Sneak Peak

This was last year's costume sneak peak...and in case you missed this post,

no she wasn't a sumo, she was a chicken.

And here we have this years not so sneak peak...can you guess what she is going to be? Cuz if not, that's a bad sign seeing as how the costume is nearly complete. Ommy Sandy came through yet again. This year we didn't have the advantage of a pattern, all we had to go on was a picture. So stay tuned for the finished product. I'm off to attempt my first softie creation today, I'm hoping it will be the icing on the cake. ; )

Bye Baby Bunting...

Mommas gone a hunting, trying to decide just where to hang her most recent sewing project! So i leave it up to you dear readers {yup, all three of you...now who's feeling special?} I can't quite decide where to hang my Halloween bunting...do you like it better on the mirror, or hanging from the mantel. I seem to be leaning towards the mantle, mostly because you get to see all of the flags... but what do you think? I apologize in advance for the less than superior photos,but a) this momma really needs a new camera & b) taking pictures in front of a mirror with recessed lighting is quite a challenge!

This was such a fun little project, and super easy. If you feel like you might be up for a little sewing, all you have to do is google "bunting tutorial". The only materials you need are a selection of cute fabrics and double sided bias tape in the coordinating color of choice. You do not need to be an expert seamstress to pull this off, it was actually very good practice for sewing in a straight line! I do however recommend experimenting with the size and shape triangles you want to use. The particular tutorial i found had a template, but i found it to be a little too large and a little too "perfect" so i just made my own. I have a feeling i will be making one of these babies for each of the upcoming holidays. A good excuse to buy some cute fabric and spruce up the fireplace i think! This one actually coordinates with the tablecloth i sewed for Ruby's little table, & by sewing i mean hemmed. : )

Come And Sit A Spell...

I have been excited for Christmas since we first moved into our new place...so excited to finally have a fireplace; a place to hang our stockings and set up my ever growing collection of bottle brush trees, not to mention a cozy place to sip hot coco while enjoying a crackling fire. And while Christmas will have to wait awhile longer, the first holiday we will spend here is Halloween and so I decided to decorate a little more than I have in years past. Partially because i just love any excuse to decorate and partially to tide me over until Christmas...which will appear immediately after Thanksgiving has past...if I can make it that long...

I. Love. Christmas.


I'm really not into the spooky side of Halloween, which might confuse some of you after viewing my photos. I am however very into Dia De Los Muertos. My large bride and groom paper mache skeletons (or Mr. & Mrs. Skullybones as Ruby calls them) were actually Christmas presents from my parents last year. Yup, skeletons for Christmas, that's how i roll. I fell in love with them at the flea market and told my mom i'd be the happiest girl in long beach if she would be gracious enough to buy them for my birthday.

You have no idea how excited i was when she actually said yes, despite the fact i was going to have to wait several months before actually getting to enjoy them. I consider these beauties to be the finest pieces of Day Of The Dead art that i own. They are even more impressive in person with glitter embellishments, paper flowers and hand painted details. I can totally understand that they aren't for everyone, but, I. Love. Them. And if you're confused by the fact that i asked for them as a birthday present but received them on Christmas, that's because my mom is a sneaky girl. She found a way to make a gift i chose myself a complete surprise by giving them to me before i was expecting them. : )

As for the rest of the decor, all of the smaller trees in shades of Halloween are part of my larger Christmas collection. The owl and smaller paper mache skeleton are from Roger's Gardens last year and the black cat is from Michael's. I also had fun with my cute little ghost pumpkins which i could have easily gotten carried away with. Fortunately my "thrifty" husband was with me on our trip to the pumpkin patch to keep me in check! ; )

Welcome...

BOO!

a glowing witch's brew...

on our coffee table...

i heart candy corn...mmmmm...

yet another ghost pumpkin...

From a different angle...

So that's it, hope you enjoyed our little Halloween e-open house. All i have left to do is sew my halloween bunting...all my triangles are cut, just have to hem them all up. I'll post pictures when it's finished. How do you decorate for fall? Got anything spooky up your sleeves?

A Colorful Affair {Picture Perfect Birthday}

So here are the long over due pictures of Ruby's Second Birthday that I promised a hundred years ago. Long story short, I had to wait for my sister/photographer extraordinaire to mail the disc to me and by the time it came my computer was out of commission and in for repairs. When it finally came back it took me awhile to find our software to reinstall. So there you have it...now on to the good stuff. Be warned, I am posting a LOT of photos. But when your sister takes over a hundred pictures, it's very hard to narrow it down to just a few. So this is what you get!

So the first picture is of a cast iron sign i bought at the flea market. It came with this hideous sign that someone had painted. My plan was to give it a little makeover by means of chalkboard paint. As soon as i laid eyes on it, i envisioned using it for parties and Ruby's was the perfect first event to break it in. I intended to paint it in time for Ru's party (the night before), but it turns out chalkboard paint has to cure for 24 hours before you can write on it...so not pleased with myself for waiting till the last minute. Alas, no time to sulk, had to figure out a creative alternative. The metal sheet that my dad cut to replace the old sign was magnetic so i put the old refrigerator alphabet to use...actually turned out kinda cute i think!


The birthday girls grand entrance...

Tissue paper pom poms and kids seating...


The party favors (on top) ...crayon rolls hand crafted

by Ommie Sandy and myself...

Personalized Composition Notebooks for the kids to color on....

The theme we decided to go with was "COLOR", plain and simple....it started off with the idea to do bright colored tissue paper pom-poms that i stole from who else, my old friend Martha. You can steal them too by going here. I was trying to figure out what to do for party favors when i remembered this great tutorial for crayon rolls i found on this super creative blog. I always prefer handmade to store bought, and i have a mother in law who is always up for my overzealous endeavors, so i decided to go for it. They came out super cute, unfortunately i didn't take any photos of them open for display...another post i suppose. I used Alexander Henry fabric which i adore and could spend a lifetime looking for projects/excuses to buy more of it. I had originally planned to put loose paper out for the kids to color on when i came across these colorful composition notebooks at Target (much cuter than the traditional black & white) and then thought of the idea to personalize them for each kiddo. I had my sister in law write up the names and then i decoupaged them onto the notebooks. I was pretty happy with how they turned out.

PB Kids umbrellas and cute little tablecloths....

AND table runners...of course...

I wanted to have pint sized seating for the littles, and i wanted it to go with the rest of the decor. So, we sewed mini tablecloths and table runners for all three kids tables. For centerpieces i put tiny flower arrangements and little bowls of goldfish crackers along with mason jars of chubby crayons for the kids to color with.

We didn't really have any planned activities as most of our guests were two and under...just coloring, sidewalk chalk and of course a bounce house. Let me tell you how much my kid LOVES to bounce...i would swear to you that she dreams about it at night. And in the day time she substitutes our bed and or sofa in lieu of a bouncer. Eighty bucks well spent i tell you. She bounced with EVERYone at one time or another, until they took that sucker away, at eight pm, and then she was sad. : )

Coca de Mexico....

I spy with my little eye...pigs n' a blanket, pb n' j & mac n' cheese

Love all the color in this photo.

Bouncing with Ommie

Jeremy & Josh

Can you tell my sister was a hit with the kids?

Too cute...

Naila and her Momma

Mrs. Parks & Rec...AKA PB&J Maker Extraordinaire

Coloring is serious business!

Of course when it came to the cake we had to keep our theme going...I made a six inch cake for Ruby and rainbow cupcakes for everyone to eat. The kids loved picking which color cupcake to eat and i loved not having to cut cake!

Mini-cake with her Josef doll...

Rainbow "cakes"... to go with our COLOR theme


She of course chose a pink cake...

Clara decided to go with purple...

The lineup... : )

I really enjoy planning parties and i'm SO lucky to have such great family and friends to help turn my visions into realities. Talk about a group effort! My mother in law Sandy helped me with all the sewing projects & my mom came over the night before to help bake all those cupcakes and iron the many tablecloths. My sister in law Amanda helped with the Pom-Poms and anything that had to do with writing. My friend Jen came early to help me with food prep while my dad helped out on the grill and my sister Michelle was kind enough to take all the beautiful pictures you just looked at. Unfortunately Daniel had to go out of town at the last minute and wasn't able to be there for the actual party, so i don't know what i would have done without all the help. A HUGE thankyou to everyone for donating their time and talents to make Ruby's Second Birthday such a special day!

My sissies Lynne & Michelle...in opposite order. Michelle & Lynne just doesn't sound right!

Two Too Soon...

I realize I am a few weeks behind with this post, but that's actually a good thing. You see, I tend to be an all or nothing sort of person...Ruby turned two three weeks ago and I am just now getting around to blogging about it. How is any of this related you ask? Well, I tend to live life in absolutes, time lines, etc...meaning, in my mind this post should have been done on Ru's actual birthday or not at all. Sounds silly I know, but that's how my twisted brain works. Normally I would have stayed up late to complete this on time, no matter the circumstances or how stressed out it made me or what else fell to the wayside as a result. I am trying to be better about really enjoying my time at home with my girl and not being so concerned with crossing things off my self imposed to-do list in a timely manner (ie. posting on my blog). I also entend to do a seperate post on the birthday party, but I'm waiting on the amazing photos taken by my sister. That being said, here is a glimpse of my favorite girl at age two!

Ruby Lou,
I can't believe how fast the last two years have flown by! You are such a funny little person now. I still call you "the baby" though I swore I would never be one of those parents, but now I understand. You will always be my baby no matter how big you get and let me tell you, you aren't exactly small considering you're only two years old! You are 36 inches tall and weigh 29 1/2 pounds. You're off the charts in height and your daddy is a little worried you are going to be uber tall, but I know you will be perfect. You still love momma to rock you before bed, but you have a very hard time getting comfortable due to all those long limbs.

Enjoying your pink doughnut and getting a birthday high five...

You are definitely a girly girl. You love pink, it is your favorite color and every morning when i ask "what should you wear today?" I get the same answer, "PINK!" You love accessories of any kind, hats, watches, necklaces and your favorite, "Sunnies". Whenever I put you in a dress or a skirt you yell "dance!" and proceed to do so. You love to have your nails painted and list everyone you know and the color of their toes. I have a feeling you are going to have a shoe collection that will rival Imelda Marcos when you are older...I have never met a two year old who is so excited to wear new shoes as you are, it literally puts a pep in your step! Just this morning I got a new pair of chucks from your closet and the first thing you said was "fit?" (I always tell you when we're trying something on to see if it fits). You also LOVE to wear other peoples shoes...momma's, daddy's, onnie's, you don't discriminate, but heels are your favorites, hands down!

Pink Jams Daddy brought you from Thailand, Tierra momma got you at the Target $1 bin... : )

You love to have books read to you, but you also love to "read" to yourself. I love walking in on you surrounded by a pile of books just jabbering away. You have also started pretending and it's so funny to here you play with your doll house. It usually sounds something like this..." jibber jabber, jibber jabber, mommy, daddy, no no no!" You know all your colors and you love to count to ten in English and Spanish. You learn new words every day and I just can't get over it. Pretty soon your vocabulary will be better than mine!

Cute things you say:
"Hold you"- Pick me up.
"Self"- I want to do it myself.
"Pooter"-This is what you say when daddy's not home and you want to Skype.
"No not"- This is what you say mischievously every time I tell you I love you!
"Peasant"-This is what you call your doll stroller, even though you know the word for stroller, because it was your birthday present.

You pushin' your "peasant" with your new baby tucked inside...