoor camping party. Here they are again before they were sent out. The envelope was closed with a special "Camp Bella" sticker and we tied green twine around it. We added a name tag and delivered them personally to her friends. In the end, we had 13 kids who were invited and all accepted! 

It was great that we had the party indoors since we woke up that April morning to snow! Most of it had melted away by the time the guests arrived, but it was still very cold outside.

The guests were greeted with signs leading them to Camp Bella, where they were instructed to pick up a camper's kit filled with a package of S'mores and a hot chocolate cone. I used fabric that I had left over from curtains that I made and sewed a drawstring backpack for the kit. I then printed out a design on iron-on transfer paper to add the design to the backpack. The kids later used the backpack to hold the items that they found on their scavenger hunt (more on that later).

The "campground" was our living room which I emptied out and placed four tents that I made. I then cut out stars and taped them onto string which I hung from the ceiling over the tents.

Next to the tents was the food table. We had typical camping food like hot dogs, chips, trail mix and fruit kabobs. And of course, there was cake!

The scavenger hunt was so much fun. The kids were put in teams of two and had fun figuring out the clues together. The clues were all different. Some were pictures of places around the house, a couple were clues with a code that they had to decipher, and some were straightforward clues such as "Look under the entrance table". The kids found things like flashlights, plastic bugs, bug catchers, pencils, and a camping survival kit with hand sanitizer and bandaids. The team that found everything first and got all of the clues right won some glow-in-the-dark bracelets.

After the scavenger hunt, the kids ate and then settled down and watched a movie.

After the movie, the kids moved to our dining room which was the Camp Bella craft area.  We made rain sticks and glow in the dark jars.

At the end, we went out on our balcony and made s'mores on a small portable camping grill we had.  The kids enjoyed roasting the marshmallows. Many of them didn't know what s'mores were and they loved it. I reminded them that they had a s'mores kit in their packs that they could make with their parents at home.

Three of the girls were invited to spend the night. They all wanted to sleep in the same tent instead of each one having their own. So, we brought out our four person pop-up tent and they all slept in there for the night.

It was such a fun party and the kids had so much fun. My daughter said the best part was the scavenger hunt and having her friends spend the night.  I'm so happy she had a great time.  After all, that's why I make such an effort for her.  Love you Bella!

Party DIY :: Rainbow Cake

Rainbow themed parties seem to be all the rage at the moment.  I love how colorful and bright they are. It would be perfect for a spring party. My favorite part has got to be the rainbow cakes that go with them. On the outside it looks like a normal white cake, but the inside is bursting with color.

It turns out it's not really that difficult to make. Cleanup is a bit more than usual since you will need six different bowls of cake batter, but putting it together is simple. You just need your favorite sponge cake recipe, food coloring, and frosting and you are ready to start!  My friend Sharon made one for us to try out. We had a lovely afternoon having tea and eating cake. It turned out great and so yummy! I even had it for breakfast this morning :-). Keep reading for the recipe and instructions.

You can use whatever sponge cake recipe you like or even a box mix.  Here is the recipe that Sharon used:

Ingredients:

8 eggs
8 ounces of self-raising flour
8 ounces of sugar
8 ounces of butter
Food coloring

For the frosting:

2 packages (500 g each) of powdered sugar
2 packages (400 g each) of cream cheese
125 g of butter

Preparation Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celsius on the fan setting.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

3. Beat in one egg and one teaspoon of flour. Mix well. Repeat until all of the eggs are mixed and you have used eight teaspoons of flour.

4. Mix in the remaining flour.  If the mixture is too thick, add milk one teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

5. Separate the batter evenly into six bowls.

6. Add in the food coloring to each of the bowls to create your desired color.

7. Once you are satisfied with the colors, add the batter to a greased pan.  Cut a piece of baking paper the same size as your baking tin and place it on top of the uncooked mixture.  This helps to prevent the cake from forming a crust, which helps when you have a layered cake such as this.

8. Bake in the preheated oven on the fan setting for approximately 12 minutes or until the cake is cooked through.

9. Allow the cake to cool for five minutes before removing the baking paper. Remove the cake from the tin and let it cool completely.

10. While the cake is cooling, you can begin the preparation of the frosting.  Mix together the powdered sugar, butter and the cream cheese until it is the desired consistency.  If you feel that the mix is too dry, you can add a teaspoon or two of milk.


Cake assembly:

1. Place one layer of your cooled cake on a cake stand or plate.

2. Frost the top of the layer. You do not need to frost the sides of the cake yet.

3. Place another layer of cake on top of your frosted layer.

4. Frost the top of the layer.

5. Repeat steps 3-4 until all of the layers are stacked and frosted.

6. At this point, you can crumb coat the cake if desired.

7. Frost the sides and the top of the cake.

8. Enjoy your cake!

Forest Party Invitation

A friend of mine had her son's birthday party at the animal park in Langenberg, which is just outside of Zurich. It's a great location in the forest where you can take hikes and observe animals in their natural environment. I volunteered to make the invitations for her. I used cute animals and trees to go with the forest theme. And if the party was being held in the summer, then I would have drawn in some leaves, but since it was in February, I thought the bare trees were appropriate. The envelopes were white with a brown gingham pattern that I made as the lining. Each envelope was then closed with a sticker that had one of the animals on the invitation. I also made favor tags that were hung on brown paper bags (perfect for a forest party!).They had the same animals on them that the children received on their invitation and they could identify which bag was theirs by the animal. 

I thought it was a great idea to bring the kids to the animal park. They got to be outside in the fresh air and learn about the animals that they saw from the guide that took them around the park. I think the highlight for my daughter was seeing the wild boars, since she had been learning about them in school!