Muted Mondays: Where is the Fork...It's Done!!!

Muted Mondays: Birthday Week - 5 Months Old

And the personality has only grown.......
Thanks for stopping by!

The Party Dress - Before and After

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Happy Tuesday everyone! A few months ago, I found this cute dress and beret for Kayden to wear to her birthday party. When the dress arrived from Pumpkin Patch, I loved the styling but not the embellishments. After purchasing the beret a week or two later at Janie & Jack, I decided that I would remove the bow and buttons and replace it with a ribbon flower, using ribbon that matched the bow on the hat! So happy with the change and my sweet girl is tickled pink.

Party Updates - 28 Sleeps and Counting

When it comes to party planning, I think that this week/weekend have been pretty productive. Before I start with the updates, I have to admit, that I have been a cooking fool this weekend!!! It happens every once in a while where I see something delicious that I MUST make. Yesterday was one of those days. While perusing through Pinterest, I came across the recipe for a Cinnamon Roll Cake, over at Cookin Up North and wanted it IMMEDIATELY. I decided to make a half batch since the regular recipe appeared to make a larger cake than me and my sweetums cared to eat. I topped it off with a cream cheese glaze recipe that I already had and the results were AMAZING!!! If you like cinnamon rolls, then you need to try it!

Okay, so back to party planning. This week, I got the following done:
1. Finalized and reserved the rentals.
2. Confirmed the face painter (still waiting on her contract).
3. Made and addressed all of the invitations (photo to follow).
4. Finished up the art supply bags and frames for Masterpieces (photo to follow). The bags include a 4x6 sheet of heavy drawing paper and a set of colored pencils. On party day, there will be twistable crayons, rainbow crayons and watercolors available for the girls to use as well.
5. Finished up the passport printing and cutting (need to add the clip and ribbon lanyards).
6. Tried a Pinterest project and created a ribbon welcome wreath for the front door (photo to follow).
7. Bagged the Bling bracelet pieces and finished the box bottoms (still need to cut, score and glue the tops).
8. And the black berets arrived...YEAH! I need to think of a cute label to add to these.

I would love to have everything made a week in advance so all that I have to worry about on party week is the food and things that I cannot make ahead. As I said before, I am personalizing a lot of stuff, so having the guest list finalized was a must. I am adding personal labels as I work on projects and if someone cannot make it, I am going to pull her items and simply send them to her. This makes life SOOO much easier than waiting on RSVP's.

So, here are a few pictures! I got a new camera but am still am amateur photographer :( That is just not my gift and I am SOOO okay with that!
Thanks for looking and have a relaxing Sunday!!!!

Saturday Share: Candle Font SVG Files

In honor of my birthday week, I want to share some free birthday party SVG files this week.

I took the logo font that I created from my Birthday in a Box post and turned them into SVG files.

Just click on the links below and you will be taken to 4shared for the download.

0 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9

Enjoy!

Birthday in a Box

Hey folks! Guess who has a birthday soon.....my twin sister, which also means ME!!! On tomorrow, I turn 36 and boy have the years seemed to pass so quickly! I think that once we adopted Kayden, the time went EVEN faster.

October seems to be a month filled with MANY birthdays for me, so I tend to be busy on the handmade gift side of things. This year, I decided to do a Birthday in a Box for a friend and client that lives in NY. She adores handmade stuff so I know that she will appreciate the love that went into putting this gift together. I got the idea from a Creating Keepsakes magazine about three years ago and finally got a chance to make my own.

I started by picking the colors for the package. My friend's favorite color is blue, so that was an easy choice. I decided on a light blue, khaki, blue and white color scheme....a little beachy (she loves the ocean) while modern.


Next, I created a logo that was to be used on all of the products. She is turning 38, so I created a logo that used that number. I added six birthday candles but later realized that eight might have been better :/!


I then decided what I would put into the box and designed labels (with the logo) for each product. I love single word designs, so that is what I decided to use.


I made each item by hand as it was allowed. The Birthday in a Box contained the following items with a fun label:

wear - party hat (handmade)
blow - candles
bake - cupcake mix
fill - cupcake liners
toss - confetti (handmade)
drink - wine
inflate - balloons
stick - cupcake toppers (handmade)
hang - party banner (handmade)

Last, I put it all into a bakery box. Added a label to the outside of the box, and it is all ready to ship!I am thrilled with how it turned out!!!! I plan to make more and more of these in the future!

Have a great Tuesday!!!!

Store Openings Near You.....

Okay, not really, but I thought that it sounded catchy......

The main "activity" for Kayden's Tea in Paris Party, aside from the obvious tea party, will be some shopping in Paris. Each girl will visit three shops that will feature a craft and will give the ladies something to take home. I have already created a logo for each store and want to share them here. The three stores, logos and activities are as follows:

1. BLING (The Jewelry Store) - The girls will create a bracelet using pink and purple beads, a large pink heart pendant, and some Stretch Magic.

2. MASTERPIECES (The Art Store) - The girls will create a piece of artwork using colored pencils, crayons and watercolors and then frame them in some custom Paris theme frames that I created.


3. NOTES (The Stationery Store) - The girls will cover a basic straight bond notebook with scrapbook paper and embellishments to make it their own.
I want to add a fourth store, but I am still working on this one. I am looking for someone that can do the elaborate face painting that you see at fairs and amusement parks. We are so limited in the great metropolis of Raleigh-Durham, but I will not give up hope. Let me know what you think!

Muted Mondays: Party Time Soon.....

I hope that Monday was good to you!

Have a great evening!

Getting Tangled in Pajamas

Oh my goodness...can I just say that I am happy to see life returning to normal. Between the last minute surgery, the holidays and Kayden's birthday party, I am whipped!!!The soiree was last Saturday night and it was a huge hit!!! All of the girls came in their PJ's and we hired a Disney princess to come in and entertain the girls (why had I not done this before)! We were hoping to have Rapunzel come but of course NO ONE had her available since the movie is still SOOO new, so we had Tiana come instead...after all, Rapunzel was stuck in the tower and could not join us :)

So, I am lazy and decided to create a collage to avoid having to upload a lot of pictures! I hope that the images convey just how much fun we had!!!

Pictures from left to right:
Top Row: Kayden all smiles in her b-day PJ's - The cake that DH and I made - Place setting at the party
Middle Row: The invitation - Princess Tiana with Kayden and her party guests
Bottom Row: A shot of the kitchen/nook before the party - Mini take home candy buffet - Kayden and I at her barbie themed school party

The Countdown to Christmas

I honestly do not know where the time has gone....I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is just a WEEK away! I have been busy, busy, busy working on birthday and Christmas gifts.

In my last post, I mentioned having one last birthday gift to complete and it is DONE! I created an Advent Calendar for my friend Mel. It started off as a 18" inch square with 26 blocks on a sheet of graph paper. After some design time, Microsoft Publisher conversion, some sewing and a whole lot of scrapbooking and Exacto knife cutting, I ended up with this (I also included a little repair kit:
I was VERY happy with how it turned out, so much that I wanted to keep it for myself...just being honest. I affixed the calendar to a piece of mat board covered in clear contact paper, turning it into a whiteboard. Year after year, the calendar can be used with a new activity added for each day to celebrate the season.

I thank God for good friends that inspire me to create...love you MEL!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Bag Lady and Birthday Ramblings

Hey Blog World. I am finally crawling out from under some of my birthday gifties and moving on to Christmas gifties. Back on the 26th, I celebrated my 35th year of life...I am getting old. This was my first birthday, of many, without my mom. So while the day was good, it just felt different. Before I jump into what I have been working on, I want to share some of my handmade gifties.

My dear friends Mel and Mary, who join me in the handmade gift pledge (it doesn't REALLY exist), each sent me something handmade. Mel's gift was this BEAUTIFUL photo that she took some time ago...large format, matted and signed...how bout them apples! All I need now is a frame and this photo Will have a new place in my craft room/office.

Mary created a cool plastic bag holder for me from a tutorial over at Make It Love It. LOVE IT! She used a brown and white fabric which matches my kitchen decor so well. I love when people notice those things.

I had time to sew (barely) three gifts this year for birthdays! One was a bag for my twin sister. I combined the hobo bag and buttercup bag patterns and this is what the marriage created!

The things that I liked most about this bag were the fabric and the heavy pleat on the front. I am now trying to put pleats on everything :)

The next gift was another bag for my best friend, but this one was a tote bag using a homemade pattern by MOI :) And yes, this one has pleats as well!

My last project was a lounge robe for my oldest sister and of course, I got no pictures of the item :( My sister did send a photo of herself in the robe, but I cannot figure out how to chop her head off without making the photo looking creepy!

At this time, I have one last birthday gift to finish before I can push full speed ahead on the Christmas gifties! I started making some boy/toddler boy bowtie and belt sets, for Christmas gifts, that are SOOOO stinkin cute! I will post pictures as soon as I get one set done!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabric Transformation

The one thing that I love most about sewing is the immediate gratification. This was not the case with knitting for me...some of my dear friends can attest to that! After all of the fabric cutting, you can essentially have a finished product of use after just 30 minutes of work. It is for this exact reason that I enjoy making the Butrercup Bag over at MadebyRae's blog. The bag only includes seven or eight pieces of fabric and it is easy to modify. The pattern is free and for just $10, you can buy the license to make and sale the bag yourself. This is my fifth time making one of the bags, and my second time making one with a piped trim. One word is caution...the original pattern makes a small bag! For the one below, I enlarged the pattern by 30% onto 11x17 paper. This size is much more usable, IMO, by the average woman! I also added a simple fabric flower and completed it with a button that I covered using the main black/white fabric.

I created this bag on Thursday night for our goddaughter, EEE, in honor of her 25th birthday. She planned a visit to be with her parents and would be visiting us as well. She loved the bag!!! It felt so good to be sewing again with all that I have had going in my life and this was the perfect project to jumpstart me back into action. I always enjoy seeing three pieces of fabric and some pre-made pipied trim turn into something wonderful.
If you decide to make a bag, please share photos; I would love to see them!

Christmas Cupcakes...A Trial Run

Today, I took my first step in experimenting for Kayden's birthday cake....I made and used my first batch of marshmallow fondant. The recipe was easy and quick! I used Kayden's preschool Christmas party cupcakes to conduct my experiment. I purchased plates and napkins from Target and used the designs on the cupcakes. I made six colors including white, and I was able to use my blue, red, yellow and green food coloring to get what I needed. All I can say is that the RGB color combos used in creating invitations/notecards came in handy! So, here is what I ended up with:

Overall, I am excited with how they turned out and I must say that I have a new found respect and love for cake makers; especially those that specialize in using fondant. I guess with the right tools, the task could have been a little easier, but I started to wonder about those intricate damask fondant patterns on wedding cakes. I am not sure that any tool is the right tool for that kind of job...that is PURELY skill. Let me know what you think.

Working on Christmas Gifties and a Pizza Party

Yep...that's right. The Christmas countdown is still on and we are now at seven weeks away! I need to be focused on some birthday (Mel) and UFO (Unfinished Object) items, but I am so in the Christmas mood. I have FINALLY decided on my handmade family gifts and I cannot wait to begin creating. Anyone else out there already making holiday gifites...I want to hear about them!?!?!?!?!?

And Kayden's "Pizza at the Palace" party planning continues. Over the last two weekends I spent some time searching the web for ideas and things that I need to get done for the gala. Here are some things that I have brewing:

- Paper Chef Hats for all of the kids. I am going to try some uniform and commercial restaurant supply stores in the area to see if they carry them as well. I am still trying to decide if I want to do a crown or tiara over each one to play up the whole princess/prince theme.

- T-shirts instead of aprons. Cloth aprons were going to to be a little more than what we budgeted to spend and the plastic ones looked too cheap, so I decided to go with white t-shirts. I purchased some iron on transfers that I can print right at home. One will feature a pink tiara and the word "princess". The other will feature a blue crown and the word "prince". For the princess', I will also use pink ribbon to tie up their sleeves with bows :) This will be a great take away that the guests can use again! The only thing left to decide is whether or not to add each child's name to their shirt...thoughts?

- Favor Pizza Box for a take away filled with goodies of some sort...still have no idea for these items. I found the template for the box on the internet...what did mothers do in the 60's, 70's and 80's for great ideas?!?!?!?! I plan to make these using the pink paper used for the invitation pocketfold, pictured below.

- Cloth Apron and Chef Hat need to be made for Kayden. Believe it or not, I found patterns for both of these items online as well. I figure that since she is the birthday girl, she can be in the real thing. I need to find some fabric but I have a little time for that.

- The pizza cake...I am going to make the cake and yes, I AM CRAZY!!! I found this really cute pizza cake over at the Parenting website and thought...how hard can it really be. Instead of the icing for the crust, I am going to use a marshmallow fondant. I have been doing some research and this stuff is apparently SUPER easy to make and even easier to use. I will keep you all posted on this effort!

I have been trying to be diligent about getting things organized for the party while enjoying the holidays at the same time. This will make my January and the new year and enjoyable one! I was finally able to get a good shot of the invitations so I am posting those below. I created a pocketfold using a pink metallic paper and used more metallics for the band and the seal. Let me know what you think!

Happy Birthday to Us...Updated with Gifties!

Yep, that's right! Today marks the fourth anniversary of mine and my twin sister's thirtieth birthday and I feel blessed to have made it a another year. My twin sister posted the picture below on her Facebook page and it brought tears to my eyes...4 weeks old and loving each other (I am on the right)! Happy Birthday Sakira! I sometimes forget that today is also the birthday of my oldest sister. My mother had her first child on October 26, 1960 and the last two on October 26, 1975...how often does that happen!?!?!?! Happy Birthday Nita! I love you dear ladies!!!
In honor of a birthday, I find it appropriate to each cake! For anyone that knows me well, they know that I LOVE cake on ANY day of the week! I was thrilled today when I ran across a lead on a great cake website, Bakerella. On the site, I found directions on how to make cake pops (yes, that is cake on a stick)...they look so YUMMY and all so cute! Bookmarking this site and adding these instructions to my recipe book.

Updated: So, today when I got home, I had a package from Ohio waiting on me...YEAH! It was from my dear friend Mel, so I knew that it was a craftie(s) of some form...and my thoughts were confirmed. She made me a beautiful deep red toboggan (I LOVE hats) and a cute little notebook (I keep one with me at all times...a habit from college). The toboggan has a beautiful cable design that makes it look store bought! Thank you Mel for the wonderful craftie gifties and for sending me something handmade! I love you girl! Please be warned that items in the pictures to follow are much smaller than they appear, i.e. my head!

Have a great day guys...I did!

Three P's - Pink, Princess and Pizza

Yes, your thoughts are correct; these three things have NOTHING in common, but of course, this is what my, 2 going on 33 year old daughter requested for her next birthday party. What else was a motherto do, but find a way to make it happen. So for my DD's third birthday party, the theme will be "Pizza at the Palace". The whole idea is to focus very little on the princess piece and focus more on pizza as a theme.

This post serves as a warning that if you are a visitor or follower of my blog, get prepared to follow this party planning process. Her party is scheduled for Sunday, February 7, which probably seems like a long time from now. Guess what, you are right! But, invitations have to go out the week or two following Christmas, so I start planning early in order to avoid a mad dash following the holidays.

Stay tuned for the party planning extravaganza!