Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Earth Day Tree Cookies

Decorated Earth Day Tree Cookie
I've had this cookie cutter for a long time, and I love the shape. I thought Earth Day was the perfect opportunity to use it!

Decorated Tree Cookie with Heart on Trunk
I created different variations on the simple theme.

Decorated Cookie says "hug a tree"
And played with the text.

Three Decorated Tree Cookies with Hearts
Happy Earth Day!
Be kind to our planet. It's the only one we have!

See these and more trees over at The Ginger Cookie.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

A Strawberry Birthday Party

Birthday Girl in Cowgirl Dress
My Sweet Gracie turned 5 this month! We celebrated with a Strawberry Party at the park.

Strawberry Beanbag Top
I used the beanbags I originally made for Gracie's Ladybug Birthday Party when she was 2.

Strawberry Beanbags
The kids put the "strawberries" in a bucket during a relay game.

Strawberry Bingo Card
I also made a strawberry bingo game.

Strawberry Bingo Game
We used dried "fiori" pasta for markers.

Strawberry Piñata
Here's the strawberry piñata I created using paper mache and a balloon covered with tissue paper. This post was very helpful for ideas to create the piñata, and this post was useful for figuring out how to create the trap door and the pull string feature.

 Strawberry Goody Bags
I used a strawberry drawn by Gracie to create the artwork for these personalized goody bags for the piñata prizes. I printed them on large sticker paper and cut them out with my favorite paper cutting scissors.

Strawberry Cupcakes
We baked cupcakes, strawberry and vanilla with a simple buttercream icing, decorated with sprinkles by Gracie!

Birthday Poster Card
Our guests were invited to add artwork and sign Gracie's birthday poster card.

Strawberry Cookies
The Strawberry Cookies are for favors. You can see more about these cookies in this post and over at The Ginger Cookie.

Strawberry Cookie Party Favors
The cookies are individually wrapped in clear bags from Karen's Cookies, ready for our guests to take home.

And finally, I made thank you notes for Gracie to send. I printed them on Avery postcards, and they fit perfectly into invitation size envelopes

It was a great party!

Happy Birthday, Gracie!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Felt Easter Toys

Felt Bunny Finger Puppets on Nina's Show & Tell
I love to work with felt! For these projects I used a wool felt blend from Wool Felt Central on Prairie Point Junction.

Felt Bunny Finger Puppets on Nina's Show & Tell
I found the pattern for these cute bunny finger puppets on The Purl Bee. The pattern template is available as a free download.

Felt Egg & Chick Toy on Nina's Show & Tell
This reversible toy is an egg on one side...

Felt Egg & Chick Toy on Nina's Show & Tell
And a chick on the other! It's an Abby Glassenberg Design pattern, available here.

Felt Easter Toys on Nina's Show & Tell
I made the felt eggs in the basket a few years ago, using this pattern from Lola Nova.

Happy Easter!