Filed under: Craft Biz, Handmade Revolution, Inspirations, Letterpress, Life | Tags: birthday, cupcake flags, invitations, labels, mini take-out boxes, paper goods, party, yellow
So, you know I had to letterpress some paper goods … Yes, I am still talking about the yellow birthday, party of the year! First I created Cullin’s own little 3rd year “logo” and cut enough vintage fabric for 3 flags to be sewn on every invitation. I wrote a little rhyme and printed the invitations on “banana split” colored paper.
Carrying the C3 emblem throughout, I printed tiny take-out boxes for penny candy, bags for popcorn, and cupcake flags. I even re-designed labels for the bubbles and sidewalk chalk prizes. The personalized “C” thank you notes were all written & sent the very next day. No stone unturned!
Filed under: Craft Biz, Handmade Revolution, Inspirations, Letterpress, Life | Tags: birthday, Etsy, Julie Afflerbaugh, party, smallville, Wonderboy Clothing, yellow
My husband was up at the crack of dawn, making sure we got the spot at the park that I had scoped out weeks earlier. It was right by the creek, trees just close enough to string up my flag banner, and soft green grass for gaming. Although I was a little concerned when the wind & clouds kicked up as I was setting everything up, the weather held.
The specially chosen outfit I scoured online shops for with yellow patterned shirt from Wonderboy and fabulous handmade sailor pants from Smallville {on Etsy} arrived in time – and fit! Cullin’s best friend was the first to arrive.
You could say I went a little overboard. I’m sure all of the parents were grateful for the meltdowns that ensued soon after leaving this party. But in the end I was over the moon with how it turned out, and the Birthday Boy was too.
{thanks, again, to photographer Julie Afflerbaugh}
Filed under: Craft Biz, Handmade Revolution, Inspirations, Letterpress, Life | Tags: birthday, Julie Afflerbaugh, party, photography, yellow
Cullin’s favorite color, hands down, is YELLOW. After the request to play Ring-the-Gack, I thought about other old-fashioned fun for birthday parties and came up with a Bean Bag Toss, Clothespin Drop, and of course, Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey, which I found at Bake it Pretty while buying cupcake liners, then made the rest of the games myself, using paint, cardboard, glue & a little creativity with things we had here around the house. The kids won tickets for points earned playing the games and then got to visit the prize booth for penny candy, bubbles, balloons, sidewalk chalk, noisemakers & more.
The making of the desired jellybean cupcakes was fairly simple, I used a triple-citrus recipe for the cake, yummy cream cheese icing, because it’s my favorite and multiple flavors of yellow Jelly Bellys to top them off. Typically, I’m not much of a baker, but I enjoyed it so much that I made Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, complete with Lemon Curd, for the adults – mmm! So the rest of the food had to be yellow, too: we had macaroni & cheese, pineapple, bananas, popcorn and lemonade!
There were probably 25 kids there in all. It was a little hectic and a load of fun. I was so busy, I wouldn’t have all of the beautiful photographs of this party if I hadn’t been so smart to invite my wonderful friend, Julie Afflerbaugh, to come and shoot. She has been photographing my little guy since he was 5 months old – I am so lucky to have this visual documentation!
My sweet Granny Lou even flew out for the party. She stayed up super late with me for three days helping me craft party hats, cupcake flags, fabric flag banners and finishing touches. I had a blast with every detail, integrating the wishes of my 3-year-old wonderboy, and letting my own little imagination run wild. The greatest reward of all was when Cullin arrived with a bursting smile and said, “I’m so exciting!”
{oh, and that’s not all, stay tuned for more!}
Filed under: Inspirations, Life, Mama Monday | Tags: childbirth, family, motherhood, birthday, birth story, Curious George, Ring the Gack, Dr. Seuss
Yesterday morning at breakfast, B & I asked Cullin what was his favorite food? He rattled off everything on his plate. The point is kids truly live in the moment and we slowly kill that instinct off through schedules, our hurried busy lives.
I think the last time I was truly in the moment was the day that Cullin was born. All other thoughts about what I should or could be doing were missing completely from my mind. I was focused on one thing and one thing only – giving birth. Cullin turned 3 this month, and I am dedicating this week of blog posts to the celebration of his three years of life.
We talked about the big Birthday Party at length. Reading Curious George and the Birthday Surprise over and over, imagining the possibilities. We established early on in the discussions that cupcakes were a must {Jellybean Cupcakes} to be exact. Party hats, balloons – and games! Pulling from another bedtime story, “Can we play Ring-the-Gack?” he asked on a stroll to the post office one day. For those of you familiar with Dr. Seuss, this will make sense. For the rest of you, stay tuned and you’ll see!
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Feedsacks, Inspirations, Letterpress | Tags: birthday, feed sack, Feedsack of the Month, FoM, vintage fabric
Last month I sent packages out early, and this month I’m running a little late. I’m telling myself that this balances out. All of you lovely ladies who have joined the Feedsack of the Month Club can rest assured your mailbox will not be neglected. Here is a little sneak preview of the original digital sketch based on a square of my granny’s ever-inspiring quilt for April’s installation. Of course, only members get the luscious letterpress version, plus a little surprise.
Happy Friday and Happy Spring {although we are supposed to be getting a monster snowstorm here in Colorado – surprise!}
Over and Out!
ps. speaking of surprises, today is my husband’s birthday and i’m pretty sure he doesn’t read my blog, so psst. i’m making him a cheesecake! happy birthday, B!
Filed under: BirdDog Press, Feedsacks, Friends, Inspirations, Life | Tags: aprons, birthday, Etsy, feed sack, Feedsacks, sewinggeek
I rarely cook anymore, which is funny because I love food and I really like to cook. My wonderful other half – Ben – does 99% of the cooking around this house. Still, on my southern pilgrimage, I went back to my Granny’s cabin in South Carolina, and you know what that means – feed sacks! This time, in the form of aprons. I am going to hang them in my studio and use them for printing aprons instead of cooking aprons.
And wouldn’t ya know it, when I returned home, there was a wonderful birthday box waiting for me at the post office just filled with goodies from my dear friend Jenny. She scored a fabulously orange feed sack apron on Etsy from sewinggeek and sent it to me! LOVE it!!
