My boys and I love Dr. Suess (The Grinch That Stole Christmas is my absolute favorite of all of his characters) and his birthday is only a week away! So of course I had to share it with you.

I think we’ll make some cupcakes that day and read a few of his books. AND maybe go see the new The Lorax movie!

The top image is from a fabulous Dr. Suess ABC birthday party from Nesting Instincts.

And these yummy Dr. Suess Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes are from Good Life Eats. She also made some adorable Cat in the Hat marshmallows.

Hop over to both ladies and take a look! As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create! Happy weekend everyone!

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For my most recent article with Kellogg’s Snackpicks.com, I created these bumble bee cookies along with an easy to decorate bugs and butterflies cake and favor idea that will have all your guests buzzing!

Hop over to Snackpicks for all the how to details on how to make these simple no-bake cookies, perfect for Spring.

And hop over to my shoppe to see more of my bugs & butterflies printable birthday party collection! 

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

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I’ve been waiting a long time to share my new pirate birthday party ideas with you and I’m so excited! My youngest fell in love with the thought of pirates this past Spring, yep, a year ago, when Disney’s Jake and The Neverland Pirates premiered. So in June of this past summer I hosted an “off the hook” (HA! I’m so funny!) birthday party for him.

BUT, just before his real birthday party we had to create a new printable pirate party collection to use. And since we were making a new collection that also meant we had to shoot the new collection. So I called my talented friend Angie of Angie Arthur Photography and IHeartFaces and a few other friends, which I’ll share over the next few days, and I styled a very fun pirate party on the shore of a local lake with ships in the background.

It was an awesomely hot day (pushing 95), but we all survived and the kids did have a ton of fun! I think the sugar helped. {wink} And for my little one (this little scallywag below is Angie’s baby), it was a bit like having a party before the party!

So to start, I’m going to share a very simple and fun pirate party favor idea. I picked up red and white stripe fabric from JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, cut it into 2.5″x5″ strips and wrapped it around the top (aka the pirate’s head) of red Tootsie Roll suckers. As you wrap and twist to one side, add a touch of hot glue here and there. The skull cap will adhere to the paper and come right off when the kiddos are ready to eat them!

And if you’re wondering how they all stood up so well in the bucket, I covered a styrofoam ball from JoAnn’s Fabric and Craft Stores with chocolate coins from the candy store.

I hope you’ll stop back in to see more of my new pirate collection and all the fun details I created to go along with it! And as always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

Photography credits: Angie Arthur Photogaphy.

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I had the best weekend. I just relaxed, spent time with family and friends and played with a few new recipes. It was perfect. And this little treat was one of the fun things I worked on.

By the way, are you on Instagram?! I just got on and I’m admittedly a bit addicted. It’s a great way for me to share with you what I’ve got working, while I’m working on it! If you’re on, I’d love to connect with you! You can find me at @thecelebrationshoppe   

Okay, back to these goodies. Easter is only a few short weeks away and I’m so so so ready for Spring, so this weekend I started planning.

I ran to Kroger and grabbed some Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Treats, toothpicks, Pillsbury icing and green crepe paper. I even picked up the sweet little platter and bowl I used to style the shot! You’ll also need a bit of tape and orange food coloring.

So here’s what you do. Cut a Treat cross-ways creating two triangles/carrots. If one side of your triangle has a sharp edge, just mold it down with your finger.

Next, tint your icing orange. I use gel food coloring; it’s less watery. Once you have your icing the color you want, melt it in eight second intervals. You want it soft, but not hot. It needs to run, but not drip. I melted a cup of icing for my treats in three, eight second, intervals and it was perfect. (NOTE: Depending on how many you make and how quickly you move, you might have to rewarm your icing as you go.)

To cover your carrots, dip if your icing is deep enough. Mine wasn’t so I used a spoon to quickly cover the entire Treat. Then I added ridges with a toothpick before the icing dried.

While your treats are drying, make your carrot tops. Take a 10″ strip of green crepe paper and fold it in half twice (four layers).

Cut a fringe to the half way point and roll the crepe around a toothpick making a cylinder. Once wrapped, insert a small piece of folded tape inside the last fold to close. Remove the crepe from the toothpick and trim off a 1/3″.

 Here’s what you’ll have, perfect little carrot tops.

These would be perfect placesettings for Easter dinner. I filled the little bowls with dirt… aka the new Keebler Dark Chocolate Stripe Cookies! YUM!  

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

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For my most recent post with Kellogg’s Snackpicks.com, I created an easy to decorate bugs & butterfly birthday cake, bumble bee cookies and a colorful favor idea that will have all your guests buzzing!

Hop over to Snackpicks for all the how to details, tips on applying your decorations and lots of photos!

And hop over to my shoppe to see more of my bugs & butterflies printable birthday party collection and pink butterfly printable birthday party collection! 

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

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These are just adorable and perfect for a robot party! Dawn of Not Just A Mommy picked up our Build Your Own Robot activity cards for her Robot Valentine’s Party so I just had to see what she had going on over there. And when I saw these I immediately asked if I could share her creation with all of you!

Here are the candies Dawn collected to bring her marshmallow creation to life. Just assemble with dots of icing, allow them to dry and you have a fun treat and/or activity for your robot party. Hop over to see what else Dawn created for the fun filled day!

And as always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

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I’m a book lover. Pure and simple. And these are some of the “must have” wedding, party, baking and crafting books on my list for 2012!

Southern Living Wedding Planner & Keepsake - The talented team at Southern Living has just published it’s first wedding book and it does not disappoint. As a southern girl myself, this books takes me back to planning my own wedding (held in the garden of a lovely antebellum house overlooking the Tombigbee River in Alabama… it was such a beautiful day) and what I wouldn’t have done to have such a tool to help me organize! The book itself is a beautiful keepsake, but it’s also a step-by-step guide full of worksheets and checklists. PLUS, over 175 photographs to keep you inspired from real dream weddings across the South. It’s an absolute must have if you’re a bride and the perfect gift if you have a bride-to-be in your life. 

Events Exposed – This book is all business, think textbook with tons of must know details if you want to succeed. Written by Lena Malouf, she shares how to develop your strategy for entering the industry, meeting the client, building the business, venue essentials, managing money, presenting the proposal and more.  

Sweet Designs: Bake It, Craft It, Style It - Dessert designer extraordinaire Amy Atlas has created a fun and lovely book of sweets styling. The book has 15 chapters filled with more than 100 eye-popping recipes for irresistible treats, plus over 75 easy, affordable DIY craft projects. The chapters feature never-before-seen dessert tables, each inspired by themes Amy’s clients most often request: a favorite color, design, flavor, destination, passion, or holiday. The book releases in April, but you can pre-order today! 

celebraTORI – Actress and mom Tori Spelling planned her very first party (her own roller skate–themed birthday with a hot-pink- and-turquoise color scheme) at the age of eight, and she’s been hosting friends and family in her home ever since. In her new book she’s sharing all her party-planning secrets on a “real” world budget. 

Push-up Pops – I’m so incredibly proud of this one (not that I had a thing to do with it, it’s just the author is a dear friend of mine)! Courtney of Pizzazzerie is a fun loving creative southern soul and this book is brimming with her personality and “pizzaz!” It’s a must order if you enjoy throwing a party AND this is only the first of at least three books for her. {So happy for you sweetie!}

Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh, My! – Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, authors of Hello Cupcake! (one of my all time favorite fun food books), have a new book out and it’s full of all the adorable fun you’ve come to expect from them, except this time it isn’t just cupcakes!

Sugarlicious - My “sweet” friend Meaghan Mountford shares her talents daily as a blogger at Craft Gossip and The Decorated Cookie. And now her new book includes more than 50 ideas for crafting cookies, marshmallows, cupcakes, cake pops, cakes, petits fours and candy clay for parties, holidays, special occasions and just for fun. Plus, she shares a detailed list of the supplies for each project including resources for finding them.

Make and Takes for Kids – author Marie LaBaron, a lovely lady and blogger at Make and Takes, has a gift for crafting with kiddos and if you’ve ever visited her blog you’ll know that her book is a must have to keep your tiny tots busy. Marie’s book showcases 50 crafts for the year, 4-5 ideas for every month!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

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My sweet friend Carrie of The Cake Blog hosted an amazing first birthday party for your lovely little girl, Sadie. Carrie is a cake artist by trade, hence the beautiful cake, but she is also a wonderful mommy and crafter.

I hope you’ll hop over to her blog to see more lovely images, as well as craft details, recipes and resourses from her daughter’s big day! And as always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

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My little ones are taking these fun DIY Valentine pencils to school today as teacher gifts! I saw this clever idea on Simply J Studio and couldn’t resist wrapping them up.

You’ll need Rolos, a Hershey’s Kiss, scrapbook paper and a bit of hot glue!

Cut your scrapbook paper 3.5”x4.5” (I made my horizontal stripe eraser a bit shorter than my yellow pencil paper)  and begin by wrapping your eraser paper around the Rolos first.

Next, wrap the yellow paper, attach with a few dots of glue, and attach the kiss for the pencil tip! I also added a little note that says “You’re The Write Teacher For Me!”

Simple J Studio added a few more touches that I wish I had had time for, but alas I was running a bit behind. Hop over to her blog for more details!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

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This morning I’m sharing some lovely tea party ideas like this sweet princess tea party from Laura Bunker Photography. I just LOVE the glass slipper favor idea. So clever.

And the ruffle cakes in this “Madish” tea party from Sweetapolita are just beautiful.

And how better to surprise your little girl when she comes home from school on her 13th birthday… a lovely mother daughter tea party from Crissy’s Crafts!

Oh, and what party is more girly than a baby shower?! This color-rich yellow tea party on Oh Happy Day is understated and perfect.

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake and create!

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