Yesterday I had my Stampin’ Up! Getaway Celebration Party.  What a fun afternoon it was!  I wanted to have a celebration party for everyone as a Thank You for helping me earn my first incentive trip.  Today I thought I would show you the decorations and things for the party.

First I made a bunch of paper flowers – using the idea from page 70 of the Stampin’ Up! Annual catalog.  My color palette came from the colors in the Patio Party Designer Series paper.  I arranged the flowers in mason jars that were filled with beans and then tied some of the matching ribbon around the mouth of the jar.

I baked little mini cupcakes and made cream cheese frosting – yum!  I used My Digital Studio and the template from the Patio Party Collection DVD.  I printed out the little flag banners for my cupcake picks – I just replaced the “Happy Birthday” with “Thank You”.  I printed it at home on Whisper White card stock – I cut them and scored in half then glued to the top of a tooth pick.

I also cut strips of the Patio Party Designer Series paper and then punched out butterflies from the card stock left from the flowers.  I wrapped the water bottles and glued the butterflies to the front.  They were really cute.

I also made cookies using the Sweet Pressed Cookie stamps from convention.  I made lots of Thank You cookies which everyone used to make a project and then I had all the others out on a plate.  I used the Sugared Shortbread cookie recipe that comes with the cookies stamps.  By the way most everyone that I have showed these too is surprised out how big these are.  In the catalog they seem smaller. They are 2-3/4″ diameter – so it makes a large cookie not a small one.

I also made an Almond Chicken Cheese Ball which is a favorite for everyone.  The recipe makes two large cheese balls and we finished the first one and made it half way through the second one.  I’d say everyone loved it.  And many people asked for the recipe.  I had actually posted it on my blog a long time ago – here is the post.

Here is a picture of all my food –

I had some little parfaits – yogurt, brownie bites and raspberries.  And finally I made corn dip – here is the recipe for that:

CORN DIP

2 cans (15 oz) Fiesta Corn, drained

1 can (4 oz) Chopped Green chilis (I don’t always use the whole can)

10 oz. pkg shredded cheddar cheese

8 oz. sour cream

1/2 cup mayo

1 Tbs Cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or less)

1 1/2 Tbs Chilli powder

Mix & chill overnight.

Serve with Tostito or Frito scoops.

Yum.  Yum.

I know I had a fun afternoon and I’m glad so many people were able to make it.  I’ll share the projects we made on another day.