A Sweet Sixteen Dance Party Celebration

Everybody loves a candy buffet! And having one at my niece's Sweet Sixteen Dance Party was the ultimate treat!  This post contains affiliate links and I was compensated with delicious product from Oriental Trading!  The sweet sixteen party was held at a Marriott hotel so much of the planning and details were handled by the hotel event coordinator. But my sister-in-law asked me if I would help with the decorations by adding personal touches like making a card box, 

.  .  . a backdrop

and enhancing centerpieces.  At that point, all I could think of was making lots of pretty bows in shades of purple and gold! 

But then I received an offer from Oriental Trading to partner with them - they would send me their product (my choice) if I would do a blog post about my experience.  How cool is that? Thank you Oriental Trading!

Putting a candy buffet together was so much fun and Oriental Trading makes it easy by offering everything you need from their party supplies to create the perfect theme party, including a huge assortment of bulk candy and everything else you might desire. No more running around here and there looking for purple candy!

I chose the Purple Candy Buffet Assortment! It's a purple candy lover's dream come true!

This astounding group of treats included purple rock candy pops, purple gum balls, purple salt water taffy, bright purple swirl pops, purple butter mints, shimmering lavender chocolates, and purple candy sticks. I also order a few additional items like gold foil wrapped hard candy, purple heart candy, purple foiled chocolate kisses, white almonds and white lollipops.  

 .  .  .  creating a fun and exciting display that included an eye popping purple, gold and white candy buffet and a bow ribbon backdrop and balloons galore!

And also available -  gold swirl cellophane favor bags for the teens to fill and take home!  So cool!

Even though I had containers and scoops from previous get-togethers, Oriental Trading offers those in a variety of styles and colors, too! 

And, besides the food and dessert .  .  . 

we all know that the best parties are the ones where everyone is dancing!  And a Sweet Sixteen Dance Party is no exception.  To keep the party going, there was a DJ blasting out favorite teen lyrics and tunes, featured rappers, along with those crazy dance moves all the teens are into these days! OMG!

A photo booth was also available to capture exciting moments!

My niece, Kyndal (in white), with her BFFs!

And having a lovely candy buffet for the teens surely kept the energy level pumped and elevated! 

What a party!

Handcrafted Rustic Wire Heart Garland

Get in the Valentine's Day spirit by decorating your home with a rustic wire valentine heart garland.  Just transform rustic wire into something really sweet by making adorable hearts!  And they're handcrafted so no two hearts are shaped alike. In fact, when making, have fun shaping the hearts in whimsical designs and then add a bit of glitz by connecting with small red rhinestone hearts!

To make, you'll need:

Rustic wire

Flexible measuring tape
Wire cutter

Red rhinestone hearts

Hot glue

Since the rustic wire is already curved, simply lift up the wire from the roll, and cut off about 12 inches.

Then bend the wire in half, pinching into a point.

Next, easily shape the ends to form a heart, adding a dab of hot glue to connect.

 So easy, peasy!

 Continue making as many hearts as desired, connecting sides with dabs of glue.

Then place a dab of glue on the back of the rhinestone hearts and attach between the wire hearts where connected.

 Have fun displaying your garland on the mantel, door, wall, or anywhere your heart desires!

So simple and quite easy to make!

I'm participating in a Valentine's Link Party where I'm sharing this project.  And you're invited to join us and link up your new and old creative Valentine's ideas, too!

BTW, if you're looking for a deal at Oriental Trading - especially with their awesome Valentine specials and treats, visit their coupon page for the latest in sales.

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy -

Happy Crafting!

Valentine's Link Party

Welcome to our Valentine's Link Party! It's such a wonderful time of year to celebrate love!

I'm so excited to be joining a group of talented ladies for this delightful and fun party highlighting ways to enjoy this special day!  We're counting down the time by sharing with you awesome Valentine's Day related inspirations ranging from crafts/diy, recipes, party ideas and everything in between!

And best of all, the party runs from January 14 through February 13th, so you'll have plenty of time to link up your favorite creative valentine ideas, both new and old - just be sure they're family friendly!

  Then on February 14, each hostess will feature their most favorites.


Linking up to the party will show on all of the following hosts' blogs:

 Beverly@ Across the Boulevard

Mary@ The Boondocks Blog

Gail@ Purple Hues and Me

Laurie@ My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies

Sherry@ Olives & Okra

T'onna@ Sew Crafty Crochet

Marci@ Stone Cottage Adventures

Donna@ Two Chicks and a Mom

Victoria@ Dazzle While Frazzled 

Even though Valentine's Day is very special to me, I really don't go all out in decorating my home for the occasion.  I always like to keep it simple and easy so I'm sharing with you an adorable way you can do this and still be impactful by adding this rustic wire heart garland to your valentine holiday décor. 

It really is a lovely addition to any Valentine décor - and you'll find the complete tutorial in my post on making a Handcrafted Rustic Wire Heart Garland, here. 

Btw, if you're looking for a deal at Oriental Trading, especially with their awesome Valentine specials and treats, visit their coupon page for the latest in sales!

Now join the party by linking up!

An InLinkz Link-up

Snow Ball Tin Can Container DIY - A Cute Winter Decoration

Loving this cold winter weather?  Snowy days are perfect for making indoor diy winter decorations. Why not bring the beauty of the outdoors in with this adorable tin can snow ball container craft project. It's a great way to recycle those tin cans you're about to throw out and to spruce up your home after the holidays.

Just gather:

  Large tin can

Handmade stencils (cardstock)

Craft knife

Painter's tape

White acrylic paint/sponge brush

Snow-tex

Toothpicks

Styrofoam balls 

Start by removing the covering and any adhesive residue from a large tin container like a coffee can.

Next, make a stencil out of cardstock for the wording and embellishments.  I found a fun site called Rapid Resizer that shows you how to make a word or picture stencil in almost any font and size to print out.

Once you've printed out the wording, cut out the letters using a craft or exacto knife.

For letters like o's and a's, you will need to make a "bridge" by dividing the letters to keep the center intact. 

Apply painter's tape to stencil and attach to can.

Dry brush on paint to stencil .  .  .

 and then remove. Let dry.

Add Snow-Tex to letters using toothpicks for a dimensional "snowy" effect.

 Have fun adding the Snow-Tex!

Top off with faux snow balls to complete look.

Baby it's cold outside!

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy -

Happy Crafting!