ART CAMP - DAY ONE

Well, I officially survived the first day of art camp. Not only did I survive - it was an absolute blast! Petunia was very practical and decided to start small and invite only two friends figuring that with her and Peanut (who is more like five kids all wrapped in to one!) that would be plenty. She's a very smart girl as this was the perfect group, we can add more next time once we have some experience under our belt.

We jumped right in with a sewing project from The Object Project, the "Kid Flick" Girl's purse. The finished product is absolutely adorable and the pattern is a DVD case. Very clever! This was the first time using a sewing machine for all of the girls and I was so impressed with how well they handled the machine.

Always one to keep up with the big kids, here is Peanut folding her fabric. (note to self: reapply sunscreen more often, she should not have a tan on her arms).

Once the body of the purse was sewn, the girls learned some gathering and hand stitching techniques to attach the handles, which are cute little bangle bracelets. Also very clever! 

The hand stitching took some time...

...but they took a couple of breaks

and did some beautiful work.

Then outside for a picnic lunch to rest their fingers and chat about how they would embellish their purses.

Here they are showing off their completed creations, embellished with handmade tulle flowers and felt flowers and birds. Aren't they sweet? And the purses are pretty cute too.

The purses are already filled with mini notebooks, pens and lipgloss. The greatest satisfaction of a job well done is the payoff of being able to use what you've made - and look good doing it!

Now to prepare for tomorrow. Print making and bookbinding are on the agenda. I can't wait!

ART CAMP PREP

Image from Shim and Sons via Mary Ruffle

Busy prepping for the art camp I'm hosting this week for Petunia and friends. I'm feeling in a bit over my head - but in a good way, I think.

On the agenda is print making, book binding, sewing and a few smaller projects. Full details as the week progresses.

IS THE PILLSBURY DOUGH BOY A TEASE?

I received a very curious email in my inbox yesterday. It was from my good buddy Pillsbury and it contained the most intriguing image: a Blueberry Lemon Pecan Pie. That's right, a pie with blueberries, lemons AND pecans! Looks good, doesn't it? Well, that image is all you will ever see of that pie. I'm questioning it's existence all together, sure that the photo is some sort of fancy, cgi special effect. Why? Because every time in the last 24 hours I have tried to click through to get the recipe  a window opens with the dreaded Page. Not. Found.

Now I'm not one to be easily discouraged, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and go right to the source. I opened a new window and typed the url myself.   Page. Not. Found.

Determined not to give up, I went to the Pillsbury home page and thought that I would search for the pie from there. But that Pillsbury does not want just anyone looking at their goods; you need to be a member. But wait, I am a member! That's how I got the email. So I smugly went ahead and clicked on "login." I AM worthy. 

Waiting with anticipation for the login screen to appear, I reviewed in my mind all of the possible passwords and login names I may have used to join. And I waited . . . and waited . . . Soon I saw the url switch to the all-too-familiar "click through" address and my heart sank.   Page. Not. Found.

So I'm beginning to think that the dough boy doesn't want me to have this pie of blueberries, lemons and pecans. Maybe he's trying to protect me, doesn't want me turn "doughy" like him. (yeah, I went there.)

Well, dough boy - it's MY life. I'll have blueberries, lemons and pecans baked together in a pie whenever I see fit! You can't make those kind of decisions for me. You're not the boss...

Sorry.

In parting, I guess all I can say is

the Keebler Elf would never do me like that.

CRUSHING HARD FOR MARY RUFFLE

Have you met Mary Swenson? She's the brilliance behind Its Pretty Good and Mary Ruffle and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm crushing hard for her beautiful photography made even better with lovely typeface. Each day that I head over to Its Pretty Good I am reminded in the best possible way of why I love New England and despite the cruel joke that Mother Nature sometimes plays on us (50 degrees in July!?!!), I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. 

GRADUATION PARTY

I finally have a moment to recap the graduation party we threw for my niece and nephew last month. You heard a bit about it here, and saw a bit of it here, but now is time for all the juicy details! This was a particularly fun party to put together because it was for two graduates, giving me a chance to have a bit of fun with the design. The two graduation caps on the invite are a good example of how we played off the fact that this was a party for both a boy and a girl graduate.

The graduate silhouettes used in the banner also played off this theme. I really loved this idea of using two silhouettes and the first invite that I designed played up this motif (seen below), but that design was vetoed by one of the graduates, making the double cap design next in line for consideration. It was their party, after all! (don't you just hate when the honorees have an opinion?!?) Luckily, I was able to sneak the silhouettes into other aspects of the party.

See. Cute, right?

If you haven't guessed, the graduates' school colors are blue and white which became the obvious palette for the decor. The dark blue and light blue worked well with the design for both a male and female graduate. I loved how the water bottles looked all lined up in the fridge.

Because the weather for the day was questionable, my sister decided to move the party indoors. This caused a few moments of panic as much of the decor planned for the tent would not work indoors, but a last minute banner and some other small details worked wonders to create the look we were hoping for indoors. The menu signs were very well received by the guests for their playful practicality.

For dessert, we served a cookie bar along with the cake and some fun, personalized M&M's. I just couldn't resist the idea of a sign that said 2 Smart Cookies! 

The Class of 2009 whoopie pie flags were pretty darn cute too. Cellophane bags with coordinating labels were provided for the guests to take some treats home as well.

My favorite project, by far, for my niece and nephew's graduation was definitely the photo montage dvd that was created using iPhoto, iTunes and iDVD. These applications worked beautifully together to make this project really easy to do and super fun. I loved going through all of the photos of the graduates and reminiscing about their lives and all of their wonderful accomplishments. The DVD was shown over and over throughout the day for family and friends and the guests of honor even enjoyed watching it time and again and playing it for their friends. I was just happy to have chosen songs that were not considered dorky and uncool by the high school crowd! (for your reference so you can be as hip as I, the songs were "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield and "Time of Your Life" by Just Jinger)

For favors for the girls, Petunia and I made up cute little flip flops using a similar technique to the tissue poms that we love to make so much. You'll never guess what we used to make the poms to insure they would be water proof. I'll post a tutorial later in the week to fill you in on all the details of this fun project. The flip flops were displayed in my nephew's wrestling gym bag just to play down the girly factor a bit. I loved the contrast of how they looked in this old, beat up bag.

Despite the sketchy forecast, the day turned out perfect. After a fabulous party and tons of fun, the final detail: thank you notes.

It was an absolute pleasure helping to put this party together for my adorable niece and nephew. I am so proud of all of their wonderful accomplishments but even more so of the incredible people they have become. Congratulations Philip and Kayla! XOXO

SNEAK PEEK

HAPPY 4TH!

Have a wonderful weekend.

image from boston.com