Amigurumi Tea Set (and an awesome party!)

Junebug and I recently went to her first "real" birthday party.  Let me qualify what I mean by "real"--it wasn't a family member's birthday party and it wasn't a one-year old "I-have-no-idea-what-the-heck-is-going-on-here" type birthday party.  It was a party that Junebug was invited to by one of her library time friends and this time, Elliott knew what a birthday party is (translation: there will be cake!) and was super-excited about it (again: there will be cake!).

For the birthday girl, I opted to make a gift since I had time and an itch to try my hand at an amigurumi tea set.

 

It came out great despite the fact that I was less than thrilled with the pattern I bought on Etsy.  I've never had a bad Etsy experience before, so I was shocked to know that it was possible.  For this reason, I won't be sharing which pattern I bought--but in the end, with some tweaking and note-taking, it worked.  Not only was the pattern poorly written, it took the seller over 3 days to email the pdf when the shop stated that I'd have it within 24 hours.  I was more than slightly annoyed.  I much prefer instant gratification.  Who doesn't?

 

The tea cups were my favorite part.  They're double-walled and surprisingly sturdy.   Perfect for teddy bear tea parties.  I'm planning on making a set for Junebug for Christmas but in a multi-colored way like this Anthropologie set that I pinned.

The birthday party itself was a blast!  The theme was Alice in Wonderland in the most awesome way possible.  The birthday girl, Kylie (you may remember her from her Medusa costume) was the perfect Alice and her momma did a great job making a special and memorable party for her.  Kylie's mom is also an amazing photographer--I ran across this collage she made and couldn't resist sharing (especially since Junebug is sitting with the birthday gal on the main picture).

 

 Since it's most of our un-birthdays, I wish a very merry un-birthday to you!

Tristin

Nice Day for a White Wedding

Recently our church had the privilege of welcoming a new family.  They're new Christians, newlyweds, and new to our area.  What better way to welcome someone (officially) than by throwing a fun party in their honor?

This party was the doing of my mother primarily, though myself and several others from our congregation worked to contribute pieces of awesomeness that resulted in an elegant evening for all to enjoy.

I thought you'd enjoy a peek!

Junebug's Summer Birthday Party

As of yesterday, it's officially summer--though here in Florida we've been feeling summer for a few months.  And the air conditioning in my beautiful yet aged Volvo just went out.  Sheesh.  But that's not what I'm here to tell you about today.

I want to share Junebug's second birthday bash with you!

You probably remember from my last post that the theme was simply "Summer".  I left lots of room for interpretation and mind-changing ('cause I can be a bit fickle when it comes to choosing "themes").  And if you follow me on Pinterest then you probably have a good idea of what we did for the birthday party based on my pinboard.  So without further adieu, here's how we celebrated!

The Decor:

The Food:

Looong story short (really, it's a long story) these cupcakes had to have the liners removed before serving because some of our weirdo freaky-deaky Florida ants showed up unexpectedly in my laundry room (where these lovely cupcakes were waiting) and started munching on the WRAPPERS, but not the cupcakes.  Seriously, how weird is that?  Once hubs figured out what was going on he removed all of the cupcake liners and saved the day!

The Birthday Gal:

I can't believe she's TWO!  Time flies.

She's Second to None.

My little one is about to turn two.  Two.  I still can't believe how quickly time flies when you have a child.  Two is only 1/9th of the way to 18, when she'll leave me for greener pastures.  Ok, I'm not ready to talk about that--so let's talk party!

We'll be celebrating Junebug's birthday this weekend with a small family gathering.  I opted out of paper invites this year because I'm cheap I thought an Evite would be a "greener" option.  Yeah, because I wanted to be "green". 

Here's a little peek at what our guests received in their email:

Writing things in sand is a great way to take beach pictures.  Plus, I'll always remember how old she was in that photo.  Brilliant, I am.

My mom and I spent a bit of time yesterday making tissue paper pompoms for the party--they're already fluffed and are waiting in the laundry room for the big event.  It's quite comical, really--check it out:

I want the decor to be a surprise to Junebug on the day of her party--so I have to keep her out of the laundry room (which is tougher than it sounds).

I'm also so excited about my other party finds.  The "theme" of the party is simply "Summer".  Bright colors, sunshine, funky patterns, you know what I mean, right?

 

I'm so excited.  I'm using some of the same things I used for Junebug's first birthday party last year.  Last year's theme was "Watermelon" and what a fun theme it was! 

The pièce de résistance last year (that people are still talking about) was Junebug's "Watermelon Cake".  I wanted to forego the messy smashcake tradition and enjoy a slice of refreshing watermelon. Having to immediately bathe my daughter after her first cake experience while having 20+ guests at my home didn't seem appealing.  So sue me.

Here's a pic of Junebug's party last year:

 

The "Watermelon Cake" was a little trickier than I had initially anticipated and there were definitely a few lessons learned, but all in all it was well worth the effort.  I couldn't find any sort of instructions or tutorial for such a thing so I winged it and I'm glad I did!

If you're interested, you can check out the inspiration for Junebug's second birthday party on my Pinterest page.

P.S. Once I recover from the event, I'll be sharing some photos--so check back next week!