Winner announced - Style Me Gorgeous Party Printables

Angela from Apooki is the lucky winner of the gorgeous printable party range from Style me Gorgeous.

Angela, Sarah is on holidays as present however she will email you your prize on her return.

Thank you again to everyone who entered.

Product available at Sharnel Dollar Designs

As some of you know I've started a styling business and I wanted to share with you some of the products I have available now for purchase.

I used these footed bowls here, stacked and filled with macarons to form an elegant tower.

Magical Fairy dust and Grass and flower placemats (used in the Woodlands Party)

Grass and Flower placemats (they can be joined together to make a table runner)

Polka dot vases

Plastic drink glasses and sundae float cups

Pink sparkle tulle pom poms

Butterfly balls

Contact me on grumeti76@mac.com if you would like to purchase any of these gorgeous products prior to our website launch.

Giveaway - Print, Cut & Party by Style Me Gorgeous

Sarah from Style Me Gorgeous is kindly offering all My Life My Loves readers a chance to win her Enchanted Woodlands Print, Cut & Party set (as shown below).

I hold a soft spot for this particular design and I'm so excited that one of my readers will be able to fall in love with it to.

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite element of the Enchanted Woodlands party I planned for my daughter's 6th birthday.

Winner will be announced Friday, 27th August at 5pm. Entry is open worldwide.

Recipe - Woodland Berry Punch

I cannot even start to tell you how delicious and refreshing this punch is. All of Olivia's party guests (including, well actually especially the Mum's) loved it. We all agreed that it would be fabulous with a dash of vodak on a hot summers night!

Photo courtesy Leanne Stamatellos Photography

Tutorial - Hedgehog cupcakes

Would you like to make some of these adorable hedgehog cupcakes yourself?

Sharon from Sharon Wee Creations has a great tutorial here.

Photo courtesy of Leanne Stamatellos Photography.

Tutorial - Toadstool seats

As promised, here is a step by step tutorial on how to make the toadstool seating that featured in the Enchanted Woodlands party I threw for Olivia's 6th birthday.

Liquid nails will be your NBFF by the end of this.

What you will need:

• Base of stool 30 x 30cm piece of mdf (I purchased a large piece of mdf from Bunnings and had it cut to size. Bunnings cannot cut circles so you'll need to find someone else)
• Seat 30 dia round piece of mdf (same as above)
• 30x30cm astro turf / faux grass (found mine at Bunnings)
• log or tree stump 30cm long 15-20cm in diameter. Ensure the ends are even and level.
• Foam circles 30cm dia (Clarks Rubber - they cut them for me)
• Red and white spot material (Spotlight)
• Liquid nails (Bunnings)
• Light duty stapler/tacker (Bunnings)
• Stanley/exacto knife
• Fabric scissors
• Electric carving knife

Lay your chosen fabric down and cut squares approx 50cm x 50cm.

Next I took our electric craving knife (I knew I'd kept it all these years for a reason) and trimmed the edges of the foam. Do this on one side only. It will give your mushroom seat a more realistic look.

Place fabric right side down, wrong side up on floor then place your foam then round MDF piece on top.

You are going to start stapling the fabric to the underside of the MDF. I started at 12 o'clock, pulled tightly and stapled. Then moved on to 6, 3, 9 o'clock and so on until the entire piece of fabric is secured underneath.

Ensure it's neat and no bunching on the sides before stapling. Keep checking to ensure the top has no pleating or bunching.

Warning: making more than a few of these will give you a dose of RSI.

Once all the stapling is completed take a pair of fabric scissors and tidy up the raggy ends.

Voila! You have completed the first step! Well done. Have a glass of wine.

Cut the astro turf into 30x30cm squares.

Make two cuts in the centre forming an X big enough for the tree stump to fit through.

Flip the astro turf over wrong side up and squirt some liquid nails over it, taking care not to stick down the X section. Stick the astro turf onto the base (30x30cm square MDF). You should be able to lift the X section in the middle and place the log directly onto the MDF. You will have some astro turf coming up the sides of the log, but you can just trim that and having a little coming up the sides makes it look more realistic.

Next cover the entire end of the log (just one end for now). Secure it to the base piece of MDF and trim the astro turf.

Next take the upholstered seat section. We are now going to attached this to the other end of the log. Cover the exposed end of the log with liquid nails. Don't be shy, apply liberally. Place the seat down on top making sure that it's centred and not off to one side. Check from all sides and top as well.

Where are the nails and screws I hear you ask? I did some research (I spoke to a few chippies) and told them what I planned on making. All agreed that liquid nails was more than sufficient for this job. So no nailing, screwing, drilling or hammering required!!

Let dry for a full 24 hours.

I embellished some with a little blue bird sitting on one of the branches. Some moss and tiny mushrooms on the grass looks very sweet too.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Winner announced

The lucky winner of our latest giveaway of a $50 store credit to Fairy Nana Land - faerie wear by Eve Reddin Lennon's etsy shop is:

Claire from Scissors Paper Rock. Congratulations Claire and thank you to everyone for enterting.

Giveaway $50 store credit

Thank you to everyone that took the time to comment on the party I created for my daughters 6th birthday. I loved reading every one of them.

To say thank you I've teamed up with some of my wonderful suppliers for a jammed packed two weeks of fabulous giveaways.

First cab off the rank is a $50 store credit to Fairy Nana Land - faerie wear by Eve Reddin Lennon.

Eve handcrafted the exquisite costumes I used in the Enchanted Woodlands party.

To enter this competition head on over to Eve's etsy store and browse through her range of gorgeous costumes. Come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me which is your favourite costume and why.

Winner will be notified on Monday, 16th August 2010.

More images from the party

Thought I'd share some more images from the Enchanted Woodlands party.

Enjoy!

All photos courtesy of Leanne Stamatellos Photography. Styling by Sharnel Dollar.

Introducing the "Enchanted Woodlands" party

I'm thrilled to be sharing with you the images from Olivia's 6th birthday party. I can't thank Leanne from Leanne Stamatellos Photography enough for the images she has captured. Also to the ever talented Sarah from Style Me Gorgeous for the beautiful invitations and party printables (name tags, food labels etc).

On arrival each party guest was handed her very own woodlands fairy costume to wear and take home. The costume had a leotard, tutu skirt, head piece, wand and wings. This was enough to send some of the guests over the edge. One little one could not believe that she could keep it FOREVER! So gorgeous.

Once everyone was suitable dressed, Tilly the fully grown fairy whisked them away and played endless games. So many squeals of delight could be heard throughout the yard.

Even when they were out of view .....

The wise old forest owl was there to keep an eye on them.

Our delightfully fluffy friend Pepper the Bunny came to visit and everyone had a chance to hold him.

Then Chrissy and Mistletoe introduced themselves to the woodland fairies and prince.

Did you know woodland fairies tell the best secrets? They whisper so sweetly in your ear.

After all of that they needed a little rest.

And something to eat and drink.

Flower placemats, ruffle tablecloths and toadstools will be available from Sharnel Dollar Designs.

Fairy dust, butterfly balls will be available to purchase and hire from Sharnel Dollar Designs.

We served chocolate dipped strawberries, two types of hand decorated cookies, mm's, caramel popcorn, dutch shortbread and hedgehog cupcakes as part of the dessert table.

The darling cake was made by Jen at A Little Slice of Heaven.

Gorgeous cookies by Polka Cookies.

Cupcakes by me.

Chocolate bar wrappers by Style Me Gorgeous. Thank you Sarah.

Woodland Berry punch recipe to follow. Dew Drops (good old H2o)

Hanging posies by Phoebe Stephens. Votives my own.

My daughter, Tilly and her adorable friends. Each one of them made the day so magical.

Did you enjoy your walk through Olivia's enchanted woodland?

I'll be back over the coming weeks with more photos, links, recipes and great giveaways too.