Just feelin’ beachy today! Here are some easy DIY cupcake decorating ideas for Under the Sea theme and pool parties:

1. Sea turtle cupcakes via Disney Family – decorated with gummy candies and mini chocolate chips for eyes

2. “By the beach” cupcakes via Harvard Common Press – the sand is made from graham cracker crumbs

3. Frosting crab tutorial via MyCakeSchool – the eyes are sixlets, and the crab is easier to make than it looks (it only takes 2 frosting tips)!

4. Bite-sized fish cupcakes via Life Is Sweets – these are miniature M&M’s on miniature cupcakes, so these fish are tiny and adorable!

5. Marzipan starfish cupcakes via Martha Stewart – it would be easy to make the starfish with white frosting if you don’t want to use marzipan

6. Crab cupcake toppers via The Seven Year Cottage – toothpicks are the secret behind these cute gummy crab toppers

The favor tags on these cookies are from my shop, and they are not small (they measure 3-3/4″ tall). That means these are really large bowling pin cookies, which is fabulous! More cookie, more impact, right? : )

You can see more of Kiss Me Kate Events’ gorgeous work on their Facebook page. You can also view the beautiful white butterfly baby shower that they styled here on my blog!

It’s definitely time to party! : ) The entryway was decorated with balloons from Polka Dot Market, lanterns from Asian Import Store, a personalized printable banner, and homemade party poms, streamers, and monster dolls.

The monster dolls are my favorite thing!! Amy made them from felt and they are a perfect replica of the monsters I drew. (I want my own set of these so badly now!) : )

The paper chains are made from cardstock. You can view a tutorial on how to make them at Mini-eco.

The food table was decorated in orange, aqua and pink fabric from JoAnn’s.

Guests had cake, cupcakes, and pink-frosted cookies. To make the cupcakes, Amy took printable cupcake toppers and added them to scalloped paper backings. She thought of every detail – notice how the sprinkles alternate with the color of the toppers so that there’s a little of every color on each cupcake! The cake was made to match the pink monster in the theme – it’s so adorable.

The monster fruit salad was inspired by another fabulous Little Monsters party that I’ve featured. It’s such a fun idea!

Amy served blue Hawaiian Punch and Kool-Aid pink lemonade in monster cups (decorated with googly eyes from JoAnn’s).

The faces on the marshmallow monster pops crack me up!

Each food was labeled with a personalized buffet card, like these mini monster cheesecakes.

Personalized water bottles were on-hand for thirsty little monsters!

At the end of the party, each guest went home with a whole lot of swag: favor buckets filled with goodies, plus custom cookies from Sugar Coated Cookies that were labeled with printable favor circles.

The favor buckets (purchased at Michael’s) were filled with little monster plush dolls, monster stickers, monster tattoos, Pixie sticks, monster rubber duckies, Nerds, bead necklaces, cookies, and monster mouths (made from a printable from JW Illustrations). Then, Amy tied a favor tag to each bucket with coordinating orange, aqua and pink ribbon.

SO FUN!! Thank you so much for sharing, Amy! Happy birthday to Shaylee!

Styling: Amy and Brianne of Ambrini Events, Half Moon Bay, CA
Polka dot balloons: Polka Dot Market
Lanterns: Asian Import Store
Party poms and paper garlands: Ambrini Events, Half Moon Bay, CA
Buckets on the food table, buckets holding favors: Michael’s
Orange, aqua and pink fabrics on the food table, plus the googly eyes for the cups: JoAnn’s
Cake: Shelby Moorehouse
Cake pops: Ambrini Events, Half Moon Bay, CA
Cookies: Sugar Coated Cookies
Monster dolls: Homemade, using felt from JoAnn’s
Printable monster mouths: JW Illustrations
Sewn paper garland tutorial: Mini-eco
Water labels and party printables: Chickabug

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” –Elizabeth Stone

I woke up this morning with this quote on my mind and just wanted to share it with you. To me, it says it all. Happy Mother’s Day!

Besides being super-chic, they’re also versatile – you can use them as party decor or as a prop for your invitation photoshoot. (That’s cutie-pie Keller in the photo below.) : )

To make the numbers, you start with el cheapo paper mache numbers from a craft store (such as JoAnn’s or Hobby Lobby):

Then, you layer black, rust, and metallic silver paint (in a particular order) to achieve the desired effect.

So cool. You’d never know this started out as a plain kraft paper number! For a detailed shopping list and a step-by-step photo tutorial on how to apply the paint, visit Annapolis Online.

Re-posted with permission from Mary Beth at Annapolis Online. Thank you so much, Mary Beth!

Planning an alligator party? Here are some fun finds, plus a whole lot of ideas that will make planning the menu a breeze!

1. These felt alligator clothespins (sold by bakkal on Etsy) could be part of the decor or given as favors. Or, you could have older kids make their own as a party activity.

2. Dorothy at Crazy for Crust has an adorable idea for alligator pie, and shares the recipe, too.

3. Photographer Katherine Marie put together this alligator snack tray for her kids, and the food names are so super-clever. LOVE her ideas! Here’s a list, plus a few more ideas from me…

- Green swamp soup (green pudding)
- Scales (round green candies)
- Alligator bait (anything goes!)
- Tails and mud (celery and peanut butter)
- Gator eggs (grapes, egg-shaped candies, or deviled eggs with the yolks dyed green)
- Alligator skin (green rope candy or green fruit roll-ups)
- Swamp sticks (pretzel rods)
- Gator ade (punch or kool-aid)
- Swamp water (tea)
- Gator claws (make bear paw cookies but re-name them! Fun fact: alligators have 5 toes on the front and 4 in the back.)
- Gator munchies (anything goes!)
- Gator bites (anything goes!)

4. DIY alligator masks would be so much fun for kids to wear at the party, and of course, to take home!

5. Skip to My Lou made this green candied popcorn for St. Patrick’s Day, but at an alligator party, it could be “gator corn.”

PS. Check out Colin’s alligator party for more ideas, and a gorgeous alligator cake!

It seems like only moments ago everyone was celebrating the first day of school, doesn’t it? I was so happy that so many people used the first day of school printable signs that I designed for HowDoesShe, and since then I’ve had lots of requests for last day of school signs. Y’all know I can’t resist a good photo op – I just had to make some signs for you! Here they are, in a variety of colors – pink, green, purple, and blue – so your child can pick their favorite color. Or, how cute would these be for a larger family, with each child holding one sign… or for a whole classroom of kids to take a last day photo with their teacher!

Click here to download the “last day of school 2012″ signs. Enjoy!! And please send me pictures! : )