::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. 

::art party feature::

Lily's art party got featured on a big party site called Catch my Party.  

Link here to check it out.

I am pretty pumped up about it because this is a site that "real" (at least in my mind) party planners get featured on.

  Thanks Bird for making it happen.  Your the best as always. 

::how I party plan::

So after this last big and REALLY FREAKING FUN to plan art party (I really do love this stuff) I got a few emails asking how I plan the parties and were the ideas come from.  Here is a little bit more about that.

The first thing I do is pick a theme.  Sometimes that theme comes directly from the child, or sometimes I pick.  It just depends on their level of interest in the whole process.  Little two year old Max could really care less about anything except banging his baseball bat against the door. (Baseball theme???)  But Miss Lily and I enjoy trying to come up with themes, and she thought of her art party theme all by herself. 

The next thing I do is start brainstorming ideas.  Here are some of my favorite sites -

Cakes -
http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com

I LOVE this site.  I don't do fondant.  It looks really cool but it isn't for me.  I like my cakes to look a little bit homemade and I hate the taste of fondant, so I use the tar out of this site.  It has lots of homemade cake ideas and it has cakes for all levels.    

Decorating - 

http://birdcrafts.blogspot.com

I bought my invitation printables from her.   She is so very talented and her blog has great ideas

http://www.birthdaygirlblog.com

CLEVER!  Full of great themes and ideas.  


http://karaspartyideas.blogspot.com

http://katelandersevents.blogspot.com

Games - http://familyfun.go.com

Which is also a great place for cakes and crafts.

Crafts -
http://frugalfamilyfunblog.blogspot.com/ 

           http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/ 

http://thatartistwoman.blogspot.com/ 

I keep a virtual folder on my computer desktop where I throw in any great idea's or inspirational images.  As the party gets closer I organize those, getting rid of ones that don't fit.  I start writing a document that has titles like "Invitations, Decorations, Food, Crafts/Games, Gift Bags", furthering organizing the information.  About two months out I really begin the thinning out process and narrow it down to the idea's that I want to use.  I print that out on card stock and write notes on it as I go.  If you are interested I will happily email you a copy of it, but it is too long and detailed for this post.

The mess of party stuff one week before the big day.  

I updated it in the computer periodically and reprinting it out.  I make a schedule that has two week time intervals showing the chores being broken down to make them more manageable.  For example - I would make the cake the week of the party, but I could organize the craft kits three weeks out.  I need to have it written as to how all this crap is actually going to happen.

The whole point of this should be - if it makes you happy to stop by walmart the night before the party and grab straight off the rack all the Thomas The Train stuff they sell, than go for it.  I just enjoy making their parties extreme. (OK - maybe excessive)  What ever works for you and your family is exactly what you should do. 

::palette cake::

I loved this cake.  

I took the largest oval mold that I could find and baked this monster. I flipped it out of the pan and onto paper towel sheets on my largest cutting board.

Then I cut out the thumb hold-like the palette in the background had.(You can't see the thumb cut on the real palette, but it is there.)

Then I put on a thin layer of icing. 

It needs to sit in the fridge for a few hours between layers of icing.  But on the way to the fridge this part of the cake started to fall off.  

NO PROBLEM!!  Two years ago this would have made me cry - but now I know the joy of sticking kabob sticks in my cakes to hold them together.  So, some touch up icing and sticks and no one will even know.  

A few hours latter and I put on the second coat of icing.

Then I mixed up all the stunning colors for the "paint".

This is just white icing with LOTS of icing tinting in it.  

Maybe too much...

 

But Max was still willing to eat a little bit of each color.  

"It's yummy!"

Then I cut a large hole at the end of each icing bag and slowly drew on the icing "paint".  I used lots of pressure on the bag to get the fat paint like look.

Next, I pulled out the paper towels.  (The point of them is to keep the decorating surface clean.) Then to finish off the bottom I used white chocolate chips with the point in.  It did take forever, but I wanted it to look more finished than just leaving it. Normally I would use skittles, but I didn't want it to take away from the other colors that will be on the table.  

;

::THE ART PARTY::

Take home baskets 

Happy birthday banner

The sheet of dry wall is all set out and ready for the guests to arrive.

It was nearly impossible to keep Max away from it.

I really loved the mural that they painted.  

The little green guy is my favorite.

Rainbow cupcake decorating was a big hit

And even the mess afterward was pretty

The popcorn machine is a party staple.

My favorite birthday girl.

THE CRAFTS

Picking aprons to decorate.

At the first table they decorated an art apron with ribbon and markers

And they could also make a fruitloop necklace/bracelet

After every one got there, I had several different craft stations for them to choose from.

This table had oil painting and coffee filter painting.  

And under the table was a precious little dental problem dog. 

My oldest, Emma, and Grammy ran the next table.

It had pinwheels, sun catchers, and paint chip notebooks.  

Another table had bubble painting and shaving cream painting.  

As they made their art they put it in their baskets to take home.  

Because I am blessed by the greatest friends ever I didn't have to spend the day being photographer and Mommy.  

All images taken by my dearest Emily and Shelly.  

All printables are by Birds Crafts.  Please link here to see her clever party idea filled blog and here to see her Etsy shop.