2011- A year in Collage

I really and honestly cannot believe 2011 is almost over!
I got a big lump in my throat when I realized my son will be going to grade 5 and my daughter to grade 3...just the other day I can remember both of them starting grade 1! They are growing far too fast for my liking!

I thought I would share the year in collages.
Enjoy as I take my trip back through 2011!

January

Paris Trip in March

April

May

August

September

October

November/December

wrapping...

Friendship gifts, Thank you Teacher gifts, Baby shower gifts...

Wrapping.

I love brown paper and string, tags, ribbon and lace...

Wrapping is one of my all-time favorite past-times. I would give gifts all the time just to enjoy the wrapping process if I could!

xx

Baby Shower Decorations

Hello!
So I am finally sharing the Baby shower decorations.
I won't share the photos from the actual baby shower, I am sure there are those who wouldn't be happy about appearing on my blog! So I will just share the decorations and baking I did.

These were the decorations above the food table. (except the chandelier, that normally hangs there! :)

Cheap and easy decorations : paper pinwheels made from catalogs, tissue paper pompoms, paper chains, and doily garlands (the doily's I painted, waited to dry, glued and then folded in half over the string.)

Here is a close-up.

My friend liked them all so much that she took them ALL home to use as decoration in her baby's room-some she was going to hang above the cot. I was so touched to know all my hard work was so appreciated and will continue to bring joy!

Here is a picture of the food table. You can't see it clearly, but in front of the table I hung a material bunting which I also gave to her. The idea was to make a few things the guest of honor could take home after I had finished the party.

The cake. It had 4 layers. I am hopeless at ice-decorating and icing, but anyway...I tried!
I made a vanilla sponge cake, the top layer I colored green! (looked a bit strange!) Green icing and some little blue roses to go on top and finally a little bunting made from paper to top it off. (which i made too)

Here you can see the top of the cake a bit better.

And a slice of cake....

My cupcakes. Light blue icing. And the little flags I made to go on top.

I wasn't completely satisfied with my poor attempt to ice them...but anyway!

Some pinwheels and paper flowers for decorations.

I made some craft paper mustaches and lips just for fun! We had a lot of fun with these, everyone was quite game and I got some hilarious shots.

I took one of me so you can see how funny they look! This one is a beard.

And that is it! I am giving another baby shower in January. So looking forward to that.

By the way, the Baby shower bingo game worked really well and everyone really enjoyed it! I printed out some sheets and gave everyone a pencil. Then I gave everyone a chance to fill out their sheets with gifts they thought she would get. Once everyone had done that, I called out random words from a list such as this one.
When the first person to have all 5 words in a row-horizontally, vertically or diagonally called out "Bingo!", the game was over and they won a prize.

Next time I will get everyone to cross off their sheet as she opens the gifts though.

Everybody liked their thank you gift and over all it was a success!

Thanks for stopping by!

Second baby blanket {crochet}

Hi there...
December? Really? When did that happen?

The baby shower was a great success! It was my first time to host one and I must say, I really enjoyed it. I think, having children myself and knowing how much they cost a person, really just makes me so happy for her , knowing, in a small way whatever she got will be a good start to the huge expenses soon to follow!

I will share some decorations etc in a day or two, but for now I wanted to share the blanket I crocheted for her baby. This was really a trial-and-error blanket and next time I know what NOT to do!

Firstly I started making the summer burst granny blocks like I did for this blanket.
I guess I got bored (guilty as charged) and thought I would go with my own ideas! *big mistake*
So then I made some large squares and joined all the blocks together using this technique from Lucy, which I must say I rather like!

I like the fact the blanket seems more compact this way. So after having done that I decided to be "clever" and started on a border going around and around until I had reached the desired size. Mistake number two: I was merrily crocheting along, and had done about 8 rows before I realized the blanket just wasn't sitting right! It seemed to be rather bulky in the center and wasn't hanging nicely when I held it up. I then did some "googling" and realized I had been forgetting to increase the stitches at each corner to make a "corner" just you do in a granny block. (silly, silly me!!)

After plenty of sighing and kicking myself on the butt, I decided NOT to unpick all 8 rows and just hope and prayer that If I now proceeded with the right pattern, it would magically come right. So I did another 5 rows of double crochet using the correct pattern. I then steam-ironed the blanket and stretched it a bit whilst ironing it and it came out okay. Not brilliant, not perfect, not 100% straight, but okay. It has character!

I am glad she liked it! I cannot wait to give my second baby shower and the first baby blanket I made to the other friend of mine in January.

And for now my little hook must rest...

Pin It

Filling the paper cones

Hello there!
Remember this tutorial here....

I thought I would show you what I filled them with and the result after they are sewn shut!

The goodies....

First in went the chocolate peanuts and then the candy coated peanuts...

The finished,sewn cone...

And there you go! The scent of those chocolate covered peanuts is wafting around in my study driving me insane, making me want to rip open the bags and devour them!!!

{Tutorial} Easy Cupcake Toppers

Hi there!
It's been a while since I posted...been frantically making decorations for the baby shower for Saturday.

I thought I would share this very easy little tutorial. If you are anything like me, you love to have an excuse to make every last decoration rather than buy it. Not only does it save money but it's fun too!

So Instead of buying pre made icing decorations to go on the cupcakes I'll be baking, I made these little flag toppers.

what you need:
toothpicks
double sided tape
craft knife
ruler
scissors
punch

step one

I used a sheet of 15cmx15cm card stock paper. (like for scrap booking). I then cut the sheet into strips of about half an inch.

step two:

Then cut each strip in half.
Fold each strip so that the sides you want to show are at the front and back.
I do this with all the paper first. Making a pile of strips.

step three:

Now with your craft knife, cut a little V-shape into each strip at the open side.
Do this with all your folded strips.

step four:

now place a piece of double sided tape on the inside of each folded strip.

step five:

Now remove the double sided tape and place your toothpick in the middle of the fold, making sure the top of the toothpick is not sticking up at the top.

step six:

punch out your mini butterfly (or punch of your choice) and attach with a small piece of double sided tape in the center. Fold up the sides of the butterfly.

Your mini cupcake topper is finished!

I will be sure to show you the finished cupcakes next week!
I hope you enjoyed this easy tutorial.
The little toothpick flags can also be used on scrap booking pages and cards.