Birthday headband

Here is my b-day gift for my sister Em. I hope it goes with her rock style!

My cute cousin Caroline has a business selling these headbands, clips and other things called "Vintage Blooms" and she is going to do a give away here in a week or so...so stay tuned!

These are fun...

When I was in UT, I kept spotting these on people...and loved them. My friend Jody sat down and showed me the trick of the trade and now Im on fire. They are kind of addicting, so dont be surprised to see a couple more posts about them...especially because I couldnt figure out how to take a picture of myself to get headband!

A new use for the birthday banner...

I was putting this banner away in a ziploc bag, carefully storing if for the next time I throw a tea party for elle (what?) when I realized...It might be okay to hang it in her room! I wouldnt have thought that the cardstock would loo cute, but guess what...I LOVE IT! I dont think her room would look right without it anymore!

I think it is cute to characterize a corner of a room. Especially in this case, because as soon as she grows out of tea parties (which she never will if she is like me) I can take it down and replace it with hannah montana posters. jk

roasted chicken...or should we say, easy chicken

My sister Mir, was on a roasting chicken kick. So I decided to give it a try...my little no-chef self doesnt normally do stuff like this, but hey...she said it was easy.

Can we say: chicken, salt and pepper? 450 for an hour? what is hard about that!
Yes I garnished with a couple potatoes, carrots and onions, but seriously the hardest part was getting the neck and the other thing out...so I tried to pawn that job off on my kids...who didnt take the bait and I had to do it myself. But seriously, give this a try...here is the recipe (if you need one)

Japanese Cherry Blossom Party

This was one of the quickest parties I've ever put together and also probably the most fun! When I was in the hospital after I had Jane, I wondered what I would do for her first birthday and came up with this idea. So, a year later...here it is!

Invitations:

I probably could have been more creative but I was in a time crunch! So pink cardstock, oriental font and cherry blossom cut outs attached with brads was the answer. (I just inked the edges)

Decorations:

so easy and so fun!

I went with chinese lanterns (one for the door at the last minute)

After searching stores and online for faux cherry blossom branches, I resorted to cricut cutouts of flowers on my own branches. I think it turned out better than the real thing! (and I am going to keep them up for Valentines!)

I was lucky to have sticks with little stubby branches so I just slid the flowers on...no glueing or anything!

I wish I would have had more chinese lanterns for clustering. They look so cute clustered!

I found chinese lanterns on justartifacts.com for about a dollar a piece (without the battery pack) shipping doubled the price but it was worth it. I am tempted to order them in more colors because they are SO fun!

Table:

I was tempted to buy square plates because I didnt think I had anything that worked...but luckily it turns out that I had enough rectangles to make it work.

(Here is Jane...hanging out on the table!)

I got square paper goods at walmart, and blossom napkins a long time ago at IKEA.

We used white platters for the dessert side and dark for the authentic side

here is an arial view...(can you tell I am a little proud of this table, lots of pictures...I know!)

we found chopsticks at central market...then I just wrapped them with ribbon

FOOD:

Dessert Sushi

swedish fish, fruit by the foot and rice krispies!

(do not look for green fbf...it doesnt exist, I used some disney kind in a turqoise that worked great)

fbf, rice krispie treats and half a "raspberry" candy (the kind in the bulk section that comes in black and red)

twinkies, fbf, cherry twizzler or mini gummy bears. you can get 5 slices out of one twinkie!

definitely a filler..are these called ho hos?

then of course Rob made the real stuff, rainbow rolls, tuna and salmon sashimi and the a selection of california &philadelphia rolls

Cake:

janes cake...easiest cake in the world and turned out perfect. note to self: keep fondant thick and circle cakes are WAY easier than square!

Cherry Blossom Cake

My friend Shanda came over and made this cake with me. I made the layers, and frosted them together and froze them. when she came over we spent a lot of time making the flowers, laying the fondant and decorating. It took us about 4 hours...but guess what...this cake was UNDER 10 dollars to make!

We thought we'd make it really unique so we looke us what "JANE" is in Japanese...and here is the closest translation in characters! (we would have done a one but it looked like a dash)

showing the layers (strawberry and red velvet)

Favors:

red take out boxes (from Michaels) filled with fortune cookies...

ok, and I couldnt resist throwing a little bath and body works "Japanese Cherry Blossom" sanitizer in too!

The day of the party I threw together this little shirt for the birthday girl.

I was stitching around the flowers at traffic lights, during naptime, etc!

on the back I stitched a little "1"

then made a little clippy to match...small enough that she wouldnt pull it out!

wa la...now, do you feel like you were there?

Displaying my collection

I keep collecting these baby shoes from around the world and sticking them in a drawer...so finally I tried to display them.
It is fun to have them to look at...but I feel like Im doing something wrong. Does anyone have any advice?

Elle's Mother-Daughter Tea Party

I have had so much fun planning Elle's third birthday party. My mom and I spent a month looking for tea cups and saucers at goodwills and homegoods. I collected little details and ideas...and finally got to set up, decorate and throw the party.

INVITATIONS:
I went pretty simple. I used cream cardstock and used and eyelet paper punch around the edges. I used a simple drawing of a teapot in hotpink and then used clear sprinkles over it. It read:
"to celebrate Elle turning three
you are invited to a mother-daughter tea"
then ended with
"wear your loveliest dress and a pair of pearls
and we will enjoy high tea as beautiful girls"

CAKE:
I was so excited to make my first fondant cake. I started with the wilton ball pan, and shaped a handle, spout, and knob. Then, rolled out the fondant placed it over the ball and smoothed. Im sure you can see how I did the rest..but if you are making a similar cake, let me know and I will tell you how I did it!

DECORATIONS:
I set each place setting with a tea cup and saucer, fan folded napkin, little teapot place card, and a doilly on the plate. I used 10 colored tissue balls hanging from the ceiling. I put teapots and tea cups in my buffet and around. I found beautiful scarf print table cloths at WS outlet. I used the cricut for some really cool tea pot cut outs and to make a big banner. I also had the books "Tea for Ruby" and Fancy Nancy's tea parties on display" (they also helped me in the planning)

ACTIVITIES:

As soon as the girls and their moms got to my house, they started to decorate little hats and purses with flowers and ribbon. Then they came over to the living room and I started to tell them a little bit abou tea parties. As I did, Elle handed them white satin gloves and a pair of pearls so they would be really fancy for the pictures. Then the moms and daughters got their pictures taken in the little booth. (a hung up flowery sheet and another one on the floor with a white chair)

After we took all the pictures, it was time for our tea party. I opened the doors to the room for a grand entrance. The big banner said "ELLE's TEA ROOM"

FOOD:

(most everything was cut in flower shapes and topped with a fancy toothpick-with a paper butterfly of flower at the top) I made different cakeplates to hold the food using a china plate glued to an upside down dessert cup. They were all different heights.

sandwiches : chicken salad for moms, peanutbutter-marshmallow cream for girls, watermelon & blueberries, apples and half grapes, cheddar & mozz. cheese, swiss cheese & raspberry, scones, raspberry tarts, tea cakes, pink marshmallows, and Raspberry Lemonade with sprite as our tea.

We enjoyed tea for a long time and then ate cake and peppermint icecream. Then Elle gave the girls a small copy of Tea for Ruby (which I found in cereal boxes...so I have a ton of cheerios at my house) and said goodbye to her little friends.

FAVORS:

The girls had a little tea party collection to take home: hats, purses, their tea cup and saucer, pearls, gloves and their little books. The mom's could pick a cake plate to take home with them!

TEA PARTY ATTIRE: I found a dress by Betsey Johnson called "the tea party dress" so I knew that was a must, Miranda my sister made my headband and found my actual tea party calfskin cream gloves at goodwill in DC. A lot of the girls found their little skirts made by popatu at Nordstrom...a good alternative to pettiskirts because the price was good and they werent so HUGE.