In the area where we live in Southern California, we are surrounded by many beautiful, large homes. I shouldn't say surrounded, because our house is actually surrounded by small California ranch houses that look similar to the one in which we live. But in the area, there are many big, gorgeous houses. Each year, the Pasadena Showcase House of Design chooses one of these big, beautiful houses and sets loose a bevy of designers to do their thing. After a quick four month turn around, the house is opened to the public to tour, admire and raise money for local music programs. It's estimated that this year 40,000 people will tour the house. My good friend Courtney was fortunate enough to be one of the designers chosen to design one of the bedroom suites this year. I have been "selected" to be one of the docents in Courtney's room. (*By selected I mean I volunteered my services as cheap labor. And by cheap I mean free.) It's been really fun. I even got in trouble yesterday because there was too much of a back up in our room. Can I help it if I'm representing the best room in the house? If you want to see some pictures of the room in progress, check out Court's blog at http://strongstudiodesigns.blogspot.com
She doesn't have any pictures up yet of the finished product. Oh crap. That's my job. Better get on that...
We also have a home tour every spring of local "real" people's houses in our town as a fundraiser for the junior high school. One of the houses is a 12,000 square foot Normandy estate. I'm sure our whole house could fit into the master bedroom.
All this talk of home tours has gotten me thinking about what people will see if they come on a home tour of our home. Let me give you a sneak peek of what you would see. I know you're super excited to see it, so I'll just give you a little preview!
As you meander up the driveway, look to your right to notice the flower beds. Lavender, society garlic, day lilies surround the base of a birch tree. Feel free to pick a few weeds. Wait. That gives me an idea. Pick a few weeds. Ten apiece. That will be your entrance fee. Mind your step on your way up the driveway. The driveway hasn't been swept in awhile and is carpeted with crap that falls from the tree next door. As you approach the front door, make sure you notice the basketball hoop. Attached you will find the remains of a "raccoon trap" that Zachary built last year. The planter box has a unique element! Instead of plants, you will find old pots, wooden spoons, sand toys, various doll parts, watering cans; you get the picture. This is where Juliette "cooks", "teaches", plays "Mommy", holds court over the cul de sac. You will also find the pots not used in the planter on the porch, along with various markers, maybe some dolly clothes. In the vintage egg crate by the front door, you will find either soccer balls, cleats and shinguards or baseball cleats and a mitt, depending on the season. The rainbow wreath on the front door is left over from Juliette's birthday party several months ago.
Enter the house into the grand foyer and be sure to gaze upon the spiderwebs that just haven't been removed yet. They are not only beautiful, but functional as well! They catch many of the various insects that enter the house when the kids leave the door open as they run outside to play. From there, enter the kitchen. The kitchen table sits in a lovely nook of windows overlooking the front yard. On it you will find homework papers, preschool notices, cookbooks and picture books. Assorted stuffed animals watch the youngest member of the family eat her breakfast. The homemade bulletin board, which has way too much stuffing for thumbtacks to stay in place (sometimes) holds birthday party invitations, photographs and preschool art projects. The refrigerator door holds pictures of soccer and baseball teams. The water heater cabinet door holds class pictures; lift up this year's to see the ones from years past. Piles of important and not-so-important papers are stacked on the kitchen counter, next to the lice preventative spray, next to a clay butterfly. There may or may not be dishes stacked in the sink. Probably the crock pot is filled with soup for dinner. The kitchen chairs, purchased almost eleven years ago for our first house, "until we can afford something nicer" sport spots of pink and red paint and one has a broken back.
The living room, which Courtney designed and put together as a surprise for me, is actually awesome. Take a look. It looks like a grown up owns that part of the house.
Further through the house you'll travel. The family room, the laundry room, the bathrooms, bedrooms. Toothpaste remains in the sinks. Spilled mouthwash makes the counters sticky. Piles of folded laundry are on the family room floor, the unfolded laundry spilling over the basket in the laundry room. The carpets are stained, the furniture dusty. Books and toys, plastic party favors clutter up desks and corners of bedrooms. Mothers' and Fathers' Day cards decorate the master bath. Pictures of smiling children cover every empty surface.
My friend Beth once told me, as I asked her forgiveness for my messy house, "You're raising a family, not a house." I try to remember this when I see dollies and kitchen toys filling up every corner of the house, crumbs on the dining room floor, unmade beds, red handprints on the wall out back. Someday my house will look like my parents' -- everything in its place, floors vacuumed, furniture dusted, papers filed. But for now, our house is our home, and we live here, all five of us. Our house is not worthy of strangers coming through to gawk and admire, but perhaps our family is. We aren't perfect and we aren't perfectly staged either. There are times when we are a lot prettier than others, all of us getting along, running through the sprinklers, playing basketball, having a real conversation at the dinner table. And there are other times you will hear yelling, arguing, bad grades on tests, lice. (OK, I'm hoping you won't have to see that again!) But we are a real family in a real home. We don't need a special tour to invite you inside. Friends are always welcome. Come inside. You'll find the greatest thing to see is the laughter and the love.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Rainbow Art Party, Part Four
This is so long overdue, but finally I have the time to sit down and write about Juliette's Rainbow Art Party! It seems like such a long time ago... It certainly was a different hairdo ago! Here are the final details and pictures from her party.
We made this banner so easily! Just a cute, free downloadable font, with the letters really big in rainbow order. I printed one letter per page and then cut them using my paper cutter. To do the bottom, I just folded the page in half only part way up the page and then cut on an angle from the corner to the middle. I strung them using multiple colors of yarn and my hole punch. Then I just taped that bad boy to the garage!
We also made these cute tissue paper puff balls for decorations.
They were really easy and cost less than a dollar each, having bought tissue paper at the Dollar Store. I planned to make a super cute balloon arch that I saw online, but time management still is not my friend, and the arch never got made. We ended up with balloons all over the living room which provided extra entertainment for the kids! Some balloons got hung up around the front yard, but most were kicked around, thrown and added to the fun. We also had our fabric wreath on the front door.
So have I mentioned that I have a problem with time management? Yeah, so it's a major issue. Now would be a good time to bring up the fact that all these pictures (with the exception of the wreath picture, which was taken well before the party) were taken by a ten year old. If I were an organized person, I would have taken pictures before the party started. Instead I was trying to string together a balloon arch that never got finished while my husband and mother spent the first half hour of the party finishing assembling the food. So you'll have to believe me when I say that the fruit salad was beautiful. Bottom layer: purple grapes, blueberries on top of that, then green kiwi, yellow pineapple, orange tangerine sections and red sliced strawberries on top. Here's what it looked like when we finally took a picture of it:
Oh well. At least they liked the fruit!
We bought white bread (Those who know me are shocked!) and took a flower cookie cutter and lengthened it to make cloud-shaped sandwiches.
The veggie cups were super easy to assemble... just some ranch dressing in the bottom of the cup, then a red pepper stick, carrot stick, yellow pepper stick and a celery stick. (Sorry, no blue or purple veggies!)
Grown ups had different sandwiches. When I have a lot of little people over, instead of buying a lot of water bottles that just get wasted, I buy these little shot glass size cups for water. There's still a lot of waste, but not as much as one four year old going through four water bottles at one party. One of our grown up friends got clever and served himself up a little wine!
Here are the rainbow cupcakes. They were a little tricky and time consuming. For one batch, I just lumped the batter in instead of spreading out the layers. Juliette got a lumped up one. Still super pretty, I think!
OK, enough of the food and decorations. Let's get to the important stuff! What we did!
We had homemade rainbow play dough...
We drew with sidewalk chalk on the driveway...
Each kid made their own 24 piece puzzle...
We made this banner so easily! Just a cute, free downloadable font, with the letters really big in rainbow order. I printed one letter per page and then cut them using my paper cutter. To do the bottom, I just folded the page in half only part way up the page and then cut on an angle from the corner to the middle. I strung them using multiple colors of yarn and my hole punch. Then I just taped that bad boy to the garage!
We also made these cute tissue paper puff balls for decorations.
They were really easy and cost less than a dollar each, having bought tissue paper at the Dollar Store. I planned to make a super cute balloon arch that I saw online, but time management still is not my friend, and the arch never got made. We ended up with balloons all over the living room which provided extra entertainment for the kids! Some balloons got hung up around the front yard, but most were kicked around, thrown and added to the fun. We also had our fabric wreath on the front door.
So have I mentioned that I have a problem with time management? Yeah, so it's a major issue. Now would be a good time to bring up the fact that all these pictures (with the exception of the wreath picture, which was taken well before the party) were taken by a ten year old. If I were an organized person, I would have taken pictures before the party started. Instead I was trying to string together a balloon arch that never got finished while my husband and mother spent the first half hour of the party finishing assembling the food. So you'll have to believe me when I say that the fruit salad was beautiful. Bottom layer: purple grapes, blueberries on top of that, then green kiwi, yellow pineapple, orange tangerine sections and red sliced strawberries on top. Here's what it looked like when we finally took a picture of it:
Oh well. At least they liked the fruit!
We bought white bread (Those who know me are shocked!) and took a flower cookie cutter and lengthened it to make cloud-shaped sandwiches.
The veggie cups were super easy to assemble... just some ranch dressing in the bottom of the cup, then a red pepper stick, carrot stick, yellow pepper stick and a celery stick. (Sorry, no blue or purple veggies!)
Grown ups had different sandwiches. When I have a lot of little people over, instead of buying a lot of water bottles that just get wasted, I buy these little shot glass size cups for water. There's still a lot of waste, but not as much as one four year old going through four water bottles at one party. One of our grown up friends got clever and served himself up a little wine!
Here are the rainbow cupcakes. They were a little tricky and time consuming. For one batch, I just lumped the batter in instead of spreading out the layers. Juliette got a lumped up one. Still super pretty, I think!
OK, enough of the food and decorations. Let's get to the important stuff! What we did!
We had homemade rainbow play dough...
We drew with sidewalk chalk on the driveway...
Each kid made their own 24 piece puzzle...
We dyed macaroni to make necklaces and to glue onto paper.
We poured colored sand into bottles...
And we painted three large canvases for Juliette's room and each child painted a small one of their own to take home...
It was a really fun, colorful party! I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the party!
Thursday, March 28, 2013
A Little Trim
I know I still haven't posted anything about Juliette's Rainbow Art Party. I will. I'm still deciding which pictures to use and I need a bigger chunk of time to do that. Someday I'll have a bigger chunk of time. Maybe when Juliette leaves for college.
So we had a little excitement this week in our house. Excitement in the form of scissors. Who has a guess as to where I'm going here? Yeah, you all do. Hair. Cut. Not pretty. I'd post pictures but I do want Juliette to still speak to me when she's a teenager. And I also want to save them for bribery.
Juliette was in her room for her nap on Monday. She almost never falls asleep immediately and sometimes she doesn't fall asleep at all. On Monday she did. And when she woke up I went in to cuddle with her. I did notice that her hair was horrible looking but isn't their hair always horrible when they wake up from their naps? And then I noticed in the trashcan in her room these beautiful long wisps of blondish brown hair (along with some clearly synthetic black and blond hair). And then I looked closer at her hair. Oh. My. God. Her hair was seriously scary. The bangs are awful. She took chunks out of the back and off the sides. All over. As one of my friends said, she looked like Billy Ray Cyrus. It was seriously mullet-like. Oh boy. Of course it happened on a Monday and no one is open on Mondays. Thank God for Supercuts! She now has a super cute bob cut. As she said, "My hair is really cute, Mommy. Everyone thinks my hair is cute."
Juliette's hair is cute. But I keep telling people not to comment. I don't want to encourage her to do it again!
My brother asked why I was upset by it all. He said I let her pick out her own clothes; it's Juliette's hair, why shouldn't I just let her choose how her hair should look. It's a great question. Why don't I let her choose how she wants her hair to look? Why was I upset? Do I care that much about what her hair looks like? On an every day basis, actually, no. I don't really care what her hair looks like. But for certain things, yes, I want her hair to look nice. For her dance pictures, where she's a part of a group, yes, I'd like her hair to look nice. I can't put her hair up because it's so short on the sides. I don't know how I'll even do the hair for the dance pictures and performance. But she's only four, and when we all look back on those pictures, we will all remember and have a laugh remembering how Juliette cut her hair. It's like the kid in Juliette's class who wears pajamas every day. I am so grateful that his mother let him wear his pajamas in the class picture. (Clearly a third child. No first born would ever be caught at preschool in their pjs unless it was pajama day!) I want to remember the kid who wore his pajamas every day. And really, how awesome is that?! Clearly this is a brilliant child. I would like to stay in my pajamas all day, too. That kid is a genius.
But there's more that upsets me. When I asked Juliette why she did it, she said, "I just wanted to be a little bit sneaky." So that upsets me. She cut her Polly Pockets' hair and the next day she cut the wigs' hair in the "beauty salon" at preschool the next day. Who's to say she's not going to go into her sister's room and cut the hair of the $100 American Girl Doll's hair. That's what I'm more upset about. It's a trust thing. She is having her nap now. I don't know what I'll find when I get in there. And I don't like feeling that way about one of my children.
So we had a little excitement this week in our house. Excitement in the form of scissors. Who has a guess as to where I'm going here? Yeah, you all do. Hair. Cut. Not pretty. I'd post pictures but I do want Juliette to still speak to me when she's a teenager. And I also want to save them for bribery.
Juliette was in her room for her nap on Monday. She almost never falls asleep immediately and sometimes she doesn't fall asleep at all. On Monday she did. And when she woke up I went in to cuddle with her. I did notice that her hair was horrible looking but isn't their hair always horrible when they wake up from their naps? And then I noticed in the trashcan in her room these beautiful long wisps of blondish brown hair (along with some clearly synthetic black and blond hair). And then I looked closer at her hair. Oh. My. God. Her hair was seriously scary. The bangs are awful. She took chunks out of the back and off the sides. All over. As one of my friends said, she looked like Billy Ray Cyrus. It was seriously mullet-like. Oh boy. Of course it happened on a Monday and no one is open on Mondays. Thank God for Supercuts! She now has a super cute bob cut. As she said, "My hair is really cute, Mommy. Everyone thinks my hair is cute."
Juliette's hair is cute. But I keep telling people not to comment. I don't want to encourage her to do it again!
My brother asked why I was upset by it all. He said I let her pick out her own clothes; it's Juliette's hair, why shouldn't I just let her choose how her hair should look. It's a great question. Why don't I let her choose how she wants her hair to look? Why was I upset? Do I care that much about what her hair looks like? On an every day basis, actually, no. I don't really care what her hair looks like. But for certain things, yes, I want her hair to look nice. For her dance pictures, where she's a part of a group, yes, I'd like her hair to look nice. I can't put her hair up because it's so short on the sides. I don't know how I'll even do the hair for the dance pictures and performance. But she's only four, and when we all look back on those pictures, we will all remember and have a laugh remembering how Juliette cut her hair. It's like the kid in Juliette's class who wears pajamas every day. I am so grateful that his mother let him wear his pajamas in the class picture. (Clearly a third child. No first born would ever be caught at preschool in their pjs unless it was pajama day!) I want to remember the kid who wore his pajamas every day. And really, how awesome is that?! Clearly this is a brilliant child. I would like to stay in my pajamas all day, too. That kid is a genius.
But there's more that upsets me. When I asked Juliette why she did it, she said, "I just wanted to be a little bit sneaky." So that upsets me. She cut her Polly Pockets' hair and the next day she cut the wigs' hair in the "beauty salon" at preschool the next day. Who's to say she's not going to go into her sister's room and cut the hair of the $100 American Girl Doll's hair. That's what I'm more upset about. It's a trust thing. She is having her nap now. I don't know what I'll find when I get in there. And I don't like feeling that way about one of my children.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Rainbow Art Party, Part Three
Juliette's birthday party is a week away! Yikes! I'm starting to go into panic mode because, as usual, I'm not as organized as I should be! At this point, I am finalizing my plans and making lists, lists and more lists! I'm accumulating a pile of stuff that has been ordered and delivered and stuff I've picked up or made myself. I'm checking the weather, and praying that we will be outside and I don't have to cover my furniture with plastic. (Four year olds. Paint. My living room. Not a good combination.) Right now a 0% chance of rain is expected. Thank goodness.
Here's what I've been up to:
First, I finalized what activities we are going to do. We decided on painting individual canvases, putting colored sand in jars, making personalized puzzles, playing with homemade play dough, drawing with chalk on the driveway and painting three large canvases for Juliette's room. With so many takeaway projects, I've decided not to do any additional party favors. This saves me money and saves my friends from having to toss yet another bag of unwanted party favors while their kids are at school.
Then I went ahead and placed orders. The puzzles, colored sand, jars and funnels I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. The acrylic paint and the canvases I ordered from Wholesale Arts and Frames. This company was a total find! The 9 x 12 canvases are stretched on a 3/4" frame and cost only $1.80 a piece! What a score! Also, you know how you can never find the phone number to talk to a human on websites now? I hate that! This company had their phone number on the top of every page! AND it was in the 818! That's where I live! So I called them up, placed my order and the next day drove out to their warehouse, which was less than a half hour away. With so many bulky items (the canvases) and heavy items (the paint) I saved a ton of money in shipping. And by paying in cash, they gave me a further discount! Awesome!
I've also been collecting RSVPs and thinking about what needs to be done around the house. Notice I said thinking about. Not actually doing anything. The house needs to be cleaned, but how far in advance do I really want to do that? My kids can destroy a clean house in approximately 78 seconds. And I need to weed the flower beds. Maybe I can bribe a small child with Minecraft time to do that. Ugh. Hate weeding. I also need to replant my pots, which somehow got frost this year! That doesn't happen too often! On the list. Maybe it will get done, maybe not. I haven't thought too much about decorations, other than the fabric rainbow wreath for the front door. I need to figure that out. Uh oh. Running out of time!
Tomorrow, I'll go to the Dollar Store and see what I can knock out there. I'll buy the dry goods tomorrow also, so that I can just have to buy the fresh ingredients on Saturday. And I still need to figure out what to feed the grown ups. Tomorrow.
Here is my list now. I've divided it by project or food type so that I can organize everything the day before and make set up easier. Also, it'll ensure that I have absolutely every little thing. Checked items are items I already have. Some things I have to check on.
Here's what I've been up to:
First, I finalized what activities we are going to do. We decided on painting individual canvases, putting colored sand in jars, making personalized puzzles, playing with homemade play dough, drawing with chalk on the driveway and painting three large canvases for Juliette's room. With so many takeaway projects, I've decided not to do any additional party favors. This saves me money and saves my friends from having to toss yet another bag of unwanted party favors while their kids are at school.
Then I went ahead and placed orders. The puzzles, colored sand, jars and funnels I ordered from Oriental Trading Company. The acrylic paint and the canvases I ordered from Wholesale Arts and Frames. This company was a total find! The 9 x 12 canvases are stretched on a 3/4" frame and cost only $1.80 a piece! What a score! Also, you know how you can never find the phone number to talk to a human on websites now? I hate that! This company had their phone number on the top of every page! AND it was in the 818! That's where I live! So I called them up, placed my order and the next day drove out to their warehouse, which was less than a half hour away. With so many bulky items (the canvases) and heavy items (the paint) I saved a ton of money in shipping. And by paying in cash, they gave me a further discount! Awesome!
I've also been collecting RSVPs and thinking about what needs to be done around the house. Notice I said thinking about. Not actually doing anything. The house needs to be cleaned, but how far in advance do I really want to do that? My kids can destroy a clean house in approximately 78 seconds. And I need to weed the flower beds. Maybe I can bribe a small child with Minecraft time to do that. Ugh. Hate weeding. I also need to replant my pots, which somehow got frost this year! That doesn't happen too often! On the list. Maybe it will get done, maybe not. I haven't thought too much about decorations, other than the fabric rainbow wreath for the front door. I need to figure that out. Uh oh. Running out of time!
Tomorrow, I'll go to the Dollar Store and see what I can knock out there. I'll buy the dry goods tomorrow also, so that I can just have to buy the fresh ingredients on Saturday. And I still need to figure out what to feed the grown ups. Tomorrow.
Here is my list now. I've divided it by project or food type so that I can organize everything the day before and make set up easier. Also, it'll ensure that I have absolutely every little thing. Checked items are items I already have. Some things I have to check on.
Supplies Needed for Juliette’s Party
Individual Canvases
ü
9 x 12 Canvases
ü
Paint
Paintbrushes
(look)
Paintshirts
(cut shirts)
Bowls
for Paint
Pencil
for names
Tablecloth
Table
Juliette’s Room Art Work
ü
18 x 24 Canvases
ü
Paint
Paintbrushes
(look)
Paintshirts
(cut shirts)
Bowls
for Paint
ü
Pencil for names
Tablecloth
Table
Colored Sand
ü
Sand
ü
Jars
ü
Funnels
ü
Cookie sheets
covered with foil
Table
Tablecloth
ü
Sharpie for names
Puzzles
ü
Blank Puzzles
ü
Markers (gather)
Share
table with sand
Plastic
Baggies
ü
Sharpie for Names
Homemade Playdough
ü
Flour
ü
Salt
ü
Water
Cream
of Tartar
Vegetable
Oil
Gel
Food Coloring
Cookie
Cutters
Rolling
Pins
Table
Tablecloth
Chalk on Driveway
Sidewalk
Chalk
Macaroni Art
Macaroni
ü
Liquid Food Coloring
Rubbing
Alcohol
Large
Baggies
Yarn
Construction
Paper
Cupcakes
White
Cake Mix
Sour
Cream
ü
Eggs
ü
Coconut Oil
ü
Food Coloring
ü
Milk
Butter
Powdered
Sugar
Vanilla
ü
Salt
Cupcake
holders
Rainbow Fruit
Strawberries
Cuties
Pineapple
Kiwi
Blueberries
Red
Grapes
White
Platter or Glass Bowl
Rainbow Veggies
Red
Peppers
Carrots
Yellow
Peppers
Celery
Sticks
Ranch
Dressing
Clear
Plastic Cups
Popcorn
Popcorn
Kernels
White
Chocolate
ü
Liquid Food Coloring
ü
Red Bowl
Cloud Sandwiches
Bread
Peanut
Butter
Jelly
Turkey
Cheese
ü
Cookie Cutter
Adult Sandwiches
????
Water
Water
Bottles
ü
Sharpie
Adult Beverages
????
Fabric Wreath
Fabric
Scraps
Pinking
Shears
Wreath
Frame
Rainbow Pennant
Plastic
Pennants? (check)
Rainbow Flag
ü
PACE flag
Rainbow Balloons
Balloons
Waxed
Kitchen Twine
ü
Needle
Rainbow Streamers
Streamers
Tissue Paper Puff Balls
Tissue
Paper
Pipe
Cleaners (check)
Extras
Tablecloths
Paper
plates
Napkins
Flowers
Seasonal/colorful
flowers
ü
Mason Jars
ü
Vases
Rentals
Low
Tables
Kid
size chairs
Still a lot to do. From here I will make more specific lists as to what to buy from each different store. That way Jason can do some of the shopping for me! Lucky guy!
Right now we are late for going to our friends' for watching the Super Bowl. Must finish cooking! Off I go!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Rainbow Fabric Wreath
Each year for Christmas, the kids create gifts to give to their grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends and neighbors. A few Christmases ago Annalise and I came up with the brilliant idea to make wreaths for the grandparents made out of pinecones and glass ornament balls. So cute, right? Can't you picture it? I looked online (pre-Pinterest) to find directions and the only directions I found were for gluing, using a hot glue gun, the ornaments to the wreath. This may have held the ornaments for one Christmas (if we glued them correctly, that is). But I knew with our hot summers (and an even hotter one in Arizona with one set of grandparents) that the ornaments would not stayed glued on to the wreaths. I had visions of shattered glass on my front porch, where bare feet prevail year round. Not pretty. So I invented my own way of attaching the ornaments... with floral wire. Brilliant, right? Yeah, not so much. It was a total pain in the ass. Annalise (who was I think 8 at the time) could hardly participate in the process because she couldn't wrap the wire tight enough. And the gift was supposed to be from her. The balls flopped all over the place, leaving too many holes in the wreath. They ended up requiring way more ornaments than we had estimated, making our homemade gift ridiculously expensive as well. Needless to say, we didn't make it to a second wreath. (How were we going to get that thing safely to Arizona anyway? Let's just say it wasn't a fully thought through plan. This seems to be a pattern.) Each Christmas my mom proudly displays her ornament wreath on her front door and each time I come to the door I growl at it a bit, say a few choice curse words and go on my way.
There is a point to this story. We had two more wire wreath frames (because I was going to make one of the ornament frames for ourselves, too! What a great idea!) and still no gift for Grandma and Papa. Enter Plan B. We had some extra Christmas fabric laying around because my mom makes fabric bags for all our Christmas gifts, which is awesome and another entry into itself. I snagged her pinking shears and started cutting up strips of fabric. The fabric was easily tied by Annalise onto the wreath frame and Grandma and Papa got a great Christmas wreath that is easily transportable and storable, and will not break or cut anyone's bare foot. Grandma proudly displays it above her fireplace each Christmas. And it's pretty cute, too. And way less frustrating. I never cuss at it.
With Juliette's rainbow party coming up, I saw a bunch of cute rainbow wreaths on Pinterest and decided I needed to make another fabric scrap wreath. (After all I still had that extra wreath frame just sitting around.) So I did! Want to see it? You know you want to...
Ta da! I gotta admit. I'm a little proud. (Mostly just because I actually finished something I started.) This is a super easy, kid-friendly, inexpensive project to do. And easy to adapt to any holiday, season or color scheme.
Here's how I made this wreath...
First I gathered up all our scraps of fabric in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
And then I called my friend Amber and asked her for her scraps. I wanted variety.
Then I cut the fabric into 6 - 8 inch strips, depending on the scrap of fabric. In no way was I exact. I only measured to give you an idea of about how long to make the strips. (When the wreath is finished, you can trim up the ends if you want a more uniform length.)
My (ok Mom's) pinking shears are tough to use, so this part I needed to do. The kids can do the tying.
Then I tied one strip of each color (except purple since I didn't have any yet) to mark the spots where I would start each section. I only tied each piece one time (not a double knot).
The wreath is already divided into nine sections, so with six colors, each color got a section and a half. Then I started tying. I had more blue than anything else, so I started with blue. I used a variety of fabrics for each color and spread them around so no one fabric bunched up. I'm estimating about 40 strips of fabric for each section. It varies depending on the type of fabric. You just want to hide the frame.
Juliette likes it.
Even after raiding Amber's stash I still needed to buy some fabric. I bought 1/8 of a yard (which was still more than I needed, but the smallest size that JoAnn's will cut) of a couple yellows, oranges and purples. I wasn't picky with which fabrics I chose, so I chose just on price. On average, I spent about 75 cents per fabric. I had only one coupon, which was a 40% off one item. It went to the white chocolate pretzels that Juliette and I shared. That was a healthy, well-balanced lunch. All in this wreath cost me about $6. Actually this is way more than I wanted to spend. I was hoping it would be freeeeeeeee! If you are a sewer you will have way more fabric scraps than I have, making this a super cheap project. I have no idea how much the wreath frame cost nor where I bought it to begin with. I'm guessing Michael's. In time, the wreath took a couple nights, plopped on the couch in front of the TV, but expect it to take longer if you have little hands helping you.
Extreme close up...
Here's our front door. Super welcoming, right? Especially with the fingerprints all over! What a bright, beautiful January day! The wreath will be up for the rainbow party, but expect it to make a repeat performance each year for Saint Patrick's Day!
There is a point to this story. We had two more wire wreath frames (because I was going to make one of the ornament frames for ourselves, too! What a great idea!) and still no gift for Grandma and Papa. Enter Plan B. We had some extra Christmas fabric laying around because my mom makes fabric bags for all our Christmas gifts, which is awesome and another entry into itself. I snagged her pinking shears and started cutting up strips of fabric. The fabric was easily tied by Annalise onto the wreath frame and Grandma and Papa got a great Christmas wreath that is easily transportable and storable, and will not break or cut anyone's bare foot. Grandma proudly displays it above her fireplace each Christmas. And it's pretty cute, too. And way less frustrating. I never cuss at it.
With Juliette's rainbow party coming up, I saw a bunch of cute rainbow wreaths on Pinterest and decided I needed to make another fabric scrap wreath. (After all I still had that extra wreath frame just sitting around.) So I did! Want to see it? You know you want to...
Ta da! I gotta admit. I'm a little proud. (Mostly just because I actually finished something I started.) This is a super easy, kid-friendly, inexpensive project to do. And easy to adapt to any holiday, season or color scheme.
Here's how I made this wreath...
First I gathered up all our scraps of fabric in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.
And then I called my friend Amber and asked her for her scraps. I wanted variety.
Then I cut the fabric into 6 - 8 inch strips, depending on the scrap of fabric. In no way was I exact. I only measured to give you an idea of about how long to make the strips. (When the wreath is finished, you can trim up the ends if you want a more uniform length.)
My (ok Mom's) pinking shears are tough to use, so this part I needed to do. The kids can do the tying.
Then I tied one strip of each color (except purple since I didn't have any yet) to mark the spots where I would start each section. I only tied each piece one time (not a double knot).
The wreath is already divided into nine sections, so with six colors, each color got a section and a half. Then I started tying. I had more blue than anything else, so I started with blue. I used a variety of fabrics for each color and spread them around so no one fabric bunched up. I'm estimating about 40 strips of fabric for each section. It varies depending on the type of fabric. You just want to hide the frame.
Juliette likes it.
Even after raiding Amber's stash I still needed to buy some fabric. I bought 1/8 of a yard (which was still more than I needed, but the smallest size that JoAnn's will cut) of a couple yellows, oranges and purples. I wasn't picky with which fabrics I chose, so I chose just on price. On average, I spent about 75 cents per fabric. I had only one coupon, which was a 40% off one item. It went to the white chocolate pretzels that Juliette and I shared. That was a healthy, well-balanced lunch. All in this wreath cost me about $6. Actually this is way more than I wanted to spend. I was hoping it would be freeeeeeeee! If you are a sewer you will have way more fabric scraps than I have, making this a super cheap project. I have no idea how much the wreath frame cost nor where I bought it to begin with. I'm guessing Michael's. In time, the wreath took a couple nights, plopped on the couch in front of the TV, but expect it to take longer if you have little hands helping you.
Extreme close up...
Here's our front door. Super welcoming, right? Especially with the fingerprints all over! What a bright, beautiful January day! The wreath will be up for the rainbow party, but expect it to make a repeat performance each year for Saint Patrick's Day!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Rainbow Art Party, Part Two
Ten days of sick kid. On the couch, watching television for hours on end, not eating, seemingly endless fever, up all night coughing, only getting up to take a shower, curling up in a ball in pain sick. Not pretty. Today is our first day of attempting to get back to normal life. Annalise is outside now, getting some sunlight on this beautiful 80 degree day, proving that she is indeed not a vampire. Alleluia, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. She may actually go back to school next week and perhaps I will leave the house as well. Needless to say we've had a lot of bonding time. It hasn't been that bad. A little forced prison time with a ten year old: you could do a lot worse. But it has set me back a bit on the whole productivity thing. We did, however, make a bit of progress on Juliette's birthday party.
Yesterday, we had-delivered her invitations. It was a good excuse to get Annalise out of the house for a bit! Here's what they look like:
Just look at that beautiful girl. I can't believe my baby is going to be four!
For all of the kids' birthday parties, except for Zachary and Annalise's last parties, I've used a picture of the birthday kid doing something related to the party's theme. This picture was actually taken over the summer, but I thought it was perfect for the occasion. Recently I discovered that you can download fonts for free on the internet. Who knew!? OK, probably most people, but I didn't. I love finding and downloading new fonts from dafont. Here's a link to the website:
http://www.dafont.com
It was fun to write it all in rainbow colors, and the envelopes get addressed the same way. The poem is not my best work, I freely admit that. Maybe the days on end without sunlight affected my otherwise stellar poetry-writing skills.
Sadly, other than the guest list and date and time, this is as far as we've gotten with our party planning. Stay tuned!
Yesterday, we had-delivered her invitations. It was a good excuse to get Annalise out of the house for a bit! Here's what they look like:
Just look at that beautiful girl. I can't believe my baby is going to be four!
For all of the kids' birthday parties, except for Zachary and Annalise's last parties, I've used a picture of the birthday kid doing something related to the party's theme. This picture was actually taken over the summer, but I thought it was perfect for the occasion. Recently I discovered that you can download fonts for free on the internet. Who knew!? OK, probably most people, but I didn't. I love finding and downloading new fonts from dafont. Here's a link to the website:
http://www.dafont.com
It was fun to write it all in rainbow colors, and the envelopes get addressed the same way. The poem is not my best work, I freely admit that. Maybe the days on end without sunlight affected my otherwise stellar poetry-writing skills.
Sadly, other than the guest list and date and time, this is as far as we've gotten with our party planning. Stay tuned!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Zachary's Campout Party
No one ever accused me of being on time. Ever. Not my forte. My poor husband and in laws have had to learn how to deal with my lateness. It's bad. So here I am, six months later, posting about Zachary's seventh birthday party. Which was in July. At least I'm getting to it, which is more than I can say for anything that happened last year.
Zachary reeeeaaaaallllly wanted a sleepover party, so, since his birthday is in the summer, we decided that a campout would be perfect! I loved sleeping in the tent in the backyard when I was a kid, and I knew he would too. It was a super easy party to plan and execute and was inexpensive, too. And the bonus was that my husband Jason and one of our friends, Bryan, did most of the heavy lifting! Yes! Totally my kind of party!
We started off with the invitations. Every year for birthday party invitations, I've done a picture of the birthday kid doing something related in some way to the theme of the party. But for this party, Zachary decided he wanted the invitations to look like a tent. We found some ideas online. Here is a link to the Pinterest board where we found much of our inspiration:
http://pinterest.com/mellowlane/campout-party/
I'm not sure if you can just click on that to go to the site. I'm still a computer moron. Sigh. It's on my ever-growing list of things to learn/do.
We started out with our wording, and went with green and brown, which seems perfect for a campout. Unfortunately Zachary is color blind and couldn't really even tell that we had two different colors. Oh well. So I decided on the wording and then printed them out in kind of a triangle shape, to show through the tent flap. I printed two invitations to a page on white card stock and cut them in half. (But in the getting-it-right phase, I just used regular printer paper.) Then I rounded them off and cut a brown piece of brown construction paper to match. Then I attempted to cut and fold back the "flaps" of the "tent." This took several tries and a lot of experimentation back and forth between the printer and the "tent." Here is what it looked like:
That's my paper cutter underneath there. It's been with me since grad school. We're tight. And yes, I'm in my pajamas there. It was probably about two in the afternoon. Awesome. That's how I roll when I'm in craft mode.
We also added a packing list, so the kids would know what to bring.
You see that nasty carpet underneath there? That's gone now. Yes!!
Another thing I always do is hand write the envelopes in some kind of cute font. But I just didn't have the energy to copy that cute camp font. And now that I've figured out how to load free fonts onto word, I decided to let the computer do the work for that, too. Look at me. I know you're impressed.
I had originally thought that I would have the boys immediately tie-dye a shirt to wear for the rest of the party, but the practicality of that shot that idea out the window. So instead, I bought inexpensive backpacks from Oriental Trading and tie-dyed those ahead of time. This left the dyeing to just our family, which was probably a smart idea. My kids had fun tying the rubber bands around the backpacks and taking turns dipping them in the dyes. We chose different shades of brown and green so we had a kind of camouflage effect. So here's the thing about tie-dyeing. It says on the directions how long to put the fabric in the dye. It helps if you actually follow those directions. Who knew!? Needless to say we dipped them in for much shorter amounts of time, so our backpacks turned out really light. I still think they're really cute. And then I wrote each boy's name in black fabric pen.
At the last minute, because I had time to spare (i.e. I wasn't freaking out about screwing up another cake. Curse you birthday cakes!!) I decided we needed a pennant sign on the front door. I printed out the letters in that cute camp font again.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that I am a high school geometry tutor, spacial awareness is not something I possess. Sigh. There was a lot of cussing going on during this frustrating process. I decided to bag in completely, when I spotted these:
Old file folders. I think these might even be from grad school. I think some of them were reused from my mom and are probably as old as I am. Put those buggers to good use. They certainly aren't holding social studies guides anymore!
Cut off the labels and cut them in half. (There's that carpet again. In the words of three year old Juliette, "See you later, suckah!")
Much easier to use pencil, a ruler and my BFF paper cutter. As I was at this time, running out of time, I didn't do a cute font on the pennant, but here's the finished sign on the front door:
You can see it's just twine, and the letters are folded over and taped on the back side. The sign was ever-so-elegantly taped to the door. It got the job done.
When the boys arrived, they ran around for a bit. (Obviously. They are six and seven year old boys.) And then they prepared for their hike. Each boy found their backpack and water bottle, also with their name on it (purchased at the dollar store) and a large Ziploc bag for any treasures they found on their hike. Then they loaded up a smaller baggie with trail mix from the trail mix bar.
My mother-in-law found theseold vintage napkins hiding in a linen closet. Weren't they perfect for the occasion?
A little twine around a mason jar and it's rugged.
The boys loaded their packs and headed out for a hike with the two dads, one leading (or chasing after the runners) and one bringing up the rear (and nagging/encouraging the stragglers). Lucky us, we have beautiful horse trails that weave in and out of our whole town. Zachary and Jason had mapped out their route ahead of time and the boys headed out on about a two or three mile hike. And I didn't go!!! I had a break. In the middle of a birthday party. Shocking. I don't even remember what I did during that time. Probably I cleaned. So maybe it wasn't that exciting. The boys came back dirty and thirsty and ready to run around some more. So they did. We had no other structured activities, so they played in the "fort" (made up of some old blinds, parts to a composter and anything else the kids can find) up the hill in our backyard, played basketball in the driveway and soccer in the cul de sac. For dinner, we fed them hotdogs, cooked on skewers borrowed from the Girl Scout troop, over a fire pit, borrowed from my friend Michelle, placed on our driveway with camp chairs surrounding it.
For a cake, we decided not to do a cake. You can't do a campout without s'mores. And these boys were spending the night. I was not about to feed them s'mores and cake. I'm not totally insane. So Zachary blew out his flaming marshmallow as his friends sang him happy birthday.
Little shout out to my cousin Katy there, a Wagner lacrosse player!
At this point, about half of the boys went home. The rest of the boys got in their jammies and got into the tent, armed with flashlights and glowsticks, also purchased at the dollar store.
You like our tent? It's actually my parents' tent and it's muuuuuuch older than I am! They bought it right after they got married. I spent much of my youth in that beauty!
This one is ours, a wedding present, but that night it was for Jason and Bryan to snuggle up in. Or snore the night away. The girls and I had our own sleepover in my bed. I didn't sleep much. Too many elbows on those little people.
In the morning, we served chocolate chip pancakes and kicked those boys to the curb. I'm still tired when I think of that day. After each sleepover, I vow it will be my last. They are just torture. But Zachary and his friends loved it! As I said before, it was a really low maintenance, low budget party, but Zachary said it was his favorite!
Zachary reeeeaaaaallllly wanted a sleepover party, so, since his birthday is in the summer, we decided that a campout would be perfect! I loved sleeping in the tent in the backyard when I was a kid, and I knew he would too. It was a super easy party to plan and execute and was inexpensive, too. And the bonus was that my husband Jason and one of our friends, Bryan, did most of the heavy lifting! Yes! Totally my kind of party!
We started off with the invitations. Every year for birthday party invitations, I've done a picture of the birthday kid doing something related in some way to the theme of the party. But for this party, Zachary decided he wanted the invitations to look like a tent. We found some ideas online. Here is a link to the Pinterest board where we found much of our inspiration:
http://pinterest.com/mellowlane/campout-party/
I'm not sure if you can just click on that to go to the site. I'm still a computer moron. Sigh. It's on my ever-growing list of things to learn/do.
We started out with our wording, and went with green and brown, which seems perfect for a campout. Unfortunately Zachary is color blind and couldn't really even tell that we had two different colors. Oh well. So I decided on the wording and then printed them out in kind of a triangle shape, to show through the tent flap. I printed two invitations to a page on white card stock and cut them in half. (But in the getting-it-right phase, I just used regular printer paper.) Then I rounded them off and cut a brown piece of brown construction paper to match. Then I attempted to cut and fold back the "flaps" of the "tent." This took several tries and a lot of experimentation back and forth between the printer and the "tent." Here is what it looked like:
That's my paper cutter underneath there. It's been with me since grad school. We're tight. And yes, I'm in my pajamas there. It was probably about two in the afternoon. Awesome. That's how I roll when I'm in craft mode.
We also added a packing list, so the kids would know what to bring.
You see that nasty carpet underneath there? That's gone now. Yes!!
Another thing I always do is hand write the envelopes in some kind of cute font. But I just didn't have the energy to copy that cute camp font. And now that I've figured out how to load free fonts onto word, I decided to let the computer do the work for that, too. Look at me. I know you're impressed.
At the last minute, because I had time to spare (i.e. I wasn't freaking out about screwing up another cake. Curse you birthday cakes!!) I decided we needed a pennant sign on the front door. I printed out the letters in that cute camp font again.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that I am a high school geometry tutor, spacial awareness is not something I possess. Sigh. There was a lot of cussing going on during this frustrating process. I decided to bag in completely, when I spotted these:
Old file folders. I think these might even be from grad school. I think some of them were reused from my mom and are probably as old as I am. Put those buggers to good use. They certainly aren't holding social studies guides anymore!
Cut off the labels and cut them in half. (There's that carpet again. In the words of three year old Juliette, "See you later, suckah!")
Much easier to use pencil, a ruler and my BFF paper cutter. As I was at this time, running out of time, I didn't do a cute font on the pennant, but here's the finished sign on the front door:
You can see it's just twine, and the letters are folded over and taped on the back side. The sign was ever-so-elegantly taped to the door. It got the job done.
When the boys arrived, they ran around for a bit. (Obviously. They are six and seven year old boys.) And then they prepared for their hike. Each boy found their backpack and water bottle, also with their name on it (purchased at the dollar store) and a large Ziploc bag for any treasures they found on their hike. Then they loaded up a smaller baggie with trail mix from the trail mix bar.
My mother-in-law found these
A little twine around a mason jar and it's rugged.
The boys loaded their packs and headed out for a hike with the two dads, one leading (or chasing after the runners) and one bringing up the rear (and nagging/encouraging the stragglers). Lucky us, we have beautiful horse trails that weave in and out of our whole town. Zachary and Jason had mapped out their route ahead of time and the boys headed out on about a two or three mile hike. And I didn't go!!! I had a break. In the middle of a birthday party. Shocking. I don't even remember what I did during that time. Probably I cleaned. So maybe it wasn't that exciting. The boys came back dirty and thirsty and ready to run around some more. So they did. We had no other structured activities, so they played in the "fort" (made up of some old blinds, parts to a composter and anything else the kids can find) up the hill in our backyard, played basketball in the driveway and soccer in the cul de sac. For dinner, we fed them hotdogs, cooked on skewers borrowed from the Girl Scout troop, over a fire pit, borrowed from my friend Michelle, placed on our driveway with camp chairs surrounding it.
For a cake, we decided not to do a cake. You can't do a campout without s'mores. And these boys were spending the night. I was not about to feed them s'mores and cake. I'm not totally insane. So Zachary blew out his flaming marshmallow as his friends sang him happy birthday.
Little shout out to my cousin Katy there, a Wagner lacrosse player!
At this point, about half of the boys went home. The rest of the boys got in their jammies and got into the tent, armed with flashlights and glowsticks, also purchased at the dollar store.
You like our tent? It's actually my parents' tent and it's muuuuuuch older than I am! They bought it right after they got married. I spent much of my youth in that beauty!
This one is ours, a wedding present, but that night it was for Jason and Bryan to snuggle up in. Or snore the night away. The girls and I had our own sleepover in my bed. I didn't sleep much. Too many elbows on those little people.
In the morning, we served chocolate chip pancakes and kicked those boys to the curb. I'm still tired when I think of that day. After each sleepover, I vow it will be my last. They are just torture. But Zachary and his friends loved it! As I said before, it was a really low maintenance, low budget party, but Zachary said it was his favorite!
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