Kitty Baby Girl Birthday #1, or really 2, or maybe 1?

We are in high birthday mode around here. We are rounding the bend towards the last birthday. My youngest, who turned 1, is Baby Girl #2, but her birthday is first in the summer. 

I paint a painting for each girls birthday. For my oldest daughter, we had a mermaid party and therefore had a mermaid painting. I take her picture by it every birthday and I plan to do the same with the kitty and my 2nd daughter. 

The dining room had fabric garlands I made from felt and scraps. It was fun to make and went so quickly! It would also be cute to use the fabric garland as ribbon on wrapped presents. 

I bought honeycomb tissue balls which were a nice addition but I must say were expensive. I am going to have to use those puppies for Christmas and other birthday parties! I am using this weekend for our next baby girl birthday. 

I took a picture of my daughter every week ( well I took a lot more than that ) but I made sure I took her photo on the day she was born every week. It fell on a Thursday and honestly, was the highlight of that day. What will she wear? Where will we be? I hung all the pictures up on the window and they were so delightful to look at and see how she has grown and who she looks like. 

 For the table, I always like to buy fabric and that way its an excuse to buy fabric. I am thinking of making a bag out of this one. I cut flowers from my yard and put them in cans. Simple and really sweet. I bought plastic kitties that were on the table and little hands could and still do play with them. 

The garland swagged from my dining room into my kitchen and living room. It was so happy! And I see that picture is crooked on the wall and it still is:)

The cake was a kitty cake with coconut on top for the fur. That tail seemed to get me but I was impressed with my quick work. I dyed the frosting pink and dyed the coconut as well. It was a baking experiment!

For the food, I decided to have a salad bar. My one year old loves blueberries and she eats cut up food with no sauces or spices. It dawned on me ( and maybe my sister too!) to have a salad bar. It was a hit! I got the take out boxes from the Publix salad bar and they sold them to me for cheap! FYI for your next shindig.

Happy Birthday to my sweet pie!

aqua velvet is something special: a mothers day and fathers day present

Hooray! I finally finished a project! I created new euro shams and shams for my in laws bed for mothers day and fathers day. I made them to match a quilt I made for her a few years back. And actually, it all came from a necklace I made before that! So necklace to quilt to shams all with the same colors. 

This red quatrefoil fabric seems to go with just about anything and its just happy. I have worked on many projects and this fabric always comes to mind and works. I have it in my house as well. 

I lined the pillows in a dark blue linen that tied in with the quilt and would help dress it up a bit and set off the red fabric.

 And that aqua velvet is something special. It is so luxurious! It looked great in my house as well...thinking of where I could put it...

My mother-in-law sent me a picture of their bedroom with the new linens. I was really pleased with the way it all came out and I am so thrilled that they like it too.

your aunts fanny and long and skinny necklaces

For our sweet and special teachers, I  ( and my daughter helped pick out the colors) made Long and Skinny necklaces for them. 

The bottom pic is blurry but you get the idea. On that note, I have had more conversations with friends lately about cameras and digital photos. While I appreciate the ability to see my photo instantly and can print it whenever I want, I have too many pics! And now that everyone is an expert photographer, it feels unacceptable to have blurry or dark photos because there is a tutorial everywhere out there in cyber world telling me how to do it properly. I get it. I want to see clean and crisp photos and when the light is just right.

However, I am not a photographer. Kudos to those who are. My giftings lie elsewhere.It would be nice if I was one. And to be honest, there is something refreshing about blurry photos, your aunts fanny front and center and fingers over the lens. Its home grown. I am not perfect so why would anything else be? Too much fuss- enjoy the beauty as the Lord freely gives it.