Tissue Paper Pom Poms

Instead of balloons for Claire's party this year I decided to do something a little different and make these tissue paper pom poms. I also used them in Maddy's nursery. They were really very easy it just takes a little time to fluff them all. For this project you will need tissue paper, floral wire or pipe cleaners, scissors and thread.

I got tissue paper both from the party section at Target like in the photo below and also the kind in the plastic packages from Hobby Lobby. First you stack 8-10 sheets of tissue paper on top of each other.  You want your tissue to be in a rectangular shape so you may have to cut it depending on what size you buy. The ones I got from Hobby Lobby I had to cut. I tried to make one in the square shape that it came in and it looked weird when I pulled the pieces out. So make sure it's a rectangle. I made several different sizes but I made sure the length was about 10" more than the width. For example, one of them I made measured 30"x20".

After you stack your pieces your going to fold 1  1/2" accordion folds across the paper. (I forgot to take a picture of this before I cut the ends so they are already in their pointed shape. Oops!)

Then you cut the ends in the shape you want them. I made some pointed like this one and I rounded the edges on some. 

Here is an example of what the rounded edge looks like.

Then you wrap the floral wire or pipe cleaner around the center and make a little circle out of the end. You will tie your thread to the circle to hang it from the ceiling. Floral wire looks nicer but I was finishing these up at midnight one evening and ran out so I did several with the pipe cleaners I found in my craft supplies.

Then fan it out like so.

And start separating the pieces.

Do this to the other side also until all of the pieces have been pulled apart and you have a big ball.

Now tie your thread around the circle you made with the pipe cleaner. I used white thumb tacks to hang the  thread from the ceiling.

I made a few smaller flowers using the same method. For these I cut the paper 7"x9". This one I left the edges straight.

This one has the pointed edge.

I attached the pipe cleaner to a dowel rod and used them in my teapot vase.

Here they are again! An affordable decoration to spruce up any festive occasion!

Fabric Flowers

I started making these fabric flowers  a while ago for my girls and thought they would make great party favors for Claire's party. Here's how I made them.

You will need polyester satin in the colors of your choice, hair clips, a candle, fabric scissors, beads to embellish the center, thread and a hot glue gun.

First cut out squares in several different sizes. I think my largest started about 3 1/2".

Second, use your fabric scissors to round the edges.

Then hold the edges of your fabric over the flame until it starts melting and turning under. You don't want to hold it too long or the edges will turn black.

It will look like this.

Then do the same thing to all the pieces.

Stack them on top of each other using as many petals as you would like. I like a little fuller look so I used 4 in this one.

Using your needle and thread sew them all together.

Sew your beads to the middle and then hot glue your hair clip to the bottom. 

Voila! Cute little flowers. Add them to headbands, hair clips, purses or even pin it to your jacket! 

I added eyes to them for Claire's party to represent the talking flowers in Alice in Wonderland. 

Wasn't that easy?!

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

This year I tried a new sugar cookie recipe for Claire's party and I really like how they turned out! They were soft and chewy.  Here is the recipe.

Cut-out Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

2. Preheat oven to 400. Roll out dough on a floured surface 1/4"-1/2" thick. If you roll them out too thin they will be crunchy. Make sure to add more flour to the top of the dough to prevent sticking. Cut into shapes with your cookie cutter. Place cookies 1"apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 6-8 minutes in preheated oven. This part can be tricky because you have to know your oven.  Mine tends to get on the hot side so I always set my timer for  the shortest recommended time and check it.  You want the cookies to have "poofed" but not brown or they will be crunchy. Cool completely before frosting.

Servings: 60 cookies

I also tried Royal Icing for the first time this year and I love it! It dries hard so you can stack the cookies without them getting messed up.  I didn't do a practice run for this like I probably should have so they don't look perfect but they tasted good and that's the important thing right?! Here is the recipe I used.

Royal Icing

1 cup water
6 Tbsp meringue powder
1 tsp vanilla extract (clear if you want white icing)
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
2 lb. bag of powdered sugar

Start by mixing the water and meringue powder with a mixer until it is incorporated and slightly foamy. Then add the extracts and mix for a second. Then add the bag of powdered sugar. Mix on low until it is incorporated and then on high for a few minutes. It will be fairly stiff. Depending on the technique you are using you need different consistencies of icing. You get them by adding 1 tsp of water at a time. For piping words and details you need the stiff icing you have in the bowl now. For smoothing it onto the cookie you need to thin it out a little. (If you happen to thin it out too much you can add more powdered sugar.) I used the stiff icing from the bowl to draw a border around the edge of the cookie  and then thinned it out with water to fill the inside of the cookie. If your doing different colors you would just scoop your icing into separate bowls and color them separately. If you want sprinkles add them immediately otherwise the icing will dry and they will fall off.

Here they are at Claire's party. Definitely gonna have to use this recipe for Christmas cookies this year!

Alice in Wonderland Par-Tea

Just to warn you this post is going to have a TON of pictures. I tried to narrow it down as much as possible but every picture I felt was vital so to be fair you were warned! Can I just say I love planning birthday parties! I began planning Claire's first birthday party the moment she was born. Ok maybe that's a slight exaggeration but really I started thinking about it way before I really needed to. Here's a look at Claire on her past birthdays.

First Birthday: Circus theme in her clown outfit.

Second Birthday: Party Like an Animal theme

Third Birthday: Surfer Girl theme

And her fourth was an Alice in Wonderland Par-Tea! This dress was actually my inspiration for the party. And Claire had been loving the movie so it was perfect! The dress was mine when I was a little girl I just altered it a little to fit her. I'm so glad my mom saved it!

The printables I downloaded for free. You can get them here.

Sugar cookies

Strawberry punch

Drink Me flags for the straws. I just printed the words onto scrapbook paper, cut them out and used double sided tape to hold them on.

Tissue paper pom poms and Happy Birthday sign

Talking flowers

Pink marshmallows

Treat boxes

Vanilla Cupcakes

Hanging Butterflies

Pinwheels

 Claire really wanted a piñata and I had to work a flamingo in there somehow so here it is.

Tissue paper pom-poms

I decorated my old window for the occasion.

Mustaches for the boys... or in this case the grandpas. 

This white tea pot was my grandmas. The colors were out of date (brown and orange) so I spray painted it white. Perfect for our party!

So there it is. I pretty much made everything myself as far as decorations, favors and dessert and will be posting tutorials on a lot of it in the days to come so stay tuned!