Birthday report

All my creativity and productivity juices are about extinguished after the festivities this past weekend.  Before, I was holding my life together with lists and weekly budgets that kept me on the straight and narrow.  Things to do, money to spend, and now I'M FINALLY FREEEEEEEEE! The party is over and I feel like the heaviest weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  I am happy to report that it was successful and all went out with out (any major) hitches. Fun was had, food was eaten, cake was smashed and presents were opened.  For all the crafty folks who may be interested in how I let the DIY projects get a little out of hand with the party,  here is a quick recap of what I did and how.

Decorations-

I bought the Cricut Expression with so many of these projects in mind.  First up with the theme cupcakes and it just took off from there.  I used the a combination of Plantin Schoolbook, Accent Essentials, All Mixed Up,  Alphalicious and Sweet Treats.  I cut out flags and letters and shapes to spell out "Happy Birthday Kylie" and "Look Who's 1."  I wasn't sure what I was going to hang this on or how I would attach it..until on a quick trip to Hobby Lobby it came to me: feather boas! Here is the birthday girl coyly sporting the idea.



The finished product was pretty cute. (If I don't say so myself.)  I tied each flag to the boa with white satin ribbon.

I knew I wanted to do a candy buffet lite set up with the favors.  I had ordered ices cookies from the bakery who was doing the cake and later on I found cupcake pops that I just HAD to do for the occasion.  (More on those later.)   Again, on a trip to HL I found these purple wooden apothecary style urns that would be prefect for the cupcake pops and a clear glass jar to hold the color coordinated candy.  I used leftover strips of the invitation paper to make belly bands for the jars and finished it off with a textured cupcake sticker and  circle cut out.

Our great friends at Birdie Baby Boutique cooked us up a 1/2 dozen of ornamental cupcakes to round out the decor.  Created to match the plates and napkin color scheme these little "nuggets" were a wonderful finishing touch! Kylie made them her toys immediately after her party.  They are good because they are durable and whimsical rolled into one.  She was also awesome enough to make Kylie custom bows to match her birthday dress that she got to wear for all of about 10 minutes.  The bows have yet to make their debut.



Invites-
Using the Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge, I cut out a layered cupcake in several different shadow colors.  All with chocolate icing and iridescent, textured scrapbook paper for the cupcake wrappers.  I found a cupcake print 12x12 scrapbook sheet as the base, matted the text paper with a coordinating piece of card stock, assembles and...ta-da!

 I even added a little pizazz to the enveloped bus using the Stampin Up roller stamp to the outside - no pictures.  It was a nice touch..at that point I was in over drive and I couldn't stop....

Now, I didn't take any up close pictures of the cupcake pops, that looked pretty beginner baker, in my opinion...but they tasted damn good!  I followed the recipe on Bakerella. If I could find a way to make the purple chocolate a little thinner, they'd have been perfect, but it was harder to work with than I expected.  Nevertheless, they were incredibly edible and highly addictive.  I coordinated all that with purple, pink and silver chocolates in the clear jar.  

      The cake I can't take credit for, except that I knew where to go to get it. haha I sent Nick to go get it, and even though he just about had a nervous breakdown driving it home from the bakery, it made it in once piece with only the fondant circles sliding down the cake from being out in the heat. It looked great and had just the response I wanted it to! La Victoria Bakery does an amazing cake if you are up for the drive and the big bakery cost.  Their prices have increased since the last time I ordered from them, but the never fail to deliver a GREAT tasting cake with the ability to impress based on taste and presentation.  Rosie did me right, and for that, I thank her.

 ok, I have to post this not...I've been messing with this post for far too long!