DIY Party Mom

Shindig Saturday Weekly Linky Party #40

I don't know if I'm just slowing down after all the CRAZINESS that has been life the past 4 months, or what, but this has been one LONG week.

It really shouldn't have been...it started with a holiday and a day to "sleep" in. (Okay, hubby gets up for work at 4:30 every morning and the kids get up for a Seminary class at 5:00, so anything past then is REALLY sleeping in for me.) But still, it feels like Friday should have been several days ago.

Maybe it's that I'm actually doing pretty good for my New Years resolutions.
That's actually surprising.
By now, I'm usually way past it.
But I'm still going...and it's been a little difficult trying to squeeze my new resolutions into my already packed day.

So this week's free printable is one that has helped me stay on track this week.

So what did you do this week?

Show us your newest party or fun creations by sharing your favorite party themed craft, table scape, photo, favor, or whatever! I'm pretty flexible since just about everything can be used at a party...that's the great thing about us moms! We can see the potential in ANYTHING!

Linky Party Guidelines:

* Link up to your OWN project post, not just your blog, but your actual post. (We want to see it!)

*Grab a Shindig Saturday button for your post or blog page. (Hey, it benefits us all!)

*Stay and enjoy the party by visiting and commenting on other's projects. (It's fun to mix and mingle!)

Valentine Heart Garland Banner

While cleaning house today, I got the urge to put up my Valentine decorations...only to find I really don't have any.

I ask myself how that is possible? I have decorations for every holiday, even dumb ones like National Popcorn day (did you know that was yesterday?)

But it seems my heart decorations are a little lacking.

This is a BAD thing.

After all, I'm having a bunch of ladies coming soon for my Pinterest Party and I need to decorate the place up a bunch.

So of course, I went visiting my Valentine Pinterest board looking for ideas. And I found a beautiful heart banner from Better Homes and Gardens website.

It was SUPER easy and REALLY quick to make.

All I did was cut out 6 inch hearts from various scrapbook paper. Then I punched holes in the sides of the hearts and strung ribbon through it.

Quick, easy, and a beautiful start to my Valentine decorating!

10 Valentine Party Food Ideas

Find ten great ideas for Valentine party food and Valentine ideas with cute sayings. These treats will have your loved ones "sweet" on you while being sure they know they are "o-fish-ally" your Valentine.

While I am waiting for my craft supplies to arrive in the mail (a problem I'm now finding in living in a small town), I have been thinking about food ideas for my Valentine Pinterest Party.

I plan to ask each guest to bring their favorite "pinned" chocolate dessert, but I wanted to have some non-chocolate food there for snacks so we don't get completely overwhelemed (is that possible?) with chocolate that night.

Here are 10 Valentine snacks that I'm considering

...and yes, I am going to include the cute sayings as part of the food table cards.

1. Donut Holes

"Donut You Know I Love You A Hole Bunch?"

via Ashley Wendtland on Pinterest

2. Bananas

"I'm Bananas over you Valentine."

3. Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews

"I'd Chews you any day Valentine!"

4. Goldfish Crackers

via Tammy Mitchell Photography

"Will you O'fish'ally be my Valentine?"

5. Popcorn

"Valentine, you make me Pop with Joy"

6. Oreos

"Its as plain as black and white that I want to be your Valentine"

7. Nut Mix

via Better Homes and Gardens

"I'm Nuts About You"

8. Gummy Bears

"I like you Beary much Valentine"

9. Thumbprint Cookies

"Thumb-body loves you"

10. Heartbreaker Candies

via Kims Kandy Kreations

"Don't be a Heartbreaker--Be My Valentine."

Pinterest Party Valentine Edition

So, like most of the crafting and blogging world,

I LOVE PINTEREST.

It's probably one of the best sites EVER invented. I love how you can "Pin" ideas from around the web onto your virtual bulletin boards so you can make crafts, decorations, thoughts, and fun later. It's so much easier, and better, than the folder of bookmarks I have saved through the last 10 years of surfing the web. (I can NEVER find what I'm looking for in that mess.)

So when I first started hearing ideas of having Pinterest Parties, I was intrigued. What a fun idea.

The basic idea behind a Pinterest Party is to gather a group of friends together and share crafts and food that you have "pinned" to your boards. It seems there are LOTS of different ways to execute it, from just doing one craft as a group or doing several different crafts or everyone doing a separate craft and socializing while you work.

Since I'm new to town, I thought it would be fun to have a Pinterest Party to get to know some of the ladies in my church and neighborhood a little better. And being that it's almost Valentine's, what better way than to get together, craft, and eat some fun Valentine projects?

So I'm planning to invite a few women over and have them bring their favorite chocolate dessert. (Isn't Valentine's all about the chocolate after all?) Then we will craft 3 fun, easy projects for Valentines day.

I'm super excited about the idea.

I hope you'll come visit often and join in as I plan, decorate, prepare, and taste test my way to the party.

Shindig Saturday Weekly Linky Party #39

This week was my birthday and I'm getting VERY close to hitting 40 years old.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about my life and where I am. It's been a HARD last few years. Now that we've moved, gotten several "monkeys" off our back, and are starting over, I've been thinking about what my life is like.

I never imagined as a teen that my life would be where it is now. If you had told me then I would be married to my high school friend, I'd have thought you were nuts. If you had told me I'd be playing with candy all day, (I'd have been glad to hear) but never beleived it. And while I've always wanted to be a mom, I never would have beleived the JOY and HAPPINESS those 4 kids bring to me.

So while I look to the next 40+ years of my life, I wanted to share this printable from Darling Doodles. It perfectly fits with how I feel this week. You can go HERE to download your own copy.

I'm loving MY Happily Ever After.

And I love being able to share it with you.

I hope you'll keep coming back and sharing the fun with me. I LOVE to see what you are up to and have been enjoying all the blog surfing I've been able to do on your blogs this week!

Show us your newest party or fun creations by sharing your favorite party themed craft, table scape, photo, favor, or whatever! I'm pretty flexible since just about everything can be used at a party...that's the great thing about us moms! We can see the potential in ANYTHING!

Linky Party Guidelines:

* Link up to your OWN project post, not just your blog, but your actual post. (We want to see it!)

*Grab a Shindig Saturday button for your post or blog page. (Hey, it benefits us all!)

*Stay and enjoy the party by visiting and commenting on other's projects. (It's fun to mix and mingle!)

Angry Bird Party Dessert Table

The games are set, the food is almost ready, and the decorations are up. I'm getting super excited for our Angry Birds birthday party tonight, but I wanted to share a peek of the dessert table with you first.

I started using a blue backdrop which is actually a fitted sheet from Walmart. (You can't beat the price of $5.00 for a table cloth!) I used a green sheet as the table cloth. This allowed me to "copy" the Angry Bird background in the game for my dessert table.

The center of my table has a wooden Pig House filled with our Pig Pistachio Pudding Desserts. My son had to add his Red Angry bird in their so the pigs would be "scared and know who was boss."

In front of them are some Gatorade drink bottles wrapped with a polka dot wrapper. The wrappers say "Happy Birthday" in our Angry Bird font. (We shared where to get that HERE.)

To the left, I have the Angry Bird whirlypop lollipops.

In front of the lollipops are the Angry Bird cupcakes that the boys and I made. (I can't believe they have lasted until today...they ask me EVERYDAY when they can have them!)

Next to the cupcakes are a play on our Angry Bird poop printable that has just been SO popular. (Thank you everyone who has shared this!) I filled a bowl with M&Ms and labeled them "Bird Poop" using our Angry Bird Table Cards free printable.

To the right of our Pig House are these new Candy Cones in the Angry Bird shapes. I filled these with Angry Bird fruit snacks that I found at Walmart.

I made some of our Polka Dot chocolate covered oreos for the party. (I just realized that the kids have already started sneaking these. Good thing I have several more in the kitchen.)

To mirror our Bird Poop, I have Bird Kisses. These are Hershey kisses with small stickers on the bottoms.

It's a small dessert table, but I think we'll be busy with some of the fun games and activities we have planned. The boys can't wait to play with the Can Game we designed. It's become THE game this week. My boys have actually been putting the cans inside the pig house and throwing their Red plush bird at the house while trying to knock the pigs out of it.

The party should be lots of fun and I can't wait to eat those Pigs!

Check out more of our Angry Bird Party Ideas

Angry Bird Pig House Display

I've spent much of the day (after hubby went to work...am I the only one who gets nothing done when their husband is home?) working on the final projects for my Angry Bird party tomorrow.

It's probably going to be a long night as I finish some of the food and pull everything together, but I did get this Pig House display done at least.

Apparently wood working is NOT one of my talents, so be kind and use your imagination!

It's going to be the home of my Angry Bird pig desserts if all goes well.

Check out more of our Angry Bird Party Ideas

Angry Bird Cupcakes

Since today is my birthday, I thought I would celebrate with a little cake...a cupcake to be exact.

I've seen alot of cute Angry Bird cupcake designs around the web and while mine may not be as cute as some of those, I'm sure they taste MUCH better.

If you've been around my blog a little, you may have heard that I don't like fondant...at all. And I don't know many kids who do either. So when I'm trying to come up with fun, theme cupcakes, I try to find a way to make them using real frosting and yummy treats.

So when I saw Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo's cupcake design, I knew I'd found a winner.

My boys and I made the red Angry bird

the yellow Angry bird

the blue Angry bird

and even a few Mutant birds (but I'm sure they are pretty mad too!)

But they were easy and fun to make.

We started by baking a batch of cupcakes. As much as I would LOVE to try some Cherry Limeade cupcakes, I didn't think the kids would be too thrilled with those, so they are a simple, yummy yellow cake.

Then we died our frosting red, yellow, and blue. I used little bowls so it would help keep the boys a little more in check.

(Not sure it worked.)

Then we frosted each of the cupcakes and used candy to make the faces. (I forgot to add the licorice to the picture, so imagine I didn't eat it all and it's there.)