Snow Days

What a crazy winter.  With all the testing lately (Reading 3D, Portfolios, AimsWeb, Discovery Ed..yikes!) I know we were all excited about a snow day.  Three may have been a bit much though.  There is only so much fun you can have without leaving your house.  We made the most of it.  Who knows when we will get this much snow again.

Happy Birthday Mallory

Mallory's birthday was back at the end of September and I am just now getting her party pics uploaded.  I'm so glad I started planning over the summer. Going back to school takes up ALL of your time (just about)!  I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to pull it all together, but I got pretty lucky.  It turned out super cute.  

Making all the food took some time. I stayed up pretty late the night before.  It also helped that my parents kept Mallory and I scheduled her party for late afternoon.  The birthday girl loves some cake pops! Who can resists! She gobbled up some cupcakes too like a child who has been deprived of sweets!  

Thanksgiving Craft 2013

We love our crafts, but how to change it up?  Well this year we went for something a little more rustic.  All you need to recreate this cute craft is..orange construction paper, a role of burlap (found at your local craft store for around $4.00), finger paint, ribbon, and stamps.  I hot glued the burlap to the construction paper by placing a small glue dot in each corner.  Be careful when pressing the burlap down as the glue will go through and can burn your fingers. Next, I painted Mallory's hand and pressed it down on the burlap.  Once it was dry I used my stamps to spell out Happy Thanksgiving.  You don't need to run out and buy colored ink pads.  Just use your finger to apply finger paint to the stamp.  Once your finished wipe the stamps with a wet cloth.  Hot glue a bow and you are all set! Gobble Gobble!  

Happy Halloween

Halloween this year was so much fun! Mallory is old enough to really understand what to do and say - TRICK OR TREAT! She was so cute climbing up stairs and running up to doors to ring the doorbells.  She couldn't quite reach, but I helped her out.  Our little Minnie Mouse was a huge hit! Of course she scrapped her new shoes before we even made it past our house, but other than that we returned unscathed.  She even managed to convince us to let her eat not one but two lollipops on our outing.  Her first lollipops ever...that I know of....Yikes! She is turning into a candy fiend!

DIY Finger Paint

I'm always a tiny bit paranoid about the things manufacturers put in their products. and  some would even say I'm a kind of ubber protective when it comes to Mallory.  I'm sure washable paint is fine and I have used it for crafts with Mallory before, but if she's going to be covered all over in something and possibly ingest it, I want to know for sure there is nothing that could hurt or irritate her.  That said, I decided to make my own finger paint.  It was so simple.  Mallory loves vanilla Greek yogurt. Stir in some food coloring and you're all set.  She used paint brushes instead of her fingers.  She was a mess by the time it was all over.  She painted on construction paper and I had to change out the sheet about 3 times as they kept getting soggy.  Of course, if your painting with a food product you probably aren't going to be able to hang your masterpiece on the wall so take lots of pictures. 

Minnie Mouse Party Planning

I am super excited about Mallory's second birthday.  I will have to say I never knew how much time and planning goes into a child's birthday party.  I am obsessed.  I spin all my free time on pinterest pinning Minnie Mouse party ideas and practicing to see what I can make myself and what should be bought! Of course with the amount of time and money I have put in to practicing I might as well have saved myself the trouble and paid someone.  My first practice session was with the Minnie cupcakes.  I have seen tons of them on Pinterest, but I have decided these are the cutest and the simplest as well.  I got the party cups at the Hob Lob.  I learned from baking this batch that you should not fill them up over half way.  A little less is best because you don't want the cupcake puffing up over the top.  If you happen to fill them too full just cut off the top to make it flat.  Be sure to pipe your icing to cover the entire cupcake top.  I used yellow cake this time, but will use vanilla when I make them for the party.  The icing is cream cheese with a little neon pink gel food coloring.  I am going for the Preppy Minnie look.  Check out these free printables on Whimsically Detailed.  I piped the icing on twice, meaning that after piping one time I went back and did the same thing again not always starting at the outside and working in.  I just started my second piping where I thought it needed it most, but the goal is to make it fuller and higher.  You will need at least 2 tubs of icing. Once the icing is on I sprinkled on the pink pearls (Pearl Nonpareils - $4.49 at Hobby Lobby) and stuck in 2 chocolate melts for the ears.  These are just the regular chocolate ones that can be bought the cheapest at Walmart.  I'm thinking about using the black ones for the party, but you can't find those everywhere.  Well there you have it Minnie Mouse cupcakes and I actually told you what I used to make them.  That's my problem with all this pinning.  No one ever tells you where they got there supplies or what they actually are using.  I have scoured over the pictures trying to figure out what people used for the ears and how or where they bought the edible bows.  I like how these turned out.  They weren't too hard and I'm pretty sure the other ones were much more work!

Next week cake pops! Stay tuned for more practice sessions as I narrow down the party menu.  Mallory will be TWO soon.  She will be so excited with all the Minnie themed food!

Foot Print Crafts

A few weeks ago I started planning for Mallory's 2nd birthday party.  It is going to be a Minnie Mouse bash.  There are so many neat ideas on Pinterest and I want to try them all! It's hard to know what I can do myself and what I need to break down and buy.  So I started practicing.  Practicing you say..what does that mean?  Well, I am going to try making everything I want to have at the party to see if I can really do it or not.  So far I have had success with the cupcakes and cake pops.  I will post more on those later.  I also made a paper wreath out of Disney paper, which brings me to my latest craft.  I had a few sheets of paper left over.  The sheets without designs going all the way across the page.  I didn't think I would use them, but the Pluto page was perfect for a butterfly.  Mallory and I  had a few cards we needed to make so we set to work.  Next time I think I might add a ribbon to the top or maybe a bow.  We will be making a get well card tomorrow, but we are out of Pluto paper.  Time to think up something else. :)

Be sure the place feet on the opposite side, not how you would normally stand.  That way they are facing outward and resemble wings.  Then draw the body of the butterfly and add in the flight pattern with a sharpy. 

I used washable paint for the footprints and also for my stamps.  I just brush the paint on the stamp with my finger.  It wipes right off when your finished.  Using paint instead of stamp pads gives you more options as far color and stamp size.