My sweet little God daughter Tara turned 4 today, and she had the most wonderful, most pink and purple, most princess-y party ever! From the moment we walked in the door it was magical. My friend Heather decorated the entrance with streamers, and the loot table, signs for any little girl of wonderful things to come! It also had the first activity, decorate your own tiara.

There were lots of princess activities to keep everyone busy at the party. There was a castle set up to play dolls at.

There was a playdough kitchen, with princess cookie cutters for some pretend baking.

There was also a game of pin the crown on the princess.

One of my favourite activities, and one of all the kids favourites too, based on the line up at one point, was the cookie decorating. Heather made princess cookies, and the kids decorated them with icing and candies.

Here’s the sweet birthday girl hard at work!

The main attraction was that the living room had been transformed into a princess beauty shop.

I love the garland of pink feather boas, mini lights, roses, and crystals, along with the pink mirrors so the little princesses could admire themselves! There were lots of beautiful princess gowns to wear.

There was also a princess vanity set up with heart sparkle nail polish, and glitter hairspray.

The little princesses were treated to having their make-up done by a great face-painter who did everything from princesses and fairies to royal tigers and kitty cats!

Here’s Maddie with the tiara she made, smiling with the birthday girl.

After all that fun, the kids enjoyed a snack fit for a princess!

Each chair was decorated with ribbon, tulle and a princess brooch -from the dollar store, oh how we love the dollar store especially when we need a little sparkle!

The clock was set to Cinderella time, and Heather decorated with these fun tulle pom-poms.

Each place setting was set with a silver paper doily place mat, cutlery decked out with jewel stickers, a princess wand, a rose, and lollipop ring.

On the menu were individual pink pudding with cookie spoons, pink popcorn, and beautiful cupcakes. There were also chocolate dipped marshmallows with pink and purple sugar sprinkles, and little castle and crown jam and cream cheese sandwiches.

Isn’t the fruit cute on these little pink skewers.

There was also a sweet princess cake, decorated with the a fun “4″ sparkler candle!

We had such a fun time being princesses for a day!

Happy Birthday Tara, the sweetest princess of all!

This post is linked up at Between Naps on the Porch, Whipperberry, and Tatertots and Jello.

This weekend was my daughter’s seventh birthday, and she wanted to have a beach picnic to celebrate. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and windy, so we had to move the party from the beach to indoors. No one seemed to mind though, and we all had a great time!

I had planned all the food, decor and activities for the beach, but when we felt the cold wind, we quickly shifted things around to work at home. You saw the bunting flag invite yesterday, which was inspired by the bunting flags I made for the picnic. I made some simple bunting flag before with with pinking sheers and ribbon, but this time I made them double sided, ironed them and used seam binding along the top. They look much more professional, and I’m really pleased with how they turned out. They were a lot more work, but it shows.

We also had some fun red and pink balloon bouquets.

We set the picnic food up in the dinning room. I found this great vintage table cloth at an antique store this summer, and fell in love with it. I used these sweet miniature picnic baskets for decoration on the food table too.

For the centre piece of the table I used these sweet mason jars filled with flowers from my mom’s garden. I also found a gold picture frame and spray painted it pink, and added a picture of the birthday girl. I found the sweet hot pink “P” -for Paige, at Hobby Lobby -love those cross border shopping trips.

Each guest had an individual picnic bag, the adults were on the left, and the kids were on right. Around the back of the table I set up the drinks.

I had fun finding old fashioned pop bottles of cream soda, black cherry, root beer and coke. For the kids there were Kool-Aid Jammers, and lots of water for everyone. I used a mason jar to hold some striped straws. We also had a picnic basket filled with red picnic blankets, that I picked up at IKEA.

I had also planned a coffee and tea station for the grown-ups, since the party started at 11. We planned on using thermos flasks for the beach, but since it was at home I just set this basket I’d prepared next to the coffee maker.

Stay tuned for Part II -the activities, and Part III -the food!

This post is linked up at these great linky parties, check them out for lots more inspiration: Someday Crafts, Blue Cricket Design, Between Naps on the Porch, and Today’s Creative Blog.

Cherry blossoms are the perfect theme for a spring party. Yesterday some friends celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, and I helped out with the decor and food for a wonderful party to celebrate. A 40th wedding anniversary is traditionally the ruby anniversary, so we tried to incorporate some red into the party and went with red and pink colour palette, one of my very favourite colour combinations.

We used a church hall for the party, and tried to give it some character with our decor. The round tables had simple white cloths, and beautiful organza pink table runners. We used silk cherry blossoms, and put them in real water to weight the vases, and make them look more authentic. We wanted a grouping of three items on the table so we used a tea light in a simple glass container, and some roses. We originally thought of roses in silver julep cups, but they were a little over budget, so I had the idea of using silver creams and sugars which we were able to rent. I love the eclectic, vintage feel they created.

Another detail, to tie in the ruby anniversary was that we hung some family pictures on the cherry blossoms and decorated them with red gem stickers.

We covered the room’s bulletin boards with some simple white table cloths to create a neutral background. At the front of the room I hung a beautiful banner to mark the occasion, created with red and pink scrapbook papers.

Above the banner we hung a gorgeous bouquet of paper lanterns. This was my favourite detail of the entire day – I love how the Japanese cherry blossom lanterns tied into our theme.

These were the background for the two food tables one was savoury and the other was full of sweets.

We also added some red and pink roses to the washroom, along with Bath and Body Works cherry blossom foaming hand soap and hand cream. Love is in the details!

We used lots of red and pink roses on the food, and drink tables, and various red and pink candles in silver and mercy glass candle holders.

A fun detail on the coffee and tea table, which the couple added and I will definitely use again in the future was to add a tiny amount of coloured sugar to the regular sugar. Isn’t it pretty.

The food for the party turned out really well. For the savoury table we served a variety of tea sandwiches.

We served veggies and dip in a plastic cup, which the guests loved the ease of.

There was also a large cheese tray. I lined up the cheese and crackers in rows, and thought it made for a really pretty presentation.

I made a variety of tea sandwiches.

There were toast cups with chicken salad and onion sprouts, cream cheese pin wheels, ham and Swiss cheese with honey mustard, egg salad on mini croissants, salmon, and cucumber fingers.

I made some cute pics and used them in some of the sandwiches.

There was also a sweet table.

The highlight of the dessert table was the cupcakes, looking so beautiful on their pink and white stands. We re-painted the stands from the yellow dessert table, see them in yellow here. The cupcakes were ordered from Cupcakes Canada, and they were delicious.

I made the cupcake labels, and the pics for the sandwiches with a cherry blossom graphic I found on-line to tie back into our theme.

Along with the cupcakes, I made a large fruit tray. I placed the fruit in rows, like the cheese and crackers, for a pretty presentation. I was lucky enough to find toothpicks for the fruit with tiny hearts on theme. How fitting for a wedding anniversary.

The rest of the delicious sweets were made by the family and friends, and included lemon tarts, shortbread and chocolate spritz cookies. We also included mini chocolate éclairs, and some pink meringue kisses.

It was a beautiful day for a beautiful couple. I loved all the cherry blossom and red and pink details, and think they’d be a beautiful theme for a shower, birthday, wedding or any spring party.

Congratulations Ian and Lois, 40 years married and still very much in love, sometimes life is a party!

This post is linked up at Under the Table and Dreaming, I Heart Naptime, Tatertots and Jello, and Between Naps on the Porch.

The 100 000 Hits Party was sponsored by La Petite Fleur. This is my sister Heather’s flower and gift shop, located in Uxbridge, Ontario. She is an amazing florist. She puts colours and textures together in artful, unique, and stunning ways to create one-of-a-kind designs for every occasion. She uses that same eye for design to fill her store with beautiful, stylish home decor products and gifts. Let’s just say I do all my Christmas and birthday shopping for myself from her at La Petite Fleur, as in “I’d like one of those please, oh and that would look great in my living room…”. For this party she worked with me to come up with exactly what I wanted. I asked for pink and a little glitz, and she sure delivered!

For the dinning room table, where the food was served, she suggested three beautiful, low, and matching arrangements. We wanted to echo the linear quality of the chandelier, by creating a row of flowers.

It also tied in with the beautiful runner I created out of ribbon. I went to my local fabric store and bought lengths of ribbon in different textures and shades of pink, along with some sequins for the glitz factor. I love how it turned out, and I’m sure it’s something I’ll be able to use time and time again.

For the fireplace mantel, Heather worked with the candelabra that I already had, and stunning pink orchids. If you wanted to create a similar look at home, without the candelabra, you could use a vase of twigs as your base.

Heather began by cutting the orchid off the stem, very close to the base of the bloom.

Then she used a pearl headed straight pin, and inserted it through the back of the flower.

She was then able to tie a piece of clear fishing line to the pin, and hang it on the candelabra.

The finished product was simple and stunning.

Heather also brought the beautiful glass candle holders, that we used on the mantle. They can also be hung. Wouldn’t they be gorgeous in a tree on a summer night in the garden?

The mantle looked great, in all it’s sparkly, pink glory!

In the kitchen we wanted to add an easy arrangement, that tied in with the pink and glitz. Heather came up with using orchids again and floating candles. She submerged several blooms in a glass bowl, and added beautiful mercy glass floating candle holders. We dressed the rest of the table with some more ribbon, orchids, and a beautiful mirror garland.

I loved working with Heather, (not just because she’s my sister, but for that reason too ) because she has an incredible eye for detail, and yet a fun-loving ease about her. I love how all the arrangements she did were different, but tied together by the use of orchids, and the colour pink.

La Petite Fleur was kind enough to also bring a “sweet” take-home treat for all the guests. Heather brought a pretty little jar of local, organic honey for everyone.

Check out La Petite Fleur located at 45 Brock St. West, in beautiful downtown Uxbridge, Ontario. Heather’s store is a full service florist, where she’ll work with you to create beautiful, memorable pieces for any occasion. You can also order on-line here, for your convenience. Have a look at her new blog, where she features all her latest projects, products and how-to’s. Her store also offers a full line of wonderful classes, from basic to advanced floral design, cooking and entertaining, and gardening. On her website you’ll find a full schedule for all her up coming spring classes, like this one on how to make a spring wreath.

When life is a party, it’s good to know a good florist, and mine is amazing!

This post is linked up at Under the Table and Dreaming, Blue Cricket Design, and at Tablescape Thursdays at Between Naps on the Porch.

No. 1 -The Mini Burgers

Life is a party, if we make it one, so when I rolled around to 100 000 hits recently, I thought why not celebrate. Since beginning this blog, about 10 months ago, it’s been a wonderful journey, and I’m very thankful to all my readers for showing up at the party, so to speak.

Friday night I got together with 10 readers for a night of fun and celebration. Over the next 10 days, I’ll be sharing all the recipes, decor ideas, and party inspiration from our girls get together. Here’s a picture of all 10 of us (well 9, one dear friend and follower came down with a sinus infection and had to cancel at the last min., we missed you Jen, feel better soon).

From the top: Kim (from Restoration House), Jennifer, Myself (Dannyelle), another Danielle, Stephanie, Heather my sister (from La Petite Fleur), Heather, another Heather, and Connie (from Telling His Stories, and who took lots of the pics for me )

I had a great time with these amazing ladies, including Kim of Restoration House. She has a great home decor blog, and if you haven’t read it yet, you should check it out. My sister Heather and her store La Petite Fleur supplied all the beautiful flowers as one of my new sponsors, and will be featured tomorrow.

Over the course of the evening we shared some great food, cocktails, and fun, which I’ll be sharing with you over the next several days. One of my new favourite party foods are these Mini Burgers.

To make the hamburger patties, use whatever your favourite burger recipe is. We started out with a couple of lbs. of lean ground beef, added dry onion soup mix, and formed into mini patties. It’s that simple. Top Tip: Make them nice and thin, or you’ll end up with mini meatballs, rather than burger shapes after you cook them.

I found mini-burger buns at the Metro, yeah! Last summer, I had to get a bakery to custom make them mini size, with a 3 doz. minimum order, now they’re regular in-stock at my local grocery store, awesome!

Earlier in the day I caramelized some onions, by cooking sliced onions over a low tempurature with a little oil, worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar until they were golden brown.

We toped the mini burgers with swiss cheese, some of the caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, and a little HP sauce. So yummy!

We served them with Kettle chips, for a cocktail size play on burgers and fries.

Life is a party, with these mini burgers.

Be sure to check back again tomorrow for a great flower arranging tutorial, and 9 more days of partying fun!

This post is linked up at Tatertots and Jello, Whipperberry, Under the Table and Dreaming, and Be Different Act Normal.