Pirate Birthday Party

So after sending out the pirate party invitations I got to work on creating some pirate decorations for the party!
I use Martha’s instructions for tissue paper pom poms (as you’ve seen at the tea & cupcakes baby shower & the Dr. Seuss baby shower) but I’ve noticed some confusion as to how exactly they are made so I wanted to show you a little visual as to how they look before you ‘fluff’ them.

I use twist ties (those freebie ones in with your trash bags- I just tie the bag closed I never use a twist tie so I have lots!) and monofilament thread but fishing line would be cheaper, you’d get a lot more (A whole reel!), and it works just as well!
Just layer (6+ layers works the best) your tissue paper on top of each other (you can alternate colors to get a multi-colored pom) and accordion fold on the ‘short’ side. When you reach the end of the tissue paper twist a twist tie around the center and then tie a length of clear thread (monofilament or fishing line) around that center also. This is how you want to transport them if you need to bring them somewhere other than you made them. If you fluff before travel you will have smooshed sides on your poms.  Also make sure you cut the ends before you fluff- into the shapes you want- I do either curved edges (seen on the tea & cupcake party poms) or pointy ones like these.
Ok on to where these poms ended up for the party!
In the playroom corner:

Over the food/cake table:

I also used vinyl cut from my silhouette machine to decorate a few places
The play room window:

The kitchen mirror as you walked in had a vinyl pirate ship & a banner:

Those pirate banners were super easy! They were pirate boy foam crafts that came 6 in a kit ($1 a kit at JoAnn’s)- I bought 2 kits and put them together. The pennant was a freebie from the Cottage Industrialist (also got the pirate hats and eye patches there) and printed them on cardstock.
Here is the pirate dress up station you saw the sign for before:
 
Those parrots are printed on cardstock after being colored in Photoshop (you could just use markers after printing) with a clothespin on the tail to clip on your shoulder. I got the parrots from Family Fun.  Besides the pirate hats and parrots there are eye patches, red & back sashes (just plain bandanas) and tiny ‘party favor’ telescopes.
I made pirate themed food signs which you can sort of see in this picture of the food table:

I kept the food simple this time and did a ranch veggie dip with veggies and a really yummy fruit dip with cut up fruit (not pictured) as well as cheese and cracker platters (also not pictured). For drinks I did raspberry iced tea from a mix and a super yummy lemonade.
I also bought two ($2 each at JoAnn’s) pirate ship foam activity kits and put them together- one was on the buffet with the drinks:

Outside I buried pirates treasure (some of which is scattered on the food table above) in Little Man’s sandbox for the kiddos to search for and we also tied a piece of wood to two cement blocks for a ‘plank’ to walk. I did buy some ‘water bomb’ balloons that were shaped like- you guessed it- cannonballs but we didn’t do those. All of this is not pictured because I didn’t take pictures of it without kids in the pictures and I don’t share pictures of my kids or other’s kids on the blog…sorry!
Last but not least was the pirate ship cake I made for Little Man:

The sails & waves are paper and the pirate and treasure chest came from a toy Little Man had.
Here is a list of pirate party ideas I used to help me come up with all the fun ideas!
Pirate Ship Cake & This cake also
Buried Treasure & Invite Ideas
Pirate hats and eye patches
Steph’s Pirate Party blew. me. away. (walking the plank idea came from here)
Every pirate needs “dress-up” station came from here.

So thanks to all these people for sharing their ideas online and for Google for bringing you to me so I could throw a cheap & fun pirate party for my Little Man!!
I hope you all enjoyed this ‘walk’ through my Little Man’s 3rd birthday!
Have a happy day,

I am linking this post up to:



Pssst! I'm trying to reach 100 followers (see over there on the right sidebar?) so I've decided to try a little giveaway. 
If I reach 100 followers by Tuesday August 10, 2010 (one week) I will giveaway the pirate banners, pirate 'coins', little party favor telescopes, the un-opened package of cannonball 'water bomb' balloons, a small package of pirate themed foam stickers (opened but I didn't use them), and possibly the 2 foam pirate ships if I can figure out how to ship them without breaking them. I will choose one winner randomly from the comments on Wednesday Aug. 11, 2010.
You would have an almost complete decorating kit for YOUR pirate party if you win...just by following me and leaving a comment here. Make sure you tell your friends because I have to be at 100 followers in one week or the giveaway doesn't happen :) (see? incentive!) This is open to USA readers only but if you are from outside the US feel free to follow anyway you'll be helping out!

What I Did This Weekend- Pirate Edition

 

Hi all! Welcome back for What I Did This Weekend #2! This weekend was all about Little Man’s 3rd Birthday party! Which was a Pirate theme (first talked about when I showed you the Pirate Party Invitations)!

While I was working on a project I’ve had on my list for over a year (post to come soon!) I was outside spray painting in the dark (it needed one. more. coat.) and when I came around the corner of the house to go back inside something hopped out of the lawn right into my path:

A huge toad! This picture doesn’t show you how big it really was! Now I’m not afraid or grossed out by toads or frogs but this one scared the willies out of me because it came from no where and jumped right in front of me! After I freaked out for a second I whipped out the iPhone and took a couple pictures because he was kind of cute!

Other than the toad this weekend was all Pirate- all the time!

Here are a few sneaky peeks of the party (post to come later this week!)

Birthday Banner (cost me all of $5 for the whole thing)

The “Every Pirate Needs” sign above the ‘dress up’ table.

Ok so that’s what I did this weekend! Next weekend has my Aunt & Uncle’s vow renewal (35 years!), my niece's 2nd Birthday party (I’m making the cake!), and my husband’s grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary party! Busy weekend ahead!

Ok so tell me what did you do this weekend? Any surprises?

Have a happy day,

Pirate Birthday Party Invitations!

I was going to wait and show you the Pirate 3rd Birthday Party when it was all over with and complete but then I thought- why not just show you the invitations and the rest in another post? It will break it up so you aren’t reading a huge long post (unless you like that….?) (Here's Pirate Birthday Party Post 2)
So Little Man is turning 3 and I decided last year (at his Thomas the Train Birthday party) to do a Pirate theme this year! Next year he’ll probably help choose his theme.
I started by searching for any Pirate parties online and found a bunch that had good ideas! I took the invitation in a bottle inspiration from here.
Here is what the invite looked like from the front:

I blurred out our names/address/etc. but it does say “Join us on the good ship our last name”

Here is the back:

I always like to give present suggestions, mostly because I hate getting a bunch of plastic, noisy toys that I’m going to have to ‘hide’ after he goes to bed because they aren’t something we want him playing with, but also because sometimes adults just don’t know what a kid likes or wants. I always appreciate it when I get an invite with suggestions on it because it makes MY life so much easier…I won’t have to worry that the birthday child won’t like my present.
These invites were designed in Photoshop Elements and all the images you see came from that program.
So I had Military Man stop by the store and pick me up a 6 pack….of IBC root beer. We drank a couple, made root beer floats and then poured the rest into a pitcher. I rinsed the bottles out and dried them. Then I printed my invites on resume paper I had (it was almost linen like) to give it a authentic ‘lost map’ feel. I also burned the edges with a lighter. I rolled them up and stuck them in the bottle. I tied some twine around them and used a free tag printable to write the names of who they were to.
Military Man took 4 to work to hand out and the other two went to others. I ended up mailing 6 more invites (no bottles lol).
Here is the finished product (sorry for bad iPhone photo- my camera batteries died just as I was about to take the pic!):

So there is the beginning of the Pirate Birthday Party!(Pirate Birthday Party Post 2)
Let’s try something fun: leave me a comment telling me what your favorite party theme has been (could be yours or a party you went to)!
Have a great weekend,


Linking up to:

Dr. Seuss Baby Shower

My sister is expecting a baby in early September so this past weekend my mom & I threw her a Dr. Seuss themed baby shower!
First were the invitations, I made them on Photoshop Elements using clip art images and cute wording found on the web. The font used is called “Grinched” and can be found here for free.


So I got there early to decorate (red & white balloons, streamers- not pictured) and I used my new Silhouette SD to cut out some vinyl words for the walls (again using that Grinched font). I also printed out some images from the web of Dr. Seuss books.



I also made some of Martha’s tissue paper pom poms in red & white and hung them over the food table.

And lastly I made a cake! I love making a cake (probably because I eat the extra cake/frosting….shhhhh)! I made a Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat, Hat cake. The brim is a red velvet oval cake with cream cheese frosting and the stacked part is yellow cake with butter cream icing.

Here’s a little secret for you….I did the whole cake using 3 boxes of yellow cake mix, but I just add in other ingredients to make it red velvet & make the yellow cake taste like homemade! I do make my frosting from scratch and usually make my cakes from scratch too but hey- I just had a baby so I’m entitled to take short cuts right? right.
Here is what I do to turn regular yellow box cake mix into red velvet:
Add 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder to the dry cake mix.
Add all your liquids (substitute buttermilk for any water/milk the mix calls for- I make my own buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of milk and letting it sit about 5-10 min) then add 1 tablespoon of red food coloring (about the whole vial if you buy those little ones), a teaspoon of distilled white vinegar and a teaspoon of vanilla.
That’s it! Now you have red velvet cake batter! I use this recipe for cream cheese frosting (She also has a from scratch red velvet recipe in that post too)
For the yellow cake I follow this cupcake tutorial for doctoring the mix. (If you Google ‘doctoring cake mix’ or some similar term you will come up with all kinds of ways to make store bought mix taste terrific!)
For the butter cream frosting I again use Bakerella. I used to use Wilton’s but I don’t like using veggie shortening because it always seemed to be a ‘finicky’ frosting because of it. It tastes great though…I just go for easy & un-finicky!
So there is my family Dr. Seuss baby shower! Hope you liked it!
Have a happy Day,

Color Inspiration Party!

Hi all! Ok this is a post that was spur of the moment (well the party part!) and I’m super nervous I’ll be the only dork showing up to the un-cool party. So help me out ok?
I’m going to put a linky at the bottom of this post for you to link up any post you have that has to do with color and/or inspiration. I’m pretty flexible on what that means so as long as you are not linking to YOUR linky party or to a giveaway/store/business I’m cool with it!
All I ask is that you put my button somewhere on your post so that people can come back here and find (and link up!) to the party too!


<a href="http://www.creativekristi.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee112/Kilikikd/Blog%20pictures/party-button.jpg" border="0" alt="Creative Kristi Color Inspiration"></a>

If I get enough response this might just become a weekly thing! So link up! And as always: If you like what you see consider becoming a follower so you won’t miss a thing!
Alright here is my color inspiration this week. These are things that caught my eye and I decided to take pictures of them!
First up:
Sewing Thread- spools and spools of sewing thread! Green, yellow, pink, purple, blue!




*sigh* the scrumptious colors get me every time!
Continuing on that same train of thought I have spools of ribbon!

And lastly the most beautiful aqua/turquoise/blue cake stand! This is what I got with my gift certificate to Burlap & Blue that I won from the Shabby Nest’s giveaway.









How gorgeous is that?!?

Ok now it’s your turn! Link up some inspiration for me!
Have a happy day,

Chic Click Carnival

I’ve decided to participate in the SITS Girls “Chic Click Carnival” this week!
If you are new here let me tell you a little about me. I am 26 years old, married to my first boyfriend (we dated for a year at the age of 14 & then went our separate ways for nearly 10 years before meeting again & getting married) who is in the military- I refer to him as Military Man, Handsome Hubby, Hubs, etc. We have two beautiful children: Little Man who will be 3 at the end of this month & Miss E who will is 5 weeks old this week. We all live in Maine with our black lab, Lady.
I started this blog in 2008 as a way to keep myself busy while Military Man was deployed & since then it has become a hobby for me and I love it. I have been referred to as a “little Martha” (as in Martha Stewart) my whole life because I was always making something, always coming up with new ideas, etc. I just decided to start sharing my crafts, renovations & frugal ways with whoever wanted to read about them because honestly…sometimes my family just doesn’t get the utter excitement I have about fabric or finding an awesome new craft tool!
I know you all do or you wouldn’t be here! ;)
So my favorite post so far is the 2nd one I wrote about painting my countertops…so far this has been the wildest thing I’ve done in the name of frugality & craftiness. I think my husband is a keeper because he didn’t bat an eye when I told him I was painting the countertops!
So since this is the Chic Click Carnival I’m supposed to share with you a new peep I found using their widget below. I found an amazing Etsy shop called Copper Creek Design and she has some amazing jewelry that I think is so beautiful….like these earrings for example.
Anyway that’s a little about me & my family and what I do here at Creative Kristi.
Thanks for stopping by and please go find a new peep for yourself by clicking the widget below!



Happy Monday to you all,

It's A.......Baby shower!!

So my baby shower was this past Saturday & I'm just fully recovered enough to edit photos and write a post. Whew! This whole pregnant with a toddler thing takes a lot out of you! (More on that later)

So the theme was "Cupcakes & Tea" and I actually used a lot of ideas I saw floating around the internet & ended up keeping my costs really low.

Ready for some pictures & a surprise? You've seen the invites I sent out...very gender neutral since we weren't telling anyone the gender remember?

Here is the welcome banner & teacup set-up as the guests walked in:

and of course we had to have some Martha Stewart Pom Poms! (well ones I made myself- I don't like to pay Martha for nothin!)

wait....that last pom isn't gender neutral is it?

hey wait- neither are those!! You can't see it in the picture but that banner across the windows says: "It's A Girl!"  Yup- that's right- our plan all along was to tell everyone at the baby shower! Our Little Girl has a due date of June 4th and we put off the baby shower as long as possible so that we could enjoy all the little guessing games going on amongst family & friends! (By the way yes she already has a name but that we don't share until she arrives!)

Let's see more of this shower now huh?

The iced tea & hot tea set-up on my buffet (taken after the party had started so you can see my MIL's camera bag haha)

The cupcake/cheese/cracker/fruit kabob table (directly under those pink poms!)

 I made teapot/teacup shaped sugar cubes which I think are just so cute!

And napkins that I cut/folded into the shape of little dresses & my friend Katie tied ribbon 'sashes' around! Thanks Katie- where would I be without your help?? She also cut & glued the cupcake toppers together for me!

A little more of a close up (better lighting)

And the fireplace banner in the living room complete with a couple of my favorite outfits from a huge lot I bought of Craigslist for $25! Woohoo!

Ok so that is it for pictures I took. Here are the links to all the tutorials/shops/ideas I used so you can use them anyway you want to too!
Martha Stewart Tissue Paper Pom Poms (free)
Martha Stewart Printable Letters (free)
Napkin Dress instructions (free)
Cupcake topper image (free) & instructions (free)
Iced Tea label download (free)
Sugar cube how-to (free)
Teapot mold (not free lol)
Teapot shaped favors ~you rip them apart, plant them & wildflowers grow! (not free-tell them creativekristi sent you! I'm sure they'd love to know I'm talking them up!)


There you go! I mentioned earlier we'd talk a little about how tiring this pregnancy is getting having a toddler too...well I've decided only once a week for posting is about what I've been averaging and I'll try to keep it up until delivery day. After the baby comes I'm trying to arrange a few guest posters for you so that the blog continues but I can recover. I have one who says she'd love to help a new momma out & if any of you want to help please e-mail me: creativekristi (at) gmail (dot) com with the words "Baby Guest Poster" in the subject line. I'm only looking for 3 or 4 and if you have a blog please include a link so I can check it out too. You all know the type of stuff I write about so try to keep it in that general area of topic. If you don't have a blog that's fine too- send me an e-mail anyway and we can work something out! Thanks so much!

Have a great weekend!