C-man turns 1!

I am going only a little crazy getting ready for Shop 'Til You Drop on Sep 10. I've been cutting and folding and coloring and painting and...whose idea was this anyway?

So with all this to do, what did I do this weekend? Threw a party, of course. Cause who wouldn't want to throw a party for this guy? C-man turned one!

And my Silhouette machine went nuts in the process. We had a baseball theme with hamburgers and hot dogs in the concessions area. (Check out that spiffy banner.) 

And then here were bags of peanuts and bubbles for party favors with fancy-dancy Silhouette cut bag toppers. 

C-man's aunt Stephanie made the cutest banner for the front of the high chair.

Stephanie works for the Texas Rangers, and she got an authenticated ball from an Astros/Rangers game to serve as a guest book.

There were the baseball cupcakes for the crowd.

And, of course, there was one moment of pure panic. Seconds before the smash cake made its debut, the "1 candle" fell and broke into two pieces.  

It took two grandmas, a grandpa and some special work with a Bic lighter to put it back together and get it to C-man in time for the song. I think the parents were none the wiser until they read this story. Surprise!!

C-man didn't seem to mind. In fact, I'm not sure he even noticed a candle. Two-fisted cake eating--that's what I'm talking about.

Now it's time to get back to folding and cutting and drawing and coloring and...all-around getting ready. Sep 10 will be here soon! Get ready! 

On the 24th Day of Christmas My Phanie Gave to Me

It's the middle of December. Where did the time go? 

I've been buying, and wrapping, and baking, and cutting, and folding and...

I'M NOT READY!

Thank goodness that I finished some things before the season got into full swing.

Case in point. This advent calendar I made for QuarterPounder.

And yes, I made more flat boxes! I am a pro at them now. These just don't have roofs on them.

But they do have sparkly snowflakes and and fuzzy presents--and book pages, of course.

Oh, and the numbers are covered in GLITTER! 

QuarterPounder wasn't really sure what he thought of the whole thing.

But he seemed to think the finger puppets inside were pretty grand.

And the bib and the Rudolph book were a hit, too!

Side note: Here is my goal for next year.

Learn how to take a picture of a rectangle that isn't skewed. This one kinda makes me dizzy when I look at it for very long.

Speaking of dizzy. I gotta go. The pecan pie in the oven is dinging and Amazon just left another package at the door.

I'M NOT READY!

But if you've got extra time on your hands, check out all the cool ways to decorate a Silhouette Advent Calendar on this Pinterest page!

A Very Retro Supper Club

December is the time for Christmas traditions and at our house that means the supper club progressive dinner. This year the main course was at our house--Vegetable Beef soup, green salad, and crusty rolls. It was really good, but you'll just have to take my word for it. I was so busy being the hostess with the mostess that I didn't get any pictures taken.

Each year we exchange small gifts and here's what I gave this year--festive boxes filled with Warm-Spiced Pecans with Rum Glaze from America's Test Kitchen. (I know, right?!) The pecans were from G&W Family Farms. (This Miss Holly's farm.) And the boxes that I cut with my Silhouette machine are from Jamie Crips.

I love these boxes. So easy to cut and assemble, and when made with double-sided cardstock, the tops are especially cute!

I also gave my friends these very retro ornaments featuring book spirals made from RDCBs.

And featuring book snowflakes from RDCBs.

And book hearts.

These dandies are one of the first things I've ever designed myself on my Silhouette machine.

When I catch up from the holidays, I'll try to post a tutorial for them. If I can ever figure out how to do them again. :)

So I didn't get any pictures of the food, but when I saw Captain America and our friend, Captain Bob, actually doing dishes, I raced for my phone to snap that photo.

The dishwasher was loaded before we even left for dessert. Merry Christmas to me!

Twisted Twas

It's December! Time for giving and receiving. Decorating, wrapping, and surprises!

So what could be behind this festive red cover?

It's a "Twas" book for my friend, Sharon. 

Remember when I made one of these last year? Well, Sharon wanted another...but with a twist. Literally.

Sharon provided this pretty vintage looking paper to cover the endpapers. It is full of all kinds of Christmas quotes and pictures, but Sharon wanted to finish the whole thought behind the word "Twas," so...

...I twisted the design to buy us just a little more room in the bottom corner. Then I used my handy-dandy Silhouette machine to cut out the words to finish the thought!

It turned out really nice, I think. The original red endpaper was in great shape and just the right color to match Sharon's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" dishes in her December dining room hutch! 

Mission accomplished!

I like this new technique and when I get time, I'm going to try it again with more phrases. 

Can you think of any good phrases you'd like to see? Which word would you fold and which would go on the endpapers?

April Showers Bring May Flowers and October Showers Bring Cheeseball Bats

Don't you hate bloggers who make excuses for being so tardy between posts?

Don't be a hater. All of my excuses are excellent.

It's not that I haven't been folding. In fact the opposite is true. In the last few weeks it has been non-stop. Twenty-six orders and I'm only about half way through the list! I've had to put some people on a wait list just in case I find time to do a few more before the holidays.

And I'd love to show you some pictures, but most of them are Christmas presents and I don't want to spoil any surprises. (Wait until January--pictures galore!)

But before October is over, I want to show you a Halloween project.

Wait, what? It's mid-November already? DANG! I should be folding.
But here's a quick look at my Halloween project instead.

You all remember, Barb, right? That's her on the right. And that's her best friend, Sharon on the left. When I moved into my neighborhood 18 years ago, Sharon and Barb were the first two people I met.



The adorable baby is Barb's granddaughter, but Sharon is holding her because she's practicing to be a grandmother, too. And she doesn't have long to practice because her daughter, Kelli, is due in only a couple of months.

And new babies call for showers, so Barb,her daughter Mandi, and I threw one for Kelli.

Let me give you a piece of advice. If you ever have a party thrown for you, make sure Barb is in charge. Remember how I told you that Barb is the reason God invented Pinterest? Well, here is more proof. Check out this spread--and don't miss the homemade diaper cake in the middle.

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Those little glass ramekins near the cake pops were full of cinnamon apples with this struesel to die for. Holy cow they were good!

And on the other end of the table was this big bowl of candied popcorn that Mandi made. When I die, someone be sure to tell Mandi to fill my casket full of this before they lower me in the ground and I promise never to leave and haunt anyone.

Here were my contributions. First up goblin guts, Fritos, and monster eyeballs. Also known as Texas caviar and meatballs.

 

And cheeseball bats. (Barb is not the only one with a Pinterest account.)

Here is the crowd enjoying all the goodies.

And speaking of goodies, here's the pretty mom-to-be opening her presents.

As I've mentioned before, despite appearances to the contrary, this is not a cooking blog. So here was the contribution from Reading With Scissors--sparkly pillow box owl party favors...

with dictionary page eyes...

 ...and candy corn and white chocolate M&M filler (not pictured because they went from my hand to my face too fast).

I wish I could say that I am crafty enough to have designed these myself. I am not. But I am smart enough to buy the pattern for my Silhouette machine and let it do all the work--which leaves me more time for consuming the filler. And folding.

Yikes! What time is it? A week until Thanksgiving?? Got to get back to folding.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung in the Bayou City. How do I know? Well, for starters pots are overflowing with pansies.

And it was 82 degrees yesterday so my vegetable and herb garden is finally in (about a month late).

Even our bottle tree is starting to bloom.

So what better time to update my circle flowers. First, I added a center button with a bold "spring" on it from my gigantic dictionary.

Then I got out my fancy-dancy new Silhouette Cameo machine and tried my hand at my first cutting project. It may be my new addiction, although I may just love it because it gives me another excuse to smell my scrapbook paper. 

After a few test patterns, I cut this from a piece of variegated scrapbook paper.

And now I have this...

And now you know where the flowers is.