Cath Kidtson DIY Bunting

It is hard to believe that we will be celebrating my daughter's 12th birthday in just few days (She's my Christmas baby), and is truly my Christmas gift. I am a blessed mommy. She invited eight of her friends over this past weekend  for a sleepover party. They had a night of Christmas caroling, Christmas scavenger hunt, pillow fights! and staying up until all hours of the night.

"Pillow" fight

We kept the party decorations simple (normally I'd be going over the top); partly because I was running out of ideas and short for time; and  partly because her taste is maturing.

I was also excited that she did not ask for a themed birthday cake and suprisingly requested a s'mores chocolate cake. I baked twelve luscious layers (one for every year); six layers of chocolate cake and six layers of ganache and graham cracker; all topped with toasted marshmallow frosting.

Twelve Layer Chocolate S' mores Cake

Because her birthday is Christmas day we try to keep the party looking like a birthday and not like a Christmas party. It made me super excited that she was willing to to do a Cath Kidston birthday theme, oh... how I love Cath Kidston! UK's popular lifestyle brand, famous for her brightly colored patterns. My daughter's room has a Union Jack theme, so it was a no-brainer to incorporate these together. My two favorite things... Union Jack and Cath Kidston! I love paper crafts and initially purchased a Union Jack bunting printable on Etsy, but decided do my own so that I could incorporate Cath Kidston. The bunting was strung together with 1/2 inch ribbon I found at Michael's.

DIY Cath Kidston Bunting

I think I will recycle the bunting at our annual Teacher's Tea...

You can download printable of some of Cath Kidston bunting by clicking on the images below.

DIY Christmas Advent Wreath

I love this time of year, the holidays - not the cold weather. I remember my first Christmas in the U.S. like it was yesterday. The real extra fat tree covered with silver tinsel, fell everywhere on the floor. These days prefer a faux (pre-lit and slender) Christmas tree - displayed in an cute urn, of course.

I've also started a new tradition of lighting an advent wreath, which I made at my church. This wreath is made of a wooden disc covered in evergreen and has four candles.You can read more about the meaning of the Advent Wreath here.  It's an easy DIY project make and inexpensive too.  

You'll need a small wooden 18 inches in diameter (or larger, it's up to you) disc that you'll want to cut to a donut whole shape and pre-drill 4 holes for candle.

Greenery (recycle an older wreath)

Pine cones or or Christmas ornaments.

Candles (3 purple and 1 pink), wired ribbon and glue gun.

Advent Wreath Instructions in Pictures

Assemble and hot glue greenery to wreath, (up-cycle an older wreath). Fill in with pine cones and berries and got glue to wreath, insert candles then glue a cute ribbon to wreath.

Advent Wreath using up-cycled ornaments

Instead of pine cones, I decided to add some up-cycled ornaments. As an after thought the wooden base should have been painted in green. I guess I'll have to make another one next year :-)