The Rest of the 2013 Layouts

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Captivated Visions- My Heart is Full, Love is All You Need (bird), Yes You Can (bird), Mish Mash Alpha Stash 5, Mish Mash Blend Me Stash Freebie 1 (Blog freebie), Artful Digiscrapping Mixed Media 1 (blog freebie); retired: Alana McCarthy- Golden Moment (bird), Brigit Kerr- Urban Love (flying birds); Anna Aspnes at oscraps: Art Play Socialize bonus (pink glow); font: Cezanne

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Captivated Visions- You Are Strong Value Bundle, You are Strong freebie (newsletter freebie), Collaged: Avocado and Mint Layered Templates

credits: Edgy and Angled by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com; Love You More Than Ice Cream by Jenn Barrette at SweetShoppeDesigns.com; Masks We Wear at DigitalFreebies.com
font: Vintage Typewriter

credits: at The-LilyPad.com: by Kim Jensen- Stripedy, Scuffed Blue Alpha, Bloomin' Twisted, Fantabulous Fall, Springity Spring; by Michelle Godin- Lazy Hazy Summer Papers; Amy Marin- July 2013 template; Kate Hadfield- Under the Sea; TLP Collab- Summer Stories; font: Vintage Typewriter

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Mermaid Cove by Flergs, Sea Breeze by Angelclaud Artroom; font: Fishbowl

credits: Mermaid Cove by Flergs; These Moments Vol 2 by Crystal Livesay; font: Fishbowl

journaling: We visited Water World in Denver for the first time during the Rodeffer’s visit. We all had a wet and wild time riding the tubes down the slides and enjoying the cool water in the hot summer sun.
credits: at The-LilyPad.com: Against the Grain and Bloomin' Lush by Kim Jensen, About a Girl Papers and Shadowy Characters by Michelle Godin, Ultimate Vacation Journal Cards by Lynne Marie, Summer Lovin' by Pink Reptile Designs, Havoc Papers by Kaye Winiecki, August 2012 FB freebie by Amy Martin; Messy Date Stamps Vol 2 by Michelle Coleman
font: Typewriter

journaling: We love going to the zoo. You can bet that my camera is with me when we go, and I’ve taken some of my favorite photos over the years there- not only of the animals, but of the kids too. The kids are well trained and know when to spot a good photo opportunity almost as well as me. On this particular trip to the zoo, a large rain cloud was over head and we were waiting out the deluge in the mountain lion exhibit. . Sarah found this spot perched between two of the rock formations and asked me to snap a photo of her.
credits: About a Girl Papers, About a Girl Elements, Snarky Snippets Sassitude by Michelle Godin, Frame-o-mania 1 by Kim Jensen; Grow With Love Summer Sampler by Crystal Livesay and Sara Gleason at PixelsandCompany.com
font: FO PS I Love You, Century Gothic

journaling: I think it is so neat to see Brenna doing something she enjoys and loves - writing and illustrating her stories. She has journals all over the house with short stories, plays and chapter books. She loves the Warriors series by Erin Hunter, so a lot of them are fan fiction stories involving cat characters. Keep doing what you love, Brenna! I can’t wait to see where it takes you in the future.
credits: Studio Mix 55 - The Whole Story Kit, Lights and Bubble Wraps by the Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: custom font by Darcy Baldwin

credits: Effortless Templates Vol 2 by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany; at The-LilyPad.com: Fall in Love Papers and Elements, Sloppy Stencils by Michelle Godin, Newsy Banners and Newsy Shapes by Kim Jensen, Blanc Stitches by Amy Martin
font: Typewriter

credits: at The-LilyPad.com: by Michelle Godin- Dia De Los Muertos, Build Your Wings, by Kim Jensen: Bloomin' Twisted, Bloomin' Lush (leaves), Seriously Stoked, Vivid Intensity Wrought Iron Alpha (retired); by Crystal Livesay and Jimbo Jambo Designs at PixelsandCompany.com; Bad Sewing Machine XII - Don't Be Square 2 by Traci Reed at SweetShoppeDesigns.com
font: FO Weathered Low Fat, Typewriter

journaling: Elizabeth and Carissa got together with their friends Jamie and Courtney to get ready for the homecoming dance this year. After tap classes were over, they went to Jamie’s house to get dressed and do their hair and makeup. They had a potluck style meal, to which they contributed Spoonbread, that they shared together before the cameras came out for the required photo shoots. After that they headed off to meet more friends at the dance at Vista Ridge.
credits: I believe in Second Chances by Captivated Visions and Jenn Barrette; Photocentric Vol 3 by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany; Amber Clegg at The-LilyPad.com; Grungy Months by Michelle Coleman
font: Loosie Script

journaling: The theme of this years homecoming dance at Vista Ridge was Eerie Elegance. Carissa met Josh at the dance since she isn’t allowed to date yet. We are all aware wof which way the wind blows and they would be dating if she could. I appreciate that the two of them are willing to work within the rules of our house. I’m happy they had a good time together at the dance.
Credits: Lifetime by Rosey Posey at scrapbookgraphics.com (available in TheDigiFiles October 2013); Edgy Single by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com; Amber Clegg at The-LilyPad.com; Grungy Months by Michelle Coleman; I Can See Clearly by Misty Cato; font: Loosie Script

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Art Origins {01} by Rosey Posey, Enchanted Autumn Painted Wordart by Dawn Inskip, Captivated 2012 September and Mish Mash: Stamp Stash 2 by Captivated Visions; font: Carpenter ICG

journaling: I had made cupcakes earlier in the day, but those were for the birthday party on Saturday. So  we decided to surprise Sarah by bringing home a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake after dance classes were done. We picked a chocolate cake/chocolate chip ice cream roll topped with confetti sprinkles and balloons. Sarah was definitely surprised and happy to have a cake to blow out the candles on and eat that night. It was fun and delicious to surprise you :) Happy 8th Birthday baby girl! October 17, 2013
credits: Holiday Hoopla Template by Crystal Livesay; They Say It's Your Birthday by Jenn Barrette, Gesso Messy 5 by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics.com
font: custom font by Darcy Baldwin

credits: Breathless by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com; Gina Cabrera at DigitalDesignEssentials- So Spooky, Halloween Ephemera; Mansion Masquerade alpha by Britt-ish Designs
font: CK Pirate Hand, CK Sketch

credits: at The-LilyPad.com: by Amy Wolffe- Caramel Macchiato, Miss Mint- Wild Week Papers, by Kim Jensen- Stringbats, Stringbats 2, Sketchy Characters, by Michelle Godin- Black and White Basics, Black and White Artsy Papers Overlays, Kate Hadfield- Wizardry; font: Old Newspaper Type

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Storytells 1 by Jen Maddocks, Count Your Blessings by SuzyQ Scraps, The Photo Project Autumn Photo Clusters by Sherwood Studio
font: custom font by Darcy Baldwin

credits: Key to Happiness, Phrames by Kim Jensen at The-LilyPad.com; Effortless Templates Vol 2 by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com; font: custom font by Darcy Baldwin

For the December 2013  Color Inspiration challenge at scrapbookgraphics
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: Home for the Holidays by Rosey Posey, Lace in Love by Angelclaud Artroom
font: custom font by Darcy Baldwin

credits: Studio Mix 51-  by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: FG Script Elegant

Brown Teddy Bear Cupcakes

 

Party at Build-A-Bear = bear cupcakes, right? Well, I wanted brown teddy bears and I couldn’t find any simple ideas for them. There were white polar bears and panda bears, there were paw prints, and there were the cutest  sculptured teddy bears made out of Tootsie Rolls and other candies, but there were no easy brown bear ideas that I liked. :( I started touring the craft store cake decorating aisles and made up my own with things I found on the shelves, and since I’ve gotten so many good ideas from the lovely ladies who share their ideas on Pinterest and blogs I decided I would put instructions for my brown teddy bear cupcakes up for others to use too. These are so quick and easy, and even the littlest kids can help make them. Sarah was my helper this year and even my perfectionist self could let go enough to let her help. I think they turned out to be adorable.

1. Bake your cupcakes and let them cool. Choose any flavor you want since the cake part doesn’t show. Flatter top cupcakes will be easier to decorate, so don’t overfill the muffin cups.

2. While the cupcakes are cooling, collect your decorating supplies. Here is what I used:
Milk Chocolate Frosting
Wilton Light Cocoa Candy Melts
Wilton Brownie Crunch Turtle Sprinkles
Caramel Creams
Sixlets, black 12mm
Festival Candy Eyes
Wilton black Food Writer, or black decorating gel
optional: pink or red frosting or decorating gel

3. Frost the tops of the cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

4. Pour Turtle Crunch Sprinkles into a bowl and dip the top of the frosted cupcake into the sprinkles making sure to cover the whole surface. Add more sprinkles to the bowl as needed.

5. Unwrap a Caramel Cream candy and gently flatten it with a rolling pin until it is about a quarter inch thick. Put a small amount of frosting on one side of the flattened caramel and place it on the top of the cupcake near one edge. If your cupcake tops are rounder, gently shape the caramel to fit the curvature before sticking to the top.

6. Push 2 candy melt discs into the cupcake at a small angle at the opposite edge of the attached caramel to form the ears. I pulled the discs out and added a bit more frosting on the edge before reinserting it into the cupcake to more firmly attach it, but if you were in a time crunch you could probably do without that extra step since the cupcake is already frosted and they seemed to be fairly secure when first pushed in.

7. Put a dab of frosting on the backs of 2 candy eyes and place them on the cupcake between the caramel and ears.

8. Put a dab of frosting on a Sixlet and place on top of the caramel for the nose.

9. Draw a mouth on the caramel under the nose with a Food Writer or decorating gel.

10. Optional: You could add a tongue and/or pink to ears with frosting or decorating gel.

 

I made 2 dozen cupcakes and still had about a third of the Crunch topping leftover, so a 5 oz. jar should cover 3 dozen cupcakes.

The cupcakes transported to the party well, and the kids loved them.

These cupcakes have so many customization options depending on what decorating supplies you can find and what type of bear you want. Build-A-Bear bears come in a rainbow of colors and patterns. I found all of my decorating items at local craft and big chain stores on the shelves- Michaels, JoAnn Arts and Crafts, Hobby Lobby, and Wal-Mart- but the selection available in different areas might vary.
*Dark brown bears: use dark chocolate frosting and Brownie Crunch Cookies and Cream Sprinkles, dark chocolate candy melts, and flattened tootsie rolls for the muzzle. You could use chocolate jimmies in stead of the crunch sprinkles or just leave them off to let the frosting color show.
*Colored bears like the Sweet Cuddles Teddy, Autism speaks bears: use white or colored  frosting and cover with colored sugar sprinkles. Match the color of the candy melt and Sixlet (or M&Ms would work too for the nose!) to your bear color, and use flattened fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls or Starbursts for the muzzle.
*For multi-colored bears like the Furever Hearts, Lucky Clover, Rainbow Hugs, Champ  and Camo bears, use a mix of colored sugars. You can mix the colors for a random color look or layout specific lines or swirls of the colors in the bowl.
*For looks like the Cele-BEAR-ation, Pink Flurry, Colorful Stars bear, use white frosting and colored sugar, then add shaped sprinkles to the top before adding the face features.

Hoooo-Ray! Sarah is 6!

 

Let me start by saying that birthdays are a BIG deal at our house, especially with Sarah. I think they are bigger even than Christmas in her mind. Maybe because she has 4 older siblings to share just about everything with, and this is HER special day she doesn’t have to share with anyone else? She is constantly thinking about what the theme for her next party will be, and this starts the day after we have just had one usually LOL When Sarah first told me that she wanted an owl party for her birthday this year (in the middle of Elizabeth and Carissa’s party back in August, as a matter of fact LOL), I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out as I had no clue what to do. It all started with a cupcake, which is understandable given Sarah’s adoration of cupcakes in general. She had seen an owl cupcake in one of my several cupcake books she pores over regularly and decided that is what she wanted. So, while the older girls’ party was in full swing and they didn’t need me any more, I started a search for ideas for an owl party. I started looking on Pinterest and before too long had come across several cute ideas for felted owls of various kinds. Among them were a set of handmade owls- 13 of them, all different. When I explored the link with the picture I found a blog post bySnowy Bliss about the night owl pajama party that she had held for her 6-year old daughter. She had made the set of owls as party favors for the guests. I went back and forth for days about whether it was going overboard to make owls to give away, did I have the time, etc. and in the end decided to just go for it. I had several months if I just got started on them. I purchased the pattern for the owls from Snowy Bliss’ Etsy shop, bought a stack of felt (since I of course did not have the colors needed in the stack of felt I already owned), and started working. I scaled down the pattern a bit as I wanted the owls to be smaller (and thus be faster to make). Mine were about 5” x 6” with the wing-span making them about 8” wide when they were finished, but otherwise stuck pretty closely to the pattern and original owls by snowybliss. I cut the pieces for each out and put them in Ziploc baggies and I carried around several at a time as I worked on them, usually while I was sitting in the hall at dance.  I didn’t try to keep what I was doing a secret, though I didn’t tell Sarah exactly how they were going to be given out at the party. It took me about an hour and half each to stitch the pieces together for the front, including the embellishments. I really enjoyed the process and it was a nice change of pace to sew something and get away from my computer for a bit. I missed having them to work on once they were all finished.

 
credits: at The-Lilypad.com: Kaye Winieki- Where the Heart Is, The sweetest Thing, Pea Green Boat; Fall Moments Collab by TLP and SSD designers; Valorie Wibbons: Fireflies, retired (moon); CC Scatterelle brush set; font: CK June Bug Louise

journaling: We celebrated Sarah’s 6th birthday with a nightowl pajama party. Dancing in the dark with glow sticks, eating ice cream sundaes and owl cupcakes, and then more dancing were lots of fun. The star hunt helped everyone adopt their very own nightowl, handmade by Melinda, to take home. It was a hooting good time! Keeley couldn’t come to the party at the last minute, but she brought her gift over the day before to give to Sarah. She adopted Giggles the owl.  Sarah adores her handmade owl beanie and wears it everywhere. ~Oct. 15, 2011
credits: at The-LilyPad.com: Bring On the Cake Collab by Kate Hadfield, Kaye Winieki, and Karah Fredricks; by Kaye Winieki- Sleep Tight, Where Bluebirds Fly, The Sweetest Thing, Pea Green Boat, Where My Heart Is, Down in the Woods, As Leaves Turn, Cafe Break, Ruby's Room, Here Comes the Sun, It Pays to Believe; Kate Hadfield: Make a Wish, Ballet Slippers, Spotty Dotty Alpha; Valorie Wibbons: Fireflies (retired) ; Template 173 by Yin Designs; Faerily Moonlit Sky Elements by Lorie Davison; vintage Garden Fairies by Dani Mogstad at SSD
font:P22 Garamouche

Decor: I collected owls from various places. I didn’t really worry too much about finding coordinating items other than they had an owl theme. I made the invitations and owl adoption certificates using mostly the cute digital designs of Kaye Winieki at The-LilyPad and a few other favorite digital designers. I mixed in a few pumpkins and non-spooky Halloween items as well, as with a birthday in October and a love of costumes and dressing up it just seemed appropriate for my Sarah. I tried to focus on the color combo of a medium warm brown with a mix of bright colors to keep things fun, though there was quite a bit of orange on the table in the end. I found the brown/bright colors combo in party goods in the baby shower section at the party store. Fisher Price has a super cute jungle party theme for a baby shower that had the right colors and a fun mix of stripes and dots-  I just had to cover up some of the baby jungle animals. I made my own cutouts to match the invitations on the computer and then printed, cut them out and stuck them on the decor items I bought. There was another set with an actual 'night owl’ theme in the colors I wanted, but the store only had the cups, plates and napkins for it. Since I was mixing and matching that worked out just fine. Sarah is getting a new ‘big’ bed from her father when he finishes building it, so I had purchased some new bedding for her from Target and a piece or two of that was used as decor as well.

We carved a pumpkin with an owl and had a lit fall wreath hanging on the door to welcome the party owls to the festivities. 

Food: I kept it simple with the night owl’s favorite foods- cupcakes and ice cream sundaes. I made both full size and mini size owl cupcakes. I deliberately tried to make the bigger cupcakes smaller/flatter after baking by only filling the cups up half-way with batter; this left some batter over to use to make the mini cupcakes as a side benefit. A tall rounded cupcake is hard to prop a flat cookie onto securely.  A hint for future reference: just spend the extra to get the ‘name brand’ sandwich cookies, it will spare you a lot of grief and time since they come apart cleanly and easily, and the ‘store brand’ versions didn’t work nearly as well. Beaks on the big cupcakes are banana Runts or caramel candy corn, and on the minis they are chocolate covered sunflowers seeds which I found in the candy section of World Market stores. For the eyes I used Junior Mints, Reeses Pieces, and dots of chocolate and white icing. Ears are the ‘clean’ cookie halves cut in half- save the ones that don’t break right for making into cookie crumbs to top the ice cream sundaes with ;)

There were candy and sauces galore to choose from. This particular group of 6 year olds favored the gummy bears and Nerds candy and strawberries  and chocolate sauce for their sundaes. I had Neapolitan, mint chip, and spumoni ice cream to choose from. I was really surprised that most of the kids wanted to try the spumoni; I only bought it because Brenna was with me when I went shopping and when I pointed it out as an ‘I haven’t seen that flavor in a long time’ moment she wanted to try it. In my experience, usually the kids at parties stick to what they know LOL The mini cupcakes were just about right for them. We actually didn’t eat any of the big ones at the party since they filled up more on the ice cream. My kids were more than happy to eat the big ones over the following days ;)

Activities: We had lots of glow bracelets for the girls and each got 2 or 3 when they arrived; a few turned them into a necklace by hooking the bracelets together. I also had some larger wands that they could take turns with. Once they were decked out in glowing items they were sent into the backyard for dancing in the dark/freeze dance. We had a large playlist of songs that had to do with dancing in some fashion playing randomly and if the back porch light came on they had to freeze until it went off again. People large and small would walk by and flip it on and off randomly. Dancing in the dark was the favorite activity- I guess having permission to run around like crazy in your pajamas outside  in the dark is the best sort of fun! LOL

They came inside to get their ice cream and cupcakes and went right back outside to eat them. I hadn’t planned that, but it worked well- thank goodness for beautiful and warm evening October weather! Once the goodies were eaten they came back inside for gift opening. While Sarah was opening her gifts, Bryce took the large glow-in-the-dark foam stars we had made and hid them around the backyard in easy to spot places. He did a great job and only the big sisters had to have a hint or two to find the very last ones. Each of the owls had been wrapped in plain white paper lunch bags I had Sarah and Brenna stamp with owls one afternoon to occupy them. There was a randomly picked matching smaller glow-in-the-dark star on each of the bags; we didn’t even know which owl was in which when we were done. The numbers were called in order and each child got to unwrap their numbered bag to reveal their owl. Inside the bag with the owl was an introduction/adoption card which was read to the whole room, and by the time we got to #13 everyone knew to join in on the “hooo-ray!” at the end. It was very cute.

Brenna reading her owl introduction card to everyone. I will admit to ‘rigging’ this one number for her. She would just have not been happy with anything other than the purple dress-up owl. (if you know of her attachment to certain purple bear blankets, you will understand.) My other kids ended up swapping with each other a bit too after the party, but the guests were all thrilled with whichever owl they randomly received LOL

After the owls were all adopted, more dancing ensued and new toy packages were opened for playing with until the end of the party.

It’s Squinkie heaven! Sarah received 5 different sets of Squinkies- I guess I got the word out that that was what she really wanted this year well enough! She has always loved the teeny-tiny little toys, and these certainly fall into that category.

All in all, it was a wonderful and fairly simple party- certainly one that I think will be remembered by everyone. I give others most of the credit for the ideas, I just picked and chose what I wanted to use from their creativity. So thanks Snowy Bliss and anyone else who freely shares their party ideas with the world- Sarah and I appreciate it!

Look out, there are 2 more teenagers in our house

Elizabeth and Carissa have officially begun their teenage years now. We celebrated their 13th birthday with a big movie night themed slumber party. 15 friends from both school and dance invaded our home for the evening, and it was a blast. I’m very thankful that my girls have good friends who can all get along for an extended period of time in close quarters.

journaling: We celebrated Beth & Carissa’s 13th birthday with a movie themed slumber party. We ate hot dogs, pizza, cake and candy with handmade sodas from Squeak Soda Shop.There was a talent show, movie themed games, and of course watching movies- Phantom of the Opera and Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp.
credits: Movie Night by Kate Hadfield and Holly Griego at The-LilyPad, Template 150 by Yin Designs; font: CK June Bug Louise

Elizabeth and Carissa helped me make the popcorn bucket cake this year. Specifically, they cut all of the marshmallows that were used to represent the popcorn by hand for me the night before the party. I then sprayed them just a bit with Wilton’s yellow spray food coloring, tossed them a bit and sprayed them a bit more.
 

Sarah helped me out the next afternoon after she got home from kindergarten by adding the ‘popcorn’ to the top of the cupcakes for me. She was very meticulous and made sure that all of them were covered completely.   We had just enough marshmallows left in the bowl to do the cupcakes. Of course we had to spray them with just a bit more ‘butter’ to finish them off.

The big indulgence we had at the party this year was a dozen flavors of hand-made soda from Squeak Soda Shop. I picked out fruity flavors (since we have liked those the best of what we have tried at our visits), and sent the owner some labels designed after the invitation style so that they matched our party theme. The sodas were a hit with everyone. We love Squeak Soda Shop! Food fare to go along with the fancy sodas was hot dogs, pizza, 4 flavors of popcorn and many varieties of candy.
{The third label design not matching the invitation was made using Movie Night by Kate Hadfield and Holly Griego, and Cinemania by Lauren Grier and Mandabean at Sweet Shoppe Designs}

For entertainment at the party, besides watching movies of course, Carissa ran a talent show in the living room and Beth worked with me on putting together a movie trivia game during the days before the party. When I was designing the soda labels for Squeak to use, I thought it would be neat to have people try and identify a movie based off of the title font. Since most 13 and 14 year olds aren’t too familiar with fonts though, I figured we had better give them a bit more of a clue. Beth found lots of movie title fonts and then wrote out a one sentence summary of the main plot of the movie in the font. The girls had to identify each of the movies from the clues. We posted several copies in strategic spots around the house and gave them about an hour to take turns looking at them. I think the winning number for the game was 28 out of 31, which is pretty good I think since there were a few movies on the list I wasn’t sure they would have seen.

So, the girls golden birthday year started off with a successful party. Happy birthday, Elizabeth and Carissa! We love you and are blessed to have you in our family. I hope the next year is filled with wonderful memories!