You Should Go HERE for Valentine's Day!

 I seriously adore Pix patisserie.  They opened right after my first baby was born and I've sort of watched them grow up with him.  I went to a bridal shower while I was newly pregnant with my second baby and they had a dessert table by Pix.  Oh.  The love affair was cemented.  You know how everything tastes like manna from heaven when you are blissfully pregnant??  (Shhhh!  mamas out there!! I know sometimes things taste evil and will NEVER cross your lips again, but some girls don't know yet and there ARE some preggo GOOD times!)  I was in one of the "these bits of heaven have made my life better" preggo moments and we feasted on Framboise, Pâte de Fruits, The Pixie's, and of course their French Macarons.  It turns out, that the fact that my skirt was riding incredibly high over my new baby bump DID have to do with being preggo, but the sublime tastes didn't.  Everything is even better now. 

I could write volumes about their Macarons, but you must just go there and try them.  OR order them!!  The colors are perfect, the crisp outer shell and creamy insides, ugh.  They are perfection.  The colors are perfect to coordinate with any party color scheme, as well.  (That reminds me, I have to order some for my son's First Communion party.) 

If you are here in Portland, Pix is hosting a lovely Valentine's Tea.  Treat you and your sweetie, or your daughter, or your mama to heart shaped macarons, oysters on the half shell, plenty of chocolate and a bottle of A. Margaine, Brut Rose Premier Cru Grower Champagne.  "Enjoy a total of 16 sweet and savory bite sized treats per person and 2 pots of tea from Townshend’s Tea House. $100 per couple including Champagne ($60 without)"

OR, order the Take-Out…Make-Out! ~ A Chinese pagoda box perfect for 2! Includes 2 truffles, 2 heart-shaped French macarons, Cocoanuts, Champagne Bubbles and a demi of sparkling wine. $23 with wine, $13 without:

 OR, holy crap, they have HEART shaped macarons!!!  They come in Chocolate, Raspberry or Fleur de Sel Caramel.  I'm dying...

Pix is very local, and very, very, very good.  I can't make it to Paris any time soon, so I let their gorgeous French atmosphere swallow me up, sip some strong coffee and nibble these little pieces of heaven and dream.

The Halloween Birthday Party

AND here are some pics of the Halloween Birthday party.  Mr. H. turned 8, but there were kids from 2 to 9 years old with us.  Here are the "goody bags".  I gave them out throughout the party as they "won" things.  We filled as many glass jars as we could find with water and food coloring to make it look like an apothecary/scary lab.  I put cauliflower in green, twisty leaves in brownish orange....

The kids came in to our kitchen table and cut out masks from Brian Gubicza Illustration.  I had cut black ribbon in the pretty little crystal and silver dishes in the middle of the table.  The kids just cut out the masks, punched holes, threaded the ribbons, and voila!  Masks!  Everyone came in costume, but I always like to have a an activity part of the dressing up aspect of the party in case anyone feels left out with what they are wearing.

 Once everyone had arrived we played our first game, wrap a mummy!  I split the kids into 2 teams and they wrapped one of their team members in the entire roll.  First to the end of the roll wins!!  It was hysterical and got a lot of the wiggles out.

Next we had taped all of the pieces of a plastic skeleton around the house for the kids to find.  They did find them, in record time, and put Mr. Bones back together.
The rest of the party was spent noshing on yummy Halloween-y treats, freeze dance (if you've never watched 10 second graders dance their hearts out, I *totally* recommend it!!  TOO funny.  And adorable.), and an impromptu game of toilet paper limbo.  A grand afternoon, indeed.

 

 

 

Yes, that is a gummy worm coming out of a bear skull.  Good times, good times.

My Husband's 40th Birthday Party

I've had so many parties lately that I haven't been able to keep up with posting them all!  I know, this is the kind of trouble to have!  I'm going to try to get them posted as much as I can.

I didn't get great photos of my husband's party because, well, honestly I was having so much fun that I forgot!  We had a great time!  Friends we see every day were mingling with friends we haven't seen in years and we were reminded just how lucky we are to know such amazing, fun and interesting people!  This party came very soon after our daughter's 5th birthday party (which I have yet to post photos of), and in the middle of planning for a big "Voodoo, Vodka and a Van Ride Home" party which took a LOT of work.  I tried to make it lovely without killing myself.  I was intent on ENJOYING this one, and not being totally strung out before it even started - I managed a little of that.

Marc's favorite dinner is cheeses and breads and spreads and bites of different things.  So I ordered a GREAT local artisanal cheese plate from Elephant's Deli.  They always do a beautiful job, although they forgot to include the cards telling us what kind of cheeses were what and where they were made (very upset about that).  Also from Elephant's was a salami plate and various yummy crackers and dips and things.  His other favorite?  SUSHI.  We had a giant platter from his favorite sushi place.  Food? done.  I made a few little desserty things that were a snap, and NO MORE cooking.

I adore a good cocktail, and I like to feature one or two at every party.  They tend to be on the 'girly' side, so I found a French 75 recipe that was incredibly yummy AND was Hemingway's drink - can't get more cigar smoking, crony talking, manly than that!

We have a little house, so I set up different drink 'stations'.  The pomegranate cosmopolitans in  martini glasses on the built in in the dining room:

And the French 75's in champagne glasses on the other end:

We also had different local wines, so I put the glasses and bottles in the kitchen eating area:

Marc included his favorite local beer - LSD - in a keg from Lompoc, so we had beer glasses in the kitchen.  Our Lego master snuck in and out during the day "embellishing" the glasses:

Amazing Cooking Birthday Party!

We were lucky enough to attend the most delicious party ever!!  The details were stunning!  From our invitations that were in mini takeout boxes with measuring spoons, to lovely vintage cookbooks at every turn, to yummy recipe books of everything the kids made to take home with their own personalized aprons, oven mitts and wooden spoons!

Look at these gorgeous place settings!!! :

Some of the kids working on their mac and cheese:

And the invitations!

There are many more gorgeous photos at my favorite photographer's website!  Stephanie Bryan makes having a party FUN!  You can focus on the kids and the party and not worry about capturing it at the same time - she takes care of that!

A Pillowcase Craft for the Girls.

A princess who is about to sit on a pea, really needs a pillow.  And a princess who is going to have a pillow, really should be able to decorate it herself so she will always remember the super fun party she attended with her darling friends.  I thought, "how EASY!  I'll just whip up a simple pillow case for each girl!"  It turned into more of a project than that, but I think they ended up great, and it was worth it!  A simple pillowcase just wasn't enough, so I found a pattern I had in a book here to do a "flange pillow cover" sort of like this.  I have a ton of extra muslin, so I made all of the pillows out of it.  I didn't have as many large pieces as I thought, so I ended up sewing strips together to MAKE the large squares... = time consuming, but free.  We bought 10 little blue pillows from IKEA that are about $1 a piece.  These say they are 14"x14" but the ones I used were 13" square if that is possible.  I made one 19.5"x19.5" square, and two 19.5"x13" rectangles for each pillow.  The two rectangle pieces each got a double hem (that is my term for pressing 1/4" under, then again, and sewing a line down the second turn), then the two hemmed pieces are sewn right sides together to the large rectangle, and that is it!  Here is the "double hem":

I pressed all of the remaining pillows (after my prototypes) at once, then sewed all of the hems:

After sewing all of the pieces together, the directions said to mark a border around each pillow to sew along for the flange, but that is way too complicated for me.  I seemed to have trouble remembering that half inch on the 19 1/2 inch side, so the pillowcases were all a little off.

I solved that by making a template out of muslin the size of the pillows and pinning it to each finished case - I just eyeballed the placement, then topstitched around it for the "flange".

First I thought we'd use some puff paint sort of pens, but they were SO gloppy and sputter-y and would take SO long to dry, so I went for these great pens instead.  I found glitter pens and solid colors and they were very easy for them to use.  The pens said it would take 4 hours to dry, so we did them first thing (after a couple of minuts, though, they were fine to touch.)

Here is sweet Miss T. showing her finished pillow.

And here is a final pillowcase WITH a pillow inside.  A friend of mine said she had girls decorate pillows for the birthday girl - so the birthday girl got to keep them all and adorn her new day bed.  I think that is a great idea, too!

A perfect pillow for a princess to avoid any errant peas.

More Princess and the Pea...

The Princess and the Pea

I've FOUND the original photo that inspired me to make our invitations! When I wrote the original post I couldn't find her again, but searching tonight, I did! I found this lovely set of mattresses this super talented crafter made for a friend, and then promptly lost it. I did, however, have the image in my mind through the entire planning of the party. I had intended to make a set for my princess for her birthday present, but after sewing 10 pillows for 10 princesses - which I'll post later - I was DONE. Maybe one day...

AND the day before our party, I realized I didn't OWN a single copy of the story of the Princess and the Pea, and how on earth was I going to tell 10 girls the story?! We ran to our favorite book store, A Children's Place, they dug through a brand newly arrived box, only to find this perfect book:

And now that I've found Viola and Pearl again, I see the book was HER inspiration! Oh my....

Princess Party Crowns: A Craft Event.

In order to be a proper princess, even one who is only recognized after sleeping on a pea (see invitation below), one really must have a crown. I don't like to ask anything TOO, too much of party guests - the idea of someone feeling left out for any reason is too much for me, and the thought of someone feeling inadequately dressed is the worst. I DO, however, love dress up parties! (My son's birthday is 3 days before Halloween, so we've had LOTS of fun dressing up!) Therefore, my favorite thing to do is have the favors and crafty events help dress up the guests. This time I found these darling crowns on etsy. The price of $5 each was just too good to pass up - and FREE shipping! Lisa is a professional costume creator and has lovely crowns, capes, and is listing party packs, too! I usually try to stay around $5 a child for "favors" but as I've lost my mind somewhere a couple of kids ago, I planned a fun craft, forgot about it, and started a new one. Once I remembered the first, I was too in love with them both to let go of either one! I'll post about the other craft later. As I was over budget, I went with these sparkly, glittery foam stickers for decorating our perfect crowns. I wish I had splurged for something a little nicer (and smaller) but they were easy for the little 4 and 5-year-olds to decorate to their hearts content.I put the stickers in these little silver and crystal dishes I have trouble using for anything else, because, you know... they are PRINCESSES making CROWNS.I bought a couple of rolls of tulle from our local Fabric Depot in pinks and purples, and a roll of black for my son - his is below. I cut lengths from the rolls and the girls tied them to the back of the crowns for the proper cascading royal effect. Here are a couple of the darlings trying them on PREtulle.

And these are the finished products one princess, one prince of darkness.

It was a joy to work with Lisa at Fairy Godmother For Hire, I was SO happy with how the individual crowns turned out, I love that the girls (and boy) got to take home special crowns that will last forever, I love that I spent money on something that won't get thrown away in a week, I love that a mama made these crowns!

A Princess and The Pea Party Invitation

My daughter's 5th birthday was this weekend. We had a lovely Princess and the Pea Party. I am incredibly lucky that one of my favorite people in the world, and the mama of my daughter's good friend is a fantastic photographer! She took the most gorgeous photos - they made me cry. It was two hours of crafting and story telling and good girl friends - those first girlfriends at 5 years old - yummy food and some more crafting and general celebrating. For ME it was worrying that everyone was having fun and happy and not escaping through a back door or something, and before I knew it, it was over. NOW, though, I look at her stunning photos and my memories are of a magical, almost slow motion, perfect two hours of princessy fun! (We also took some photos, but ours pale SO much in comparison, that instead of showing them, I'm going to wait for hers to post here.) I'll share the "getting ready for it" parts, though.

I'll start with the invitation. I ADORE using sewing and fabric in different media. I've made a few invitations this way, but this is by far my favorite so far. Here is a close up of the PEA.(I know it looks funny to blur out our info, but I'm still leery of all of that.) I love the imagery of the towering bed with loads of different fabrics. I knew I wanted the invitations to be tall and thin. Paperzone here in Portland has a line of blank invitations that I keep going back to. The colors are perfect, the weight is great, and I love all of the different proportions they offer. It is called PZ facets. It seems you can't order anything from the website, which is too bad, but if you have one near you, GO.

Here is the first sketch I did:The gorgeous font I used is from Dirt 2. He is SO talented! All of the fonts are free for personal use, or available to purchase for commercial use. I used The Quickest Shift. SO scroll-y and perfect without being too sweet. He also has gorgeous photoshop brushes!! I used a few of the Secret Garden brushes for the details in the bed posts and feet - you can't really see what it is, but I know they are there, and I love them. I can't wait to figure out what to REALLY use them for.

I did a bit of a tutorial on flickr if you are at all interested in making invitations like this. If you want ANY other information, I'm always happy to share.

*Stephanie's photography page had her old blog as the link.  I've updated it to the real one:  http://stephaniebryanphotography.com/ **

A Fairy Party.

Miss Mae and I went to the MOST lovely party EVER last weekend. It was a Fairy Mud pie party! Miss Esther and Miss Anna were the birthday girls, and Esther's parents and little brother were the hosts. (They were also kind enough to share their photos with me!) We walked into a gorgeous backyard (that has inspired me to work on our sad, barren backyard) filled with spaces. I don't know how to say it better than that - it was filled with SO many spaces! A little place to sit here, a garden there, a path over a hill and through the bushes here, a tree swing there... It felt like ten backyards. The center piece of the party was the fairy tree. Little baskets and pails were strung from the tree with pretty pieces of ribbon. Each basket had a different tiny fairy building material: tiny pine cones, little bits of sticks, feathers, sunflower seeds, flower petals, pine needles... At the base of the tree sat flower pots filled with more supplies. Everything looked like it had been there for ages - settled by the fairies themselves. I wanted to plop myself down and build some fairies a HOUSE! Instead, though, Miss Mae and I chose the perfect little bits for her pail and found some perfect little shells in the sand box and oo'ed and aah'ed over each tiny addition.

Here are he birthday girls in THE tree.

Miss Raven choosing her fairy mud pie supplies from THE tree.Some finished fairy mud pies. Really, they are the most beautiful mud pies I've ever seen!

The party favors (apart from the sweet buckets filled with the building supplies) were handmade washcloths - each one different - bundling a darling little shaped soap and tied up with a strip of ribbon. Perfect for washing up after an afternoon of playing in the mud. This was so much more than a birthday party! We were transported into another world for the afternoon. Thank you for the gift!