Tea Party

Grace received the most adorable Peter Rabbit themed porcelain tea set for her birthday.

Each cup has a different Peter Rabbit scene.  Each saucer has a quote from the Peter Rabbit books circling the rim.

Since Grace, Age 4 LOVES

A proper tea party was to be had.

And, Grace played the role of hostess to perfection.

It was a good day.

Thank You

Today, I'll be writing out thank you cards for the never ending circus party. 

My thank you note to all of you would read something like this:

To all the sweet and encouraging people that read While Wearing Heels, every day I feel like I am having a Cinderella, this is too good to be true moment.  With each new follower and each wonderful comments I get, I still feel as if I need to pinch myself to make sure this too good to be true moment is for real.  I am incredibly humbled but mostly flattered that you take the time to read my blog and show your support.

AND, a BIG thank you to the many amazing blogs that are out there.  Because of you I have found a creative outlet that had otherwise gone untapped. The blogs I follow inspire me, challenge me and give me hope. As a result I felt like a more confident and capable mom, wife and creative person.   Thank you for welcoming another blogger into your folds and making me feel like part of your family.

Thanks a ton,

Amy

Goodwill Hunting Roundup

Here are my monthly thrifty finds.  Some you may have already gotten a sneak peek of...

Mirror, mirror on the wall.  I found this mirror for $2.99. I loved the design, it had a very whimsical, circus feel to it.  I added chalkboard contact paper over the mirror and transformed it for Grace's party.

I have been looking for a beaded handbag.  When, I found this beautifully beaded clutch in a Goodwill bin, I felt like it had been placed there just for me.  I held my breath as I asked the price {it was missing the tag}.  When my Goodwill fairy Godmother returned to tell me it was $1.49, I had to pick my jaw up off the ground.  I did some research when I got it home and it is vintage Sax Fifth Avenue from 1964.  Beyond a doubt, this is one of my favorite finds.

Does this clock look familiar?  I picked up this beauty for $6.99 and decided to give it a little update. If you want the tutorial, you can find it here.  If you decide to do the same, make sure you give your clock a little pep talk before you start.  You don't want to 'tick' it off :)

This large sterling silver tray had a $19.99 price AND, though I loved it, I could not justify spending $20.  Happily, I had a 'meant to be' moment with this tray when a week later, on half off anything with a pink sticker day, I saw my tray, gleaming at me with a pink sticker. At $10, this tray and I were meant to be together.

A Game fish of the United States of America puzzle, still in the original packaging, for .99 cents.  How cute is the tin it came in?  It's perfect for a lake house or cabin SO I donated this to my parents' cabin.

Nowhere near impressive in the picture as it is in real life, this glass vase was only .99 cents. I realize, the picture makes it look like a glass but it is a perfect vase, in the prettiest shade of blue.

The only thing I love more about getting a good deal is sharing it.  What thrifty finds have you come across lately?

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Interactive Fire Nesting Puzzle

Where there's smoke there's fire...Okay, not really. {That would be dangerous and this is a kids' toy, after all.}

Interested in the tutorial.  Here it is...

Find yourself a scrap piece of wood, approximately 6 inches wide by 8 inches tall and 3/4 inch thickness.  Footprints on said piece of wood not required :) 

In pencil, draw out a flame design. 

Using a band saw, cut along your lines.  To preserve your fingers, make your first cut on line 1.  This will leave you more wood surface to hold onto while guiding the blade.  Work your way out, leaving the 5th cut as your last cut.

After you finish your 5 cuts, sand down each section.

*I only sanded the outside layer.  With each layer of paint I added, the thickness increased, making it more difficult to fit back into place.  Sanding each layer, even a little bit, should easily correct this.

Paint each layer.  I used both latex and acrylic paint.  Starting from the center, I used black, transitioning to red, transitioning to orange and finally to yellow.

This wooden fire nesting puzzle will certainly heat up imaginative play for your little one.

Roast some marshmallows, tell some ghost stories, sing campfire songs...

 use it as a puzzle or put it on a shelf and admire.

But you might want to make it a high shelf, I'm pretty sure the kids will be attracted to this puzzle like a moth to a flame.

{Pun intended.}

*Thanks Elena at 'A Casarella for helping me heat this post up with your word weaving skills :)

Facebook

After months of protesting, Jenny from The NY Melrose Family, took matters into her own hands and has created a facebook page for While Wearing Heels.

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Wish me luck!

Circus Party - Grand Finale

Step right up.

And join us...

as we, welcome you to the circus.

AKA Grace's 4th birthday extravaganza.

The Big Top awaits.

Please feel free to clown around.

Or enjoy some cotton candy.

While hopped up on sugar, visit the tattoo station.  Don't worry, they are temporary, like your sugar rush.

Games more your speed? Join in a game of Bozo buckets, pin the fez hat on the elephant, walk across the 'tight rope' OR

visit the duck pond.

 
What will you win?  A goldfish, of course.

Then, join us center stage, as we sing happy birthday to the birthday girl...

And wish her well.

Help yourself to a piece of cake or a carousel cupcake.

Work off those cupcakes by testing your strength with the 1000 pound barbell.

Perhaps you are stronger than Sammy The Strongman.

Then, Madame G will read your fortunes.  I wonder what she predicts next year's birthday party theme will be?

What Madame G did predict, the pinata will soon be replaced by the super cool punch box.

Before you go, don't forget to sign the guest book with your fingerprint.

It's now official, the circus has left town.  Please make sure you take your shoes when you leave, or don't :)

Elephant Guest Book

I promise, we are nearing the end of circus party posts.

For Grace's Arts and Crafts Party, last year, we put out a birthday wishes jar.  I liked the idea of our guests leaving sweet wishes for the birthday girl.  It was one of those extra touches that made me happy. 

This year, I wanted to do something a bit different.  Something that had a circus feel to it that could double as art.  In the end, I decided to do a fingerprint guest book page.

Since I already defiled my dictionary by tearing out a page for my reverse silhouette of Riley, I defiled it some more by taking out the elephant page as well. 

I taped that dictionary page to a piece of printer paper. 

I found a google image of an elephant I liked at Olli Bird.  I rotated the image in word slightly, so it looked like it was floating and then I printed it out.

*I did a few test runs on blank paper to determine image size and exact placement for the dictionary page.

It ran through my printer without any issues.  I guess if it had jammed, I could have defiled that poor dictionary one more time by taking out the circus page :).  Thank goodness it didn't come to that.

After my successful print, I tried to remove the tape BUT the dictionary page was so thin it would have ripped the edges.  In the end, I trimmed the sides of the paper cutting off the taped edges.

At the party I left the elephant 'guest book' out, along with some washable red ink, for guests to leave their fingerprints on.

I am hoping that the fingerprints look like balloons and not bloody fingerprints, like the paint your own pottery fiasco I had.