greetingarts

all Kitty-ed out

Wow, that's the longest I've ever gone without posting since I started blogging three years ago.  My cold wiped me out, and then poor Jessie got a raging fever two days after her party.  Turned out to be a double ear infection, and she's on her fourth day of amoxicilin...  At least she wasn't sick on her birthday, that would have been pretty sad.

I only managed to make 4 of the kitty pops, which kind of broke my heart, but it was 11:30 the night before the party, I was miserable, getting mad and fussy, and I realized Jessie probably wouldn't mind.  Most of the time it's just us, the moms, who feel guilty that we didn't do something we said we'd do, and our kids have actually either forgotten about it entirely, or would get over it in a heartbeat.  So I reluctantly let them go, even though the pops are what sparked the whole Kitty theme in the first place.  My mother-in-law ordered the Hello Kitty cake from a Chinese bakery, and we stuck the few pops I did make in at the last second.  Jessie loved it, and the fact that everyone sang "dear Jessica" was a huge deal for her.  Did you see the handwriting on that birthday message on the cake, though?  Sheesh, did some 80 year old arthritic man do that blindfolded, or what?  Sorry, don't mean to offend any 80 year old arthritic men...

Michele at calicodaisy custom machine embroidered two plain white Target tees for me with the ballerina Hello Kitty for Jessie, and a Hello Kitty holding a teddy bear for Rebecca.  Doesn't it look fabulous?  And instant party outfit.  You can send her your own plain t-shirts, or even fabric from your stash, and she'll machine embroider practically anything you can think of onto it.  I also bought some more embroidered kitty heads, for ponytail ties, but had to give up on those, too.  I'm telling you, that cold really messed me up.  I'm still hacking and coughing, although today I'm doing much, much better. 

The party favors were Hello Kitty notepads (didn't get a picure of those) and gel pens in a HK zipper sandwich bag that I got from Target's dollar spot years ago.  Good thing I'm a hoarder.

You know it was a wild party if even Grandma comes home with a tatoo!

 

Now I have to get off the computer.  Someone is waiting rather impatiently for me to move over.

kitty party plans

Oh man, I'm sick.  I've got the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head fever kind of cold, and life isn't letting me rest.

Easter, done.  Now, birthday party. 

Wanna guess what Jessie picked for a theme?

Very easy invitations.  White, letter-sized cardstock cut in half and folded to make 2 cards per sheet, Sharpie markers in yellow and black, and some simple shapes punched out of red cardstock.

Love my corner rounder, I really think it makes a huge difference in the finished product.

So, the invites went out weeks ago, the party is at my in-laws' house (thank you, thank you, thank you!), they're taking care of the food, and all I have to worry about is favors and the Kitty factor.  I really really really need to make Bakerella's Kitty pops, I mean, how could I not, right?  I figure I have two days to feel better.  I'm usually up all night the night before a birthday party anyway, and this time my mom will be in town to help me mold and dip and cuteify.  I've got to find a way!

I already totally gave up on the preschool party tomorrow.  My first school birthday event, and I went the completely lame route and bought my cupcakes from the supermarket.  Big bummer, but at least I made little cupcake toppers with the Best Assistant Ever, Rebecca.

Still came out cute, and I'm sure I'd never have been able to achieve that level of pinkness (or yellowness, for that matter) with homemade frosting.  They got a little squished when I put the lid on my cool cupcake carrier, but I kind of don't care anymore!  They're three and four year olds.  The frosting turns their tongue different colors.  I don't think they'll mind a little squashedness.

And now, with that final made-up word and assault on the English language, I'm going to curl up into a ball and try not to whimper.

happy everything everybunny

We're ending Spring Break with a lot of family, fun, and stained fingers!

Getting ideas from Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book.

Decorating Spring cookies with icing and sprinkles.  Lots and lots of sprinkles, bowls and bowls of icing.

Dying the brightest, most beautiful eggs ever.  Wouldn't all food taste better in colors like these?

And I got a couple more of these made.  Not enough for everyone as I'd intended (so what else is new!), but at least I got the two made for the girls.  I added little scrapbooking brads in the shapes of hearts.  Rebecca got a kick out of that.  And I think I finally got the hang of the mattress stitch!  I don't have time right now to give that statement the full weight it deserves, but believe me, that's huge.

So, happy stitches, happy Easter, happy Spring, happy Sunday!

playing with blocks

Four more blocks from the Star Struck Block of the Month to show...

 

Kind of a twisting star, very simple construction.

And a more fiddly block, the star within a star within a star.  I mostly machine pieced, except for the interior star, which measures 3" across.  The center square is one and a half inches.  And those triangles that make up the star points are pretty darn tiny, I didn't want them to disappear inside my sewing machine.

Almost finished with the blocks, there are only 4 more.  Then comes the real work!  I need to sew on 2" strips all the way around each block, then add sashing which will create secondary stars.  I'm going to look in my stash for something suitable, and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find fabric for the peach and pink quilt.  But I think I'll be doing some blue batik shopping in the near future.  Yay!  Any excuse to set foot in a quilt shop.

read this book

Seriously, read this book.  Grab a few Kleenex, find a very comfortable spot, and read it.  By yourself, out loud to your kids, all in one sitting, or one chapter at a time.  Though I defy you not to rush on ahead at certain points in the story.  Just read it.  You won't be sorry.  Five stars doesn't even begin to describe it.  I borrowed this from the library, but I'll be buying my own copy to keep, to take down from the shelf every so often, to pass on.  It means even more to me because Rebecca and I discovered this treasure together.  The Tale of Despereaux was great, but this.  This!  Will be a classic for sure.

I'm off to go find a china rabbit with furry ears now.

cupcakes for dinner

April Fool's Day!  Good excuse to have some fun.

I made the girls (and Daddy, too) cupcakes for dinner.  Meatloaf batter, mashed potato frosting, minced carrot sprinkles.  Really fun and Rebecca ate two.  Extra bonus, the meatloaf cupcakes bake in 15 minutes, instead of the 55 minutes that a regular meatloaf takes.  I just might do this more often.

Celebrate something every day, right?