Everyday Beauty

Making a Circus Party

 

On Monday, we'll be celebrating Mario's 5th birthday and Sam's 2nd birthday. One good thing about having two October babies is that we can do one big party. Although I do still bake each of them a cake on his actual birthday, and we sing Happy Birthday and the whole bit. It only happens once a year and I want it to be special. Mario still talks about his previous birthday parties with such happy memories.

 

This year's theme is the Circus! The photo at the top shows my kitchen table as I was getting everything ready to pack up in the car. {The party is in Ohio, at my mom and dad's house, so we could celebrate with family.} I am so pleased with the invitations I ordered from Ciao Bambino on etsy. She was so nice and accomodating and even offered to reprint them after she shipped them....because I realized that I had told her the wrong date! In the end, I decided just to add this little tag with each invitation instead.

Animal crackers are a must-have for a circus, don't you think? Such great graphics on these classic little boxes.

Cotton Candy

Circus Peanuts

 

And regular peanuts 

I tried to find as many useful red & white striped things as I could.

Love these straws.

Some little cups for treats

These are actually Christmas napkins, but they'll work Ggggggreat! {Sorry, I couldn't resist.}

Some animals from the boys' playroom

I picked up some plain party hats...

...and added some pom poms and festooning to make them more fun.

Animal cupcake picks & striped treat bags

And candles for the boys

I had some vintage greeting cards that I scanned and copied to make a garland.

 

What does a duck have to do with the circus? Absolutely nothing! It's just what I had on hand....

A little game for the kids to play

And a pinata full of candy & treats of course! {if our teeth haven't rotted out of our mouths by the end of the party, it will be a miracle.}

All we need now is the pizza {from my Grandma's pizza shop} and cupcakes {which I will bake} and our family! Mario is so excited he can hardly stand it. Sam is clueless, but will have fun once the party starts, I'm sure. Everybody loves a circus!

En Le Jardin

 

I'm looking so forward to this, I can't even tell you! My friend Jennifer is hosting En Le Jardin, an Alfresco Art Event. It's going to be a wonderful, small-scale retreat with lots of time for crafting, chatting, sipping sweet tea and seeing the sights of the beautiful South. Jenn has planned it out so well, and we are all in for a relaxing creative weekend that's full of beautiful details. The event will take place at her home in Macon, Georgia, and several girls from Blogland will be attending. It's always so fun to spend time with like-minded women! If you'd like to join us, a couple of spots are still available. Click here to take a peek at the pretty garden-inspired projects, see the schedule of events and be transported to Jenn's enchanted garden!

Trimmed with Memories

 

I'm thinking the tree will be staying up through all of January. This is because: a) we're out of town for Christmas, and I want to enjoy it a little longer. b) There's just nothing like sitting on the couch relaxing with the tree lights twinkling, and c) The thought of taking it down right after Christmas is so not appealing to me at the moment! Amazingly, Sam doesn't really go near it all that much. Only one ornament casualty so far this year.

Unpacking the ornaments and remembering each one is a ritual I always look forward to. They all have special memories and many were handmade or given to us by friends. These are some of my favorites.

This vintage-inspired bird ornament was a gift from Holly. She even hand-stitched the strawberry. Isn't this the sweetest thing?

 

I bought this cute one from Analise at Silver Bella.

Sam's 1st Christmas baby bootie ornament.

 

Mario's 1st Christmas candy cane.

A favorite mercury glass pine cone.

 

Some pink ones I like.

 

A sweet little cone made by my friend Pam.

 

 These pretty flocked bells were a gift from Dana.

 

You know what they say, "Once a Marine, always a Marine". {this is George's contribution to the tree!}

 

A sea shell from a vacation to Hilton Head Island.

A vintage ornament from Pam. Love this!

  

Just Married.

 

Vintage Lambie.

 

Just an old one I like a lot.

 

I glittered a load of pine cones again this year and tucked them into the tree here and there. Then I placed some on the mantle's garland as well. I just love the way they look, almost frosted. And it's always nice to have natural elements incorporated among the glass and other decorations.

There are more ornaments hanging other places too. We have another pine garland wrapped around the railing that leads upstairs, and this is where we hang our annual family ornaments. Here is last year's:

And the one we got this year:

The boys have colored lights strung around the playroom and a small tree with some of their "toy" ornaments like this train I got for Mario this year.

 

So nice to see all of these ornaments come out of their safe wrapping each year and to play Christmas music while we trim the tree.

We're at my parents' house now, for the week, and as I type this I'm sitting by their tree while my dad snores on the couch, my mom reads a magazine and George alternates between snoozing and watching TV. All around their cozy tree full of lights and memories. Christmas trees are magical, aren't they?

Holiday Wrapture

 

Oh goodness! It is Thursday already? Ack! We leave on Saturday for Ohio, where we'll be spending the week with my parents and all of my extended family. Seriously cannot wait. Shopping is done, baking is done {what little I did this year}, and now it's time to wrap it all up and load up the car for the trip.

One thing about owning my shop is that I never have to look very far to find gift wrapping materials. Although, can I say that it pains me to see good ribbon go into the giant Christmas trash bag along with all of the wrapping paper shreds on Christmas morning. I know I'm preaching to the choir here. You guys are like me, we can spot a good ribbon at 20 paces, and we snatch it right up out of that trash bag and tuck it into our purses, don't we?

The embossed foil paper {above} is a wonderful thing I thought I'd mention here. It's sold at bakery supply shops, and is used to cover cake boards. Makes a great gift wrap {and sharpens your scissors as you cut!}. It's available in many colors and has been a staple for me for a few years now, ever since I took the Wilton cake decorating classes and the teacher told us all about it. And it's cheap too!

 

Pretty crepe rolls are fun to use. I like to sometimes wrap smaller sized gifts in this.

And sewing patterns always make interesting tissue paper, in poofs coming out of a gift bag or tucked inside a box. Great graphics and neutral colors.

  

I dug through some millinery-filled baskets to find some pretty gift toppers.

 

Most people on my shopping list probably couldn't care less about a millinery flower, but a few of my friends will appreciate them. I always use them on my mom's gifts, and then she gives them back to me to use again. So funny.

 

Well, I'd better get wrapping I suppose. 24 hours from now we'll be loading the car {and George will once again ask me why I need 5 pairs of shoes and  4 different purses}. Mark my words, that will be the conversation as he packs the back of the car.

Happy wrapping, my friends!

A Pretty Little Christmas

My friend Heather is hosting a blog party called "A Pretty Little Christmas", and I thought it would be fun to join in! Participants are supposed to blog about how they are having a pretty little Christmas, by showing photos of whatever they wish to show: their homes, wrapped gifts, Christmas trees, etc. These are just some random snapshots of my holiday decorations.

I don't have space for an entire Christmas village, but I do have a couple of pieces, this wintry church being my very favorite.

 

A customer and friend, Gabrielle, made this pretty sequin-adorned tree for me! I just got it in the mail over the weekend. {love getting good mail!} It looks perfect with the rest of the forest on the buffet.

My feather tree is full of feathered friends. I used all birdies, pine cones and acorn ornaments on this one.

 

You can see them a little better here:

 

A simple little wreath on a mirror. Sometimes a small touch is all you need.

I got this wonderful ruffled stocking at Garnet Hill. I'm still working on making stockings for the 4 of us, but it doesn't look like they're going to be finished this year. So, this will be my stocking, and my 3 boys will get our old classic cream plush stand-bys. {I'm sure they won't mind as long as they're full!}

I have lots more pictures {of the tree, other decorations, and some wrapped gifts} and will post them later this week. Now, I'm going to hop around the Internet and visit some festive, inspiring blogs. Heather has posted a list of all of the participating bloggers, so we can easily see who else joined the Pretty Little Christmas party!

Santa Dialogue

 

If Sam could talk, he would have said:  Mama, I am NOT going to smile. No way. I won't even make eye contact with this bearded fellow. You can meow and bark and dance around and do all of the things that make me belly laugh at home. They are just not going to work here. Anyway, you look ridiculous doing that in the middle of the mall. Get me off of here. Who is this guy anyway? Mama, I'm going to count to 3, and then I'll start crying really hard.....

Meanwhile, Mario was all about making sure Santa knew he wanted Buzz Lightyear and clay. Clay? Like, as in Play-Doh? Or serious clay? Guess I better go back to the craft store this weekend. And, as you can see, he was quite happy to force his fake smile for the camera! I can't wait for Christmas morning to see his face when he opens his presents. Cannot wait.

Dino & Harry

I added a Playlist of some of my favorite Christmas tunes over there in the right-hand column. {It's not set on auto-start, in case my favorite tunes are not your favorites as well. So, you have to click the play button to listen.} The lineup includes Dean Martin and Harry Connick, Jr., among others. What more does one need?! They can serenade me any day!

In my book, no one is a cool as Dino. The song Baby, It's Cold Outside is played over and over again in our house this time of year, and even Mario knows most of the words now. It's our little tradition that we play it whenever we're all in the car together. George and Mario sing the part sung by Dean Martin, and I sing the part sung by the women. We were a little rusty this year, but after a few rounds, we got our groove back.

If you have this CD, then you must have seen the picture inside the booklet where a very handsome Harry is dragging a Christmas tree through the forest. Oh my tinsel and stars!

I also added Celine Dion's version of O Holy Night, because I get teary-eyed every time I hear her belt out that final high note with such strength. It's amazing to me. And then there's always the classic and beautiful Ave Maria.

I'm always looking for more tunes to add to my holiday lineup. So please share with me, what's your favorite Christmas song?

Prom Pretty

 

I'm getting so excited about the Silver Bella Prom!  My friend Holly was sweet enough to let me borrow her fabulous flea-market-found vintage prom dress. Layers of pink poofy tulle and ruffles....what more could a girl want?

I've got a crinoline all fluffed up and ready to go, thanks to a friend of a friend who let me borrow one. I think I'm going to need an extra suitcase just for the gown and slip!

 

And I figured since this is The Prom, after all, I should go all out. I even have a sash to wear on vendor night!

 

Since the Miss America Pageant is not in my future {sadly}, this is surely the only time in my life I'll ever wear a sash. I just couldn't resist...

  

What fun we're all going to have at the prom! I can't wait to see what everyone wears and how the event unfolds. I'm sure Teresa has so many fun things in store!

Halloween Treats

 

I know I'm a day late here, but I didn't really have Halloween pictures to share until Halloween actually happened. Here are a few snippets of our day.

I made this Bald Eagle costume from felt when Mario was a baby. I'm glad Sam could wear it too. I found the pattern in an old issue of Martha Stewart Kids. {Does anyone else wish they still published that magazine??!!} I bought those issues long before I had kids, knowing that someday I would be glad I did. Then, I found more issues on ebay a couple years back. They are full of great ideas for kids' parties, snacks, decorating, costumes, and much more.

 

And here is Buzz Lightyear {aka Mario....but you'd never ever know it was him, right?} He really thought he was Buzz when he had this costume on. I guess that's the fun of Halloween! It was hilarious because he was just as interested in passing out candy as he was receiving it. He kept saying, "Can I feed the children?" We were cracking up wondering where he had heard that.

 

The goggles stayed on for a lot longer than I thought they would've.

 

Oops! I spoke too soon!

I hope you and all of the children in your family had a fun Halloween! Now, I must go hide 3/4 of the candy from my son. See you Monday!

 

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Today is my birthday! To celebrate, I decided to bake myself a cake using the gigantic cupcake pan I bought a few months ago. This is one big cupcake, and with my husband out of town, I'd hate to think I have to eat the entire thing myself. Not to worry, Mario is a good cupcake eater too.....and some friends are stopping by so they can help me out as well.

It's 1:30 in the morning on April 22nd, officially my birthday, but also time for bed. Morning will be here too soon, but at least I'll have sweet dreams!

Happy Day!