Easter in Europe...

No, there really is nothing better. I think I've ended up there twice in March..once in London and York, and once in Paris and Brugge...and the chocolate shops are MAGICAL! Anyone have any cool easter ideas this year, besides nest cupcakes? I love the enchanted egg at William Sonoma.

Cars & Trucks Birthday

The invitation:

The decorations:

a lot of primary colors...but the best part was the black table cloths with yellow masking tape making roads! We had a kid table with a road down the middle and then a bunch of car stickers for them to stick on the road.

You know I always have to have a jar of candy somewhere!

The Food:

since we had an open house, we just did pizza, veggies and rootbeer floats.

...and cupcakes!

The Cake:

Rob's the professional...he molded a car, who knows how he does it!

and a costco sheet cake with nothing on it. I decorated it at home with these dollar store cars.

Kids activities:

I bought a car rug (with the streets and everything) and had it out with a bucket of dollar store cars (that all went into the trash after) If he would have had hotwheels at that point, we could have used those.
and my favorite always, THE FAVORS!
oreo cookies labeled :SPARE TIRES

The Bubble Skirt...yeah! cheers! its here!

I have been talking about this little skirt for weeks! I wanted something new, something different...I mean how many twirlies can a little girl have these days. So with a little inspiration and a lot of brainstorming I figured it out. So here it goes...my best explanation.

1. You are going to need some white muslin fabric and then a pretty fabric. If you want you can use 2 coordinating fabrics for waist panel and the bubble.

Here are the measurements for a 2 year old:

waist panel fabric: 4x30 (4x15 on the fold)

muslin fabric: 10x30 (10x30 on the fold)

bubble fabric: 2 12x32 (2 12x16 on the fold)

elastic to fit the waist

sew panel and muslin into tubes using 1/2 seam (one seam down each)

sew both pieces of bubble fabric together creating very large tube

2. sew 2 basting stitches around the top and bottom of the bubble tube. Sew them at an 8th and a quarter inch from the edge.

3. Pull bobbin thread to on both stitches to gather the material (only on one side for now)

4. Fit bubble material inside out over the muslin tube (pretty sides TOGETHER) and gather and pin to the muslin tube. (use the seams as your guide to get in on straight. You can line up the seams on one side and the bubble seam and muslin fold on the other)

5. Sew the 2 tubes together where you pinned, using 1/2 inch seam. Then serge around the edge OR use a zigzag to make sure it stays!

6. Flip skirt back the other way (ugly sides together) and do the same thing at the top of the skirt, by gathering the bubble material to the muslin tube.

7. sew together as before but do not serge yet...set aside for time being.

8. turn your waist panel tube inside out and fold down the top 1/4 inch and iron

9.then fold that side down a little more than a 1/2 inch and iron (and pin if you want)

10. sew using 1/2 inch seam to make a casing for your elastic (remember to leave a little hole to thread your elastic through later.)

11. Fit waist panel over skirt (pretty sides together) and pin

12. And sew...using a little bigger than 1/2 inch to cover up the previous seam on the bubble. Now you can serge or zigzag all those pieces together.

13. Topstitch an eighth of an inch above the seam to hold all the seams the same direction

14. thread your elastic through...sew it up and You're pretty much done!!!

Exact for the matching one for the little sister....

and the embellishments...

and the matching shirt, shoes...and I havent even gotten to the bow!

spur of the moment st. patricks day!

After I dropped robbie off at school, I took elle to the park...where I noticed people wearing GREEN! I had to do something about this fun holiday so I ran to the store and bagged some irish shortbread cookies for his class...I just picked him up a couple minutes early so that he could pass them out...

Then I made their FAVORITE food (crepes) and dyed them green.

of course I was hosting book club that night so I used a green tablecloths and put lime in the water. Really creative! I love holidays but it sure is hard to keep track of them all!

coordinating shirts

sometimes the hardest part for me, once I have made some skirts, is trying to figure out what to do with the shirt! Here are my latest simple shirt/skirt sets.

These little things are called pinwheels. I bought a little round plastic pinwheel maker at the craftstore. You sew up and down through the hoes and then pull the thread at the end. It makes making these kind of flours a cinch!

Covered buttons, My latest "ah hah" moment

Why have I not known about this before, I have no idea! If you want to make cute buttons for clothes, hair bows, or for anything else...take your dollar and go to walmart for a pack of these buttons. They come with the little tool to make them, they take less than 5 seconds each...NO SKILL INVOLVED! And wala...you are the happiest woman on the block!

New Season of Twirlies!

I got on a kick this week and made a bunch of skirts for the girls. It is fun to have all new ones and some for little sister!
if you cant remember how to make them, look at the craft section (or type in skirt in the search key)

5 min 5 dollar dress

Did you know you can buy fabric that is practically already a dress? I bought a half a yard, sewed one seam down it, added the ribbon on the shoulders and around the bottom...And WA LA! the 5 minute, 5 dollar play dress!