alittlesweetness

a country picnic party

A few weeks ago we celebrated Ava's 4th Birthday.  As most of you know, she came after 4 boys in our family, so of course I loved the opportunity to do something girly here.  We keep a lot of birthdays simple around here, so it's been since she turned 1 that I put together a party for her.  To be quite honest, I tend to get a little overwhelmed with the party planning process, so I'm generally just fine with the simple option.

However, with Ava being 4, she's very aware and definitley wanted a party.  I totally admit, I did take advantage of the fact that she is still little, and unaware enough that I picked the theme, instead of letting her say she wanted a disney princess party.  I'm sure that will come soon enough and I'll be stuck!  ;)  (Yes, my daughter loooooves the disney princesses and I don't fight it.)

My inspiration for this party was the fact that Ava also looooooves strawberries!  Like a lot.  So that was that.  A country picnic party is was!

Plus, it took some of the overwhelming out of it for me since I already had paper items that I had previously made for customers.  This made it do-able for me... I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  My boys liked giving me a hard time and said things like...."oh you mean your party mom"....assuming I was wanting to do this for myself.  Couldn't be more inaccurate.  I truly was only doing this for Ava.  I tried to explain, they didn't listen.  

Don't get me wrong, I thouroughly enjoyed doing it for her.  What made it better is that she helped with EVERY little thing and she was so excited.  Ava takes "mommy's little helper" to a whole new level.  Not helping is not an option.  Trust me. 

But enough chatting from me....on with some pictures.  :)

The little awning was inspired by a Mandy Lynn party and was super simple to make.  Once we figured how to make it work, it really only took about an hour.

With a vintage dresser as a buffet, it really made the sweetest little set up.  Not to mention the little cutie standing next to it. ;)  

It really was quite simple as far as the food and decoration, but it worked for us. 

Ava helped me make a simple bunting out of my Farmer's Wife blocks, twine, mini clothespins and fabric strips.  Took us like 20 minutes.

I had another bunting I had made for fall market, but never used, so finally it had a purpose....

I lined the table with a vintage sheet, a long piece of gingham and a few baskets and buckets holding paper items and fruit. 

The buckets were at Michael's... I was so happy that I didn't have to order them!

For lunch we had chicken salad crossaints, fruit salad, pasta salad, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and of course the kids could take pears, apples and strawberries from the buckets on the table....which they did.

I made the cake and to my surprise it was really good!

I just used boxed mixes, (devils chocolate and strawberry) but the frosting recipe (down further in the cake post) was from Bakerella!  Yum!

We had a couple different lemondades...

I had little side bowls of lemons, limes and mint leaves....

I got the little signs as a free download a couple years ago, but I don't remember where. (if you know, please let me know!)

I liked this idea I saw on Pinterest for drinks....ball jars, cupcake liners for lids and paper straws...We use ball jars every day for our regular drinking glasses so this was an easy one for me to do.  I got the cupcake liners and straws at Michael's. 

For an activity, the kids painted little flower pots and planted a flower. 

I raided my husbands old t-shirt collection and put those on the kids while they painted.  Worked great.  Unfortunatly I didn't get a lot of pictures of this. oops!  They loved it though!

For treat bags, I used another idea from Pinterest with paper bags, doilies and fabric.  I love any chance to use more fabric!

And of course we had present time...

Which made for one happy birthday girl!

And one exhausted mama....

But hey...if she's happy, I'm happy.

The End. 

Now I better get myself moving today because my parents are coming into town and I just might have some party decorations to put away first.  oops! 

P.S.  I have to say Thank you to my wonderful sister-in-laws, husband and my boys who helped me so much on party day!  I couldn't have done it without each of you!  :)  For reals.

 

back to life

 

Ava and I sat and had a divine little breakfast moment together this morning.  With all the boys off to school, we had fun arranging the flowers, mixing and sipping up juice (i taught her how to do 'cheers') and gobbling up some oh so yummy eggo waffles.  With peanut butter of course.  (You really should try it!)  ;)

Ava really is all girl and loves doing this stuff.  She loves to be right in there, definitly has her way and say!

She loved using a tiny version of my mason jar!

As you can see, my counter chairs are red now! 

Over the long weekend we did quite a bit of home improvement/projects.  Sanding and painting the chairs was one of them. 

Here's my oldest having the time of his life. (Not!)

I've done alot on my bedroom finally, getting it all painted, painting my dressers and my hubby's ripped off the old mouldings so we can put up new white pretty stuff. 

I painted.....

While Ava slept on my bed.

So, all in all we stayed pretty busy.  It's definitly a work in progress though, so no great photos yet.  I've got some ideas for my bedroom that shouldn't be too far fetched, so hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures soon. 

For today, I'm opening up the the shop and here we are.....

back to life!

Enjoy!  ;)

Tasha

today....

 

(photo from thecraftingchicks.com)

So, I'm having one of those direction-less days....you know, doing lots of little things, but not feeling entirly productive.  I think some days are just like that, so i try not to fret too much about it.  

Instead, I AM....

excited:: that my hubby gets the long weekend off!  he's been working some grueling hours and we couldn't be happier that stage is over.  (yay!)

so, i'm wondering:: what i can make for the 4th?  we don't know what we're doing yet, but i know i need something yummy....which leads me to my next thought....er, photo...

wanting::  more cake pops!  kerri shared some of hers from last weekend, now i can't get them off my mind.  a holiday treat 'must have'. 

and how cute is this?

and here's a less intimidating version/photo...still super cute though! 

i'd eat it for sure. 

oh ya...

i almost forgot i was....

contemplating:: what block i should make next for the farmer's wife quilt-a-long....broken dishes, postage stamp, checkerboard, evening star, country farm, calico puzzle....hmm?

and i'm reaaaallly enjoying:: my very sparkly clean refridgerator and freezer.  it's a scary job, but somebody's gotta do it. and boy, am i glad i did!

anticipating::  hearing more about my son's experience at EFY.  he's in utah for the week and having a great time!  (his term was 'legit').  we've only chatted with him once since it's been in session, so i can't wait to hear more.  i hope he remembers to take lots of pictures!

brainstorming::  weekend activities....after above son's EFY trip, our activities need to be cheap ones!  picnic, hiking, beach day, another breakfast outside, board games...hmm?

thinking:: what an easy cute idea for my 'collection' of glass jars!  all this is, is mod-podged little fabric flags. 

 

printing::  out that cute little freebie print i posted up top!  what a nice little way to bring the holiday into your home.

and here's to hoping:: for a nice enjoyable weekend...(a little sun too).

HAPPY 4th!

Tasha  

p.s.  all the food and craft photos are from my pinterest searching....if you want links and such, go to my pinterest boards....'holidays' and 'looks yummy'.  click on the pictures you like and you'll see credits and links.  :)

sunny sunday tradition

 

We've always loved a good Sunday breakfast.....waffles or french toast, hashbrowns, sausage or bacon, fruit and juice.....the works! 

This Sunday the sun was shining and the backyard seemed to be begging for visitors.  So, the table, chairs, a pretty vintage sheet, a preschool potted plant and some favorite dishes were collected up and set out on the back lawn.

I didn't fuss too much about picture perfect arrangements or whether or not our cups matched. 

Mainly, I wanted a moment of pure happiness, of peace and quiet, for my busy (noisy!) family.

 

Sitting together in the fresh sunshine truly cheered us and brightened our morning! 

Here's proof: 

(okay, really it's just what happens when I'm trying to take pictures)

I'm definitly sensing a new tradition for sunny Sunday mornings. 

What about you?  Do you have some sunny day traditions?  I'd love to hear!

Tasha

enjoying......

I'm taking a little break from the shop to enjoy some other things around the home.  I have about a ka-trillion works in progress right now......like organizing, painting and sewing projects.  I'm also just enjoying the daily routines with my family more, like walking to the park on a sunny day with the little ones (which are few and far between these days!) and making more dinners than usual....it's fabulous!

Here's a peek at a couple things keeping me busy.

I finished up my Laundry Day embroidery a few months ago (finally!) and now I'm turning into something....(finally!)

I had cut a bunch of scraps a few months ago and so it was easy to just start laying them out and get moving on this.  I added some new favorites too!

I have definitly been inspired by this and this for my project!  (Take a peek at them, really!)

Originally, I had just put the finished embroidery in a frame.  It looked cute, but it was calling out for some quilting and to become something more!

My plan is for a pillow.  I'll be putting it in Ava's room and guarding it with my life. 

The other fun thing I've started is a Srappy Bow-Tie Quilt. 

This one on Pinterest got me going!

My mess!

It's fun mixing and matching the little 'bows' together....finding the right combinations.

I can't wait to get this one finished...it's super simple.  Thanks to Jolene at Blue Elephant Stitches for clarifying the 'how-to' for me!!  :)

Oh, and here's a perfect excuse I found to use my cutest, newest little pyrex dish!  A mini loaf pan!  It made making and eating the Banana Bread that much more delish!  mmmm.  :)

And with that, I wish you all a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! 

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to do some enjoying......it really makes life better.  ;)

Tasha

cupcakes and a giveaway

Last week I finally downloaded my camera's manual from online!  I know...too exciting. 

Over the last several years, I've read a lot of photography advice, tutorials, etc from various blogs and sometimes it's been helpful, but many times it really doesn't matter what the advice is or the information is, if you don't know what certain things are or where that function is on your camera...it really can't help you. 

I've also read several times something like.....'READ YOUR MANUAL!' 

So, finally I did......well not all 170-something-ish pages, but a lot of it.

I started learning about those magical things like aperture, shutter speed, ISO and exposure compostion.  SO HELPFUL! 

Now, it's still going to be a whole 'nother thing to execute all of that information into my pictures, but at least I can start attempting to figure it out.  Slowly, but hopefully it will come along.  It's alot to understand...I have so much admiration for those who truly are gifted in this area!

I basically started taking a trillion photos of boring things like my kids stuffed animals laying on the floor or a bow I had made for Ava that was sitting on my desk. 

Then I graduated to a more interesting subject........Cupcakes.  My kids were going crazy waiting to eat them while I practiced taking pictures.  

During and after I had read my manual, and then read certain parts again and again....I also found these posts to be helpful....some of which I had read before, but made no sense at the time and others I have stumbled upon this past week.....That now I can make sense of!

Kevin and Amanda "What Settings Should I Use?"

Kevin and Amanda "Photography Tutorial"

The Pioneer Woman "What the Heck is Aperture? Part One" (read all 4 parts)

Simplify "Here Goes Nothin'"

Ashley Ann SnapShop {May 2011} (the nice thing about Ashley's photos, is that she documents her settings above each photo, which...when you understand what all those numbers mean, can be very helpful.

Meadowbrooke Farm "Photography Q and A" (her cupcakes are WAAAAY prettier than mine!)

Those are all I can think of at the moment, but there really is so much out there, you shouldn't have a problem if you want to learn more about photography. 

However, FIRST.....READ YOUR MANUAL.  It will make all the difference in your understanding.  And trust me, if I can learn even a little, you can too.  I am seriously not the brainy type, nor the technical type.  I have to work at it, and I do have a software developer husband who at times I have relied on heavily for techy help.  But, with the camera, so far, it's been all me.  Which is sayin alot!

Now if I could get these girls to share a few tips and information, I'd be sooo happy! *hint, hint*  

Amy from nanaCompany

Charla Anne from Love, Charla Anne

Mandy Lynne from Mandy Lynne

Karina from A Fresh Take Photography

Kim from Pearlie Pink

Okay so enough of that! 

Now, I need to let you know that there is a GIVEAWAY going on at Little Miss Shabby until Thursday for my Window Shopping Illustration and your choice of either the Russian Sweeties Embroidery Pattern Set or the Favorite Dresses Embroidery Pattern Set. 

Russian Sweeties is a set of 4, Favorite Dresses is a set of 5.

Also, Gigi from Pinks and Needles is giving away the cutest pin topper she made especially to go along with my artwork for this giveaway.  I think it's super cute!! 

This giveaway ends on Thursday, so head over to Little Miss Shabby and enter!  Corey is doing several giveaways for her Birthday week, so check them out.  Happy Birthday Corey and thanks for all the fun!  :)

Have a wonderful week!

Tasha

long time no see!

It's been a bit since I last blogged!  Goodness, time flies I guess.  :)  I've been busy doing several things, but my most recent little creation is the Easter skirt I made for Ava.  I really enjoyed making it and I love how it turned out. 

Last week I recieved the prettiest stack of fabric from Kerri at Sew Deerly Loved.

Isn't that crochet trim divine?  I also adore the crochet flowers!  Those are in Kerri's shop too. 

I have the bestest ever little skirt pattern from Jona at Fabritopia!  It's my fave. 

Isn't this adorable?  It's the photo for the pattern.

Between the beautiful fabric and trims and the cutest skirt pattern ever, I couldn't wait to get sewing! 

Maybe one of these days, I'll get a picture of Ava wearing the skirt.  My battery was out on Easter!  Sad.  She looked adorable though. 

Another little thing I did, was sew red ric rac trim onto some new white curtains.  I love the clean crisp look!

I'm not the best at photographing my curtains......

I was inspired to do this from Pinterest where I saw ric rac on some pillowcases....which is also very lovely.  I wish that was my bed, but unfortunatley....it's not. 

(photo in my Pinterest)

My Kitchen Aid mixer has also been heavily used lately.....

Which is always so intriguing for the little ones.....

I tried these Lemon Crinkles last week.....also Pinterest inspired.

Again, the little ones loved helping.....

We had no problem snarfing the cookies down! 

If I haven't bored you yet....I've also been working more on painting my walls.  It's been WAY too long of a process going from our khaki to gray, so we are really trying to get it all finished.

This wall in my den used to be red.....not anymore!  I love the new fresh and light look!  I don't have anything on my wall yet.  I'm hoping to figure that out one of these days.  

We have super high cielings in our front entry and hallway, so we worked more on that too!  I painted a frame aqua and resituated some pictures in the hallway. 

Well I think I'll stop here so I don't bore you out of your minds!  But hey, at least you know I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs!!  ;)

Enjoy the week!

Tasha

little by little

 

First,  Thank you to all who wrote in such sweet comments last week!  It always helps things along.  ;)  It was a busy week and frustrating at times, but it turned out well.  My hubby was a sweetheart and offered to take me out Saturday morning to do some shopping...of course I took him up on it and we had a nice time.  :)

Yesterday I took out my little hexie collection and played with that a bit.  Several months ago I was inspired by this adorable pillow made by the talented Amy, from Nana Company.  That's when I began stitching away, little by little, to make a pillow for Ava. 

These aren't stitched together, just playing to see how it might look....I have only began stitching together one hexie flower.  This pillow idea might take a bit, but that's just how I expect it, so I'm not worried.  I just mainly want to enjoy the process, so I really only take it out when I truly feel like it.  

Here are some other fabrics I'd like to add.  I also need more greens. 

While I played with hexies, I also made cinnamon rolls........yum-o!

I have used this recipe from Heather Hales (she's so good at cooking and baking for her family!) a few times now and I really like it.  The thing I like about it is how fast it is!  My mom has a yummy recipe too, but it takes alot longer, so I would rarely make them. 

I did okay on the dough this time, not quite as fluffy as my last batch, but we had no problem gobbling them up!  This time I added a lot more cinnamon, sugar and butter than the recipe calls for and I did like that.  :)

I love mine with the frosting!

See?  Yum-O!

This recipe seriously only takes an hour, so even though I don't have it perfected, I don't mind making them more often.  That way, little by little, hopefully I'll get better at it. 

Now, little by little, I'm going to start working on my orders that accumulated last week from my time off from the shop!

Oh and P. S. ....

I do have some READY TO SHIP fabrics listed in the shop in case you're interested.  I don't have fabric as a regular item in the shop right now, but I do have a few things hanging around.  If you really want fabric....I'll do occasional Custom Listings.  Let me know.

Here's a couple little photos I took of Ava this morning as she ate her toast.

 And here she is watching the neighbor's dog out the window.  She loves animals!  

Enjoy the week!

Tasha

to make me feel better

Last week my Grandma passed away.  She lived in Montana and I have seen her very little in my adult life and not for several years.  We knew she didn't have long and so we had tried to go visit for Thanksgiving and then had thought maybe this spring or summer when the roads weren't so terrible for traveling we would be able to make it over.  Well, she didn't make it that long.  Yesterday was the funeral and we had planned to go, but at the last minute, my husband's work deadlines prevented us from being able to hit the road.  I was pretty grumpy to say the least.  Not helping the situation, I've been sick (again!)....just a cold, but still....not fun. 

I decided I would remedy myself with 3 things:

Sewing ~ Baking ~ Shopping 

A couple weeks ago, I came across this darling quilt that literally sent me to my sewing machine.  I was so inspired to whip out my Flea Market Fancy stash and make something!

(This is the project I started when I was working on the Bliss doll quilt.)

Although I really don't have a ton of FMF, I was surprised I could easily make such a great sized quilt and I still have leftovers for other projects.  (and look Kerri, I even included the pinks! )

I also combined in a couple Bliss fabrics, a couple Katie Jump Rope and some coordinating stripes and polka dots.

I'm super happy I took the extra time to do the pieced border.  I get impatient sometimes when I quilt, but I forced myself to just do this and I love it.  And it really didn't take as long as I thought it would.  Now I just need backing and binding and I can't wait to get this one finished up for Spring!

I also dug back into a couple little baby quilts for my nephews....ya, they are way past the new baby phase, but they're still getting their quilts!!!  They also just need to be quilted and bound. 

Here's one all pinned up!

Here's all 3 quilt tops!  YAY for finished quilt tops!

For the baking, I decided to try some homemade Peanut Butter Cups.  Easy recipe, a little time consuming, yummy results.  This was the recipe I followed.

Here's a couple in progress photos:

We made big ones and small ones and we used both semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips.

Coating/filling the liners was the most time consuming part. 

We also filled some with marshmellow fluff and grahams for a S'mores treat. 

We liked the milk chocolate best and I would suggest putting a lot more powdered sugar in with the peanut butter filling, but all in all.....WE ATE THEM ALL.  :)

As for the shopping part, well, I promise you the SECOND I feel good enough to get my bootie out of this house, I'll be hitting the mall. 

Just me, myself and I. 

Tasha

pure bliss

About 4 months ago I made this little Bliss dress for Ava. She wore it to a family event and then to church the next day. After that it magically disappeared! Oh how I searched and searched for this sweet little dress!! I was completely baffled at where it could be hiding!

Then, last week I was looking for some of my other bliss fabric for another project I am working on…..a little piece that had magically disappeared as well. (gotta love it when that happens!) I had the thought to look inside one of my ziplocks full of quilt blocks from the 3 X 6 Mini Bee I had done last year. To my super ecstatic surprise….there was the Bliss dress folded in between the quilt blocks!!!! YIPPEE!! I was so excited and so confused because I do not remember ever putting it there. How crazy!!! But I don’t care, cuz the mystery is solved! Luckily the dress still fits. I had also made this little hair clip to match. It was supposed to be fluffy, but the weight of the fabric made it lay flat. Oh well, I think it still looks cute.

For the trim I sewed a very scrappy-pieced ruffle with what I had leftover. It doesn’t look great, but it was an experiment and I think it’s cute enough. Pure Bliss!!

I LOVE this fabric and this dress! I will be sad when Ava grows out of it. Guess I’ll have to make another!

The funny thing was, is that I found the Bliss dress while I was sewing together the tiny Bliss squares that Camille had sent me. I was a stopping point on my other project, (I’ll show you soon!) but 'needed' something else to sew! I decided it was the perfect time to try out some pre-cuts and the perfect little excuse to give Ava’s baby’s a new soft quilt. It was so fun and quick to sew up….I just adore it!

See how happy they are! Pure Bliss!  (update!  Doll info:  Large doll was purchased from Love, Charla Ann and the small doll was a gift from Ava's Aunt Kerri.  She used a Bit of Whimsy Dolls pattern.)

For the backing I used some super soft minky. Although I did a binding, I didn’t use any batting and I also kept the quilting to a minimum. My objective was that it would be cuddly-soft and good for wrapping around a baby.

I think it’s so sweet and I loved working with the pre-cuts. It made it so quick and enjoyable for me. I need to do pre-cuts again sometime!

Speaking of Bliss. I have been terribly lame in not mentioning that the oh-so-lovely Camille, was sweet enough to allow me to mimick (copy!) her beautiful pink tulip Bliss fabric in my new Fabric Sale illustration.  After I had done the 'bliss fabric', it really helped me feel more inspired about creating the rest of the fabrics in the illustration.  So, really, thank you Camille!

Here's the completed illustration.  I appreciated all the ideas for backgrounds, it really helped me with my decision.  Thank you all!

Meanwhile, I’ve been enjoying some very blissful brownies……

They are sooooo good, (thanks Duncan Hines and my son) that I had to put them in this darling little dish, adorn them with pom-poms and take a cute picture!

I will try really hard not to eat all the rest of them myself. It really could be done, but I really really shouldn’t.

Didn’t I tell you before that pom-poms were cute?

‘Bliss’fully cute!

 

Tasha