turning 5 and a butterfly party

My baby turned 5 this summer! 5 suddenly seems so big. I'm seeing how the year fly by, as everyone told me they would with kids. 5, 10, 15...it goes quick if you don't stop and take a breath. And there's not often much time to stop and take that breath. 

To celebrate this milestone, we held a pretty little butterfly party for Sage. This party was much different than the big ones we've had in the past which included a huge group of family and friends. This was a big girl celebration - an intimate party with a handful of girls in Sage's JK who were continuing on with her to SK, so they could bond and reconnect over the summer before they headed back to school.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to transform these dollar store butterflies into pretty butterfly crowns, and how lovely they looked awaiting our guests' arrival.

 A 'ReBashed' fabric strip backdrop.

Pretty and edible butterfly cake toppers from IncrEDIBLE Toppers.

Let's take another look at the cuppies, shall we? When I spotted these 'coral, mint, and sage' edible paper toppers I knew they would be perfect.

The tablescape. Sage helped make the muffin paper butterflies we placed all over the room.

My attempt at chalkboard art.

 

Sage is obsessed with s'mores and sprinkles, so I knew she would devour this dessert.

Pretty Queen Anne's Lace picked from a nearby field. Matching loot bag tags.

My baby is 5 years old! And growing into such an amazing young lady.

This was such a fun and easy party. Everyone had a blast. High five, Sage!

A Lemonade Stand Third Birthday!

Here are some pics from my daughter's Lemonade Stand Third Birthday Party! For the full post, please head over to the ReBash blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

for a limited time...group discount for ReBash!

happy february...it's been a while

It's been a while! Here are some updates from the past few months.

Amanda Forrest's branding needed an update, so we created this cool metallic logo.

I've also been working pretty hard on the branding, packaging and website for this amazing product. I've tried it. It really does work! And well!

My sister refinished this beautiful buffet for our dining room, and I had my young daughter's watercolour painting enlarged onto a canvas for some wall art. 
 

We sent out our holiday cards...

I made pure vanilla extract for Christmas presents. It felt nice to make a handmade/homemade gift! And it was pretty simple aside from the part where I had to shake the bottles every day for two months. Vanilla beans were from this local company, and instructions to make your own pure vanilla bean extract are here.

I'm of course working very hard on ReBash, A Different Kind of Wedding Show, with Jessica. 

 
And the girls handed out their Valentine's today at school. Sage gave her classmates slime (thanks to Jessica and Mr. H. for the inspiration) and Finley gave her classmates bubbles. 

Oh! And I gained two new nephews this week! Both my sister and my sister-in-law had baby boys this past week. Welcome Ari and Carter! Photos to come.

Thanks for stopping in and getting the update. Have and amazing Valentine and Family Day weekend!

j

ReBash: where event decor lives on

I'm so excited to announce a venture I am working on with my good friend Jessica from Everyday Shine! Since we both love to decorate with pretty things, plan parties, and reduce/reuse/recycle, we will be holding an event in April that combines all of these things. 

ReBash is a wedding trade show with a unique spin - it's a place where brides, wedding decorators or party planners can go to sell or buy gently used event decor and props. The event will take place at 918 Bathurst in Toronto on Saturday April 18, 2015. 

Interested in renting a table or buying a ticket to the show? Check out our new website for all of the details. Can't wait to see you there!

sage's 4th birthday: a FROZEN party!

It seems a bit far away now that it is Fall, but I wanted to share my daughter's fourth birthday party, held way back in the middle of July. Yes, in the heat of the summer, my daughter requested that she have a Frozen party. It has been Frozen mania this year for sure, and my girls have been no exception - they love the movie, the songs, the dolls, and pretty much Frozen everything. Luckily Pinterest was alive with thousands of amazing inspirational Frozen party ideas.

Here is the watercolour invitation I painted and designed. They were tucked into vellum (icy!) envelopes.

I tried not to go too heavy on decorating with the Disney characters themselves - partly because there was so little available in the stores at the time. But also because it's more of a creative challenge when you aren't using ready-made store-bought party props. I tried to focus more on creating a wintery/icy feeling in July. I couldn't resist adding Olaf here to our welcome sign though...just to get the kids a bit excited!

I'm happy to say that pretty much all of the decor used for this party was quite inexpensive or re-used from another party! The big crepe paper fringe garland backdrop was inspired by this wonderful blog post on one of my favourite blogs Oh Happy Day. The crepe paper rolls were under $2 each, and yet they made such a big impact. The blue polkadot tablecloth is from my baby shower when I was pregnant with Sage.

My brother and sister-in-law got married the week before Sage's party and they used Baby's Breath for their centerpieces. There were many flowers left over, and they graciously donated them to Sage's party for a perfect snowy effect. The mason jars have been used for many events. The table runner was created with dollar store doilies, taped together.

Of course, the yearly list! Printed as an economical black and white 'engineer print' at Staples - under $10 for a huge poster size like this - and taped to an existing frame.

How awesome are these snowballs?! They were Christmas presents for the girls last year, purchased at Mastermind. They worked so well with this theme and were especially fun when my uncle instigated a massive snowball fight.

Snacks included a giant Snowball Tower of marshmallows (thanks to Auntie Melanie for constructing it), Snowman Arms (pretzel sticks), Ice Crystals (rock candy), and gorgeous cupcakes by Mary Tsatskas.

Sven's Snacks (personalized carrot dippers) and Snow-covered Raisins (yogurt raisins) were on the munchie table too.

Big fringe garland inspired by Oh Happy Day. Giant silver '4' balloon from Party City.

I found these free Frozen printables online and couldn't resist taping them over our gallery wall down the hall.

 

Gotta have a little bathroom signage, right?

Large '4' made from favourite photos of Sage from the year.

More photos from the year taped to our chalkboard pantry door, and pretty paper fans in perfect colours found at Dollar Tree.

Love these cupcakes by Mary Tsatskas.

I couldn't resist adding some signage here and there using quotes from the Frozen movie.

We didn't serve water, just melted snow...

 

...and some of Kristoff's flavoured ice.

When you are both host of the party and the photographer, you miss a lot and I didn't get a good photo of the wading pool we had set out in the backyard, were I plopped in a carrot and 2 buttons and a sign that said 'some people are worth melting for.' Also missing from the photo reel: a photo of our snow-growing science experiment, and our epsom salt snow paintings.

But I did have help from a friend with this photo, thankfully! Thanks Geoff Owen.

Filling lootbags is a lot of fun! These contained an ice pack, homemade peppermint snow dough, a freezie and a 'do you want to build a snowman?' kit.

How I love planning kid's parties! And reusing and recycling old event decor and making it new again. Which brings me to my next post...