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Pony Party

Earlier this year, when I got an advance peek at some of the new Birthday Express party collections, I immediately fell in love with this sweet little Show Pony collection.  There are tons of pony themed parties out there in party-land, but I had never seen one in this color scheme. I love that it’s blue, which means you can use it for a boy, or a girl, in combination with the white, soft cream, tan and brown.
When I started planning this event, I knew right away where it should be! Some of our family friends own a beautiful ranch called Bark N Bray Ranch outside of Memphis. They breed the most beautiful Golden Retrievers and donkeys, which they train for hospital therapy.Their home is just beautiful and was the perfect location for this pony party!
I started the table design with a simple piece of raw burlap. I always keep burlap in my party stash because it comes in handy at a variety of events. Then, I asked my friend Shauna at Cupcake with Character if she would make me some table runners. She made me these three gorgeous runners for the front of the table. All I did was add some polka dot burlap and blue ribbon to the front with a little bit of fusible hem tape. I love the way they give the front of the table some visual interest!
I also made a little banner for the birthday girl, using my Silhouette and some simple blue and cream/tan striped scrapbook paper.  How pretty are these party supplies? They were custom designed by Birthday Express and exclusive to their website!  So, you can only get them there! One of my favorite details is the blue ribbon design of the dinner plate.  I displayed them in a cute picket fence planter that I found at the antique mall.
I had a beautiful array of birthday sweets for this party, beginning with these beautiful cake pops from Bella’s Bakery and Bowtique. Nicole added these beautiful tiny embellishments of riding hats, ribbons, and horseshoes to the pops. The horseshoes even looked metallic!
An easy treat for any farm themed party is these cute hay bales. They really could not be any easier to make!  All you do is buy a frozen pound cake, cut into rectangles (preferably while still frozen), dip into melted white chocolate, and then roll in toasted coconut! Delicious and easy!
If you notice, there are four beautiful hand-made prize ribbons decorating the party table. These were crafted by Shawna Brockmeier Styled Events.  They were just gorgeously created and even had pins on the back to secure them to anything you like.
These beautiful glittered treat toppers were created by +Made by a Princess Parties in Style.  I joked with Kylie that I have no idea how she gets her Silhouette to cut glitter cardstock so well because I am such an amateur on mine. But hers were perfect! She even did these awesome clear acrylic sticks for them, so it appears that they are floating! Love!
I worked with a new cookie vendor for this party, Creating Awesomenessity! Katherine is based here in Memphis, so I always love supporting my local girls!  She made the most gorgeous ribbon and horseshoe cookies for me! They really were perfect and I love the metallic shimmer on the horseshoes!
The best part of the Show Pony collection is these 3D horses! Am I right?  They are a snap to put together and they come in this tan or brown!  We had fun putting them up next to the real horses, who were very curious about this little mini-horse! There is also a fencing piece that is also made from cardboard. You can see it at the front of the table. They are really perfect for a photo op with the kids!
There are two favor boxes in this collection too and I couldn’t decide which one I liked more, so I used both!  Nothing makes a table like a mason jar full of flowers! And, of course, a cute ribbon embellishment!
For the backdrop of the party, I used one of the placemats from the collection and added some burlap ribbon to the back with hot glue. Then, I added some ribbons to the bottom to give it that prize ribbon look. I hung it along with some simple rosettes embellished with stickers and die cuts from my +sizzix

Rustic Vintage DIY Boy Nursery

A boy’s nursery filled from floor to ceiling with vintage objects, DIY projects and a rustic gallery wall. We tried to balance what we love as adults with what will engage our son’s imagination and his feelings of belonging.
Whilst it is currently a nursery, it can easily be transformed into a toddler room by switching out the crib for a bed. One of these days I will be able to get rid of the feeding chair, but for now we still use it every morning.

Liesl’s Old-Fashioned Carousel Party

We held Liesl’s 2nd birthday at the historic Carousel at Santa Monica Pier.    It is one of the few surviving all-wooden Carousels still in existence today and its charm & vintage beauty is so inherent.   Ever since Liesl rode The Carousel a few months prior to her party, she couldn’t stop talking about the “horses”, so I knew this would be the perfect venue to host her 2nd birthday!

Pink Cowgirl

This party was for my daughter for her third birthday. I am trying to keep birthday parties to just our family and close friends for as long as I possibly can before having to make the jump to her preschool friends and ultimately school friends once she hits elementary school, however, I want them to still be fun with lots of details and decorations for her to remember. I loved that she wanted to do a cowgirl party, as I love horses and of course she needed it to be pink – her favorite color.