Cakes, Cakes and More Cakes

It is about that time again! It is time for me to start thinking about Birthday parties! My little girl will be 3 in April and my son will be 6 in May. Oh how time flies! :(

I usually try to starting putting cake and theme detail together about a month or so in advance. April is rapidly approaching and it has not been decided what my little girls party will be. Her thoughts and ideas....Ponies, "Straberry Orkcake", Tinkerbell. Of course with a 2 year old, it is never the same answer. So goal for the week is to determine which one for birthday #3.

A little background into my reign as Birthday Cake Maker Extraordinaire!(only joking...I do NOT claim this title at all!...the whole cake decorating thing stresses me out a little!)

My mom always made birthday cakes for my sister and I. I remember her getting up early on birthday morning..rarin' to go! (okay not always fully awake, but ready to make us a fun, cute cake) She would squeeze out those tiny little stars until her hand was about to fall off. Of course what child truly appreciates all that effort. I loved the cakes and thought it was pretty cool that my mom could produce such wonderful cakes.

Fast forward to my sons first birthday:

As I got older, I said..."When I have kids I will just buy their cakes."

I went shopping months in advance to find the perfect 1st birthday cake for my son. I was kind of disappointed in the lack of variety and the cost. UGH!

I did what I said that I would not! :) I decided on a theme and proceeded to attempt to make his 1st birthday cake. It was like on Cake Boss...me leading with my ideas and visions and my mom assisting me in the endeavor.

I had decided to make a cute little yellow duck. The duck was sitting in a pool of water.

Let me just say, we had a crazy, exhausting and fun bonding time that we will never forget. As the years have past, I have enjoyed creating their birthday cakes year after year. My mom is still my assistant and is usually the encourager. I have this tendency to get a little stressed in the middle of it. Thinking...I am really not sure this one is going to turn out. But, they have always turned out better than I would have ever thought possible.

The Infamous Duck:

A couple of cakes from previous years:

I will update when we have decided on a cakes for this year!

WANTED: Fairy Godmother!

I am sure most have walked around their house and thought...If only I could wave my Magic Wand and have this whole place organized and clean. Well right now, I am really wishing I had a Fairy Godmother who could wave that Magic Wand for me!

Changing out clothes for the season, results in a BIG MESS!

Crafting projects EVERYWHERE!

Kids toys that are in every room of the house at this point..

Consignment clothes that need to be tagged still lay in a BIG rubbermaid container...

Blog post and crafting projects racing through my mind....

School lesson plans that need to be done by Monday...

Birthday plans that need to be started quickly..

and

2 kids that need to spend a little time with Mom..

UGH!

Please Fairy Godmothers...come wave your Magic Wand for me!

In all seriousness..How do you crafty/working/blogging moms get it all done and still GROW your blog?

I would LOVE to hear your ideas!

Spring is Here!

Spring is definitely here in Arkansas! I so happy to be having warm and sunny days! It is a nice change to be able to get out and about enjoying the warm weather! This week is our Spring Break week! However, we missed about 9 or 10 snow days this winter. So guess where that left us? Going to school until the middle of June or sacrificing a few Saturdays and/or Spring Break days. The teachers in the district voted and decided on two days of Spring Break as make up days. So, Spring Break will start on Wednesday. Hopefully, those couple of days will give me a chance to catch up on some unfinished projects! Stay tuned! :)

Shirt to Purse

I found this shirt at a store called Name Brand Clothing. They basically are a buy out store. This means that sometimes the clothes are not in perfect condition. The strap on the shirt had been torn off of the back. I was excited that it was only a couple of dollars because I instantly thought it would make a cute bag/purse!

Another great thing about the shirt was that it was already lined!

Linking up here:

Planting seeds with my Kinder Kids

I am a full time Kindergarten teacher. In my room we are always busy learning and creating something! This week we have been learning about plants. I received my March issue of the Family Fun magazine in the mail last week. Family Fun always has some really great ideas that I can use in my classroom. I was really excited to see several activities involving plants. I am always excited to try something new! This is what we created this week!

Basically, it is just a baseball card holder. We planted 3 rows of 3 different kinds of seeds. I had 2 kids at a time come up and help me with each pocket. They were excited and very eager to plant their seeds! Now they can hardly wait to see them start sprouting! I will post a picture in a week or two after they have sprouted!

Linking up at:

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/

Saturday Morning Yummy-ness!!

Pumpkin Muffins...Oh how I love you!

Ok, if you have not tried these Pumpkin Muffins...well let's just say you will never think of pumkin the same way! At first thought..I turned up my nose. I don't like pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake or anything pumpkin related.

These muffins are now my favorite go-to muffins! This recipe came from one of our Kindergarten parents several years ago. She had brought these muffins for a co-woker of mine. Of course our sweet co-worker shared these muffins with the rest of us and we instantly agreed that we all needed this recipe.

Oh so simple....

1 Spice Cake Mix

1 Can of Pumpkin

1 Bag of Hershey's Cinnamon Chips

This is all you need. Stir the ingredients together and place in muffin pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until done.

That's all! The easiest muffins you will ever make! And of course the yummiest!

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Mermaid Costume

We had a Father/Daughter dance at our school a couple of weekends ago. Our theme was a Luau. We always set up a photo backdrop display for pictures. One of the backdrops are for the girls only. In the past, we have let the girls dress up in fun, cute props! This year a couple of teachers and I put our heads together to come up with a fun, cute ocean like idea! After tossing ideas around...we decided on a Mermaid costume! We put our visions together and an awesome Mermaid Costume was created!


Here is a brief look into how the Mermaid costume was created!


about: a 1 1/2 of blue felt
shimmery fabric for scales
blue and green tulle for scales
1/2 yard of matching cotton fabric for the top
a piece of blue shimmery fabric


First, I cut the Mermaid tail out of a piece of freezer paper. I also cut my scale shape out of freezer paper also.


Lay out the piece of felt. I folded the entire piece of felt and cut it down the side. The felt was then folded over and the tail was cut out using the pattern piece. I was really excited after cutting the tail! It looked just like our vision!

After cutting the tail, the tulle was folded and cut using the pattern piece.



The blue fabric piece was used to make the top of the Mermaid costume. I folded the material in half and then trimmed it up on the sides so that it would be the same width across as the tail.
I fold the material again, and cut out arm holes.





I sewed ribbon down the tail and sewed on the scales. I ended up using about 3 0r 4 layers for the scales. I really wanted the scales to show up in the pictures!

I added a piece of blue shimmery fabric to the top. I wanted it to be cute and modest, yet still have shape to it.

I sewed ribbon to both sides and to the top.
The goal was to have a costume that would be very versatile. We needed it to fit a wide range of girls!


I also made a quick little accessory to go with it!



Here is the finished product! Everything came together and looked amazing! I asked for a volunteer for this blog picture and one of our 1st grade teachers happily agreed!



Serious Picture

Fun Picture



Linking up at:







http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/2011/03/market-yourself-monday-ruffled-rugby.html

Baby Gifts

My sister and her husband had their first baby in December. I was super excited to hear that they were expecting! I was even more excited when I found out that they were having a GIRL! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE making cute GIRLIE things! In my mind I had a list of things that I was going to make my sweet little niece! Okay... with teaching full time, being a mom of two little ones and the Christmas holidays....My list was cut a little short. (of course only temporarily) I am sure that I will make her some fun, cute things this summer!

Here is the Diaper Wipe Case that I made for her mom! I had some left over material from the Apron Dress that I had made. This turned out way too cute!

Another cute gift that I made was this sweet little blankie. If I remember right I made the blanket about 14x14. Just the right size for a little one to cuddle with!

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