Every Child is an Artist!

Ho Hum.

Christmas is over and put away for another year.  So what's a crafty girl to do - but plan a party?!!!

This weekend we hosted Sheep's birthday party  . . . AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!  (Yes, that's me yelling about it in blog-speak!)  Since she has many boy friends (NOT boyfriends mind you, let's be clear on THAT) and her favorite boy in the world (her cousin Max) to consider, we had to think of something to do that both girls and boys would enjoy.  And since my little girl has obviously gotten her arts and crafts gene from ME (makes my heart leap) we couldn't think of anything more fun than an ART PARTY!!

And it was some serious fun!!

I'm tellin' you, if you are looking for an awesome party theme, and aren't afraid to get a little messy, this is THE party for you!

Sheep and I handmade invitations two weeks ago, but we've been Pinteresting collecting ideas since before Thanksgiving, so I will attempt to link our inspiration sites for you as much as possible.  We used cardstock we had on hand, a circle punch and some pop dots to create the paint palette.  Then added a small paint brush from our stash (I tend to buy arts and crafts supplies in bulk) to each of palettes.  The information about the party was printed on cardstock and glued to the back side.  Since we were running out of time, the finished invited were a bit bulky AND it was raining the day they were set to be mailed, I opted to hand deliver them instead so they wouldn't arrive a ruined, wet mess - but you could certainly mail these if you wanted to!  I cut and Sheep glued and I think they came out GREAT!!!

And let me just say that this whole entire thing would not have been possible without the aid of my BFF and her daughter (a million thanks as usual), who helped us 'test drive' all the projects in advance and just generally save the day when my idea to completion ratio reaches unacceptable levels and I begin to panic!

We ultimately decided on 5 art stations, including:

Canvas Pour Painting

Marble Art

Bubble Art

Salt Art

Nail Polish Art

In preparation for the mess party, I decided to make aprons for each of the kids to wear.  I was lucky enough to grab them for half-off at Hobby Lobby during Christmas and grabbed a remnant of felt at Joann's for the applique.  I simply cut down the paint palette template I used for the invitation to fit the bib of the apron and sewed it on the aprons.  Then I used my embroidery machine to add each child's name in rainbow colors to look like paint on the palette!  So stinkin' cute!!  And they cost less than 3 dollars each for a party favor they will be able to keep and use for many moons!

To make Sheep's apron a little more special (she is the birthday girl after all), I found an apron with a ruffle and used pinking shears to cut out her paint palette.  Doesn't she look adorable?!

She wasn't the only one decked out for the party either.  All of my 'help' wore mustaches (oui, oui) that my sister had sent as a stocking stuffer this Christmas, so they were free!!

We didn't want the party-goes to feel left out though, so we drew mustaches on their fingers so we could all be french painters together - OUI! OUI!

Sheep and I had visions of a layered rainbow cake like the one seen here to continue the rainbow art theme of her party, but with so many kiddos and helpers and parents to feed, I was afraid that a layered round cake wouldn't easily cut into enough pieces.

Never fear!  Pinterest is here!!

Instead of layers, we simply divided and colored the batter using paste food coloring and then poured it into our 9 X 13 pan for a marbled rainbow cake that looked like a piece of art itself!!  A generous layer of buttercream frosting made it simple irresistible!

No.  Seriously.  It was irresistible.  Just ask Katie, who once again managed to devour (thankfully only a portion of) the cake!!  Ugh!!  Not again!!  Well, it was too late Friday night when I discovered it to much other than trim the corners and cover them with some leftover icing.  But a quick trip to the store Saturday morning for Skittles to scatter around the cake distracted (almost) everyone from the now unusual shape and decoration.  It's a good thing she has friends in low (short) places . . . .

It looked really amazing when it was cut, and tasted every bit as good, so if you're interested in trying yourself, I used the recipe here.

We 'decorated' the house by simply rolling up the rug and covering the furniture with canvas drop cloths we borrowed from our neighbors.  We covered the floor and tables, both inside and out, with a roll of painter's paper that cost about 10 bucks at home depot and secured everything with blue painter's tape.  We hung our samples up using leftover twine from another project and scattered some of Sheep's artwork on the mantle and around the house.  Voila - instant art studio!! And super easy cleanup afterwards too!

When it comes to winter birthday parties around here, the weather is really anybody's guess.  It could be 75 and sunny or 45 and raining - or any combination you can think of.  This weekend, it was warm, but cloudy and soupy with probably 98% humidity.  Scratch my original idea (seen here) to hang their art to dry out on the porch.  Nothing was going to dry outdoors in this weather and I wanted them to be able to take their art home.  Luckily, panic necessity is the mother of invention!  Or inspiration at least!  I was able to score some box lids from our local copy store (free) and used the tempera paint for the party to paint them in rainbow colors the night before.  Of course I had to move them indoors overnight to dry ha!  I printed out a quote I ran across while looking for something for the kids new bedroom and glued it to the inside of the box lids for a cheap and easy art display that they could take with them.  Clever me!  I think they came out pretty cute!

My BFF is a hoarder collector of 'things.'  All kinds of neat and wonderful things just screaming to be refinished, repurposed or recrafted in some way.  It is one of the 'things' I love most about her, even though it puts my craftaholic tendencies in overdrive when I visit!!  Needless to say, she is an AMAZING resource when it comes to parties.  And I think she may love my little Sheep almost as much as I do so she's not afraid to go all out for that girl!!  She supplied us with oodles of paint, nail polish, Sharpies and two old frames that she painted and used to take pictures for the party!

FABULOUS!!

The kids AND their parents LOVED having pictures made with the frames!  And the pics of Sheep with her friends will make great thank you cards as well.  Oh, did I mention she's also a great photorapher?  Like I said, this party would NOT have been possible without her!

The soupy mess of a morning started to clear off by the end of the party, so everyone joined in on the photo fun!

Happy Birthday (Party) Sheep!  We love you!

Lost and Found

A Prayer to St. Anthony

Tony, Tony come around.

Some thing's lost that must be found!

I'm hoping (and praying) that a public plea to the patron Saint of Lost Things will help because I have been MIA this week, with no good excuse, other than the fact that my new camera was recently added to the 'Missing Persons' list at our house!  It now includes:

• One set of car keys
• One pair of Sheep's blue jeans
• Sheep's hot pink bow (MAJOR problem (for mom anyway - ha!!)
• An MP3 player and
• Several green binkies (you know the kind, all rubber/no plastic so they bounce and roll when dropped)

Seriously - I have no idea where these things go!  Now I will be the first to admit that my observational skills may be somewhat lacking, as are my organizational skills from time to time, but when Speed can't find things it's entirely possible that they are really just gone!  Snacks is pretty good at finding things too, largely because he's usually responsible for misplacing them when your back is turned - but even he has been no help at all!  And you'd think that a boy IN LOVE with his binky as much as Snacks would keep up with them a tad bit better than he does . . . .

Anyway, after the chaos of Christmas and Disney and back-to-school, I'm afraid that several of these items might have accidentally found their way into the trash somehow (gulp!) which is more than a little bit irritating!!  My camera was last seen on Saturday, when I was taking pictures of a new shirt I embroidered for a friend, so it seemed like it should have been somewhere in the crap craft room, but I tore cleaned that place up and it wasn't there!

Over the weekend, we took down the crib and Sheep's bed and replaced them with bunk beds!!  Yay!!  Have so many ideas for their new shared space that I can't wait to get going on next week!  But we've got a birthday party for Sheep on Saturday and I convinced her that it was time to go through her toys and give some to the kids who might not have had as wonderful a Christmas as she did.  She did a GREAT job and 4 garbage bags of toys and stuffed animals went to Goodwill yesterday.  She has such a generous spirit.  It is one of the things I love most about her!  Luckily, I hadn't bagged everything up until yesterday either, because it gave me one more chance to look for that stinkin' camera.

Found it!!! 

Inside one of the toys that Snacks had drug out to play with earlier this week!  That little stinker!!

WHEW!!

Just in time for our ART PARTY this weekend!!  So stay tuned!!

That's One Tough Cookie!

It's that time of year again!

You've probably already had them casing your neighborhood - knocking on doors and smiling while they wreak havoc on your new year's resolutions with their tasty temptations.

Yes folks, I'm afraid so . . . It's GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TIME!!

Last year, my very first year selling cookies as a girl scout MOM, I was terrified of the goals being laid before me.  And there were plenty of phone calls and much wringing of hands while I tried to figure out if all this focus on funds was something I wanted my daughter (or myself) involved in.  After all, isn't the purpose of selling cookies to teach our girls lessons about manners, financial responsibility, leadership, and blah,blah, blah . . . you get the idea.  And I was worried!

Weeeeell, it is - but it's also about the money!

One year later and I now find myself in the position of co-leader for this fledgling troop and let me just say, "Helping Girls Grow Strong ain't necessarily cheap!"  So this year I vowed to get off my soapbox, ignore my moral high road and take the road MOST travelled instead. 

Uuugh!

Luckily, Sheep is one year older (and wiser) and has caught the cookie bug this year, so she's willing to help!  Last year she set her sights on a journal that required selling 200 boxes of girl scout cookies.  And she did it!!!!  And when I say she did it - I mean SHE did it!  I was not working (outside the home) last year and Speed was working from home, so mom and dad did not have offices.  No break rooms tables to simply throw the form out on and wait for the orders to come rolling in over lunch.  Instead, she had to go door-to-door and person-to-person.  She made lots of phone calls as well.  Speed is a salesman by day, so he helped her with her pitch and she got quite good at it if I do say so myself!

I guess I have my mom (a former girl scout leader herveryownself) for my insistence that she sell them herself.  My mom always made us call up to her office to sell cookies or other school things rather than taking the forms to work.  At the time I thought it was torture.  Now I see it as a stroke of genius!!  It is sooo much harder to say no to that tiny voice and that earnest little look!

This year, she has set her sites on the LARGE stuffed penguin plush toy that requires selling 650 boxes (what the . . .?)!!  Can she do it?  Probably not.  Don't tell anyone, but girl scout leader/mom doesn't really want to deliver 650 boxes of girl scout cookies either.  But I am LOVIN' the effort I am seeing from this girl!!  And even though we've 'officially' gone cookie crazy this year with a troop goal of 2200 boxes, I am secretly smiling to see her using her math, HER MANNERS and making change like a pro!  I'm also impressed with her practicality (which I have never been accused of having - ha!), because she has assessed her initial goal and revised it now that she's been pounding the pavement this week.  So we'll see . . .

Either way, thanks to girl scouts she's already growing into ONE TOUGH COOKIE!!

P.S.  If you need a connection, Sheep can hook you up!!

P.S.S.  In additon to everything else,  I also fight with own an embroidery machine.  I put this design together using the varsity feltie font from Planet Applique and a donut design (I don't know about you, but that looks like a Samoa to me!) from Stitch on Time.  Check these ladies out - they both have great ideas and products!  This was my first try at a 'raggy' alphabet.  Not too shabby - ha!  Sometimes, I crack myself up!

Bippity-Boppity-Boo-Hoo-Hoo!

I think all moms should be issued a fairy godmother along with the instruction manual for children that they give you at the hospital when you have a baby.  I mean really, who needs her when your single and have only yourself to attend to?  Ahhhh, those were the days . . . .

Well, the closest thing I've ever had is my BFF.  Weekends with my bestie are full of fun, conversation, LOTS of laughter and typically lots of projects as well.  Seriously, we used to get so much done when we got together.  Nowdays though, we get a few things done but there doesn't seem to be much 'cleaning as we go!'  THere's just too much on the list these days and NEVER enough time together in the first place.

And when Speed agrees to hang with the tiny tornado while we escape vacate the premises for some much needed girl time - things really get out of hand!  Not unlike most dads during NFL playoff season (I presume), his idea of hanging out with Snacks generally means letting him roam free wearing only a diaper (that may or may not need changing) and toting a sippy cup while he and one or mre members of our varsity squad watch the games!  Needless to say, our combined (ahem) relaxation this weekend means this place is a WRECK!!

I was going to show you with a few pics (as a cautionary tale), but I can't even locate my camera right now!

And on top of all the laundry, dishes, crafts and shopping bags that need to magically disappear, I've got birthday invitations to make and deliver today and somehow find a place for what remains of Christmas!  You know what I'm talkin' about - all those tiny or big gifts that you don't seem to have an obvious place for so you just sort of pile them up and then move the pile around wondering 'Am I really going to use this stuff?' or 'Is it too soon to throw it out?'  That stuff.  Honestly, I don't think my house can digest even one more thing - and  we've still got a 7-year-old's birthday party coming in two weeks - AACK!

I've also got a CCE lesson that needs planning, a doctor's appointment that needs attending and girl scout cookies that need selling.  Oh, and I promised to tell y'all about Disney too!  So where IS my fairy godmother?!?!?!

I could really use some bippity-boppity-boo about now.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas Cookies

OMG!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Y'all!!

I has been a fun-filled, whirlwind holiday for us and I am SOOOO sad to see it go - but I will fill you in on all the fun we had at home and at DISNEYWORLD soon - very soon!!

For now, I am going to complete my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies in an effort to keep my one and only New Year's Resolution, which is to finish what I start!  I am already envisioning the spectacular projects adorning my house and my children and myself (oh my!) with this new resolve!  Not to mention how adoringly THIN I will have become once I finish losing all that 'baby weight' this year!!  This resolution promises to be truly transformative   . . .  but I digress (and that is the problem)!

Anyhoo . . . since I promised 12 days of cookies - here's what I wanted to post for you on Christmas Eve.  Enjoy!

Amy's Sugar Cookies - Take 3!

After the Girl Scout Christmas party, where we decorated with buttercream frosting, and the Playgroup  Cookie Party, where we painted them before baking, I still had a pan or two's worth of cookie dough left to bake. (Did I mention this dough freezes beautifully?!)

Perfect! 

Because my brother, SIL and the kids were coming over, straight off the plane from the slopes, and Superman said he needed cookies for Santa!  Oh dear!!

Once the big kids saw each other though, they were too busy to bake, so the bitties and the mommies took a short cut and simply formed the dough into a log and sliced them!!  A quick glaze and some sprinkles, and all systems were go for SANTA!!

So simple! 

So quick! 

And every bit as tasty if I do say so myself!

I hope your holidays were just as merry as ours!  And I hope you'll stay tuned for more sass in 2012!

Better late than never, right? (Work with me here people!)