Paper Doll Baby Shower

There comes a mile stone in every hostess's carrier when you know you must be good, and that mile stone is when you are asked to cross state boundaries to do a party. It is quite the feat to pack a party and execute  it far from home, but I can now check it off the list of things I have done in the universe of part planning. Here is the Paper Doll themed baby shower I did for my Sister-in-law. Invitations, Decorations, Food and all. Thanks to the help of a group of ladies in Arizona that have been throwing parties a lot longer than I have it went off with out a hitch.

Everyones Mad Here

This year for our joint birthday Jayna and I decided to have an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. It turned out great and everyone had a wonderful time in "Wonderland" celebrating with us.

We sent our invitations out with little skeleton keys attached to them with direction to bring the keys back to the party. I copied the invitation idea from an Alice in Wonderland comic-con party Disney held. It was easy to find a free Alice in Wonderland font online too. The skeleton keys were a little tricky to find at first. I kept thinking I needed antique ones, but they were really expensive and ranged in price a lot from place to place. Then I tried my luck at Lowes and to my surprise they had the perfect little key. The secret is to go ask the "key making man". They were not out in packages, he just had a little box of them behind his desk. If I remember right they were like $3.00 each which was cheap compared to the $10.00 antique ones.

Fun Kids Valentine

I saw these cute kids valentines on Martha's website, and decided to make some with Jayna for her to take to her play group on Valentines Day. They turned out super cute. 

The "Queen" has arrived

This year I made Jayna a little queen costume for Halloween. She had this cute white dress that would be for a wedding or fancy event and since we have not had any of those I thought it would make the perfect queen dress. The best part about this costume was that everything was so simple and fun to make. 

Lemonade Anyone?

The Lemonade stand went well last week with the girls. The weather cleared up just long enough for us to get a good hour of selling in. Only two out of thirteen girls showed up, but I am sure it was because a lot of them probably thought it was cancelled due to the weather. When life gives you Lemons you just make Lemonade though right? Or in this case Rosemary Lemonade and Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!

Princess Perfect Gift Bags

We have a trip to the Magic Kingdom coming up soon and we are going with my husbands whole family. I am super excited to take Jayna for the first time, and know she will have a blast since she has two cousins about her same age. One that is four months older, and one that is 4 months younger. So when I came across a cute little tank top with three Disney princesses on it at Walmart it seemed like a no brainer times 3. From there I kept finding cute little things for the girls and finally had to just stop myself and package them all up. These would be really cute gift bags for a Princess party though.

One Year Older and Wiser Too

This last weekend we threw together a quick party for my brother-in-law Devin's 24th birthday. You would think someone who loves throwing parties would be better about remembering when her relatives birthdays are, but my husband and I are horrible at that.

Bake Sale: Sold Out!

The Bake Sale was a big success! I sold out of everything we had by three and had to hide a cupcake for myself. I couldn't believe that I had made the perfect amount of everything. Although a lot of you wished I would have made more cookie mix jars (maybe next year). We raised a little over $300 which I thought was great for a one women small neighborhood Bake Sale! Thanks Everyone!!!

Signage 101: "A" Frame Wood Chalkboard Sign Tutorial

 Sometimes I come up with some crazy, but perfect last minute ideas and this was no exception.

 Last Saturday we were trying to figure out what kind of signs we were going to put out on the street corners for the Bake Sale, and after calling a couple of print places we decided we did not want to pay $7.00 each for a blown-up versions of the flier. Left with no other ideas I told Ryan that I would just rather make signs. He was not too in-favor of the idea, but I assured him it would be do-able and that I would be-able to use the signs again. Some elbow grease and $50.00 (so long to $7.00 each) later I had my signs and they are just how I envisioned. 

I LOVE THEM!

Semiprecious Candies

I am gearing up for next weekends Bake Sale and have one more item to sell checked off my list. 

I made these cute bags of candy jewels with custom labels to match my Bake Sale flyers. 

Marbleized Easter Eggs

This post is obviously late since easter is done and over with, but I thought I would share this fun egg marbleizing technique we used on Saturday. The results were fun, and the combinations of colors you could play with to come up with your very own unique easter eggs are endless.

All you need to make these eggs is water... vinegar... food coloring... and olive oil.

Our dyes were slightly on the light side. I think our results would have been even better if they were a little stronger, especially the color you swirl the eggs in to marbleize them.

I even thought these eggs would make a cute craft or decoration for a little boys dinosaur party.

Knock Off Wood

If you have not heard of the Blog Knock Off Wood you need to get with it. In my opinion it is the biggest thing to hit the DIY Blogging world in a long time.

Ana of Knock Off Wood an Alaskan mommy and wife to a carpenter handy-man took things into her own hands one day when her husband wasn't getting around to fixing some porch steps, and just fixed them herself. Ana has been doing woodworking ever since and now her passion for knocking off high end furniture lines (hmm hmm Pottery Barn hmm hmm) has spilled over into the blog world and is inspiring everyone. Ana has full how to plans for beds, dressers, dining-room tables, office systems and more available on her blog, for get this... FREE!

My list of things to build off her site is a mile long. Starting with all the furniture for my soon to be craft-room of my dreams. However I did see this cute little kids picnic bench on her site and had to build it for Jayna.

It was a great starter project to get my feet wet, and went fairly well. I only needed the Husbands help to cute four pieces, and am sure that what I learned while doing this project will just make me better on the next. It is all about not underestimating yourself or your abilities, and that could be the single reason why Ana's blog is so popular.

I have already ordered my Milk Paint and Exterior Top-Coat in Buttermilk Yellow for the picnic bench, and with the help of Jayna have already distressed it a little. I didn't know a two year old could do such damage banging an old hinge on wood. Oh-well.

I encourage you to check out her blog, but only if you are ready to triple your to do list.

Birthday Month

This month is Jayna and I's birthday month! Almost two years ago she surprised me and came into this world on my Birthday. I love sharing my birthday with her! It has made the 14th that much more special for me. I know in the future she may not like the idea of sharing her birthday with her Mom, but I am willing to give mine up. After all I love to host and plan for parties! So as long as I can plan a party for her I am happy and that can be my birthday present. So I think it will work out well for both of us.

For our present this year the husband got us family pictures. This will be the first professional photo session we have done as a family. Crazy to think about since I have always been really into photography. We have not yet taken them and I have been searching for a photographer that will not charge and arm and a leg, but edits pictures in the style I like. I think I have found one, so hopefully by the end of the month I can show you pictures and do a post on the photographer.

Next year Jayna will be 3 and I will be 30. This will be the only time our birthday ages will match up number wise, so I am planning on celebrating big. I want to have a 3 ring circus theme and go all out. The weather here in Utah during March is still sketchy, but I am really wanting to do it outside. I have already started researching what I want to do and will most likely spend the next year planning it. Unfortunately we will not be having a big party this year since we had our Hip Hop party last year. The husband has put a party limit on things to keep us girls in check. I think it may end up back-firing on him though, because it makes me want to do even more the next year. Here are some fun inspirations I have found so far for next years party.

Beauty Night

For activity day this next week we are doing a big "Beauty Night". I got the inspiration and tag line from this clever lady. These are the invitations I made to mail out to the girls. I usually just drop the little reminders off at their houses, but I am trying to make it a big deal for them. I thought they would be excited to get something in the mail too.

We are going to do their makeup, take their pictures, do facial masks, and have treats. I have tons of makeup from my 7 years of being a make-up artist for Macy's and Nordstom, so it is fitting this will be at my house. This party idea and invitations would be fun for any girls birthday party though. So next week I will be working on turning the basement into a day spa for nine 10 and 11 year old girls.

Good grief!

Sprinkle Some Fun on Breakfast

Add a little sprinkle of fun to your kids breakfast.

Jayna loves all the colorful sprinkles I use while making desserts for parties. So I decided to surprise her by adding them to her breakfast pancakes. It was a simple way to put an extra big smile on her face. This idea would also be fun to do for Birthday breakfasts, or when your kids have done good in school, or any other fun excuse you can find to praise them and make them feel special.

Birthday Party Favor Bags

These may look like little kid birthday favors, but they were actually for my husbands 29th birthday party that we had on Saturday. He is married to Miss party planner, but every year he does the same thing on his birthday. We go to the nickel arcade with his closest friends (and every 7 year old that has their birthday on the same day as him), get hot wings, and play at the house for the rest of the night. So each year I sneak a little cuteness into the boy event by making them party favor bags that have fun treats in them that they can snack on while they play video games. The boys, I mean men really like them and look forward to what will be in the bag each year.



This year I made these cute little labels that can be printed out and cut to fit plain brown paper lunch sacks. I thought they looked fun, and fit in with the nights activities.

Mum Baby Shower

I have been planning this cute floral themed baby shower for someone the last couple weeks. She first asked me to make some invitations for her based off of some that she had found on etsy. This is what I came up with for her. I love the paper and envelopes we picked out too. We are doing a cream textured paper for the invitations themselves with rounded corners, and then are doing a brown paper bag like textured envelope that we printed the same mum flower onto. They make the design look really organic.

I came up with these really cute tissue paper flower pins that she will be giving to all the guests to wear during the shower as-well. They are based off of the Martha tissue paper pom-poms. I thought they turned out fabulous, and was very proud of myself for coming up with the idea. I will do another post later on everything I have done for this shower and will list exactly how much it cost to do everything. That way everyone can see just how affordable it is to have the Bird and the Berry (me) help you with your next event.

Fear Factor Activity

Here is what is on the schedule for today. Tonight I am in-charge of the 10 and 11 year old church girls activity. Since it is Halloween time I have planned a Fear Factor activity for them. I took them these flyers on Monday night inviting them to come to the activity and their response to the idea was pretty good. To be honest I was worried they were too young to even know what Fear Factor was, but thank goodness they seemed familiar with the show. So tonight I have conjured up some gross events for them to compete in. I am just hopping and praying that more than two girls show up, because if we are short players that means me and the other leader will have to do some of these gross games. Cross your fingers for me. There will be mystery shake drinking, baby food taste testing, and dog bone relays to name a couple of the things I have planned. I really hope the girls have fun. I am trying really hard to get them excited about Activity Days. To tie the activity into something spiritual I am going to give a mini lesson at the beginning about the difference between fear and faith, and how we can take our fears to God and be comforted by our faith in him.

*Side Note- Little Jayna Berry has been scared to go in the laundry room ever since I made these invitations because she could see the "bugs" on my desk in there. They are just little bugs I bought at the dollar store and hot glue gunned onto the invitations. She would run in there and then back up while she pointed at the desk and said "bug, bug, bug" It was too funny.

Hip Hop Ya Don't Stop

This is something that I have already posted about on my family blog forever ago, but I wanted to add it to this blog since it is a party theme idea.

Miss Jayna Berry and I have the same birthday, so I wanted to do something really fun for her first birthday which was back in March. I thought of doing all the usual pretty girly tutu party themes, but none of them seemed to stick with me. One of the first things I ever purchased for Jayna before she was born was a hot pink Puma jacket that had gold pumas and turquoise and white bursts on it. It was so cute and I just pictured my future little girl running around in it. So since it fit her close to her first birthday I decided to use the jacket as my inspiration for our party, and that is how the Hip Hop theme was born.





It was a blast! I had so much fun coming up with games like "fix the grill on lil' Will"(my take on pin the tail on the donkey). We handed out wrist bands to all the guests, had Hip Hop music playing, and Ryan and I wore bouncer necklaces with our pictures in them that had Hip Hop nicknames on them.




I decorated Jaynas high-chair with stickers and this paper garland that I made by sewing together paper circle I punched out.
I had a wall behind her that had pictures of her where I had superimposed her in with celebrities. I signed the pictures like the celebrities themselves had sent them to her with their birthday wishes to her. It was historical and guests loved reading them.





I decorated my fireplace mantel with the party favors and game prizes. The favors were music CD's with Hip Hop music on them. I have a computer that prints on CD's so that is how I got the image directly on the CD. I titled the CD's Tunes from the Crib and handed them out to guests as they left. The game prizes where dollar store perfumes that I made my own labels for so that they would look like Jayna signature perfumes. Every Hip Hop star has their own perfume.



I decorated my shelves and tables with spray-painted microphones, tapes, and records that I found at a local thrift store. I even used the paper I spray painted them on as art in some of my larger frames.





I made food signs for all the food using different HIp Hop slangs and scattered dollar store grills around the table. I had this vision of my cake spinning on a record player the week of the party, but had a terrible time finding one, at least for the price I was willing to spend. I finally found one on Craigslist, but it was in Arizona. I got it though. I sent my brother who lives there into the ghettos of Phoenix to buy it the night before they drove out to Utah to come to the party. I thought the story of getting the record player even fit in nicely with the party theme. I cleaned it up and my vision worked I had a spinning cake by party time. I made a giant cupcake and out of fondant made a gold sparkly necklace with JB on it for Jayna Berry. I practiced making it a couple of times since I had never worked with fondant before, but that actual cake turned out a million times better than any of my practice runs.

Dr. Seuss Baby Shower

Months ago I decided to throw this gal from over in Holladay (were I used to live) a baby shower. She is so nice and kind, but is very shy and has no family in-state and is having her first baby. I just could not let her have her first baby without having some sort of shower or celebration. When I first talked to her about her shower I gave her a list with a couple of different themes on it and told her to pick one. Secretly though I was hoping she would not pick the Dr. Seuss theme and sure enough she did. For some reason I just thought it would be so much harder to do a trademark theme. I really lucked out though and it only took me a couple of days to get really excited about the theme and run with it.

I made these really cute invitations, and I wish I could take credit for the little rhyme, but I can't. My friend Holly came up with that all on her own at crunch time late one night. She is a child development teacher and maybe a little more versed in the world of Seuss then I am. I loved the ribbon I found too, it was the perfect look and just dainty enough for the little invitations. For the envelopes I made and printed out circle address labels onto sticker paper and cut the labels out and placed them in the center of the envelope. I thought it added a nice touch and made the invitations more special. All the fonts I used for the party where either in a typewriter style or a Seuss font I found online.

My luck with the Dr.Seuss theme really came when a friend in Colorado who knew I was on the hunt for anything and everything Seuss spotted a whole dollar section at her local Target full of nothing but Dr. Seuss items and gave me a call. The next day I went to my Target and sure enough mine too had a Seuss dollar section. I was so excited and must have looked like a freak stocking up on the stuff. I bought a couple of everything. . .pencils, pins, hats, stickers, you name it. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I bought it. I also found these amazingly cute plastic cups and bowls at Michael's in the discount section for 28 cents each, or something crazy like that. They were the perfect color and really whimsical so I knew they were a must for the theme and party.

Swedish fish...blue feather boas...felt dots and bow ties...poster-board painted fish...red gerber daisies...gold fish in bowls...and 24 cat in the hat cupcakes later...I had a party. TaDa!

It was a real hit and everyone really enjoyed themselves. We played two games in which we used are Seuss pencils of course. One a guess what book game, the other a name that Seuss character game. The prize? Gold fish in little bowls with blue feather trim. I also set up a table for people to write advise for the mother to be.

The best part of all this Seuss madness is that I am going to be putting together a Dr. Seuss themed playroom upstairs for little miss Jayna Berry for Christmas. Her grandma wanted to know what she was "allowed" to get her (she is the only grandchild), and I said "no more toys we have way to many!". So I told grandma she could buy furniture for the playroom so that we could organize the toys she already has, and so that grandma could have a chance at possibly being allowed to buy her toys for her birthday. Grandma agreed. So look for the Berries playroom coming soon...

 If you would like the files for the invitations, address labels or games click here.