pumpkin painting party and little pals...

Zoe's friend from school Olivia invited us to a pumpkin party at her house the other night.Olivia's mommy Rhonda ,is a super seamtress that makes all sorts of amazing outfits ,baby slings, monogramed shirts etc
their website!so much cuteness!!
Anyhoo,we had a very good time !All of Zoe's "crew" was there and she and Amelie had a blast!

So many pretty pumpkins were decorated.

Zoe even brought along a green and white squash pumpkin "thingie" to decorate lol

tada!

Amelie was more interested in eh lovely spread of snacks but finally made it into the crafting area for some pumpkin decorating.

I am so happy that Zoe has such a sweet group of friends to play with in and out of playschool.I am even happier that all their moms are very interesting and crafty ladies lol We had such a fun time the other night,I think we are all trying to figure out what type of get together we will have next!!!
three cheers for pumpkin parties,little pals,and crafty mamas!!

felt pumpkin treat bag "tutorial"

The other day at Zoe's school they had a Halloween party (I'll make a post about that in a munite I have THREE posts to make today lol)Anyway,I made felt treat bags for her class (yes all 35 kids!!)

Here's what you'll need:
Orange felt
Black Felt
White Embroidery Floss
Green curling Ribbon
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors
treats for the bag (duh)

First you will need to fold a piece of orange felt in half (width wise) Then cut up the middle diving the felt into two rectangles.
Next stitch up the sides of each little rectangle,turning it into a "bag" of sorts.

After you've stitched the sides,use your black felt to cut out your jack-o-lantern face.You'll want to put the face near the bottom of he bag,leaving enough room to tie the top with your curling ribbon.After you've figured out where you want your fave to go,adhere it with your hot glue gun(eep be careful it hurts bad when you get burned with a glue gun lol)

After teh glue has dried,add your treats onside the bag and tie it up with curling ribbon!Tada one chubby little jack-o-lantern treat bag!!!

And lots of pretty green ribbon!!

painting pumpkins...

The other day the weatehr was PERFECT and the girls were WILD.So,I took them in the backyard for some pumpkin painting....
such gorgeous pictures...

yay paint...

brushes...

READY,SET...ART!!!!!

Such pretty painted baby pumpkins!I love how they gooped the pain on there!! Very nice texture effect!!

It wa nice to take a break from all hte runningaround we are always doing and just let the girls go CRAZY with paint.

A truly beautiful messy mess of goodies!

After awhile the girls painted a few leaves too lol

Yay fall!!!

We have been so busy with lots of fun Halloween and FAll activities lately,(and lots of test taking ,studying,and bow making for craft festivals in between )
(I will have to tell you about all our fun soon) We have been invited to fun pumpkin parties,we are putting the last touches on costumes,I have stitched together 35 felt pumpkin treat bags,SO much!!!,but atleast it's mostly fun stuff right? !I'm still very tired ...My life philosophy is "embrace the season" and I truly think we have been doing that this FAll! Soon it will be time for Thanksgiving,and Christmas...is it just me or has this year flown by?!?!

pumpkins and (dear) prudence

I am cleaning house,decorating with mini pumpkins all about and listening to siouxsie and the banshees...feels like Halloween now :)

I REALLY need to get some jelly bellies and gumballs for those dont i?!


Such a happy stack of books.

(incase you are wondering about the typewriter it is an underwood standard portable typewriter 1924 i believe)
siouxsie makes my Halloween Happy....


Have a good Sunday.Take some time to relax and enjoy the beautiful fall colors all around!!

every child is an artist...

Kevin and I love art.We try to nurture a love of art in both Zoe and Amelie. Since Zoe was a little tiny 6 month old I have put paint brushes in her hands and let her paint.Amelie paints with us too and has done since she was a bout 6 or 7 months as well.Of course the y are just painting squiggles and strange shapes,but I think each little mark is a wonderful masterpiece.We have some of the girls art work framed in the living room,but we had folders upon folders of other work they have done and nothing to do with it.So,Yesterday I did something I had been thinking about for awhile.In our office I set up a little crafting area for the girls but it always seemed to tight too confined,and the girls were always writing on the walls and being really messy and non creative in the space.So,yesterday I finally, did this:

I took a TON of the girls artwork and put it on the wall of their work space!I also added pictures along the bottom of them throughout their years painting(some of the very pictures now hanging on the wall)

Below the space I made a makeshift desk,with their art supplies in little baskets for them to reach easily.

I eventually want to get a bigger piece of wood and maybe get Kevin to drill it into the wall,but for now I want to see how this works.

Below the picture boarder is a huge blank space,so I added a big piece of paper (that can easily be removed and replace with another,so the girls can draw on the wall without messing up the actual wall.

Holding the "desk" up are four pull out tupper ware drawers with coloring books,flash cards,beads,and other art supplies inside.I l also added a stack of books next to the art area with a game or two on top for easy reading and game playing access.

I want to get better chairs for them to sit in when drawing but for now I think this set up works.I think art should be encouraged in all children.Giving them their own space (especially if you have a crafting or artistic space) let's them know that their work is just as important as our own.
"Every child is an artist.The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up" -pablo picasso-

party party FOUR!!

Saturday was Zoe's birthday party!It was freezing cold outside but inside it truly felt like an under the sea island fiesta!! Here's some of the decorations and such...
The table center piece was a little sand bucket (filled with sand and shells and a four cut out of shell paper on the ctricut cutter)(oh how I adore the cricut cutter now lol)

I wanted eating at the table to really feel like we were really under the sea so I taped up (what seemed like a MILLION streamers) (tis took a few hours...I was up until Two in the morning getting the streamers cut and taped up...lol)

I put my handmade party flags in the area going into the hallway.I still love them(I hung them in the girls room cause they are to pretty to put in a box :)

Had to decorate one of our many chalkboards...

Everything had an under the sea or island theme,I blew up a wading pool we had and got some inexpensive little magnetic fish and fishing poles and called it the "fishing pond"


Zoe's present area was called "Zoe's Sunken Treasures"

I found some of those sun catcher thingies for Zoe and Amelie to paint at the "under the sea crafting station"
And of course the drink bucket was called the "island refreshment" stand

Beach balls and balloons!!

We ate under the sea food..(baked fish,squash,zucchini,brown rice,and rolls.)

Here's the cake (Zoe really likes nemo so we thought it would be a different pace than my homemade cupcakes....WRONG..it was cute but everyone (even Zoe and Amelie agreed it was GROSS) I think everyone was disappointed to not get my buttercream frosted delightful cupcakes :( I missed them too,and we will NEVER buy another cake bleh!!! lol)

Happy fourth birthday Zoe bear!We love you!!
:)


now i have to think of a theme for Amelie's second birthday (it's two weeks after Christmas...yay?!!?)


ps i wanna give a big happy hello to my five followers!!!im so thrilled to know SOMEBODY is reading/looking at my ramblings and pictures!!anyone else reading feel free to follow me and everyone leave lots of comments i just get a kick out of comments ha!

B is for Baking B is for Birthday...

Today we are having Zoe's fourth "under the sea" birthday party" I decided that I would make her a gift(I usually make her onee each year for her Birthday,this year I forgot?).I remembered a blogging pal of mine made an adorable baking set for a swap she did last year,so I decided to make one for Zoe too....

She is supposed to get lots of other cooking devices from her great aunt and nana and we got her a toy microwave too,so it only seemed likely that she should get some cute mommy made felt baking supplies right?!


I seriously wish I had a felt baking set this cute lol!I think I will be playing extra "cooking" games with the girls!!!

These (as compared to other felt foods I've made in the past ) didn't take that long. Although I did cut my finger with my scissors because I was going a bit too fast.


A sweet gift for an even sweeter little Zoe!

Ok I gotta go now lots and lots and LOTS of party stuff to do (and house cleaning AHHHH!!!)
Have a good Saturday!!