BIRTHDAY PREPARATIONS

This year Elizabeth is having a "Ballet Birthday" Party and I want to make it very special for her and her attending friends. Each year to date we have had a themed party - polka dot, silly hat and flower parties so far. This year I have challenged myself to make and create all of the party accoutrement's. It's been a happy challenge thus far. Elizabeth chose the ballet theme and I made all of the party invites - easy to do when you have a scrapbooking business and love of all things papery.

While I am not totally against goody bags full of plastic bits (the kids like them), they do not really fit our party sensibility. We are trying to be mindful of where things come from these days too so the hand crafted route is one we are taking. I do have a penchant for supplies so I was thrilled to use what I had at hand to create all of my goody bag items for the girls.

The tutus are Fiona's design at http://www.pipnmillycreations.com/ . I used yards upon yards of creamy tulle that I had leftover from wedding six years ago. They are no sew tutus and kept me multi-tasking in front of the tv in the evenings. Together they are ethereal and remind me of beautifully light jellyfish gracefully swimming in the sea. Can't wait to see all the girls wearing them together.

At Elizabeth's last ballet class, they used wands to dance and prance with so we HAD to have them too. I downloaded a template from the computer and used sparkly coordinating papers. A piece of doweling acts as their base and curled ribbon makes them magical.

It's been very satisfying to use our imaginations to create these wonderful party favours also to use supplies I've had in my stash. Now we just have to cue the music and.....dance!!!!!

IT'S A JELLY-CAT TEA PARTY!

We play tea party on a fairly regular basis at our house. I used to give the kids a real teabag to brew up, however, got tired of finding strewn tea leaves everywhere. One day I had a little epiphany and had to head straight for my sewing machine and create some reusable cloth teabags. I cut some white cotton fabric into over sized rectangles and sewed three sides together then filled each "bag" with three teaspoons of lentils before sewing the teabag closed. Pinking shears were used to create a zig-zag edge that is both functional (material won't fray) and decorative.

The little white napkins were recycled eyelet fabric from former bathroom curtains and a yard of pink seersucker cloth made a perfect "picnic blanket".

A tea party wouldn't be complete without a sweet treat so I made fours small Teacakes out of felt that are slightly stuffed and fill the china side plates perfectly. I do plan to sew beads and buttons to the tops of the teacakes to finish off these perfect tiny petits-fours.

A vintage tin holds the teabags and a complimentary yellow seersucker bag holds everything together. It was fun to create and make and the kids love it as do the bunnies and bears.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

We all had a nice time over the holidays - it was busy with work and family and toys and food and SNOW! Our tree was taken down yesterday and the house put right again. This morning we awoke to more snow and have stayed in to play and relax all day long. January has long since been my least favourite month of the year. Have never been one for resolutions either. My hopes for 2009 are to be healthy and content, creative and curious. I look forward to reclaiming my garden to its former beauty. My dream of publishing a children's book may come true too...

These are some of the toy bags I've made for the kids. They are made from fabric store remnants and my scrapbooking ribbon. Each bag holds a specific toy and it is my desire to keep the toys organized and an overall tidier, less hectic house....we'll see. They are fun to make though and I plan of making many more in the weeks to come. Happy New Year to you All!