I have a confession to make: I don’t use cream of anything soup.
Last week‘s menu plan included a recipe for Crock Pot Bacon Ranch Chicken, which calls for cream of chicken soup and sour cream. I didn’t have any sour cream on hand, and didn’t want to go to the store just for that. Since I was making my own cream of chicken soup, I figured I could just add the brick of cream cheese I had in the fridge. While making the soup, I added the cream cheese and cooked until it melted and was incorporated (this is also where I mixed in the Ranch Dressing and stuff). I threw it all in the crock pot with my frozen chicken and cooked on low all dayish.
It was delicious! I am sure the sour cream version would still be wonderful, but everyone really enjoyed this alteration.
Maybe I’ll make it again and share the recipe, or maybe I’ll just make it again and eat it.
We also celebrated my Baby’s 2nd birthday last week with dinner at Red Robin.
I am a last-minute gifter. You know that lady who is pulling her kid along at a run in the store looking for that toy, because she is on her way to the birthday party and is already running late…
Yep that’s me.
Don’t know why. It’s not like I don’t think about what I want to get, or that I’m unsure if we are going to the party. Trust me, I think about it, for days. And, I always think, there’s still more time.
Since I have gotten my Silhouette, those last-minute gifts have turned into ‘what can I make’ the night before the party, which leads to finishing it 10 minutes before we have to leave, still running late.
One such instance I had an idea to give the birthday girl a personalized bag and beach towel, and another swimming related item. But alas, the store didn’t have the type of beach towel I wanted, so I just got her a toy to o with the bag I was going to make her.
So here it is ten o’clock the night before and I sit down at my computer to make her bag. I had planned on using the printable heat transfer material that I love. I traced and colored in studio, got her name all curved and did a test print.
No red ink.
But I was in luck, I had just enough HTV to make her bag. But weeding Spiderman’s face was a killer!
It actually turned out better than what I had planned. I really like the way color of the bag shows through Spiderman’s black lines, so his mask is actually pink. Cause you know, it’s for a girl.
We had to attend a birthday party for a pair of sisters (not twins, just born in the same month) while I was sick. I wanted to make them something personal, but wasn’t sure what to do, or if we were going to make it to the party. Cause you know, I was dying, or at least felt like I was.
I decided to get them a gift card to an ice cream store and make them personalized ice cream dishes.
I cut the ice cream cone, sprinkles and names out of vinyl. You can’t see in the picture, but the cone has a cross-hatch cuts to make it look like a waffle cone.
I decided to make my own gift boxes, because I didn’t have a gift bag or boxes that they would fit in.
I made the gift boxes using cardstock and decorative paper accents, and coordinating tags. I also added some straw-spoons to the box. I finished these about 20 minutes before we had to leave for the party.
I really love the way they turned out.
Of course I used the sketch pen feature to label the tags, because my hand writing is atrocious.
Neither of these projects would have been possible without my Silhouette. I am still a last-minute-gifter but now at least my gifts are personalized.
The theme for this month’s Silhouette Challenge is “my favorite things” meaning my favorite Silhouette supplies.
The main reason I got my Silhouette Cameo was to cut paper and make party decorations. I love to make party decorations and have always gone a little over board, but now that I have my Silhouette, I go hog-wild.
This past March we had my oldest son’s fourth birthday party and I just knew this month’s challenge would be the perfect opportunity to share them with you. Or should I say, the perfect opportunity to force motivate me to finally get around to writing this {wink-wink}….And let me warn you, this post is full of pictures.
Ian decided he wanted a pirate party for his birthday, so I got to work, starting in January.
The invitations were treasure chests that opened to show a map, some treasure and the party info. The exterior of the invitation was a cut file I purchased through the Silhouette store. I used my Cuttlebug to give it the wood grain look. I used elements from Just So Scrappy’sYo-Ho Pirate digital scrapbook kit to make the map and as a background for the information section. I used graphics from this kit in almost everything I did for this party.
I designed the coin and jewel pile and used Silhouette’s print and cut option to cut them out.
I love making rosettes for parties, and this party was no exception.
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I created these party hats for the kids. This skull and cross-bones was from the a flag in the scrapbook kit. I used some of the negative skull and cross bone cut outs in other decorations, like the bunting flags (see below).
I don’t think I would have been able to make a dozen pirate party hats with out my Cameo.
I really loved these flag topiaries. I cut the flags out from the kit and used the digital papers to make the each base.
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Of course there has to be a picture of the Birthday Pirate!
The bunting flags were made with the digital papers and cut with my cameo. I used twine to string them all together.
You can see where I added the negative skull and cross-bones from the party hats.
I decided to use the sketch feature in the Studio software to make the skull and cross-bones for these straw rosettes.
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One of my favorite things from this party was the “Happy Birthday” banner.
I really like how the layered flags turned out.
I wanted to use this bone font but each piece of bone on one letter is a cut line, so I used the offset tool to cut all around the letter. I could have used a sketch pen, but I just printed them.
I used the custom design tool and the sketch feature to make the skull and cross-bones for the number part of the banner. Instead of writing the number, I cut it out, so you can see the background color. I used sisal rope to hang the banner across the window.
I also used the print and cut feature on the elements from the kit to make other banners.
I cut out some pirate items as silhouettes and put them in these Tolsby frames from Ikea.
These are my new favorite party items, and they are really inexpensive and simple to adapt to any party.
I used black vinyl to keep the silhouette look.
I also purchased this 3-D pirate ship, from the Silhouette store with the idea that I would enlarge it for the center piece. I had so much other work to do, that I just decided to use it as decorations.
These treasure boxes were too small to be used as the gift boxes, but they made great decorations.
I filled them with glass stones and chocolate gold coins, and had them through out the house.
As a guest gift each kid got to take home a hook and a Thank You bag.
The tags say “Thanks me hearties!” I also made the gift bags using the digital papers as the panels for the bags and black card stock for the bag base. I used a variety of the papers included in the kit. The skull was attached with foam dimensional tabs.
Each bag had a pirate bandanna, an eye patch, a pirate ear-ring, some tattoos, cold coins, chocolate coins, and a telescope.
The hooks wouldn’t fit in the bag, so the kids got to get them out of a basket.
The Table
For the table center piece I took these Easter buckets I got at the dollar store and transformed them in to a mast from a boat.
I actually envisioned it much bigger, but the wooden dowels I had, limited the size.
Using the idea from Sid’s beach party, I made a plate with brown sugar sand and pearls (Sixlets) coming out of one of the paper treasure chests.
The cake
I did not make the cake, this awesome creation was made by my aunt.
This table-cloth was the most expensive paper table-cloth I have ever purchased, but I absolutely loved it. The skull candy dispenser was the one thing my son said he had to have at his pirate party.
My son likes to wear his bandana as a pirate cape.
The drink labels were also made using the Cameo’s print and cut feature. Have I told you how much I love that feature?
We had some extra tattoos so I transformed a dish my mom had.
I used the sketch pens on the cameo. It was really easy and something I did at the last-minute, but wouldn’t have if I didn’t have my Silhouette.
I took the sign I made for Sid’s beach party and cut out letters to make it look like Pirates had taken over the beach. I was going to redo the sign, but my mom wanted to keep the original, so I had to make something temporary. She has kept the sign up on the front of her house since Sid’s party.
Of course the night before I decided to make Sid a shirt to wear for the party. Then I realized I had to make Ian one in a similar style, even though I had already made him a birthday shirt.
I just cut circles out of a cardboard box and painted the flattened box. I used my cameo to cut the letters out of cardstock and Mod Podge to glue them on.
Baby Sid loved playing the hook toss game.
It was super difficult to get a picture of the birthday boy, he was in constant motion that day.
Since it was March in the Pacific Northwest, we couldn’t let the kids play outside. The kids got walk the plank in the basement. I used a wood board my mom had, some step stools and the kid pool. I thought about filling it with those plastic balls you find in a ball pit, but didn’t have time to order them.
The kids didn’t need anything to jump into. They loved the plank just the way it was.
And what kind of pirate party would this be without a real pirate?
My cousin is part of a pirate group in Portland and he was kind enough to show up in full pirate grab. He was the hit of the party!
It was a busy day but Ian loved his party.
Thanks for visiting, remember to Shine On
Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?
My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects on our blogs today, so pursue the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!
Awhile ago my nieces made a parody music video which was apparently really funny. They had been wanting to make another video with some of their friends and decided their 11th birthday party would be the perfect opportunity.
My sister came up with a Hollywood Movie theme with a casting call audition and she employed me to come up with some invitations for her.
I wanted to make a movie clapper as the envelope, my sister wanted a casting call flyer as the invitation.
I changed her mind. I really wanted to make the invitation look like old 35 mm film. I wanted to print the information on velum with a picture of the girls.
While the film was the length of the clapper, it wasn’t wide enough. I didn’t want it to get lost in the envelope pocket so I added the film reel.
I used Photoshop to make the clapper image look like a chalkboard. I then used my Silhouette Cameo to cut all the components out.
I used Silhouette’s print n’ cut feature for the front of the clapper, the back is black card stock. I cut out the main part with the bottom strip as one piece, the triangle on the left and the top strip board were separate pieces. I used brads to connect the three pieces and allow for movement of the top part.
These invitations are pretty big, and would have been more expensive to mail, but since they were just being handed out at school, we didn’t have to worry about that.
Luckily Party City had a ton of Hollywood Movie decorations that my sister was able to find.
I know, typically I would have made all these, but time just flew by and before we knew it, it was time for the party and I had no decorations made.
The family room was set up as a karaoke station. I don’t know how many times we heard “Let it Go” that night.
Since it was a slumber party my sister limited the number of guest and we were able to set the table for pizza.
I have never had a party where we could do a table setting and it was fun!
My nieces insisted on the plastic wine & champagne glasses.
They also had a photo booth set up, and we used a black plastic table-cloth for the back drop.
She had a basket full of photo props.
Each guest received a popcorn box full of other goodies, like scarves my mom made and little top hat head bands.
Since my nieces love playing with fondant, my sister decided to let the kids decorate the cupcakes. It keeps them occupied and saves on the work for her.
The girls had a great time and got the new video made. Since I am just the aunt I got to leave after they consumed all the sugar and got all giggly.
I Tri and Craft 