It's On...

...the countdown to CHA that is! It's been a busy few weeks leading up to CHA trip. I leave Monday morning and still have a million things to do before then. I can't wait to visit with friends, see all the newest and most inspiring collections and buy some of it! I'm charging the camera extra long because I know it will get a work out this week.

Now, last week, I actually fit in a little crafting...

I made this cupcake wrapper wreath that I saw on Tatertots & Jello {one of my new favorite blogs}! Mine is not as full now that I look at hers better - maybe I'll add another package of cupcake wrappers!

I'll be doing a craft show in February {one that I am so not prepared for yet} and these little 'gift card holders' are the first things I put together for it. When I get back from CHA the craft show prep will be top priority because all I have made is these and one 'love' banner!

The most exciting thing that happened at my house this week was...

Riley lost his first tooth! I was wondering when it would finally happen. It had been loose for awhile and the other night he noticed that it was super loose. He asked me to cut up an apple so that he could eat it in hopes of making his tooth come out...and it did!

The tooth fairy left him one dollar!

Kolbi and Savanna had to make a scrapbook for an english assignment so I gave them free reign of a bunch of my stuff. Then I couldn't help my self, I had to snap a pic of them scrapbooking at the kitchen table..*sniff*sniff* that's my girl!

This is random but a couple of weeks ago I decorated up this cheesecake from Costco for a friend's husband. I made it look like his police patch. I'm posting it because it was such a quick, easy and pretty impressive cake idea. I used whipped cream icing so it just made the cheescake even more delicious!

And finally...

Happy 2010!

I know it's almost the end of January and I am barely putting up these New Year's Eve pics but hey, better late than never!

A Forgotten Post?!

How in the world did I never post about Lilly's birthday party?! I have a post where I talk about it but never did I put up pics - bad, bad, aunt.

{technically great aunt *gasp* but we will go with aunt}

Here is Miss Lilly, sister to Miss Lexi from the Twilight party. Her party was in October and as you can see it was carnival themed.

I seriously have over 300 pictures from this party. The colors and kids were just perfect. I probably should of done that thing I do where I collage a bunch in Photoshop but, I am just too lazy for that today! I think these get the point across pretty well though. How cute is Lilly?

The Long Awaited Twilight Party

Finally - I got to do a Twilight party! Miss Lexi is just in LoOoOoVE with Edward Cullen {I have no idea where she gets it from}! So for her 7th B-day her mom & I went all out with this Twilight B-day. I really got into this theme, of course, and did lots of cute little extras that made a big splash. Here's the progression in photos...

It starts with an idea and a little computer work.

Next thing ya know there are some invitations!

I made a quick trip to Target & Michaels to get some great Christmas clearance items for decorating!

Then the goodie cones... so cute with tinsel handles :)

The easiest cake I've ever made...

I got an edible image from the bakery and just added it to my own cake!

Of course, the guests of honor!

A wide shot of the fancy dinner party. Since this party was for mostly 7 year olds I went with a fancy dinner theme and left out some more 'vampire-ish' things that you might do for an older girl.

tissue paper pom-poms

I think Sandra Lee would be proud of my table-scape.

Lexi's face says it all...

a group shot with the 'stars'

there I am, serving the girls :)

At last, the cake, it was red velvet...of course!

Christmas Re-Cap

I wish it was still December 20th and the whole Christmas break was ahead of me! Unfortunately time won't stop for me :( The kids go back to school tomorrow and my goal today is to get ready for that. We had such a great holiday with friends and family. We have spent lots of time just hanging out, playing video games and watching movies - my favorite way to spend a break. As usual, I took about a million pictures over the last two weeks. I thought I'd group them up to reminisce about the recent past. First we've got the pics of what our Elf was up to.

He arrived on the 15th and made a little mischief every night. On

e of my favorites was when he wrapped up stuff from our pantry and Riley had to unwrap them and realize the packages were our things not gifts! Followed by the tower of chairs and stools in the living room so that he could hang paper snowflakes from our ceiling fan. Riley's favorite was when he gift wrapped the front door {I thought for sure he was going to pick the game night with his build-a-bears}.

On Christmas Eve out little tradition has become having the Fogle's over so that the kids can open their one gift together. This year they all got pajamas - what a surprise! *wink*wink*

Moving on to the big day. Riley was up at 5am ready to get at those gifts! My rule is usually no waking up earlier than 5 so he was lucky. In the past, Kolbi has tried to wake up as early as 2am! This year Riley was first up and ran around waking everyone else. After the mess, we had a visit with the Johnston's and started getting dinner going. Around 3 the Floyd's and Fogle's showed up for dinner, visiting, playing {the Fogle's brought their new Wii!} and some more gifts.

Christmas Projects Update!

Everything has been delivered and opened - now I can post the pics of all the gifts I made this year!

1 - little, tiny cupcake ornaments

2 - a cape for Preston, here it is in action

and this is what the back looks like (Super P!)

3 - an embellished cardigan for Kloe

with my attempt at matching socks (they looked better in my head)

4 & 5 - little plushy pals for Lexi & Lilly

with a little hand embroidery...

and buttons on yo-yos!

6 & 7 - a mom & daughter apron set for Betsy & Tori

Tori is modeling hers here - and I left in Dave's crazy face on purpose!

8 - an appliqued onesie for Elliot

9 - an awesome banner for Shelby!

it has LOTS of glitter!

and 10 - homemade sugar scrub :)

Holiday Baking

I love to bake - especially this time of year. I will take any excuse to pass out goodies!

Nichole, Carol & I baked all day Tuesday so that we could put together boxes and plates for neighbors and friends.

We ended up with more than enough goodies to go around.

I made these chocolate chip, peanut butter cookies for Riley's class party. We put them together with some chocolate dipped pretzels and marshmallows then tied up the bag and added a Christmas pencil!

This is a stack of about 80 boxes that the PTO put together for teachers and staff at the school. Each box is filled with baked goods! We had lots of goodie donations so at least we didn't have to do all that baking alone!

And finally, my best purchase this month! I bought this from Amy Powers over at Opensky. It's something like 3600 yards of red & white bakery string. I LOVE it! I have already used it for a million different things. We tied our goodie boxes with it and I'm using it on all the gifts! I love, love, love this string!

I Just Can't Stand It

I've been a busy little elf. Baking, sewing, crafting & so much more. But I just can't handle it anymore! I want to show what I've been up to!! Most of my goodies are going to blog readers so I haven't been sharing. So I decided that I can post just little tiny peeks at the goods. It will tide me over for now.