Anything Can Happen Friday. Crafty Bouquets

I knew early on last week that I would run out of time to get all the things I needed together for Joel's party so I thought I would combine my regular Friday feature with a handy birthday banner. I trawled Etsy for 'Superhero Party Supplies' and favourited a few items that I thought looked good and were reasonably priced. That was when Christina of Crafty Bouquets made herself known to me in a brilliant display of customer service and proving that you SHOULD put yourself out there because it really does work!!

It was her Superhero Birthday Banner and Superhero Party Cupcake Package that really caught my eye but looking back now I am surprised I didn't notice the Photo Booth Prop Package and Activity Package as well. But the best thing about Christina is how obliging she is!! When I noted that Joel probably wouldn't give the tick of approval on the Spiderman style banner she made me a whole new Captain America style one!!

Keep reading on to get to know Christina a little better, along with some of her awesome products!


How did you come about the business of "Making"? 
Ever since I was little I have always loved making things with my hands, drawing, decorating and planning events. Crafty Bouquets formed as result of all the activities I so dearly loved as a child, and am passionate about to this day.

Who are your biggest supporters?
I would have to say my Husband is my biggest supporter. If it wasn't for him Crafty Bouquets would not exist. He has always pushed me to follow my passion and do what truly makes me happy. I am so blessed to have him in my life.
My friends and family have also been a great support for me. They have always cheered me on along the way, and have been a great resource, providing lot's of input and feedback on our products.

Where do you see your "making" taking you (in an optimistic world)?
In an optimistic world, over the coming years I hope to expand our product line to include more printable party collections, as well as pre-assembled party products, so that I can look back 20 years from now and still be doing what I love.

Where can we get your stuff?
You can purchase our Products or inquire about customized products at our Etsy shop

If you could be any animal in the world what would you be?
I would love to be a seagull, because then I could fly, live at the beach, and float on top of the ocean.

So along with this extensive range of Superhero party supplies she also has items for a Curious George, Dr Seuss, Hunger Games... and the list goes on but you really should check them out for yourself! You will be pleasantly surprised at both her prices and range :)

Thursday. DIY Captain America Shirt

I originally planned on dressing as The Scarlet Witch for the party and was some semblance of the character, I was wearing red and I had a cape. But I did not really look like her. Joel on the other hand made himself an awesome Captain America t-shirt.

Now I didn't help him with this at all and though the stitching and measurements are pretty crazy it did the job well, he wore a white long sleeved shirt underneath and we picked up a mask from Toys'R'Us for $15, I think they were around the same price at K-Mart. He was sewing it all together even when our guests arrived so I didn't get a chance to take any pictures but hopefully this helps.

Take one blue shirt, measure around the bottom of the shirt (back and front) and divide by 10, add a 1cm seam allowance on either side and cut 5 strips of red and 5 of white. Sew all your strips together, including the two ends and hem one side and then attach it to your shirt. Cut out a white star and affix it to the front of your shirt, stitching around the edges.

Voila! You are done

Wednesday. Games

So I guess I am a kid at heart because when we were discussing throwing a superhero party my thoughts instantly went to kids party games. Namely pass the parcel. And every kids game has to have a prize right? This time of year in Australia all the big stores have MASSIVE toy sales, considering myself pretty lucky I headed to Big W and picked up a whole lot of Nerf Guns. Because Nerf Guns are awesome fun.

And this is what happened...

BTW please ignore my super messy kitchen, we ran out of time :/
They tried to shoot potatoes off each others heads, the Captain America mask of course was being used to protect the eyes and face, the beer well....

In the end we had three games; create your own superhero (using a template I made in photoshop), pass the parcel and then Celebrity Head. I was Phil Collins, Joel was Gina Rinehart.

For the decorations, as I was running a tad late we kept it REALLY SIMPLE!! I did manage to get a super cool banner off Etsy but that is a story for Friday :)

Balloons and streamers in coordinating colours, it's not going to win any prizes but it is quick, simple and cheap and it works!

For more pictures head on over to my Facebook page here

On the Table. Birthday Cake

We are big big big lovers of chocolate and peanut butter in our house so when I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen I knew it had to be a birthday cake, despite Joel's wish for both a Captain America shield or an ice-cream cake (it's the middle of winter!!!). But how to make it fit in with the whole superhero theme? Well this was my plan but unfortunately I didn't get round to printing my little signs off in the mad rush to get organised. You can actually buy the whole Superhero Party Plan for $25 (US?) from One Charming Party right here. I didn't. But perhaps I might have been more organised if I did....

So what was it? well just a super moist chocolate cake topped with my new favourite icing; peanut butter cream cheese, this stuff is SERIOUSLY good!! The original recipe used three cakes but I only had two tins so I made 2 layers and 6 cupcakes. Everything iced we still had a LOT of icing left over. It's so good I might just grab me a leftover slice right now.....

I also made these cute little cutlery pockets up in Photoshop along with signs for our kebab bar (yes we had a kebab bar - so very awesome but no pictures, sorry). The font I used was American Captain from DaFont, and if you would like the template (along with some 'pow' signs) feel free to send me an email and I can send it to you.

Now this one is not so PG, for drinks I was inspired by this cocktail list I found via Pinterest and in effort to save precious dollars we stuck just with 'The Hulk' which is simply Midori, Absinthe, Mountain Dew and Kiwi. It was pretty tasty.

So there you have it! For a few more pictures you can head over to my Facebook page here.
Tomorrow I will be covering the few little games we played and a couple of decorations :)

Monday. Captain America Piñata

So I had a very busy Thurs-Sat organising and making things for Joel's Superhero party I didn't have quite enough time to be as organised as I would have liked mainly because I forgot to get sour cream for his cake on Friday so I had to make it on Saturday, taking up a good few hours of precious costume making time.

But it went well, I think, we had a few kid-style games to play and I bought Nerf guns for prizes, the ensuing Nerf gun war proving that men are never too old for toy guns. The weather kept us inside instead of in the park so alas again the piñata was not smashed, I think we may take it up to his folks place for his actual birthday and he can smash it there.

But then again this piñata was the hands down must frustrating piñata I have ever made, so seeing it smashed may bring a feeling of painful revenge.

However it does look pretty darn awesome!! I realised after I made it that it probably would have been easier to simply buy a target piñata and then add the blue circle and star but I am a sucker for piñata making!

This hopefully gives you a bit of an insight into the process and if you live locally I would be more than happy to come up with a custom piñata for any event you have planned! Though maybe not one like this for a little while :/

Tomorrow of course I will be covering the cake!