Monday, June 25, 2012

Do you hear that??

It's wedding bells!

Biscuit's wedding is this weekend and I'm so excited. I know I haven't posted much lately. I've been busy.

We had the bachalorette party. There was drinking, presents, delicious food, very bad karioke and penis straws (of course). Adult fun was had by all.

I've also been baking. Making petit fours for the wedding. I was worried they wouldn't turn out but here is the first batch waiting for some more glaze and then pretty decorations. Since Biscuit isn't having a traditional wedding cake - I guess these are it. OH, THE PRESSURE!
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And right on the heels of the big wedding, we have the ANNUAL 4th of July party. That means the yard and the house need some definite sprucing up.

We even found a demon kitty cat under the crib. I think I need to clean more often.
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Friday, June 15, 2012

Crafts and Biscuit's Shower

Oh My Gawd you guys, I can finally show you all the crafts I’ve been working on because they finally debuted at Biscuit’s shower this past weekend. So first I will bore you with all the crafty details before you get to see the final finished product of the shower. And yes, I’m fully aware that you can cheat and scroll right to the end…


First I have to show you the shower location. The shelter at a local park provided the perfect setting. My house is WAAAAAY to small to host anything and not as pretty as this. The location itself was beautiful so even if all my crafts were epic failures (which they usually are) It would still look nice.

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My first craft attempt was something I saw on Pinterest a while ago, yarn balloons. To make these hanging decorations, you wrap glue soaked yarn around a balloon and hang to dry. Once dry, pop the balloon and TA DA, you have something like this.

Easy, right? Well I know how my crafts usually turn out, a tad juvenile. I decide to do ONE first and see if it turned out and how much effort was actually involved. This was the trial balloon….

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It turned out pretty good considering it was my first attempt. The biggest problem was that the balloon started to deflate before I popped it and the yarn was stuck to the balloon. I had to keep pulling the yarn away from the deflating balloon so it wouldn’t shrivel up as the balloon deflated.

Ok, so I could do this. I blew up a ton of balloons and devoted a beautiful Saturday to the task.

The balloons ready for assembly
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The mess of assembly
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Completed balloons hanging in the tree.

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Success?

No. These balloons were a craft FAIL. The balloons started to deflate quickly, way before the glue had any time to dry. With the yarn glued to the balloon, they turned into shriveled masses that didn’t have a solid form. BOO.

Hubs and I have many guesses as to why they didn’t work. I inflated the balloons too many days in advance. The glue covered yarn stuck to the balloons. The glue/water mixture didn’t dry hard enough. It was too hot that day. I gave it a couple days of being frustrated before I decided to try again.

I read a great blog post that made two suggestions – add cornstarch to the glue/water mixture, rub the balloons with oil or Vaseline to keep the yarn from sticking as it dries. Ok, I’ll try again, inside this time and blowing up the balloons only right before adorning them. No pictures this time because I was FED UP. It worked though. I really think the Cornstarch was the key.

While looking on the internet for all of these craft ideas, I came across the idea for yarn letters. Considering I have so much yarn, it seemed like an easy enough project to compliment the balloons. Here are two that I completed.

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If I didn’t have enough crafts to keep me busy, I decided to create mini chalkboards for additional decorations. I LOVE chalkboard spray paint. This craft was easy enough for a sunny afternoon.

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Oh, did I mentioned that I also made a lemon blueberry white chocolate trifle for the shower? I forgot to take a picture as I was making it, but I got the recipe here. It turned out great – maybe a little too sweet for some (not for me though)

So how did it all turn out? You tell me. Lizard, one of Mandy’s BFF’s potted all of the daisies and handled table cloths and such. Monkers, of course, did all the food. I ordered some simple syrups from Etsy and had make-your-own champagne cocktails to drink, lavender, lemon ginger and orange. YUM

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The lovely ladies
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Caroline is not sure I did a good job, evident by her skeptical expression.
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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Summer Is Here: Weddings, Graduations, Birthdays OH MY

So I have high hopes of posting lots of updates tomorrow since I am taking the day off work. But to be honest, I know myself better than that. I'm going to be away from my desk, therefore have NO desire to open up the laptop.

Tomorrow will be the first time I'm taking the day off and STILL sending Caroline to the sitter. I am throwing a shower for Biscuit this weekend, and need some undivided attention to bake and prepare. I am making this dessert that I found on another blog. It is a lemon berry white chocolate trifle. I love lemon and blueberries together. Doesn't it look DELISH? I was going to do a test run first, but then I remembered, I'm a new mom and have no time. So here's hoping it turns out as delicious as it sounds. Don't go and get all impressed because I bought most of the ingredients. It's more assembly than culinary art.

After this weekend, I'll do a full recap on the shower. There were MANY craft projects leading up to the event and I didn't want to spoil the surprise because Biscuit is one of my four faithful blog followers. Thanks Biscuit.

Other than the shower, we have my brother- in-law's graduation party and my niece's third birthday. With this full schedule, I need the day off just to get the laundry done!

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE summer? Well so do the animals. Sammy is healing nicely. She thinks she is completely healed, obvious by her demand for the ball to be thrown. We are being very cautious though. Our bank account is still recovering.

Franklin thinks he is an outside cat now, SCREAMING at us if we don't let him out the minute he demands. Luckily when outside he stays close to home, exploring the jungle of our own yard. Just this last weekend I found him on the roof on the shed in the back, hunting a bird in the front yard and sprinting the length of the property like a lion in the savanna. He is a happy cat.