::the Candy and Canvas Party::

The Candy and Canvas Party went off with out a hitch!

I rented two tables and chairs from a local party rental place.  It was $40 well spent.  

We had to rainbow them up, so we went with some cheap streamers.

Since the weather was terrible we had the party inside.  

We had eight girls so I held myself back with the candy table.

I got Lily's favorite candies but I didn't buy 10 of every type.

At least I showed a little restraint?

I made the petal cake.  It was shockingly easy.  

Pintrest is loaded with tutorials and it really is just as easy as they said it would be.  

I made the Lily sign with markers and a $5 wooden pallet.

I wrapped the water bottles in bright duct tape.  They soaked in the ice bucket the whole night and that tape stuck perfectly.  

$1 premade decorations from the party aisle fit our theme perfectly and were cheap enough to buy a punch.  

Paint chips folded in half got used as place cards.  

 The table was set with suckers and paper for the kids to decorate.

I fed the kids pizza and let them run around wild till the guest of honor arrived.

Here is were I left my usually party pattern.

I like to be very controlling...

I know - you are shocked.

It's true.

But this idea was beyond me.  We wanted to do this Candy and Canvas party but I am not a real artist.  I looked into online kits, but they were pricey once you got all the brushes and they paints.  I was going to do it anyway when I got a suggestions on facebook to like a page.  The page was for a company called Canvas Paintings by Katie.  For what I thought was very reasonable - Katie comes out to your house and leads a group of kids or adults to paint a canvas.  She brings every thing.  Easels, paint, canvas's, brushes, all of it.  I was nervous about trusting such a huge part of the party to someone else, but I went for it.  BEST CHOICE EVER!  She was wonderful.  The girls loved her.  Even my Emma got talked into joining in.  

 

Lily decided she wanted to paint a peacock.  Katie didn't have a peacock listed.  So she painted one up and sent me a picture.  

Lily approved and KAtie brought the example to show the girls.  

RAINBOW!  

Man - was I happy she organized her paints in rainbow order.  

She led them through every step. 

Quinn watched carefully and drank too much orange soda. 

And they took home a real canvas painting that they were so proud of.    

Each little girl did an amazing job.  What great art.  

My little bug was one happy kid.  

She loved her party.  

AND I LOVED having my Emma as the photographer.  

All pictures from the party were taken by Emma.

Isn't she so talented?

I am trying to talk her into a super sweet 16 painting party. 

Invitations for this party can be seen here. 

::orchard dreams::

 
Right now this is what the orchard looks like.  
Two of the peach trees are on their second year with us.  We had peaches on them and we literally were fighting over who got to eat them.  Josh was obsessed with them and often won the prize.  The third peach tree got added this year from the clearance section at Walmart.  We had one plum tree from last year in, but the second one came to join it this year.  Because I love Lilac, but don't find the bush to be particularly pretty I grabbed one from clearance and threw it out there.  Sink or swim $2 plant.  

I was thrilled (seriously - I text Josh 50 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was cranked) to find a Fiji apple tree at Mennards - $26.  Pricey for me, but in the real world not too bad.  I grabbed him a Braeburn apple tree to be his friend.  Apple trees need a friend to cross pollinate with.  They need a mate that is no more than 100 feet from them.  They are kind of like a frat boy when it comes to who they will mate with - pretty much anyone with few exceptions.  Link here to read more about cross pollination.

What a cute little start this makes.  I feel love for these little trees.  They make me happy.  And like most little things I love - I want more.  I have been looking around and doing some thinking.  After all my little searching I have an idea.  I am too cheap to pay $25+ a tree to get my little orchard expanded.  The Arbor Day Foundation might be a good solution.  I can order just the dwarf varieties that I like and get them each for about $12.  Plus I am supporting a good cause at the same time.  

I think it is darn crazy that I don't have any raspberry bushes.  I plan to fix that next year too.  

Here is what I hope to expand to next year.



  
  

 And don't you think that little pond needs a duck house and some green ducks to fill it?