Wednesday, June 29, 2011

How to get this look….on a budget! Part 1

 4th of July is Monday. This is a great opportunity to be creative! I know when you think entertaining your mind automatically drifts to Martha Stewart grandeur. I like Martha just’ as much as the next guy but lets face it I don’t have the time or the money to pull off half of what Martha suggests! You can do a fun and festive tablescape on a budget that's quick and easy! 

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The 4th of July is easy because the color palette is already chosen for you…Red, White and Blue of course.  You don’t have to search online and visit specialty stores to find unique items to decorate with. I took a trip to my local “Wolly World” (Wal-mart) and found lots of things I could use. I hit the dollar section and found a pack of blue and red bendy straws. 150 straws for $1.00. In that same section I found these cute little 4th of July buckets. Some had fireworks on them and some had stars…perfect! My favorite find that day in Wal-mart were the cute red burger baskets. You can get a 4 pack of them with the red and white checkered liner paper for around $2.00 a set. These are perfect to use as plates for your guest or to use to place snacks out on tables. These were in the seasonal isle.

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So now you have a few basic items to start off with. Take a look around your kitchen. What kind of trays or plates do you have that would match. If you don’t have anything already look at Target, Wal-Mart and the Dollar Store for cute trays. The Dollar Store is one of my favorite spots for finding plastic or glass trays.

Now you could just place these cute little items out on your table but that wouldn’t make Martha proud…now would it? Using a party printable set you can take the ordinary and add a personalized touch. For instance, in my printable set you get drink flags. Just print them off, cut them out and attach them with a glue stick around your straws. Simple as that! You can use the same flags and wrap them around toothpicks and place them in food items that you may be serving as well.

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Standard in most printable set are cupcake toppers. You can use them for a lot more than just cupcakes. Print them out and use them as confetti laying around your table.

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You can also punch holes in them and use them as favor tags. You’re really only limited to your imagination!

Most packages also come with water bottle labels. Get creative with these! You’re not tied into the water bottle with these. Sometimes just picking up some root beer bottles or even some old fashioned coke in the glass bottles can add a fun and unique element to your party and table!

 

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When it comes to table clothes you can pick up a red or blue plastic tablecloth at Wal-Mart for around $2.00. If you would like to go with something a little classier than plastic check out the sheet section! You can usually find a flat sheet for under $10 and they come in lots of color choices. I love using sheets as tablecloths because you can get most of the wrinkles out by just tossing them into the dryer for awhile. Doesn’t get much easier than that! I have even been known to use a shower curtain as a tablecloth. Learn to look at things with a different purpose and you may surprised what ideas you can come up with!

Ok so lets add this up. Let’s say we buy the straws, a plastic tablecloth, my 4th of July printable set, 3 of the little buckets and 3 packs of red baskets. That’s only $27.00 so far…not bad!

Tomorrow we’ll talk about easy and fun food that you can make to impress your guest!

Until then…Celebrate Life!

Candy

Monday, June 27, 2011

WIN a 4th of July Printable Set!

Good morning everyone! I’ve been blogging for about a month now and think it’s high time we start having some giveaways!! Woot Woot!  I am giving away a FREE set of my 4th of July printables to a random reader.

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All you have to do to enter is post a comment on the blog and let me know how your family spends the 4th of July holiday.

For an extra entry like us on Facebook and leave a comment telling us did.

That’s it…pretty simple right? I will randomly pick a comment and that person will win a free set of the 4th of July printables.

Good Luck!

Candy

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Bossy Baby has arrived!

Those sweet little bundles of joy come into your life and before you know it they have you wrapped around their fingers! In honor of the demanding little bundles that steal our heart we introduce The “Bossy Baby Collection”!  With our little “Bossy Baby” make no mistake who’s now in charge. These come in Teal Blue, Deep Pink and Black and White (great for gender neutral parties). We can also customize the colors to match your shower.

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Celebrate Life!

Candy

Monday, June 20, 2011

Stars and Stripes

Wow! 4th Of July is just around the corner. It’s not to late to plan a celebration though. Just listed my Stars and Stripes collection in my Etsy shop.

Watch my blog this week I’m going to show you how to have an extraordinary party on a budget! You will be amazed at what you can find at your local Target, Wal-Mart and Dollar General!

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Have a great day!

Candy

Thursday, June 16, 2011

***Sneak Peek*** Stars and Stripes Collection

Stopping in to give you guys a quick taste of what’s cooking in the Bakery today!  Just finishing up my Stars and Stripes collection for 4th of July. Watch for it on Etsy tomorrow!

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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

It’s Melamine Time!

It’s summer and that means my obsession with melamine has been renewed! I seriously LOVE melamine dinnerware. As a family of 5 living off of a teachers salary we are always watching our budget. Budget watching and entertaining do not go very well together usually. However when summer hits the stores pour out this wonderfully appealing sea of affordable dinnerware delights that work magical wonders on a tight budget…lol. There are so many choices. If you look you can really find most any party color palette in melamine or find a set you like and build your entire party around your dinnerware. They are so much nicer than paper plates and at $1.99 per plate you can get a place setting for 6 for only $12.00. That’s awesome!

I was cruising my local Target today…which is always dangerous…and I found these adorable summertime melamine sets. I just love the set with the little crab on them. They even have red and blue plastics glasses to match and the crab is clear on them. Apparently you can’t save an image off of Targets site so I had to pull these off of my Pinterest site. There tiny and don’t show you at all how cute they really are…grrr. Your going to have to take my word on this one.

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Target has another set I absolutely LOVE but I can’t share it yet…I picked up some for a summer party scape contest I’m entering and can’t reveal my idea’s yet…lol. Stay tuned for that!

I was curious after my trip to Target to see what other wonderful melamine delights I could find so I did a little web surfing to see what the local stores had in stock. Found these cuties at Pier 1.

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And these amazing plates are from Pottery Barn. They look so expensive don’t they?

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You can even have them personalized…Love that! This platter is from Whimsees.com

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I can’t wait to show off my new set in a few weeks! Hope I don’t find something I like more before then…lol.

Celebrate “Life”

Candy

Friday, June 10, 2011

Yo-Daddy-O!

Ummmm… excuse me but when did Father’s Day sneak up on me? Things have been a little busy around here lately with the kiddo’s and hubby home for the summer! So apparently Father’s Day is next Sunday. I’m sure the rest of you already are aware of that and have your plans in place. But, if you are like me and Father’s Day has taken you by surprise this year have no fear…I have some cute ideas! There are so many creative and FREE Printables out there on the web that I thought I would feature some of my favorites for you.

This first one is my Favorite! So incredibly creative, fun and humorous! Love It!    This is a Super Hero Collection designed by Oh Happy Day for              Alpha Mom.com.

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Love how she packaged it! Can you see the return address label..it say’s The Hero Supply Company..lol.

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To download these for FREE click here.

Another cute option I found was from Martha Stewart

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This is also from Martha Stewart. I love this for a quick gift for all the dad’s in your life. This would be cute for Uncles or Grandpa’s.

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So take a minute and do something creative to celebrate the amazing father’s in your life!

Celebrate Life!

Candy

A little “Thanks” to the countless summer camp and VBS volunteers! You Rock!!

Summer time means Camp and VBS right? My kiddo’s have spent the week at our wonderful church immersed in their amazing VBS program! It is an incredible week that leaves me with goose bumps every time I see our sanctuary jammed back full of kids singing and dancing and having a blast all in the name of God! My 13 year old son has made me especially proud this week as he gets up at 6:30 am on his summer break and goes and serves with a group of 5 year olds. Volunteers all across the country this summer will take a week out of their summers, a week from their families and even sometimes a week off of work to invest in our children. Take a minute and do something nice for them at the end of the week!  We made some simple candy bar wrappers that say “You Rock” and wrapped them around a Hershey bar and then attached a simple note of thanks! It’s cheap and simple and will let them know how much you really do appreciate their time!

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Be “Thankful”

Candy

Monday, June 6, 2011

Lemonade Day’s Have Arrived! FREE Printables!

Let’s face it it’s not truly summer until you start to see the lemonade stands popping up on neighborhood street corners! I love a good lemonade stand! Who can resist those little stands built with so much love. Not Me!! I’ve lost many quarters to those sweet little entrepreneurial cuties.

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There are some great teaching moments in the process of a lemonade stand. It is actually a great little introduction into how businesses work. You have to plan for the most customers, what time of day, what will your display look like, will you have baked goods or not, will your lemonade be fresh or canned?

There is then the opportunity to teach about profits, savings and giving. How will you spend the money you make?  This would be a great opportunity to raise some money for a charity. One of my favorites is Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Alex’s Lemonade Stand was started in 2005 by the parents of Alex Scott. Alex was diagnosed with cancer when she was four. She began raising money for childhood cancer research through her lemonade stands. Sadly Alex passed away at the age of eight and her parents created Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to continue the work their daughter started. June 10,1 1th and 12th marks the 8th Annual Lemonade Days hosted by Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Lemonade stands will be up all across the country raising awareness and money for this amazing organization. You can visit www.alexslemonade.org to learn more. Check out their free downloads to find signs and items you can use to promote your lemonade stand.

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The lessons don’t stop there! You then can work with them in the kitchen by letting them help prepare the baked goods and lemonade. You may just find out that you have a budding chef in your midst.

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So in the spirit of Summer Time I am offering an adorable set of Free Printables for your little one’s lemonade stands this summer! The set includes a sheet of tags that can be used to decorate baked goods, cups, straws…etc. Also included is the Lemonade banner, Welcome Sign and Food Table Labels. To download them click the image below.

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Print as many as you need and be inspired to create one of those adorable summer stands to Celebrate Summer! I would love to see some pictures of your stands!

Let the lemonade squeezing commence!

Candy

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Friday, June 3, 2011

Happy Donut Day!

Apparently it’s National Donut Daydid you know that? I’m not sure if this is a legitimate “National” Day or just a wonderful marketing scheme by Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme to get us into their stores and talking about their donuts. Either way I’m all about celebrating some Donuts!! There is nothing better than a yummy gooey hot and fresh donut!! Let’s face it donuts kind of get the shaft. I mean think about it… we adorn the tops of cupcakes, cakes and even pies with colorful icing, fancy toppers and they become the centerpiece of all of our celebrations.  Well quite frankly I would rather have a Donut! So today I have searched the party sites for some creative party ideas with Donuts as the beloved centerpiece.

Enjoy these fun idea’s for your next party and LONG LIVE the Donut!

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I found this simple cupcake display at One Charming Party. So simple, but sooo cute!

 

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Love these fun ideas for a Donut table scape from Catch My Party. Do you see the donut tree in the background? How cute!!! I love the little boxes also that you could offer each guest a donut to go in. This would be great with some old fashion glass milk bottles filled with white and chocolate milk and OJ. Great for a baby shower brunch!!

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This a simple and classic display from Martha Stewart online. Look there are the glass milk jars I was just talking about! Martha and I are on the same page…lol.

So I your challenge today is to enjoy a Donut and consider them for your next party! Who know….maybe we’ll start a TREND!