last of the pinkalicious fun: game and goodie bags

I posted the bingo game I created for the party in an earlier post. It was a mini version so the girls could win quickly. I gave them their goodie bags as the prizes.

Ella loves games, as long as she's winning. :)

Dad was the official bingo card caller. I couldn't have done the party without his help. He's awesome.

The goodie bags.

Elle showing off her goodies. The girls couldn't wait to get their hands on them. Sienna put a marker on every single square of her bingo card just to make sure she won. So cute!

Because some of my girlfriends want to know all the details of the party, here's what was in the bag: a matching pink pearl necklace and bracelet (Target dollar spot before Easter), a fairy wand, a pink ring pop and cotton candy Lip Smackers. I put everything in cellophane bags and tied them with sheer pink ribbon. A lot of the girls wore their jewelry to church on Sunday.

I know there are a lot of posts, but overall, it was a pretty simple party. It was planned for one and a half hours, but we were done with everything after an hour. The girls just played the rest of the time.

Sweet little memories.

Ella's self-portrait that greeted her guests. Thanks to all her friends who made it such a pinkalicious day!

pinkalicious fun: craft

There's a part in the Pinkalicious story where the little girl who has turned pink blends in with a patch of pink peonies at the park. Soon she's surrounded by bees, butterflies and birds.

I was trying to come up with a simple and doable craft for 3-4 year olds and found white chipboard butterflies at Scrapbook USA for 10 cents each. That's not a typo. They're from Making Memories too. I punched out dots from pink sparkly paper and bought some clear gems at Micheal's in the dollar section. We made these:

Ella loves crafts. I'm sure you can imagine how happy that makes me. She was so excited when she saw the sample I made up, she kept wanting to create one right away.

I ran the sparkly dots through my Xyron to make them stickers. That took some time but made things so much easier in the end.

The girls enjoyed making them even more than I thought they would.

pinkalicious fun: cupcakes

It wouldn't be a true Pinkalicious party without the pink cupcakes. We ordered these from Dippidee in American Fork. They're the fun-size so they're perfect for little ones.

They were white cake with pink frosting and pink sparkly sprinkles.

Love these little plates and napkins. I bought them on clearance at Target months ago. Couldn't resist the pink and the polka dots and knew I'd use them for some occasion.
                            

Ella goes straight for the frosting.

Mykel is going to love this. Kate misses the cupcake all together! :)

Sweet little Lizzy.

Our adorable granddaughter, Madi. Ella has started calling her Mads.

sweet contest

You all know my favorite digital designer is Crystal Wilkerson. She speaks my style--so simple and not overly distressed. She made a big announcement yesterday that her designs are coming IRL. Yep, in May she'll have her papers on the shelf. I'm very excited. Here's a preview:

My favorite is the floral print on the white background at the end. You can never go wrong with those delightful dots though and that pink stripe is oh, so sweet. I signed up for her giveaway (now I'm wishing I'd chosen the real life paper instead of digital--oh well, I'll love them both). So I'm passing along the information so if I don't win, someone I know might. Just leave a comment on her blog here and cross your fingers!

sanks, mom!

Ella handed me this paper the other day.

Ella: Here's a letter for you Momma.
Me: Thanks, Ella. What does it say?
Ella: Read it! (Well, duh.)
Me: How about if you read it for me?
Ella: Okay. It says: Dear Momma. I love you. Sanks for my treats and my presents at my party. I love you, Momma. Ella.

So sweet. Ella is always so grateful for every little thing. It's one of the things I love so much about her. Love you too, Ella Bella.

more pinkalicious fun: balloon flowers

I saw these balloon flowers on another blog and fell in love with them! I knew I had to have them for Ella's party. There were no instructions, so I asked my friend, Mr. Google, for help. As usual he came through. I did change one thing on the instructions. Design-wise it makes more sense to have an odd number of petals, so I did five instead of six like on the original instructions. (I know, once a designer, always a designer!)

I hung these puffy ones along the porch.

And had a few more daisy-style inside.

I like the second style much better. The difference is the balloon size. The puffy style uses all 12" and the daisy style uses 7". I didn't realize I'd purchased a different size until I started blowing them up. And I could only find packages of all pink balloons at the two stores I went to in the 12" size. If I had more time I might have searched out the 7".

I had so many people ask where I got the flowers and even had a lady stop to inquire. One neighbor said she and her daughters drove by the house twice to check them out. They are so simple to make. Here are the directions:

Step 1: Cut two circle templates from chipboard, one approximately 6" across and the other 4" across.

Step 2: Blow up five pink balloons (or the flower petal color of your choice), making sure they fit through the 6" hole template. (This assures they're all the same size. Cool, huh?) Blow up two yellow balloons (or the flower center color of your choice), making sure they fit through the 4" template. (Hint: Husbands make great balloon-blower-uppers.)

Step 3: Tie one set of two balloon petals together.

Step 4: Tie another set of three balloon petals together.

Step 5: Tie the two balloon centers together.

Step 6: Wrap the two balloon petals around the three balloon petals once at the center. Spread out petals so they lay flat. (On the puffy flower, they didn't stay flat until I added the center.)

Step 7: Wrap the balloon centers around the five balloon petals once, so there's one on each side.

I used fishing line to hang the flowers. I found the balloons lose their shine after a couple of days, so it's best to make them the day before or day of the party or occasion. Be sure to send me a photo if you end up making them.

pinkalicious fun: banners

I love making banners for special occasions. I made one for Kate's baby shower in pink and green to match her colors and a pink and orange one for Ella's adoption celebration. They've become very popular now. I made two for Ella's pinkalicious party. The first one was just simple flags.

My favorite part is choosing the coordinating papers to use. I tried using only pink and white patterns, but it was very boring. I ended up adding some other patterns that each had pink in them.

I love adding a rectangular flag to the mix to break things up. I had Ella draw a picture of herself and sign her name, then added a sparkly crown. I'll use it later in her scrapbook.

I added a large, layered silk flowers with a big gem in the center to one of the flags on Ella's adoption celebration banner. Loved it!

The second banner was a little more fancy schmancy, but still very simple.

I love the white scallops and mix of squares and circles.

My friend Michelle, has this cupcake shape on one of her Cricut cartridges. It worked perfectly. The pink frosting is sparkly paper and I added a gem for the flame.

I die cut the scalloped squares, circles, letters and number at Pebbles in my Pocket. They measure about 5 1/2" each. Pebbles also has the center circle die cut, but I didn't have my paper with me so I cut my own at home. After I assembled each piece, I punched  holes on each side and tied them together using grosgrain ribbon.

Ella thought it was wonderful (especially the cupcake, of course.) and it was darling as a backdrop for photos while opening gifts.

pinkalicious fun!

Pinkerella's fourth birthday celebration was delightful! Check out these pinkalicious cuties all dressed in pink and ready to party. This age is so fun because they get so excited about every little thing. I'll share all the details (invite, decorations, cupcakes, game, craft and goodie bags) over the next little while.

(left to right) Olivia, Madi, Ella, Sienna, Lizzy, Addie, Abby, Elle and Kate.

hip, hip, hooray, look who's four today!

Our Ella-bella-tu-tu was born four years ago today.

One hour old. Who would have guessed back then, she'd bless our lives in such a big way?

(photo by Tracie Ruffner)

All day, Ella has been telling everyone she sees, "Today's my birthday and I'm four!" She even called Lynn to tell him. I almost didn't tell her it was today, because our family party is Saturday and her friends party isn't until next Friday (due to spring break). I couldn't stand it though. She's been great. Grandpa McMurphy is in town, so we went to Toys R Us and he bought her the Precious Places Swan Palace she's been begging for since Christmas. After lunch, I told her she could have a treat. She chose Red Mango (we love Red Mango!). Of course she ordered the pink (pomegranate) yogurt with white chocolate chips and ate just about the entire thing! We went for a walk (she rode her bike) and we stopped at the park. The entire time she kept telling me as she climbed up and down everything, "It's okay Momma, I'm old enough now!" Last week she informed Lynn and me, "One more growing and I'll be really big. See look!" She stands stiff as a board with her hands on her head. She's growing up way too fast for me.

Happy birthday, sweet girl. We love you.

pinkerella the designer

Ella's absolute favorite book is Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann. It's a darling story about a little girl who eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink. To turn back to normal, she has to eat a steady diet of green food (yuck!). (We leave out the "yuck" part when we read it to Ella.) There's a part where the little girl says, "Just call me PINKERELLA!" Ella thinks that's great.

Not only does Ella love the book, she is passionate about pink. For her fourth birthday party, we're having a Pinkalicous party. She's so excited. I have to admit, I am too. I've been working on this bingo game using Photoshop Elements and finally showed it to her today.

She went nuts. "I know how to play that game! I love that game! We played it at preschool!" I loved that she was so happy. After the excitement, she took a closer look and asked, "Where's the cupcake?" I told her I was going to use it as the bingo marker image. (Not in those exact words.) Nope, Ella wanted it on the board. I asked her, "How about if I take the heart off and put it there instead?" She replied after some thought, "Uhhhh....no, let's take off the car and put it there. I really like the heart."

Since when does an almost four year old give design direction? So funny. Actually I like the new markers better, so it was a good decision.

We'll be ordering pink cupcakes from Dippidee in American Fork. (One less thing I have to worry about preparing and they're beautiful--and yummy!) I'll share my other ideas for the invite, decorations, a project and treat bags when they're done. Have a pinkalicious day!