This is kind of where my head is right now. I love the soft color palettes, pinks and neutral colors; and besides…what winking kitten doesn’t make you smile?

A B C , Its easy as 1 2 3 , as simple as do re mi, A B C, 1 2 3
baby you and me girl…”

Feast your eyes on this classic school themed Baby Shower that Sarah Westbrook threw for her sister-in-law. Brittany Egbert helped her put this lovely together. It even includes a vegan menu (since her sister-in-law is vegan). Here is the invitation that she designed.

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Old fashioned flash cards and a giant letter.

A chalkboard and more vintage school cards.

Vegan brownies.

A yummy green salad.

And meatless minestrone.

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Sidebar: How adorable would this cute yardstick table be for a party like this? I found it over at CountryLiving.

Here is Country Living’s Wooden Yardstick Table Project Instructions: How to Transform a tired side table into a piece that really rules by covering the top in vintage yardsticks.

Try to get a variety of colors, but be sure they’re all the same thickness. (For a 19- by 17-inch table like this one, you’ll need about 16 yardsticks.)

STEP 1: To figure out how best to align the sticks, create a template of the tabletop by tracing it onto a sheet of paper. Arrange the rulers on the template, marking where you’ll need to cut so they fit the width and length of the table.

STEP 2: Once you know where each ruler segment will go, make the cuts with a hacksaw or small electric saw. Smooth out any rough edges with medium-grit sandpaper.

STEP 3: Starting at one corner, attach one of the ruler segments to the top of the table lengthwise by hammering a flat-head nail in at each end. Repeat in rows until the entire surface is covered. You can stagger the sticks as shown, but line them up carefully to avoid gaps.

STEP 4: Apply several layers of Zinsser clear shellac ($4.79; doitbest.com) over the yardsticks with a wide brush, according to the can’s directions. Allow ample time for drying between coats. Once you’re done, let the table dry for another 48 hours before putting anything on its surface.

Greeting cards can be embellished with pretty little designs—but the fact remains that most are still just … well, greeting cards. Introducing the Postcarden, a pop-out card that transforms into a mini garden.

Combining gift and greeting card, Postcarden is available in three designs: Allotment, City and Botanical.

You open and unfold the card, then sprinkle water into the base and scatter the enclosed seeds onto the damp paper.

The Postcarden will start to grow in a few days, and will keep for two to three weeks; once grown, the seeds can be eaten.

Designed and produced by UK-based A Studio for Design, the cards can be sent through the post. Each card costs GBP 7.50 ($11.32 USD) and has enough space to write a personal greeting.

Find them here: Postcarden.com

Alice in Wonderland…eat your heart out! Here is Part Two of the party pics from yesterday’s Vintage Tea Party piece. Sarah of Itsy Bitsy Photography put this adorable party together for her little sunshine.

One of the tables

Raspberry Lemonade

Vintage Birdcage

A guessing game

All vintage tags were hand made and labeled

Mini snacks

The tea cup stands were created by hand

Twelve different teacups were bought and paper tea bags were made with the girls names on them and during the party they used it for thier lemonade and then they got to take them home with them.

Mini bananas for the girls

Photo Credits: Itsy Bitsy Photography

Sarah of Itsy Bitsy Photography created this vintage tea party for her daughter.

Custom made hats.

The custom goodie bags for the girls since there was only 12 of them.

She made a clip with each girls initial for their goodie bags.

Each of the girls were asked to bring a doll or their favorite stuffed toy and then while they ate and played games they placed them in the little crib.

Each girl took home a custom name frame and a straw too.

Part II continued tomorrow…

Photo Credits: Itsy Bitsy Photography

Yesterday I shared some amazing photos of an American Girl Pioneer Party done by Brittany Egbert. I split this story up in two parts, because there are loads of pictures. Today, I am sharing her tips on how you can create your own.

The Tables

Floral arrangements were made for the tables using more “wild” type flowers. Mason jars were used as the vases.

Mismatched china plates and silverware were used to give the tables a more eclectic, prairie feel. Paper napkins were used because the pre-ordered vintage looking handkerchiefs didn’t arrive in time. A calligrapher created place cards in the same font as the invitation envelopes.

Small cups and “salad” size plates were used, partially because the party was for younger girls, but also for a more miniature feel since it was a doll party.

Here are the girls enjoying all their hard work.

Mini bread loaves Tutorial (plus butter, whipped cream & freezer jam recipes):

For this party bread & jam were made in miniature “doll” sizes, plus some butter & whipped cream. All of the recipes were worked on simultaneously, shaking butter in a jar while mixing dough up in a bag; stirring jam in a bowl while watching loaves raise in their tins.

Mini Bread Loaves

You will need:

1. one cup white flour; 2. half cup white flour; 3. two cups whole wheat flour; 4. two tablespoons of sugar, divided in half; 5. one tablespoon vegetable oil; 6. two teaspoons salt; 7. one package active dry yeast or equivalent; 8. one gallon freezer bag; 9. three or four disposable mini loaf pans

Brittany’s Directions:

1. In the one gallon freezer bag, add 1/2 cup white flour, the package of active dry yeast, 1 Tablespoon sugar, and 1/2 cup warm water. Zip up the bag, releasing any air, and mix up the ingredients from the outside of the bag until completely combined. Let the starter rest for 15 minutes.

2. Open the bag and add the other 1 Tablespoon of sugar, 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 cup white flour, and 3/4 cups warm water. Mix the dough from the outside of the bag for a few minutes until all of the ingredients are incorporated and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bag.

3. Remove the dough thoroughly from the bag onto your lightly floured counter top. Knead for 5 or 6 minutes, being careful not to add too much extra flour to the dough. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 equal pieces and cover with the plastic bag. Let the dough rise for 10 minutes.

4. Roll out the dough into a roughly 4 inch x 6 inch rectangle. Starting with the short end, roll the rectangle up tightly. Pinch the long edge to rest of the dough making a seam then fold over the ends and pinch. Put dough in mini pans, seam side down.

5. Cover the the loaves with the plastic bag and let rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.

6. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Sure-Jell Strawberry Freezer Jam

You will need:

1. two pints of strawberries; 2. four cups of sugar (use evaporated cane juice; it works just fine); 3. one package Sure-Jell fruit pectin; 4. a pan; 5. a measuring cup to scoop out the jam; 6. 8-10 mini 4-oz jam jars and lids (plus a large bowl and something to mash up your strawberries)

Directions:

Remove the stems from the strawberries and crush the strawberries thoroughly, 1 cup at a time. Measure exactly 2 cups prepared fruit into large bowl. Stir in sugar. Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix water and pectin in small saucepan. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling and stirring 1 minute. Add to fruit mixture; stir 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy. (A few sugar crystals may remain.) Fill clean 4-oz glass jars to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze extra containers up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator before using. (this made about 8-10 mini 4-oz jars of jam.)

Old Fashioned Homemade Butter

You will need:

1. one pint heavy whipping cream; 2. a two-quart jar with a tight lid; 3. a marble; 4. a strainer; 5. a medium bowl; 6. a spoon; 7. a pinch of salt

Directions:

Chill the cream, jar and marble before hand. When you’re ready to start, pour the cream into the jar with the marble, fasten the lid really tightly and start shaking. It will take a long time. You may have to shake this jar nearly the whole time that the bread and jam were being made. When it’s done you will be able tell by the mass of butter in the middle and the buttermilk that is around it. Place a strainer over a bowl if you want to keep the buttermilk or just over the sink if you don’t. Pour the contents of the jar into the strainer. If you want to keep the buttermilk then put it in a separate container now. Rinse the rest of the buttermilk out of the butter with water. Press the butter against the sides of the strainer with a spoon to get all of the liquid out. Keep rinsing and pressing until you think all of the liquid is gone. Put the butter into a serving bowl and add the salt. You can serve it now all soft and smooth, or refrigerate it until you need it.

Hand Shook Whipping Cream

You will need:

1. One pint cold whipping cream; 8. A two-quart jar with a tight lid; 9. two tablespoons powdered sugar. You don’t need to shake the jar as long for whipping cream. Just shake until the cream starts to hold together and eat it soon.

Calligraphy, Stamps & RSVP

The look of hand addressed (calligraphy) envelopes was included with this party theme. A hot trend with weddings is to use a bunch of different stamps on your envelopes. Here, stamps were found on ebay and a local post office.

Favorite doll gift

A great present for an American Girl Party is doll clothes or accessories. A quick search on Etsy for: 18 doll clothes (since these dolls and others like them are 18 inches tall) brings up tons of handmade doll clothes for really great prices. Another option would be a gift certificate to Target (they have a clothing line that fits those dolls called Our Generation) or a gift certificate to the American Girl Doll Store.

Party idea: old fashioned games

Here’s a game played at this party: The Clothes Pin Drop. (Old style clothes pins and some jars were tracked down.) To play this game, you stand up straight and hold the clothes pin to your nose. You drop the pin from you nose and try to get it into the jar. Using three different sized jars makes it easy and challenging.

Other classics also work great as impromptu time fillers like Duck Duck Goose, I Had a Little Doggie, London Bridges, Ring Around the Rosies, Simon Says, Musical Chairs, Stuck in the Mud and Freeze Tag.

Cake stand

This cake stand used at this party was from the Martha Stewart Collection.

No sew chair ties

To coordinate the party colors and bring in a more floral theme, and to incorporate an old fashioned element, the chair ties were hand made for this party. The fabric was bought on Etsy from Christa at Sew Good Fabric.

Directions:

1. You will need: fabric, pinking shears, and a ruler. You can use a quilter’s self healing grid with a lip edge ruler to measure. For fabric try Tanya Whelan’s: Darla Yellow Rosie Dot, Alexander Henry: White Kitty Calico Floral, and Heather Bailey: Pop Garden Rose Peonies. Since these fabrics are already 56″ wide, base how much you buy on how many ties you want to make. The party ties measured 7″ x 56″ and one yard made 5 chair ties.
2. Use a quilters ruler to draw a line with a pencil on the back side of the fabric.
3. With your pinking shears cut along the pencil line. Pinking shears will make it so that the fabric doesn’t unravel.
4. Wash the chair ties, dry them, trim the extra strings off, and iron them. Keep the frayed edges for a country look.

Use the fabric scraps to make smaller fabric “ribbons” to tie up the paper favor bags.

Two other fabrics in different florals were bought to make a coordinating banner, Heather Bailey: Pop Garden Turquoise Pop Daisy & Tanya Whelan: Darla Rose in Fuchsia.

Party idea: Rent a barn

This party was set in an old ice house and had a very pioneer, barn like feel. This place had a small kitchen, tables and chairs, and nearby bathrooms.

Eco-tip: no gifts

We all want fun parties for our kids, and we don’t want to arrive empty-handed at somebody else’s. But, often we may have a toy room full of toys that our kids don’t play with. Toys eventually break and, because most are non-recyclable, end up in the landfills. For this party it was insisted that no gifts be brought to the party. It can be tough to sell your child on this, especially if they are used to getting gifts at their parties. But with a little encouragement you might be surprised as how well it goes over. If you feel more comfortable, let the kids who are coming choose if they would like to bring a small donation to a charity, such as for Haiti. Why not try it at your next party? Who knows, Brittany says you might just start a trend in your neighborhood.

Photo Credits: Casey Hyer

Party Design by: Brittany Egbert

Does anyone remember ‘Little House on the Prairie’? I used to watch it sometimes (and almost fall to sleep). It aired on the NBC network from 1974 to 1982. Eeek! I’m almost telling my age now.

Well, the show is brought to mind when checking out this American Girl Pioneer party that the uber creative Brittany Egbert put together.

Shhh…don’t tell anyone, but it was not until last year that I discovered the American Girl dolls.

Yes, I know, I’m a very late bloomer. My daughter has two of them now, so I am now in the mix.

Brittany allowed each girl to pick a bonnet and apron at the beginning of the party.

A place setting.

The table and cake.

Making the bread dough.

Small hands kneading dough.

The mini loaves of bread rising.

Here is the butter after the girls had shaken the jar for a very long time.

Making homemade strawberry freezer jam.

They ate some of the jam that they made during the party.

The small jars of jam for the girls to take home.

Some guests eating at the table.

Here is the game they played, The Clothes Pin Drop.

They went on a wagon ride.

Each girl took home a bag of old fashioned candy along with their mini bread loaf and their small jar of jam.

Check Back tomorrow for tips on How To Create this Party!

Photo Credits: Casey Hyer

Party Designed by: Brittany Egbert

Because I am really, really ready for Spring to arrive, I am inspired by this indoor picnic created by Katie Denham. The whole look is really simple and clean.

Katie decided that since the weather was on the hot side, she would create in indoor picnic for a get together. She started with a burlap table cloth and placed grass place mats on top and added a row of potted plants down the center. The plants she chose were a citron green “Lamium Golden” and an eggplant hued “Sweet Potato Vine”. She got them from Target along with some brown terracotta pots.

She experimented with some mercury glass candlestick holders, but decided they were a bit too formal for a “picnic”:

She decided to go with these simple and inexpensive votive holders from Michael’s.

The “Great White Plates” were from Pottery Barn.

She wanted something that looked like a picnic tablecloth for the napkins and found the perfect thing at IKEA. The rolls included four cloths that had a different white and blue pattern for $2.49 per roll.

She added simple wine glasses, again from IKEA, and a bottle of Pellegrino at each place instead of a water glass to finish it off.

For a little snacking before dinner, she laid out cheeses, fig jam, some Kalamata olives and olive tapenade, a bit of Hummus and a few French Plums. She iced the wine, beer and waters in a galvanized bucket.

She prepared a buffet of salads: Heirloom tomatoes from the garden with basil and mozzarella, Ina Garner’s potato salad with lots of fresh dill, her version of the Bottega snap pea and white corn salad with a citrus dressing, a green salad with pine nuts and avocado, and a fruit salad, and French bread with Gruyere and olives.

Russian nesting dolls…matryoshka dolls…babushka dolls. These are just some of the names. But these pretty ornaments provide a great insight into the rich culture of Russia.

A set of matryoshka dolls consists of a wooden figure which can be pulled apart to reveal another figurine of the same sort inside. It, in turn, contains another one inside, and so on. The number of nested figures can be as few as three or as many as twenty! The artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be extremely elaborate.

Here Steph Modo created a matryoshka doll/nesting doll theme for her niece’s birthday. She found the majority of her party items on Etsy.com (my current love affair) and I absolutely love how “outside the box” this concept was.

Decorations were simple…Steph bought the tableclothes, lanterns, plates, utensils, balloons at a local party store. For the banner she printed out one of the .pdf files she purchased on Etsy, punched it out into a scalloped circle, and thread it with thin satin ribbon. The little nesting doll set that spawned the whole theme flanked the fireplace too.

At the beginning of the party she led the girls to a crafting table where they could make matryoshka doll notecards for themselves. This was a fun thing to do for 15-20 minutes while guests trickled into the party. She wrapped up each girl’s cards in a clear cellophane bag so they could take them home afterwards.

Then, they played “Pin the Bow on the Matryoshka Doll”. Following that game they played “hide and seek” with a set of nesting dolls from IKEA. They hid the dolls and the girls had to find them. After they played “hide and seek” a few times, they played “duck, duck, goose” which didn’t follow the theme, of course, but was fun to play anyway! They continued with “limbo”and “pass the button” before sitting down to eat cupcakes & apples. Prizes included little notepads, mini-Kolo albums, and handmade goodies picked up on Etsy. She wrapped them in cellophane bags and cut out a little nesting doll to adhere onto the bag.

Resources:

I found a variety of matryoshka dolls on this website Matryoshkastore. I also found some on The Russian Shop.

Decorations

Steph found her Jewelry/Hair Accessory Set for the birthday girl to wear to the party on Etsy. But I also found some pretty little Gifts on UK’s site Plumo.com found under ‘Gifts’ and ‘Festive’.

Fabulous Etsy Finds:

Crafting Table

List of Matryoshka rubber doll stamps found here.

Matryoshka doll printable paper for crafting found here.

Party Favors & Prizes

Printable pdf for mini-bookmarks found here.

Babushka ponytail holders from here.

The Matryoshka doll muslin drawstring bags were made by a local designer.

Food & Tabletop

Cupcake toppers found here.

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting and apple slices to curb the sweetness; both were a big hit with the kids.

Interesting Tid bit:

To help celebrate Russian Vogue’s 10th Anniversary, top fashion designers designed a dress for a plain Russian doll. Their sketches were brought to fruition by a Russian craftsmen that hand painted the dolls. Guess the designers…

Here are all the designers of the dolls.

Row 1: Burberry, Versace, Marc Jacobs
Row 2: Sonia Rykiel, Emilio Pucci, Blumarine
Row 3: Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith
Row 4: Dolce & Gabbana, Alena Akhmadullina, Gucci

Sandra Kleist is not a photographer. In fact, she only subjects her children (much to their dislike) to her own version of a photo shoot But by looking at these photos I would never have guessed that she is not a professional.

She found the girls’ jackets and the baby’s tuxedo on ebay for $9.99 each!! She added the gold fringe and red flower. She made their skirts herself. The harlequin fabric is by Michael Miller. Her daughter’s top is just a basic white tank top with pre-ruffled trim (from Joann’s Fabrics) stitched on top of it. Her top hat is from Michael’s (the doll’s section) and the feather is from there also. Her boots came from Janie and Jack. Her other daughter’s shirt and socks along with her son’s shirt all came from Target.

Unfortunately, I did not inherit the sewing gene. ..*Long Sigh*

Sandra even made the banners herself. She found fabric at Beverly’s Crafts. It’s by Michael Miller-Quarter Dot in Aqua. She also made the mustaches used in the photo booth with family but purchased the stick-on mustaches for the shots with the kids. She found them in the “fiesta” section at Party City. They’re called “Moustaches” and are by Amscan.