Birthday Crafting

So my best friend Chamel is turning 30 and she's having a birthday party at her house next weekend.  First, she wasn't going to have anything but her husband convinced her.  Then she didn't want to do anything big so I of course step in and said I would help.  30 is a big thing and I think we should celebrate.  I being the girl and crafter started brain storming when she finally decided to have a party.  I told her I would make invitations and she said "No, it's too late I will just use Evite."  I gasped and reminded her that it only takes one day for mail to be delivered in Georgia and it's way more nicer and personal that a damn Evite.  She agreed with me because she know I don't back down.  So I first we decided on a color theme, which is pink and white.  Then I made 18 invitations to send out pronto.  Here are the cards and my workstation:

After I finished the invitations, I needed to order party supplies.  

I found the cutest straws and balloons at Bake It Pretty.   So cute and pink. 

Now I need to decided what decorations I should make.   I found some great DIYs on so many blogs.  I just can't decide what to make.  I can't make it all.  

I have found cupcake toppers.  

Like these Fabric Ruffled Cake Toppers from The Sweetest Occasion. 

Or these Fabric Flower Cupcake Toppers from Paige of Style?

And then they are Flag Cupcake Toppers.

I found these on Hank and Hunt.  They are edible flags made out of Fruit by Foot.  Cute? 

Even The Sweetest Occasion made these edible ones:

The Sweetest Occasion also made ones out of contact paper.  

And Creature Comforts does flags with fabric.  I wonder if I can find pink and white fabric?

So I definitely want to do some kind of cupcake topper.  I just need to decide which one.  

I am totally making party hats since it is a kid friendly party.  

I found these at Oh Happy Day.  

Or what about these from Birthday Girl?

Or these from Fabric Party Hats from Momtastic?

  

I would also like to make Pinwheels fo the kids.  

Look at these little ones from Oh Happy Day.  

Oh and look at these Pinwheels from Style Me Pretty.  Wow!

And absolutely I have to make these Pinewheels from Lovely Indeed for her driveway. 

I am definitely making these Photo booth Props for Pictures.

I found these at Oh Happy Day.  I love them! With my new camera and these, her birthday pictures will be awesome!!!

And of course I have to do Mustache Prop also.  These are from Tiffany Kelley.

And what about decorations?  

These Colorful Mobiles are so pretty from Project Wedding.  

Or these Fabric Star Medallions from Martha Stewart.  

Or Wall Flowers from Dana Made It?

And these Fringy Streamers are Beautiful from Oh Happy Day.  

I will be doing pink flowers in vases.  Look what I found at Poppy Talk?  Painting Bottles and using them as vases.  I would love to find some cheap bottles and do this.  

So as you can see I need a lot of help.  I am all over the place.  I have too much to decide on and too much to make.  I only have 7 days to get all of this done on top of baking cupcakes and a cake. 

So please can everyone help me decide.  Please leave your comments on what you like to help me out.

Thanks!!!

What a month!!

I am happy to say that it is officially July and I might have some time for myself.  The end of June got hectic with Addison's diving and swimming.  Addison ended up being picked for the diving championship and he did well.  Swim team meets are finally over but he was asked to go to the county meet which is this Saturday.  So after Saturday we will not have diving or swimming practice for the next 2 months.  It will be nice to just have Taekwonodo for a little while.  Speaking of Taekwondo, Addison has only been once in the past 2 weeks.  That means he has only worn his black belt once since he received it.   We had to take a break and worry about the other activities and then we had the holiday weekend.  I hope he will be able to go everyday this week.

Sorry for not posting for the past 3 weeks, as you can tell we have been really busy.  We have also been having a lot of storms and I do not use electronics when it is storming.  Every time I would think of getting on the computer to start blogging it would start lightning.   Today, I have time to write during the day because Addison is sick and he's going to rest all day.

Just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I have been baking, cooking and making cards.  I had to make cupcakes for Addison's swim team party.  I made red velvet and campfire delight cupcakes (of course).  The Campfire Delight cupcakes are JT's and Addison's favorite.  They are so good but time-consuming to make.    I also made a red and white cake for July 4th.  I got to use one of my BAKED cookbooks for this recipe.  I was using the BAKED cookbook for a Red Velvet cake and noticed the Whiteout Cake was next to the Red Velvet recipe.  I thought it would be great to make both and then layer them.  I love it when I come up with great ideas.  :)  Making 2 cakes (4 layers) instead of one is a little crazy but it turned out beautiful.  I frosted it with creamy cream cheese frosting and topped the cake with strawberries and blueberries.  It turned out amazing and tasted amazing as well.  Here's some pictures of it:

I also have been cooking a lot of pork butt.  I made shredded pork 2 different ways in the past 2 weeks.  I made Spicy Shredded Pork and then Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork.  I got both recipes from the Pioneer Woman and they both turned out amazing.  Addison and JT couldn't decided which one was their favorite.  You can get the Spicy Shredded Pork recipe here and the Dr. Pepper one here.
I also finally made the French Meatloaf and it is amazing.  It's part pate and part meatloaf.  It wasn't greasy and had great flavor.  I suggest you make it soon.

How many different meats?

Don't tell Addison he ate livers.  :)

Ready to go into the oven.

Delicious!!!

I have also made 3 sympathy card for Dave's mother that need to be sent out ASAP.  I am so late at doing this and I feel horrible about it.

I also needed to make an encourage card for JT's cousin's husband, Ivey, who just found out he has colon cancer.  He is only in his 40s and has a 11 year old son.  I ask everyone to please pray that they caught it early and for a speedy recovery.  My mother passed away from colon cancer 14 years ago.  I know horrible cancer can be and can't even imagine what his son and wife are going through.  Please keep them in your prayers.  Here's the card I made himL

Well, this post took all day because Addison is not getting better.  He is vomiting and has a 102 degree fever.  I think I gave him a stomach virus because I was sick Sunday.  I know, Bad Mommy!  I did cook him homemade Chicken Soup with Chicken Meatballs.  I got the recipe from my favorite channel, the Cooking Channel.  It from Chuck's Day Off one of the many shows I record.  I record about 5 cooking shows a day.  They give me inspirations and ideas on what to cook.  I just saw the Chuck episode Monday and then Addison got sick today, it was perfect timing. The soup is delicious.  There something great about the juicy meatballs with red onions and dill.  You can find the recipe here.

Well, I better go and take care of my sick Prince.  I hope to talk to you soon.

Is it Wednesday? - Old Post that was never posted.

Addison is officially a First Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo!!!   He's so excited and we are so proud him.  His test lasted for almost 3 hours and he did an awesome job.  He wants to go to Taekwondo everyday so he can wear his belt. I have even noticed all little strut.  How cute?!?

I had an amazing weekend with family and friends.  Saturday morning Paul had a blessing for Dave Zuhlke at the Buddhist temple.  It was very nice.  Dave would be very happy that we all came together to bless him and say Goodbye.  I still can't believe he's gone.  I can still hear his voice.  

Saturday night was Michael's birthday party. I made Carrot Cake Cupcakes and Petit Fours.  Everyone enjoyed them and we all had a blast hanging out.

Sunday was Father's Day.  Addison woke up JT giving him a card and a hug.  We hung out around the house for a little while and then they went to JT's dad's house.  I stayed home since he has not central air and it was really hot.  They were going to cut down some trees and burn some woods and JT told me it would be a good idea to stay home.  Instead of going I watched movies and edited some photos and videos I have needed to upload for over a week.  I take a lot of pictures of Addison but also his friends in his activities.  I try to edit them and post them of Facebook as soon as possible.  This is a big reason I love Facebook.  It is so easy to post photos and share them.  It is also easy to upload video too.  I'm still enjoy my camera as you can tell and loving Aperture to edit my photos.  

Monday Addison had a meet that took 5 hours and it was so muggy and hot.  The great thing about Monday is a cooked Spicy Shredded Pork and it was delicious.  We made tacos out of it and we had enough for Tuesday night dinner.  I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman and you can find it here.  There's something so delicious about slow cooking meat for 7 hours.  Addison devoured the tacos and we think it was better than the Meatloaf.  I'm still planning to make the French Meatloaf this week, maybe Thursday.  

Cards and Baking and Meatloaf

I finally finished the Father's day cards, better late than never.  I think they turned out really cute.  Addison's swim meet was cancelled because of the storm so I had some extra time.  Addison made cards for his Dad, Papa and Grandfather.  I only made 10 for Family and Friends but it was nice being creative again.  I haven't made cards in a month, which is funny since I thought I was going to have all this time this summer.  I need to finish the Sympathy cards I am making for Dave's family.  I have decided to try to make about 10 different sympathy cards and give them to friends so they can send them to Dave's mother.  Everyone wants to send her a card but I realize people get busy to stop and pick up a card and then mail it.  I thought if I made them to give out it would make everyone's life a little easier.

Here are the Father's Day cards I made:

The background has the definition of a Hero.

I also baked a Summer Strawberry Cake Tuesday.  It was so good I think I'm going to bake another one today.  It was simple to bake and it really made the strawberries delicious.  JT and Addison made French Toast today and they are trying to steal the strawberries that are for the cake.  I guess I might have to go buy more strawberries.  Publix has a great sale on them right now.  So I guess I should just buy a bunch and make all things strawberries.  I haven't made Strawberry Ice Cream in a while.  Yummy!!!

Tonight, Addison got 1st place at his Dive Meet and tomorrow night is BLACK BELT time.  I can't believe my little boy is becoming a little man.  He will be a 1st degree Black Belt.  Can you believe it?  I promise to post pictures of his accomplishment.  I took him 5 years.  They say only 3% end up becoming Black Belts.  WOW!!!

Tonight, I made Meatloaf.  This was a dinner for my husband.  He is a Meat and Potatoes Man.  He loves when I cook French or Asian Cuisine.  But, he needs to have a Burly Man's meal at least once a week.  He was so happy when he was helping me fix it.  This Meatloaf is a heart attack waiting to happen.  2 pounds of ground beef top with a whole package of bacon.   Ridiculous!!!  This will feed us Friday and Saturday.  I found a recipe for Rustic French Meatloaf from Gourmet magazine.  This one uses Chicken Livers, Veal, Pork, and Prunes.  I'll try to make it next week to see which one taste better.   I'm guessing I will love the French one and JT and Addison will love the simple American Meatloaf.

BACON!!

Heart Attack!!

Well, Good bye for now.