A friend just suggested a grandfather’s version of our free Meet My Dad printables, and may I say, “Duh.” Why didn’t I think of that?
Here are two versions sure to tickle your Granddaddy, Pop, PawPaw, Gramps or Grandpa’s funnybone!
Top Pop Casual Granddad Printable
Meet My Granddad Tie Printable 2012
Enjoy!
I don’t offer printables very often. Largely because I never get any real indication that people are using them. For some reason, my Father’s Day printable, first released at least two years ago, has totally exploded on Pinterest. Since early February, it has been pinned and repinned over and over. Exploding my blog hits. Blowing my mind. I mean, Father’s Day is in June. Kudos to all of you who are that far ahead of the game. I am not one of you, but I aspire to one day be! Seriously. Look at this snapshot below of things you’ve pinned from my blog. That long skinny pale yellow thing is my Father’s Day printable. It’s like that all the way down the page. That and those pink marshmallow flowers. Who knew, right?
I’ve got several versions of that printable floating around. Some of them are year-specific. Some are not. All have a yellow tie design running down the center. I guess it’s sort of an antiquated notion that ties represent dads though. My husband wears a suit and tie to work. Every. Single. Day. Many dads don’t though, and I’m sure they are glad for it! I know I would be. I’ve just finished an updated version: Dad in t-shirt. Top Pop. I’ve switched up the questions a bit and added a place for your kiddo’s name, age and the year as well. Enjoy!
Download it here:Meet My Dad Printable or here.
Here’s the Granddad version.
Things have been so busy around here that I haven’t had time for my usual holiday merrymaking. I’ve always been a big fan of Easter and Springtime, probably because I’m an April baby.
While combing the seasonal aisles at Target a few weeks back, I bought one of these inexpensive bunny-shaped chocolate molds.
I rediscovered them Wednesday and decided to make some time to try them before Easter was long gone. I was so tickled with the way the first tray turned out that I made a few more sets for my daughter to share with preschool friends.
In addition to the candy mold costing less than $3, I thought it was super easy to use. I ended up going back to the store to buy three more sets of molds so I could make more than five bunnies at a time. I also loved that the directions called for real chocolate, which I much prefer the taste of candy melts.
Here’s are list of the supplies I used:
Chocolate chips
GulfWax, optional
Squirt bottle
Lollipop sticks, 5 inches long
Lollipop cello bags and ties
Decorative ribbon
I melted one bag of chocolate chips and 1/8 of a bar of GulfWax in a double boiler, The GulfWax helped to thin the chocolate a little and also gave the finished product a bit of a glossy shine. Using a funnel, I poured the melted chocolate into a squirt bottle. I have umpteen of them left over from Caroline’s candy house party.
I filled the molds then added the sucker sticks, covering the end of the stick with more chocolate. I gave the tray a final tap on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles and level out the chocolate. Then, I put them in the freezer to set. I was nervous, but they popped out of the molds really easily.
Here’s another look at the finished product.
I think they turned out super adorable. We took them to the Easter party yesterday, and the kids devoured them! I started thinking about how cute it would be to play with different flavors and colors, using butterscotch, white chocolate, or maybe even peanut butter chips to create calico bunnies.
Totally adorable for a birthday party favor or as adult favors for a baby shower too. So what are you waiting for? Get yourself to Target before they’re all gone. Just don’t go to my Target. I already cleaned them out.
So happy to finally get around to sharing these pictures from a sweet Springtime birthday party! My friend, Gina, did this adorable carnival themed party that everyone is always asking about for her daughter’s first birthday. For her second, they celebrated her birthday Easter-style with an adorable petting zoo and a good-old fashioned egg hunt.
Here’s the invitation I created for the big day.
Gina made this moss “A” for the door to greet the party goers. Love.
Here’s the beautiful buffet table filled with all sorts of adorable goodness.
Like these sweet bunny sandwiches. If you’ve ever attempted sandwiches with cookie cutters then you know this wasn’t easy. If not, it’s much harder than you might think!
And how sweet are these carrot silverware treatments? So festive!
I love the natural neutrals of the bristle bottle brush bunnies with the bright colors of Spring here.
After getting rained out the previous year, Gina was brave enough to try her luck with another outdoor party and, boy, did this one ever pay off! Loving all that green.
Here’s a close-up of the centerpiece–Spring branches hung with decorative eggs!
Gina used these natural cups with lids from Think Garnish and decorated them with these little cottontails. No spill!
I love this decorative galvanized accent too. So bright and fun!
Here’s the birthday girl, Ava, getting ready to eat. I adore those cabbage leaf chargers!
The entertainment was a traveling petting zoo. The children were able to pet the goats, ducks and bunnies too!
Ava and her dad got up close and personal with this snuggly little bunny.
Here’s a peek at the birthday girl’s little smash cake. So sweet and simple. Love the fondant tag detail with the writing.
Guests took home their eggs and a pair of these adorable bunny britches stuffed full of goodies.
The tag read, “I’ve been on the hunt for a sweet friend like you!”
A beautiful day for a beautiful girl turning 2. Can’t wait to share pictures from another party Gina is hosting soon. It’ll be wild. Stay tuned!
It occurs to me how much design work, particularly custom design work that you never get to see because it might not be the invitation my client chooses, or just because I’m moving so feverishly that I don’t take the time I should to show you. I’m going to try my best to show you what I’ve been up to and hope to sometimes share pictures of client parties when they are available.
I have a wonderful lady that I’ve worked with for a couple of years now. She came to me online after seeing Lauren’s son’s bug party. She is full of exuberance and fun ideas for celebrating her kids’ birthdays. Her enthusiasm is catching, and Lauren and I have had the pleasure of doing several party plans for her. The latest was for her daughter, Maddee’s 3rd birthday celebration. These custom design options may look familiar. They were completed around the same time as the vintage fishing invitations I worked on. They have some of the same design elements and a bit of a throwback feel.
We tossed around a few ideas all centering around a petting zoo. We had all but landed on a County Fair theme. The only hangup was that her daughter was hoping for some sort of princess element, as almost three-year-old girls are prone to do. Because it was in the fall, we were able to play around with angles like the party being a Harvest Festival, the party activities being things you’d do and see at a local fair, and the birthday girl being “crowned” the festival princess to satisfy that element of her party wishes. I also tried some poster-style versions, being the time of year the fair comes to town. Here are the invitation options I designed.
I can tell you which version of the invitation they went with for the party, but first I’d like to hear which is your favorite. I’m trying to decide which options to add to the online store. So let me hear about which you like best and why.
A few months back, Emily came to me through mutual friends I’d worked with. She had a fishing-themed birthday in mind to celebrate her son, Jack’s 4th birthday and their life-long love of the water. Her desire to use family photos and heirloom fishing items drove the vintage look and feel. After much searching, she decided she wasn’t going to find what she had in mind for invitations, so we talked about some custom options. Here are a few of the versions I created for her.
This last one was the one Emily decided on. She felt it best incorporated her “Hooked on 4″ idea.
Enjoy the pictures Emily shared and the party details as told by her!
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We have a pond in our backyard and we often walk down to feed the fish and just play around in the water. Jack loves being outside, playing in the dirt, picking up worms and of course “hooking” up anything he can scoop up in his net. I also share the same passion for being outdoors and close to the water. I am from the Coast, and my Dad’s parents always had us on the water!
When I began tossing the idea around as a possibility, I thought it would be fun to incorporate some of our family heirloom pictures, cane poles and cast nets that belonged to both my Granddaddy and Papa. I started to think of colors and wanted to create a vintage, simple, classic look.
After shopping around on the internet and in and out of stationery stores, I remembered Pink Peppermint’s wonderful creations! Eleanor helped bring my idea to life and the party was fabulous! We had a fish fry to celebrate “our fly guy” and I put snack chips in an old fishing basket – “fish and chips.”
We also served boiled shrimp and smoked tuna dip. For our non-seafood guest, we served corn dip, party sandwiches and cupcakes, of course!
I had a galvanized oval tub and filled it with water and plastic fish. I attached a mini tin bucket to a cane pole with fishing line to scoop up the fish for a fun activity!
I decorated these mason jars with red raffia and had Swedish fish and gummy worms for their “fresh catch” or their “live bait”…This was a huge hit! There wasn’t a fish or gummy worm left over!!!
Adorable party, Emily! Thanks for letting me be involved, and a happy 4th year to Jack! I think as the weather continues to warm up, this is a great theme to keep in mind for spring and summer months too!
The post I did on DIY marshmallow flowers went over so well that I decided to let the kids play around this weekend with some different approaches to the marshmallow flower. I am a little bit of a control freak when it comes to the kids in the kitchen. They like to look with their hands, sling batter all around, cough all over stuff (you are never going to eat anything produced in my kitchen again, are you? #moreforme). Breathe. Honestly though, this is something they can do with limited supervision. It’s just like a craft project using glue. My two were SO proud of themselves and the flowers they made. They even came up with some new things to try!
I scored some Jett-Puffed pink heart marshmallows and some more of their regular strawberry marshmallows. We played with new combinations, new presentation and even did a few with colored sugar. I think the flower pot is a fun way to display these for a party. I’d love them in a long, skinny trough planter down the center of a party table as well. What a fun centerpiece! Just insert a piece of foam in your pot and arrange your marshmallow flowers. This would also be cute as shown a gift with your message written on a plant marker. OK, I’ll stop.
Here’s our star, the traditional version marshmallow flower. I decided to pink the leaves to add a little whimsy.
And here’s the same flower topped with a marshmallow heart.
You just draw a circle with the cookie icing to leave a space in the center, dip it in the nonpareils, and then insert the stick all the way through the top of the marshmallow flower and slightly into the heart marshmallow on top. Cute, no? My six-year-old came up with this next version.
It actually looks really cute with a single heart or with two, three or four heart marshmallows to a stick. It’s especially cute to use these for variety if you are doing an arrangement in a pot. Next, we played with some colored sugar, drawing a heart with the cookie icing and then dipping the marshmallow into the sugar. These are a cute and easy as individually-wrapped add-ons to a gift or classroom exchange card.
Finally, and since it was Super Bowl Sunday, (any excuse to make sweets, right?) I made a recipe of brownies. I did mine in a 9×13 glass dish because I wanted more surface area to play with using the various cookie cutter shapes in case there was a learning curve. I bought a pack of cute plastic Valentine’s cookie cutters from the Target Dollar Bins. ♥
I had great luck cutting perfect little heart-shaped brownies. I think I’ll double my recipe to make them thicker and give our teachers each a big fat stack of these–probably with a note about “brownie points,” an idea I got from Lauren McKinsey, who has some super cute printables to that effect. Genius!
How cute did they turn out with the little arrow pick? Right through the heart! Those are actually the tulip appetizer picks from Pick On Us. I think they look like arrows though and even recommended them in a party plan for an archery-themed birthday! You can get 50 of them for $5. The bad news is I BELIEVE their minimum order is $25, but if you do a lot of entertaining, they have enough varieties of adorable appetizer picks, that you can stock up with cute, colorful and even themed food picks to last you for a while. I’m still working on using the ones I bought when hosting Lauren’s Boy Meets World Sip and See. It’s a really simple way to add to your food presentation, I think.
That’s all I have for now. I hope you all give these a try. Super fun and totally, TOTALLY easy. Don’t forget to check out my free Valentine’s printables for classroom exchanges! Love is in the air!
I’m a bit on pink and red overload with Valentine’s. I’ve been wanting to create some new artwork. Decided I’d try something that feels sort of light and airy in comparison to all the heavy, saturated color we see this time of year. When I was reminded of these candy airplanes (instructions here) on Pinterest, it went perfectly with a theme I’d been batting around in my head, “Love is in the Air!” I decided I’d create a free printable collection along these lines in which the little candy airplane would make an appearance.
Here’s what I used, in specific, for my airplanes:
Note: If you or your school is opposed to gum for kids this age, you can use a pack of Pez just as well (I’m thinking that an AirHead or mini Laffy Taffy might also work in the gum’s stead). There’s just no pretty white surface to sticker.
These cutie little airplanes fit perfectly into a 4 x 4 inch zipper bag (check your craft store’s jewelry section). I’ve provided a sweetie pie printable bag topper which prints two to a page on a 4×6. There’s also a version with six to a letter page included. It’s very hard to tell from my fab photog, but the background is pale blue with clouds! Just trim in half and score down the middle of the red scallops to fold. Adhere with glue dots or double stick tape. I used some of each since my paper stock has an extra bit of body to it.
I also did a sort of girl and boy version of the flat Valentine’s handout cards–one with a heart balloon and another with the little plane skywriting “Love” in the clouds. Each has a place to write the names in.
I thought the balloon version lent itself well to a candy add-on. So using my rotary fabric cutter (or an Xacto knife), I cut a 3/4″ slit just below the red of the balloon tip and inserted this heart-shaped sucker. Cute, no? I trimmed some of the excess wrapper off to make it less bulky. If you like, you can score this card to fold in half, then seal it with a sticker. These also print on 4×6, but I have included a download for printing three on a letter-sized page as well.
Look at that happy little heart balloon/sucker! I secured the stick to the back of the card with a piece of clear tape.
Finally, available for free download are these sweet toppers. You can punch them with a 2 inch paper punch as shown here and use them as cupcake picks.
The same printable file also works well as straw toppers when using a 1 1/2 inch paper punch. Here, I freehand cut the 3/4″ slits with a my handheld rotary cutter and inserted festive paper drinking straws.
I am pleased as punch with the way these turned out, and I hope you will be too! You can download your free Valentine’s printables below or here. I can’t BELIEVE it’s almost February! Can’t you just smell the love that’s in the air? Or maybe it’s cupcakes. Either way, enjoy!
Valentine Cupcake+Straw Toppers
Heart Balloon Valentine Letter
Please note these materials are copyrighted by Pink Peppermint Paper, LLC. and are meant for your personal use only. You may not alter, resell or claim as your own any part of these files available here for download. Thanks!
I’m happy to report that despite the two weeks I had to put this party together, my daughter’s 4th birthday was a smashing success! We invited some friends over to decorate candy houses. Here’s the invitation.
I decorated the doors with paper medallions turned wrapped candy and made lollipops out of twisty balloons for the planters.
Inside, we set the scene with a candy house village made from cardboard gift boxes and decorated with candy.
I made the banner using scrapbook paper backed with felt and strung on candy necklaces. It read, “Happy 4th Sweet Caroline.”
I used these cupcake wrappers topped off with peppermints to hide the hooks we hung it with! It turned out to be one of my favorite little details!
Now, goodness knows I am inclined to try some ridiculous things for party’s sake, but I know my limits. There was no way I was going to attempt to make 20 some odd gingerbread or graham cracker houses to decorate. No. Way. That is precisely the sort of effort that would have me in tears at 2 a.m. and wanting to pull my hair out. Not gonna do it.
I bought these gable boxes from the bakery section at Michael’s, added a roof and lined the window with yellow tissue paper. Lauren put them together for me, God bless her. She adhered them to 10 inch cake bases decorated with Washi tape in our party colors—radish red, pale pink, lime green and sky blue–and she added silver pipe cleaner trim to the cardboard base. I thought they looked pretty cute even without the candy! Having never worked with Washi tape before, I was thrilled with its ability to be repositioned and the ease of use. I can’t wait to figure out other party applications! I ordered mine from leboxboutique on Etsy.
Each kiddo got their own bottle of royal icing, or as we called it Sugar cement.
There was an assortment of candy on each table. I tried to avoid overuse of Christmas colors because my daughter was born on Dec 27, so I try to be sure and make her birthday feel like a separate event. Given the time of year, I was able to find lots of candy in red and green. I added some pink and blue to the mix. We used M&Ms, holiday Lifesavers, pastel Starlight mints, pink and green peppermint sticks, spice drops, sugar wafers in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, milk chocolate rocks, fruit loops, mini Nilla wafers, marshmallow ropes, lollipops, Hershey bars, gingerbread snowmen and trees, and even some gummy penguins!
Here’s the birthday girl hard at work on her candy house masterpiece!
If I ever host this event again, I’d either buy mini gumdrops or skip them altogether. They were heavy and wanted to slide off before the icing set. I’d also buy more sugar wafers. Lots more! The kids were funny. They’d each chosen their materials and then it was madness if they couldn’t finish that wall, door or rooftop like they’d started it. Here’s some of the kids’ handiwork.
They were all very proud of their work!
After they’d finished their masterpieces (and eaten way too much candy), we put the candy house aside to give them time to set up before our guests left. Then, we broke out the real food.
I am a fool for brunch foods, and since it was early on a Saturday, we did ChicFila chicken minis, sausage balls, pinwheels, mini cinnamon rolls, yogurt covered snowflake pretzels, sweet breads, and fresh fruit. We served coffee and, for the kids, a frothy pink punch made with raspberry sorbet, cranberry juice and gingerale.
Candy bracelet napkin rings!
These cups are my new go-to for beverage service.
Nothing Earth-shattering, but I think they are versatile for any theme, easy to dress up with straws like these I used from Shop Sweet Lulu or a themed cup wrap, and the lids makes them great for kids. It’s also fun to do a straw flag for guests to write their names on so drinks don’t get mixed up.
And then it was time for cupcakes! I ordered half chocolate and half vanilla from a local bakery, Cakes and Candles, and added these adorable fondant toppers from Edible Details. Brittany did an assortment of color combinations based on our party scheme. Love!
It was a great time! Everyone really did seem to have fun, and it made me smile to see how tickled each child was with his/her candy house creation! If you’ve always wanted to host a gingerbread house party but were hesitant to bake or buy all those houses, I highly recommend this fun and easy alternative. Happy 4th Sweet Caroline!
My silly girl’s 4th birthday is coming up on December 27th. Last year I thought I’d be all smart at wait ’til late January to throw her a party. Then, I was sad because I missed out on that lovely January lull with the fresh starts and the getting things accomplished. This year, I’ve decided to go a little early and try to squeeze one in before Christmas. Crazy, I know. We are going to have a candy house party though so pre-holidays seems right. Notice I said “candy house” and not “gingerbread house”. What’s the difference, you ask?
Well, instead of pulling my hair our making my own gingerbread/graham cracker forms or spending a small fortune on store bought ones, we’re making our candy houses using these.
This is a standard gable box with an oval window from your craft store’s cake section. I added the window square and the roof, and ta-da! A naked little house just waiting for a 4-year old to smear it with icing and candy. We are going to mount them on cake boards for the party and for easy transport.
I went to a party years ago where we used cardboard forms, which I found odd at the time. Now, it makes perfect sense to me. It will sit on the counter for two weeks while the kids pick the candy off, and then chunk. Into the trash. Anyhoo, I’ve been busily amassing an assortment of candy and honestly, I’d better get busy on the rest of the party. T-minus five days and counting!
Before I go, I’d love to share a little inspiration with you. Over the Thanksgiving holiday I closed up shop, and my husband and I snuck away for a few days sans kiddos to The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. We recently celebrated our 10th anniversary, and the GPI is where we went on our honeymoon. It is absolutely amazing–this huge stone mass overlooking the most beautiful mountains, enormous stone fireplaces, a state-of-the-art spa. Here was our view from the restaurant on their terrace.
When we last visited it was early November, so we missed the GPI’s Annual National Gingerbread House Competition and Display, now in its 19th year. What luck that we’d timed it right this time! I was excited about the chance to get some inspiration for materials to use on our own houses. Here are a few of my favorites.
OK. After I saw this one, I had to know what the contest rules were. Entries had to be 75% gingerbread and entirely edible, I believe. Participants were encouraged to get creative with their interpretations.
I loved the Ritz cracker roof on this one. Sweet little birdies!
This tree lot entry was pretty stinking cute, too. There were DOZENS more to see including some pretty amazing entries in the Teen category–an Eiffel Tower and the Despicable Me house. Too cute, and so artful! This year the Grove Park Inn is adding a Grove “Bark” Inn Gingerbread Dog House competition, which is on display now! Just wanted to share this fun with you before you see our house artwork. I am so in awe of bakers and their mad engineering and decorating skills.
If you’re even in that area during the holidays, you should check it out!
