RASPBERRY & ORANGE

LA LA LOOPSY PARTY

2012-04-22T15:59:00.001-07:00

Pretty in pink and ready to party!

We only had an hour to set things up for the party. Our helpers were awesome! Thank you Mom, Dad, Rita, Grandma Myrt, and Chad!

Some of the birthday girl's favorite things.

butterfly snack party favors/ "sew" some seeds party favor

button cookie pops and lollipops

heart candies

grandpa and buddy

posing with the felt board

Loopsyland

getting a family pic

La La Loopsy ferris wheel cake

Crumbs Sugar Cookie cake

five balloons for a 5 year old

the kids had fun playing with balloons, hula hoops, and plastic golf clubs...perfect indoor play for a cold rainy day.

Joey picked up 2 super giant party pizzas

A moment with Mom

I am getting the cake ready for us to sing "happy birthday" and blow out the candles.

A pinata was requested for the party. I made this one using gingham cupcake liners.

The birthday girl takes a swing!

the kids were so strong they broke the pinata stick and the backup pinata stick...but not the pinata ;-)

candy frenzy

the birthday girl opening up her presents

She received so many wonderful gifts from her friends and family. She has been playing with her new toys non-stop ever since the party. Happy girl! :-)

The boys gathering around Dave, the life of the party!

A moment with Dad

someone's hiding from the camera!

these are the most adorable, well-behaved kids!!

having a laugh!

Our party guests

We are so lucky to have the

COOLEST FRIENDS and FAMILY!!!!

the birthday girl with me and her Grandmas

best friends and gymnastics buddies. These gals are two peas in a pod!

It was a very happy birthday for my little sweetheart!

PARTY PREPARATIONS

2012-04-22T15:01:00.004-07:00

Following tradition, I made Madeline's birthday cakes. This year I made her two La La Loopsy cakes and tried something new...marshmallow fondant.

(yellow cake with buttercream frosting)

Crumbs Sugar Cookie cake

(strawberry cake with buttercream frosting)

For the party, I made a board of La La Loopsyland with some of the loopsy animals.

I sewed and embroidered the felt and on some of them, like the polar bear above, added white fabric paint.

The cat - (I glued yarn to Styrofoam balls to make the yarn balls)

little red bird

mouse

I added a "5" applique and some glitter glue to this cloud.

butterfly in a flower garden

owl

I used a cardboard display board and covered it in felt, then hot glued the animals on. (I tried to velcro them, but they didn't stick very well)

I made button sugar-cookie pops to go along with the sewing/La La Loopsy-theme. I love this sugar cookie recipe. It think it tastes more like a shortbread and the dough doesn't spread when cooked.

I wanted to make homemade party favors for the kids. Since their ages ranged from 2 to 5, I decided to make these butterfly snack bags and jello playdoh.

making the playdoh

finished playdoh...I think the berry blue smelled the best!
I packaged a small ball-size of playdoh for each kid in small plastic containers and labeled them with their flavor. I used Orange, Berry Blue, Lemon, Grape, and Cherry flavored jello.

COLORED EGGS

2012-04-04T17:47:00.002-07:00

Tonight the kids and I colored Easter eggs.

the kids got to add the food coloring, mix the color, and drop in the eggs.

They were very careful and did a great job.

I like to dye the eggs all one color, none of the fancy stuff for me. Our purple did not turn out well (far right, middle) The purple egg looks more like an avacado.

They look pretty and taste good too. Maddy has already eaten two for dinner.

We are excited for Easter and the Easter Bunny's big visit.

Today was the perfect Spring day.

The kids and I spent most of the evening outside.

Enjoying the sunlight and being silly for the camera

2012-03-22T21:41:00.001-07:00

My kids love to cut and tear paper up into a million pieces. Usually it just makes a mess on the floor that has to be cleaned up later. Every once in a while, something cool is created. My daughter was so proud to show me the unicorn she made, purple wings and all.

SAVE THE TREES

2012-03-02T11:06:00.000-08:00

I must admit, until this week, I did not know the story of the Lorax. I bought the book for the artwork, but never read it.

After finally hearing the story, I can now see why it's a Dr. Seuss classic. It has such a great message! I am excited to take my kids to see it in the theater.

The Lorax inspired me to make my own Truffula Trees.

And I first saw the trees!

The Truffula Trees!

The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees!

Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.

What I used: yarn, pipe cleaners, and a pom-pom maker (pom-pom makers are inexpensive, but you can make your own by cutting out two identical donut shapes from heavy paper or cardboard.)

a little INSPIRATION

2012-02-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

I have these two pieces of artwork pinned to my Crafts Board at Pinterest. I love the subject matter, shapes, and especially the colors.

Today, they became inspiration for an art project with my kids. We studied the shapes and colors in each picture and discussed what other things would be found in a city

I asked them to draw on canvas, a city inspired by the artwork. They drew buildings, trees, balloons, a stop sign...

...a tunnel and waterfall.

I poured them each a pretty palette of paint colors.

Luckily, I had just finished this carton of eggs this morning.

They were excited to put color to canvas.

Quickly their cities were coming to life.

I stayed busy making many trips to the sink to refill the waters and rinse paintbrushes.

They took their time and enjoyed painting.

Their finished works

HAIR CLIP REVAMP

2012-02-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

Today, I noticed my daughter's boring hair clips needed a little jazzed up.

So I added felt roses. In case you haven't come across a demo of felt roses yet, I took some pictures of the process. They are really easy (and can be made the same way with paper) The only supplies you need are hair clips, felt, (good) scissors, and a glue gun.

Cut out a square, round the edges, and cut a spiral.

Start rolling from the outside end of the felt inward.

close the flap with hot glue

glue it to the hair clip

VALENTINE'S DAY

2012-02-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a little of what Valentine's Day prep looks like at our house.

My two little kitchen helpers helped me make heart-shaped cookie-pops

This Sugar Cookie Icing is my absolute favorite. I always end up adding a little bit more of this or that to get the right consistency, but it always ends up perfect.

happy taste-tester

I made a bunch of Valentine's cards to send out.

Here's a few of them...they are each a little different.

The "balloons" are pencil erasers dipped into ink

My daughter had fun helping me with this project.

Today, I impulsed shopped at Sam's Club and brought home 2lbs of strawberries and melting chocolate. After sampling a chocolate covered strawberry at the store, it was too hard to pass up. They are my favorite.

I made these kiddy Valentine's for my daughter to hand out at school. She diligently signed all eleven of them.

And I bundled up the cookie-pops and some stick-on mustaches for my kids to hand out to their neighborhood friends.

I hope you spread lots of love this Valentine's Day! XOXO

IT'S ALL YOU NEED

2012-02-09T14:04:00.000-08:00

For all the yarn lovers out there who want a project but don't want to knit or crochet, here you go! I came across this craft at Bloesem Kids. I tried it. it's simple. I'm hooked.

All you need are pipecleaners and yarn. Connect and twist the pipecleaners to the desired shape/word.

Cover with yarn.

Last night at knitting circle, instead of knitting my usual 'no concentration needed' dishcloths, I focused on finishing up this heart. I see an eye and the letter U in my future.

The possibilities are endless.

Some of my FAVES

2012-02-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

After browsing my favorite sites, I pulled together this list of Valentine's Day ideas. Check 'em out and get crackin', Valentine's Day is next week : )

Accordion Fold Rebus Valentine

free download at martha stewart crafts dept

Brown Sugar Blondies

recipe at baked perfection

Message Hearts

free download in three sizes at i heart naptime

Pomegranate-Champagne Punch

recipe at martha stewart

Lollipop Mice

directions at family fun

Pixelated Popup Card

free download at minieco.ck.uk

I "Wheelie" Like You

free download at thirty handmade days

Glow Stick Valentine

free download at the teacher wife

A Sweet Shovel

directions at family fun

Heart-Shaped Cake How-to

directions from about.com

Friendship Bracelet Valentines

free download at [dandee]

Love Bug Valentines

free download at [dandee]

Superhero Valentines

free download at sugar tot designs

Hearts Stitched Together

free download and directions at [dandee]

Printable Toppers

free download at Little Amara Designs

You Rock Valentines

printable at zakka life

Cross Stitch Valentine Postcard

free download at maggie makes

LOVE BUG INVASION

2012-02-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

This is a great project to do with your kids. You will need Pom Poms (i only had little ones, bigger ones would have been better) foam sheets, googily eyes, pipe cleaners and glue. We started with Elmer's glue, but nothing was sticking, so I ended up pulling out the glue gun.

Our cute little love bugs

FREE OWL DOWNLOAD

2012-02-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

I have been drawn to anything 'owl' related lately. A while ago I downloaded an owl constructable from 3eyedbear.com and just recently printed it out. I hastily constructed this little guy but he is still pretty rad.

Print him out on cardstock, follow the easy directions, cut, and glue. He is very easy to create. Cllick here to download your own!

He's the perfect adornment for my craft shelf.

STRAWBERRY YOGURT CONE

2012-02-03T15:59:00.000-08:00

We had a beautiful spring-like day today. The kids wanted to play outside and soak up the sunlight. I surprised them with a fun and yummy treat.

A marshmallow in the bottom keeps the cone from getting soggy.

My somewhat healthier alternative to ice cream.

They gobbled their treats up!

SCISSOR SKILLZ

2012-02-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

After breakfast, I pulled out some art supplies for the kids to practice their scissor skills. Keeping with the Valentine's Day theme, we chose to cut out and decorate hearts.

Sissy and Buddy did a great job taking their time following the cut-lines.

They cut out several hearts. I can remember how their little fingers used to have so much trouble working the scissors.

Their scissor skills have really improved.

i LOVE her choice of lower and uppercase letters.

Sissy's creations

Buddy's Wiggle-colored heart

And with some yellow scrap paper, he made the sweetest little bird feeder.

FIRST DAY

2012-01-30T18:52:00.000-08:00

It was the first day of Preschool for my little guy. He is lucky to be in the same class as his big sister.

Sissy was happy to be back at school. Buddy was very shy on his first day. Hopefully tomorrow he'll be ready to play!

HAPPY HEARTS

2012-01-30T16:12:00.000-08:00

To get ready for Valentine's Day, I made these cute little heart pillows. They are bright and happy!

The best thing about this craft is it is inexpensive and easy.

I have a big stash of embroidery floss. It's cheap and comes in a variety of cool colors.

Felt sheets are also very cheap.

the little guys

a bigger guy

i heart u

2012-01-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day last year we made lots of handmade Valentine's cards. My daughter colored the pictures, and added the googily eyes. I traced over top her drawings with glitter glue and attached them to the colorful handcut cards.

I glued paper letters inside the card.

They turned out so bright and cheerful!

The kids and I made lolipop flowers for their Valentines.

They had fun handing these out to their friends.

Sissy received her own Valentine from her Gigi, who was vacationing in Paris.

I whipped up a simple and festive heart sash for our front window.

HANDMADE CHRISTMAS

2012-01-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

I made these felt owl ornaments for everyone in my family this year.

The kids helped me make a 'wise old owl' cake for Grandpa's 89th birthday.

My brother gifted me with all of these skeins of colorful wool yarn for Christmas. I love the rainbow of colors!!

The first thing I made with the yarn was a rainbow scarf for Sissy.

I purchased these cute hand towels at Marshall's a while ago. While I was at my parent's house over the holiday, I made use of my Mom's sewing machine and made them into pillows. The towels were on clearance and the pillows were $1.99 at Ikea. Cute and cheap!

I saw travel toothbrush holders on Pinterest and knew I wanted to have one. My Mom whipped this one up really fast. She used yellow grosgrain ribbon for the tie.

She found the most perfect hand towel for the job at TJ Maxx. I love it, and If it gets dirty, I can just toss it into the washing machine!

I made these paper stars for my Christmas window decorations this year. I folded cardstock into the star shapes, then painted them with glitter paint. I added Christmas lights underneath to light them up at night. They sparkle.

The kids helped me make these vanilla/chocolate buttercream cupcakes for Grammy's birthday. They especially helped by licking the beaters for me : D

BLANKETS AND LINENS

2012-01-20T16:08:00.000-08:00

I joined a knitting circle and knitted Buddy a Wiggles blanket. It was my first blanket, so I kept the pattern very simple.

I have seen these Owls on Piterest many times and knew it would be a fun activity to share with my kids. I let them paint the toilet paper rolls. Later, I touched them up, and after they dried added the faces with a black sharpie.

Every year on our Best Femmes trip, the women in my family share with each other our 'Favorite Things' This year we decided to give handmade gifts. I freehanded and embroidered these for each of my Best Femmes.

I purchased the linens at an estate sale in my neighborhood for only a couple of bucks.

They are each unique

I folded the linens and placed them in these mini chinese take-out boxes and topped them with a label and paper rose.

HANDMADE

2012-01-20T15:55:00.000-08:00

I started embroidery for the first time and found out I really like it. I flew through a bunch of kitchen hand towels. I free-handed these owls.

I used an iron-on pattern for these cute mixing dishes.

I saw cute glittery clothespins on Pinterest, so I made my own. I used them to hang artwork in the kid's room.

I found wooden picture frames at Michaels for 99 cents. The kids helped me paint them with chalkboard paint. I added pictures and attached magnets to the back. They were very inexpensive to make and look great.

I also found these cute fruity felt stickers on sale at Michaels. I cut and glued on a fabric backing (to cover up the sticky part) and hot glued them to her hair clips.

They turned out really cute and unique. I can't wait to go back and pick out some more cute stickers.

And my super girl likes them!

SIDEWALK CHALK

2012-01-20T15:36:00.000-08:00

We'll bring dessert

2012-01-20T15:31:00.000-08:00

We were invited to our friend's house for dinner. We brought a fruit pizza.

The crust is sugar cookie dough, the frosting is cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar, topping is fruit. You can use any seasonal fruit for the toppings.

THE ANNUAL CLAMBAKE

2012-01-20T15:25:00.001-08:00

The Bake

Clams, Chicken, corn, sweet potatoes, homemade cole slaw, applesauce and bread - O'yum!

A VERY WIGGILY PARTY

2012-01-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

My son is a Wiggle fanatic, really. For his 3rd birthday I knew he would love it if I carried out the Wiggles' theme. The only problem with throwing a Wiggles' party is that you cannot find the merchandise very easily. For the most part, I just went with red, yellow, purple, blue color scheme.

The party favors

The food table - Henry the Octopus Hummus, Yummy-Yummy Fruit Salad, and Dorothy's Rosy Red Lemonade

He wanted a Wiggles' house cake, so I modeled his after one of his toys. Instead of making the frosting myself, and for the sake of time, we purchased a giant tub of white frosting from Sam's Club. We froze what I didn't use.

We asked everyone to come wearing a Wiggles' colored shirt (red, yellow, purple, or blue.) We printed out Wiggle badges on sticker paper and handed them out for our guests to wear. It was fun seeing what color everyone chose to wear.

My Mom free-handed these Wiggle guys for the party.

MY COUSIN'S WEDDING

2012-01-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

beautiful bridal bouquet

She carried with her a picture of both of her grandmothers on their wedding days.

The seating chart was displayed in an antique suitcase. Each table was named after a state. We sat at the Pennsylvania table.

My cousin is a graphic designer and made all the kids activity placemats.

Beautifully simple wedding cakes topped with succulents sat on each table.

They tasted as good as they looked!

picture with the bride on the dance floor