This past weekend we celebrated my youngest daughter, Cecelia's baptism, and my middle daughter, McKenna's 6th Birthday. I decided to roll both events into one so that our family only had to travel once. It worked out pretty well, with the exception of a few family members who weren't able to make it because of weather.
I don't have the budget to throw parties like those I see elsewhere around the blogging world, but I at least try to add a few home-made touches that add that little extra.
McKenna (my 6 year old), really wanted a horse party this year. I decided to use pink and brown as the colors for her party, and found I could easily tie them in with a baptism too. I posted a few teaser pics and their invites last week; you can see them here.
The decorations were pretty simple. I used white tablecloths, and then cut a yard of light burlap in half to make two table runners (I only got pics of one table though--we had to set up quick before church on Sunday, since everyone was going to the baptism, then following us back to our house for the party.) I grabbed a few stems of fake flowers from Walmart ($4 for 4 bunches), and a few canning jars from my pantry, toy horses from my daughters room, and wooden letters from down in my craft pile (they were letters that used to hang in the girls' room. I just had to repaint one!). We used light pink tulle and ribbon to dress up the white curtains in the background. It was really hard to photograph how pretty it turned out with the light blazing in, so you'll have to trust me that it looked awesome!
I made the popcorn boxes using my Silhouette and colored cardstock. The horse art was made using scrap wood from Menards. My husband used a plane to break the edges, and then roughed up the wood using a hammer and some elbow grease. :) Then I stained it using walnut colored opaque acrylic paint. When that dried, I used my Silhouette again to cut the horse out of vinyl. I centered the horse on the boards, and then painted over everything roughly with pink acrylic paint. I wanted the piece to look a little rustic, so nothing was done too perfectly. Then I peeled up the vinyl and gave the whole piece a good sanding to rough it up a bit more. McKenna is very excited to hang it up in her room now that the party is over!
Our party menu was simple (again, had to be ready before we left for church!), and then I also made a horse cake using a Wilton pan, and some chocolate cupcakes with yummy raspberry cheesecake frosting!
 |
| Getting ready to blow out candles! |
 |
One of her favorite presents!
 |
My beautiful birthday girl!
|
|
I also made McKenna's outfit, but more on that in another post! Until then, Happy Crafting!
Linking up to these great parties!
