Feast and favors

I spent a fair part of today working on favor bags for the li'l guests that will be at the Easter celebration. I started with egg silhouettes - cut them out of felt and fleece - decorated with rick-rack, ribbons and fabric trims. Felt like a kid that was given a hard boiled egg and some paint!  A quick zigzag around the edge, a cut out handle and Voila! Favor bags are ready!

 One of the treats going in a li'l bag of homemade marshmallows topped off with sprinkles in colors of the season. The other treat is this cracker carrot - inspired by a Pinterest pin. Goldfish and Ritz crackers in a piping bag knotted with green rick rack. Was really happy to find such a fun savory snack idea!

Trend Alert!! Here a Chevron.. there a Chevron...

The Chevron has been resurrected! And, boy.. do we see them everywhere?!

Its a pattern that appeals to the modern and the retro. Simple, clean, geometric with oodles of drama factor. Chevrons have found a place in apparel, jewelry and accessories to packaging, home furnishings and... nurseries! A quick search on Pinterest comes up with thousands of fun, fabulous and creative entries and I have many an idea pinned on my Chevron board :)

 We believe that the pattern is here to stay for a bit so, go ahead and add a li'l zig zag to your life!

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

I looked around my son's room and realized that many of his favorite toys didn't have a home. Instead, they usually were strewn about the floor. Since the rain kept us inside today, I grabbed my computer, a shoe box, a jar of Modge Podge, a small paint brush, my toddler, and two pairs of scissors (safety pair for him and a regular pair for me).

We started by going to Disney.com and selecting a bunch of his favorite friends and printing them out. He loved helping with the cutting and gluing. Then, we talked about who his favorite people were and why. Then using the Cars 2 font (Magneto ~ I am a sucker for a good font!) we cut out their names. Then, we finished off the box by decoupaging the images and names on there to make it a bit more durable to spills and tears. I particularly liked this shoe box because the lid is attached. He loved it so much that he was more than willing to put his toys away before naptime. Ka-chow!

Ahh the joys of Easter...

I have to be frank.  I love Easter! It really is one of my favorite holidays. The egg hunts, chocolate bunnies, baskets chock full of goodies..Oh my! So when it is time for us to do our annual Easter party, I am floating on air . This year I put together a centerpiece that incorporates some of my new and old favs. 

Here I used a pillow sham to serve as a stage for my centerpiece (my table is against the wall). Then I found these darling eggs on a stick and arranged them in a vase I had. A bit of raffia and green paper grass and voila! For the lollipop pots, I found these little yellow pails and I just knew that it would give that extra touch of color I was looking for. The gummy lollipops were a way to give a nod to my favorite food group- you guessed it ~ sugar. I cut craft foam to fit the pail and then stuck the lollies in it and covered the craft foam with green shredded paper to finish out the look. All in all, a good fit for our party due to nut allergies. Now if  I can just keep my toddler at bay so that the pots make it to the party, I will be all set! Keep posted for our Easter pics!

Springing ahead...!

So, we are planning and coordinating our first event since we joined forces to be 'My friend and I'! Woo hoo!! We are hopping around with excitement, quite literally. Bunny silhouettes, bunny buntings, bunny food.. if you haven't already guessed, its an Easter party. First up is the color palette. We picked blue, a lime green and warm yellows with hints of pink and purple.

A dozen kids, a bunny sighting, an egg hunt, crafts and coloring, games and goodies, yummy treats, pretty drinks and a whole lot more! Stay tuned!

on a rainy day...

While Spring is almost upon us, here in San Francisco, it feels like we are in the thick of Winter. Its been rainy and cold and what better way to entertain a bunch of boys than to do an easy, fun art project.

The plan: collect rain water; make boats; set boats afloat.
The action: I pulled out a mini tub and while it was busy collecting water, the boys were busy building structures with Lego, had light saber fights, snacked and... made boats. We used standard printer paper, colored with crayons to individualize them.  The crayons also helped waterproof our boats. We folded the li'l squares and soon enough, it morphed into a boat! And, while it was heavy rain, we certainly needed help from a faucet to fill up our tub.

The boys set their boats afloat, and bet on the boat that would stay afloat the longest. Fun!

Staying locked in at home all weekend long wasn't that bad after all! 

Some good fricken chicken!

One of our dear friends threw down the gauntlet and challenged we party guests to 'bring your favorite cookie'. Well, knowing he was an ardent Adidas and friend chicken fan, I thought..hmmm...why not marry my favorite cookie recipe with his loves?

I found this cute idea and just knew it would be a the perfect tongue in cheek gift. The folks at KFC were super kind with my strange drive-thru order of just a small bucket. With that, and some corn flakes, I was all set. I used a paper template to make the drum stick and paired it with an almond sugar cookie recipe. I had some extra dough left so I made this....

Again, I sketched out a paper template, rolled out the dough, and cut the dough around the template. I baked, iced, and then popped the cookies in the freezer to set. I made one of them into a necklace circa a 1980s rapper. Perfect for this Run DMC and Beasty Boys fan who loves Adidas..so much that he and his groomsmen wore them at his recent wedding. Nothing like some cookies to make a birthday 

so sweet!

Won't you be my neighbor?

My neighbors and I recently planned a trip to snow country complete with sledding and food galore. Our little city mice had a grand ole time! The party planner in me thought there was something missing, but I also wanted to keep it casual. So in the spirit of wanting to let our neighbors know how much we love them, here are a few ideas we found soda-lightful!

Mini coke bottles with this darling printable from Love the Day were just the right touch for our pizza party.

After all of that pizza, we wanted a light dessert that would be a crowd pleaser. This Strawberry Angel Trifle was just the ticket!

Breakfast the next morning was complete with pancakes, homemade granola bites, yogurt, fruit, bacon, sausage, and a Breakfast Wreath. The perfect fuel for a wondrous day of sledding!

To round out our breakfast fare, we made little bacon and egg chocolates. We melted white chocolate and topped them with yellow m & m's and pretzels. The kids and adults alike loved the idea and kept sneaking over to the dessert table for more. Overall, it was a rousing weekend of food and fun!

The Luck of the Irish

 Being a bit Irish, I love being able to celebrate this little sliver of my heritage. This raisin soda bread was recently a perfect compliment for a nice cup of tea I shared with J.

I recently put together this yummy treat bucket for St. Patty's Day.  Inside I enclosed yogurt covered pretzels "glued" together with frosting and topped with green frosting make the little clover. Minted chocolate and regular pretzels rounded out the rest.

This began as an ugly popcorn bucket, but I just couldn't resist the impulse to share my shamrock spirit. I re-purposed it by covered in linen burlap, and finished it with a ribbon and felted circles. The printable is from  http://www.therachelberryblog.com/ and tops off this giftable. The printable has options for teachers, loves, and friends alike. Looks like you don't have to be Irish to be lucky after all!

Breaking ground!

As Chris says - we have a condition: a obsessive compulsive condition to plan, make, create, stage and celebrate wonderful events with friends and family. And, today.. we decided to extend it just a tad bit further and help others with planning their events so they can be immersed in the celebration and not the details of execution! We've just launched 'My Friend and I events'. Yay!!