My Sophia's Sweet Shoppe Birthday Party

So excited to share about my Sophia's 2nd birthday party!
it was a great celebration with family and friends!!
every sweet shoppe party theme needs it's own village! Welcome to Sweetopia!
I used free boxes from home depot (yay for broken trash compactors!) some cheapppp fabric from ikea, a leftover can of red paint and white trim paint and other items from around the house to create a whimsical play place for the kids! (and a few of the adults tried to squeeze in. ;) 
I especially loved the circle felt garland we made! (tutorial link below)


 all the busy work was totally worth it when i saw the smile and gasp on sophia's face and her skipping around saying "my houseeee my houseee! i wuv it!"

i saved up all of our food boxes/milk cartons to stock the grocery store! and used sophia's shopping cart from target.
 
my mom was my amazing seamstress who sewed up these adorable aprons with fabric from ikea! each apron ended up costing 50 cents. not bad for a custom party favor!

while i waited to go into labor with sienna i kept myself busy with my mom at night making up these fun felt food creations for sophia! they were our present to her.. i was all about giving her something soft for when they go flying at the new baby's head. :)



most sweet shoppe dessert buffets are stocked with candy..candy galore! but i wanted my dessert buffet to be approachable and kid friendly! especially for a 2 year old party. why tempt the kiddies with candy they can't eat! i think that if you were having a mainly adult or older child party you could do the hard and chewy candies and it would be more appropriate. i was so happy with how it turned out! 


i used a graphic i made up to be the backdrop. pretty good bang for your buck. the tulips i pulled from around the house. (artificial flowers?! ::gasp::) i'm all about using what i have though! and fresh flowers can get pricey. for a 2 yr old....these worked great.
 
some store bought some home made... mixed them in together! created fun cotton candy holders from marthastewart.com and added my own little graphic to personalize it for my sophia's sweet shoppe. also created wrappers to put around wilton's (bought at Joann's) white snack cups. 
 
i really wanted to make the drinks cute...without having to buy individual bottles (which i loveeee..but they add up.) so i made a cover to put over the soda bottles! i thought they were so cute. :)
menu wise it was home food..nothing to fancy. the kielbasa(with brown sugar) was a must on the list..gotta make my polish hubby happy. :) but i especially loved the cantaloupe(orange) and watermelon(pink)..my mom lovingly balled them up and they looked delicious! and pretty cute too. hehe. 

.................................................................

the boys in my life were great at moving over the "village" to our party site (thanks guys!!)... 

and my mom was such a help baking up a storm with me in the kitchen!! (thanks mom!! i love you.) that's my little 3 week old sienna below.

and our fabulous friends chuck and debbie were cooking yummy food for us! 

(couldn't have done it without you guys! thank you!)

i would like to blame the craziness for the following photo but in reality... ever since i was little i was known for burning things in the oven.... still do.

I'll be posting tutorials on all of the fun party details...from how i built the village to the felt food! all on a budget. so be sure to stop by to learn some fun diy projects to throw a party without breaking the bank! i'll also be adding some of the party details to my etsy shop so check back for that! 


SWEET SHOPPE TUTORIALS:
-Circle Felt Garland
-Felt Food Tutorials
-Hanging Tissue Pom Poms
-Centerpiece/Wall Tissue Paper Flowers

i'm linking up here

Featured Client- cute cupcake toppers/water bottle labels

I was so happy to see in my inbox this morning an e-mail from a girl who had ordered from my etsy shop. she was lovely to work with..she said that the water bottle labels were the hit! made my morning..thanks so much for the kind words and for passing the photos along!

visit pretty paperie on etsy!

i'm an aunt again...introducing baby nico!

my sister had her baby! nicolas (nico)

4 1/2 weeks early but he is doing great and so is mama!

my sister was 2 months ahead of me with her 2nd baby boy...but with me being late and her being early.. our babies ended up being 3 weeks a part!! 

she has two boys and i have two girls. it's going to be so fun when we all get together!

my parents left a day early so they could head back to atlanta to see their newest grand baby! thank goodness for skype because we were able to see little baby nico and will and val!

they were so cute...all excited and giddy. hehe. i'm so happy for them. :)

ignore the little sophia handprints all over the screen. 

she is convinced it's a touch screen....

happy birthday baby nico! we can't wait to meet you!!! xoxo.

my sister is the founder of blanqi (along with her friend sabina..another awesome mama) which i've posted about before. check it out if you haven't already!

ps. party post is coming soon! i have a zillion photos i'm going through trying to find the best ones! sophia was sitting next to me while i was going through them and she saw a photo of my dad (papa) sneaking some treats from the dessert table..and she goes " papa!! i wuv him!".......adorable.

awesome video- flash mob dance for oprah

hope you are having a fabulous labor day!

we had a great weekend full of fun with sophia's birthday party and sienna's baptism!! our company left today and slowing down i'm realizing how exhausted i am. :) luckily sophia is just as exhausted and went to bed early tonight. sienna is sleeping in my lap right now..and the hubby went to "lie down for a minute"...about 30 minutes ago. haha. 

i'll be posting all about the party this upcoming week.....and i don't think i have any brain power to put together a post.. so for now i thought i would share this video from oprah's kickoff party for her 24th season. you might have seen this already..but i love it. a flash mob dance took over and even oprah herself didn't know this was planned. makes me wanna dance! how fun would it be to be a part of that?! 



Learn the Dance! here's your cardio for the day! ;)

My Top Mama Picks: crafty links! tutorials and more

My Top Mama Picks:

Craft Links- Tutorials

the "nesting" might be over with this pregnancy....but i still have been in a crafty mood lately! 

i've been trying to incorporate as many crafty projects as i can into sophia's party planning... 

here are some great links to some fabulous tutorials you should check out! 

 

click here to visit make it do

click here to visit make and takes

 

click here to visit the long thread

 

click here to visit the purl bee

do you have any favorite craft sites you visit?? please share!

and have fun crafting. :)

start september with a smile! amazing proposal video...

haven't done a 'renew your heart' post in a while... 
but when i came across this video i HAD to share it with you! i found it via this fabulous blog
maybe it's just my hormones going crazy right now but i loveddd this video. 
made me almost tear up with how cute it is. (almost. hehe.) 
how awesome is this guy's proposal?? so sweet.

i can hug my husband again without a baby belly in the way!

ok.. so.. give birth to baby #2...check that off the to-do-list! 
enjoying every minute of  being a family of 4!
now moving on to the craziness of september!


we have company/the party for the girls this upcoming weekend..the following weekend a family reunion....one weekend to pack up our house..and the weekend after that we're moving! 
good thing i love a little chaos. :)

some randomness...

1. i can hug my husband again without a baby belly in the way! (a tum..yes..but not a little human.) we are liking that.

2. the past 3 days both girls have gone down for naps at the same time in the morning... enjoying the fluke! :) figuring this might not happen again for a long time. haha.

3. feeling soo blessed right now....sienna is an angel baby. she hardly fusses at all.. her temperament is sooo sweet. she will be in her glider...wake up...and then just fall back to sleep. it's crazy! with sophia i had to do the whole walk and rock her back thing. and because of that i now constantly do the baby sway. the hubby makes fun of me for it.

4. sooooo excited for our family and friends coming into town for the party/baptism this weekend! can't wait!

5. couponing hurts my brain. yes..the busybudgetingmama does not enjoy couponing... :::gaspppp::: i like it..it's kinda like a game.. but at the same time i wish i had a personal assistant to do this for me. haha.