Hello to everyone who happens to be visiting after seeing my segment on Studio 5 about Valentine’s Day party ideas for kids today! Thanks for stopping by!!

3 key elements to a kids Valentine party

1. Decor – make it pretty and fun and colorful by using banners and balloons. Banners can be printed, purchased at Target or a party store or you can make them yourself! A giant heart made out of mini heart balloons makes a great and inexpensive backdrop for a food table or create it on a wall for a photobooth area.
2. Activities to keep the kids attention – make a place setting for each guest with a special name card. I found cute little paper milk cartons for $1.99 on sale at Michaels for a pack of 12. Construct the milk cartons beforehand and add a name tag for each child to find their place at the table. Then have them decorate the milk cartons with washi tape, stickers, ribbon, bows, scrapbook paper, etc. The milk cartons serve as a favor bag as well to hold little Valentine’s Day treats! Another fun and easy activity is to have the kids make their own Valentine’s Day cards using the same supplies as the milk cartons. Valentine’s Day bingo & stack the conversation hearts are 2 fun games to play.
3. Food & Drinks – treats for a kids don’t need to be elaborate. Find some cute Valentine’s Day heart shaped treats (like Little Debbie brownies and snack cakes, Hostess ding dongs & classic pink snowballs) display them on cake plates on top of doilies and add a food flag to dress them up. Add a printable water bottle wrap or some pretty ribbon to the mini water bottles to make them look super cute.

Apologizing in advance for the bad iphone photos!

Here are some links to ideas I mentioned. If you don’t see something I covered here, just ask in the comments below and I’ll be happy to answer!!

Pics & details of my daughter’s Valentine’s Day party

Purchase the Valentine’s Day printable package (which includes the heart banner, art prints, cards & tons more!)

Purchase the mini heart shaped balloons from my online shop

Purchase the pink & red heart shaped confetti in my shop

Click HERE to download the small food flags for treats

The pretty fans & heart banner across the front of the table will be available in the online shop within the next few weeks so stay tuned!

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Last month I had the pleasure of filming a segment on one of our local TV lifestyle programs – KSL’s Studio 5 where I was asked to share some new party trends for 2016. I had a great time and could have talked for hours, lol! Here’s the segment if you want to watch it. This was only my 2nd time being on TV so I’m definitely no pro yet!

In a nutshell the 4 ideas I touched on as party trends for 2016 are:

1. Letter banners made out of glitter cardstock, balloons & pre-made kits are going to continue to be popular.
2. Layering banners and garlands to give you color and texture
3. Balloons will continue to be popular. In particular mylar balloons are back and fabulous when grouped with a bunch of other pretty latex balloons. Confetti filled balloons are a great new trend. And graphic balloons are following the fashion industry and will be on trend. Balloon garlands are the new hot party item.
4. Confetti is larger and comes in all shapes and colors – perfect to dress up a food, dessert or activity table.

What do you think?? Do you agree with some of my picks for 2016 party trends? What would you add to the list? I’d love to hear!!

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This post is sponsored by We R Memory Keepers and HSN but all opinions are my own.

It’s no secret that I love planning parties and creating handmade elements to make a celebration extra special. I’m helping with a baby shower next week for a cute girl in my neighborhood who’s having a little boy. The colors I chose for the shower are the same ones in this fabulous tissue paper tassel garland we sell in the shop: royal blue, aqua, mint gray and silver.

I’ll be using the tissue tassel garland as decor but wanted to add some additional DIY elements as well, including this fun paper bowtie garland in a coordinating color scheme and a colorful felt ball garland as well. You can never have too many garlands in my opinion!

To make my paper bowtie garland I used supplies that came in this fun new punch board party pack from We R Memory Keepers. You guys, this kit is AMAZING! It comes with everything you see above: 123 punch board, banner bunch board, twine, packing tape, 12×12 patterned paper pad and a project idea book. You know how much I love to make bows & banners for parties (as evidenced here and here and here) and this kit will make those things PLUS envelopes, envelope liners and boxes – so fun!!

And here are the specific supplies I used for my paper bowtie garland: paper trimmer, 123 punch board, 12×12 paper, twine, adhesive and a small 2 hole punch. All instructions for making 6 different sizes of bows are included and they were very easy to make. The instructions tell you how to make a more fancy bow, but since I’m making bowties I eliminated 1 piece of paper and 1 step in the process. The basic steps are shown below.

Here’s where I used my little 2 hold punch to create holes for my twine to string through.

And here’s my twine strung through the holes on my bow. Just keep making bows and stringing them onto the twine to create the length you need.

I hung my tissue paper tassel garland over my mirror in my entryway and added the bowtie garland and felt ball garlands on top of it. But they’ll all be coming to the baby shower with me next week!

The awesome We R Memory Keepers 123 Punch Board Party Kit is available to buy exclusively on HSN next Tuesday March 24th so set your alarms and head on over there Tuesday! The kit is a one time special and will be discounted below retail pricing.

I can’t wait to make the banners, envelopes & boxes with my punchboards next!

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With the holiday season upon us, today I thought I’d share my favorite 5 easy tips to entertain for the holidays in style. I call these “easy” tips because you shouldn’t have to stress out about entertaining and having guests over; you want to be able to enjoy the time with friends and family and not spend too much time prepping for company. Hopefully these tips will help relieve some of that stress and let you enjoy the season.

5 Easy Tips to Entertain for the Holidays in Style

1. Shop your home for centerpieces and table decor.

2. Choose your color scheme.

3. Add namecards to your tablescape.

4. Use wrapping paper.

5. Set the mood to welcome guests.

Tip #1 – shop your home for centerpieces and table decor. There’s no need to go out and spend a bunch of money for items to decorate your table for guests. Pull out your Christmas decorations and look through what you already have to find items that will work for a centerpiece and additional table decor. Look for a couple of items with some height for visual interest in the center of your table, and smaller items flanking the sides if you have room. These trees sit on my mantle for Christmas, but I just pulled them off and added them to the table for the night. Gold and silver glittered pinecones along with aqua colored ornaments act as additional filler for your tabletop decor.

Tip #2 – once you have looked through your existing stash of Christmas decor, decide on a color scheme for your tablescape. If you have lots of red and green decor, use that to start with and maybe add some sparkle with gold or silver accents. If you have a particular color scheme in mind, look through your existing inventory and see what you have in that color scheme to work with. Try spray painting old decor items to give them new life and work them into your vision without buying everything new. Choosing a color scheme will help you plan the additional details you want to add to your tablescape and make planning easier.

Tip #3 – use namecards at your holiday table to make guests feel welcome. I just LOVE having namecards at your table for any event, be it birthday parties, casual get-togethers, or holiday parties. Guests (especially little ones) love finding their own special seat at the table and it makes them feel more even welcome at your event. Namecards can be simple or more fun and elaborate. For this holiday party, I used simple black tags, hand wrote the guest names in gold sharpie and tied to the bow on the napkin. Last year I made these cute glittered pumpkin namecards for Thanksgiving, and check out this post for more placecard ideas. Have fun and be creative with this one!

Tip #4 – use wrapping paper for your tablerunner. I use wrapping paper for tablerunners or on my tabletops ALL THE TIME! It’s such an easy and inexpensive way to add some color or pattern to your table. Wrapping paper comes in so many fun colors and patterns now, that you should easily be able to find paper that coordinates with your color scheme or theme; whether it’s bright and colorful, or elegant and reserved. HomeGoods and Target are always a great place to find pretty wrapping paper. I used a kraft paper table runner for my rustic glam tablescape.

Tip #5 – use a beautiful holiday scent to set the mood and welcome guests to your home. I absolutely LOVE to walk into a home and immediately smell an aroma appropriate for the season. I personally use scented plug-ins to keep my home smelling nice all year long. I just love the feelings that a yummy scent can evoke. I love fruity and tropical scents for the spring & summer, pumpkin & caramel for the fall and pine, cranberry & sugar cookie for the holiday season. Having a beautiful candle burning or scented plug-in really makes your guests feel at home and may even evoke a feeling of anticipation and excitement for the wonderful holiday season.

My home smells absolutely fabulous right now because I have the Glade Sparkling Spruce scented plug-in in my kitchen/family room area. I plugged it in a few days ago and it SERIOUSLY got me in the Christmas spirit and totally makes me want to put up my Christmas tree right now!

As I mentioned, I LOVE the scented plug-ins, but you can also find candles, room spray and melting squares to bring that wonderful Christmas smell into your home.

I really enjoyed Kevin Ross’ rendition of Glade’s holiday song, “This Is My Wish” and was inspired by the Sparkling Spruce fragrance and the feeling of anticipation for the season. Click HERE to listen to and download the holiday song to add to your Christmas collection.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Hi everyone! I apologize…this post should have gone up Friday, but I had to go out of town unexpectedly on Thursday morning and I didn’t have access to my computer all weekend while I was gone. But I REALLY wanted to show you the last 3 projects of our awesome Season to Sparkle Holiday party hop. Today we have sparkly glitter adorned glasses, a fun confetti party favor & gorgeous party napkins to share with you.

Love these festive glitter adorned party glasses from Whatever Dee Dee Wants.

Fabulous sparkly confetti party favors from KoJo-Designs.

Gorgeous DIY holiday napkins from Squirrelly Minds.

Thanks everyone for following along with our Season to Sparkle Holiday party hop! I hope you got some fun ideas to incorporate into YOUR upcoming holiday parties and get-togethers!

If you missed any of our previous Season to Sparkle posts, just click HERE.

Have a fabulous day!

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Welcome to day 4 of our Season to Sparkle party hop! Hope you’re gathering some fun ideas for those upcoming holiday parties! I’m excited to share my contribution to the party today – some fun DIY glitter bow cupcake toppers, along with fabulous balloon fringe and and a festive garland for your party decor.

 In case you haven’t noticed, I’m completely obsessed with gold right now and I’m just in love with these cute little glitter bows – I want to add them to EVERYTHING!!

To make these darling bows, you just need a couple of things: glitter paper, wood sticks (mine are 7.5″) and a glue gun. I recommend a low-temp glue gun because your fingers will most likely be touching the hot glue a little bit to make these small bows You might also need some scissors if you don’t have a cutting machine.

I used my Silhouette cutting machine to cut out the 3 pieces of my bow, using this shape and sized to 4.23″ x 1.67″. You don’t have to use a cutting machine to make these bows, it’s just is a lot quicker. Lia Griffith has a great paper bow printable that you just print onto the back of your glitter paper and then cut out by hand with scissors.

Now it’s time to assemble your bows. Take your bow shaped piece and fold the two edges in to the middle of the bow, using a dab of hot glue to hold the two ends in place.

Next, take your small rectangle piece and wrap it around your bow, again using a dab of hot glue to hold the piece in place. You can see the little bit of hot glue on the back of my bow – that’s ok since it won’t be visible anyway.

Add a dab of hot glue to the tail piece of your bow and attach your already made bow.

Last step is to add a dab of hot glue about 1 inch down from the top of your stick and attach your finished bow.

Bam! You’re done! How simple was that??!!

2 cute finished gold glitter paper cupcake toppers – aren’t they cute??!!

And don’t forget to hop over to Bump Smitten to learn how to make this awesome balloon fringe tail.

Along with this messy holiday garland from Mod Podge Rocks.

If you love this idea, I’d love for you to share with your friends via Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter by clicking on the buttons below!

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Hello! It’s day 3 of our Season to Sparkle party hop and today we have 3 more fabulous ideas to share with you, yay!

We have festive DIY Glitter Party Hats from Me & My Insanity.

Cute Rock Candy Drink Stirs from You-Make-Do.

And a yummy recipe – Cashew Turtles from LGRollins.

Be sure to click on the link below each picture to get the full tutorial on how to create for yourself the wonderful ideas shared by our bloggers today!

The post Season to Sparkle Party Hop – Party Hats, Drink Stirs & Cashew Turtles appeared first on Paper Crush.

Welcome to day 2 of our Season to Sparkle party hop! I’m excited for you to check out the DIY’s on 3 of our projects today: the pretty sequin wreath, Christmas tree & fringe cupcake toppers and a fun invitation idea.

Find the DIY instructions for the pretty sequin wreath at Cake Events Blog.

These fun Chrismas tree & gold fringe cupcake toppers can be found over at Frog Prince Paperie.

Darling DIY glam sequin envelopes and invitations from Confetti Sunshine.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for 3 more awesome projects!

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Hello everyone! I’m so excited for this week because I’m participating in another Party Hop! Remember the Summer Fiesta Party Hop from earlier this year??? Well, this week we’re having a festive Season To Sparkle theme for our party hop, so get ready for some fabulous inspiration to help you get ready for the upcoming holiday season with great ideas to entertain in style. With a pretty jewel-toned color palette along with plenty of gold mixed in as well, I guarantee you’ll find something to incorporate into your next holiday event!

A big thank you to our wonderful sponsor for this Season to Sparkle party hop – Tiny Prints. Tiny Prints is best known for their beautiful invitations, announcements and stationery, but that’s not all. For our party hop they supplied the beautiful pillow, invitations, custom gift wrap, custom tray and My Christmas Wish easel art.

Another huge thanks to Sara of Confetti Sunshine for pulling together this fun project and taking the fabulous photographs – she’s amazing!

So for today, just take a peek at some of the fabulous ideas that will be shared all week and be sure to check back each day for more pics and links to the different blogs on how to create the different projects featured each day.

Beautiful invitation, party hat, handmade napkins and DIY sequin wreath.

Fun cupcake toppers, yummy desserts and DIY glittered glasses.

Fabulous pillow, beautiful wrapping, fun drink stirrers and a Christmas wish list.

Messy holiday garland and all the other pretty party elements.

What do you think?? I’m just loving the bright and colorful color scheme for our holiday party! Be sure to come back tomorrow for part 1 on how to make all the fun ideas you’ve seen today!

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Instagram pic of my rustic glam place setting

A few months ago I was asked to participate in a Tablescape event that’s taking place at the Deseret News Fall Home Show here in Utah October 10th-12th, which is this weekend! 6 local bloggers are participating and each blogger was paired with a retail store, from which we could gather and display items for our tabletop decor. I was paired with Details, which is beautiful local home decor store located Sugarhouse. Using items I already had in my holiday decor, I found some fun accents at Details to create my Rustic Glam holiday tablescape.

So this week, the 6 bloggers participating were asked to come on our local morning lifestyle program, Good Things Utah, to show a sneak peek of our tablescape designs, and yesterday was my day to be on the show!

Instagram pic at the TV station getting ready for my segment

As my post title indicates, this is my first time being on TV and I was pretty nervous! When placed in situations like this (spotlight on me!) I always forget what I want to say, my words don’t come out how I want them to, etc. etc. Overall I had a great experience! The people at the station were all so nice and the hosts were just as friendly as can be! Of course there were some things I wish I would have said differently or stumbled over, but oh well!

Here’s the recording from the show if you’d like to watch it:

If you’re local and would like to come to the Home Show at the South Towne Expo Center, you can get a $3 discount by purchasing online and using my special discount code: EVENTS

As part of the Tablescape event, the public can vote for their favorite tablescape design and the winner gets a $250 gift certificate, so if you’re attending the show, I’d love for you to vote for my table! Or if you attend the show, take a pic of my tablescape and post it on Instagram with the hashtag #ppetablescape – I’d love to see them!

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