A tale of two extraordinary lives filled with children, craft and laughter



Saturday 17 November 2012

A Pinterest planned birthday party

A few months ago Thea started getting into ballet big time- so for her fourth birthday party I planned a ballet theme.  This is where Pinterest is just great - as I found ideas, I 'pinned' them and could refer to them at any time as the planning went along.  Here's some pics and the original source that I pinned.

As one of the take away gifts, each child got a chocolate  - the girls got ballerinas


Then for the boys moustaches - the molds, chocolate and lollipop sticks from cake stuff


I saw this neat idea for bagging up the other gifts (beaded bracelets with ballet charms for the girls and some water balloons/bouncy balls for the boys)  on this site


Here's the chocolate all bagged up


Glass bottles are really big right now, I got the bottles from my friends business and the doillies and pink/white string from Pop Roc Parties


I also added pink/white straws into the bottles, also from Pop Roc Parties


I saw these tulle flowers on this site:   - I wasn't that happy with them though, quite hard to make!





I saw a gorgeous ballet cake as my inspiration


I used all glass serving ware - clear or pink.  I also invested in a glass drink dispenser which was just perfect also from pop roc parties.  The food as much as possible followed a pink/white theme.  Pink/white marshmelllows, milk bottles and milk shake lollies, heart biscuits iced some white, some pink, fairy bread, watermelon/grape/strawberry kebabs, mini cheese muffins, coconut ice and chippies in paper cones.  


I used my mum's old tutus as the decoration - they were lovely and a great talking point with guests


There were lots of ideas I wanted to do but either a massive fail (these crowns were a disaster) and I really loved these ballerina cake pops but they were too hard for me.

Funny how months of planning is over in a few short hours!

Now, what will we do for her fifth birthday...

'Till next time
Melissa

Sunday 11 November 2012

Found on Pinterest

If you are a crafter then it's pretty likely that you have found Pinterest...I don't know how I managed before! Actually yes I do - I was forever emailing links of cool things to myself, or printing out endless pages of patterns or tutorials only to lose them again at home.

I use it for lots of things but mostly cool craft things that catch my eye - like these homemade pattern weights.

I 'pinned' them awhile ago and decided to give it a go for Amber's birthday.


I used a variegated embroidery thread to make them a bit more interesting.  


It's a nice idea to make a wee pouch to put them in too.


These are an easy and great gift for a crafty person I think - now I need to make some for me!

Til next time, Melissa

Thursday 8 November 2012

Easy crochet doll blanket

1Amber did a 'learn to crochet' class a few weeks ago and made a doll's blanket for her daughter.  Of course my daughter wanted one too!



I used an easy granny squares pattern I found on the internet, and basically just kept doing rounds until I felt it was the right size.  To finish, I did one round of single crochet to give it a nice edge.



In some ways I prefer crochet over knitting - it's more portable and easy to do with the kids around,  I also find it 'flows' better for me and can be quicker!

The worst part?  Weaving in the ends, especially when changing colours so much.

This wee blanket would make a great present for a little girl who's into dolls...of course now my son is demanding one too!