sharing time

I wanted to show you my  last few pics of my girl's birthday party.  And p.s.  if you read this entire post there will be a surprise at the end!

My neighbor showed me a neat trick for making these fruit bouquets.  Insert a wedge of iceberg lettuce in the pot.  These were fun to make.  I wish I had bought more pineapple, and the strawberries also had blueberries on the skewers that helped them from slipping down the stick.  The kids loved it and of course they ate it all!



I also made these huge tissue paper flowers.  They hung from the ceiling over the counter where I had the food out.  My husband thought that I bought them, what a kook :)



Remember the theme of her party was dogs.  So I ordered this simple cake with a dog bone on it.  The plastic dogs we already had and had been through the dishwasher.  I was going to put them nicely around the perimeter of the cake, but when the girls saw what I was up to, they decided to assist me!



And here is was I made for each little girl to take home with her.  A little scottie dog.  My girl even helped me add the stuffing.  It was so sweet for me to get to make them with her.  She named her dog "Frisbee"!  Gotta love it.

And here is your surprise... I made an extra little dog for you!!  Yes, you can be the proud owner of your very own frisbee dog.  Just leave a comment for a chance to win.  This giveaway will end on Sunday night.  Thanks and pass it on!

inspiration day

We have 3 birthdays in my house to celebrate in August.  And the one that I have the most fun planning is the one for my girl.   Today I went to Michael's and I bought a stack of white paper doilies.

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I hope to make a few of these for decorations!

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And maybe one of these hanky banners.  I do have quite the stash of hankies!

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post party

You know I think I am still recovering from my husband's birthday party that we held in our home over two weeks ago!  There are still birthday cards on the counter, and thank you cards to write.   Plus a ton of beer and wine left unopened!

All of my new serving pieces that I had to have, are all put away.  That was a big challenge for me.  I don't have a lot of kitchen space.  So, I got to clean out my cabinets.  Which I think feels like I've lost weight.  I wish that actually worked!

The prep for the party was filled with days of running around town.  My sisters were staying at my house so that made everything a lot easier.  I relied on their opinion for everything!  Even lipstick.  Which we all know is a big decision to make on one's own.



The kids put up with our shopping at the mall.  See's Candies doesn't hurt either!  We got a lot of great decorating ideas at Pottery Barn.



We went to Gram's Ranch.  While the boys climbed in the trees,



the girls were busy cutting olive branches that we were to use in all of the floral arrangements.



Isn't it beautiful? My wonderful and talented neighbor Ralph made these beautiful arrangements for each table.  The flowers were the perfect finishing touch!



And here we are all in the midst of the party.  Can you tell we are related?  That is my husband Jeff in the right corner of the pic.  We were having such a good time, that I didn't take any other pictures.  I do have one of a friend climbing the fence, but I'm holding onto that one!

Thank you to my dear friends and family who were such a large part in making the evening a success!  I had such a great night.  And most importantly, Jeff had a great time celebrating 50!  I love you babe.

making plans

I haven't been sewing much these past few weeks.  Since school has been out, I have been driving all over town.  Great for my kids.  Not so great for me.  I really like to stay home!  By Thursday, I am ready for Friday and the weekend!

But, I do have to say, that I have gotten to know my kids friends and their parents so much better.  We have more time to catch up with each other in the summer and this I do like, a lot!  I love getting a chance to talk and making new friends.  A definite plus to all of the running around.  Girlfriends rule!

I have also been having a great time lately planning a birthday party for my husband.  Another great girlfriend, Amy, has been a huge help with this.  She redesigned my website for me, and I knew that I could turn to her for a little more design help with the invitations.



My hub has been a bicyclist for a long time.  He is still riding and recently completed a century ride (100 miles).  He loves it and I am so proud of him and his accomplishments.  So you can tell the theme for this party.  And after seeing his invitations, he is definitely getting excited about the celebrations too.

I'm also contacting some other friends who run their own business.  So, I'll be sharing some of those with you as they come up.

a little pink and a little girly

I have been just a little busy lately getting ready for my girls birthday. First we had a classroom party and then an at home family party. It was a lot of cupcakes with sprinkles and a ton of Hello Kitty wrapping paper.

Every birthday she has had a homemade birthday outfit. I hope this is going to be something that she will always let me do!! And this year I made her a skirt from a very simple pattern and then added a ruffle. I have had this Amy Butler fabric for awhile just waiting for this project. She loves pink of course! And I tried to use this yellow based fabric as a nice coordinating pattern. Which took me awhile to decide on, since I didn't want anything to matchy. I know you know what I mean!



Then it was onto getting ready for her party at home with her school friends. I decided to make the invitations using a vintage Hallmark invitation that I got at my local thrift. I scanned it and was a little hard for me to get the color to come out the same as the original. But I finally decided that I would be the only who could really tell the difference, since no one else had the original card but me! I was up late and working on these for about three hours getting just six of these made. I really wanted something with a scrap book look and vintage feel.



And then today I got around to picking up the clutter in my house. There is sooo much! And I put together these little party favors. The baskets I bought when I was out thrifting with Diane. I added a sticker, pink chicklets, hair ponies (made by Diane, using some of my vintage fabric), and gift tags. I think these are cute! I copied all of my vintage patterns to make these. Not an original idea I know, but cute!!



Tomorrow, I will buy the pink paper plates and napkins. And choose which tablecloth to use! Exciting stuff!!