Big & Little

There's nothing sweeter than welcoming a new baby! And, in my opinion, it's made even sweeter when a big sister or brother is born along with the new baby!
Here's the big/little shirts that K made for our hair dresser and friend!
I think they turned out adorable! Especially since they were last minute!

Organizing stitches

So the K of K and A was given a monogramming machine this past Christmas. I've been giving her most of her "unpaid" business with things I've wanted to have done for the kids.
This project has been one of my favorites so far and definitely the most useful. I needed to get some organization in the kids bathroom. It always seemed the ugly towel monster would sneak up on me and all of a sudden EVERY towel would be dirty at once. So I purchased each child three towels in their own color. Mom then monogrammed their names on them. Now, when I'm down to one towel a piece I know that's it's time to wash.
I love everything being where it should be but if you walked into my house at any given moment you wouldn't think that was the truth. I'm picking up and the three kids are pulling out! But at least this little bit of organization in the bathroom saves some of my sanity!

A Night Owl Party

Lucy recently celebrated her 6th birthday and to help her celebrate we surprised her with a "Night Owl Party"!  While she was attending school Friday we busily set up her party decorations.  When she returned home she was so surprised and excited.  The look of excitement was so well worth the work put into her party.

We had made the dining room table into a bed.  Making the headboard from foam board.  Then to give an "outdoors" feel we stacked the cake and cupcakes onto pieces of wood. 

The cupcake toppers were edible, made from royal icing.  We also had put together s'mores pops.  Do you know they now sell flat square marshmallows?  These fit perfectly in between two graham crackers drizzled with chocolate syrup.  We made owl sugar cookies that matched her party invitations.  The treat bags were in the shape of an owl's head and filled with gummy worms.  The kids are crazy about those things.

The little girls showed up dressed in their PJs.  They were all so cute and silly as little "night owls" should be!

Another Blessing

This week we were blessed with the arrival of little "Samuel Jude"!  A big boy weighing 8 pounds and 8 ounces.  He was welcomed home by big sister Lucy and big brother Eli.  A few mementos were made to honor this special occasion.  His mother made this adorable wreath to hang on her hospital door and then to bring home and hang on her entrance door.

I wanted some onesie cookies to give to

guest as they came by to welcome Samuel. But not the traditional onesies.

So I flooded the cookies and left the

outline of a onesie in the center.  After that dried I came back and flooded the

center in a coordinating color.  Later I applied the little details that make the cookies pop.

Not staying with traditional baby designs I decided to make houndstooth cookies.  This was my first attempt at this design.  After the first few it became a little easier.  The only problem is that you really have to work fast.  The flood icing needs to be wet when you add your second color.  Then you need to drag through the wet icing to get that houndstooth design. 

WELCOME SAMUEL JUDE!

23 days and counting....

Until the LSU football season, that is. If you are like most from around these parts, you knew that already.

Here is a cake we recently did for a young boy.

The football is made out of rice cereal treats and covered in fondant. We also gave our cricut a good workout with this cake. It cut the tiger stripes, tiger eyes and the lettering.

Hope you had a great birthday Ryan!



Dang This Heat!

In order to keep cool these last few weeks I've decided to stay indoors.  Wow .... triple digit temps are unbearable!  Good time to get some of those "put off" projects done and stay cool at the same time!  Here are a few -

These are cookies I made for my Dad.  His comment when I gave them to him "Oh, John Deere Cookies"!  That was enough to make me happy.  With his health not the best and his age, 87, I was not sure what kind of response I would receive. 

Just love this tray I got on sale at Hobby Lobby.  But it was plain and thought it needed a little something.  So out came the cricut to "dress" it up a bit.

I made this chalk board from a 16" x 20" sheet of wood I purchased at Lowe's.  After attending early church service on Sunday mornings we love to sit and drink coffee in our newly added sun room.  I decided the sun room would be the perfect place to hang my chalk board.  Each week I like to add a spiritual, motivational or inspirational quote.

With this heat not letting up any I think I'll remain indoors and complete a few more projects.

Eli Eli O

Last month, Eli turned two! Where has the time gone? We celebrated his birthday with a "farm" themed party. His first babysitter would always sing Eli Eli O to him and that, of course, got us thinking... what a cute idea for a party!

I ordered the invitation here.  She has a lot of adorable things and was able to customize the invitation to read Eli Eli O instead of the normal E I E I O.

For the back drop, we refinished a room divider screen by painting it black and cutting and sewing cow print fabric for the panels.

The cake was designed completely from the invitation. The barn is hard to see but it is a fondant mock up of the barn on the invite. 

K's signature cookies that matched the theme perfectly!

Next up... stick horses! To me, this was the cutest and most fun thing to put together. We made 17 stick horses as favors for our little guests. All of the horses came from scrap fabric that I have been saving over the years. We loved watching them come to life and seeing their different personalities. We may or may not have been a little sad to watch them leave the party!  

The birthday banner was made by cutting burlap squares. I used the cricut to cut out my letter templates and then painted on the letters to each square. I love the way it turned out!



 For the menu we had corn dogs, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, veggie cups, chips and of course corn on the cob.  The birthday boy really enjoyed the corn!

Here he is with his stallion. 

The kids enjoying the stick horses. 



Happy Birthday Eli! We love you more than you'll ever know!