Christening Thank You Notes

I finally got around to ordering them last week and they arrived the other day. I just finished writing them out so all I have to do is go to the post office, get some stamps and mail them!!  YAY!! 

The card is 4 sided.  My friend Andrea designed the cards using printables that I bought from Posh Pixels Design Studio and I printed them via Mpix. I used the pearl cardstock and they came out awesome!  I love Mpix.  If you haven't tried them, please do.  The quality is great and the customer service is incredible.

Here's the design: 

Front

 

Inside Top:

 

Inside Bottom:

 

Back:

Let me know what you think!

Diva #2

Here is she - Diva #2.  But she's not a diva at all. She is the sweetest baby ever.  She is such a good baby that I fear the future in case she turns into a nightmare of a toddler.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

This sweet little bundle of joy is 6 months old today.

Here are a few more pics from our shoot with AvaJack Photography.

My Little Munchkin is 3 Years Old!

I can't believe it - my older daughter turns 3 today!  The past 3 years have really flown by.  It's hard to believe that she's not a baby any more and is so grown up. Where did the time go.

Here's a shot from her birthday shoot from a fantastic local photographer, Lori from AvaJack Photography.  This is our 3rd shoot with Lori and she really connects with my kids. 

Here's my Diva #1.  Pics of Diva #2 coming tomorrow :)

Pink Zebra Christening!

I have always been into planning parties but in the last 6-9 months I have really been getting into it and I started following party blogs and have found inspiration everywhere. My DD’s Christening was on 10/3. We had the party catered at our home. We had about 40 adults and around 10 kids. The highlight of the party was the dessert bar that I created. I started planning it while I was on maternity leave. It was so much fun and so easy!

Here are the details:

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY TAKEN BY MICHELLE MCFADDEN PHOTOGRAPHY http://michellemcfaddenphotography.com/ 

Michelle did an amazing job!  I have used her before and she is incredibly talented.  She is a busy mom of 3 small children! I don't know how she does it!

Dress – it was DD#1’s gown. We got it at Little Dickens in Lake Grove, NY 3 years ago.








My favorite pic of the day!



Party Décor
Tissue Poms – I am so glad I got these. I think they looked really cute and were easy to pouf out and set up. There are a ton of etsy vendors who sell them, but I got them from A Dash of Color
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ADashOfColor






Signs – I ordered printables on Etsy and then I used Photoshop elements to put all the words on them. Again, I think they added a lot to the overall look and feel. Seller is Posh Pixels Designs. Kristy has some really great stuff! http://www.etsy.com/shop/PoshPixels I got a bunch of stuff from her. She also has a great website: http://www.poshpixelsstudio.com/



Napkin ring holders




Banner – I made this myself with a glue gun and some paper. I used a couple of designs I got from Posh Pixels in the background.




Backdrop – Since my dining room décor totally clashed with the party theme, I bought 4 white sheers at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Cake Plates & Dishes – All of the white dishes with ribbon were bought at Home Goods. They originally came with black ribbon and I changed it to pink. Nothing was more than $12.99. I already had the 2 apothecary containers and the rest of the clear glass containers I bought at Michael’s. Everything was in the $2.99 - $3.99 range.

Centerpieces - I made them.




Custom Zebra Runners - I had about 8 of them made by My Little Obsession on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyLittleObsession


Desserts– this was a really time consuming process. First deciding what I wanted and then to find it at a reasonable price. A lot of the quantities available at the bulk candy sites were too big for me. Oh Nuts! Sells a lot of candy at lower quantities at decent prices. I got the Rock Candy and Lollipops from them.  The products were packaged extremely well. They shipped fast and nothing was broken .













Bubblegum – I bought a pack of white and a pack of pink at Party City.




M&M’s – I had White, Light pink and Hot Pink. I bought most of them at Party City and some at Dylan’s Candy Bar.

Kisses - you can't really see them, but there are really cute stickers on the bottom of the kisses that I got from Posh Pixels.



Pink & White Fudge – I bought this at Dylan’s Candy bar in a whim the Friday before the party. I saw the pink and white and HAD to have it.  I quartered each piece. 




Mini Cupcakes – I used Cupcakes Catering. I have used them a bunch of times and they didn’t disappoint. In fact – they were the first dessert on the table to go followed by the chocolate covered oreos. www.cupcakescatering.com



My Cupcake Monster - she scarfed down about 6 of them as soon as we got home from church!

Custom Oreos - I got them from Sweeties by Kim http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetiesbykim 
Kim's oreos and other treats are seriously a work of art.  Check out her Etsy Shop and see her incredible work.



French Macarons – I have been obsessed with them ever since I saw my first dessert bar. The pink ones were Rose Litchi and the white ones were vanilla. They were amazingly delicious! I got them from Petites Bouchees http://www.petitesbouchees.com/index.php

Veronica was really nice to work with.  They came all the way from Virgina.  They transported really well and I got to sample a few that were cracked ;) 





Cake Pops - I made them. I got the candy coating and sprinkles at Michael's.They are really easy to make.  Check out Bakerella's blog for directions. 








Cake - I used  a local woman who has a cake business.  Her name is Dawn Olson.   It was really pretty, delicious and affordable!. I did a different flavor on each tier:

• Vanilla with fresh strawberries
• Chocolate with peanut butter ganache
• Red Velvet with Cream Cheese filling

And no review would be complete without some pics of the kiddies!!








Party dress from the Gap




Serving Grandpa fake cookies. E's dress is from Janie & Jack circa 2005 - I got it on Ebay.

Save The Date for Cupcakes!!

Many thanks to Tanya from Save the Date for Cupcakes for featuring Alexandra's party on her blog!  So exciting!! 

Tanya has a great blog with soooo much inspiration.  I visit it daily and so should you!!

Free Printables!!!! Operation Give Thanks

Check out the Celebrations at Home blog for links to great, FREE printables available via Operation Give Thanks!!

What Is Operation Give Thanks?

Operation Give Thanks is a nation-wide fundraising campaign to help Operation Shower continue our mission to throw amazing baby showers for military families to ease the burden of deployment.

If you download any of the free printables, please make a donation to Operation Thanks! 
 
Donate Here

3rd Birthday

I can't believe one of my pink ladies is turning 3 next week.  It blows my mind how fast time is flying.  I know it sounds so cliche, but its true. My other pink lady turns 6 months next week.  I am trying to appreciate the baby phase a little more this time around.  They definitely keep me busy!

I decided not to have E's party at home. Instead it's at a nearby farm.  And when I say farm. it's a bit of a stretch since we live on Long Island, New York, but it's pretty close ;)  Since we are having the party out, there is not much for me to plan, but I did go nuts on the invitations.  I LOVE them!!!  I have to take a picture of them in the box with the raffia, but here's what they look like.  My friend Andrea recreated the design for me and I printed them via Mpix.com.  BTW, if you've never used Mpix, they are awesome. Great quality and service to boot! 

I bought the bandannas in bulk from ihomewholesale  They were like $5 for 12 of them.  I bought the boxes from Uline and the raffia from AC Moore (less messy than hay). 

Here's the birthday girl's outfit. Isn't it cute?  I  plan on pairing it with black leggings and either black cowboy boots if she'll wear them - you know how 3 year olds can be) or black converse sneakers.

The dress is from Etsy. The seller is Girliebows. I also got these bows from AndJane, another Etsy seller who I get tons of bows from! 

I got an equally adorable dress for my 6 month old but I can't find the picture right now.

More to come!! 

Cake Pop Stands

Normally, I don't click on sponsored ads.  My profession in online marketing has definitely jaded me, but every once in awhile I get sucked in by ads - whether they be on Google or on Facebook.  Well, the other night I got suckered in to clicking an ad on Facebook.  What kind of ad you ask?  An ad for a Cake Pop Stand!!!!


Just the other day, I was thinking that I needed to get to Home Depot or Lowe's to buy a 2x4 and drill some holes in it to hold my cake pops!  That night I saw an ad and I clicked it.  It went to this little site selling cake pop stands - CakePopStand.com - go figure!!  While they are really not my style, I think they are awesome to use while you are making them. 

My favorite is this one - it holds 40 pops!!

Enjoy my new discovery!

My Latest Obession - Bakerella's Cake Pops!

I started following Bakerella's awesome blog last year but I didn't actually try making cake pops until a month ago.  They are my latest obsession!  I hope my family likes them because I am going to be making them for all future holidays!

Here's a few pics from the cake pops I made last week for my daughter's christening.  It was the third time I made them and I was really pleased with how they turned out.


The signs are from Posh Pixels Design Studio

They are so easy to make.  Try it!!

Red Themed Wedding - In honor of my 5th Annivesary

In honor of my 5th wedding anniversary that was on 10/1, I thought I'd share some pics from one of the best days of my life.

For as long as I can remember, red has been my favorite color.  Growing up, I was never really into pink.  Everything was primary colors.  As I grew older, my love for the color red stayed just as strong! 

I can't even imagine how crazy I would go with the details if I was getting married now, but I still think I did a pretty good job 5 years go!

One of my favorite pictures:

 Programs

Aisle Runner

Bo-K Jewels that I got for each bridesmaid.

Champagne for arriving guests

Another one of my favorite things - a polaroid guest book.  Polaroids where taken as people arrived at the reception site and then they wrote a message next to their pictures.  It's such a great keepsake.

Menus

Votive candle placecards.

Wine bottle favors

Centerpieces, Bo-k wrap and invitation