Bethinking

Happy Birthday...

... to our gorgeous Annabelle! She turned 1 yesterday, so it's been full on party preparation mode here. I thought I'd show you a couple of the things that I made for her party yesterday - she had 5 of her sweet friends over, along with some bigger siblings!

I used the "Crazy For Cupcakes" stamp set to make Bella's birthday party invitations, so I decided that I'd better make her some real cupcakes for the party. A few weeks ago at our Team weekend away, Margaret kindly provided us with a template to make cupcake wrappers, so I used that with some "Bella Rose" designer series paper to decorate the cakes. So easy, but so effective.

I also made some party hats and party bags for the kids in the same paper. I didn't really want to give lolly bags to the little ones, so put some other things in their boxes instead, like these little hair clips that I decorated, and that Annabelle is modeling in her photo!

Party Invitations

I love planning Birthday parties for my children. Earlier this year, Felicity and Emily both had "Princess (and Prince!)" parties, and it was heaps of fun coming up with ideas for their invitations, and lolly bags and a matching thank you card. I was especially pleased with how the invitation turned out. I wanted it to look like a little castle with a princess inside, so here's what I designed.

For the front, I used the Weathered background stamp with Regal Rose ink and cardstock to create a "stone" look. I made the turret piece using my corner rounder punch. Then the invitation  opened up to show the Princess, complete with sparkly crown on her head.

Then one more opening to reveal all the party details. The inside was wheeled with the "Perfectly Pretty" wheel, which matches the "Pretty Princess" stamp set.

For their party bags, I made Gable Boxes. They had a treasure hunt and put their treasures straight into their boxes, which I'd decorated with some glittered chipboard letters so that we could tell whose treasures were whose. It was so much fun to plan and execute! Now I have to start thinking about what to do for Annabelle's 1st birthday, which is unbelievably coming up soon!

Giving Thanks

I'm not sure if you've noticed that my Blog's been a little quiet recently (or whether I'm the only one who actually checks in here!), but we've been going through some major family stuff, so there hasn't been much creating time for me.

Some of you would know that a couple of weeks ago my Dad passed away, after being ill for a long time. (That's him in the photo). His funeral was late last week, then we had a lovely Thanksgiving Service at our church to celebrate his life and faith. My brother did a great job of doing the Eulogy, and it was lovely for me to be reminded about the stuff Dad did and the person that he was before he became so unwell.

Which brings me to my card for today... because really this is a Blog about papercrafts, after all. Mum asked me if I could make thank you cards for her to send to all the people who have helped her out and expressed their sympathy to her. She looked through all my cards to choose a design that she liked, and what do you know, she pulled out something designed by someone else! So, thank you to Nikki Stalker (check out her blog if you've got time), whose Convention swap was the inspiration for this card. I've used almost her exact layout, with different colours and a different sentiment to make this card. Now I've just got to duplicate it lots of times!

Supplies Used

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Fresh Cuts

Inks: Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip

Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Paper Piercer & template.

Music for Tutus

Yesterday we went to see the Babies Proms at the Sydney Opera House. The show was called "Music for Tutus" and it was fabulous! Here are Milly and Felicity afterwards on stage, each one wishing that she had been the ballerina in the show. Milly took dressing up in a tutu very seriously!