Kitty Garland and Cake Toppers

I made the Kitty Garland and Cupcake Toppers to decorate for my daughter's birthday party using some vintage images I bought from an Etsy shop, My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary Letter Stickers (sold out but similar to these), American Crafts Dear Lizzy fabric paper, Bazzill ric-rac, cardstock, toothpicks and vintage buttons. The only other tools I used were a paper trimmer, corner chomper, scallop punch and glue glider.

Using Jamie's tutorial, I was easily able to make these twisted fabric flowers for the banner.
Not cupcakes, but whoopie pies--still need cute toppers!
And one giant whoopie pie-cake with 3 little kittens!

Another one about the birthday...

We survived the party...it wasn't looking so good there for a bit, when naps went out the window all week, and weather forecasts called for thunderstorms Saturday afternoon, I totaled up our guest-list and realized I went crazy-overboard with the invites apparently (22 adults and 18 kids, really? for a 3 year-olds birthday party??)...

BUT, the disposition remained cheerful, the weather held, I actually managed to make enough whoopie pies for all of our guests have have some left over, and--most importantly--everyone (and most importantly, the birthday girl) had fun!
*I* had fun making party decorations--Martha's tissue paper pom-poms, the kitty-cat garland, and the whoopie-pie toppers (more about the garland and toppers at The Galblog on Tuesday). Making the whoopie pies was a lot of work, but everyone seemed to really enjoy them. I used recipes from this fun book that David gave me for mother's day (yes, I love them that much).

The chocolate cat lollipops came from The Chocolatier, my aunt's store in Exeter, NH. Gorgeous day-lilies from our front yard :)
In keeping with the kitty cat theme, we had a craft table for the kids to make collars to go with the ears I made ahead of time (see the craft table in action there, behind a dubious-looking C-bear?)
Here's my Dad modeling the ears and collar...
We also had a fishing pond...cats love fish, right?!? You can see the kid in red wearing the cat mask, and pulling a paper fish out of the swimming pool with the magnetic "fishing pole." Good times!
We had sprinkler fun...
And swimming in the kiddie-pool fun...
Cute baby fun...
...times two!Twins with twins fun:
And I even got a chance to sit with Chloe for a few minutes (note the mama kitty ears):
One of the things we tried this year was asking people to bring donations for Cradles to Crayons, and it was a big success! We collected a ton of new clothes, toys and books that we'll drop off for needy kids, hopefully the start of a tradition of giving that Chloe (and Peter and Sadie, eventually) will come to cherish around birthday time.

I'll leave you with one last shot...one that makes my heart happy.
That's Chloe, moments before the first guests arrive. Moments after sitting on the potty all on her own and FINALLY using it :)

Chloe Bear is Three!

No, we didn't give her a bowl full of pacifiers. Instead, we bid a far-overdue farewell to Chloe's good buddy the bink. Oh pacifier, that seemingly innocuous soother, little did we know you would become the bane of our existence! After chickening out at one year-old, and again at two, we finally bit the bullet...My ingenious plan, after auditioning several different send-off scenarios which were resoundingly rejected (NO to giving them to the Doctor for new babies, NO to the binky fairy), was to PLANT them and see what grows. I seeded the idea with suggestions of playsets and slides for the yard--maybe if we plant the binkies, a playset will GROW!
Looking a little sad, aren't we? I swear, she dug the hole happily, and covered them with dirt willingly... Even watered them and sang "bye-bye binky, bye-bye binky" and did a little dance around the yard.
That night it took 3 hours and a lot of tears before she finally fell asleep without the pacifier for the first time maybe ever. Before she did, though, she lamented: "Why did we plant ALL the binkies? I wish I kept some..."

The next morning (really really early), the little slide/climber greeted her, and she was overjoyed--"It worked! A playset grew!!"

She didn't forget instantaneously. Everyone said it takes 3 nights or so. Naps are still tough, but I am SO glad she doesn't have that piece of plastic stuck to her face, garbling her words anymore.
It's now 6 nights later, it's her 3rd birthday and she said to me as I was turning out the lights: "I want to plant the playset, Mommy."

Will she ever forgive me?!?

Happy Father's Day!