Red, white, and blue...Happy Birthday to you

In case anyone is wondering where I disappeared to, I got in way over my head with birthday stuff for the little man. When inviting children to a birthday party in the middle of the week in July one should consider the possibility they will all come (or at least the large majority). I did not consider this would be the case. And of course, I had to make everything. Somewhere along the way I also got talked into letting him invite 12, yes TWELVE, kids ages 3-6 to this party.

The smart thing would have been to start with the invitations. I wasn't smart. In the end it all worked out and everyone had a great time with only one melt down and one incident. I call that good given the age group. Most importantly the birthday boy had fun and was happy.

Ted over at Happily Ever Crafter has a challenge going on this month honoring Old Glory, the American Flag. You should check it out if you have a minute. He's offering up a $10 PTI gift certificate to the winner and who doesn't love a bit of red, white, and blue in July??

The birthday party, an American BBQ, was the perfect place for a little red, white, and blue.

Here's the invitation.


I decided on an American BBQ to give his German friends a taste of American culture. Initially I wanted to make pinwheels, but it just wasn't working. While working on plan B I found this pinwheel stamp I've had for awhile but rarely use. I really wish I knew who made it. If anyone happens to know please pass the info along. Lucky for me, the pinwheel had stars and stripes. I stamped and embossed the pinwheel image and then colored it with copics. At this point I had already designed the goody bags (I'll post those a little later.) so I knew I wanted to use stars and glitter. Hubby was gracious enough to punch out tons of stars in a few sizes using the Creative Memories star punches. I then ran them through the Xyron to get a good layer of adhesive on them and then covered them in red, white, and blue glitter. Then I randomly placed the stars across to make a fun, festive, very American border. After my first run on a white card base, I realized something had to change. I had a pack of premade black cards sitting on the shelf. I had my answer. A simple "you're invited" was perfect for getting the point across through the language barrier.

I hope you like my take on Old Glory. Thanks for looking!