of fairies and parties...

fairies must be the latest trend where parties are concerned. i've noticed a few blog posts on fairy parties and just recently, i was asked to make a cake and matching party favor biscuits, based on tina wenke's garden fairy illustrations. the illustration is of three magical fairies flying in a pretty garden of flowers and butterflies....

the mother of the lil one yr old had bought pretty hanging cut outs and wanted matching items for the party...

 

based on this, i iced the cake with pink and purple butter icing, topped with flowers and cupcakes with pink stripes. i made flag toppers of the pretty fairies and placed them on top to make them look like they were floating just above the cake...

as for the biscuits, i just used the actual illustration and added the birthday girl's name on it. each biscuit was wrapped in clear plastic with pink and purple ribbons...

i was so charmed by these pretty fairies that i was hoping ilaika would be too. she was...for all of two minutes so i guess there wasn't enough pulling power to have a fairy themed party so we're defnitely sticking to butterflies!

butterflies aside, a fairy party is a lovely theme to use if you have a little girl. it's about all things pretty and mystical including enchanted gardens, butterflies, puffy lace, flowers, ribbons, delicate wings and magic wands...the possibilities are endless ;)

if you're planning a fairy party from scratch and not using any particular illustration as above, follow kim's posts on the tomkat studio blog where she too is searching to be inspired by fairies!

 

these are some other fairy parties to be inspired by:

 

- here, a wooden backyard is transformed into an enchanted forest -

- fairies in the garden...click here to find out more about the enchanted "fairy mouse" -

 - a pixie birthday party -

   

- an enchanted fairy birthday -

also check out mrixiepixie's fairy invite. i love it!

photobucket slideshow!

i've just discovered how to put together a slideshow using photobucket! 

i was updating a backdated post on ilaika's second birthday party - her elmo fiesta, and found this cute lil school-like chalk & blackboard template for a slideshow:

it took me all of two minutes* to set up ;)

*note: i'd already uploaded the pics prior to this....

butterflies in my tummy...two wks to the party!

a couple of weeks ago, i put up a post on having to plan ilaika's upcoming party...here's a lil update. 

if you can recall, she wanted a dora-turns-princess-goes-swimming party...so you can imagine how  preoccupied i've been, trying to come up with party ideas which met my party fluff criteria of fun, pretty and definitely not tacky. needless to say, with a jumbled up theme like that, i wasn't very succesful. luckily for me, over the weekend,  i decided to source for inspiration and what better way to be inspired (apart from surfing the net) than to go shopping!

so there we were, ilaika & i, at the gardens mall. as we walked into the centre concourse area, the lil one's face lit up with excitement and glee as she saw their chinese new year decorations...the theme was "properous flutters at the gardens mall"...

what a brilliant idea! whilst most other places had standard lanterns for their decor, this mall had butterfly cut outs in many colours, hanging from their high ceiling and perched on the side boards. i took a few pics with my iphone but believe you me, the pics don't do them much justice. even though they were just paper, the butterflies beautifully coloured the empty and otherwise void space...

ilaika was mesmerised! she kept saying how pretty they were. i did the opportunist thing and asked her if she'd prefer these for her party and to my relief, she excitedly said, "yes!"

so i went home, did more inspiration searching online and came across christina williams' blog where she shared this pic from pottery barn kids...such a simple idea - butterfly cut outs of pretty patterned papers using a single template to use as wall decor...a perfect and almost fool-proof d.i.y. project ;)

 

also pretty and simple-ish-looking decor d.i.y. are pictured in the pics below from martha stewart...

 

how about a butterfly garden chair to sit on?

as for the dessert spread, i absolutely love these pretty cupcake wrappers from king arthur flour...pity they don't sell these in kl and there's not much time to have them delivered...

and look at these too-pretty-to-eat biscuits from the little rose bakery...

yes...i've stayed away from posting up child-like butterfly party decor...not due to lack of them (there were so many online) but just cos these ones are way prettier ;)

i'm all fluttery from butterfly activity now and with just two weeks to the party, i've got em butterflies in my tummy! i can't wait to get started with the cut out d.i.y. wall decor. think i'm gonna try to draw out my own template...if it's nice, i'll share it with you...so wish me luck!

catchin up on old updates...tweet tweet!

you may have noticed quite a lot of activity going on here this week. i'm getting into the hang of things  now and really enjoying this whole blogging malarkey ;) 

BUT there's only SO much i can blog about daily so i've decided to post up past events and backdate them...this way, i won't bore you to death and i get to polish up on my writing skills ;) 

so you won't miss these backdated updates, i'll post an update every now and then on twitter so you get to read up on my catching up! 

click here for my tweets:

xxx

izreen

a place for all things pretty...

on monday, i shared some blinkin' love buttons that i'd found, in the spirit of valentine's day. today,  i was surfing for party ideas for ilaika's third birthday and i came across this absolutely lovely site: The TomKat Studio, a place for all things pretty.

kim, the blogger, has a serious passion for parties and designs really really pretty stuff. check out her valentine printables:

 

 

- even the names of her collections, sweet love & french kiss, shout out romance -

you may purchase these at her shop or check out her latest post on how to get these free*  ;)

*psst - it's as easy as 1-2-3....

1) click on the link to her blog

2) copy & paste her button to your blog

3) email her the link...

told ya it was simple! don't forget to indicate which collection you like. 

i had a hard time deciding cos they're both so cute 

but i went with sweet love 

so i can bake some of my sweet stuff munchies 

to give to my own valentine ;) 

ok - so i've done 1, 2 and 3 so now i just have to wait for her to reply. yay!

whilst you're at her blog and shop, also check out these great party/invite d-i-y ideas...

 

 

- yummy lollipop collection -

- vintage surf collection -

 

  

- little ladybug collection -

true to her tagline, her blog is really a place for all things pretty!

a lil revamp but it's still work in progress...

i couldn't sleep last night so i decided to toy around with this blog design, yet again...any thoughts on this?

 

* background by shabbyblogs. check it out. it's free!

i like the overall pink and brown theme with bits of greyish blue and greenish turquoise...am also loving the sweet scallops on the side. i forgot how to adjust the size of the header so i had to google it!  it's actually really simple and i'll share this how-to in a future post.

i'm still such an IT bimbo and there's so much to learn so it's still work in progress...please stick around...perhaps we could learn a thing or two from each other ;)

xxx
izreen

blinkin' love buttons...

 

- by shabby blogs -

with valentine's day just a few days away, i thought i'd share with you some lovely buttons and blinkies i found online. some are pretty and the others are just too darn cute ;) and best of all, they're free!

 

 - by shabby blogs -

- by the cutest blog on the block -

- by the cutest blog on the block -

- by the cutest blog on the block -

 

- by my style backgrounds (this is actually a header but it's too cute, i couldn't resist adding it) -

i also found this shabby love letters freebie on shabby blogs' blog by megan. i just LOVE old school typewriters...they're classic and to me, kinda poetic...this one especially has such a romantic vintage feel to it with the discoloured paper and its crumpled edges. and  the single red flower makes it perfect for a hopeless romantic like me ;)

you can use an editing software to add in a message or note on the paper but i just used powerpoint and added it to the sidebar on the right. i think i shall use this as a permanent feature of this blog...thank you, megan.

and in case i get too busy to blog this weekend, happy valentine's day to you, you and you...mwuahs ;x

xxx
izreen

ps - my dad had a similar typewriter when i was a kid. and i used to spend endless hours just playing around with it!

almost three going on thirty...

i first used a lilypie ticker when i was expecting ilaika. it was exciting to keep track of the pregnancy  and the lil quotes indicating development stages were fun to read. i remember eagerly looking forward to each weekly quote (or was it daily? i can't quite recall now...) and counting down to the day when our little angel would bless our lives. 

a few years on and i'm still using lilypie as a milestone of our daughter's life. however, it's been sometime since i actually took notice of it...until this morning, when i briefly glanced at it and realised how quickly the days and months have gone by...

my baby is 2 years, 11 months and a day old...which means she'll be three in less than a month!

- look at how "grown up" my baby looks here -

oh dear. 

oh dearie me indeed. i have less than a month to plan her birthday party. somehow, she's already talking about it and yet, i haven't gotten around to planning anything. so i thought...no problem - just choose a theme and then i can go about with the invites etc. as simple as that...

on the contrary, it was far from simple as i couldn't even come up with a theme. so i started putting together a list of things she loves which led to this post. here's some sharing on ilaika's recent and current obsessions...

- her picture phone...inherited when mummy dearest upgraded to the 3GS -

- her battered crocs -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

 

- dora...the "flavour of the day" changes between dora, princesses, hi-five, barney & hello kitty -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- her daddy's xbox guitar...inherited when mummy bought daddy a logitech guitar for xmas -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- her mini drum set...my musically inclined baby takes after daddy & also loves singing & dancing -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- bubbles -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

 

- more bubbles! and of course, swimming in our lovely pool...or any pool for that matter -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

 - jungle gym -

- play-doh -

- biscuits & baking with mummy -

when i asked her what theme she wanted for her birthday, she said dora.

and then the day after that, it was princess.

and then fairies.

and then swimming.

and then dora-turns-princess-goes-swimming!

oh-em-gee...help...!

as i'm editing this post, i realise how very lucky we are to be a part of ilaika's life. of course at times, she may be a spoilt annoying monster and lil cheeky monkey but she's also a very good girl, who's loving, chirpy, hilarious and  smart. i'm proud of the milestones she has reached thus far and even though i think of her as my baby, there are times i forget that she's barely three...for she's very independent and just cannot stop talking...her nanny commented just the other day that ilaika's three going on 30 ;)

- her love for princesses, balloons & anything pink -