bugs & butterflies

April 6, 2009 No Comments

introducing “butterflies”

butterflies-frontimage Over the weekend we launched a new “butterflies” theme.

We’ve had a great deal of success with our “bugs and butterflies” birthday party invitation and party decor for both girls and boys so we thought it might be fun to create a girly butterfly version.

This one is all about polka dots. Polka dot plates, polka dot napkins… even polka dot cups!

Check our new design out, and as always, we would love your feedback on this invitation design as well as any of our others.

Plus, if you have a theme design you’re searching for and can’t find, we want to know that too! You can e-mail us at ideas@celebrationshoppe.com or post a comment here.

fun flyer cupcakes

Fun Flyer Cupcakes These little cuties were on the back of my M&M’s bag. {wink} Here’s what you’ll need:

2 bags M&M’S® Peanut Chocolate Candies for Easter 1 18.25-oz. box yellow cake mix
1 16-oz. can vanilla frosting
Green and yellow food coloring
Black licorice laces
3 12-cup mini cupcake pans
36 mini paper cupcake liners
Resealable plastic bag
Spatula

And here are the simple steps:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 3 (12 cup) mini cupcake pans with paper liners.
Prepare cake mix according to package directions.
Divide batter evenly between prepared cupcake pans. Bake approximately 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven, transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.
Meanwhile, spoon 1/4 cup white frosting into resealable bag. Tint remaining frosting green and use to cover cupcakes.
Use photograph as decorating guide for cupcakes. Arrange four M&M’S® Peanut Chocolate Candies for Easter, as photo shows. Pipe white frosting body in center and use licorice for antennae.

These would go beautifully with our bugs and butterflies custom invitations and party décor! Happy baking.

bugs & butterflies how to video

This week’s segment on NBC’s Daytime Columbus with Gail Hogan was a lot of fun. We made buggy headbands and wings, but with our tips you could make butterfly or even dragonfly wings; it’s all in how you bend the wire.

If you didn’t catch it, I’ve got you covered. Here’s a clip. Please leave a comment. We would love to know what you thought of the segment and what you think of the craft ideas. And don’t forget to check out our bugs & butterflies custom invitations and party décor too.

Happy crafting!

buggy wings

bug_ladybugwings In addition to the buggy headbands, we’re also going to demonstrate today on Daytime Columbus how to make these super easy ladybug clip on wings for your next bugs and butterflies birthday bash. I know, you’re thinking “she says everything is easy.” Well these really are. Here’s what you need:

½ yard netting or bridal tulle
16 gauge crafting wire (found in the jewelry section of your craft store)
¾ inch ribbon, grosgrain shown
Wooden bug cutout (available, usually painted, in craft stores)
Mini clothespin
Glue gun (fabric glue can be used for the ribbon portions)
Wire cutters

And here’s how you make them:

Bend the crafting wire into the shape of your wings, considering the size of the child, cut it with wire cutters and twist the ends around one another.
Using the wing shape as a loose guide, cut out four pieces of netting, leaving a ¼ inch to ½ inch all the way around. Each wing will be two pieces thick.
Tack the netting to the wire frames with just a touch of glue and trim off excess.
Apply the ribbon to the outer rim of your wings to secure the netting and to hide the wire. The best way is to center the wire in the ribbon, pipe in a stream of glue (not too much) and then lightly tap it down with your fingers until you’ve gone all the way around each wing.
Next, hot glue a mini clothespin to the back of your wooden bug cutout, near the bottom of the bug.
Finally hot glue the wings to the back of the cutout, allow to cool and the wings are ready for play.

If you prefer a visual guide, the “how to” video will be posted on our blog by Friday. Happy crafting!

buggy headbands

bugheadbands2 This morning we’re going to be showing Gail Hogan of NBC’s Daytime Columbus how to make these soooo cute, if I do say so myself, ladybug and dragonfly headbands. These are wonderful for bugs and butterflies party favors or just for pretend play.

Here’s what you’ll need:

¾ inch (at least) headband
¾ inch ribbon, grosgrain is shown
pipe cleaner (one for straight antenna and two for curly)
pom poms
glue gun

And here’s how you make these super easy buggy headbands:

Bend your pipe cleaner in the center and then again about a half inch on both sides so that you have a inch to inch-and-a-half base. Apply the base of your pipe cleaner to the middle of the headband with a strip of hot glue. (TIP: If you want curly antenna, use two pipe cleaners. Curl one end around your finger and bend the ends about ¾ inch to apply to the headband.)
Bend the tips of your pipe cleaner outward about a ¼ inch and hot glue on your pom poms.
Clip two one inch sections of ribbon to cover the ends of your headband. Apply each piece with a dot of glue on both sides.
Apply a dot of glue on the inside of the headband, on top of the ribbon you just placed to cover the ends, and wrap your ribbon around in a straight line to cover any exposed headband. Continue to wrap your headband angling your ribbon with each turn and gluing as you go.
When you reach the pipe cleaner, get your ribbon as close to it as possible and then overlap it on the opposite side being careful not to leave exposed headband.
Keep going until you’ve covered the entire headband and end your ribbon on the inside.

If you prefer to see how this is done, we’ll post the ”how to” video here on our blog by Friday.