Natalie's Garden Fairy 3rd Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated Natalie's 3rd birthday with her pixie and pirate friends.  I was amazed how smoothly it was prepping for it.  Last year was a little chaotic.  Andy swears it's because I'm pregnant this time...  She is all about fairies this year so I decided to do a Garden Fairy themed party.  We had it at our favorite park and the day turned out to be beautiful (which was great considering the week started in the 30's).  I uploaded her party onto Catch My Party with all of the details.  Which I might add is a great site!  Fun was had by all and now we're on to planning next year's Princess themed party... Which will be so much fun with a 8 month old in tow!  Lovely.  What Andy and I have realized, and continue to realize, is how loved our little girl is by her family and friends.  We are so grateful to them all!

My Handy Andy

So I've always known my husband was handy but he blew me out of the water with this one.  We expanded Natalie's dress up clothes by a gazillion between Christmas and her birthday so I searched online for storage units and fell in love with this one.  And what's so great about Ana White from Knock Off Wood is that she has blueprints listed on her site!  So the First Sunday and Monday of 2012 Andy built it, sanded it, and painted it!  He's amazing!

Natalie was so proud of her Daddy!

It held Natalie's friends wings at her birthday party

It's home for the moment...

It's not completely done.  We want to add wood sections in the bottom to keep her accessories organized, a mirror on one of the sides and hooks on the other.  That aside, I think it turned out perfectly and I am so thankful that I have such a handy hubby!

It's That Time of Year...

Well we've started our last week before Winter Break and things are in full swing at my house.  It looks like Christmas and I'm working on it smelling like it as well.  I have a list of cupcakes I'm making for Natalie's school for her Holiday Party on Friday.  But before that we have her first school/dance company show Thursday night! We can't wait!  She has been singing every Christmas song on the radio but has requested "Up on the House Top" the most by far!
After thinking about what I could get her wonderful teachers I remembered the PLAY project I did in her play area over the summer.  So I wrapped their last initial with red and white polka dot fabric and covered the edges with 7/8" grosgrain green ribbon.  Pretty simple.  I like how it's obviously Christmas without being smothered in reindeer and snowmen.  It can be added to a wreath, placed on their tree, or used as decor as is.

The next craft I found here.  I had to make a few adjustments because I couldn't find 3" Styrofoam round wreaths ANYWHERE.  So I settled for a wooden circle that you can find in the wood crafts section at Michael's.  It's not quite 3" but it worked.  My husband then took it and punched a hole in the middle. {Thanks Andy}  I followed Stacy's directions and this is how it turned out:

I like these so much that I'm thinking about ditching the Christmas Tree balls next year and just making a ton of these.  We'll see...

Happy Holiday Crafting!

Counting Our Blessings

I thought I would post our Thanksgiving treats while I'm on a bow making break! 
Natalie started school in August and she loves it but even more they love her!  Couldn't ask for more!  To show them how thankful we are for them I sent in the following:


Some Thanksgiving Love

So this includes the following:
A brown paper bag I picked up from JoAnn's. 
I created the tag at Wordle- WHICH I LOVE!  You type in words and then you can choose the layout, color, etc.  You can print it and frame it.  Or you can print, scan and make smaller versions of them like I did.  SO CUTE!  I used all kinds of Thanksgiving words: turkey, feast, thankful, grateful, celebrate, harvest, family, Thanksgiving, blessings, pies, home.
Those are pecan bars that are quickly disappearing in my house.  I saw the recipe on 5 Ingredient Fix and they were easy to make.
I threw in a bag of fall colored M&M's I sorted myself.  I was going to add the Thankful buttons I did below but they were all smushed in the bag.  So M&M's it is!
Natalie wanted to draw a picture for each bag.  She's is all about the Handprint Turkey!

I made some extra Pecan bars and threw together some Thankful Buttons for the staff at her school.  I wanted to make this treat at first but I couldn't find round pretzels except online AND I wasn't too keen about their name...  There's alot of little steps for this one- unwrap all of the kisses- laying out all of the pretzels.  So make sure you have enough time and enough patience!


Love these colors!

Nat's down for a nap- but when she wakes up we're in full blown Thanksgiving mode.  I need to make my Bourbon Pecan pie and we have some Handprint Turkeys to make. 
As Natalie would say, "Happy Turkey Day!"  
Enjoy your family, friends and whoever you are blessed to be around tomorrow!

A Hectic Halloween!

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I posted anything.  Ahh!
Here are a few Halloween crafts I did...
Every year for our school's Fall Fest, each class makes a pumpkin and then they are raffled off.  Now that I am with 3rd graders- I was able to do a really cool one.  Thanks to Martha Stewart for her great ideas!  Instead of the seeds- I used felt and googly eyes.

The sign says, "Hoooooooooooooo, are YOU calling a pumpkin?"

Next, my friend sent me a picture like this one from Etsy.  And as creepy as this one is- I liked the concept. So I start searching for one with a heart and not a baby skeleton- NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!  So I picked up a black tee, red and white paint, and downloaded a rib and heart stencil.  And this is how it turned out...

I wore this to our Fall Fest...so if you didn't know- now you do!

And finally, for Natalie's annual Halloween craft- we added a treat this year.  I found these adorable Mummy Cookie Pops and fell in love with them!  Just a tidbit- stretch the work over 2 days- there are a lot of intricate details...

Don't I look yummy?

Dj Inkers font (Spider Web) & clipart

Natalie's mummy print

Now to get started on Thanksgiving...

Lasagna Cupcakes

So during a recent "mail call" (as my husband likes to call it- because of how infrequently we check our box) I read through a PEOPLE magazine.   I found a recipe for Lasagna Cupcakes based on the one from Heirloom LA (who are AMAZING!).  It's this recipe below that is originally for mac n' cheese lasagna cupcakes but I did a meat version.  I browned meat and added some spaghetti sauce.

Photo shoot designed by Lisa & Andy

They were good.  In my opinion, the green beans were better (they will change your life)!  For next time, I will add more cheese and sauce.  But I will give it a thumbs up for a first try!

A {sneak peek} of Sanibel

We took a short family vacation to Sanibel Island which continued to Coconut Point.  All Natalie wanted to do was swim.  Which consisted of floating under water and basically snorkeling, without the gear, on the first day.  Which didn't do well on my nerves.
Here are a few shots from the trip...

Natalie's new favorite animal is a giraffe- so naturally we ate at
The Blue Giraffe.

Our Beach Babe

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...