Merry Christmas! : 2012

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Today marks the day when all the craziness of the holidays ends! Hopefully…

I hope everyone who celebrates any of the December holidays had a great month! I can’t wait to get back to my normal, everyday schedule. I have so much to share.

(oh and to explain a bit about why CT has TWO of the same pez in the above photo… I apparently have been really absent minded lately and bought two of the same thing. I didn’t realize it until Christmas eve, while wrapping. So I wrapped them together, and we told her she got twin pez dispensers. SHE WAS SO EXCITED ABOUT IT!.)

Birthday Macarons

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CT really loves when I make macarons. She always steals a few off the counter before and after I fill them. So of course I would make some for her birthday party!

I tried something a little new with both of the batches.

On the bottom of the tray are strawberry macarons with strawberry preserve buttercream filling. These were a bit off in color and size since I used ground up freeze dried strawberries in the batter and I didn’t tint them like usual. Oh and the buttercream was just normal ole buttercream with two tablespoons of strawberry preserves blended in. Super easy! So even though they weren’t super pretty, they tasted great!!

The macarons on the top, and in all the close up photos, were peppermint flavored with peppermint buttercream filling. I tried my hand as swirly color, which came out nice on about half of them. I also made them slightly larger than I usually do, which I think made them even better!!

I also made a half batch of peanut butter macarons, but those didn’t make it to the party. They were just too good.

I feel a lot more confident every time I bake these awesome treats, so expect more posts about them. I have loads of flavor combos I still want to try. Any combos YOU think I should try?

(oh and all the photos above were taken by my sister Ashley, not me!)

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A Little More About CT’s Party…

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As I said yesterday, I wanted to share a bit more about the decorating and goody bags from CT’s 3rd Birthday Party. I was very frazzled the day of, so all these photos were taken the day after! Just imagine cupcakes sitting on the white tray in the middle, some macarons on the two tiered tray and more “goody bags” in that white basket. Plus other odds and ends that were moved about.

It was a lot of fun to pick everything out, be it handmade, from a store or just from around the house. I didn’t go overboard, and I think it looked very cute and sweet. I really wish I had taken photos the day of!!!

I accidentally stumbled onto a color theme. It all started with those paper chains, I just picked out a multi pack of paper in what I thought were cute colors. After making them all (at night and in the car btw) I started to buy other things in the same colorways. All of the plastic silverware was in those colors, the last minute “Happy Birthday” banner matched (I meant to make one), even the flowers I found the night before matched! I sorta, kinda, accidentally made it all match! Ha. I love when things work out that way.

Oh and the wrapped picture frames! A lot of the guest liked those. I mainly did it because I felt the photos artwork underneath wasn’t really appropriate for a kid’s birthday party. It’s my Jordan Crane Triptych of a party with loads of booze on the ground, you can see it here. It’s fine for everyday viewing, just not a birthday.

I love the way it all looks, and I really don’t want to take it all down. Do I have to?

Ok, now onto the little chef hats…

These were a last minute idea! I mean, four days before the party last minute. I was flipping through the Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders book to see if there were any xmas gifts I could make, when I came across the pattern for a kid’s adjustable chefs hat and apron. I read through the instructions and figured they wouldn’t be too hard to make, so I made a test one. The one above actually. It took me about 25 minutes from start to finish (I’ve been told I sew FAST, so it make take others longer). I figured 11 kids were coming, and that they would only take me an afternoon to make one for each. It kinda did. I ran out of some supplies halfway through and had to wait until I could go out and get them. Then I waited until the night before to attach the velcro, which wasn’t the best idea. But I’m glad I made them! All the kids looked soooo cute decorating their cupcakes while wearing chef hats!!

Now onto the goody bags, or in our case, balls! My original plan was to make the bags for the goody bags, but after seeing the over sized gumball machine capsules above, I changed my mind! How cool are they? We bought them in blue, green and purple. CT picked out a kazoo, mini view-master camera thingy, some chocolate and tattoos/stickers. I didn’t want to only have plastic trinkets in the balls though, so like an insane woman, I also made the crayon rolls! Another last minute idea. I felt crazy making them, so I didn’t even tell my husband what I was doing until I was halfway through. I didn’t want someone else thinking I was crazy too! They actually took less time then I thought they would and I was able to just use scrap fabric from my stash.

In the end it was all more work than I anticipated, but you know what? I felt great about the way the house looked and the things I sent home with each kid! Now they each have a chef hat for pretend play, and a crayon roll to take with them anywhere. Plus I made one of each for CT too. I wouldn’t change a thing, well, with the exception of having more sewing machine needles on hand.

I know there’s loads of tutorials online to make crayon rolls, I didn’t use any of them because of their sizes. Would anyone be interested in a tutorial to make these simple ones?

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CT’s 3rd Birthday!!

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This past weekend was CT’s 3rd Birthday! Finally. I feel like I’ve been planning and making for this party for way too long. This is really the first year she’s aware of everything going on around her, so I wanted to make the day awesome!.

We invited a bunch of our friends and family, and ended up having ten kids show up total!! Only one couldn’t make it, not bad right? Especially for a winter birthday party, where you assume someone (or everyone) would be sick.

The theme for the party was CUPCAKES! Decorating cupcakes to be exact…

My original plan was to let the kids ice the cupcakes themselves and then decorate them with any of the numerous toppings we had. As the party grew closer I realized a lot of the kids that would be attending were younger than CT, so the icing part might just be a huge mess. So we iced the cupcake beforehand, that way all they had to worry about were the toppings.

I have been collecting sprinkles and cupcake liners for awhile, with no real purpose, until this party! I was able to provide 25 different types of toppings. There were colored sugars, candies in the shape of mickey and the aliens from Toy Story, dinosaur and snowflake sprinkles, long sprinkles, metallic sprinkles, two different types of cereal and more. I made sure to have every color of the rainbow, so each kid could use their favorite.

I also made a small batch of cotton candy buttercream in pink and blue, and small squeeze bottles with them. That way the older kids could draw on their cupcakes if they wanted.

It was really fun watching the kids all sit down nicely, put their chef hats on (I’ll talk about those in another post) and then go crazy decorating. A few of the younger ones couldn’t wait to decorate and just ate the cupcakes right away, but I made a bunch so they decorated their second one.

A lot of the adults were convinced our dining room would be a disaster afterwards. They were so wrong, most of the mess stayed on the table (which I covered in kraft paper) and hardly anything hit the ground. We had a very careful bunch of kids!! Seriously parents, your kids are all so nice!!

After all the decorating everyone was encouraged to eat from the buffet (that our families helped cook), let their little ones burn off some of the sugar they ingested, and then settle down before CT started opening gifts.

There are loads of great photos of her opening her gifts, she really makes the best faces!! I just figured 13 photos was already too many for one post, even if it IS a birthday post! Oh and while I’m kinda on the topic about photos, how awesome are these? My little sister Ashley took them for me, that way I didn’t miss anything. She also edited them before sending them over, super awesome of her! Thanks Ash!

The party went way better than I expected, and I’m beyond grateful for everyone who came. Thank you to you all, you really made CT’s birthday extra special!! Also thank you to all of our family members who helped out, I really couldn’t have made it through this day without you guys. It was all a lot of fun, and I wouldn’t change a thing. CT loved it all and keeps talking about it. We did all catch a cold, but it was totally worth it!

I still have a two more posts coming up about the decorating, goody bags and sweets, so keep an eye out!

 

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Closed for the Holidays…

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I closed up the shop today for the holidays. I am planning on reopening mid January with a few new designs, as long as everything falls into place right!

It is just easier to close up now, that way there’s no worry about orders arriving too late, or last minute rushing on my part. This way I can also enjoy my holiday time with family and finish working on Xmas gifts.

For everyone who placed an order before we closed, don’t worry, it’s on it’s way!!

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Thrift Finds: November 15th thru December 3rd

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I haven’t been feeling like myself lately. I don’t know if its the upcoming holiday craziness, or the lack of sunlight. I just haven’t felt like sharing what I have been doing, with the internet or anyone outside my immediate circle of friends. It’s not like I’ve been sitting on my butt doing nothing, I’m actually doing the complete opposite, working non stop.

To get me out of the house, my husband has been suggesting more and more treasure hunting trips. Antique malls, flea markets, and thrift stores. Any place where we can walk and look at neat stuff. Well, apparently it’s a great time to do this, because I have found A LOT! So be prepared for a long post…

I have been on the lookout for some neat holiday decorations for a long time. I even had my entire family looking this year. None of us had any luck until last week! I found two blow mold pieces at a local shop, the snowman and the Santa in the above left photo. Then this past Saturday I found the little Santa plus the really large candle and what I think is a gnome. That gnome is the same size as CT. ha. I really love these types of decorations for the same reason as I love Mold-A-Ramas, the process behind how they are made is so neat and the colors are always so vibrant.

I also found a, new in package, plastic Santa garland. There’s 10 feet worth of Santa’s that spell out MERRY CHRISTMAS. How cute is that? All the pieces were still there and the Santa’s were in really good condition. I’m planning on assembling them tonight and hanging them tomorrow. I’ll post photos once their up.

I found the above wicker lamp at the ReStore. I walked past it a few times, I really wanted it but had no idea where I would put it. By the third time walking past I figured it out, it can go in my soon to be new sewing room! (The previous room got hid hard by Hurricane Sandy. and is the middle of being repaired, so I’m taking over another room permanently). I also found the glass ship in a bottle at ReStore, I just liked the way it looked.

The dad mug was found this past weekend at a thrift shop near my hometown. It’s milk glass, and I think it’s super funny. I like to think that illustration was done to look like someones actual dad.

Fun Fact: I can’t crochet (or knit), and it upsets me that I can’t. I have been wanting a granny square afghan for years, I tried to make one, but that did not go well. I asked my sisters to make one, but that also didn’t happen. So I started looking for them at thrift stores, but apparently everyone had the same idea as me. Finally this past weekend I found the mother load. An entire aisle of afghans!! I didn’t just stumble on one that MIGHT be the right colors, I stumbled on a bunch of choices. I picked out the above one b/c I liked the colors and the zig zag edges. It’s in great condition too! I’m thinking of placing it on the back of our living room couch. That room could use more color. HA!

No thrifting post from me is complete without some Disney and Pyrex. Well here is the Disney! I found that Disneyland cookie jar a few months back at an Antique Mall for $35, I really liked it, but didn’t want to spend that much. So I left it behind. Well last week I found another one, the one above, for $3! So of course I bought it. It has a small crack on the back that has been repaired, but I’m fine with that. The Minnie and Goofy mugs were the same story. I saw them super expensive at an Antique Mall, but then found them for less than a dollar a piece this past weekend. I just wish I could have found Mickey too.

… and here’s the Pyrex! I have been finding a lot of pieces for amazing prices lately. I haven’t been buying it all because it’s the holiday season and I need to spend at least some of my money on gifts. I was really excited to find the two gravy boats above. I have a bunch of pieces in both patterns, so if I feel like being super silly and matching everything, I can. The little red Pyrex was only $1 and I figured I could find a use for it, maybe for makeup? The best find out of the first photo is that deep pink colored casserole!! It’s so pretty. I don’t think I could use it, but I did find a place to display it in my kitchen.

The best find of all though are these Pyrex plates. Their all in perfect condition and really pretty. I found three sets of 24, plus a pile of desert plates. I only bought the plates and one set of 24. I don’t think I could have found a place to put them all, or enough people willing to trade for them. I had a hard time justifying the ones I did buy. I’m wondering if they came from some restaurant or diner? I know they come in other colors too, because I have some of the tea cups in blue. Anyone know if there are any other colors besides the two?

So those were all the finds I could get pictures of. We also found a complete Playmobil pirate set for super cheap, a littlest pet shop house, a kids Ikea table and chair set in perfect condition, another holly leaf Corelle platter, a few Hallmark ornaments, a bunch of Little Golden books, an awesome Strawberry Shortcake book, some Muppet Baby books and a Fraggle book. I don’t just buy stuff for me when we go out. I think CT makes out the best.

I have a pretty busy weekend coming up. I have a Pie Party to go to Saturday and then CT’s 3rd Birthday party is the next day. I also still have loads of sewing to do. So I don’t think I’ll be thrifting for awhile, but who knows.

Oh and a side note, it felt good to write this post, so I think I’ll be back to my normal blogging schedule soon.

 

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