for His pleasure: the party: crafty side

Life is racing by no matter how much I pull the covers over my head these days when the alarm goes off in the morning. Emma Claire has now turned 3, Shiloh is ready to be potty trained {i hear the toilet flushing over and over right now and I found her sitting - totally stuck in the toilet the other day} and I'm pretty sure it's a tooth I found in Keller's mouth yesterday.

I am not ready for all this! I feel my 23 years all too well these days and wonder if I could somehow have a few more birthdays and keep my kids the same age. ;-) Steven and I were just talking on our date last night, that although we are abnormal, and although we feel pretty young to have these kiddos, we are so so glad we are unaged while tackling all of this! Life is pretty crazy, but fun, right now in our lower twenties and we wouldn't trade it for the world.

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So...I'm pretty sure by now you ladies want to see some crafty stuff after all my vacation photos. I thought this rainy Monday afternoon would be the perfect time to get around to giving you a glimpse of Emma's birthday party.

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steven knows how crazy i can get, so he warned me before i got ahead of myself, and said, "keep the cost low!"
i love a good challenge, so i got busy.
i actually surprised him by how little i spent. =) you were surprised weren't you, honey?

party favors:

buckets filled with handmade personalized sand bags. total cost: approximately $1.50 each.

personalized towels for the guests who were emma's age.
total cost: $2.00 each

i'm a sucker for labeling food. anybody else like that? we all know they're hot dogs...but label them...and it just makes them taste so much better! i found these free printables from the Pottery Barn website.

we used them for the cupcakes too...

i bought a pack of wooden dowels from hobby lobby (about $2.50). steven cut them. jenny printed, cut, punched holes, and assembled them for me. aren't i lucky to have these extra hands?!

found these fish bowls on clearance at the back of hobby lobby for about $1.50 a piece. we still use them for the girls' cereal. i also sewed that tablecloth and this is the third birthday party i've gotten use out of it.

steven and jenny made these decorations...

we used jute twine and an old southern seafood cookbook i found at goodwill for 50 cents.

we reused the penant banners i made for our easter party in my mom's kitchen for decoration. sorry but the picture above was the best i had of them at the birthday party. you can see them better here.