E for Excellent

This morning I learned that Heather included me in her list of top 10 blogs! Thanks so much Heather...you made my day for sure!

For the most part I like to read the blogs from all the creative people at 2 peas...so if you update and post on Maureen's blogger threads at 2 peas chances are I am inspired by you...I could fill some serious space listing all the crafty blogs I have bookmarked, but here are some of my favorites:

Noelia, - super nice blogger from up north

Rachael, - great projects to check out

Posy Gets Cozy - lots of fun things to see...definitely bookmark this one

Paper Trufflez - very nice work from a fellow northwest stamper

My Paper Crane - some of the cutest felt softies around

Daily Dose of Spazz - hip stamper with lots of fun ideas...she always has me crackin' up

The ParTea Planner - lovely tea party ideas

My House is Cuter Than Yours - fun retro stuff here

Cream Puffs in Venice - the most amazing food evah

Pioneer Woman Cooks - yummy comfort food

All Sorts - Whimsical sewing projects

We got snow!!!

A happy snowman bowl of cream of wheat was an order before going out to play!

This is the view out our bedroom window yesterday morning! I quickly ran downstairs to turn on the news and learned we would be having a snow day!!!

I just love how the snow looks on the trees out here.

Dan and Zander had fun making an igloo...I am in awe of the amount of snow we got. As a native of Portland, I'm not used to having enough snow to build much more than a modest snowman.

All the kids got to ride on the sled...this is a huge improvement over last year when we didn't have a sled and used the recycling bin and some rope!

Andrea's Bridal Luncheon 2005

Right before Andrea got married, I threw her a bridal luncheon. She was using hydrangeas in her wedding, so I picked some off our hydrangea bush and used them in the place settings.


This is a menu I made for each place setting. It also had pages with recipes and a little info on the history of tea. The little flip book is held together by a large jump ring with a tea pot charm.


I found these cute organdy purses at Bellenza and they were the perfect pretty party favor.

I even had enough flowers to make this wreath for the front door.

I found these blue icing flowers at the Decorette shop and "glued" them on to the sugar cubes with royal icing.

I made tea sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, scones and had fresh fruit.

The youngest guests at the luncheon had tea in these adorable miniature tea cups I found.

Andrea's Wedding Album

So, it appears I'm on a wedding kick. This is my sister Andrea's album. She got married in 2005. I was 8 months pregnant with Hayden and couldn't sit for very long periods of time, so I put this together kind of fast.

Front cover with Jolee's embellishments (just like my other sister's).

I think it was while I was making this album that it dawned on me to print enlargements for scrapbooking too! (the photos of the pages are taken at a slight angle which makes them look uneven, but in real life they are straight.)

I really like how this photo turned out. I don't remember why I mounted it on black though...I'll blame it on those pregnancy hormones!

I'll blame those flowers on my hormones too. I think I was looking for something to fill the space and not feeling too creative...apparently! At the top are 2 drawing that Natalie made for Andrea. The left one is a bride and groom (stick figure style) and the other is a wedding cake.

All the little flower girls dressed up like little fairies.

Here's my handsome little Zander at 2 and a half years old. The shot of my dad with all the grandkids is so sweet.

This is my favorite photo I took of all the wee ones. Natalie is on the left and Zander is on the right...with my nieces in the middle. Hayden was in my huge belly!

I didn't get too many shots of the ceremony because I was in the wedding as a bridesmaid (looking lovely in my maternity bridesmaid dress!) The reception was held at the Hotel where my sister worked at the time.

Toni's Wedding Album

I have not really created anything lately, but I wanted to post something on my blog. This weekend I picked up my sister to go shopping at Ikea, but beforehand we looked through the wedding album I made for her.

In 2002, my youngest sister Toni got married. Her ceremony was short and sweet and the reception was held at my house. I took all the photos seen in her album...the outdoor shots were taken outside the forest behind our house.

I think this is my favorite shot.

Front cover...Jolee's embelishments sure come in handy!

I traced this dress from a die cut I had and added tulle and flowers.

Here is Natalie as a flower girl...she just turned 7 this year. It's so hard to remember her being this little!

Cutting the cake...in my dining room. One of my neighbors made the cake.

My crazy brother was the best man.

Happy Waiting

These past few days I have been busy trying to catch up on house work. It seems like this time of year I always get the decluttering bug and so that is what I have been doing all week...still not done though.

Anyway, after I got all the kids in bed tonight I really wanted to make a card or something...anything. So I sat down and made this card for my younger sister:

At Christmas, my sister announced that she was expecting baby #2! She is going to be one busy mama because her first is about 9 months old right now. I get tired just thinking about it!!!

I made this card for her from the Swell News set from Stampin' Up! The swirl background is made from a Cuttlebug embossing folder...and just in case you can't read the tab, it says "Happy Waiting!"

Zander's Birthday Roundup

I recently added a birthday party idea link on the right margin, so now I just need to post all the ideas from all the past birthdays. This was Zander's cowboy party last year. Hope you enjoy!

Party Decorations

What cowboy party would be complete without a wanted poster? I found this at my scrapbook store. After the party, I used it in his birthday scrapbook.

Here is the saloon entrance.

Woody and Bullseye are the center of attention around here, so the centerpiece for this table was easy.

The Dining room was transformed into a cowboy room complete with blue tin plates, lanterns, and burlap sack chair covers. I draped a faux barbed wire around the light fixture for another rustic touch. The kiddos all got cowboy boot cups to drink out of and later they would be washed out and taken home as a favor.

Cowboy Grub

Lunch is served. I like to use containers that fit the theme, like putting my "happy trail" mix inside a cowboy hat with a bandanna to protect the hat. I also used various pails and old tin camping dishes for serving containers. Zander wanted "pupcakes" so I found this cupcake stand that worked perfectly. I baked the cupcakes in those new star shaped muffin tins by Reynolds Wrap. Each of the cupcakes was topped with a small plastic horse. Some of the other snacks included chocolate candy that look just like rocks, peanuts, homemade cowboy crackers and rattlesnake eggs (spotted jelly beans).

When I was looking for food for the party, I came across these. I called them Wagon wheels for the party, but I don't have any idea what they are really called. I think they are a Hispanic food. They were in the bulk food section at WINCO near the pasta and rice and they were orange in color and about 1/4 this size. I fried them in oil for about a minute and then drained them and coated with a sugar/cinnamon mix. They were tasty whatever they are.

For lunch we had beans and "little doggies," cowboy crackers, wagon wheels, snacks and chocolate milk served in cowboy boot cups.

It took a few tries, but Zander finally got all 4 candles blown out.

Activities

When guests first arrived we gave them a cowboy hat and made sure to get a photo of each of them sitting with Zander.

Then we mosied on into the kitchen for a cowboy craft. Even cowboys can be crafty ya know! These cowboys made picture frames to put the photo in that was taken earlier.

Zander received so many nice gifts. Here he is unwrapping his Woody doll.



Games
The guests had to "rope" a horse in this game. I wrapped a hula-hoop with rope to make this lasso.

The inspiration for this game came from Toy Story: "There's a snake in my boot." Just like the game I used to play at birthday parties where you drop clothespins into a jar...only this time we dropped snakes into a boot!

This was fun for the kids and entertaining for the adults. We tied powdered doughnuts to a dowel (or broom handle) and told the kids they could get the doughnut, but they couldn't use their hands! It was a tad messy with all the powdered sugar, but what's a good party without a little messy fun?