Guest Post on Tori Spelling's ediTORIal {Yarn Wrapped Letters}

In case you missed it, Friday I was hanging out over on Tori Spelling's site ediTORIal sharing a little craft tutorial on yarn wrapped letters. Hope you will stop over and check out my first guest post!

Bird's Party Magazine Issue 5 {Nautical Party Feature}

Bird's Party Magazine Issue 5 is now available!  I hope you stop over and check out this fabulous online party resource. It is 182 pages filled with beautiful party inspiration, craft tutorials, and party resources. Be sure to look closely at pages 117-122 to see the Nautical 1st Birthday Party that I created for my sweet nephew. 

I will be sharing more photos and party details very soon!
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Click on the link below to view Bird's Party Magazine Issue 5

Party Sources:
Photographer: Allison Kaharick 

Nautical Party Printables: Bird's Party

Cupcake Toppers: Edible Details

Nautical Rope Cake Pops and Cake Topper: Love and Sugar Kisses

Tassel Garland: The Flair Exchange

Oreos: Sweet Temptations

Cookies: Bambella Cookie Boutique

Sea Glass Candy: Candied Cakes

Melamine Plate: Magnolia Creative Co.

Birthday Hat: Prop Shop Boutique

Stamped Spoons and Treat Sticks: The Papered Nest

Anchor Ribbon Wreath: She's {kinda} Crafty

12 Month Photo Banner: Stampin' Fanatic

Balloons: Polka Dot Market

Sneak Peek at 'Lil Buggers Birthday Bash Theme

Here's the first sneak peek at our theme for 'lil bugger's birthday bash this weekend! 

Fondant genius by Edible Details. ♥

Easter Bon Bon Cookies

I am hanging out at Bird's Party Blog today, sharing my family's favorite Easter Bon Bon Cookies. Be sure to stop by, these dainty and buttery cookies are delish!

10 Secrets to Winning Blog Giveaways

I {heart} giveaways. For me it's more than just winning a prize, it's a way to discover new shops, try new products, and most importantly it's a great way to connect with other bloggers. Some of my very favorite blog friendships have started by way of winning their giveaways! 

So, how do you win? 

10. You have to enter to win. Sounds simple, but sometimes I read a post about a great giveaway and forget to go back and enter. 

9. Find giveaways that interest you. If you don't need a new Red Sox toaster, don't waste your time entering. You will probably forget to check back and see if you won. 

8. Where do you find giveaways? 

• Often Blogs will share links to giveaways on their Facebook and Twitter pages.
• Check the announcement page of your favorite Etsy shops to see if they have blogs. Often they do and will feature and giveaway new products on their blog. 

• Tip Junkie has a great Giveaway Directory to check out

7. Try to only enter giveaways on sites that you like and will continue to visit. Again, if you enter a giveaway on a random site, you may forget to go back and see if you won. 

6. You found a giveaway and are ready to enter, what do you do next?

• Most blogs will require you to "do" something to enter such as leave a comment, follow their blog, visit an Etsy shop, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter. 

• The more things you "do", the better chance you have of winning. If you plan on entering a lot of giveaways, you many want to think about opening Facebook/ Twitter accounts and using Google Reader to organize blog publications.

5. Check the number of entries or comments posted for the giveaway. The less comments, the better chance you have of winning. Yes, common sense. If a giveaway has thousands of entries, I then decide whether it's worth taking the time to enter. 

4. Don't be afraid to be COMMENT #1!  You have as good a chance of winning as comment #1 as you do any other number. 

3. LEAVE A WAY TO BE CONTACTED! Did you include your email address in your comment? If you have a Google Account, make sure your account allows your email address to be shown. 

Thank you Shelley from House of Smiths for the excellent tutorial & image

2. Check how long the giveaway will stay open and the end date. Make sure you know how the giveaway host plans to notify winners-- on the original post? On a new post? By email?  Check how long you have to respond. Typically, giveaway hosts will give you 72 hours to respond or they will pick a new winner. 

1. Most sites pick a winner using Random.org. They plug in the number of entries and Mr. Random picks the lucky entry. Make sure you've actually done everything you said you did {Step #7} because this is where the giveaway host will check. They will pick a new winner if the winning comment hasn't followed the giveaway rules. 

And finally... ARE YOU THE WINNER??!!  

Reply immediately and be gracious!  It takes giveaway hosts and the giveaway sponsor LOTS and LOTS of time to coordinate giveaways. Be patient in receiving your prize, sometimes it takes time to relay the info from the host to the sponsor. BUT, if significant time has gone by and you haven't heard back or received your prize, it is okay to check in. 

Good Luck and  Happy Entering!

Middy Bitty Easter Bags

Looking for a cute way to display Easter goodies?  Here's a fun project I created for Whisker Graphics. I made my favorite little bags into Easter favors that could hang on each guest's chair. 

Materials:

Vertical Stripe Middy Bitty Bags

Ribbon

Paper hole punch

Printables (I used the Lots-O-Dots FREE printable party cards from Piggy Bank Parties)

Spring Party Ideas

Spring is here! If you are planning a Spring party, here are some of my favorite party collections to get you started.

Gardens

Grow-A-Garden Party Set by Bushel and A Peck Paper

The ant trail thank you notes are SO creative!

Rainbows 

Rainbow Party Collection by A Blissful Nest

Loving the chevron and pops of color in this collection

Gingham

Springin' Gingham Collection by Piggy Bank Parties

Earth Day/ Lorax Party

Dr. Seuss Lorax Inspired Collection by Gwynn Wasson Designs

Of course an Earth Day or Lorax party would be lovely this Spring.

So many bright and cheerful colors to work with!

Flowers and Bees

Bumblebee Collection by Pen n' Paperflowers

Don't you just love the mix of flowers, buttons, and bees?!!!

All of these wonderful collections are available and for sale on Etsy, 

just visit the links and get your party planning started! 

Whisker Graphics and Catered Crop Challenge

Got some bitty bags?

Got some crepe paper ruffles?

Then you've got yourself a party! 

The challenge over on The Catered Crop this week was to create something with stitching... so I lined a plain old boring paper cup with a Whisker Graphics yellow honeycomb middy bitty bag, sewed yellow and blue crepe paper ruffles,  and glued the ruffles onto the cup. Voila! Instant party fun!

Linking to: 

Thirty Days Handmade
Tatertots and Jello

Vintage Suitcase Invitation {A Military Welcome Home Party}

I have to gush for a minute about my favorite designers Do and J of Piggy Bank Parties. Their talent for creating, illustrating, and styling is astounding. They always exceed my expectations. I never worry about the quality of their products because they are perfectionists. They spend more time and effort on each project than they really should to make each design, each party perfect, flawless, and completely original.

If you are throwing a party, you must check out their shop. With their printable collections, you can throw a major party on a minor budget!

I sent Do and J some ideas for a Welcome Home party for a dear friend returning home to his family after 3 tours of duty. I really wanted this to be special, yet simple and masculine. I was blown away by the finished product.

My friend chose the theme "The Road Home", as it symbolized the journey her family has been on for the last 18 months. We decided to use vintage suitcases and luggage tags for this party.

Vintage Suitcase Invitation

We added this quote as a luggage tag tied with twine to the invitation:

No matter which road you take 

they all lead home. 

Know that now 

and it will make all the difference...

 then. 

-Raphie Frank

I will share more pictures after the party!

5 Reasons to Love Tori Spelling {Details of Our Skype Chat}

For those of you who don't know, I won a Skype chat with Tori Spelling. Her website ediTORIal hosted a scavenger hunt contest where you had to watch the season finale of her reality show and answer all the questions correctly. One random winner was picked to chat with the family...

I am still speechless that I won!

I am going to apologize for my lack of decent pictures in advance. Thankfully the hubs snapped a few as Tori and I chatted to show you that it actually happened! Please excuse the mess, the dining room table is my official craft space/ location to chat with celebrities.

1. OUR KIDS are the same age, so it was really fun to watch them chat about their pets, sports, and birthdays. Tori's oldest Liam is a total charmer, outgoing, sweet and silly. My boys loved him. J Bugger asked if we could have a play date at their house!

Fun fact: Their pet pig Hank is over 100 lbs and makes a great pet, who knew?

Hard to see but Tori is holding Hattie in this picture, now 5 months old 

2. Tori is a self-proclaimed CRAFTISTA. She loves fashion, party planning, and crafting with the kids. Her new craft line just debuted on HSN this week (she had just caught a connecting flight home from filming with HSN in Tampa). And she has a DIY jewelry line hitting Michaels and JoAnn's Fabric stores soon!

This is my favorite-- a zippered craft clutch, love it! Image via ediTORIal

3. Liam's SpongeBob beach party is scheduled for Saturday (forecast is calling for rain, boo!). She wanted to make pineapple Bellinis in actual pineapples, however the current price of pineapples is $5 EACH, so that idea got scratched. Doesn't get much more real than that!

Image Source

4. Tori said that as an actor you can feel really separated from people, but the reality show gave them an amazing opportunity for people to see her for who she really is. She said that she went from having fans to having friends. 

5. In the back of my mind I know Tori is a major celebrity, however talking to her feels like talking to another mom from school or finding a new friend with similar crafty interests. She is real, genuine, sweet, and compassionate. Our time went all too quickly.  I feel truly blessed and honored for this opportunity. 

Thank you Tori for taking time out of your crazy schedule and family time to chat with me. It was an experience I will never forget!