Candy Party Time

Friday night, Mattie Claire and I braved the weather and went to a Build a Bear party about 1 hour and 15 minutes from home. She had a great time. The mom fed them pizza in the food court and gave tokens for the merry go round after building their new friend. I was getting ready to head out when I saw a blogger friend. I recognized her and her daughter from their pictures on her blog. I feel like I know her, so I had to go up and introduce myself. That meeting has already led to two new followers, so thanks Laura.

I wanted to share some ideas for a candy party. It is really a lollipop birthday party, but I thought a candy party might be a little simpler. There are a couple of cute gumball machines on etsy that can be personalized as favors, but they are a little more than I would spend on favors. Bellahope even has sippy cups that have space for candy. I found the above gumball machines at WalMart for $1 each. I bought them for Mattie Claire's friends; I plan to paint their names on them for a little Easter happy. I also found some Jelly Belly scented bubbles at Target. Add a little cellophane to the machines and bubbles, and I think you would have a precious and affordable favors. What do you think?

Birthday Party Season

I thought the fall was birthday party season, but it may be now. I am getting lots of requests for party favors. The themes range from cowboy to March Madness. I even got my first Cat in the Hat request this week. I will be busy painting over the next couple of weeks. Also, don't forget that I have custom Easter baskets on the way. I can decorate a basket for you or fill your basket and wrap--lots of possibilities!

I have made the decision to skip shows this summer. It is a lot of work packing and setting up for these shows that are always out of town. I think I will focus on spending time with my girls and selling on etsy. The Peach Festival was fun, but WILD!

I also want to add that I was considering not teaching any summer classes, buuuut... Everyone has started requesting classes, so here is what I have decided. I may not teach as many as in the past and there will be no pottery classes--I am just too slow getting everyone's stuff fired. I will most likely teach at least one canvas class and maybe a sock monkey class. I will also limit the size to only 10 per class. I think that is the only way for everyone to get their money's worth. I am open to special requests and questions, so let me know what you think!!

Stuff I Need to Say

I have found the cutest cookie cutter site. You must check out fancyflours.com. Look below at some of the most precious dog cookies I have ever seen. This is the source of our skull and crossbones cookie cutters.

I also want to share a few more things. First, tootsie pops are pretty low in calories. I think I remember from Weight Watcher days that one pop is only one point. Second, be careful what you say!! A teacher friend got an email today from her 2nd grade son's teacher. The email said: A student told on your son today that he called another student's family white trash. When he was confronted about it, he said, "I didn't say that; my mama did, and I am getting the blame for it." Of course the mother is very embarassed, but I am still laughing. It wasn't my child, so that makes it pretty funny.

WOW!

I have a Clark W. Griswold complex; I build things up in my mind that no event could ever live up to, but... The Vexcon party was unbelievable! I am tearing up as I write this, because I know that we gave our baby a party she will NEVER forget. Let me start from the beginning.

There is a reality show that is filmed in Louisiana; it is called The Exterminators and airs on A&E. Mattie Claire LOVES the show; yes, my big bow, smocking wearing child loves bugs, snakes, and rockers. In pre-K, she fulfilled a homework assignment by creating a doll of what she wanted to be when she grew up; hers was decorated in all black as an exterminator--an obsession was born. We wrote a letter to the Bretherton family, stars of the Exterminators, and told them about Mattie Claire and asked if we could hire them to come to her birthday party. The mother, Mrs. Donnie, called the next day to say of course they would come, and no, they would not be charging us. That was nine months ago! They rolled in yesterday, and the crowd loved it. Here are some pics from the big event.

How do you thank television stars for driving two hours to your house to make a little girls wish come true? Well, you paint them a plate to present to them at the party, of course!

We used a TON of black food coloring, but we created a three tier black cake. We used regular icing, then accented with fondant.

Baby Molly and Her Future Husband, Jake

This is the cast of The Exterminators posing with Mattie Claire and their new plate. From left to right: Bill, Sr., Billy, Mary (Mattie Claire's favorite), Donnie, & Ricky.

This is a pic of the finished party favors. I bought bug boxes back during the summer at Dollar Tree. I used my Cricut and cut the logo from white vinyl. I filled the box with black shredded paper, a bug, tweezers. I wrapped the bug box and a bug net in some black polka dot cellophane and topped with a black bow. Lots of kids stayed late and tried to catch some bugs. She even got a bug vacuum, so they were outside on a hunt. What a great day!

Finally!

Try to hear me say in an English accent, "The puppies are here; the puppies are here!"--but not 101. We cancelled dinner plans and kept a close watch on her. At midnight, I gave it up and went to bed. I guess she didn't need my help, because this morning we had 5 beautiful puppies. There are 3 dapple that look like chocolate versions of Mermaid, 1 jet black, and 1 chocolate. The chocolate is to the far right and much tinier than the others. I keep putting it closer to eat, but I just don't know. I have said all along that we were not going to keep one, but.... I just didn't think they would all be so precious. That preciousness may change when the start walking and pooping. Three are spoken for, but I will have to start working on Jason now!!

I have a friend that wanted some pictures of the birth:0), so sorry that I couldn't oblige. Just kidding, these small rodent sized puppies may be more than she can handle:0)

Party Favors

Have I told you lately how much I love my cricut?? I spent the afternoon adding vinyl Vexcon logos to 30 bug boxes. I love the way they turned out. I have shredded paper, polka dot cellophane, balloons, bow... to add, but at least I can cross one thing off my to do list. The party is less than a week away. I hope I live through the next 5 days. Perfect timing, it looks like Mermaid is in labor. This will be an exciting week!

Ferns for Art

This seems like a crazy post the day after snow, but spring is right around the corner. I got a call recently asking if I would like to sell ferns, 150 ferns. The "fern lady" had gotten stuck with ferns for spring delivery, and she needed my help. My friend Brittany laughed and pointed out that it was not my job to save the world, but it was too late; the commitment had been made. I will use the money made to buy art supplies for my classroom.

These ferns are beautiful; every year they are huge and the prettiest around. I am selling 3 types: boston, asparagus, and macho. The boston and asparagus are $20, and macho are $30. If you are a local follower, let me know if you are interested in purchasing ferns. I will deliver them to your house at the end of March. I know some of you have already ordered, but you can pass the word along. THANKS!!

More Snow Pics

Mattie Claire jumping on the trampoline.
MC adding more color to the food coloring.
She is using some hair color!

Our snowman as she/he started to melt.

I love the whole tie dye effect.

The girls getting pulled on the "sled."

I Can't Believe

Poor Mermaid is up to her neck in snow!
This is the final first snowman. I think it is the love child of
an art teacher and a wanna be Phil Robertson.

This is Jason's second snowman. He didn't care for the color we added to the first,

so he made a manly snowman, complete with charcoal eyes and buttons.

We were already scheduled to be off from school, so I don't think the day off was quite as sweet for us! I slipped out early this morning and took some pictures before the fun began. As soon as the girls woke up, we raced out to build a snowman. My contribution was the food coloring, and Jason's was the decoys, hat, and lab.

Whining Teacher

I just read from my favorite blogger's latest post, and her pre-schooler got in trouble at school, resulting in a spanking at home. Laura and Wayne win my parenting award for the week!! I wish all of my parents cared this much and took school behavior this seriously. I have to share a story from this week, then I will go back and read my watch post:0)

Earlier this year, I had a student that wanted to go to Homecoming and couldn't afford it. I cried, then went straight to The Footstool and bought shoes and jewelry. I then raided my skinny clothes and found her a perfect black dress. I gave it to her no strings attached; just have a great time. She was so grateful and wrote me the sweetest letter, along with her mother. Imagine my surprise and distress when I realized today that the teenage hormonal demons have taken over her brain. This sweet girl, who has moved me to tears, hurt my feelings. I gave my fun, simple assignment Monday, and she looked me straight in the eyes and said, "You can write me up; I'm not doing that." I was shocked and couldn't even fuss. I think I might need to institute a horse shoe pulling system in class. Laura, would that work on moody, hormonal teenagers???? This story is just one of about five in two days. Is it the moon, changing weather, ...? I am so looking forward to winter break and dealing with no child over 5 years old:0)

Easter Chick Idea

What a day--I painted three buckets, filled and wrapped them--I forgot I needed them by tomorrow. I built a Lovebug car for a friend's daughter's Valentine box. I started on the ever growing list of Valentine gifts....Oh yeah, and I taught my full day. Whew, I am tired.

I have been sucked into the blogging world. There is just so much to look at out there. I found a cute Easter idea that I thought I might share. I am sure we will make it at my house and maybe with a class or two at school. I stumbled across a site called childmade.com. They have lots of links to follow to some great ideas. The above chicks were one of the many great projects. You can visit makingfriends.com to find the easy instructions. Hope someone is inspired to create these!!

I Will Try Not to Throw Up

Update: Already one call telling me how nasty my roadkill snake looked and "did we really eat that??!!" Yes, Jason ate 2 pieces!

I watched the whole Julie/Julia movie and have read all the blogs that post the yummy things they bake. I thought why not me, and now I know why:0)

The finished pizza snake--yes, it looks like someone killed an oppossum or something!
The unbaked pizza snake--Yum Yum Yum!
Mattie Claire painting the snake with dyed egg.

My mom has hoped for year's that I would be more domestic; she even bought me a subscription to Taste of Home (& sewing machine). I recently finished a book, and flipped through Taste of Home with nothing better to read. There was a cute recipe for a pizza snake. The directions made it sound super simple, simple enough for me and Mattie Claire to bake as a SuperBowl snack. I took this yummy creation out of the oven, and Mattie Claire said, "I will try not to throw up when I eat it." I guess I will stick to decorating cakes and tacos!!

More Molly

Molly wearing the hat Carroll Anne bought her for her birthday.
Poor baby was wiped out after her party.
She didn't even make it through supper.
Molly and her monk monk--thank you to eleganthobbies.etsy.com

I had a to show a picture of a couple of the finished party favors.

I found the matching tissue paper at Dollar General.

Luckily a nearby Wal-Mart carries nice party favors,

so we got crazy straws, candy filled watches,

and even large lollipops.

We also had the standard goldfish and gum.

Sock Monkey Mania

Molly with her new ragdoll from Granny and "Paw."
Mattie Claire helping open a Dora movie from Uncle Henry and Aunt Maggie.

I painted the party favors and filled with goodies.

I was so busy my girls didn't get one, maybe next time.

Matilda the Fondant Sock Monkey

The Who Dat party goers and their sock monkeys playing on the roller coaster! Yummy cookie cake: this cake was made with two cookie mixes from Wal-Mart and baked on a pizza pan for 16 minutes. Couldn't have been any easier or cuter!!!

sock monkeys and supplies ready to go

Today was Molly's sock monkey birthday party. Thanks to my bakin' friend, we had a precious cake. She baked, and I decorated. She then baked a cookie cake that I got to decorate. I loved building the little fondant sock monkey, but she had to help with the fondant covering. The kids had lots of fun decorating their sock monkeys from eleganthobbies. We kept the party small, because of the big party coming up in a couple of weeks. I promise to make it up to Molly next year!

Frame Giveaway

Visit beneathmyheart.blogspot.com for a chance to win one of these beautiful and unique frames!!

Saints Bow

Brittany is making some cute Saints bows. The "Who Dat" seems to be the most popular, but the fleur de lis are precious too! Let me know if you need me to place an order for you.

Kellys Kids

Kelly's Kids is in full swing. I think we have all agreed that this is the cutest season ever. The other great news is fast shipping. They are quoting 3-5 day shipping!!! Don't forget that they have added Sun-San sandals--a summer staple in our house. Let me know if you would like to see a catalog or place an order.