Advent 7

KJ art!

Paint me a picture...

Happy Friday! I hope this makes you smile. We sure had a blast! (And a mess to prove it!)

Bath is all set for the soon to be painted boy.

Oh so tidy.

Not too messy.

Oh so happy!

 Have a wonderful weekend!

Gift it...

Recently some Mom friends and I had a joint One Year Birthday Party. I was in charge of favors. This is right up my alley! Yippee! I decided that everyone likes a personalized gift, so why not make monogramed onsies? The funny thing is, I didn't make my own son one! So I don't have a great after picture but you can see generally how they ended up. 

Tutorial:

1. Choose a font that you like and a size that is right for your onsie. In this case I was using 18 month size Carter's Onsies, it's a safe bet that all the 1 year old babes would be able to wear that size at some point. Always error on the side of too big if you are unsure of sizing. I used Baskerville Semibold at 205 size. Print out the first letter in each child's name. 

Baskerville semibold font.

 2. Trace each letter onto your double sided fusible interfacing and mark "g" for girl or "b" for boy. This will help you choose the appropriate fabric for each letter.

3. Iron each letter onto the "wrong" side of your fabric.

 4. Cut out each letter carefully.

Use very sharp scissors.

5. Peel off the paper backing and iron onto onsie. Be sure to center it first.
6. Stitch Each letter onto onsie using a zig zag stitch.
7. Choose coordinating tags and ribbon to finish each favor. (I chose Martha Stewart's "Playground" paper. I found it at a Michael's store.) To make tags, just cut out a rectangle, use a corner punch on the 2 bottom corners, trip the top by cutting each corner on the diagonal. Punch a hole for the ribbon and you're done.

Make sure you make a tag with each child's name on it. 

At the party, I laid them out in neat rows so it would be easy for Moms to read the tags and grab the correct one. Anything to make a gazillion kids in one place any less hectic!

The party was a blast and the Moms enjoyed the favors. It was a lot of work having all those kiddos in one space. I would do it again in a second. They had so much fun!

And this was just some of the babes!

A much deserved cupcake for each Mama and babe!

Have you made any favors lately?

I'm baaaack!

Sorry for being M.I.A. I have been busy, tired and a little lazy on top of it all.  So, I'm making the effort and getting back in the saddle so to speak.  Before my unplanned hiatus I promised some birthday pictures and house pictures.  Today we will do birthday...

Birthday Bunting

Kieran's first birthday party could not have been better!  Mom was happy because:
1. Baby was happy, so incredibly happy.
2. My Mom, Dad and Sister (you know her as Auntie) all got to be there!!!
3. It all came together and looked oh so cool.

There were many many other reasons to be happy, but those three topped my list.  My in-laws very graciously hosted the party at their lovely home.  My Mom reminded me before the party that the important thing is to create a party that the kids have fun at.  Thanks Mom, good advice.  Now here are some of the party details.  Mom took over in the photography department so I could keep track of the Birthday Boy, again, thank you.

Yummy yummy in my tummy

We filled glass hurricanes with sweet and salty treats.  The cotton candy cones are stuck into a paper covered box with holes cut into the top.  For the cone, cut a circle out of fun cardstock, cut that in half and roll into a cone.  Tape, and you're ready to add your cotton candy.  We used the cotton candy that comes n a foil bag from the grocery store.  Easy peasy.

Centerpiece 

Use a colorful stuffed animal to decorate your table.  Make a few little boxes (or cover some pre-made boxes) and tie with a bow.  Easy peasy.

Pumpkin decorating, carving was just a little too scary for me...

This was fun...instead of carving pumpkins, thinkin 16 little kids don't really need to be running around with knives...we colored!  We bought one little sugar pumpkin for each child and put out permanent markers in bold colors (we did this activity on the porch, just in case) to decorate them with.  A few of the kids gave their pumpkins to Kieran...very sweet.

Cookie favor bags.

These bags were filled with frosted sugar cookies in the shape of the number 1.  The bags were purchased at Michael's.  I used a paper cutter to cut the contrasting toppers into rectangles that my sister and I folded over the top of each bag securing with a punched piece of paper (we used a glue stick).  Time consuming but easy peasy.

What a difference a year can make!

A sweet little monkey sat on the mantel next to the Birthday Boy's birth announcement.

The Prince's Throne

 Highchair buntings are really easy.  Just cut a bunch of brightly colored fabric into small triangles using  pinking sheers.  Use a ribbon or binding to string them together.  I used a sewing machine but you could easily use iron on hem tape I bet.  Easy peasy.

The cake and decorations

I made a simple yellow cake recipe and filled it with buttercream.  I used pre-made fondant for the outside of the cake because it gives a clean and polished look.  I simply added food coloring and rolled out the fondant, cutting with a circle cookie cutter and popped 'em onto the cake using a bit of water.  For the word ONE, I printed out the word using the font and size I liked, cut out each letter, then used the tip of a knife to trace and cut the letters out of fondant.  Easy peasy.

 

Kieran had his own smash cake.  Piece of advice: have it ready! We didn't and we had an unhappy boy after he blew out the candle on the big cake when he wasn't allowed to eat it.  Turns out, Kieran loves cake, who doesn't, right?!

FUN! Gotta love a ball pit!

 We used a blow up pool and filled it with balls for a fun play space for the kiddos.  This was the hit of the party!  Ease peasy.

Present opening.

 It was fun opening the presents because all the kids helped little Kieran out.  Luckily, Kieran is still pretty cool with sharing!

It's exhausting being one!

We had a wonderful day celebrating our little boy.  He had a blast and slept hard when it was all over.  Yes, it was a lot of work to get all those homemade party details done and it was over before we knew it, but it was worth every second.  The kids had fun, the grown-ups had fun, and most of all it was a great excuse to get a big happy family together.

Have you been planning a party?  How's it going?

Alphabet soup

I mentioned in my profile that I come from a long line of creative people.  My sister, known now as Auntie in our house, does not disappoint.  One of her latest creations is this wonderful play on the old school plastic letters.  She crafted these beautifully stitched fabric letters from old jeans and scraps of bold quilting fabric (like from this AMAZING quilt she made for Kieran's first birthday).  

Backed in jean with contrast stitching.

These letters are so much fun.  I've been coming up with games to play as the little guy grows up.  Obviously they will be good for learning the alphabet and spelling.  What I'm looking forward to is crossword puzzles and "scrabble like" games.  Yes, I am getting excited about spelling games.  I'm sure they will turn into spelling bees and spelling wars as Kieran gets bigger and our competitive nature rubs off on him.  My mom, sister and I were able to make a crossword puzzle using all of the letters except for two, pretty good right?  Especially because we only had one set of vowels to use! 

The texture and colors of these fabric letters inspire creativity.  There is no way a set of plastic letters would get me excited enough to stay up late "playing".  That's why it is so important for us to take the time to show our children that not everything comes from a store looking one way, made of one material, only having one use.  A pretty good lesson to learn as a little one.  

What are your favorite handmade inspirations?

Picture perfect...

Recently I have been getting some nice compliments on the photographs I've been taking.  I'm no photographer but I do have a trick that seems to be working.  Want to know the secret?  Well, I'll tell you...PORTRAIT SETTING!  We have a Canon PowerShot A630, a great, but basic digital camera.  The photos I seem to gravitate to are the ones where the images in the foreground are clear and crisp and the backgrounds are slightly fuzzy.  This is typical of a portrait.  Here is an example of a beautiful professional portrait: 

by Rebecca Smith

Notice how this cutie and the flowers are in focus but the grass is fuzzy.  Looks nice, right?  Well, you can get this same effect with your digital camera!  Check out the top of your camera...do you see an image of a profile?  I bet you do.  Switch the dial over from AUTO to the little profile image.  Come on, go for it!  Go crazy and let loose, no more auto for you!  But be careful!  You are now entering the world of camera obsession.  I'm telling you, as soon as I figured out (thanks Mom!) that I could get this look, I have not put down the camera.  Here are a few good examples of what you can get with a regular digital camera set using the portrait setting:

I know, I know, I'm "that Mom" who takes way too many pics of her kid!  But come on, he's so cute, how could I not?!


Some tips while using the portrait setting:
1. Turn off your flash and make sure you have plenty of natural light.
2. Step back so you can zoom your lens in as much as possible.
3. Use a tripod (be very still if you don't have a tripod). 


Have you already discovered this setting?  What is your inspiration?  Nature, your home, your pet...