Gifties

My little friend Presley turns two today!  This weekend is her birthday party.  I made her this little beanbag toss game.  I recently made our friend Banyan, who also turned two, the same model, in a more boyish denim with appliqued animals on the bags.  (Maybe I'll put up some pics of that one of these days).

          

This is a pretty easy project.  With Presley's I didn't even use stabilizer because I used a nice, heavy canvas for the box part.  I basically just made two box pieces, put one inside the other, wrong sides together, and put a bias tape around the upper edges.  For Presley's I made the bias tape from extra fabric I had on hand.  They now sell fancy bias tape-making-machines that are pretty pricey, but my sis Renata told me about a cool little gadget that makes it super easy to make it yourself.  You just have to cut the strips of fabric (on the bias- or 45 degree angle to the grain) then run it through the little gadget while ironing what comes out.  Voila! Bias tape to match your project! I put wheat seed in the bean bags, because we needed some for the farm and it works just as well as beans.  I just serged up all the sides in black.  I decided, after some quality assurance testing... ok playing... that the box part also needed a little weight, so I added some wheat seeds to the bottom between the layers of fabric.  I like this gift, because it's something that grows with you, you can make it easy or challenging, older children can play with younger and the best part.... it cleans itself up- when you toss all the beanbags in, they're put away! Woo hoo!  Hope she likes it!

Shower the people you love with love....

Today I co-hosted a bridal shower for Cam’s cousin Katie.  I was in charge of games and favors.  The games we played were a big hit.  And, these are the favors I decided on:

They are pins to attach to your blouse, bag, or headband.  I put each one on the top of a long, thin wire and arranged them in a little bouquet in a pretty purple vase that doubled as table decoration.  I think they turned out really cute and they were pretty inexpensive to create a unique favor. Each guest got to "pick" her flower at the end.   I can't find the blog I got that idea from.  =(  It's somewhere out there!  Marsha and Renata co-hosted with me and took care of everything else! We made a great team, I think. 

For a gift, I made Katie a casserole cover with her new initial on it that I got from someone else's cool blog.

The pink strip is a pocket for a serving spoon. 

Katie "H"... hmmm takes some getting used to. =)

The wedding colors are black and hot pink and I got tipped off that Katie likes polka dots.  Our family does pot luck (or bring a dish for you folks who don’t know what that is) for most holidays and I thought it would be a fun way for Katie to bring Grandma Howard’s famous mac and cheese.  It was a lovely afternoon to celebrate the bride-to-be, meet some future family, and enjoy the company of some great women. 

Turkey or Treats

Lila and Daddy with their turkey

It was an exciting weekend around our house!  Not only did the girls finally get to don their costumes for trick-or-treating, but Cam got a turkey, and a deer!  Lila was with him for the turkey and was completely thrilled to bring it home.  She wanted to be involved in the whole process and impatiently asked him after they got home if he was "ready to pull the guts out yet?"  She proudly posed with said turkey in the picture above the morning after.  I know a lot of people are probably cringing at the thought of pulling out turkey guts, and to be honest it's not high on my list either, but I love that Lila knows exactly where her food comes from.  We will have quite a few meals from those two wild animals. We will inevitably share several feasts with friends and family who are "brave" enough to partake. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that it hasn’t gone through a packing plant, or the whole Bambi thing that turns people off to venison, but personally I think it's quite tasty.

The Princess and the Pea

Yes, this is the same little princess that pulled out turkey guts the night before!  We had so much fun on Halloween!  (Despite Maggie having a fever off and on all weekend)  I made their costumes this year (normally their Mimi does it) and I was really looking forward to seeing them all dressed up,  The girls stopped by Aunt Mary’s for a special treat, and then we met up with all the grandparents at my in-law’s for some pizza and trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. (Which, for the record was my neighborhood growing up.)  Maggie eagerly put on her Pea costume and wore it cutely all night long.  Lila was also eager to put on her costume, but ditched the crown part of her princess costume for a headband.  I asked her Nana to make a princess cape for her to keep her warm because I knew long sleeves would be out of the question.  However, Nana let Lila pick out the fabric and being pretty flimsy, was not very warm and not of the same color scheme as her dress.  Don’t worry Nana, I forgive you.  But, for the most part, she flitted around unhindered by the chilly air.  I am trying to let my three-year-old fashionista be her own little person as much as possible, but I must admit I cringe a little when she wears those darn ruby red slippers with every color from pink to yellow.  Oh well, get over it mom.  Lila’s favorite treat was a candy shaped like an ear… with blood dripping from it.  Yuck.  They were both in hog heaven having fairly unlimited treats as we limit them a lot most days.  It really was delightful seeing my two beauties scramble up front steps and knock on doors like big girls to get their loot. This is the first year they've both understood what was going on and it was FUN!  Here's to many more Halloweens to come!