penny carnival

The Little Red Riding Hood birthday party

Hooray for another birthday party! Last night was Magpie's Little Red Riding Hood-themed 2nd birthday. These are getting more fun all the time--so many kids running around the house, so much excitement beforehand, so much more time for the grownups to catch up with each other now that the little ones are more self sufficient. 

Something always goes a little wrong, but that's part of the fun, right? Right?! 

Besides, the look on this face makes the mad scramble at the end worth it:

 

You can see more pictures/details on my About.com Kids' Parties site.

You might notice that she's clutching a couple of her birthday gifts there--a stuffed pig and a plastic giraffe. Almost every picture I took last night shows her with those two toys in her hands. I guess she took a liking to them right away.

She's also wearing another gift--this apron I sewed her (modeled by Lulu the lamb the other day so I didn't ruin the surprise):

 

I wish I'd had more time to make her some other handmade gifts. On my to-do list were a Mimi Kirchner doll (dressed as Little Red Riding Hood), a felt cake and a camping blanket, but time ran out. Oh, well. There's always Christmas.

Anyhoo, she was happy to get the apron, especially after having to borrow her big sister's for the last year or so. Magpie is an avid cook--I can't make anything without her "helping" these days--so I'm glad I got that project done for her.

Moving on ... to Christmas. 

I really don't see the point in decorating the house for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, but we're not going to be here for it, and why put the effort into decorating for Christmas if it's only up for a few weeks?

So we pulled out the crates labeled "Christmas" today and put a few things out. 

 

The big hit was the nativity set (the one I let them play with). You wouldn't believe the adventures Mary, Joseph and Jesus had today. My goodness. Did you know Mary is a princess? Yep. 

The best part, though, was that every time Bo would say something about "the baby Jesus," Magpie would look up and ask me for a "cheese stick." 

Tutorial: Coloring Book Birthday Party Favor

Have I mentioned here that I used to be a teacher? Eighth grade. Language arts and U.S. history. Three years in the late 1990s. I won't go into the why-I'm-no-longer-a-teacher thing tonight (the kids were great; it's just not what I wanted to do forever), but I will share two things I learned from the experience:

No. 1: Drinking a shandy is a great way to end the week. I'm having one now. Coors Light with about an inch of Sprite at the top. Delicious. I picked that up from an Australian exchange teacher we had with us one year. That may or may not have been the same night that the middle-aged science teacher flashed her boobies in the bar where our staff gathered on Friday nights. It was a small town. I'm not sure what she was thinking. But it was hilarious.

No. 2: Students try harder on writing projects if you tell them you're going to bind their work into a hardback book when they're done. 

The old book-binding trick came to mind the other night when I was trying to think of what favors to give at Magpie's Little Red Riding Hood birthday party this Saturday.

The original plan was to make red hats shaped like hoods (similar to last year's elf hats for the woodland party) and wolf ears for everyone, but time is not on my side this year.

So, instead, I made hardback coloring books that tell the story of Little Red in pictures. The kids will get them along with a small pack of Crayons for their colorin' pleasure. 

 

The faux bois fabric is from Jo-Ann's. 

Wish I could say I had the skillz and the time to do the drawings myself, but I just used some pictures from one of those freebie coloring page sites.

For the photo-illustrated how-to, visit my About.com Kids' Parties site. 

The girls and I also made a pretend forest in our foyer the other day because what Little Red Riding Hood party is complete without some trees made from empty carpet tubes?

 

 

 

That tutorial will be coming soon.

Now we just need some food, a cake, some gifts and a wolf. Stay tuned.

Halloween costumes 2009

Just a quick note to show the Halloween costumes I made for the girls.

Magpie was a pirate and Bo was Glenda the Good Witch ... for about three hours. Then she decided her costume was too scratchy so she put on the Cinderella dress I made for her birthday. Ay caramba. I did the same thing to my mom every year from about 1980 until 1985. Payback's a beeyatch! I would have gladly skipped the Thursday night wrestling match with three yards of tulle if she hadn't begged for it in the fabric store. Who's in charge here? Oh. These two are:

 

 

 

About to be blown away to Oz:

J and I dressed up, too, but he won't let me post the photo. (Every party has a pooper and he's the pooper of the party. I tell him that sometimes. Somehow it doesn't inspire him to be less of a party pooper. Did I tell you I am an awesome wife?!). Our costumes were very last minute. I bought us both Superman T-shirts and we wore them under white dress shirts with the buttons halfway undone. We also wore black-rimmed eye glasses. You get the picture. Clark Kent about to become Superman. I'll try harder next year.

The craft room has seen some serious action in the past week. Last night I frantically stitched up a pair of Montessori slippers for Magpie's first day at her big sister's school. Very exciting. I'd show you a picture, but the slippers hardly had time to be in existence before they were whisked away and put to use in the actual school this morning. 

And this week is all about preparing for Magpie's Little Red Riding Hood birthday party this weekend. Oh, and working. Not sure how it's all going to get done, but it always does. Details coming soon ... 

P.S. The pirate costume was Simplicity 3680 ... with some serious shortcuts. The Glenda dress was Simplicity 4139 ... with some serious tulle.

About ... my new gig. And little red riding hood love

I'm pretty sure I hinted that I was up to something new behind the scenes. Did I say it sometime last week? Last month? Honestly, the days are running together and I'm quite proud of myself for remembering to wear pants today. Sometimes I even brush my teeth (but not if I go to bed after midnight, in which case I wear my pants).

Are you following me?

Anyhow, for the past two months I've been preparing for a new writing/crafting gig that just went live the other day. I'm the new "guide" to kids' birthday parties and other celebrations on About.com.

Here's my new site:

kidsparties.about.com

It's really a writing job, but I'm planning on putting all sorts of birthday- and party-related tutorials on there (hence, the crafts). I'll always alert Penny Carnival readers here when there's a new toot there, but feel free to bookmark that link, too, for your party-planning pleasure. Just some basic stories are up right now and links to existing articles from other guides, but I'll be adding content almost daily so check back often.

Can you believe someone is actually paying me to write about how to throw birthday parties?! This is right up my alley. Really, it is a TON of work, especially as I've had to learn their whole formatting, programming gobbley goop (Hello! HTML coding?! Who has to do that anymore? Why don't they just use Typepad? Oh, because then their site would look as crappy as my blog does right now. I see.)

But besides the late nights, I'm having a blast brainstorming all sorts of birthday themes and crafts and decorations. And with the holidays coming, I've been writing about how to throw Christmas parties for kids (Caroling! Polar Express in Your PJs! Gingerbread House Making!) and what to do for Hanukkah and New Year's Eve and everything. By the way, we're totally going to celebrate Kwanzaa this year. I hate to admit it, but I didn't know a thing about it until I wrote a little article for about.com. What a beautiful holiday!

Rest assured, it is not going to be a site about how to throw over-the-top Super Sweet 16s and how to beat other parents for the best party favors. Good grief! You can read more about my kids' parties philosophy of the bottom of my bio page.

By the way, I also am featuring "real" parties on the site, so please, please, please tell me about any fun ones you've thrown and send me pictures. kidsparties.guide@about.com.

So without further delay, here's one of my first tutorials for the site: How to make birthday invitations by creating a fabric collage, scanning it, and then printing it out. 

 

Step-by-step photo instructions at that link above.

I made those invites today for Magpie's 2nd birthday party (like how I'm multitasking?), which will have a Little Red Riding Hood theme.

Speaking of Little Red, a friend hired me to make matching Red Riding Hood capes for her daughter and her for Halloween. I didn't get a shot of the little one, but here's the mama version:

I'm kind of in love with Little Red Riding Hood right now (as if you can't tell).

OK. An hour until midnight. Maybe I'll make this a pajamas-and-clean-teeth kind of night. Maybe I'll even floss!!!!

G'night.

Birthday party planning and other tidbits

I'm knee deep in a work project right now. Did I say knee? I meant neck. It's time consuming but fun, and I'll tell y'all about in a few days.

Deadlines aren't what they used to be, though. When I worked full time for newspapers I used to thrive on knowing a story had to be filed by 9 p.m. After being wherever I had to be to cover the news, I'd have half the thing written in my head by the time I got back to my desk. And if I didn't, I was in trouble.

Everything changes with kids, though, especially when you work from home. Except when the girls are at preschool, there's never a guarantee that I'll have time to focus on what I'm doing and get it done by the time my editors need it. That uncertainty is more stressful than any breaking news ever was.

A phrase we seem to keep repeating around here is "It is what it is." In other words, quit complaining. Be grateful for the fascinating careers/assignments/life we have. Get it done. And move on. 

But here's a phrase I came across tonight--on Sarah Jane Studio's blog--that I like much better:

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." -Thomas S. Manson

I wish that had been in my head last night as I was frantically trying to get the dishes done before bedtime while Magpie was crying and tugging on my leg, begging for my attention. Instead of turning off the water, parking my rear on the floor and loving her up, I scrubbed those pots clean like a madwoman ... and eventually let all the noise turn me into, well, a mad woman. 

Ridiculous. I'm not advocating being at kids' beck and call at all times (they need to learn patience, right?) but two minutes of quality time probably would have calmed her down and allowed me to finish the dishes in peace.

I read something once that said even if we do something we regret with our kids--even if it happened just a second ago--we have the option of changing our direction and taking a more positive route. In the next moment. Right then and there. Turn the corner. Don't look back. 

I don't know how that looks when your kids are older, but at 2 and 4, usually that means shifting gears from frustration to total silliness. Usually that comes naturally to me. Other times, the dishes win. Grrr ... moving on. 

I really just meant to pop on here to share a few tidbits:

-I'm getting a lot of hits right now on my pumpkin carving tutorial from last year. Just thought I'd post a link to it here to make it easier for newbies to find.

-Everybody and their brother also seems to want to bake an owl cake right now (based on Google searches that find their way to Penny Carnival). You can read about my adventures with owl cakes here and here.

-At some point, I'm going to have to start planning Magpie's second birthday party. The original idea was to make it a parade-themed party, which was inspired by these invitations I ordered. 

Aren't they adorable? They're even cuter in person, with their sweet little rounded corners and all.

But the weather has become downright frigid here, so I'm not sure I want to subject a bunch of kids to a late-October prance around the neighborhood. I think I'll save the invitations for Bo's July birthday, since she's the one who's been begging for a neighborhood parade anyway. A parade party could be so much fun--tell the kids to bring their bikes/strollers/wagons, have a stash of streamers and flags they can use to decorate their rides, do the parade thing (inviting neighbors to cheer them on), then come back to the house and serve a long, skinny cake that's frosted to look like a street. 

So I'm working on a Plan B now. Little Red Riding Hood birthday party? Three Little Bears? Alice in Wonderland tea party? Vintage circus? Hedgehogs? Mary Had a Little Lamb? OK, I need to have more kids so I can fulfill all my toddler birthday fantasies.
Update: I just want to acknowledge that I realize the birthday theme should be all about what the kid wants, but Magpie is at an age where everything is awesome to her. "Do you like moldy bread?" "I like mo-wee bed." "Do you like Brussel sprouts?" "I like bussybouts." 

Other things I'm loving right now:

-This idea for thank-you cards (just in time!)

-A work-in-progress by Anna Maria Horner. I will never get tired of rainbows.

-A lovely white dress

-and Art Nest Studio's (a.k.a. Susannah, the highly talented portrait artist) fawn softie pattern. Oooh ... another birthday theme possibility. Those could be the favors!

The princess party

I will spare everyone the details of my inner turmoil over Bo's princess birthday party yesterday. You already know how I feel about the princess trend, so, yes, it was kind of hard to see my daughter go so bananas for all things pink and princessy over the last few weeks. There's no doubt that it has caught her attention, though, so we just tried to avoid the Disney stuff and focus on the fairy tales and the magic of it all. In the end, it was a very sweet birthday party and, needless to say, Bo was over the moon. Which is kind of the point, huh?

Here are some shots of the fun we had ...

First the princess cupcakes, starting with a crown:

And then a glass slipper:

And my personal favorite, the pumpkin:

And here's how it all looked together:

Bo wanted to put the top cupcake in this cute little birdie I found the other day at Goodwill, so we added it later:

I had a grocery-store bakery make the cupcakes and frost them, and then I made the fondant toppers based on some ideas I'd seen on Flickr. I know in the past I've touted the ease of making your own fondant out of marshmallows and powdered sugar, but--holy cow--that box of fondant you can buy at Michael's is even easier. And it doesn't taste that bad, especially if you're 4 years old or so.

To decorate the table, we used our handy-dandy "hip hip hooray" banner from last year:

I made princess party hats using the same method we made rainbow hats last year, except I added a bit of tulle and star garland to fancy them up a bit. 

We don't like to go overboard with gifts, and Bo was just as thrilled to get some simple things she really likes, like a pack of bubble gum, a bicycle helmet (pink, of course), and a battery-operated keyboard I found for $5 at a garage sale (FYI, we're totally regretting that one this morning. Don't do it!!).

I knew, though, that what she really wanted was a princess dress. So this is what I made.

Cinderella, following McCalls 5494:

I used cotton to try to tone it down. It's quite a full dress, though, and sewing the bodice to the skirt was like sewing a quilt because it was so thick. 

By the end of the party, she had to try it on.

And she pretty much hasn't taken it off since.

I also made her a Princess Fiona (from Shrek) dress.

Yes, the sleeves are ridiculously long. They're supposed to be flowy and Medieval, but they're really just hard for her to deal with. I'll shorten them when I get a chance.

But my favorite gifts Bo received were the homemade cards from her friends and cousins.

She loves them, too, and keeps asking me to read them to her this morning.

The 'P' word

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any length of time is going to love this:

Bo wants a princess birthday party this year.

Arrgh!! What is a feminist, Disney-loathing mom to do?

I'm actually not freaking out too badly (especially compared with J). In fact, believe it or not, a princess birthday was my suggestion.

She was starting to talk about having a Hawaiian-themed party after attending a luau at her cousin's school. But I could tell she wasn't in love with that idea, and I've been watching her slowly start to pay attention to princesses over the last few months.

It was never our plan to completely ban something she took a natural liking too. We just didn't want to be the ones to suggest it or introduce her to it, especially since we don't like how Disney over markets itself to young kids and because of the whole girl-rescued-by-a-boy theme in most of the stories (some of you have kindly pointed out in the past that many of the princesses are quite strong characters in the stories. Thank you. They still have giant boobs.).

So she was talking about the luau party the other day when I had a sort of out-of-body experience and heard myself say, "You know, I think a luau would be fun, but I've been hearing you talk about princesses lately. Maybe you want a princess party this year."

"YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Now we have two months to come up with a princess party that she'll love--and one that her father and I are willing to attend. I'm still trying to steer clear of the Disney characters and go with a non-commercial theme. I'm struggling a bit, though, and would love to anyone's suggestions. Here are some ideas I've gathered so far:

For party favors--

"Gold" crowns made from lace, a beautiful project by Bitter Betty.

For the cake--

The Princess and the Pea (a story she loves), by Seven Cakes

Or maybe a simple cake with this Cinderella topper from an awesome online shop called Bake It Pretty:

I love how pissy Cindy looks. 10 points for whoever can come up with the best caption for what the happy couple is saying.

For a gift--

A princess dress sewn from a pattern like this one. Yes, a Disney brand. I know. But maybe I'll switch the colors up a bit, just to put a personal stamp on it. And to give my kids one more thing to discuss in therapy 20 years from now.

For fun--

Make a plywood drawing of princesses and princes with holes where the kids can put their faces for photos, like this from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle:

OK. Help me. I think I'm getting a cavity just looking at all the sweetness when I do a Google image search for "princess party." Thanks.

Last-minute handmade Valentines

Need some quick ideas for handmade Valentines ... like I do?

I just wrote a roundup of links to some adorable ideas on my other blog. Most of them came from the Crafty Crow, so you could head there, too.

This one from Full Circle is my favorite--a bouquet of poppies, each one containing a Dum Dum sucker inside. Our preschool doesn't allow candy, so I'm trying to think of something else I could use in place of the sucker. A pipe cleaner? A pencil?

Anyone know of other good links to Valentine's fun?

Out of the woods

Last night's woodland-themed first birthday party for Magpie was a success--simple, small and a little bit silly. The kids looked adorable in their elf hats and were great sports about wearing them for a photo (I want to get some parental permission before I post those pictures here). 

I hung the "hip hip hooray" banner I'd made for Bo's birthday this summer.

The cake saga ended with a fun and easy solution. After our oven broke, I gave up trying to do anything too complicated. I ordered two round cakes from a grocery store bakery, asked them to frost them very simply with light pink, and then I fondanted them up the night before the party. 

I'd never even eaten fondant before, let alone work with it (I understand it's all the rage at weddings today, but when most of my friends and I got married fondant was still something only to be enjoyed on the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings). 

I followed the simplest recipe ever, found here, but it's not even as complicated as that write up makes it seem. Just put a cup of mini marshmallows plus 1 tablespoon of water in a bowl and microwave it for 20-30 seconds. Stir it up with a spoon. Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar. Stir until you have a gummy paste. Pull off a blob of it, add a bit of food coloring and work it in. It helps to grease your hands with a little bit of shortening, and feel free to add more powdered sugar if the fondant gets to moist. Then make whatever shape you want. 

I'm sure there are fondant purists who would cringe at a recipe that calls for marshmallows, but from what I hear real fondant tastes terrible and what I made wasn't bad at all (it tastes like super sweet marshmallows, as you can imagine). 

I can't take any credit for the look of the owl cake. I found these photos on Flickr of a cake made by a real baker and just did my best to come within a mile of the cuteness she achieved. Take a look at her other stuff while you're there. A.dor.a.ble.

I was just dinking around with the "B" cake. Doesn't exactly have a woodland theme. (FYI--Magpie's real first name starts with B.)

Anyhow, we have a hiatus on birthdays for a while (minus a couple of gifts that need to be made, including a Waldorf doll I might attempt for a little girl this weekend). You know what that means ... crafty Christmas is up next! Oh, boy. 

I'm thinking of making it a 100 percent handmade Christmas this year. To me, that means that all the gifts we give will either be made by ourselves or purchased by a local artisan or on Etsy. Anyone else attempting this too (or am I the only crack head on the block?)? Wish me luck. I'm probably a few months behind already, so we'll see.

Making hats, making progress

It's been a busy week here at Penny Carnival, but I've managed to make five of the elf hats for Magpie's woodland-themed birthday party on Sunday. Four more to go. Just to recap, I made these following Amy Karol's pattern in Bend the Rules Sewing. They're going to be the party favors. Do the brown leaf ones look boyish enough for the little fellas? Will the girls balk if their hats are gray instead of pink? As the mother of two girls, I get so dang sick of pink. 

I also finished the gray dress that was supposed to be Magpie's party outfit, but hello huge mondo. She just had her 12 month check up and she's on the way big size (her head circumference is off the charts! Poor kid takes after her mom and her papa) but she's still not big enough for this enormous dress I sewed her. Looks like it's going in the closet for a few months. Hopefully I'll have time to whip up a smaller version by Sunday. 

The little yo-yo flower wasn't part of the original plan. It's covering the result of a disastrous encounter the dress had with the sewing machine as I was trying to make buttonholes. 

Putting a glitch in my cake debate is the fact that my oven broke. Hmmm ... I have a Plan D brewing.