Back on the BUG band wagon!

Knowing that I have five weeks to recover and recuperate from a very grueling semester of school is a weird and wonderful thing.  I don't have much of a schedule right now - I don't have anything pressing work or volunteer wise so everything is in my own time.  One thing that's motivating me is all the special events that are coming up in the next couple months... Spring always brings gatherings of family and friends for us and this year is no exception.  We're actually heading on mini-vacations in each April, May, and June as well... so we have a lot to look forward to!

With my new found free time, one of the hot items on my agenda is Lily's Bug Party!  You remember me talking about it in this post, right?  (thanks for all the ideas by the way, you guys are the BEST!)  Well it's coming up quickly (May!) so I'm ready to get crafting!  Here are the inspiration pages I've been keeping over the past couple months as I've come across things in stores and on the web...

Oriental Trading has all kinds of fun bug-themed things that will be perfect goody bag stuffers.  Lily really loves bubbles (bottom right) and her older siblings love to color their own sun catchers (above the bubbles).  I also decided that "Bug Juice" is a MUST for the party!  How fun is that?  I'm not sure where I'll find it, but I'm sure I can make up my own juice with fun labels on it if I need to!

On the bottom here you can see some fabric scraps.  I found these fabrics at Hobby Lobby and plan to sew runners for the tables and make the goody bags from them.  So fun!  The cardstock colors on the right will be used for the invitations and throughout the decor - they are from Stampin' Up's current "Bold Brights" collection, and several of these colors will be retiring this summer, so it's a great chance for me to use them up and enjoy them!

I also plan on taking the kids on a bug hunt during the party, so I'm on the lookout for bug magnifiers and nets, and am thinking perhaps we'll make our own bug catchers AT the party?  What do you think?

I've begun collecting treasures as I've been out and about.  I've got a cardboard box full of trinkets for the goody bags (thank you, Target dollar spot!) but was really excited to find these lovelies from Pier One.  It's hard to tell from the glare, but on the right there are green straws with butterflies attached (perfect to go in the Bug Juice!), there's butterfly table confetti in the middle, and on the left is a package of beautiful butterfly picks.  I'll be honest in saying I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the picks yet, but they were so perfect I couldn't pass them up!

This weekend Heather and I will be settling into the craft studio to stamp and put together the invitations.  I've been working on some samples, so Stampin' Up's "Bugs & Kisses" stamp set has been out on my worktable for the past couple of days.  Don't you love the cute little bugs?!

This is the first weekend in awhile where we haven't had to drive across the state, attend a work or family function, or keep to any real schedule.  We're looking forward to taking it easy and enjoying some time with friends!  I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend as well, whatever you get up to!  Happy Friday!