A TRIP DOWN {EASTER PROJECT} MEMORY LANE

Easter 2002 - Sheep Cupcakes

{mini marshmallows for body & ears; large marshmallow halved for head}

Spring 2004 - Lollipop Flower Cupcakes

{blow pops, fruit-striped gum leaves and an out-of-focus camera}

Easter 2005 - Bunny Rabbit Cake

{bake a 9" round cake, cut in half, stand halves on side, frost and decorate)

Easter 2006 - Bunny Baby Hat

{made from the sleeve of a men's t-shirt from MS Baby Magazine)

Can you tell that I've been organizing some old photos? But I promise that it's not all about the past. I have a new Easter printable (available for free download) all set to go for tomorrow, so be sure to check back!

BEYOND BRILLIANT

{photographed by one of my absolute favorites, Mary Swenson}

OPERATION NICE

Congratulations Petunia for being named NiCE Person of the Week over at Operation Nice! Click here to see the complete story. And if you have never clicked over to Operation Nice before, you're in for a treat. This is a daily must-read to start your day off right and if you're having a bad day, it will absolutely restore your faith in humankind.

Thank you Melissa, not only for taking the time to recognize Petunia, but most especially for spreading the NiCE! 

YOU COULD WIN A PARTY LIKE THIS!

OR THIS!

OR ANY OF THESE...

OR ANY CUSTOM PARTY PACKAGE FROM PUMPKIN PETUNIA!

For your chance to win, simply go here to make a donation, any donation at all, to the Breast Cancer 3 - Day and be sure to reference Pumpkin Petunia in the notes. The larger your donation, the more chances you have to win! For the complete story and more information, go here.

MAKE A WISH!

Today is a great day! Not only is it my little girl's birthday, but it is also the day that I am finally able to introduce my new line of wish necklaces. And let me tell you, it's been a long time coming! After endless delays in customs (the charms are handmade in Australia) and my packed schedule of work and children and life, it seems it has taken forever to get to this point. But thankfully, we're here!

So without further delay, I am thrilled to introduce a new line of wish necklaces, each representing a specific wish: a wish of love, of friendship, of luck, of hope and of peace. The centerpiece of the necklace is a stunning sterling silver and stone charm, handmade by an incredibly talented jewelry artist based in Australia, strung on an 18" sterling silver chain. When these charms finally arrived at my door, I immediately knew they were worth the wait! Each color charm represents a different wish: pink for love, teal for friendship, blue for hope, green for luck and hint of gray for peace (this gray is much more subtle than it appears in the photo). Make a wish each time you wear the necklace - then Trust. Hope. Believe.

 

Wish necklaces make the perfect gift for graduations, birthdays, mother's day, bridesmaids or anyone who can use a good thought and a wish come true. And who couldn't use one of those right now? So, head over to the shoppe to check them out and be sure to become a fan of Pumpkin Petunia over on Facebook to take advantage of our fan-exclusive discount (fifteen percent!).

Note: If you're a fan of our discontinued line of wish necklaces, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we will still be offering limited quantities of our ballet slipper and cheerleader megaphone wish necklaces at least through spring and early summer to accommodate recital and cheer tryout season. The bad news is that all other styles are no longer available. 

SPRING CELEBRATIONS: BASEBALL PARTY!

Well, I was planning on saving this post for April 6th which is Opening Day at Fenway, but once I started sifting through the photos of this party we had for Pumpkin in February of 2007, I just couldn't wait to share. I really shouldn't work on Opening Day anyway, it being a major holiday and all.

The most important thing to know about Pumpkin, in general, not just for the purposes of this post, is that he loves baseball. Not just loves as in it's his favorite game to play or that he really enjoys it. No. Loves as in he's obsessed, it's all he thinks about, he was the only preschooler I knew then or since that would sit and watch an entire baseball game on TV. Every day, twice on Sundays, if we would let him. I know some adults who do not have that kind of attention span for televised baseball! So this post features one of the many baseball-themed parties that we have had for Pumpkin. Oh, and save for the Wii party that we just had for his tenth birthday, if the theme wasn't baseball, it was football. What can I say? He comes from a long line of sportsaholics.

{Magazine Cover Thank You Note}

This particular baseball party took place at an indoor baseball facility where the boys spent most of their time in the batting cages. While the boys waited for their turn at bat, I was equipped to paint their faces with baseballs, team logos and the numbers of their favorite players, setting them up for a photo op that would later appear in the form of thank you notes. 

{Cake. And (top left) cd favors in blow-up replica of Fenway}

Since the party was not at our home, a new concept to me at the time, I felt like a free spirit! Not having to clean and decorate to prepare for the party made me feel like I had all the time in the world - so I decided to make the cake.  The idea was to make a baseball on a base, that way we could have two kinds of cake, yellow cake for the base, and chocolate for the ball. When you ever see a ginormous baseball sitting on a graham cracker crumb sprinkled base at a baseball game, I'm not sure. Let's just say that some things are better left to the professionals. Although, Pumpkin definitely looked at it through Red Sox colored glasses as he proudly announced: "My Mom made that!"

{CD Jacket}

Coinciding perfectly with the start of Spring Training, this party was a fun way for Pumpkin and his friends to gear up for the coming season and begin sharpening their skills after a long winter. To fire them up even more, we put together a cd for each guest with a playlist of baseball-themed songs to listen to throughout the season, complete with a custom jacket to commemorate the party. See a copy of the playlist below. 

{CD inside jacket playlist}

The best part about this party for me (aside from Pumpkin and his friends had so much fun and the cake was eaten quickly, so there is very little physical evidence of it's existence) is that two years later, parents of the party guests still tell me all that they have the magazine cover thank you note tacked up on their fridge or they still listen and sing along to the cd in the car. I love that momentos of our parties linger on and the guests remember the good time that they had. That's what it's all about!

ONE IN A MILLION

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Hope yours was as fun as ours. There is a good deal of green in Peanut's outfit, by the way. I don't want you to think we didn't fully acknowledge the day. The green is just hidden by all that pink!  (otherwise known as her daily uniform)

Oh, and since it's in the photo and I've been meaning to show this to you, check out the ribbon wand I made for Peanut out of a bunch of Christmas scraps. That's right, scraps!

The plastic ring held a new scarf for Petunia and the ribbon came from wrapped packages, but was unable to be reused for a similar purpose because it is embossed with a store name. All too pretty and full of potential to be discarded, so we made a ribbon wand! I just looped the ribbon through itself and onto to the ring, securing the knots with a bit of glue and voila! - a ribbon wand. Peanut dances and runs and plays games and cuddles with it. I think it may be her most prized possession. Well, after the crown and tutu, of course. The girl does have her standards.