Paris Party (Part Deux)

I previously posted details about last week's Paris Party held in honor of my daughter's birthday. In this post, I wanted to highlight all the things I was able to use the Cricut on to make this party a snap.

On our front door, I posted the word art "Paris" with the Eiffel Tower in it. I used vinyl that I am able to get from my brother's graphic design company for free. They frequently have leftovers from projects and he is kind enough to save them for me. So, this nifty little mood-setter cost me nothing, and came on my cartridge exactly as is. A punch of a button and it was ready to go.

Just inside the front door was the sidewalk scene (see previous post). On the French doors behind the scene were an Eiffel Tower and more word art. Hanging from the ceiling were an array of French inspired designs from the Summer in Paris cartridge. These included a shoe, perfume bottle, dress form, hot air balloon, and more word art. Again, all of this was done by click on Cricut. The only thing I had to do was decide my colors, glue the layers together and hang them up!

You know, no trip is complete without the classic t-shirt souvenir. Using the vinyl, I cut Eiffel Towers to use as stencils on t-shirts. I found these permanent fabric spray bottles at both Michael's and Joann's. The girls had a lot of fun with this and it was the easiest craft of the night.

In addition to the t-shirt, we also had table in which the girls made hairbows (see previous post on hair poms/rosettes for directions) and Eiffel Towers. Again, the 3-D Eiffel Tower came as a cut on the Summer In Paris Cartridge. I had cut the towers out before the party. The girls used glitter and gel pens to make designs on the cutouts and then glued them together using pre-cut notches.

I wished I'd had the cartridge 2 weeks earlier so I could have done my invitations with it instead of the stamp. I have to say, though, this cartridge paid for itself with all decorations and crafts it covered!

Paris in April

This cake was made to celebrate my daughter's birthday. She has had a love affair with Paris for several years now. So it was only fitting that we had a Paris Party. I found a similar cake online for my inspiration. The bottom layer was a 9 1/2" triple chocolate round cake. The top were 2 8" French Vanilla layers. The best part was the topper which I found at Target for $2.50. I found a similar Eiffel Tower at Michael's, which was actually a candle. But the cost and weight of the tower were considerably more.

Dinner consisted of all things French - croissants, quiche, olives, cheeses, French berry soda (which I found at our World Market), truffles, French baguette bread with cheese and nutella spreads, apples, & grapes. For breakfast the next morning we served crepes.

I created these invitations (right) and thank you notes (left) from a stamp I found at Michael's. I used water color pencils to add color to the invitations. The front of each invitation was addressed to "Mademoiselle X". I used patio furniture to create a Paris sidewalk cafe scene. Each guest had her picture taken and I am printing those off today to go in each thank-you note. I also used the stamp to imprint the Eiffel tower on plain pink napkins. To enhance the French feeling, I checked out some CD's from the library that had either traditional French music or modern music sung in French (Belinda Carlisle had a beautiful sound track).

Of course, I had to put my Cricut to work. I ordered the Summer In Paris cartridge

and found multiple uses for it, including decorations, craft project and t-shirt designs. I will post more in it later.

All in all, it was a small, but lovely celebrations almost as beautiful as my daughter!