Hello everyone! It's the first of October which means its time foe another fun challenge at the Peek-a-boo Designs blog! October is also the first anniversary month of the Peek-a-boo Designs so this month's challenge is extra special!
So without further ado here are the details:
October Challenge Recipe

We celebrated our daughter Kriti's second birthday in December last year. She was very keen on a Mickey Mouse and friends themed birthday party; the birthday cake had to feature Donald Duck, as blue is her favorite color.
Since the theme was decided more than a couple of months ahead of the party I wanted to do make everything on my own, right from the party decorations to invites to the return gifts. I had a vision of a themed birthday party something on the lines of what you see on Pinterest :). Well ofcourse our party was not even close, all I could manage in the limited time I get to craft was to come up with invitation cards and personalized party favor bags. For the decoration we had to manage with local decorators; and guess what we landed up adding Winnie the Pooh because they didn't have enough Mickey and friends cutouts, luckily Kriti did not complain.
For the birthday cake we got a not so great looking Donald Duck cake, but it tasted great and Kriti loved it and that's what really matters :).
Amongst other games we also had a "pin the bow on Minnie's head" game which the kids enjoyed, Minnie's head was hand drawn by my mom.
And here's a look at the invites:


For the party favor bags I converted regular party bags into personalized favor bags. The names were cut using Silhouette Cameo and the Mickey Silhouettes were hand-cut.
Here's a quick tutorial on how to convert a regular paper bag into something fancier.

1. Take a regular paper bag
2. Remove the existing handle from the bag. 
3. Fold the top of the bag to the desired height.We want to make more holes on the bag aligned with the existing holes on the top of the bag; so mark the location where the new holes would go.
4. Punch holes at the marked locations. I used my Martha Stewart hole puncher.
5. Decorate the bag  and add the goodies in the bag.
6. Now tie it up with ribbon. 
7. Put the ribbon through the 2 bottom holes from the back (non decorated side) of the bag to the front. 
8. Now put the ribbon through the top holes from the front of the bag to the back,now pull the ribbon tight and tie into a bow 
9. and you  are done!

 I have been MIA for so long now that I feel like I'm back to my initial blogging days...I need to restart blogging regularly and visiting/commenting on blogs......I have resolved to make and post atleast 2 cards a week, I am also taking a break from crafting on order, even though I enjoy the love and appreciation (+ it pays for new supplies) it leaves me with no time to try new things...
Ok now for some crafty stuff, we celebrated Kriti's first birthday (yes she is one already!) last Sunday, I had big plans to make ball themed invites, favors, decorations (Balls are Kriti's favorite toys).....but couldn't do even one of them due to lack to time and planning, I know I'm a bad Mum :( .......I did somehow manage to make some handstamped invites for the neighbors and personalized tags for the return gifts. I was not entirely happy with how they turned out but they had to do.....will surely do better next year. The stamp and die set is from PTI, it's called "Little Princess", I've stamped it with Fired Brick distress ink.....added some green rick rack to create a grounded castle. The label die is from Itsy Bitsy, was a bit apprehensive before buying because I hadn't heard of the brand, but it a great die (it even embosses) at the price.
I printed out the personalized messages for the tags and added some washi tape and flowers for the girls (stars for the boys).
The pictures are not great, they do look a tad better IRL.
Here's a picture of the her birthday cake and decoration, you can spot the CD "Kriti" banner from here.
Here is really bad picture of Kriti n me, sadly this is all I have.
Thanks for still visiting my blog, even though I don't say so often I really appreciate it.
Hugs,
Juhi

Linking up to:
Itsy Bitsy Two's Company Challenge
Crafter's Corner Challenge #3 - make a set

I had fun designing this Strawberry Shortcake First Birthday Party Invitation card.

I made a whole lot of these.......
For more themes for birthday invites visit http://www.shop.juhishandmadecards.com/search/label/Birthday%20party%20invitations

Thanks for visiting!