Lalaloopsy update

Just a quick update on what I've done in the past couple of days for the Lalaloopsy birthday party I'm planing for my daughter. It wasn't easy but I've found the time somehow...I drew in Corel Painter Essentials the doll, then I colored it. After with the help of the Silhouette software I made different designs, printed them out, then cut them with my digital cutter Silhouette. It took quite a while, since I haven't used the cutter very much and it showed I lacked experience ( which was obvious around the time I asked the kids to go to the other room so I can curse as much as I like and of course by the full recycling bin with papers). At the end I think I did fine. It was interesting enough to keep me busy anyway.

So, the placement cards are done.

The special "birthday ribbon"  too.

The birthday bags took twice the time, because I had to make two pieces for them - one big image for the package and one small one as a tag with the name of the child. 

Did I also mention I did all of the "stitch" work by hand on all of the decorations? Yeah...gimme that crazy mom award!

And last but not least, here are the 4 designs for the birthday cards I made:







The actual image of the Lalaloopsy doll I printed on a sparkling cream colored paper. Unfortunately on my pictures the image looks just grainy but in person the effect is quite cool.











I think the stitching added little bit of a lalaloopsy touch that the cards needed before :-)

Going into lalaloopsy zone again, see you soon!

Annie

Birthday madness

This summer is probably the busiest yet. I can't remember when was the last time when I actually had time to catch my breath. Oh, and I have kids. Not to mention I'm starting school in a month and I'm having second thoughts on how this is going to work out with my schedule. Did I mention I have kids?

Yes...the kids. Well, one of them has a birthday very soon hence, the B-day party planning.

I hate b-day party planning. On my birthday I want to stay as long as I want in bed, to wake up and have my brunch served for me and to spend the afternoon near the pool with a book and a cocktail in hand, thank you very much!



However, my daughter ( Thing 2) has a slightly different idea about the event. She's imagining something in the lines of spending a week making her cake, spending a month preparing the favors, decorations and attire. She also wants HANDMADE invitations (The audacity! Like someone has made them invitations for all of their birthdays. Oh, wait...I did. Bummer. ). And last but not least- the 5 course meal.

Hello?! Working mother here!Adjust your expectations if you please!

Note to self-  that's what happens when you spent the last 10 years at home.

My trusted friend in the next 4 weeks

 





So, after a long deliberation we were set on a date and place( that thankfully provided all of the above, minus the handmade invitations). That place was( please note the past tense) going to cost me half an arm and half a leg, but if I didn't have to spend the next 3 weeks bending over backwards to work as a cake shop, Party city, Michales, Perfect maid cleaning service and  Bozo the clown entertainment I was all for it.



But I just knew it's too good to be true. It turned out they don't allow pinatas at the facility and this is something my daughter absolutely positively cannot live without! Right.

So we are having the party at home. Again. Great.



At least I was hoping there would be some ready made decorations etc to use. Nope. She choose as a theme Lalaloopsy dolls ( damn these button eyed chicks) and so far...I'll have to make the invitations, decorations, cake and games. I AM NOT making the food! For now. Ask me again in 3 weeks. No, even better, ask me the day before.



The conclusion....I started working on the project. The earlier the better if you ask me, considering I can't work on it every day. Sigh.



The doll that is in the center of it all is this one ( which is already ordered and shipped) and everything will match her "character". Oh, and the other great thing- the kids invited vary from 3 to 15 years old, so the art project we are doing has to be fun for every one.

Fun. Fun. Fun.

Anyway, if you are up to seeing work in progress, here are some of the things I'm working on.

Centerpieces 

 I calculated that each piece costs approximately $2. I made them from Styrofoam balls, wooden rods ( for cakes) 0.28c glass bottles and I bought 1 large Hawaian flower garland from Party City for 2.50. I made all 3 purple centerpieces with it. The pink garland was $1 and I made 2 pink ones from it.

I have seen people refer to these as flowers, fans and/or lanterns. Whatever they are, I think they are pretty cool. I was working on them last night just before I went to bed at 9 pm ( yeah, some of us wake up at 4:30am) but I have more to do. 

 

 Considering they are made out of tissue paper + string+ ribbon, they cost around $2 a piece too.

Decorations

My favorite part, I can't wait to use these!

Ribbon and balloons 

   

The craft supplies

Wish me luck!

Annie

Present ideas for teachers

Have you woken up on the night before the first day( or the last day) of school realizing that tomorrow is the day you were supposed to prepare something for your child's teacher?

Have you ever browsed mindlessly through the store looking for the perfect teacher present that won't be thrown away as useless?

I have !

So each year I post a couple of ideas that I hope will help other parents and save them the frustration in trying to make their children's teachers happy.

This year our theme was " Chinese"( I make up the themes, in case you are wondering), so here is what I came up with:

The gift set included: 

- a reusable tote bag

- a matching refrigerator magnet notebook

- a matching color bamboo mat

-a small matching print soy sauce dish

- a small wooden scroll box 

- a noodle bowl ( which were actually ice cream bowls, but they were the perfect shape and size for noodles) 

- a matching fancy chopsticks

- a "scroll" with a recipe for " Longevity noodles" and a thank you note on the back

All of the chopsticks had different designs on the handles. I must say for the price of the set, these were pretty impressive quality.

And here are the bags packed and ready to go. I don't have pictures of all the designs, but they matched the bags pattern.

In case this is not your type of teacher present idea, you might want to check out these posts:

- When you have the best teacher in the world, what do you do?

- Teacher babyshower gifts

- My little birdie's 1st day of school

- Teacher appreciation or appreciating teachers?

- Back to school

I hope these ideas help to make the last last days of school more bearable for you by giving you ideas for the perfect present for the perfect teacher! 

Have a sunny Summer, my friends!

Annie

The Forgotten " Kiara"

After spending an amazing Saturday at the SCBWI conference in Fishkill, I realized that I didn't post anything last week. I thought I did, but I guess having a girl with 105 F fever didn't help my memory either. So, before I forget again, here is the last of the gift sets that I started posting in April. Although I did forget about this set, it's one of my favorite, I hope you enjoy it too!

The gift set consists of a jewelry box and a greeting card. 

Soon all of these would be available in the store I am planing to open. 

Ta-ta for now,

Annie

Sneak peak

I am so excited ! I have been asked to prepare a cake and a paper gift set for a very special girl and I have been working on that for the past week and I wanted to share what we are going to surprise the little girl with. Her mom really liked the Pottery Barn elephant that I drew and decided to have that as a theme and butterflies. Oh, and the girl's favorite color is lime green, so the photo album was my idea.

The whole gift set

A gift box for the little cross her mom got her

A gift bag to carry all the things

A photo album that has little butterflies, buttons and trees

A little sketchpad/journal with craft paper and stamped golden butterflies on each page.

A little correction- we added the name of the girl to the notebook as well, so here it is:



Soon I'll show you pictures of the cake as well!

Annie

Pottery Barn inspired baby shower gifts

For some time now I have been pondering on the idea to make something that would resemble a real fabric design. 

When I was presented with the idea to make a gift for the baby shower of my son's teacher I wasn't sure where to start. Then I found out she likes a particular Potter Barn Kids comforter and I thought wouldn't it be nice if I actually made a whole gift set based on that design. It took me a couple of days to figure out how exactly I should do it but at the end I think I did very well.

This is the original design:

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/baby-elephant-nursery-bedding/

I decided to make the colors a little brighter, and here is what I came up with:

- a 5" by 7" card 

  

- Initially I planned to make a scrapbook album for the baby, but then I came up with the idea to make a scrapbook frame for the baby room. I think this worked out better, because the teacher showed me how she was missing a piece of wall art in the room, and this would fit perfect.

This is the scrapbook page before I put in the frame

It took me a lot of time to finish it, since I designed, drew, painted, glued and cut everything by hand.

  

And here it is framed:

- Then I made a small gift box with the same design,

- I also made a small sticky note notebook ( I stamped a leaf image on all the pages, don't ask how long that took...) 

- And of course what is a present without a gift bag?

- Here is the whole gift set minus the notebook, because I added it last minute.

- I just couldn't but add flowers to the whole thing ( I saw beautiful yellow ones from the store). I arranged this bouquet the day of the baby shower at school.

The last finishing touch was the cake I made with the same design.

The kids from the class made a beautiful and touching gift- a book with drawings and their thoughts about the baby in writing. It was so sweet I almost cried when I listened to them. What a wonderful idea and what and awesome keepsake to share with the baby when he or she grows up!

I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish our wonderful teacher ( and amazing person) all the best for her growing family, and to let her know we will miss her very much! 

Congratulations, Mrs. H!