BAKE AND MAKE AND TAKE PARTY

Tessa was allowed to invite just five girls to her birthday party this year. I know my limits, and six giggly girls doing cooking and crafts is enough for me! Each team of two was given a box mix to make for snack time. This proved to be quite hilarious. I only wish that I had videoed it! One team--which will remain anonymous--added a cup and a quarter instead of a quarter of a cup of water. That was interesting. And one team added some egg shells to their brownies. *snicker*

THE BAKING

Abby and Morgan

Courtlyn and Izzy

Tessa and Hope

THE MAKING

The girls had a lot of fun making the crazy letters, even if at times it didn't sound like they were having fun. They were a bit frustrated in the beginning, but soon figured it out.

I think that I enjoyed the spin art the best. It is so reminiscent of childhood trips to the amusement park where you could squirt the paint as the paper twirled in circles.

The girls also made the scrabble tile necklaces, but no photos were taken during that. I think I was outside working on drying the artwork, and Kelly was assisting the girls. That meant no photographer on duty. We did not even get pictures of the food; that visual will have to remain in our memory!

Happy Birthday Tessa!

Today my baby turned 12! That is so sad! I still can hardly believe that the Lord blessed us with a fourth child and that it was a GIRL and that she is just one year away from being a teenager. And I didn't think colic would ever end! Having Tessa at almost 40 has made my life much more interesting, and I can't imagine life without her!

Tessa at two months, Mom at almost 4o!

Loved hats!

She wore those beads everywhere! Imagine--she put those on before she opened her Christmas presents! Too funny!

CRAZY LETTERS

Yesterday, Tessa, Kelly, and I worked hard at making samples of the crafts that we'll do at Tessa's birthday party next week. Tessa has only invited a few of her super crafty friends because too many would make her mother go crazy! We want this to be fun! I am a strong believer in being very prepared before introducing a craft to a bunch of kids. Yeah, I learned that from experience! So we experimented and then experimented some more. I think we're about set!

Kelly did the K for Kenzie and I did the D for--well, you probably know who that is for! Although the cursive-challenged children and adults did not recognize the D. I don't know what they thought it was. One person said it was just too busy. I kind of like it. The K is made from pipe cleaners, therefore a bit too flimsy for my tastes. The D is made from floral wire which I wrapped with masking tape before wrapping with whatever. It is very sturdy and will not bend without a considerable amount of effort--kid-proof! The girls will have some interesting things to hang off of theirs. I didn't want to waste these items on myself.

NECKLACES

Another project that we will do are the Scrabble tile necklaces. These were easy and fun once the materials were gathered. You don't need much, but what you do need is not easily found around the house, which is what I prefer. Ours probably can't compete with the real spiffy ones that I have seen all over the Internet, but half the fun is making them yourself! Obviously I don't really plan my photos since I left out half the stuff you need. You do not need bananas if you were wondering!

What you do need: wooden tiles, craft glue, razor knife, bails (silver thingys), crazy glue for bails, Triple Thick glaze by DecoArt. Some folks use Diamond Glaze, but I couldn't find that.

This isn't the greatest photo, so I will take another when they are dry and I can put them on the necklace cord. The bails are about 75 cents a piece and not so easy to find. I have one for each girl, but they will probably make several tiles. Their moms will just have to share in the fun by hunting some down for them to complete their necklaces!

FALL SPIN ART

We will be doing this fun project at Tessa's Bake and Make and Take party next weekend. I had no idea that a salad spinner could be used for spin art! It took a few tries to perfect the process, but it was worth it. Our practice was done on paper plates, and the finished project was done on circles cut from manila folders! I sometimes impress myself with my resourcefulness!

Kenzie and Tessa did the spinning, and we learned a lot! The best designs were made when we applied the paint with a circular motion before we started spinning. Just dropping it in the middle gave you the results below.

Our disks were placed on paper plates to dry. Some of the paint was very thick and had to be left overnight. I'll probably have to use a hairdryer for the girls' projects next week.

After they dried, I printed off the letters on cardstock and cut them out with pinking sheers. I laced the disks together with some beautiful multicolored ribbon yarn that I got at the Dollar Tree. It was 110 yards for a dollar--of course! I am so pleased with the finished project! If I were just doing this with Tessa, we probably would do a longer word or saying, but experience in mass production with kids told me to keep it short! I did buy paint in red and two shades of green for a Christmas greeting.

Shower Photos

I hosted a bridal shower on Saturday, and it was a blast. Everyone brought lots of yummy food, and all I had to do was clean--my preference for sure!

More Fall

I had fun decorating this year. My normal house colors are easy to work with in the fall and for Christmas. They don't work out so well for the summer beach theme. For that I just have to go next door to Kelly's side or to the boat!

Michael and Tessa both cleaned up pretty good last Sunday, so I just had to take a picture!

Just in case you were wondering just what those dead looking things in the pots are, they are called mapines. Yes, I made that up. I'm pretty clever. If you want some just like it, let me share my quick tutorial. First you go out into the backyard-- in your pajamas, of course--and then you jump up and yank a branch from a pine tree. It will snap off pretty easily as long as it does not have any green left on it--which mine did not. Then you glue some fake --or is that faux?--maple leaves to the dead pine branches. I bet you figured out that mapine thing already, eh? I'm talking a bit Canadian here since I'm using maple leaves for this project. ;) Finally, shove some newspaper in a pot, cram in the mapines, and top with some tree moss that you steal from another arrangement. Voila! Pretty impressive, eh (again!)!

Couldn't resist showing off that Goodwill candlestick that I got a few months back. And finally, the mason jar scarecrows that Tessa and I made several years ago. I know, one looks like he's giving you the evil eye--that one's Tessa's!