Mason Jar Printables

   As promised here are all of the blank menu,invites and other printables from the mason jar party. Just click on the link below the image you want, it will take you to Dropbox and click download and it's yours. I would use Picmonkey or Pixlr to add text.

having a ball 5x7

Blank Invite 4x6

Purple Background 8x10

Black Menu 8x10

Chalkboard Photobooth {Mason Jar Party}

The plan was to hang a white tablecloth on the wall and the tassel banner along with a pennant banner for the photobooth but since we were cramped for time and space we scrapped the idea.  Luckily, there was a hidden chalkboard on the wall. We opened it up pinned a banner up wrote a birthday message and ta-da, instant photobooth! The only problem with this photobooth is trying to get everyone to stand in front of it instead of sitting. I'll know next time to move all the chairs away from the area. But, I think I may have to figure out a way to make a huge, portable chalkboard background. I love the way it looks. 

I did a terrible job of cropping the photos for you, and by terrible job I mean, didn't even try.

But, when I put the album together for my grandmother I'll crop and edit all the photos. 

Here is a picture of the board alone.

It may have had art added by my little cousins. :)

For the original party post go here. 

Having a Ball Mason Jar Party

Meet my Granny. Isn't she precious? 

I won't show you the video of us singing happy birthday to her and she decided to start singing to her self.

 I clearly inherited much of my weirdness from her!

Here is the basic rundown of her birthday party. 

It was simple, girly and classic. 

It was also thrown together in record time. The room we were promised from her apartment complex had a scheduled singing before the party that ran an hour over! Since we were just starting to set up 15 minutes before the party started, things didn't look quite neat and orderly as we planned but she was a happy camper and that's what matters. 

(also most pictures kind of stink since I was super rushed to get them)

We used white serving pates, with some wooden and black metal serving pieces.

Basic white table clothes were used along with lavender accent fabric and multicolored wild flowers to bring color to the tables. 

The menu selections centered around her favorite foods. 

We chose her favorite color, lavender as the main accent color and punctuated it with light light light turquoise and pale pink. 

We served sweet tea, lemonade and water and drank out of an array of mason jars. She gave me most of her old canning jars so it seemed fitting that we use those. The kids drank from little jelly jars ans the adults used pint jars. 

The flowers were in quart and half gallon jars.

 My cousin tracked down cute paper straws and matching hard candy sticks. 

I made a cute little sign that clearly stated the theme of the party and paired it with my Mom's ruffle cake.

 We had a photobooth as well. I planned on including it in this post but the website I use to make collages and do some edits is not cooperating at all. I'll share those Monday and I should have the blank menus and invites available to download by Tuesday! 

I'll be sharing the recipe for the pepper jelly that I made and used at this party and the marshmallow frosting that went on those cupcakes and mini lemon pies in the next couple of weeks.

Mickey Party Part 2: Photobooth

We had so much fun with the super hero masks and toys last year I decided to do a photobooth this year. This particular picture is my favorite of our family shots. It is so us. Me tuning out the craziness, Caleb making faces, Liam doing anything that he isn't supposed to do and Lee trying to manage it.

For the prop station I brought my old cheap Ikea end table and some baskets from around the house out into Mom's yard and set it up next to the back drop. We found a photobooth kit at Party City, snagged some hats, beads and big sunglasses from the dollar store and picked up some mini chalkboards from a hobby store my Sister made the Mickey ear headbands. I'll post a PDF of the the sign at a later date as well. 

For the backdrop we used three $1.00 plastic table cloths from, you guessed it, the dollar store and black curling ribbon tied between limbs of a tree. We hung it the night before and it stayed just fine we hung a banner the next day but I forgot to snap a picture of the finished back drop but I do have a picture of another banner and you can get the same idea. My sister cut those out too. I just made a template out of cardboard and grabbed any scrapbook paper I had in red, black, yellow or kraft paper, printed and solid. We punched holes in the ends and strung and hung it the day of. 

After you've got that taken care of then the only thing left is to have fun! 

***UPDATE: For other info on the party check out this, this and this***.

Mickey Mouse Party Part 1: The Table Decor

  Last weekend we celebrated both boys' birthdays with a Mickey Mouse theme.

I'm quite happy with the outcome. 

 This post is just a few shots of the table.  I'll post links and recipes next week and post about the photo booth as well. I'm also planning on making blank version of the menus in PDF form for download soon, along with blank mustache menus too. 

We did this party on a shoe string budget but I still feel like it turned out amazing. It does help I have an arsenal of craft supplies already. I had the kraft paper and black paper to make the banner and polka dot streamers. I used foam core from a dollar store to make the Mickey silhouette. I owned the picture frames, the baskets, cake plate and platters already. The black tablecloth is a random queen sized sheet that I've been using as a tablecloth for a couple of years. The boys had that Mickey Mouse in their toys. The streamers, plates, napkins and forks came from a dollar store and that little bucket was found in the Dollar Spot at Target, along with the wrapping paper I used for the table runner. 

To make the polka dot sreamers I (by I, I mean I begged my husband to do it since I was busy) used a one inch circle punch and about 5 sheets of black card stock to punch the circles and stapled them onto black curling ribbon. It was a totally free craft for us but even if you had to buy the stuff the cost would be minimal. 

To make the Mickey, we traced a large circle and two smaller circles onto foam core, we used a large toy bucket that normally holds building blocks and one of the buckets from Caleb's sand toys. We used a knife to cut it out, sand paper to smooth the edges and touched them up with black paint. Once we were ready to assemble, we laid out the circles and traced the curve of the of the big circle along the smaller ones so that they would fit onto the curve like ears. Then we attached them by inserting toothpicks and running a line of glue and pressing them together. Once he was dry we punched a couple of hole in his ears and hung him by tying with black curling ribbon. This project literally cost $2.00 and it was so easy. 

And the very last thing is the drink table, it was no biggie and nothing special. We had a bronze bucket of ice on one side and a wash tub of bottled water on the other. The small bucket for the straws came from the Dollar Spot at Target and the large glass containers came from Target as well, my Mom and I use them to store our flour and sugar. I already had the gingham fabric from the table cloth and we bought cheap cups and straws from a dollar store. 

Well, that's the basics of the table decor. Hopefully you can draw some inspiration for a festive party on a budget by just keeping your eyes peeled for good buys and looking at things you already own in a different way.

*** UPDATE: For more info on the party look here, here and here. ***

Mustache Bash {Liam turned 1}

Its been almost three weeks since we celebrated Liam's first birthday. We had a "small" dinner with Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, which is small for most families, it was 16 for us and that isn't everyone. To make things easier we did a pasta bar. We put out three types of pasta, three types of sauces, two toppings, salad fixings and homemade bread with a dipping oil for dinner and we had two desserts, cupcakes and chocolate pavlova. I made a couple of cute menus to go along with and called it a day. Easy right?

My menus looked like:

I grabbed a couple of snap shots of the food with my parent's camera since mine was dead and we were saving it for shot of the birthday boy and his "smash" cupcake. I'll try to update the post when I get those from them. But for now all I have is dessert shots. We didn't really decorate beyond that, we just used white serving dishes and mason jars. In fact any decor we used was just left out from our Family Cookout two weeks prior. Good timing huh? 

Vanilla Confetti Cupcakes with Swiss Buttercream and Chocolate mustaches. I bought my mold at Bake It Pretty. 

Chocolate Pavlova with whipped cream and strawberries. 

I know my husband took some pictures and/or a video with the camera with barely a charge but they have disappeared into oblivion. I've searched the entire computer and they are gone and I wiped the memory stick after I uploaded them. I don't know what I was thinking?!!? The one time I try to be efficient it backfires. Oh well, we have out pics from our phones

and the shots I put on Instagram and the pictures my sister put on there as well. 

Family Cookout

Well... Ok the title is a bit misleading. We did cookout on the grill that morning but about an hour before there was a huge downpour so we set up inside but luckily it stopped and we could eat out side and the kids could play in the pool. But it was still a bummer because we had a lovely table planned out and anddddd all of decorations clashed with my Mom's hideous wallpaper. (no that is not an insult to her it came with the house she just hasn't gotten it covered up yet) Thenn I went to print out my neon menus and they printed some wacky colors no where near what I designed but they still worked out. It's all good we still had amazing food and so much fun... Until my Granny had to go to the emergency room at the end but that's another story and no worries she is fine. She just gave us a bit of a scare.

You can see more shots on my Instagram feed, 

How about roasted veggie kabobs? Yum!

And I didn't take a good shot but COCONUT RICE y'all!!! 

So goood!

We had several homemade salsas for the chicken, pork tenderloin and sausages.

Pineapple Mango

Creamy Tomatillo

Spicy Red (Restaurant Style Salsa)

and 

Lemon

The "drink bar" had Sweet Tea

with Blackberry Syrup,

Peach Mint Syrup

and

Lemon and Lavendar Syrup

 and

Watermelon Coconut Cooler

For dessert we made S'mores.

We set up a S'mores Bar that had so many options and was a hit with the kids and adults. 

Cookie options were:

Graham Crackers

Chocolate Chip (crispy and soft)

Pecan Sandies

and Butter Cake

Marshmallow options were:

Extra Large Plain

Strawberry

Keylime

Chocolate and Other Goodies options were:

Milk Chocolate

Dark Chocolate

White Chocolate

Mini Candy Bars

Lemon Curd

Toasted Coconut

Strawberries

(We were supposed to have a caramel sauce too but I forgot to get it out, oooppsss. Just pretend its there on the otherside of the lemon curd, okay? Thanks.)

We made a list of suggestions but some of the best ones were one of a kind creations!

My little monkey had Chocolate Chip cookie with milk chocolate, a strawberry marshmallow and fresh strawberries.

This one is chocolate chip cookies (soft batch) a plain marshmallow, a mini 3 Musketeers and toasted coconut.

The one on the right was the same as Caleb's first one but minus the strawberries.

On the left was butter cake, a huge marshmallow, Lemon curd and toasted coconut. No chocolate at all.

It was my favorite!

 My cousin, Keith, created this, it was an open face s'more with butter cake on the bottom, a lime marshmallow, lemon curd and toasted coconut. He may have also added a piece of pork tenderloin to it. Not for everybody but that sounds pretty good to me.

My Momma about to try to stuff all of that in her mouth. Her's was butter cake, plain marshmallow, lemon curd, coconut and strawberries.

I'm pretty sure the cake, lemon curd, coconut, strawberries and lime marshmallows were the surprise favorites among the options. I really think we may have to recreate this idea, sooner than later!

Watermelon Coconut Cooler

Summer feels like its slipping through my fingers. I'm not sure why that's such a big deal to me. My kids aren't school age and we don't usually take a vacation in the summer, so it doesn't affect my day to day routine. Maybe its the thought that I won't be eating watermelon, berries, pineapple, mangoes, kiwis and coconut nearly as often in a couple of months. I love fresh produce. Send me to a farmer's market and I'm like a kid in a candy store. I'm just not ready for pumpkins and squash just yet. We are eating fresh and raw like nobodies business around here, well except for the Taco Bell we ate last night but try not to hold that against me. I'm not even sure Taco Bell in real food but every once in a while I can't help but indulge. Judge me, I deserve it...

Anyway... Back to real food. My Mom had a cookout last weekend and the food was amazing a usual. Not to brag or anything but my family can cook! This summery deliciousness was one of the drinks we served. The other was sweet tea with flavored syrups but more on that at a later date. This is a simple naturally sweet and refreshing drink that you can serve instead of punch and not worry about any extra funky business that you can't pronounce being in it. I love this stuff!!! It tastes like summer. Better yet while I was sipping on it I thought I heard waves. Maybe I just really need to go to the beach! Hint, hint husband!

Watermelon Coconut Cooler:
Juice of 1/2 a watermelon
36 oz coconut water (we used the kind with pulp)
1 lime, juiced

To juice the watermelon, cut you melon in chunks and either run through a  juicer or pop in a blender and blend until liquid and strain through a fine mesh strainer. Combine watermelon juice, coconut water, and lime juice. Refrigerate and serve cold!


*To make sparkling add a 2 liter of Sprite of Club Soda.
**Cut the remaining watermelon into chinks and freeze and stir in to keep it cold without watering it down.

Currently.

This Saturday my Mom is having another epic family cookout. I may have made a tropical menu compilation.  I'm headed to the store tonight to get the ingredients for the flavored syrups and salsas and maybe a few things for that s'mores bar! Oh yeah! To be continued...

Jesse and The Ripper's on Jimmy Fallon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My inner 10 year old is doing cartwheels in my mind! You should know that my cousin and I both used Forever in our weddings. She used their version, cause she's hardcore Full House FOREVER! I used an acoustic mash-up original arrangement of their's and Beach Boys' version. Luckily, even at 11 my little cousin was a musical genius and worked it out like a pro. 

I am obsessed with Olio Board. I have re designed half my house already. When I run out of rooms I may start redesigning other people's homes! Family and friends you have been warned!

A couple of years ago the hubby and I decided to cancel our cable to save  money since I was cutting back hours at work. Luckily we have every newish gaming system so we can stream Netflix and Hulu through them. Its actually been a great way of monitoring how much tv we watch since we have to seek out what shows we see instead of mindlessly flipping channels. But the down side, other than not having all of our favorite shows available on the tv,  is that I have the tendency to watch that show and only that show until I have watched everything possible. I did that recently with Fringe, Drop Dead Diva and CSI NY. But, my newest obsession is Sherlock! I watched all three episodes from season two while Lee was at work in one day! That was nine hours in his 10.5 hour work day. I feel ashamed of my weakness, but I neeeeeeeeeeed season three to be available! I am SHERLOCKED! If you don't get the reference you should watch it. Seriously!

Rememeber the sneak of the Mickey Mouse party signs I was working on. I have now gone one step farther into crazy and bought me, the hubby and both boys matching Mickey shirts. I have crossed the line into THAT Mom.

My Caleb has been OBSESSED with the song Thrift Shop by Macklemore since it came out. (Don't worry he's only heard the edited versions) He has been running around singing "I got tenty in my pockets, come on, come, yeah, yeah" for months! It is adorable! He has recently moved on to Mirrors  by Justin Timberlake, which I'm totally ok with. That is my jam! Everyday he will randomly steal my phone and I will hear the song blaring from another room and when I walk in he will be doing a "white boy" dance to it. He cracks me up when choosing his music prefrences. He's never really been one for "children's songs" he has always liked regular music. I think that is why he loved Imagination Movers. When he was 18 months to 2 he always asking for the "magi eeee me" song (Magic by B.o.B. featuring Rivers Cuomo.) Liam's music choices seem to be more of a normal baby. He likes "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Skidamarick." He also really likes the Spider-Man song too. Maybe he isn't really that typical.

I've been on a crazy salad kick lately. I think it may have to do with that hunk I am married to learning to love lettuce. Be prepared for my next few posts to include several salads. I'll even try to keep them healthy too, but I don't make promises. 

I am on a crazy organizing, sorting and tossing out of crap kick too. It is to the point I'm barely interested in anything else. My brain is sort, sort, toss, Mickey Mouse, Cookout, sort, sort, toss, oh maybe I should eat, sort, etc... You get the point. Be prepared for more on that too.

And last but not least, actually the best part, my Mother in law called me today to tell me we are down to 75 days. 75 days until my Brother in law is back in the states for good!!! No more of this deployment crap!!! We are all very excited but I can tell you no one more than my Sister in law. I haven't told Caleb yet but I'm sure there will be much rejoicing.

So, what is new with you? 

Mickey Party Planning

Since my boys' birthdays are so close together (1 month and 11 days) we are combining our party this year. Choosing a theme that satisfied my almost 4 year old and a 1 year old was hard. Originally it was Dr. Suess but even though Caleb loves the books he did not approve of the theme. We also kicked around Scooby Doo but I really wanted something fairly classic for Liam's first birthday but was still fun for Caleb as well. Caleb really wanted a "Plants Vs Zombies" party and I would have done it had it been just his party. Instead we are having a mini party for him on his birthday. We already get together with family for dinner on his birthday and this way both boys can have a day all about just them but we can celebrate both boys together will all of our friends and family. As for the theme, I finally nailed it! We are doing Mickey Mouse.

The Menu:

The Dessert Menu:

The Drink Menu:

This is for the treat bags.

For the photobooth:

Clubhouse poster for the bounce house: 

That is it so far. I have a longggggg list of projects to get started on. You know me I love a good DIY party. This year it will be a little more detailed because last year Liam was a newborn last year I made it pretty simple for myself. This year I just couldn't help myself I was inspired. 

*** UPDATE: for more info on the party look here, here and here. ***