Cowboy and Cowgirl party!

With Madeline and Will's birthday's just two weeks apart (even though I was due BEFORE her birthday, remember? Longest two weeks of my life) we decided to combine birthdays and have one big shebang this year. I've discovered that I just love planning parties, and since this was my only chance for the year to throw and fun, themed birthday party, I really got into it.


Hats, stick horses and badges for all the kids! 

 
My sister Kelly helped me assemble the cake - to be totally honest, when I was mixing all that fondant, I had SERIOUS doubts that there was even going to be a cake, so I was really pleased that it turned out just like I envisioned! Maddie's eyes seriously turned into saucers when she saw it, so...mission accomplished!
 
Will got his own little smash cake, which he dug right into!
We had such a fun time - and I'm only a little sad I don't get to plan another party until next year! :)

Molly

Notes:
Oriental Trading company has a ton of great party supplies for cheap! That's where I found the hats, the bandanas for decorating (they wouldn't have worked for the horses, they are just a super thin poly), the cowboy cut-out for "pin the badge on the sheriff" and the sheriff badges.
I made the bandana stick horses with supplies from Hobby Lobby - $1 bandanas, $1 dowel rods, felt ears and eyes - total cost per horse? $2.50. Can't beat that. I took some basic pictures, so I can post a tutorial if anyone is interested. Super easy.
The fabric for the kids outfits (even the plain white tshirts) came from Hobby Lobby.

Sugar Scrub - a mini tutorial

Last year I made lavender sugar scrub for all the women on my gift list. I have seven sisters (remember?) I'm always looking for a little something extra to put with their gifts.

I totally intended to post this before Christmas, but time just got away from me. I figure if I try to wait until next Christmas to post - I never will. Anyway, here is the super duper easy instructions.

You will need:
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
essential oil for scent (I used lavender)

You might need to play with the quantities of your ingredients to get the texture you want, but those are the basic numbers. It's really hard to get this wrong. I picked up some lavender oil at the vitamin shoppe, but there are dozens of other places to get yummy smelling essential oils. Instead of plain white sugar, I used Domino's raw sugar, which is a little coarser and more like the sugar scrubs you find at the store. But if you want to keep the cost really low, go with plain 'ole white sugar.

Then I bought a case of pint sized mason jars to package them in. The packaging options for sugar scrub are really endless. You could probably hit the thrift store and come home with a gaggle of unique bottles that would make cute little gifts. Of course, glass and porcelain don't exactly mix, so plastic containers might be preferable.

I printed the labels on big shipping labels and used my rotary cutter to cut them to size. I bought a pack of cheap spoons from wal-mart and a 1$ spool of matching ribbon and - voila! A whole bunch of yummy smelling sugar scrub.



I did keep a couple jars for myself and I loved it! It makes your skin super soft and it last forever. It keeps well too. I have a jar that I just recently opened and it's still fresh and smells great.



Molly

Library Totes

I made these totes for my little sister and niece for Christmas and I just love how they turned out. Siera is a little bookworm, so this bag was made just for her many trips to the library. I used this tutorial and it was easier than I anticipated. Great way to use up some scraps!

Louisa's was a little simpler. I just used scraps of fabric in bright colors, hand embroidered the words and attached them to the front of the bag with some fusible webbing and then permanently attached them with a decorative stitch in contrasting thread.

I also hand embroidered each girls' name on the shoulder strap. I love the little things like that that make a big impact.

The girls both totally loved their new bags (which each had a new book inside, of course) and I'm already mulling different themed bags I can create. The bag itself was just a basic tote, tutorials are a dime a dozen all over the web. I used canvas straps that can be purchased by the yard from your craft store.

I was seriously off pace from last year's homemade Christmas, but I did squeeze in a few other homemade gifts. You can check them out over on my flickr stream.

I'm in the midst of some health issues that should hopefully be resolved quickly so I can get back to crafting! The next thing on my list is homemade goodies for the kids joint birthday parties next month. I'm certain I'm more excited about it than them. :)

Molly

Our Advent Calendar...and some ideas

I thought I had published this post a few days ago, but for some reason it didn't post. Whoops.

I *finally* finished up our advent calendar on December 2nd. A day late. But it was totally worth all that hard work to see it hanging up in the (otherwise undecorated) living room.

I used this tutorial, with just a few size modifications.



As promised, here is the list I've come up with to fill our calendar with lots of good cheer this Christmas season:

Every day: I bought a 100 piece Christmas Ravensburger puzzle and assembled it and then disassemble it in sets and put several pieces in each stocking. Each day she can add to her puzzle - and it will be complete on Christmas Eve. It's a good visual for her since she still doesn't totally understand the concept of time.

Activities: I'm not assigning days to these until I'm sure what's going on that day. Most of them are things that we would have done anyway, but it's fun for her to look forward to something.

Sleepover at Nana's
Sleepover at Nona's. (yes, she has a Nana and a Nona)
Go see the Christmas lights on the boardwalk
Christmas shopping at the dollar store (I plan to give her 10 $1 bills to buy gifts for her cousins and her brother)
Shopping for toys for tots or Angel tree
Decorate the house for Christmas
Put up the tree
Bake Christmas cookies with Gramma
Make special Christmas cards for grandparents
Paper cone Christmas tree craft
Watch TV Christmas specials (love DVR for this!)
Cousins Christmas party
Visit "Walk through Bethlehem" (live nativity)
Aunt Hannah sleepover
Christmas cookies for Sunday School teachers
Wrap Christmas gifts
Visit Santa
Christmas caroling

That's 18 activities, which should be plenty. Sunday is a pretty full day around here, so those days will just be a piece of candy and the daily puzzle pieces. Some days just won't work for any activities and those days will be a gift:

New Christmas movie
New Christmas book
Colored pencils and a Christmas coloring book

I'm hanging on to all the activities/gifts to decide on until the night before. I planned on decorating the house as one of our first activities, but Maddie was sick this week, so I used the new Christmas movie (Elf!) and the TV Christmas specials since she wasn't up for anything else.

That's it! One thing that this calendar has really made me do is get organized for this month! When you sit down and realize how much you actually want to accomplish in one month, it becomes apparent that you must plan ahead to fit it all in! This is the first year since we've been married that I'm not working at all - (if you don't count sewing and crocheting into the wee hours), and I'm SO excited about the prospect of a whole month of uninterrupted Christmas merriment!



Molly

All about Advent... and a calendar round-up

Last year, one of my facebook friends made an incredibly awesome Advent Calendar and I was totally inspired. Honestly, I really wasn't even sure what Advent was, we never celebrated it when I was a child, but all I knew was that she made a really cool looking calendar with pockets and I wanted in on the fun! Of course, it was too late in the season to make one last year, but I've been eagerly anticipating the start of this Christmas season so that our little family could participate.

But, first things first. What is Advent?

Quite simply, Advent is a countdown to Christmas. It's traditionally a time for Christians to reflect on the birth of Christ and to prepare for his coming. Advent is taken from the latin word "adventus" which literally means "coming". Advent actually begins the 4th Sunday before Christmas, but Advent calendars begin on December 1st.

The Advent Calendar is simply a physical way to countdown the 24 days of December leading up to Christmas and there are literally a hundred different ways you can do it. There is no right or wrong way and it can be a simple or elaborate as you want it to be. In most cases, the calendar contains 24 vessels of some sort - one for each day of December. Pockets, drawers, cones, stockings, envelopes, tins...you get the idea. Alternatively, the advent calendar could be something that is added too every day until it is finally completed on the 24th. An example of that kind of calendar would be a mini tree that gets an ornament each day.

The web is chock full of amazing homemade calendars and fabulous ideas for celebrating advent and there are plenty of other calendar round-ups, but here are some interesting ones that I thought were worth sharing.

Make an Advent Calendar:

This is about the cutest thing I've ever seen - A felt garland of bulb lights. You've got to click over and check it out. If we had a mantel, I'd totally go that route.



I'm really leaning toward making something similar to this for our calendar this year. Love, love it.





This activity advent calendar requires a minimal amount of sewing and is totally functional AND adorable.




Here is a basic quilted calendar with pockets - there are so many variations to this calendar!



Another cute non-quilted hanging calendar with pockets. Love the linen look!



No sew, easy advent calendar ideas:No sew, easy advent calendar ideas:

Paper Chain - It doesn't get much simpler than that! We used to make a paper chain to countdown to birthdays and other exciting events when I was little. This would be a great way to get the kids involved in making the calendar - have them decorate paper to be cut into strips and linked together. As a twist, write an activity (or the first clue for a scavenger hunt!) on the inside of each chain. Each day as the links are removed, the child can find out what fun activity is planned for the day.



Paper Origami Boxes - This is a particularly cute little paper calendar.



Paper Cones - Okay, this is adorable. You could just as easily make this into a garland for the mantel or staircase.



Buy a Calendar or Kit*:

These are all from Etsy, because 1) Etsy is awesome and 2) supporting local, home-based businesses is so vital at Christmas time!

This one is PDF file that walks you through printing little paper boxes that can be arranged anyway you want:

Here's another DIY kit that is SUPER cute. This one has a pocket with a ornament that signifies a different part of the Christmas story that can be hung on the tree each day.

This one is another garland version with little distressed tags for each day of Advent.

Another garland with a pennant look. This DIY kit includes Bible verses paraphrasing the Christmas story for each day.

*Note: I found all these calendars just by browsing on Etsy, I've never ordered from these sellers and thus can't personally recommend them - I just think their stuff is super cute. ;)

I think I've finally decided on plan for our advent calendar this year - I have fabric ordered and list started for activities and gifts for Madeline. But I think I'll save all that for another post - this is getting lengthy! Look for that post next week.