The Fickle Hobbyist

Archive for July, 2010

Just as I was mourning the end of my party planning whirlwind, another party opportunity presented itself.  Yay!  One of my very good friends is having another baby and I get to throw her shower for her.

She is very much a girly girl (like myself) and when I think of her taste, I picture linens, lace, romantic, frilly, pretty things.  When I was trying to think of an overall theme for the shower, I remembered a party that was recently featured on TomKat Studios’ blog. I love everything about this party.  What I particularly liked was the color scheme.  The soft pink and yellow were gorgeous together.  It had been nagging at me for a while and I filed it away for future use.

When I was narrowing down theme selections, I couldn’t get this one out of my mind.  I took to the net for more inspiration, because I didn’t want to simply copy the other party.  I came across this “Pucker Up” party which was equally as quaint.  I think it’s going to be so fun to incorporate elements from both parties, as well as new ideas of my own for this shower!

Stay tuned for projects for the party.

-Autumn

**Don’t forget my Giveaway! There are only a handful of days left to get in on it.**

I really like the idea of self sustainability.  I would love to be able to walk out my back door, pick some fresh veggies, and make a meal of it.  However, despite my countless attempts at keeping vegetation alive…I cannot do it!  At the beginning of spring I planted various plants and really REALLY tried my best to keep them alive.  I watered them lovingly, plucked weeds from the soil, and pruned some of them according to the instructions I found online.  Despite my best intentions, they all but died.

I had planted squash, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, and a couple herbs.  The only thing that is still alive is the basil.  The rest of what is still technically alive isn’t producing anything worth harvesting.  What did I do wrong?!

I mean, not to toot my own horn, but I am usually pretty good at most things I put my hand to; knitting,  sewing, photography, you name it.  But when it comes to plants?  Yeah, not so much.  I’ve been contemplating taking classes at the co-op on organic gardening because I NEED help.

Can you share with me some gardening tips?  More specifically beginner gardener tips.  I think another thing that is not working so great for me is I grew up in WA and our growing seasons are all different from down here in TX.  Anyone have any pointers??

-Autumn

**Don’t forget my Giveaway! There are only a handful of days left to get in on it.**

The hubbub is over, the parties have all wrapped, and we can finally breathe a sigh of relief.  I have a love/hate relationship with parties.  I LOVE putting my all into them; the details, the finishing touches, the personalization.  It’s all fun for me.  Even more so, I love to see the smiles on the faces of the children when they walk in and they see everything.  Then, there’s the hate part.  I don’t know why I take on so much.  I guess I’m one of those “go big or go home” type of people.  If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it well.  It’s hard for me to just throw something together when I know I could have put more energy into it.  It’s weird.  My friends have said my party planning is a sickness.  It consumes me.  I can’t deny it.

Jocelyn’s party was today.  Contrary to Abigail’s party, this one came together pretty easily.  Sure, I made a ton of bath and body products by hand, but it still didn’t seem like as much work as the French Lavender Party.  This was pretty nice.  No staying up till 3am the morning before the party.  I managed to get to bed at 1, instead.  haha

The feel of this party was much cleaner, and less indulgent than the previous party.  The layout was much simpler.

On the left you’ll see the epsom salts we dyed and scented with some essential oils.  I found these heart containers in the wedding section of Dollar Tree.  I believe they were 4/$1.  They worked great!  The teal buckets were from the dollar section of Target.  I filled this one with the excess salt and stuck the signs into it.

Next to that, you will see the custom lotion I made for the party.  Well, let me clarify.  I didn’t make, as in compound, the lotion.  What I did was take some plain, unscented lotion, warm it in the microwave, add some essential oil, a drop of food coloring, and glitter.  Then I used a funnel to put it into these cute bottles and labeled them with these custom made labels.  See my Party Prep post to find out where to get your own party printables for FREE. (they definitely made this party so much easier!)

Then you’ll remember my Cupcake Bath Bombs.  They certainly added a whimsical touch to the table.  The pink squares on top were strawberry scented soap that I made using a melt and pour soap.  It was VERY easy to do.  You simply melt it either on a double boiler or in the microwave and add your essential oil and color and pour it into a mold.  I poured in into a 9×9 casserole dish and cut it with a knife once it was set.  It was a great, quick project.

Behind that you’ll see those amazing teal jars.  I found those at GW for around $1 a piece.  I love them!  The little pink boxes around the base of the cupcake stand were found at the Dollar Tree, again, in the wedding section.  I placed a little flower, butterfly, or other mold shaped soap into each one.

To the right of that were some pumps of hand soap.  I threw in some pretty little beads just to make it fun and added some more custom labels.

I also made some blue soap with an Ocean Rain scent that I displayed in some more of the teal buckets from Target.

I have to admit, my favorite custom bath and beauty product I made was the lip gloss.  There’s something so nostalgic about the slidey lip tins that brought me back to my own childhood.  I especially loved the labels on these.  They read “Joss Gloss” which made Jocelyn smile.  To make these, I bought some easy melt and pour lip gloss to which I added some sweetened bubblegum oil.

Lastly, I had some white bags to use for all the goodies.

I have to say, I believe the “dessert table” was a big hit!  One guest said “Joci, this is the best party in the world!”

I made cupcakes and an individual cake like I did for Abby’s party.  This time, Joss chose funfetti for her personal cake.  I covered it with fondant and made some fondant salon essentials.  (someone couldn’t wait to take a bite out of that comb!)

The cupcakes were either chocolate or funfetti.

Of course, there were the custom cupcake toppers to fancy them up.

It’s still hard for me to believe that my first born is 7!

It isn’t even hard for me to remember what it was like being pregnant with her; going two weeks past my due date because she was too stubborn to go when she was “supposed” to.

27 hours of labor…

Only to have an emergency c-section.

I should have known right then she’d be a girl with a mind of her own.

And while her stubborn nature makes for some head-butting between the two of us, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy Birthday, Joss!  I’m so proud of you and the little person you’ve become.  I can’t wait to see what you’ll be like as you grow older or what you’ll accomplish.  The world is your oyster.

-Autumn