These Kisses + Confetti poppers for weddings, baby gender reveals, birthdays and more are great used as favors or popped open as part of a celebration. I like to call them hand-held piñatas! *wink*

Simply change out the color of the confetti, Hershey's Kisses, Ribbon and Tissue Paper to match your specific celebration!

I created mine for the "Kisses + Confetti" themed baby gender reveal party I recently styled for Hershey's. They are so easy to make and so fun as a centerpiece, party favor or reveal idea!

So let's get to the how-to...

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Push Pop Containers with flat lids - there are dome lids out there which would prevent your poppers from standing up on their own.

Confetti - I used some leftover white and gold crinkle cut packing from the order I placed with Paper Crush as well as some ivory + mint square tissue confetti - part of my order from Paper Crush.

Hershey's Kisses  - I used light green Hershey's Kisses

Gold Polka Dot Tissue paper - Hobby Lobby

Gold Ribbon - Hobby Lobby

Scissors- for trimming tissue paper and ribbon 

P.S. I love my fancy gold scissors, but of course any pair of sharp scissors will do. *wink*

Although I'm sure you can totally figure it out from the photos, I'm sharing some written instructions as well...

DIRECTIONS
Stuff some crinkle cut confetti in the bottom of each push pop.
Add some Hershey's Kisses - I used 3 for each container.
Add some colored tissue paper confetti.
Top off with more crinkle cut confetti.
Snap on the lid.
Wrap a square piece of tissue paper up around the filled push pop and tie a ribbon around it to secure.

HINTS:
Each tissue paper wrap for the outside of the push pops was approximately a 10" square.
My ribbon pieces measured about 12" long - but that was after I trimmed them down so give yourself some extra for tying purposes. 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR POPPING
Using one hand, hold the popper away from your face, (and away from the faces of others), with the stick pointing towards the ground. Use the palm of your free hand to apply force to the bottom of the stick to eject the confetti and kisses into the air. (it's the same motion you would use to serve a volley ball). *wink*

TIP: There are plenty of tutorials out there to make confetti poppers. Most all of the ones I saw did not use the lid to the container. I'm not sure if it was because the lids they had weren't flat or if they didn't think the poppers would work with the lid on. I tested my poppers with the lids on and they worked just fine. 

These are so easy and fun to make - even the littles can help!!
If you haven't tried them out already, I hope you will!!

xoxo,
Jessica

KEEPiNG iT REAL
You should seriously order something from Paper Crush just to get some of the cute crinkle cut paper she includes in her packaging! *wink*

GIFT IDEA | Graduation Gift Basket Ideas :: Tuesday Morning

Hello friends!! I'm sharing some fun "gift basket ideas" for graduates over on Tuesday Morning today! I hope you'll pop over there to see what I put together using some fabulous finds from my local Tuesday Morning store.

Can you guess the theme of the gift basket I created using the fragrance sachets you see below?

This one might be my favorite because of the awesome crate I used to hold everything. (and the adorable scalloped tissue paper I used to hide the gifts inside is just too cute).   

Head on over to the Tuesday Morning Blog to see the full post and to find out what's inside this trendy wooden crate.

I hope you're inspired to step into your local Tuesday Morning location to find the perfect gift for any and all of the graduates on your list. I love shopping there!! How about you?

xoxo,
Jessica

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THIS IS A SPONSORED POST BY TUESDAY MORNING STORES.

PEN + PAPER FLOWERS HAS RECEIVED COMPENSATION AND/OR PRODUCTS 

IN EXCHANGE FOR CREATING CONTENT AND SHARING PRODUCTS.
  AS ALWAYS, FRIENDS + READERS, I ONLY WORK WITH BRANDS 
AND SHARE CONTENT I'M INSPIRED BY AND FEEL WILL INSPIRE YOU TOO!

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KEEPiNG iT REAL
I could spend hours in Tuesday Morning you guys...and still not see everything.
Did I ever tell you the story about how I once dragged my kids to Tuesday Morning - super early, before school, just to take advantage of a special early bird sale they were having? I'd been eyeing a pretty coat rack so I managed to be there when the doors opened, loaded the coat rack into the car and still got the kids to school on time.  Yes!!

P.S. I still have the coat rack. *wink*

STYLING | Spiders + Spirits Halloween Dessert Table (for adults)

BOO! Have I got a "treat" for you today!!
I was recently approached by one of my favorite retail stores, Tuesday Morning, to come up with a blog post for the Tuesday Morning site. All I had to do was pick and use some things from their high-quality designer products, (at close-out prices, by the way), using the theme they'd chosen: Halloween-inspired adult treats.

I literally had TEN days to put this all together but I was completely up for the challenge.
Although I don't drink alcohol, my mind went immediately to creating a "spiked" desserts table for adults, thus inspiring the "Spiders + SPIRITS" theme. Pretty clever, right?

I hope you'll hop on over to the Tuesday Morning Blog and check out the full details on the set up as well as to get the scoop on the wonderful products I found and used as part of the dessert table. (Like these realistic-looking old doors that are really just two beautiful canvases I used as the backdrop). LOVE them!!

Feeling inspired for Halloween now?
I've also been pinning some fantastic Halloween ideas to the "Haunted Halloween" Tuesday Morning Pinterest Board so definitely check it out for more inspiration.

Stay tuned to the Pen + Paper Flowers blog because I'll be posting more about the Pumpkin Bourbon Milkshakes, Kahlua + Cream cupcakes and the Whiskey Caramel Glazed Pumpkin Bars that were used on the table.

And...for anyone interested in recreating this, I'll be posting the Chalkboard Signage + labels too!!

Do you love Tuesday Morning too and need to find a location close to you?
Use the Tuesday Morning Store Locator !

Keep up with Tuesday Morning and their fabulous home decor products by following them on their social media platforms:
Tuesday Morning on Facebook
Tuesday Morning on Twitter
Tuesday Morning on Instagram
Tuesday Morning on Pinterest

Want to receive Tuesday Morning emails? Just sign up!

Now...are you ready to throw that Halloween party you've been talking about?
I hope you've been inspired, friends!!!

xoxo

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THIS IS A SPONSORED POST BY TUESDAY MORNING STORES.

PEN + PAPER FLOWERS HAS RECEIVED COMPENSATION AND/OR PRODUCTS 

IN EXCHANGE FOR CREATING CONTENT AND SHARING PRODUCTS.
  AS ALWAYS, FRIENDS + READERS, I ONLY WORK WITH BRANDS 
AND SHARE CONTENT I'M INSPIRED BY AND THINK WILL INSPIRE YOU TOO!

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KEEPiNG iT REAL

The 10 day turnaround was crazy to meet but working with Tuesday Morning products was a blast.
My daughter Ema (16), actually did some shopping and brainstorming with me and I think we nailed it!! My studio is an absolute disaster - I'm not even kidding!! Just ask my family!! *wink*

HOLIDAYS | Gold Foil Holiday Cards :: Shutterfly

I've let the past two years go by without sending out Christmas Cards…
and that makes me really sad.

This girl used to be the "queen of holiday cards" because I would design them myself and come up with really cute themes every year. Everyone looked forward to them and anticipated what I would come up with next.

And...life got busier and I just got burnt out on coming up with something new and frankly didn't have time to breathe let alone sit down and design a card.

Besides that, my life circumstances changed in the middle of all of that and…well…so…
it just didn't feel the same anymore.

But THIS year…thanks to my friends at Shutterfly…
and their Perfectly Personal™ Holiday Cards…
I got some GORGEOUS Gold Foil printed cards to send out this year!!
Before the hustle and bustle of the Holiday Season - which is almost unheard of for this girl. *blushing*

They have a HUGE selection of Holiday Cards.
I chose the Happiest Holidays Christmas Card - a beautiful but simple flat card with rounded corners. I LOVE how pretty the gold foil pops off of the photo.

Shutterfly made the process of creating Holiday cards SO simple.
I picked my favorite photos from our recent Field of Dreams photo shoot and then chose cards that would work with the layout of the photos.

For this card, I had the option of choosing a photo for the front and then I was able to include a smaller square photo on the back to include with the personal note you can have printed for your family and friends.

For the back of our cards I came up with
"Wishing you the Happiest of Holidays and a New Year filled with lots of love and laughter."

And you can choose from a wide range of fonts to match your style - love that!

I didn't even realize what I wrote went so perfectly with the "Happiest Holidays" on the front of the card until I actually received them in print from Shutterfly. I love when that happens!!

But wait…it gets better...
Coordinating envelope stickers and personalized postage too!!

I went with the Enchanted Frame Sticker and the Gallery Photo Personalized Postage Stamp and love them both. I chose to use the same photo for both but you could totally use a different image for the card, postage, stickers and they even have Address Labels too!! I personally LOVE this Snow and Sparkles Address Label.

Now…I do have to confess.
I had several "favorite" photos and couldn't decide between the three…so…
I ended up ordering these Bright Bokeh Christmas Cards too.
Which is awesome because there are no "limited quantities" when ordering from Shutterfly so I just divided up my order so I could have some of all three of my favorites.

PLUS…my girls were happy too because they had their personal favorites!

I have to say - the whole process was super simple and the cards came really quick!
The quality is awesome and I don't foresee me going back to custom designing my own cards any time soon. And I'm okay with that.

I can't believe all I have left to do is address the envelopes and get them to the post office.
I prefer to hand-write my addresses but would you believe Shutterfly offers the service of addressing the envelopes for you?! Wow!!

I know you'll be shocked when I tell you this…
While I was in the middle of ordering my Christmas Cards, I went ahead and ordered the invitation for the Annual Cookie Baking I'll be hosting at my house again this year. Yeah. I know. I'm completely ahead of things this year.  I'll be sharing those with you soon - they are SO completely adorable.

THIS IS A SPONSORED POST. PEN N' PAPER FLOWERS HAS RECEIVED COMPENSATION AND/OR PRODUCTS FROM SHUTTERFLY IN EXCHANGE FOR SHARING, BUT FRIENDS…AS ALWAYS...ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN AND I ONLY SHARE THINGS I TRULY LOVE.

KEEPiNG iT REAL
I think one of the most important things J has taught me is this:
"Don't start programs you can't maintain."
That's been a hard pill for this mama to swallow because I want to DO and BE everything to everyone.
Letting go of designing custom Christmas/Holiday cards was NOT easy for me.
after all...I'd been doing it for 12+ years previously.
I could NOT maintain it any longer - at least not if I wanted to stay sane.
I have to say what a relief it was to just sit down at the computer this year and not have to design anything or come up with something cutesy or clever - I just picked out a design I liked, uploaded my photos and pushed send.
Thanks Shutterfly!
And thank you J…you are a wise man.
You don't even know how many ideas I've walked away from after realizing it wouldn't be something I would want or could possibly maintain on a long-term basis.
Lucky me.
Lucky you. *wink*

STYLING | Baby Love Baby Shower :: Shutterfly

I love party styling - but you already knew that.

What you may not know is that what I REALLY love about party styling is being able to use the decorative things from a celebration for something post-party.

Baby Showers are especially fun because if you are smart…you can transition the party decor right into the baby's nursery! It allows you to "shower" the mother-to-be with the gift of hosting a baby shower for her, in addition to supplying her with some super cute things for the baby's nursery.

I'm so excited today because I'm going to show you some fun ideas on how to do that using some super adorable Shutterfly products.

Using 1 Wall Decal,  3 Photo Cubes,  2 Sets of Glass Magnets,  2 Journals,  1 Table Runner, 1 - 16x16 Photo Gallery Pillow and 3 - 5x7 Curved Glass Prints I was able to create a Dessert/Sign-In table AND have fun things to use in the baby's nursery afterwards.

The inspiration for this heart-themed baby shower came from Shutterfly's Baby Love (Girl) Baby Shower Invitation. I fell in love with the fun color scheme and whimsical vibe of the imperfect hearts. 

I set out to create a really simple "Desserts" and "Sign-In" table combo by splitting the serving area in half… one side for displaying a few sweet treats and the other side for holding pens and a cute keepsake book for guests to sign in and jot down a message/wish for the baby.

I used this custom table runner I designed as the foundation for the dessert and sign-in table. 

I think it turned out so adorable!!

The 5x7 Curved Glass Prints were used for serving some cute iced sugar cookies on one side of the table and for holding pens on the other side of the table. After the shower, the curved glass prints can be used in the nursery to hold pacifiers, small toys, hair accessories or they can be stood upright for a cute display. 

The Glass Magnets were used to hold my signage onto the metal stand centered on the table. I am SO in love with these oversized magnets. You could also use the magnets as cute party favors by slipping one into a glassine bag and sealing the bag with a hand-cut paper heart.

I hand-cut colorful paper hearts and attached them to wooden skewers using a hot glue gun and then inserted them into the white coconut cream cake. I love how the varying heights of this homemade cake topper added instant height to an otherwise small cake and helped balance out the table.

I used the same technique for the mini cupcakes - using toothpicks instead.

The heart pillow was adorable on the table along with the photo cubes, journals, and table runner.
You could use the pillow at the shower to clearly mark where the mommy-to-be should be sitting.
The pillow can then be added to the nursery chair/rocker for comfort and a splash of cute décor.

THE BACKDROP!!! The heart backdrop was created using a multi-heart Wall Decal I designed. It was seriously the easiest backdrop I've ever put up - just peel and stick it to the wall. They come off easily without damaging the wall/paint and you can reuse them. Then…after the shower, the hearts can be added to the nursery walls!! LOVE this idea soooo much!!

Hand-cut paper hearts were made to create a garland which I added to the front of the dresser to tie everything together. I think it all turned out so super cute and it was really simple to pull together.

Present both journals to the mother-to-be at the end of the shower. One of them as the keepsake guest book with the baby wishes from all of the guests. The other to encourage the new mom to journal all about baby's first year.

Shutterfly has some amazing products.

They were so fun to use to create this Baby Love baby shower and I was super impressed with the quality of the products as well.

I can't wait to come up with some other fun things using Shutterfly products!

I hope you've been inspired!

HOW TO RECREATE THESE SHUTTERFLY PRODUCTS

1. Download my designs

2. Go to the Shutterfly website

3. Search the specific product you are looking to create

4. Click "get photos" and upload my designs from your computer.

5. Add image(s) to product template, preview and order.

KEEPING IT REAL

Can you guess what lucky girl is going to now have these things as part of her room decor?

See…I was even thinking ahead when I picked which baby shower design to use! *wink*

THIS IS A SPONSORED POST. PEN N' PAPER FLOWERS HAS RECEIVED COMPENSATION AND/OR PRODUCTS FROM SHUTTERFLY IN EXCHANGE FOR SHARING, BUT FRIENDS…AS ALWAYS...ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN!

SHARE | FUN Gift Ideas from Uncommon Goods

You guys!!! Have you ever checked out the Uncommon Goods website?

I am in LOVE with all of the unique products and gift items they have available.
I have put together a collage of some of my favorite things from their Personalized Gifts section (see above) but they are all just too cute not to give you

CRAFT | Amy Tangerine Plus One Paper Crafting Collection

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This project post is a part of a paid marketing campaign with Snap. 

Although this post is sponsored the project idea and all opinions expressed are my own.
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I'm super excited to be sharing lots of eye candy today!

I was fortunate enough to have been selected to try out some of the new adorable Amy Tangerine Plus One Paper Craft Collection.

Before I show you what I ended up doing…I want to show you how seriously cute these products are! 

Amy Tangerine Whittles

(adorable decorative  mini wooden clothespins)

Amy Tangerine Alphabet Embroidery Stencil Kit

for incorporating easy stitching elements into your paper crafting, t-shirts, tote bags, scrapbooking, etc.

More pieces of the Amy Tangerine Alphabet Embroidery Stencil Kit
orange pad to protect surface when using the poking tool to pre-punch holes into your craft item 
along with some cute thread and needles.

Amy Tangerine Thread Kit
Extra thread colors to be used with the embroidery stencil kit

Amy Tangerine Roller Date Stamp and Mix Tape
A quick fun way to add a date and sentiment to any paper crafting project. 
And who doesn't love mini washi tapes in fun colors and cute designs?

Amy Tangerine Letter and Number Sticker Book
A fun way to add names, words, sentiments to your paper crafting projects

Amy Tangerine Roller Date Stamp, Mix Tape, Adhesive Bagdes and Fabric Brads
The adhesive badges are like those buttons we all know and love except they stick on instead of pin on.
Fabric brads are a simple way to add a pop of color to your scrapbooking page.

An even closer look...

Amy Tangerine Rub-Ons
Use the wooden popsicle stick to transfer these rub-ons onto your 
scrapbooking or other paper crafting projects. How fun are these?

Now that I've gotten your attention…before we dive into what I ended up making you need to know

the Amy Tangerine Plus One Paper Craft Collection will be for sale on HSN, on March 24th! Mark your calendars! This collection was the top selling signature line released in Winer 2014 and sold out in most stores and online. I'm telling you this because when the Amy Tangerine Plus One is up for grabs on the 24th at HSN there will be FIVE discounted bundles starting at just under $20 bucks…so I have a feeling they'll be selling like hotcakes.

The bundles will include a basic kit, embroidery kit, embellishment kit and a stamping kit.

BONUS: The sold out Plus One Project Life Mini Kit will also be available at a discounted rate.

Let me show you what the kits look like…

Amy Tangerine Plus One Kit

Amy Tangerine Stamp and Marker Kit

Amy Tangerine Embellishment Kit

Amy Tangerine Embroidery Stencil Kit

Amy Tangerine Plus One Project Life Kit

If you are into paper crafting and scrapbooking you've got to be completely excited right about now!
So again…DON'T MISS THE SALE ON MARCH 24TH ON HSN!!

OKAY...TIME TO REVEAL MY PROJECTS

For my first project, I was inspired to use the beautiful coordinating Amy Tangerine Plus One 12x12 acid-free paper to create this…

"XOXO Before You Go" - 15x30 Canvas Art Print

This is a new little sentiment we have started saying around our house…inspired by the "Hands-Free Mama" book I've been reading. It's a gentle reminder to kiss and hug each other before leaving or going about our day.

All I did to create all of those colorful hearts was use THIS HEART CRAFT PUNCH 
and almost every sheet of pretty decorative paper from the Amy Tangerine Plus One 12x12 pad.
(The gold glitter hearts are from my own personal stash)

After letting the "XOXO Before You Go" sentiment dry after painting it onto the canvas using black acrylic paint, I filled the rest of the canvas up with the paper hearts. I layed them out to figure out placement before gluing them on. I then added a little Amy Tangerine Adhesive Badge - the pink one with the house and heart was too perfect for the finishing touch…don't you think?

For some added texture, I pulled the sides of each heart away from the canvas so they looked 3 dimensional. I decided to leave the gold ones flat since the glitter card stock was thicker and I personally think it adds a little more interest. (that's the artist in me talking - ha!) 

Simple, right? Canvas + Pretty Paper Hearts + cute sentiment = Instant Home Decor. I love it.

You could even eliminate the sentiment altogether and just do a canvas filled with nothing but paper hearts!

So then…

it was time for my next project.

Although I was only asked to do one project, I really wanted to get my feet wet again with scrapbooking. It's been awhile and I've had the itch to get going again for some time so this was the perfect excuse to dive back into it!

I decided to use a photo from Ella's birthday photo shoot since the colors from her Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Party blended perfectly with the color scheme of the Amy Tangerine Plus One products. Yay!!

Do you love it? I think it turned out really, really cute!

Here's a bit of my process…

I used an 8x10 piece of white card stock as the foundation for my scrapbooking page because I knew I wanted to actually frame (without glass) and hang this when I was done.

I first figured out where my photo was going to go and then I built my layout/design around it. I used this stencil from the Alphabet Embroidery Stencil Kit to poke holes into my white card stock.

I stitched the thread onto my paper using the colors to match the cute rainbow colors from Ella's party.

I then added two black arrows from one of the rub-on sheets. 

TIP: See the extra pieces of rub ons I accidentally transferred onto my paper? (see below)  Look above and below the black arrows. Those of course weren't supposed to be there. Oops! No biggie. I ended up using a white eraser to remove those. It worked like a charm. I rubbed gently but firmly until they were gone to avoid damaging my paper.

See…the extra rub ons magically disappeard. So then I got my black ink pad and stamped "love love love" right underneath the arrows using the Amy Tangerine Date Stamp.  Just because I thought it was cute!

The words "Look…she's five" are handwritten 

and then I added some gold glitter mini hearts I punched from gold glitter card stock. 

The Amy Tangerine adhesive badge was a really cute accent and the criss cross lines in it matched the word "Look". 

I added the Amy Tangerine Whittles to the layout using Glue Dots and inserted hand cut strips of paper with Ella's name, the date Ella turned five and a couple more stamps from the Date Stamp.

I added some strips of the Mix Tape to two corners of Ella's photo and there you go…my very first "come-back" scrapbooking layout in about 7 years and Ella's very first scrapbooking page EVER - thanks to Amy Tangerine + American Crafts.

I love how it turned out and Ella was delighted to see it when it was finished.

It's definitely been awhile since I've scrapbooked like this.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy it and how relaxing it is to get creative in this way.

I've been inspired to create a birthday album for Ella.

Now…to get that layout framed and hung will be my next project so I can call it officially finished!

KEEPiNG iT REAL

1. I messed up on the first canvas when painting the words on it. I had to start a whole new canvas.

2. Ema was jealous that I chose to do a scrapbooking page for Ella instead of her when she's the one that's been begging me to get back into it for a couple of years now. She just LOVES looking at the ones I made for her and Clara. Despite her jealousy she gave me a thumbs up on Ella's! *wink*
3. My studio is a freaking disaster area right now from these fun projects! Ha! *blushing*