Our House in August

Here they are -- the kids' quotes from August -- the things that made me scratch my head, laugh out loud (and occasionally into my hand), and wonder where do they come up with this stuff, anyway?

8/2/14
L {while riding in the van}: "Someone honk-ded their tooty horn."
Keep reading for more education on the dual definition of the word "toot."

8/4/14
M: "Are there cookies that haven't been invented yet?"
Yup.

8/5/14
M {explaining to her brother why they should pick up toys}: "Mama likes it when we do this, so let's keep doing it!"
Why can't this type of conversation (and subsequent cleaning frenzy) take place more often around here?

8/6/12
L: "Hey!" {after she had pulled his ball cap off his head}
M {putting it back on his head}: "If you wear it backwards, you look cool."
I wonder where she heard that?

8/8/14
M: "If you see me stare, I'm looking at air. Got it?"
Um, okay. If you say so.

8/8/14
M: "I don't like it when people ask me questions out loud."
I can't say for sure but maybe I questioned why she was staring into space -- or air. Duly noted. Next time, I shall use my powers of telepathy.

8/10/14
L: "Look at those flat trees!"
He noticed the vines growing up the sides of a brick building at MSU, which did, in fact, look exactly like a flat tree. And I never would have noticed.

8/14/14
M: "Mom, the dog smells like graham crackers."
Is it bad that I looked around for evidence that a certain little girl had been feeding her graham crackers?

8/17/14
M {while eating mixed nuts}: "Where do almonds come from?"
L: "Cactuses!"
Honestly, this is one of those times when it's just simpler -- and funnier -- to keep my mouth shut.

8/17/14
M {crying}: "I want to stay little forever!"
Me: "What do you mean?"
M: "I want to stay a kid forever, but I can't!"
I so LOVE that she feels this way. Gonna have to remember it when she's about fourteen.

8/17/14
L: "The tub is still drooling." 
On closer inspection, he is correct. The faucet is still running.

8/20/14
M: "This is how you speak lion, 'ROAR, ROAR!'"
L: "Well, how do you speak jaguar?"
M {quieter}: "'Rawr, rawr.'"
Couldn't have explained it better myself.

8/25/14
L: "There's two kinds of toot. Toot is from a whistle and toot is from a bottom."
Oh, yes, he is such a BOY.

8/27/14
M: "When I'm bored, you can just tell me to do my homework."
If you say so...

8/28/14
L {popping into our bedroom before 7:00 AM, fully dressed -- in an interesting plaid combination}: "Hey, guys, did you know today is my birthday?!"
You don't say? I guess he figured out that we already knew that when the coveted two-wheel "big kid" scooter was waiting for him downstairs.

{Mad for Plaid and No Stopping Me Now!}

Insight

If you ever want to know what goes on inside the mind of a child, just check out her artwork. This is the latest installation in an ongoing series of sidewalk chalk drawings by my seven-year-old daughter (who seems to think that she is the only one who has ever been cursed with an "annoying little brother.") I have entitled it, "Lions, and Tigers, and NO Screaming Boys, Oh My!" 

DIY Paper Chains Photo Backdrop

After a month, I am getting around to sharing some of Mia's birthday photos! These were taken by Erin of E.K. Photography, so be sure to check her out and give her some love. In my opinion, some of the cutest pics of Mia were the ones that Erin took using the paper chains that I made for a backdrop.

I saw a photo on Pinterest, which of course, always makes things look easy. This is easy, but there were no directions on how long to make the chains, how many chains to make, or how wide to make the strips, all of which I feel are kind of important to the success of a project! Here are the steps I used to create this paper chain photo backdrop.

1. Each chain was made using 4 pieces of 12" x 12" card stock, cut into 2 inch wide strips with a paper trimmer. (I had previously tried 1" and 3" strips and found them to be too skinny and too fat, respectively. The perfect width, after trial and error, was 2" strips.) 
2. I stapled each strip into a ring, linking them as I went along. This wasn't hard, but it did take some time. In total, there were 14 paper chains for the backdrop. Ideally, I would have made more chains for a wider backdrop, but I ran out of card stock -- or at least enough of the same color so that I could make chains that were long enough. (They had to be taller than Mia, of course.)
3. To display the chains, Erin and I slipped them onto her backdrop holder, arranging them in a sort of rainbow.

All photos used with permission of E.K. Photography.

A 7th Birthday Puppy Paw-ty

For Mia's 7th birthday party, she requested a puppy theme. This sweet and simple party was one of my favorites to plan, and it was a big hit with the guests and the birthday girl alike. The colors were primarily brown and white with touches of red and black. I made everything myself, and it was very inexpensive to pull together. Outside of food, I don't think I spent more than $10!

My favorite part was that in lieu of gifts, we asked for donations to the local Human Society.  Despite it being quite snowy on that particular Saturday, several friends turned out with doggie-friendly donations. This seemed to go over well, and now we have a large stash of items to deliver when the weather gets better.

{Friends brought donations for the Humane Society.}

The Invitations:
Being a planner, I made these invitations and sent them out about 3 weeks prior to the party.

{Puppy Paw-ty Invitations}

The Food:
I did not serve a full meal. (Go, me! Way to keep it "simple" -- at least for me!) For snacks, we had a bowl of "pupcorn," which was just air-popped popcorn. I did add some melted butter and salt, but that was not enough to tempt people when "puppy chow" was an alternative snack. (Note: I was running low on powdered sugar after making the cake, so I just made a half batch, and that was the perfect amount.) To round it out with some slightly healthier choices, I made up a tray with crackers, cheese, carrots, and cucumbers. At about 5 minutes to party time, I decided these looked bare and needed to be dressed up, so I grabbed some left over kraft paper and rubber stamps and made little placards that read "pupcorn," "puppy chow," and "bone appetit." (Yes, I know that "bone" is spelled incorrectly, but you know what I'm going for, right?). We also had the stamped napkins, good ole IKEA plates and bowls, and Capri Sun juice pouches. (I typically come up with a themed drink with an appropriately themed name, but I just didn't have anything for this one, so I made it easy on myself.)

{Simple Puppy Paw-ty Food}

The Decorations:

{Easy Centerpiece}

I made a table runner out of kraft paper and hand-stamped it with a homemade paw print stamp. (Directions can be found here, but I later discovered that Dollar Tree carries a roll of wrapping paper that is pretty doggone similar, if you're not into DIY projects!) Also for the dining room, I made these adorable puppy balloons, which I taped to the chandelier. For a quick and simple centerpiece, I just filled a canning jar with dog biscuits -- two items I already had on hand for everyday life.

{Paw-ty Decor}

To welcome guests, I made this front door decoration, again using the homemade paw print stamp on kraft paper. After cutting out each paw print, I "laminated" them all between two pieces of clear contact paper. For the wording, I typed "The Paw-ty is Here!" in Microsoft Word using the free Puppy Bellies font. Then, I cut out each word, affixed it to kraft paper, and "laminated" them all with contact paper. I taped all the pieces to the outside of the front door with clear tape.

{Front Door Decor for a Puppy Paw-ty}

The Cake:
The cake that was served for this party with friends was actually the third batch of puppy-themed baked goods that I made. Mia requested a white dog, to look somewhat like our dog, Ritzy. (My first attempts were these kind of complicated chocolate "pupcakes" that I served at the family shindig. After that, I simplified and went with these paw print cupcakes for school.) This puppy cake was not actually the way I had envisioned it due to what could have been a cake catastrophe when one of my rounds broke apart as I tried to get it out of the pan. I was planning on making a cake similar to the Care Bear cake from last year, but I think this turned out even better than I previously imagined! My brilliant husband suggested that the broken round pieces could still be used for something so they turned into floppy ears.

{The cake turned out cute!}

To make this cake, I did a double batch of my favorite white cake and a batch of my favorite buttercream frosting. I made two round, one that was 7" and one that was 8" (the one that broke apart), plus a half dozen cupcakes. The small round became the face and the broken round was trimmed to make the ears, which were attached with frosting. Then, I frosted it all with my angled spatula. For one cupcake, I removed the wrapper, frosted it all, and stuck it to the face. The nose is a mini peanut butter cup and the "freckles" are brown mini M&Ms. The eyes are brown Reeses Pieces and the eyebrows and mouth are piped with black decorating gel.

At this point, it was looking somewhat like a deranged Easter bunny and very little like a dog. Then, two cupcakes were frosted and bumped up against the bottom of the face to make paws. To show definition of toes, I just piped some lined with black decorating gel. The remaining cupcakes were decorated with paw prints made from mini peanut butters cups and brown mini M&Ms. This started to help make it look like a puppy. Then, I realized that I had a red bow left over from Christmas that might look right, and fortunately, it really helped. The addition of the bow made it look more and more like a dog, or at least not like a weird looking lop-eared rabbit.

One final addition did the trick. The tongue is cut from a strawberry Fruit Roll-Up. This last touch was what truly made it look like a puppy. I am thankful to my little man for asking, "Where's the tongue?" on the morning of the party!

{The bow hides the indentation -- bye-bye rabbit ears!}

In case you're wondering, my cake board is just a scrap of cardboard. I covered it with my roll of kraft paper and taped it to the back. In the past I've used aluminum foil for this, which doesn't show grease as much, but the brown went with the party colors better. Plus, it covered easily without having to use multiple pieces.

The Games and Activities:
I had other ideas, but decided to keep it fairly low-key this go-round. We had the dog house photo prop which worked overtime as decor, party activity, and souvenir photo included in the thank you cards.

{Inside of the Thank You Card}

The only game I did was Puppy Bingo. (The rest of the time, they played, so this was just fine.) I created 6 Bingo cards on white card stock. I made the blank template myself in Microsoft Word, but in retrospect I probably could have found one online and saved myself some time! For the pictures, I found various clipart on the Internet, pasted it into Word, printed 7 copies, and cut them all out. (Tip: A paper trimmer saves you time.) One set I kept in a baggie to the the calling cards. The rest, I glued onto the cards, making each one different. There were a few extra images, so I just omitted different puppies from each card. I "laminated" all of the Bingo cards between two pieces of clear contact paper. The Bingo markers were just squares of kraft paper that I made with a 1" square craft punch. We played for fun, so there were no prizes awarded. (I figured they already got enough sweets and they were getting these homemade puppy ears as a take-home gift -- simple!)

{Homemade Puppy Bingo Game}

Extra Credit Points:
Oh, and just for fun, Brett wore his Snoopy costume (without my even asking him to). This was, of course, cute and sweet. What a good daddy!

Photo Thank You Cards for a Puppy Paw-ty

I once read that thank you notes should be sent within three months of the event. I think for busy folks, the sooner the better, so my goal was to get them done within three weeks. We just celebrated Mia's 7th birthday with a puppy paw-ty on the first, so I am going to meet that goal with these photo thank you cards. As a bonus, they serve as a fun and inexpensive souvenir from the party.

{Front of Card}

Materials:

• card stock weight kraft paper (mine was 8 1/2" x 11")
• paper trimmer
• photos from dog house photo prop
• scrapbooking adhesive
• scalloped scissors
• black ink pad
• date stamp
• "Wonderful Times" stamp
• computer and printer

Directions:
1.  During the party, I took pictures of the guests wearing puppy ears and posing in the dog house photo prop. Then, I had them printed at Meijer. For family members who sent gifts, or for kids who didn't want to pose, I used pictures of Mia, so I had extras printed for this reason.

2.  Next, I folded a piece of kraft paper in half, width wise, and cut along the fold. Then I folded each piece in half again, width wise, to create two cards.

3.  In Microsoft Word, I created a fill-in-the-blank template for the inside of the cards. This fit four to a page in landscape setting and I used this free font. It read:

Dear ___________________________,                     

Thanks for helping make my 7^th birthday                           

a doggone good time! Thanks also for the                     

______________________________­_    

______________________________­

______________________. It’s paw-fect!

Your friend,                                                                

At the bottom right corner of each, I included a red paw print clip art. I used scalloped scissors to trim these to size and then adhered them on the inside of the cards, on the right.

4.  I trimmed the photos to fit inside the cards and then adhered them to the inside, left of the fill-in-the-blank template.

{Inside of Card}

5.  For the front of the cards, I printed off several of this cute puppy holding a cupcake clip art. Again, I cut these out with my scalloped scissors and adhered them to the center of the cards. Then, I added the date of the party and the phrase "Wonderful Times" with stamps and a black ink pad. Tip: If you don't have this sort of thing (both are the dial type of stamp that you see at libraries), you can type anything into your computer and print it out. This would give you more choices of font style, size, and color.

6.  Last but not least, I had Mia fill in the cards with the recipient's name, description of the gift (mostly donations for the local Humane Society!), and, of course, her signature.

DIY Doghouse Photo Prop

This is the type of project that I debate whether or not to share. Not because I don't want to share. I do! I just don't want people to feel like they should be able to make this themselves. (Not that you can't. I'm sure you're very crafty!) You know what I mean, right? This is not the type of easy-peasy kids' craft that I often post here. That said, it really wasn't that hard to make, so it's totally do-able if you are planning a puppy paw-ty of your own.

{Ritzy and I get a turn in the doghouse.}

This photo prop turned out nicely and helped set the theme for Mia's 7th birthday paw-ty. Besides being fairly simple to make, it was virtually free! (My favorite kind of project, in case you didn't know.) All I had to buy was a 59 cent bottle of paint since I ran out after the first coat.

As soon as guests arrived, they received a pair of puppy ears. Once they were ready, I had them pose in the doghouse. The photos will be used in the thank-you cards (more on those later!).


Materials for Making Doghouse:

• large cardboard box
• scissors
• pencil
• ruler
• hot glue gun
• black Sharpie marker
• red acrylic paint
• white acrylic paint
• black acrylic paint

Directions for Making Doghouse:

1. Deconstruct the box and lay it flat. Using a pair of sharp scissors (or a box cutter, if you are more intrepid -- and less accident-prone than myself), cut along a seam so that you now have 2 pieces of cardboard. Each one is two sides of the box. Trim away the smaller flaps from one piece. (In case you are wondering, my cardboard measured 35 1/2" wide by 43" tall at that point.)
2. Using a ruler, find the center point of the piece of cardboard. Mark it with a pencil. Next, use the ruler and pencil to make vertical and horizontal lines, dividing the cardboard into quadrants. (This is not necessary, but I found it helpful). Tip: Make all marks on the "outside" of the cardboard: the part that has printing on it. Then, when you flip it over, you will have a perfectly clean piece of cardboard to work with.
3. This was the point when I decided how the roof line should look. I decided to make a horizontal line about 1/3 from the top, all the way across, because that looked right visually. Then I used my ruler to draw angles from the outside edges of that line, meeting at the top. (Remember, I already had a center line, so this is why it was handy.) I used scissors to cut along the lines and ended up with a triangular point on top of the house.

   

   {The basic shape}

4. Next up, I made the doggie door. I decided the top of the door would be my center point. I didn't want it to be very wide, just enough for kids to pop their heads through, otherwise there might be clutter in the background of the photos. I measured 10" for width, 5" on either side of the vertical center line, and then drew lines. To get the curve at the top, I traced around the rim of a large plastic bowl. Then, I cut it all out with my scissors. Tip: Since I wasn't worried about how the part I was cutting away looked, I was free to cut it into smaller chunks. For some reason, I have found small triangles to be easier to work with rather than one large semi-circle.
5. After getting the basic doghouse shape, I flipped my cardboard over to the "clean" side and laid in on a layer of newspaper. I used a foam paintbrush to apply a coat of red acrylic paint, let it dry, and then added a second coat of paint. 
6. Once the second coat dried, I took a strip of cardboard (one of my discarded pieces), which was the same width as my doghouse and about 2 inches tall and used this as a straight edge to make lines across the entire house with a black Sharpie. This made it look like wooden boards. I added two "nails" per board along the outside edges. These were just small black hand-drawn circles. I also outlined the rest of the doghouse with black Sharpie for a more finished look.

   

   {Adding the "boards"}

7. It didn't look finished, so I took two more strips of cardboard (again about 2 inches wide) and cut each one at a 45 degree angle so that they would meet up to make the roof. These, I painted with black acrylic paint and once they were dry, I adhered them with my hot glue gun. 
8. To personalize the doghouse, I cut an oval out of some scrap cardboard and painted it with white acrylic paint (two coats). After the paint had dried, I outlined it with black Sharpie and then added another oval set about 1/4" in from the outline. Then I typed "Mia" using this free font and printed it out, trimmed it to size, and glued it the the placard. Lastly, I hot glued the oval to the front of the doghouse.

   

   {Finished!}

9. Before displaying the photo prop, I took two extra scraps of rectangular cardboard and hot glued them to the back of the doghouse on either side of the door. I had noticed it was a bit flimsy (likely because I used more then one side of a box to create it), and this served as a necessary reinforcement. To hang it, I used twine which was not elegant, but it fit with the theme just fine. I cut two lengths and used plenty of masking tape to adhere them "stitches" fashion. Then, I taped both lengths of twine to the mantel with clear packaging tape. It had just enough distance between the prop and the fireplace for the kids to kneel behind it for photos. (Note: I had taped a small section of white plastic table cover behind the opening to the doghouse, and I later wished I had covered the whole area the way I did for the Care Bear photo prop from last year. Despite not thinking of that sooner, it looked pretty good.)

DIY Puppy Ears

These fun puppy ears doubled as photo props (for the upcoming thank-you cards) and as party favors. What can I say? I like when stuff serves double-duty -- it's just plain smart. Plus, I saved money by making them myself instead of purchasing them from this site! Here's how I made these cute puppy dog ears (I made 11 pairs total) for about $6.

{Some of the finished puppy ears}

Materials:

• tan felt (I bought 6 sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" size at Wal-Mart, 23 cents each)
• brown marker
• scissors
• brown/black plastic headbands (These came in 3-packs from Dollar Tree. I bought 4 sets.)
• hot glue gun
• cream felt (This came in a neutral colors multi-pack at Wal-Mart, but I only used cream for this project.)

Directions:

1. Fold a piece of felt in half, width-wise. Cut along the fold. 
2. Now, take one half piece and fold it in half, lengthwise this time. Cut along the fold. 
3. Draw a floppy ear on one side and cut it out. Mine had a triangular notch at the top end.

   

   {This is how I folded and cut my felt to get started.}

4. Use this as a template for all the other ears. Trace around it onto the felt. A brown marker works nicely, and even if it shows on the felt later, it doesn't really clash. (Note: You can either cut the felt smaller first, or just trace an ear, flip it over, fit the template ear against the tracing, and trace again. Then, cut all traced ears out. I did it both ways, and didn't really have a preference.)

   

   {How I laid the ears for tracing with as little waste as possible.}

5. Lay out ears in sets of two, facing them the desired direction. (I made each one curve toward the center.) Then, using a hot glue gun, adhere each ear to a plastic headband. Lay them flat while the glue cools.

   

   {Here is my triangle tip + hot glue, before folding.}

6. Cut spots from cream felt. Mine were all shapes and sizes, but you can make basic circles if you prefer. Apply the the ears using the hot glue gun. I took my triangle tip, turned it over, applied the glue to that area, and then folded it over on itself around the plastic headband. Again, lay flat while glue cools. Tip: If glue strings bug you, use your fingers to remove any glue strings.
7. Your puppy ears are now ready to wear!

Paw Print Cupcakes for a Puppy Paw-ty

The first batch of "pupcakes" that I made were tricky, and they didn't hold up as well as I had hoped. So I decided to make a simpler design for the cupcakes that Mia took to school for her birthday. To start, I made this chocolate cake recipe for the second time. This time I was careful to not fill the cups more than 2/3 of the way, and I let them bake a bit longer, 20 minutes instead of 18. This seemed to help. Also, our baking took place on a snow day, so I had two eager little helpers in the kitchen.

For the frosting, I used this recipe, from my friend Jenifer:
Butter Frosting (Chocolate)

• 1/3 cup butter
• 4 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• additional milk, as needed

1. Beat the butter until fluffy. 
2. Slowly add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well. (Admittedly, I am lazy about sifting it first. I can't tell if it makes a difference or not.)
3. Add 1/4 cup milk plus vanilla. 
4. Slowly beat in the remaining powdered sugar plus the cocoa powder, adding additional milk as needed to get a good consistency for spreading. (For me, I think it was another two or three tablespoons. Add one at a time, mix, and continue from there.)

{Finished Cupcakes}

To decorate the cupcakes, I spread the frosting on with an angled spatula. My inspiration for these cupcakes came from this picture (which appear to use Jr. Mints and chocolate chips, inserted point-side down). Using candies I had purchased for the previous "pupcakes," I added a mini Reese's peanut butter cup (the kind that comes in a stand-up bag and doesn't have a wrapper -- perfect for baking) to the center of each frosted cupcake. To finish the paw prints, I added four "toes" made out of brown mini M&M's (I had to first pour them into a bowl and then sort out the ones I wanted, but it wasn't that much work, certainly quicker than when I sorted them for the Cheer Bear cake.) That's it! They were cute and very delicious.

DIY Stamped Napkins for a Puppy Paw-ty

I have done a post about DIY themed napkins before (Shark party) but I figure it is worth mentioning again. This is a super quick, easy, and inexpensive way to coordinate with any party theme. Most everything else I use is reusable: cups, plates, bowls, but for kids' birthday parties it seems like a necessity to have napkins on hand.

To make my own, I simply bought a package of 30 white napkins from Dollar Tree. Then I used dog stamps and ink pads that I already owned (in red and brown) to personalize them for Mia's recent puppy paw-ty. Mia helped choose which stamps to use, although I narrowed it down some based on the size of the stamp and whether or not it looked right on the napkin. In the end, we chose 5 designs, so each one was used 6 times.

{Easy DIY Napkins for a Puppy Paw-ty!}

Chocolate "Pupcakes" for a Puppy Paw-ty

Once again, I saw a picture of something and thought, I can do that. Too bad mine didn't turn out as nicely as hers but at least I got to try this out for a fairly small family gathering before I attempted to make them for the entire first grade class! (Note: I will not be doing that. I have a simpler game plan in mind for the actual birthday-at-school cupcakes.)

The main problem I faced was that the cake was so wonderfully moist and the frosting was a bit dry, so those two didn't pair as well as I had hoped. While they didn't look as lovely as I had hoped, they were quite delicious! Here's how I made my chocolate "pupcakes."

Dark Chocolate Cake (makes 28 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used extra virgin olive instead.)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup boiling water (recipe calls for 2/3 - 1 cup)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare pans. (Recipe says two 9 inch rounds or one 9"x13". I was planning cupcakes, so I lined two muffin tins with brown paper liners that I had found on clearance at Walmart for $1.50.)
3. In a mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients.
4. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.
5. Stir in boiling water by hand. Batter will be thin.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes for cupcakes. (Mine were done after 18 minutes, and they were filled about 2/3 full.) For 9 inch rounds, the recipe says to bake for 30-35 minutes, and about 5 minutes longer for a rectangular pan.

No-Cook Fudge Frosting (recipe from my friend Jenifer)

Ingredients:

• 4 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Add butter, water, and vanilla. 
3. Beat at low speed until combined and then for an additional minute at medium speed.
4. Allow to cool for 20-30 minutes. (Huh? Okay, I skipped this, so maybe that was why it came out dry? Also, she told me I probably shouldn't have skimped on the sifting. I started this, but gave up part way through... And now I know that if nothing else works, add more liquid.)

Decorating Pupcakes:

For the eyes: I used either brown mini M&M's or brown Reese's Pieces.

For the noses: For the faces with mini M&M eyes, I used a brown Reese's Pieces. For the others, I used a mini Reese's peanut butter cup.

For the ears and mouths: I used large pretzel twists and broke them (easier said than done) to make pointy ears. With the remaining pieces, I did my best to shape them into cute mouths (again, easier said than done. And just now, I notice that the original picture shows different types of puppy faces...)

For the tongues: I used my kitchen scissors to trim strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups into the proper shape.

All around, I had a problem with having decorated these pupcakes the day before they were to be eaten. The Fruit Roll-ups turned kind of melty. The pretzels became stale, oddly enough. And since that frosting was a tad bit dry, the eyes and noses really didn't want to stay in place whatsoever. Not my best cake ever, but probably not my worst either. Oh well, like I said, I have another idea in mind for the next round.

Puppy Paw-ty Balloons

I saw the idea for puppy balloons here and decided it shouldn't be too difficult to make them myself. There were a couple challenges, but I think my version turned out pretty well. The first issue I had is that brown balloons are difficult to find. Granted, I only checked Dollar Tree and two different Walmart stores, but I decided that was enough running around looking for brown balloons. At the second Walmart I found a single package of gold balloons, and I decided that they were good enough! The next issue was that I didn't have a way to inflate the balloons to look like the photo. I solved that problem, however, by just blowing them up with my own steam and making the faces "upside down" -- as opposed to the way they would look if the balloons were filled with helium. Then, I taped them to the dining room chandelier.

The grand total spent on this decoration = 97 cents for a package of 10 balloons. So far, I only have used three of the balloons for the family party. I am secretly (or I guess not so secretly since I am announcing it here) hoping that they will last through this weekend's party with friends, but if not, I know it will be easy to make some more puppy balloons (especially if I just re-use the ears and muzzles).

Materials:

• gold balloons (or brown if you can find them)
• pencil or pen
• black Sharpie marker
• kraft paper cardstock (I used 8 1/2" x 11" size.)
• scissors
• double-sided adhesive
• clear tape (for hanging)

Directions:

1. Inflate your balloons. I used three for this puppy paw-ty decor.
2. Fold a piece of kraft paper cardstock in half, lengthwise. Draw a floppy ear, which is sort of a long skinny bean shape, and cut it out. Use this as a template to trace as many ears as you will need. Cut out all ears. Save the scraps for the next step. (Note: If you don't have kraft paper, you can use brown cardstock or brown construction paper.)
3. On a scrap of the kraft paper, draw a dog's muzzle. This looks a bit like an upside down heart. After the first one, I added a sort of notch at the top for the nose, but you can skip that if you prefer. Cut out your muzzle, and again use it as a template, tracing as many as needed on the other scraps of kraft paper. On each muzzle, use a black Sharpie to fill in the nose, draw a mouth, and make "freckles" on either side (or whatever the correct term is for those spots where the whiskers originate from).
4. Using double-sided adhesive, attach ears and muzzles to each balloon. I used approximately one inch squares, one per ear and two per muzzle.
5. Draw two ovals for eyes with a black Sharpie.
6. Use tape to display the puppy face balloons.

DIY Table Cover for a Puppy Paw-ty

Oooooh! I love it when things come together and actually turn out the way that I picture them in my head. This is the first decoration that I have tackled for the upcoming puppy paw-ty: a hand-stamped table cover. I made the stamp out of a piece of Styrofoam tray and stamped the paw print all over some brown kraft roll paper that I picked up at a garage sale. (Note: You can also find this at Dollar Tree.) I am pleased with the results and with the fact that I made this for absolutely no cost!

{Close-Up of Table Cover}

Materials:

• Styrofoam (left over meat packaging, run through dishwasher)
• pencil
• carving tools (I used a small screwdriver and my fingernails. A screw, nail, butter knife, or similar item would likely work as well. I don't suggest anything that you could easily injure yourself with, though!)
• scissors
• roll of brown kraft paper
• brown ink pad (or black)
• rocks to weight paper down (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut away the sides from a Styrofoam tray to make a flat surface.
2. Using a pencil, draw a paw print. Mine was a kidney bean shape (or an upside down heart) with four circles on top. Tip: After my first trial did not turn out as I had hoped, I learned to make the circles for the toes larger than I expected to need them to be, and placed everything fairly close together.
3. Use your tool (I liked using a small screwdriver for this.), repeatedly go over the outline of the paw print design to make it deeper. Then, using your tools, start carving out the extra white space around the parts that you want to be raised up for the stamp. (I resorted to using fingernails, but I don't necessarily recommend doing this. I bent one nail back slightly and eventually tore it a bit from this.) Tip: Don't worry about making it perfect because a) This is impossible! and b) The imperfections look nice on the final product, more realistic, in my opinion.
4. Press your Styrofoam stamp onto an ink pad and test it on some scrap paper. If it doesn't look as clear as you would like, go back to step 3 and carve away more. Test and repeat carving as desired.
5. Once the stamp creates a print you like, you're ready to make a table cover. Measure out the kraft paper to more than cover your table and cut it to size. Lay it out on a flat surface (I used my kitchen floor because a) the table was covered with... stuff and b) this was easier on my back since I could just keep scooting along as I went rather than bending and stretching over my table). Tip: Weight it down if it is trying to curl back up. (I used some painted rocks that were handy.) Stamp paw prints however you would like. I chose to make it look like a dog had walked up one side of the table cover and back down the other. You could do random paw prints if you like. This didn't take too much time, even with re-inking between impressions, which I felt would ensure the crispest prints. Again, I didn't worry if some of the prints didn't turn out "perfect" because this adds to the charm. 
6. When I was done stamping, I made sure the ink was dry before rolling it up to store until party time. I anticipate that I will need to tape it to the table. It should be a cute and low-key table runner, perfect for a puppy-themed paw-ty.

Puppy Paw-ty Invites

{Front of Invitations}

Mia decided that her upcoming birthday party will have a puppy theme, which is fun. One nice thing about this theme is that it's not a specific character so that gives me plenty of flexibility for creating the menu, decorations, and party activities. First, I made the invitations using kraft paper card stock and my computer.

Materials:

• 8 1/2" x 11" kraft paper card stock (1 piece makes 2 cards)
• paper trimmer/scissors
• circle punch
• adhesive
• red and yellow card stock scraps
• scalloped scissors
• scrapbooking marker (with calligraphy tip)
• gold eyelets
• eyelet setting tool

Directions:

1.  I folded a piece of card stock in half (width-wise) and cut along the fold. Then I folded each piece in half again to make two cards. I did this a total of four times.

2.  For the wording, I used a free font called Puppy Bellies. It includes the bone and paw print icons that I used. The front of the card reads, "Come. Sit. Stay. Mia is turning 7 and you're invited to a puppy paw-ty!" (Yes, I used a punny spelling. Couldn't resist. Also, the i's are dotted with paw prints which is an adorable feature of this font.) This was done in Microsoft Word so that I got 4 per page in landscape format.

{Inside of Invitation}

The inside of the invitation features the party details on the right side. The row of doggie silhouettes was created using another free font called Can Dog TFB. I did this in Microsoft Word in portrait format, yielding 4 per page. On the left, we are asking for donations to the local humane society in place of presents. (I'll let you know whether or not that works out. Last year, I wrote "your presence is your present" but we still wound up with way more Barbie dolls than one little girl possibly needs. I am hoping that this new idea leads to useful stuff for charity. When I presented the idea to Mia, she was enthusiastic.) Again, I formatted this in Microsoft Word. Using the landscape setting, I was able to fit 2 per page.

3.  After printing off all the necessary pages, I trimmed them down with my paper trimmer and then gave all the pieces a decorative edge with scalloped scissors. Then, I adhered everything with scrapbooking adhesive squares.

4.  The cards looked a bit plain with just brown, white, and black, so I decided to dress them up a bit by adding paper collars using some red card stock scraps. I cut them to fit the paper but waited to adhere them until after the next step.

5.  The last step was personalization. I continued the collar idea by making dog tags out of yellow card stock scraps. I used a circle punch to make them round. Then, I used gold eyelets and my eyelet setting tool to attach the tags to the paper collars. Next, I adhered the collars and tags with my adhesive squares. For a final touch, I took my calligraphy-tipped scrapbooking pen and wrote the name of each invitee on a tag. I made 8 invitations using materials I already had which meant that I didn't have to spend any money!

The Three "Crazies" of Christmas

Fact: The holidays make people crazy. Some of it is "good crazy" and some of it is "bad crazy" and the rest of it is just regular ol' "crazy crazy."

This morning, for example, I was leaving the post office, feeling pretty proud of myself. By 9:15, I had started a load of laundry, dropped Mia off at school, started my bread dough to rising, and shipped my two packages and picked up stamps. I was about to joke to Logan that we could now rest on our laurels (which wouldn't have made sense to him, anyway), when it hit me: I had messed up!

I've been making photo calendars for my side of the family for the past three years or so. I operate under the idea that these make nice gifts, so I hope the recipients are in agreement. I thought I was so smart including reminders of all the important stuff like birthdays, anniversaries, special holidays... and then I realized I forgot one very important event for one very important little person. I left off my nephew's birthday, and I am totally feeling like C-R-A-P at the moment.

While he is too young to realize the oversight, I am sure everyone else will notice, especially his parents, my brother and his wife. All I can really say is that I am so, so, so sorry! But that doesn't seem good enough. I know if it was one of my children who was forgotten, I would feel kind of let down. The funny thing is that I remember looking at the month of April while making the calendar, too, and wondering what was tickling the back of my brain that I was forgetting to add. If I had realized this before mailing them I could have at least penned it in and added a sticker or something. It wouldn't have been quite the same, but at least I wouldn't feel like the crummiest aunt on the planet right now. Someday, we will all laugh about this, right?

So now I have mommy guilt, and it's not even for one of my own children! This is a new development, indeed. I think it will be filed under "bad crazy."

Now let's talk about "good crazy." I know the Elf on the Shelf gets a lot of flack, so I don't bring him up unless someone specifically asks me if we have this tradition. The answer is yes, this is our third year, and I love our elf! I think it's a lot of fun, and trust me, I would not continue this tradition if I did NOT like doing it. (You know what they say, if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy? Well, since our little friend Coconut E. Butterfly -- or Coco for short -- makes this mama happy, he gets to keep on keepin' on.)

I am laughing at myself, though, because three times recently I have wanted to do something that required fishing line, and for some reason, I have no clue where it is. (Okay, the reason is most likely that my craft stash is totally a disaster!) Anyway, you may be interested to know that is is possible to substitute dental floss for fishing line. Resourceful, right? I used the one that Logan had unspooled in the car after our latest trip to the dentist, which I had collected in a bag and saved for "whatever." So, last night I learned that it is pretty quick and simple to make a Superman cape for an elf. The tricky part is getting him to "fly." Now, using dental floss may be what I consider "good crazy," but let me tell you that it worked great! (I plan to share everything that Coco has been up to this year, so look for that post after Christmas. In the mean time, you can also read up on where he was found in 2011 and 2012, photos included.)

Last but not least, I give you "crazy crazy." This is one for the history books and I really wish I had seen it firsthand. Last Friday the preschoolers had a Christmas party during our MOPS meeting, which included decorating sugar cookies. Obviously, there were sprinkles all over the table. Logan is resourceful and a bit nutty (just like his mama), so he stepped back about 5 feet from the table, got a running start, and then slid across the table top with his mouth open and his tongue out, collecting sprinkles all the way! Hearing this story, I was simply too stunned to even be mortified by this behavior. I decided that he was hopped up on sugar, and had spent just enough time with other boys. Luckily, they were all laughing about it. Not that I want to encourage a repeat performance, but I really do wish I could have been there.

I think I have done a good job this year of taking my time and only doing what I can handle for the moment, but sometimes we all get a bit strung up (and being extra hopped up on sugar doesn't help any.) Mia made this beautiful drawing at church yesterday morning, which gave me hope that amid all the Christmas crazy we were teaching our children what Christmas is truly about...

... and then later that morning we caught her with her hands around her brother's neck, yelling that he was an idiot! This confirms my earlier statement.

Fact: The holidays make people crazy. Some of it is "good crazy" and some of it is "bad crazy" and the rest of it is just regular ol' "crazy crazy." Personally, I am hoping for a balance of crazy, with the good outweighing the bad (and just a bit of "crazy crazy" thrown in for good measure). I'm pretty sure that's one Christmas carol that isn't being played, but maybe it should be.

DIY Poodle Skirt (No-Sew!)

Last Friday was Mia's 50th day of school, and her first grade class was celebrating with a 50's theme. She had asked me if she could have a poodle skirt, and initially I thought there was no way I could pull that off with only a couple days notice. Then, I checked my craft stash and came across plenty of pink felt and a black iron-on poodle and some white pearl trim for the leash. Yes, I had actually hoped to make myself a poodle skirt several years ago, (like, B.C. -- Before Children era -- years ago). My sewing skills are not the greatest so I never got past the point of purchasing the materials!

Deciding that I had very little to lose here, I found an online tutorial for making a NO-SEW poodle skirt. The only thing I needed to purchase was some iron-on Velcro. The directions said that I would only need 2 inches, so instead of purchasing an entire package, I got 8 inches at the cutting counter at Jo-Ann. (I figured it was best to buy a bit extra just in case!) With my coupon, this cost me a grand total of 91 cents, so again, I felt that I had little to lose if it didn't go well. Actually, I guess that's not completely true. While at Michaels (which is right next to Jo-Ann, so I couldn't very well go to one and not pop into the other), I found some cute rhinestone ribbon trim in the $1 section. I couldn't resist getting this even though I knew I would use very little for this particular project. Honestly, it was a good deal, and I know it will get used for something else, but if you really want to know what I spent on this project it would be fair to share that.

I am happy to say that this project was a huge success, which I owe to my daughter who was entirely confident that I would produce a wearable skirt despite having never made her any type of clothing in the past. Her belief in me helped me feel that I could achieve what I had set out to do. Now that I have managed to make one cute little poodle skirt, I am thinking I should be able to finally make one for myself. I even have plenty of time to get it done before Halloween!

{Happy 50th Day of School!}

Materials:

• 1 yard pink felt (or color of your choice -- this is the just color and amount I used)
• scissors (I suppose fabric scissors are optimal; I used my regular old scissors.)
• iron-on poodle applique (or use the template provided by obSEUSSed with your own felt)
• pearl trim for leash (ribbon or other trim would work, as well)
• iron-on Velcro (I used 3 inches total)
• ruler (or measuring tape, if you have one)
• iron
• hot glue gun
• black pom pom for tail (optional)
• rhinestone trim for collar (or sequined trim, optional)

Directions:
1) (Note: I appreciate that obSEUSSed came up with this easy way to figure out how much felt to use.) Measure your child from the waist to her knees. I actually have a dressmaker's measuring tape somewhere... not sure where, though, so I used a plain old ruler. (See, I swear anyone can do this, and you do NOT need sewing skills!) My girl is petite so it was only 14 inches. I double that to get 28 and then added 8 more to come up with a total of 36. I used a white pencil and my ruler to help me figure out how to get a 36 inch square from my bundle of felt and then cut it out (using regular scissors, NOT fabric scissors, and it came out just fine for this non-sewing mama). Note: The blog post I got this from said she made a 42 inch felt square for her daughter, so make sure you take measurements before buying fabric as there is quite a bit of difference among children's sizes.
2) Fold the fabric twice to make a square half the size of the original. (Mine was 18 inches. Hers was 21 inches.)
3) On the edge that is NOT folded, cut a curved line from one corner to the other. (obSEUESSed includes a photo if you want to see how this looks.)
4) This is the part that confused me at first, and I had to have Brett read the directions and explain them to me, "While folded, mark 4 inches from the folded corner on both folded sides. Cut a curved line from each mark. This creates a 16 inch waist opening. It will be adjustable." (quote from obSEUSSed)
Now that I read this again, it makes sense. Basically, you are cutting away a section that has two straight lines and one curved line that has a 4 inch radius. Once you unfold the fabric it turns out to be a full circle with a 16 diameter. (Again, check her photos if you need clarification.)

5) With the fabric unfolded, cut a line from the outside edge to the inside edge. It doesn't matter where you cut, but I did try to get a relatively straight line. Now you have made the basic skirt, and you are on to the easy (and fun!) part: embellishment!

6) I decided that I wanted the cut part to be in the back of the skirt, and then I decided to place the poodle on the lower right are of the skirt (as seen when she is wearing it.) Since my applique was an iron-on, I just heated up my iron and followed the package directions, flipping over the fabric and ironing from the reverse side. It said to apply heat for just 30 seconds I believe, but I found that it took 3 repetitions before it was set. To be on the safe side, I had a kitchen towel in between my iron and the felt so that may have been the reason for the delay. (Note: While it saved me time, using the applique was more expensive that her version with the homemade poodle. Even though, I didn't buy it recently, it seems fair to mention that I priced this out at around $6 at Jo-Ann.)

7) Once the poodle was placed, I laid out my pearl trim and arranged it to make a couple of fun loops, making its way to the upper left corner of the skirt. After my glue gun was hot, I used it to adhere the pearl trim in my chosen design. (Note: Again, I had purchased this long ago, and I did not occur to me to figure out a price. I think I used just under a yard of the stuff, which is essentially the same as a little girl's pearl necklace except that it is broken. Well, I am pretty sure we have a broken necklace laying around somewhere that I could have used if I were being more frugal!)

8) I blinged out the poodle further with a black pom pom (already had this) for the tail, and that cute turquoise rhinestone trim, both of which I applied with my hot glue gun.

{After adding the poodle and trim}

9) For the closure, I did it differently that obSEUSSed. She just used two 1-inch sections of the "pokey" side of the Velcro, which she says will cling to the material and make it adjustable. I used 3 inches of both sides for extra security since she was going to wear it ALL day at school. I had extra left over, so I can always adjust the sizing down the road, since this is bound to become a Halloween costume at some point. First, I used a 1 inch section of the soft side and ironed it to the the inside corner (so that when she would wear the skirt, the other end would fold over it -- this was where I ironed the corresponding 1 inch section of the "pokey" side of the Velcro. (Per directions on the package at the store, I flipped the fabric over and ironed from the reverse side, holding it down for 90 seconds.) Then, I had Mia try the skirt on, and I decided to place another set of 1 inch Velcro tabs, so that there was about 2 1/2" gap between them. There was a lot of excess material, so I cut away some from the inside fold so that it would lay better. Then, I added another set of hook/loop closures to the bottom of the skirt. The placement was determined by where the material was hitting, kind of the opposite of what I had done with the waist closure.

In the end, the poodle skirt didn't fit her quite as well as I had hoped, but it was definitely good enough for a "costume." I simply told her that she had to wear leggings underneath, just in case. Fortunately, she didn't mind and she was really thrilled to have her very own poodle skirt, enthusing that she had "always wanted one!" (This was news to me, but I was happy that she was happy. Also, I made a poodle skirt! Who wouldn't be excited to realize she could do that?!)