Autumn Love

I just love this time of year! Pumpkin lattes, gorgeous fall colors, hayrides, fire pit nights, roasting marshmallows...all of it! Enjoy this beautiful season!

Hawaiian Luau Party!

                          Fun Hawaiian Luau themed party we did for my daughter's 7th Birthday! 
                                  Here are some of the fun details and activities of the party!

      Paper lanterns were picked up at the Dollar store. Hot Pink surf boards from 5 Below.
I hand made the rest of the decorations. (Now available my party shop, Pretti Mini).

Ruby and I made these fun hula water bottles with some fabric and green card stock.

Sweets table!

I found the cutest invites from SandyFord on Etsy. I cut one of the extra invite images out and glued it onto a stick to add to the centerpiece. Oriental trading company has those leaves. I bought a bunch to decorate with.

I bought a bunch of grass skirts and clip on flowers and had the girls "Design Their Own" Hula skirts.

Next we had a visit from a real Hula dancer!

Mali gave our girls a great mini hula show!

Next, it was their turn to learn a few hula moves!

My happy birthday girl!

Time to head outside for the Hawaiian Dress Up Relay Race!

Each team had to dress up in coconut top (hilarious), an extra grass skirt, and leis. So they dressed up, ran, then took off their dress-up stuff to hand to the next person. Really fun and funny!

Cake time! Beautiful cake made by Kelly Ott of Delaware Desserts. It was as yummy as it was pretty!

Loved their faces when they saw the inside. I had Kelly make it with the party colors inside - hot pink, lime, and orange. So fun!

Not much left, I'm afraid!

A fun day for my birthday girl with her friends!

If you have any questions about how we did something or where we got something to make this party, just ask! I'm happy to help!

XOXO,

Jen

Party credits:

Party Styling and Planning: Jen Kitzmiller, Pretti Mini, LLC. & Plan Me A Party
Cake: Kelly Ott of Delaware Desserts
Backdrop, Banners, Bunting, and Pom Pom Wand Centerpiece: Pretti Mini
Leis, flowers, grass skirts: Oriental Trading Company

Hang A Little Love!

A sweet way to shower your little one with love! Hang some hearts in their room so it's the first thing they see when they wake up! Easy and quick to make. Cut out hearts, tape to ribbon. Instant sweetness!

HAPPY LOVE DAY!

Valentine's Printable Games & Activities

Printed up these sweet games for my daughter and thought I'd share!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I HEART MY CUSTOMERS: Vintage Airplane Theme

Excited to share this adorable Vintage Airplane Party!  The birthday boy's party was held at an Aviator Museum for kids. What a cool idea! Creative mom, Amanda, asked me to design a high chair banner to match her party colors and somehow tie in the airplane theme. Luckily, I had just the fabric upstairs waiting for such an occasion!

Is he a cutie pie or what?

 Love all the details the mom put into this party! Printables and paper goods by Sweet Birdies Nest.

 LOVE LOVE LOVE this stunning cake by fellow etsy seller, Marinold Cakes.

 Here is the vintage airplane fabric I had. Was excited to have the perfect project for it!

And this is the final product with all the colors the mom requested. She loved how it turned out! 

(Me, too!)

Thank you so much, Amanda, for sharing this awesome party!

Mermaid Parties Reign On The West Coast!

While we - here in North East - are frozen under yet another snow storm, mermaid party orders have been coming in like crazy since the day after Christmas! I love the idea of blue skies, warm days, and blue waters. Makes me smile to think of it and day dream about summer!

Here are some pretties I've made lately for my customers:

Have a beautiful day!

Jen

Kids Make The Best Presents EVER!

Okay, so I am super excited to share with you my daughter Ruby's Christmas gift for my husband this year. While I helped her implement it, she came up with THE WHOLE IDEA HERSELF and it turned out so cute! She is besides herself with excitement. So proud of her! Her Daddy is gonna LOVE it!

So here is how the conversation went with my 6 year old after my hubs tucked her in one night:

Ruby: I love my Daddy. He's the best!
Me: Me too, Rubes.
Ruby: We should do something nice for him. (pause for thinking) and then...
I KNOW!
LIGHT BULB!!!!
Let's make him a great Christmas present! We'll make him a football field cause he like football and we'll take his picture and put HIM on it!
Me: What a great idea! We'll take his picture tomorrow!
Ruby: Okay, but mommy this is MY shoot so I get to be the boss this time, okay?
(LOL, the kid knows me so well. I am always setting up shoots around here.)

So, the next day she asked him to put on his Eagles jersey and told him how to pose while I took a few shots and then she took a couple herself. (To make sure they were just right). I had them blown up and let her choose her favorites. Here is how we made the craft:

1. First we cut a piece of cardboard into a rectangle.
2. Then we glued a piece of green construction paper on top of it - cut to the same size.
3. With a white crayon, she drew the lines of the field.
4. We didn't have any brown construction paper left so she drew (and colored in) a brown football
on white card stock and then cut it out.
5. Next, she cut out 3 Daddy "players"out of the pics.
6. We hot glued a nut onto a washer for the stands and use bamboo skewers (cut in half) to glue onto the back of each photo.
7. For the goal post, we broke yellow painted dowels into the right size (trimmed the ends with scissors) and glued together. I wasn't sure if they would hold so we backed it up with a little green wire wrapped around the corners.
8. We painted an empty thread spool and painted it red. (Ruby's idea. I pay no attention to football whatsoever, but she said it should be red so red it was!)
9. After it dried, we filled all of our "stands" with hot glue and put our photo-Daddy's and the goal post in them.
10. Last, we hot glued the goal post to the field. We left the "players" free standing so they could be moved for play.

I love how it turned out. So much, in fact, I'm thinking it would be super cute for a family gift sometime with a few men in the family "playing" each other on the field! I'm also thinking that maybe I could use a magnet between the layers of cardboard and green paper so that the players would be stuck there, but not permanently. So many fun options! Hope you enjoyed this craft!

 Close up of the 3 Daddy pics she chose. I absolutely love the silly face he's making on the 2nd one.

Wishing you and yours a super fun holiday!!

Jen

I HEART MY CUSTOMERS!

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! It's been a fun and busy time gearing up for all the fall and winter holidays! I'll do a few recaps after Thanksgiving, but for now I thought I'd show you a cute little centerpiece a customer recently made with my pom wands for a panda themed baby shower.

So cute! Great job, Necie, it's adorable! Thanks for sharing!

*Mini pom wands available in any color combo at:

PRETTI MINI PARTY GOODS

www.etsy.com/shop/prettimini

Halloween Flamingo Costume DIY

There is particular catalog that comes in the mail with the best costumes ever. However, they come at a hefty price tag. Still, I let my daughter take a look, thinking I could make her something in a similar style if she sees something she likes. LOL, of COURSE she picked out the flamingo! I kinda chuckled at my bird lover and then got to work. I wasn't sure how on earth I was going to make it, but the look of excitement on her face made me determined to make it something really pretty.

Found out it wasn't so tricky at all. I made a fun, no-sew costume with things she had in her wardrobe, a whole lot of pink tulle, and a whole lot of feathers. Here's how to do it...

WHAT YOU NEED:

Hot pink turtleneck
Hot pink leggings, jeans, or tights
Hot pink boots or shoes
1- hot pink play dress with tulle bottom (from Halo Heaven)
2 feather fans (bought mine at Oriental Trading Co.)
A whole lot of hot pink tulle (Joanne Fabrics)
1 piece of Hot pink elastic (Joanne Fabrics)
3-6 thin boas.
Feather clips
Feather hair piece
Mask (optional)

The first few items on the list are layering pieces. I put them on my daughter and then built upon that to make the rest of the costume.

With the hot pink elastic, I made a waistband for a tutu. Wrap around your daughter's waist and measure to the proper width. Then hand or machine sew then ends together to make a circular waist band. (Oops! I said this was no-sew, didn't I? Well, the REST of it is, I promise!)

Next cut strips of hot pink tulle. Length depends on your child's hight. For my 6 year old I measured it up against one of her skirts then made it twice as long. You want to be able to fold it evenly over the elastic and then tie in a not - leaving 2 even pieces handing. Make a point at the bottom of both pieces of the tulle. Keep tying all the way around and then cut strips a little bit longer for the next layer to go on top. Add a 3rd layer a little longer. You can always trim later, but having some shorter layers underneath creates the round poof I was looking for to make it more bird-like. You can also tie in a few strips of hot pink glitter tulle in at the end, putting them every so often or like 4 strips across the front, 3-4" apart.

Take your boas next and cut them in half. I tied a few on to the sides and then used the rest to make a poof of "tail feathers" in the back. Attach it to a piece of tulle to tie around the waist like a belt. Weave it through the fan to add that piece to the back also.

Last we added clip on feathers I found at Michael's onto the collar of her dress and onto each sleeve.

Add a mask if you'd like. You could make one of these or buy at Michaels.

 Easy peasy and pink-tacular!

Add a pink pumpkin and you are ready to go!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I HEART MY CUSTOMERS: Celebrating ALL of YOU!

This week I just want to send a big virtual hug and extends thanks to all of you! 

We hit some milestones over here lately and I am feeling oh so grateful! Sales at Pretti Mini Party Goods doubled this month! So many more of you are finding my Etsy shop and making the shop or a particular good(s) a favorite! THANK YOU!

We also hit a big milestone on our Face Book page: Over 1000 LIKES!!! I think we are currently at 1044! In honor of that number, we did a drawing and are giving away a sweet pink tutu set. IRMA FLORES you are the winner! Please PM me your address and congratulations!

To all of you who stop by the blog or shop for ideas...for all of you that "like" this momma's creative stuff...and for all of your orders and support
                                      THANK YOU SO MUCH!