Mexican Beach Fiesta | Photobooth and Props

A DIY Mexican Beach Fiesta has to have an awesome photo back drop doesn't it?

I had this idea to make it feel like waves on the sand.


I used lots of long strips of crepe paper in blue, white and yellows.  I added one pack of paper lanterns in multi-color hues from Michaels.  I bulked that up with some hand made blue tissue flowers.

I made a really fun set of photo booth props to go with the back drop.  I needed this project to be pretty simple and straightforward as time was winding down to go for the party.  I used sheets of plain white cardstock and cut out the shapes with the Silhouette cameo (or Curio).

You can download this free cut file (from me!) with all these shapes right here.



I was making these props out of paper but I really wanted them to pop.  I used white cardstock for simplicity because I really didn't want to switch out six different sheets of paper in my cameo.  All my shapes came out white and I just watercolored them to the shades I wanted.

I like the hues that I achieved better than most of the cardstock colors that I have anyway.  I used glitter to make the colors stand out even more.  I used a combination of fine and chunky Martha Stewart glitters.  I used pop dots to make the silhouette shape outlines stand out underneath the shapes. Using the outlines added a lot of depth and kept the props from feeling very flat.

I used a lot of beach shapes but I had to add some fun mustaches as well.  I also included a couple of sombreros in the baskets next to the photo back drop.

We put up our seahorse pinata up next to the beachy waves.  I had a photo prop seahorse and a seahorse on the cake table as well, to tie our theme together.

Like many party things I got this pinata off of amazon and it was one of the most beautiful pinatas I have ever seen.  I went to party lane in East Austin and found nothing prettier.  I love the bright colors and how well they matched the paper flowers too. 

I filled it up with two bags of assorted candy and toy pinata fillers. This was more than enough for the 40+ kids at the party.  It was also great for my sanity to have the kids focus on something other than eating candy.  I wasn't sure what to expect but I thought the toys and candy were both really good quality.

See all my posts about the Mexican Beach Fiesta here:
Planning
Cactus DIY
Printable Labels
The Party

See my other parties here.

Mexican Beach Fiesta Birthday Party Planning

We had an awesome DIY Mexican Fiesta at the Beach Fifth Birthday Party for Nandini this year.  We did a lot of fun projects to put this party together and it turned out to be a blast.

I turned to pinterest for inspiration of course.  Because I was working with a pretty unique theme I had to pull ideas from different places.

I started with Fiesta and Cinco De Mayo Inspiration Pins.  I love the big big tissue paper flowers.  I have made garlands on a small scale for Diwali, but I really loved the impact of the big colorful flowers (click through for sources).

 

As far as trends go the cactus trend was one I couldn't pass up.  Plus, they seem to pair perfectly well with fringe and I have a perfectly good pair of Martha Stewart fringe scissors coming to no good use.  I made most of mine by hand, but I also picked up one of these Martha Stewart kits for extra big and beautiful ones. 

I have used the fringed invitation idea on a layout in the past and I was excited to pull it out again.  

I also really loved this wooden cactus from Ann Marie Loves. I also love how she kept her party theme very minimal and easy.  Great inspo right there. I ended up going even easier and making mine out of cardboard and putting crepe paper fringe on it. 

This baby shower was the opposite of that but man did it floor me.  Beach themed party ideas galore!  I got Mexican coke bottles instead of course. 

Printable food tags were a no brainer.  I just tweaked these printables to suit our menu and color theme. 

I spent a large portion of my days making crepe paper flowers for two weeks.  I love seeing the progression as my window fills up with color. 

 I really wanted a way to keep the theme Mexican along with beach and this giant fringed cactus really seemed to fit the bill.  It was just so lovely and colorful, it was fun to even just have around the house for a few days.

 I bought a ton of real flowers and cacti too to decorate the tables with.  I bought potted flowers so that I could plant them after the party and can hopefully enjoy them for a long time to come.

See all my posts about the Mexican Beach Fiesta here:
Photobooth and Props
Cactus DIY
Printable Labels
The Party

See my other parties here.

Around Here | February 2016

We celebrated the Chinese New Year at a friend's birthday party.  It was wonderful treat for us and our kids.  Say what you will about pinterest, but I appreciate a good lavish party a lot - especially if I'm a guest. And, I love parties where it's about families getting together, not just the kids.  We have a strong community and I'm so grateful for it. 

We took Nandini to her first concert (not counting ACL and Southby free events of course, lol).  She loves "Fight Song" and when we heard Rachel Platten was coming to town, we jumped on it.  It was a small venue and it turned out to be great.  She sang her heart out to every song.  

I started doing project life again.  I realized that I have more done of 2015 than I thought as well.  It feels good to start this project again. 

We drove from school to karate and dance a lot and tried to play along the way.

We took hikes around the temple on Sundays while the big kids take Hindi class. 

Playing pokemon, collecting cards for trading and dressing up as pikachu. 

Having way too much fun with Oh Joy's new line for Target.  Pillowfort is catching my eye now too.  It's basically like Land of Nod has materialized in my local Target and I can't get enough!

Early Spring Flowers

A walk up to Mount Bonnell in February provided my first shock at the sight of flowers in bloom.  

Growing up I always loved seeing the apple and cherry blossoms coming out every spring. We don't really have cherry blossoms here in many places, but we do have those Texas Mountain Laurels and Texas Redbuds and peach blossoms in bloom.  

These trees are so beautiful they break my heart.  They don't last long and I try so hard to soak them up as much as I can. 

Right now that means taking walks around our little paths two or three times a day.  Rain today threatens to break my month long habit. 

I planted these ranunculus in early February and they bloomed now, just in time for me to put them in Nandini's hair for her party.

Nandini and I even found real apple blossoms at our local nursery.

 My oxalis, a gift from a dear friend - because of my lucky clover, Lakshman, is blooming again just in time for spring.

Spring is almost here.  We are seeing more and more bluebonnets every day.  Spring, please stay!

Cocoa Daisy Scrapbook Layouts | March Kit Brand New Day

I am slowly getting out from under the tissue paper and chocolate cake fog of Nandini's big birthday bash and getting the chance to post my March Cocoa Daisy kit projects.  And this month was FAB!  

I got the main kit and the DITL pocket page kit.

Enjoying Life | This is my pocket page for the month.  When the new year started I got back into making weekly spreads again.  I really like being able to document our lives this way.  It really grounds me.  I love all the lucky and bear themed cards.  It feels like perfectly themed to my baby!  Laugh. Lots of springy blues and greens.  I like the softer colors because they really let the photos pop. 

I added most of my journaling in photoshop before printing.  It really makes the spread come together so quickly, and I love the look of it. I'll get used to my handwriting someday I suppose. 

Remember | I made a big two page spread for Lakshman's birthday party.  I added the word art and cupcake from this month's digital files and printed them onto plain cardstock.  I paper pieced the cupcake together and pasted it inside the outline.  Hybrid scrapping is one of my favorite things to do.  I love the crisp outcomes it produces while still giving me the chance to create with my hand.

It's a bit hard to see, but it reads "Teddy Bears have their picnic".

Create & Draw | The kids had the best time with these big coloring sheets from Tea Living.  I tried to break up the straight lines of the photo and journaling card with some slanted paper strips across the top to frame them.  I added a bit of the green ink from the kit on the title.  I added their initials across the top as well.  

I love us | The journaling cards from the DITL kit worked really well to build my layout around.  I wanted to try my hand at the fringe trend and I thought this month's exclusive patterned paper would be perfect for it.  I fussy cut it and hand fringed it before pasting it onto a heart template I had made.

Thanks for sharing a peak into my projects with me!

Be sure to check out this month's kit!  There are so many fun goodies from the BYO add-ons to bundle with the kits.   I love the frame kit.  Click here to check out the shop.