{Getting Crafty} Birthday Banner

 Birthday banners seem to very popular at the moment.  I whipped up this easy one for my daughter's birthday party.

First I picked a font that I liked and printed out the letters (two to a page) on copy paper.

 

I used my circle cutter to cut them out and made another circle out of card stock to make the letters more stable.  I glued them together with a glue stick.

Then I cut slightly larger circles out of coordinating scrapbook paper.  All I had to do was punch some holes in the paper and tie them together with ribbon.

These two hung it up on the morning of the party. It made a nice backdrop to the festivities.

It even coordinated with our new deck cushions. {bonus!}

To see more of her party, click here and here.

{Getting Crafty} Moustache Sticks

I have to admit, I didn't quite "get" the whole moustache stick craze that seems to be happening around blog land.  People are using them as photo props at parties, showers even giving them out as favors at weddings!

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I just happened to show them to my daughter and she loved the idea of making them for her French themed party so we did!  All you need is some felt, bamboo skewers and glue.

I used this link for a template.

Cut out the template and then trace onto black felt with chalk or a white pencil. Glue two of them together with a bamboo skewer sandwiched between them and let them dry.

Leave them out and grab your camera!

{unfortunately I didn't get any photos during the party but they kind of look like bats so they are fitting right in with the Halloween decor}

{Recipe} Pumpkin Magic Cookie Bars

This recipe came out of desperation.

 I had leftover pumpkin puree and needed to bring a dessert to a party. I was thinking originally of making a pumpkin cake roll but I was out of 10X sugar so I looked for a pumpkin bar recipe.  I couldn't find an exact recipe for what I wanted to make and with what I had on hand so I created my own and hoped for the best.

Crush up a packet of graham crackers and pour into a 9 x 13 baking pan. Melt 1 stick of butter and pour over the crumbs. Bake in a 350 F oven for about 15 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven.

In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of pumpkin puree, 1 package of softened cream cheese (8 ounce), 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice (or nutmeg, cinnamon & cloves..any combination of these three would work well). Mix with an electric mixer until well blended.

Spread the pumpkin mixture of the crust (you don't have to wait for the crust to cool).

Now you can get creative with whatever combination of goodies you like or have available.

We started with a layer of white chocolate chips (about 1 cup).  I only had a few semi sweet chocolate chips so we added them and then chopped up a few Dove milk chocolates (how bad could that be?).

Then some coconut (about 1 cup).

Then some chopped walnuts.

Pour one can of sweetened condensed milk over the whole thing and bake at 350 F for about 25-35 minutes until bubbly and golden brown. 

It should look something like this.  Let cool.  I cut and sampled one after it cooled and it was a little too soft so I put the whole tray into the fridge to firm up and they were much better that way.

They were delicious!!  Two of my favorite flavors in one yummy bar!

Linking up with:

Your Best Pumpkin Recipe

Point of View Autumn

Sweet As Sugar

Rustic French Birthday Party

This was a family party for my "baby" who turned 11 this month. My girls decided the theme would be French way back in the summer (could have been our Montreal trip that influenced them but I can't say for sure).

We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was a beautiful, sunny, fall day.  I was hoping to have most of the party outside and we did!

I spray painted wine bottles with chalkboard paint to make these vases.  Her colors were gold and ruby and sunflowers became our symbol.  One stem of artificial sunflowers filled all of the vases.

We made moustache sticks as photo props. The tablecloth was on clearance at TJ Maxx and I'll definitely use it again. The colors were just perfect! My kitchen rooster came out for the party too.

This was the food table before the party.

I also made this birthday banner by printing out the letters and then mounting them on some scrapbook paper.

{the birthday girl and moi}

Lots of fun cousin time was had.

Don't you love these shoes?? 

Our hot tub gets put to good use as a bar area for outdoor fetes.

Sparkling strawberry lemonade for the kids.

We had some real sunflowers too.

This is one of the few photos of the food that I took.  It's a Gorgonzola Cheese Torte from Trader Joe's.

Some adult beverages

We gave out chocolate covered pretzels for the favors.

The dessert buffet.

She chose a pumpkin mousse with ginger snap layers as her 'cake'.  We also made red velvet-cream cheese cake balls and served up some store bought treats as well.

I hope all of her wishes come true!

I will be posting some recipes and tutorials from the party soon.