Never in our wildest Dreams..........

October 4, 2010

You know that saying, "If you believe it, you can achieve it". Well that could not be more true to life than our experience thus far. About 5 1/2 weeks ago we started The Savvy Moms Guide as a way to create the ultimate Play Date, give amazing parties, and design all things to perfection.....for pennies. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would get such honorable mentions as we did this past week. We have to gloat for just a post, so bear with us! We were beyond thrilled, in fact in disbelief, when we saw that our first Halloween "Spooktacular Play Date/Party was featured on Martha Stewart's Dreamers into Doers. I mean seeing our hard work getting a feature mention that has Martha Stewart's name attached to it truly is every party planners dream, well at least ours!!!!

In the same day we were also featured on a new network, The Children's Party Newtwork. It is a website designed to connect, share and celebrate in the children's party movement (the new wave of stylish and beyond creative children's parties). How could this be, two amazing sites in one day???? All we can say is Thank You!!! Thank you to the amazingly talented Donella of Ella B Photography for capturing each of our Play Dates. Our kids just love posing for her and her "circle"!!!! Thank you Nicole from Sweet Things for adding a bit of sweetness to each of our Play Dates with your one of a kind costumes and designs. Thank You Kolby Kakes for providing your delicious not to mention detailed edible creations that put a smile on our kids faces every time!!!! And Thank You Kerry, of Canvas by Kerry for complimenting each Play Date with your original art work. Each of these Savvy ladies have had a huge hand in our success along this 5 1/2 week journey and look forward to many more to come!!!!

Here's to making Every Day Savvy!!!!

Smiles,

Amy & Bri

Spooktacular Play Date Craft & Game

October 1, 2010

We posted our first Halloween Play Date yesterday and were so excited to share it with all of you. We hope you enjoyed all our Savvy finds and fun touches we added to make the Play Date/Party "Spooktacular".

In each of our Play Dates we like to have a recipe, craft and story that is involved as well as coordinates with the theme. Since this was a Halloween themed Play Date, the possibilities for a fun and age appropriate craft were endless! So, we thought what better craft and tradition than decorating a pumpkin? We wanted to be Savvy on the idea of the craft. We thought if we incorporated some Velcro, felt, googly eyes and some glittery pom-poms, the kids would have a pumpkin they could play with all month long, changing the face of their pumpkin like a "Mr. Potato Head".

Here is what you will need for supplies:

Plastic pumpkins (we got ours from The Dollar Tree) or real ones

Paint (if your kiddo wants to make a more spooky pumpkin)

Googly Eyes (Dollar Tree)

Velcro (Dollar Tree)

Felt (JoAnnes)

Scissors

Glue
Pom-poms (Dollar Tree) or any other decorative pieces you may want to add

****** Depending on the age of your child and or the amount of kids participating, we went ahead and pre-cut the felt into various shapes and sizes to make the assembly a little bit easier.

The finished product and some Happy lil' Pumpkins!!!!

When Amy Locurto from Living Locurto posted these Free Printables, we knew we had to use them!!!! Amy, who we think is the 'Queen of all that is Savvy', used soup cans to decorate and transform an ordinary table into a swanky, Fall centerpiece that would dress up any event! We decided to instead use the printables as a game for the kids to play.

Using soup cans we covered them with the festive printables and made a cute "Toss the Eyeball" game for the kids to enjoy!!!!
It was a Fun Day....for all who got to Play. We Even kept the ghosts Away.

Smiles~

Amy & Bri

Savvy....Spooktacular Halloween Play Date

September 30, 2010

BOO!!!! Did we scare you? Didn't think so. Welcome to our first Halloween "Spooktacular"

Play date. We wanted the day to be nothing less than fabulous for our kiddos and friends so greeting them at the front door was this adorable Anders Ruff "Boo!" sign (a free printable) that set the Halloween mood right away.

It's not a Halloween play date without a little friendly Bewitching right? How cute is this little witch we had as our door greeter with another free printable "The Witch is in" sign we downloaded from Clickable Party.

As soon as our ghoulish guests came inside we started our lunch time recipe. What do you get when you pair hot dogs and crescent rolls? A yummy "Mummy Dog" for a delicious hands on snack. We gave each child their own crescent dough triangle and a hot dog and let them "dress" their own Mummy Dog to their liking. As soon as their Mummies were wrapped we popped them in the oven and let the kiddos outside where we had set up the rest of the Halloween Spooktacular day for them to enjoy!

When we were planning this play date, right away we knew it had to be at Bri's house. Her back yard alone is a canvas of possibilities. We had so much fun creating this table and are so excited to share our Amy Atlas inspired table. Here is what we came up with.....take a look!!!!

We of course used an amazing group of talented women to help pull this festive Play Date together. We found complimentary printables from Tweedle Dee Designs. The yummy Spooky Circles, Pumpkin Pops and Pumpkin cupcakes were provided by the wonderful Kolby Kakes. And the Savvy find that we think finished the table was the $3 bat garland that draped the front of the table from a local store here in CA called Tai Pan, every Savvy shoppers dream!!!!

This Spooktacular Play Date could not have happened without a trip to our local Dollar Tree where we found glittery spiders, googly eyes and plastic pumpkins (See craft). A recipe, we still have yet to perfect, is our version of a healthy candy corn treat made out of fruit. (Post to follow) Our Glamorous giveaway this week, a hand painted chandelier canvas with rhinestone detail, comes from Canvas by Kerry which we used to decorate our drink table. Bake it Pretty gave us inspiration to use cupcake liners as popcorn holders for everyone to snack on while the Mummy Dogs were baking.

So here is our kids version of Mummy Dogs. Yea, we know they are missing eyes and are halfway dressed, but that is the fun part right? Yet another Savvy find and FREE printable we found were these sweet candy corn cone holders from Skip to my Lou that we used as hangers filled with more popcorn.

With every Play Date as you all know, we incorporate a recipe, a story and a craft. For this craft we found plastic pumpkins from The Dollar Tree that the kids painted and decorated with pieces of felt, googly eyes, and glittery pom-poms. (Post to follow on how we did this). We wanted these pumpkins to be sort of like Mr. Potato Heads, where the kids can change around the eyes, nose and mouth by simply using Velcro.

We ended the Day with Kolby Kakes delicious Pumpkin Pops and a story. The kids intently listened to The Spooky Smells of Halloween A Scratch and Sniff Book by Mary Man-Kong. The kiddos loved the cute story and really enjoyed the Smells of the Spooky Season an Adorable Seasonal Read....

So the day was done. Their tummies were full and the craft was made. Ella B captured it all and even got the kiddos together for a group shot all dressed up in Sweet Things fashions and other homemade costumes. Aren't they too Cute??

Smiles,

Amy & Bri

{Giveaway} Spooktacular Glamorous Canvas

September 27 2010

Congratulations to Tawny....You are the Winner of the Spooktacular "Glam" Canvas. We hope you enjoy it!!!!

Please email us at thesavvymomsguide@yahoo.com for your contact information.

Are you ready for a "Spooktacular" and Glamorous Giveaway? Kerry from Canvas by Kerry designed this Amazing Canvas for our "Spooktacular" Play Date we held last week (picture to follow shortly). She has graciously offered to give it away to our Savvy Viewers.

Here is how to enter to win!!!! Good Luck….

1) Head over to Canvas by Kerry and tell us your favorite sign here!


2) Become fans of both The Savvy Moms Guide and Lucky Girl Canvas on Facebook. Leave your Savvy Smile here!

3) Suggest The Savvy Moms Guide to your Friends and Family and share that you did here!

Please leave a separate comment for each entry.
Winner will be chosen on Sunday, October, 2010 at 10:00pm (PST). Any entries received after this time will not be considered. Winner will be chosen using random.org

Smiles,

Amy & Bri

Savvy Spooktacular.....Sneak Peek

September 21, 2010

We officially had our First Halloween Spooktacular Play Date Yesterday! So excited to show off our Savvy Seasonal finds, ideas and tasty treats. Here is a little Sneak Peak....

Smiles

Amy & Bri

Queen of Savviness

September 17, 2010
When it comes to Amy Locurto over at Living Locurto, we truly think she is the "Queen of Savviness"!!!! On Living Locurto you can find Amy’s original ideas and designs, hundreds of her favorite free printables from around the blog world, weekly menu plans, recipes, fun party ideas and DIY crafts. When you visit her site, you will no doubt leave inspired to go and create some colorful Holiday decor for your home or try out a weekly meal plan that saves you time and money.

Here is Amy's most recent FREE Halloween printable design. Yep, those are tomato soup cans covered to make a stylish and modern candle holder and vase for your table. When we saw these FREE printables we knew we would be using these on our Halloween Playdate. Stay tuned to see how Savvy we can be with the many uses of Living Locurto's printables!!!!

Smiles~

Amy & Bri

Another Reason we love Ella B & Sweet Things

Monday September 13, 2010

Last Friday we had a chance to have our kiddos and many other cuties play dress up on a photoshoot shot by the fabulous Ella B, where they modeled the newest Sweet Things fashions and Holiday costumes. The kids had a great time dressing up and posing for the camera. Ella B captured some great moments while Nicole from Sweet Things hosted an overall fun day for the kids as well as sweet designs. If you are looking for unique and one of a kind Halloween costumes, make sure you check out the Sweet Things shop!!!!

Smiles,

Amy & Bri

Spooktacular Free Finds

Holiday Party Planning is well under way....We can not wait for you to see our October Halloween themed party play date. The Blog World is full of great finds, so many amazing printables, tablesacapes and designs. We shared with you yesterday the Adorable Printables we are using from Tweedle Dee Designs. Today we wanted to share with you these FREE Spooktacular finds.

Don't you just love these Luminaries from the Clickable Party? We think these are Super Savvy since they can not only be used as a Luminarie but also a Bag, or even a Framed Piece of Halloween decor for your home.

Have you ever been "Boo'd"???? If not, this FREE printable let's you "Boo" your neighbor and start the ghostly fun in your neighborhood. Place this Boorific sign from Andersruff designs on a neighbors door and let the fun begin.!!!! Start the tradition in your neighborhood.

Happy Boo-ing !!!!

Smiles,

Amy & Bri

Fall is in the Air

Well, here in Southern California our weather sure has changed (at least for this week). We went from 107 degree temps last week to cool and comfortable 70 this week. All I can think is Fall is in the air and my 33 weeks of preggoness sure appreciates that! Fall is definitely my favorite time of year. So when I start to see all the Fall and Halloween decor go out in the stores, I feel like a kid in a candy store.

In preparing for the next Savvy Moms Playdate, a Halloween playdate of course, Bri and I have been searching for the savviest, spookiest, and yummiest finds out there. We came across the cutest Halloween printables from Tweedle Dee Designs that we just had to have. Visit her blog for great party ideas and creative baking tips.

See how Savvy we are with these fun Halloween printables when we post our Halloween Playdate at the end of September.

Smiles~

Amy & Bri