Juicy Bits

210: backyard movie night

Nope.  I don't do anything small.  Can't help it.

I got in my head to do an outdoor movie night to celebrate the start of summer.  First I thought I'd rent the equipment, but then decided I was going to do it more than once (we've already used it 3 times) so it was best to invest in our own.  

Then I had to go for a specific look for the night.  I blame Pinterest.  Truth be told, that's the part I love and I always do details anyway. But I was inspired to do the whole thing by some pictures I found on Pinterest.

Anyway, the look was supposed to be a sort of chic retro on the farm.  Or vineyard.  Or something like that.  I got a bunch of vintage sheets from thrift stores.

This is one of my favs.

And I tried to use a lot of antique looking wood, like the crates and board we used as little tables for drinks etc.  I also put out some flowers and candles.  There were some twinkle lights up on the deck by the food for dim lighting and more ambiance.

My mom has a bunch of nap mats from her preschool days that I sewed pockets in the sheets for, so it was more comfortable.  And I borrowed chairs because in my mind the adults weren't going to be thrilled to lay on the ground.  And there were many, MANY pillows.  Also, my parents have 2 papasan chairs so basically it was like a living room outside.

As for the actual equipment, I bought a projector on Ebay and a receiver/speakers at a yard sale.  The screen I built out of PVC.  Not too difficult.  To give you an idea of scale, the screen is about 14' wide.  The actual material is blackout material meant to line curtains (because it doesn't let light through).  It has a seam down the middle but you can't tell when the movie is playing.  It's attached to the frame by velcro.  

It's somewhat weather proof. It can stay out in the rain but the wind did knock it down.  I can leave up the frame but take down the material, but I am a bit worried the homeowner's association will have a conniption.  If you want more info on how to built your own movie screen, check out backyardtheater.com.  These people are crazy hardcore and it was an awesome resource to help pull it all together.

And of course I had to do snacks.  3 types of popcorn and some classic sweets.  There were bags for the popcorn (regular brown paper bags I printed "fresh popcorn" on myself) and separate one for the GOODIES (so cute!).

Drinks were soda (in glass bottles), beer, water, and orange juice/lemonade served in mason jars.  And boy did we need ice cold drinks that night.  It was HOT!  It was the first night of summer (also the first night after school got out) and I thought we would all melt.  The kids didn't care one bit and ran around before it started.  

Thankfully, it cooled enough after the sun was down that we were reasonably comfortable.  We had a lot of people (mostly families of the kids' friends) and had a blast. Here's how we looked enjoying the show.  We watched Over the Hedge because I thought it particularly appropriate in suburbia. :)  We've also watched How to Train Your Dragon, and one of my all time favorites, Princess Bride.

I used to love going to the Drive-In as a kid so this was great throw-back.  And even though it's not HD or surround sound or anything, there's something that just feels so "real" about the big screen and being outdoors.  It gives me the warm fuzzies.

So what else should I show?  It mostly has to be family movies but maybe we'll do an adult only r-rated night.  I'm thinking classics like Goonies, ET, and of course, Harry Potter.

JT

 

205: puppy party part 2: the day

So here's how it all went down:

First, kids arrived and they just played around a bit.  The cardboard doghouse my dad made rocked!

Next it was time to adopt your own puppy (sorry, I don't have a good picture of them all doing it).  They got to choose from a big bin of cute stuffed puppies of lots of different breeds. And they got to fill out an adoption certificate and name it.

Next, we headed outside.  I had set up an obstacle course (which I also have no good pictures of) for them to run through like at a dog show.  I didn't make them do it on all fours, but they had the option.  It had things to jump over, tunnels to go through, planks to walk across, and hoops to jump through.  We even asked them to puppy tricks like "sit", "speak", "roll over" and gave them treats if they did so.  It was great fun and they all got a "Best in Show" ribbon.

Then the real fun began.  The puppies arrived.  Actually it was 1 puppy and 2 small dogs.  They loved playing around with them and giving them treats.

They even took some of them through the obstacle course.

After we had to say goodbye to the puppies we headed inside to do a quick craft.  They each got their own wooden doghouse, just right for their new puppy, and they got to paint it however they liked.  I made the dog houses by cutting a larger door into pre-made birdhouses and gluing a bone above it.  It was a bit tricky to get the jigsaw into the tight space but they came out great.

Next up: food.  We had sandwiches and goldfish all bagged up and ready to grab. There were healthy additions like fruit at each place and cups of veggies and ranch.  And the yummy, buttery, dog bone pretzels are to die for.  In dog bowls we had Scooby Snacks and Cocoa Puffs to look like real food.

The kids ate (where else?) on the floor doggie-style.  I laid out a runner on the deck and they even had dog bowls to eat from.  Many of them gave the "no hands" approach a try!

Last we sang to the birthday boy and had cupcakes.  

It turned to be a wonderful day and I know Theo had a great time.  However, it did nothing to help satisfy his desire for his very own puppy.  :)

JT

204: puppy party part 1: the details

 

In my usual delayed fashion, I finally have the details of Theo's puppy party from last summer.  The theme selection was pretty easy as he is just crazy about puppies.

 

Let me answer your first question right away, no we did no surprise him with his very own puppy at the party.  Or any time after for that matter.  I was VERY tempted though.  All that focus of puppies had me looking in non-allergenic breeds and all that.  But, at least for now, a puppy just doesn't fit into our hectic lives.  Maybe when he's a bit older and can share some of the responsibilities.

Anyway, back to the party.  It was a great day.  The puppies themselves were the main activity.  I mean what more entertainment does a group of 4-year-olds need but a couple of cute doggies to play with.

 

If you're wondering where we got the puppies/dogs to come to the party, they were from an animal rescue organization.  They had brought some dogs into Theo's pre-school to share with the kids and I thought, why not see if they could bring them to a party?  Although they were quite generous and really just did it for the love of children and dogs, I did give a donation to the organization as well as asking the guests to bring food or toy donations.

And the black lab puppy even got adopted by one of the families at the party!

It was a day filled with playing with puppies, pretending they were puppies, and even adopting their own little stuffed puppies.

I'll be back soon with all the details of the events of the day, but here are some of the sources:

Photography: mostly me, but some by my dad

Invitations, adoption certificates and graphics: custom by me

Real puppies: Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue

Stuffed puppies: Aurora brand bought from Stuffed Safari (great customer service!)

Dog bowls: Petsmart

Cake and cupcakes and dog bone pretzels: Deirdre Thauer

Pretzel recipe: King Arthur's Flour Baker's Companion cookbook (Yum!)

Cookies: me

Wooden doghouses: Birdhouses from Michaels with the openings cut larger

Cardboard doghouse: my dad and me

"Best in Show" ribbons: me

 

 

 

180: forest chic treats and sweets

We decided to have another party this winter for no reason other than we really like to bake. The "we" I'm referring to is myself and my youngest sister Deirdre who is conveniently in town to help.  This time around, it wasn't a strictly cookies party like last year. We had cookies, and plenty of them, but also cupcakes, pretzels, brownies, etc.

The look I decided on was lush, forest floor, with a traditional, chic twist.  Does that make any sense? It did in my head anyway.  And I think that's how it came out.

It was very nice to be able to share the work of all the baking. My husband invited like a million people but since it was a holiday weekend, enough people were away and couldn't come that it wasn't too overwhelming.

It was a simple, casual, open-house-type party where you could drop by whenever.  Plenty of Aurora's friends came.  We had one little craft for them to do: decorating rocks with paint pens. So simple, but they loved it and it was appropriate for toddlers to teens.

As far as the decor goes, I designed and printed the labels myself.  The jars are lined with various green print fabrics stabilized with interfacing.  I glad to say I didn't have to buy a single piece of glassware.  The greenery is a combination of fresh and moss.  The invitations can from the $1 bin at Michaels, if you can believe it.  I paid more for postage. :)

JT 

 

174: unicorns and rainbows party part 2: the day

As I mentioned, the day was darned near perfect.  Here's how it went:

Set-up, and more frantic set-up in the morning.

Then, we had gorgeous face painting as the kids arrived.

The craft project was painting unicorn or dragon t-shirts with freezer paper stencils.  

There were many creative outcomes.

 And, though the pictures don't show it, you should believe me when I tell you the smocks were a rainbow of solid-colored t-shirts (from Goodwill).  Yes, that's how far I take it.

Next up was a treasure hunt for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  HUGE hit.  The kids were running all over the house and yard hunting for the next clue.  

I made them all up, and they even rhymed.

They were hidden in places like the mailbox, a backpack, the climber, and the pot of (chocolate) gold was in the fireplace.  Such a simple activity that was so much fun.  I'm sure we'll do one again at the kids' request.

After that it was time to enjoy treats and cake.  

I have to say I think people were more impressed with my ability to cut semi-intact slices of the overly tall cake, than with my ability to bake it.  :)

Then afterwards the kids enjoyed some running and playing in the yard on such a beautiful day. 

I can hardly believe my little girl is 6 (and really now, she's half way to 7!)

Haven't come up with a definite plan for next year yet...I'll keep you posted.

JT

 

 

 

173: unicorns and rainbows party part 1: the details

 Finally.

I've been holding on to these pictures for a while now.  I just really needed to edit them down a bit.  There were so many good ones that I find it nearly impossible to choose.

Anyway, as the title implies, this year Aurora chose a unicorns and rainbows party.  Actually she chose unicorns and I convinced her to add the rainbows by describing the candy buffet. She had been reading this series of books about a unicorn school and was really into them.  And who can't get behind that idea?  And for the boys, dragons were permitted to attend.

While the party followed a VERY hectic summer and Theo's party, it went off with very limited hiccups.  Much less stressed out that at Theo's.  That's not to say it wasn't a boatload of work.  This stuff doesn't just happen, people.  :)

The day was darned near perfect.  Great weather.  Great Friends.  Great fun.  The kids enjoyed a day full of sugar as well as a craft and even a treasure hunt for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I asked everyone to come dressed all in one color so we could be our own rainbow...

 You'll find the sources and inspiration at the bottom of this post, and I'll be back soon with a summary of the day's events.

 Photography: Evan Foster

Invitations: custom made by me

Dessert Table: inspired by the infamous Amy Atlas

Uncicorn cookies: made by me, inspired by this photo

Yarn balloons: made by Aurora and me, tutorial found here

Paper mobiles: tutorial found here

Cake: made by me, lots of inspiration around the web

Craft: freezer paper stenciling (tutorial found here), used unicorn clip art found here, and a dragon I drew

Face painting: Bella Facia

Favors: a bag filled with a unicorn lollipop, mini unicorn (or dragon) coloring book (available on amazon), set of mini rainbow markers, rainbow and unicorn stickers, wooden unicorn to color and a sewn matchbook notebook (tutorial found here) - plus a whole container full of the candy!

164: race car birthday part 2: the day

So here are the events of the day in approximately chronological order.  

First, I'll say that we decided to have the party on weeknight for various reasons, and that was so cool.  Even though it meant providing a meal for the guests, it was great to be able to stay up uber-late and not have to wake early.

The craft project for while everyone was arriving was simply painting with matchbox cars.  I rolled the paint out in the tops of egg cartons.  The kids' smocks are adult t-shirts from the thrift store.  I love that I could color coordinate them with the decor.

 

Next up was matchbox derby.  I made and painted the plywood track.  They put the cars in the top and then we pulled up the starting gate so they all went at the same time.  

Of course, later it was more of a free for all, which was fun too.

Now it was time for rides in a "real" race car.  I can't tell you how much my inner (outer?) stylist wanted the car to be red.  But none to be found.  But it was a Porsche.  I mean, come on.  Oh, and I didn't mention that it rained that day, which was a bummer.  I really wanted most of the festivities to be outside.  But it stopped long enough for the top to be down.  We added the vinyl number and stripes to make it look authentic. 

A checkered flag finish line was a must.  Theo loved it.  Jon just took them one at a time for a spin down the drive and around the cul-de-sac.  It was really about crossing the line and everyone cheering.  While waiting for their turn, everyone had to stay in the tire circle in the driveway.

 

Afterwards it was time for dinner and cake and general playtime.  Food was baked ziti with caesar salad and chicken nuggets.  I did make the cake.  It was my nemesis.  I. Do. Not. Like. Fondant.  I had never tried it before and at 4 am, it sucks unless you know what you're doing.  But it came out pretty cute (And I photoshopped out some of the cracks).  

The drink station was fun.  There were three choices in water dispensers (I cut a hole in the back to put the drinks and ice in.).  They poured into funnels and then your cup at the bottom.  One bit of advice is if you're doing it indoors, put a tray underneath to catch the drips and spills.  I had originally thought to use small gas cans as pitchers, which would have been cute too.  But since he's a bit young I worried about them knowing the difference between those and actual gas cans which they should NOT drink out of.  :)

As far as planning, I stressed out and took on too much this time around (including work commitments) so I didn't feel in balance.  I asked a lot of my family and friends and while I'm not sure exactly what I would have done differently...it wasn't easy to pull off.  Tears were shed, but, all in all, it was a great day and Theo had an awesome time.

JT
 

All photos by Christianne Ebel

163: race car birthday part 1: the details

Keeping with my previous format, I'm separating the party pix into two posts.  Each time I look back and see how many pictures I showed before and end up adding a few more to the current party.  Pretty soon you'll be looking at hundreds of images from one event.

 

Well, I think I mentioned, Theo is crazy about race cars.  And checkered flag finish lines.  (And railroad X's, but that's another story)  So the theme this year was a no brainer.

 

 

I'm just going to let you enjoy all the gorgeous images, and I'll add some of my sources for those who might care.  The next post will have the events of the day, but needless to say, a great time was had by all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography: Christianne Ebel

Invitations and graphics: Kara Thauer (my sister, she doesn't currently sell them, but could probably be convinced...)

Vinyl number and stripes for car: custom by Janey Mac Press on etsy

Large fabric banners and table runner: me

Matchbox car plywood race track: me.  If there's enough interest I could make a little tutorial for this, but it's pretty straightforward.  I originally saw several online, including one here.

Hubcaps: walmart @ 4 for $16 (and a few a friend had)

Theo's mechanic outfit: me and it was a mash-up of patterns.  I took shirt and pants patterns and combined them adding a few detail.  The patch was from here.

Drink station: poland springs water dispensers and funnels with labels I made (The idea came from a friend of mine.  I suggest you laminate your labels or buy water proof ones). I constructed it out of a bakers rack we owned.

Red place setting cars: $5 from walmart (brand is Jada) I had to visit probably a dozen different walmarts to gather enough red ones because they come in a variety pack and you can be sure what colors they'll have.

favors: trinket bags inspired by this tutorial by Amazing Mae with 3 matchbox cars in them

"Real" race car: borrowed from a friend and vinyl numbers and stripes added.  I tried everything to rent a red convertible (particularly a mini cooper) but around here it's just not possible.

Cake and cookies: me

162: vroom, vroom...coming soon

Whew!  What a summer.  I'm just now settling down and having time to do things like lie on the hammock or go to the pool, and it's over.  School starts on wednesday for Aurora.  And I think I have yet to face the fact that Theo's going to school this year too.  No more babies at home... :(

Anyway, one of the many summer projects that have kept me busy are birthday parties.  Theo turned 3 a few weeks ago and Aurora's is coming up soon.

Theo requested a race car theme...no big surprise.

 

I have tons of pics of all the details and I promise they'll be coming up soon.

JT

154: fireflies and rainbows

See, I told you I'd be more cheerful. 

Aurora and spent some time painting rainbows the other day.  We've already set the theme for her next birthday party (not until September) and it will be unicorns and rainbows.  So she's decided we should get started on the decorations now.

 

 
At this rate I'll be able to wallpaper the whole house with rainbows when the time comes.  But, it was fun to see her come up with different ways to make rainbow designs.  Of course this was all after she painted quilt and bag designs that she wants me to someday make into a reality.  Someday, my Roar, someday.

She also just had her ballet recital.  She was 1 of 29 fireflies that were, of course, adorable.

Even had little lights on their heads...

Wishing you all days filled with such lovely and fanciful delights.

JT

145: i *heart* cookies

Yum, yum, yum!  

The day before Valentine's Day we had a Cookies and Milk party for some friends and family.  As I mentioned before, really it was for no other reason than I love to bake and I love to style parties.  So, fun!

Ever since I saw this post, I've been wanting to have one of my own.  One of my favorite details was the retro paper straws from Kikkerland.  I baked probably more than 700 cookies so there was plenty for everyone to take some home with them. 

The kids decorated their own heart sugar cookies.  

 

And I made a matching hostess apron to wear.  It was loosely based on the Flirty Skirty pattern.

 
 I cannot tell you how many I ate that day and the week following.  But, I could totally eat more.  Like a lot more.

The favorite of all the guests was Martha's Carrot Cake Sandwiches from the Cookies book.

But the infamous NY Times Chocolate Chip ones were also very popular (and really a meal in and of themselves).

JT

 

144: baking at my house

We've been doing quite a bit of it lately.  See, we hosted a Cookies and Milk party for a bunch of our friends the day before Valentine's day.  Was it just an excuse so I could bake an absolute TON of cookies?  Who can say?

Of course there will be a post on the whole party forthcoming soon, but here's a little behind-the-scenes look at the baking.  First, yes we made plenty of delicious cookies like these:

Those are Double Butterscotch.  Yum.

 

And every time I tried to bake all week, the kiddos happily offered to "help".  Theo's repeated phrase was: "It's all about I want to taste it".  But one evening to give me a little break from all the tasting, I had the brilliant idea to let them go all out playing in the flour.  

 

Messy, but cars racing through flour were a perfect distraction.  :)

 

And here's a little peek at the pretty pictures from the party.  Those Chocolate Chip cookies make my mouth water just looking at the pic.  Sigh.  Why can't someone discover that eating an almost entirely cookie diet is good for your health and weight?  I can attest: it is not.

JT

142: peaches and cream party part two: the day

And now on to the events of the day.

First came set-up.  It was a total scramble since I had so little time.  It was definitely a treat to have the party on a farm, but I will hesitate to have another away from home because it took so much advance planning.

You can see the tent area we had.  It was really nice that it was a separate fenced area since the farm was crowded that day.

I mentioned we were so lucky to have a nice sunny day, but, man, it was windy.  Everything had to be tightly secured down.

When the guests first arrive the could feed the animals carrots or do some coloring of farm pictures.  Guess how much coloring was done?

Next it was time to go peach-picking.  While waiting for the hay ride, there was much silliness and some rousing games of ring-around-the-rosy.  Then we loaded onto the hay wagon and enjoyed a scenic ride around the farm.

There was a little instruction on which peaches were ripe and we were dropped off in the peach groves and got to roam about filling our little baskets.  With a little help from the moms and dads, the kids had a great time.

 

 

We had a little wait until the hayride came back to get us, so the kids did a little tree climbing...

 

Then we headed back to the tent for food and treats.
 
 
 
 There were a variety of sandwiches, fruit kebobs, and snacking stuff.

 

The yellow jackets turned out to be a huge problem.  They were everywhere.  We couldn't put out the food until the last second and they swarmed the sweet stuff.  I had planned on peach lemonade in a big punch bowl, but we quickly had to nix that idea because they would go crazy for it for sure.  Luckily, I had back-up juice boxes.  The idea of the bees eating the food didn't gross me out (you can see the little holes they ate in the candy below) but I was worried one of the kids would get stung because they're so aggressive.  We lucked out and no one did.  Had I thought of it ahead I would have brought sugar-water traps to put out and lure them away from us...

 

Candles were hard to keep lit...

But we pretened.

The cupcakes had little versions of cakeballs like the cake pops I made based on Bakerella's apple design.  The pops were adorable, but seriously time consuming.  Luckily my baking sister was in town to help me out.

The ice cream was another snafu.  We rented an ice cream cart and I called ahead to reserve the dry ice and they said don't worry just come by and get it that morning.  Well, I went by and they were out!  And no on else was open on Sunday.  So we had to make do by keeping the ice cream in the farm's freezer then just using regular ice.  It was pretty melty.  That was me trying to be relaxed about the details and I learned I'm just better off obsessing and forcing them to take a reservation.

After the food, the kids got to enjoy all the activities.  The farm was having it's fall festival and we bought wrist bands for all the guests.  That meant as much hayriding, tractor "train" riding, pony riding, hay pile climbing, bouncy house jumping, and corn kingdom playing as they wanted.  Theo would have ridden around on that "train" all day if we'd let him.  And Aurora loved the ponies.

 

 


 Then we just let the party peter out.  We took down the decorations and packed up, but a bunch of the families stayed as long as they wanted.

My two kids were totally exhausted but very happy by the time we got home.  (So was I, now that I think of it...)

JT

 All photos are by Christianne Ebel.
 

141: peaches and cream party part one: the details

 

Here at long last are the details of Aurora's 5th birthday party.

 

The theme: peaches and cream

The location: a farm

The activities: peach picking, eating ice cream, and much more.

 

I'm happy to report that we were blessed with gorgeous, sunny (if somewhat windy) weather.  That's the totally stressful part of planning an outdoor party away from home.  I had all of 1 1/2 hours to decorate the tent.  Not pretty.  Thankfully I had some helpful family around.  The tent had giant peach paper lanterns strung up with felt leaves.

I also made some fabric garlands that ran across the support bars with mini peach lanterns hanging down.  Totally didn't anticipate the amount of wind so it was hard to get a decent picture, by my friend Christianne did it again.

The yellow jackets dug all the sweets I made: cupcakes, fruit bouquet, peach shaped cake pops (a la Bakerella), and take home candies.

The tables were covered with plastic (stapled because of the wind) and then fabric runners.  I love all the different peachy fabric I was able to collect for this party.  I used them for the runners, for garlands, for the buffet tablecloths and to line the baskets.  I wanted it all to have a patchwork-y feel so I used a lot of different prints.  I think I could cut up the tablecloths and made an adorable quilt someday.

 The centerpieces were wooden boxes (my dad made them) that I painted and put chunks of wheat grass in.  I originally saw the idea here.  I love that they were fresh and green but not floral arrangements that would be expensive and have to be made the day before.  The flowers are made from Raffia with little looms that I first saw from Cathy of Cal.

The peach picking meant everyone got to go home with their own fabric-lined basket full of peaches.  

And since my daughter loves it so much, we had an ice cream cart (a whole issue, read part 2) with cone wraps to match the color scheme.

 

I designed the invitations and all the signage myself.

 

Please tune in soon for Part 2, run down of the events of the day...

JT

All photos are by Christianne Ebel.

140: I won and so can you

I entered a little party planning contest and won third prize.

Over at Creative Hostess they had a Most Adorable Kids Party of 2009 contest and someone suggested I enter.  Why not?

 

And Theo's birthday came in third place.  

Anywho, The prize I won was an adorable printable birthday set from Parties by Hardie.  Aren't they cute?

  

And, I'm passing it on to you!  All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what theme you're planning for your next kids' birthday.

I'll pick a winner on Feb 10th at midnight, so enter before then.

And I promise my next two post will be of Aurora's birthday which was way back in September.

JT

127: construction party part 2: the events

Today is the basic events of the big day.  If you missed the first post with all the design details, find it here.

It was a simple theme that lent itself to some obvious, but entertaining activities, and one awesome treat.

Of course the day started with set-up.  Most of the prep was done well ahead of time, but we weren’t sure of the weather, so didn’t know if we could manage outdoors or not.

 

We lucked out.  The rain held off for long enough, and it wasn’t excruciatingly hot as it had been the week before.

There were various activities for the kids to enjoy all day.  No real planned games or anything since he was only turning 2.

There were construction pictures to color.

 

A sand table with lots of trucks etc.

 

We brought the “roller coaster” outside and that was a big hit.

 

Then we got the main event.  A visit from “Bob” himself!  What a treat.  We were able to hire a local landscaper (friend of a friend)  to come with his backhoe loader for a few hours.

 

He was even down with giving the kids rides up and down the driveway and letting them drive.

 

Can you tell Theo was just a little bit excited?

 

It was his equivalent of heaven.  I was totally a rockstar mom that day.

 Seriously after the party, as I put him down for his nap and asked him what he did at the party.  He gets this ridiculous grin on his face and closes his eyes and sighs, “I drove bob the builder”.  2 year-old’s life = complete.

Everybody got a turn to ride if they wanted.  

And, of course, some photo ops with the family.

 

Then we had lunch.  On the menu was: bagel pizzas, veggies and dip, pretzels and chips and fruit salad.

 

There were construction cupcakes.

    

Everyone found them yummy.

 

And even tool-shaped cookies (yes I made them, with much cursing involved late at night) that Theo enjoyed playing with while eating.

 

Then everyone pretty much just hung around for a while and we called it an afternoon.

What a fabulous day and a lucky boy!

JT

126: construction party part 1: the details

Can we fix it?  Yes, we can!

Can we build it?  Yes, we can!

Theo is crazy about Bob the Builder.  It isn’t even really the character, so much as all things construction.  Whenever he sees any kind of construction vehicle, he says “Bob, the builder, BOB THE BUILDER!!”

So I knew that was the way to go for his birthday this summer.  And, despite the stress of having to leave town and get back the night before the party, everything worked out perfectly.

Since I have so many gorgeous pictures (courtesy of my good friend, and amazing photographer, Christianne Ebel again), I’m going to split this up again like I did for Aurora’s monster party.

Get ready for a ton of photos.

So as you can see right away, the colors I used were brown, orange and yellow.  Or more descriptively, chocolate, pumpkin, and mustard.  Remember we started off with these invitations.

When people first arrived they had a little hint at what was to come.  I made the barricades by painting over some wooden sawhorses we had.

I used lots of fabrics (big surprise...) for decorations.  The Be an Man collection and some Tot Town from Michael Miller (as well as a few other construction-related ones I had) added to theme.  

The food table had a giant runner-style cloth that was super easy to make and had quite an impact.

Some other details to the food display included: nuts and bolts, a dump truck full of pretzels, color coordinated m&ms, and my cute little "dig in" signs.

 

And lets not forget the sweets.  The cupcakes had little toppers with graphics I designed.  

And then the oh-so-frustrating-to-make-at-the-last-minute-but-undeniably-delicious tool cookies.

The kids' tables were set outside on the deck.  

Again I used graphics I designed to decorate the cups and the napkins/silverware.  I put a nut and bolt in each bowl to prevent any wind issues (turned out there were none).

Each child had their own personalized hard hat.  

There was a sand table for lots of digging fun.

The deck was decorated with big balloons and traffic cones.

And I made (with lots of help from my mom) a fabric caution tape garland because I couldn't bear the thought of a plastic one.  

You'll read more about it in the next post, but we had a visitor.  

And there was coloring.

We put out all the tools and trucks etc. we could come up with.

Each child when home with a bucket full of goodies.  

 

It included A construction site sticker book, matchbox vehicle, and a small wooden construction puzzle (which Theo is currently obsessed with). 

And a thank you dump truck cookie.

Stop by in a day or two and see just exactly how the day played out.

112: more bloomin' crafts

I can't seem to get enough of flowers lately.  I guess summer will do that to you...

(photo from marthastewart.com)

So I happened upon a link to these cute raffia flowers somewhere in blogland.  Cathy Callahan did a spot on Martha's show which you can see here.  She has a wonderful blog of vintage crafts and you can even buy kits of the flower looms needed to make these beauties in her etsy shop.

I can't tell you how easy these are.  A total no-brainer.  Although they're not super-fast or anything.

My plan for these is to make a bunch and use them in centerpieces at Aurora's birthday.  We'll see how many I get done...

JT

78: remember when?

I feel I have now matured in my blogging ways...

My reasoning?  Well, I can no longer remember what I've posted about and I actually have to go back and read my own stuff.  Generally I have a very good memory, so it's not really like me.  The problem is I've composed many a post in my head and never actually typed it up.  And, I have some pictures sitting all nice and edited, but they've never made it online.  

These are some of those shots.  

When I posted about Aurora's birthday invites this year, I took a few shots of some from past years.

This first one is for her second B-day.  It was a very simple circle theme.  We did polka dots and lots of fun with MANY balls of varied kinds.  The invite is circles of cardstock attached by a little gromit (shown fanned out).

The next year she had a teddy bear picnic done in plenty of pinks and browns.  I didn't design this invite.  My very talented graphic designer sister did...with lots of (probably annoying) input from me.  This particular copy has seen better days, but you can imagine it without water stains...

And finally this is the invite from a halloween party we had a few years ago.  No I did not do the awesome art.  It's a complete rip-off from Target.  I screen captured their web site and then added the text.  ( I smudged out the address and phone numbers on all of these to make my only slightly paranoid husband feel better.  :) )  I cut the front panel in half up the middle and stitched up the side to make it open from the center.

Someday I'll post more details but that's all I've got for now.

And, you'll all let me know when I start repeating myself too much on here, right?

JT

54: turkey day decor

Thankgiving is over and it was mostly perfect.  Lots of lovely baking smells and plenty of messy helping hands.  Dinner was a wonderful collaboration of several "chefs", myself included.  And it was enjoyed by lots of loving family members (we had 17 for dinner).

Most of my photos are of the table all set for dinner.  I did the flower arrangements with cranberries in the vases.  I can't remember where I saw that before, but it was somewhere.  And the placecards are from Paper and Cake.  Check out that new blog.  I think it's a cool idea to do downloadable tablescapes, hopefully they'll keep it coming.

I didn't take photos of all the delicious food consumed, but I can tell you I'm still full.

The kids each made their own little gingerbread house, which was a fun (and they'll say tasty) craft.

Hope you had a great one if you celebrated...

JT