Cowgirl Party

Anyone who knows my daughter, knows she is a cowgirl at heart. It all started with an outing to the rodeo, and since then she has been hooked. She loves horses, boots and cowgirl hats. Every time she sees a horse or a barn, she shouts out its name with excitement. So last year, as her birthday approached (okay so several months before her birthday) she told me she wanted a cowgirl birthday party. I had been throwing around party themes, but that idea topped them all, and I was so excited to get planning. With a baby due just weeks after her birthday, I wanted everything ready way in advance. We planned, made lists, bought supplies, and crafted.

I had so much fun designing the invitations. When they were finished and printed, we drove to each of her friends' homes to delivered them.

When the day arrived I put up a few simple decorations and we had lots of fun activities to do. 

As the kids arrived they got to dig through a basket filled with cowgirl/boy hats, handkerchiefs, vests, etc. and dress up as a cowboy or cowgirl.

We did a bean bag toss:

I saved a big piece of cardboard from some package we received way back when (finally justifying my oh-I'll-keep-that-because-it-may-come-in-handy-one-day hoarding mentality.) Then I sketched out some farm animals, then painted them in. Once the paint was dry, I cut out some holes and was ready to go. I made some bean bags out of scrap fabrics. Then, I just had some helpers hold up the board as the kids tossed the bean bags.

We did stick horse races:

I was originally going to make some simple stick horses then give them away as favors, but time got the best of me. Instead I borrowed some from my mother-in-law's prop filled Drama classroom.

We played pin the tail on the horse:

I used a piece of brown poster board to paint a horse on. Then I cut out tails from black poster board. Each tail was labeled with a child's name. The rest is self explanatory.

We played Pop the Pig: 

This was the kids favorite activity (except a few of the younger kids.) I blew up a ton of balloons and drew farm animal faces on them (mostly pigs.) Then on the count of 3 the kids were to see how fast we could all pop the balloons. It was loud, crazy, madness, but the kids LOVED it.

After games and presents, we sang and ate cake:

This was my first time using fondant on a cake. It made the decorating process much easier. I made one traditional cake and then lots of cupcakes.

As the parents arrived, K handed out the goodie bags:

We filled each handkerchief with some horse stickers, sheriff badge, horse tracer & pencil, and some candy, then tied it all up with some string and a "Thanks Y'all" tag I designed.

My cowgirl and her band of buckaroos had so much fun, and I had fun putting it all together to make it a special day for my sweet little girl.

Pinterest Recipes

This meal/dessert has been made possible thanks to Pinterest. 

I have to admit, pre-Pinterest days, I never really got excited about cooking or baking. Finding a recipe was always hit or miss because oftentimes there wasn't a picture or it wasn't recommended by a person, so I never knew how a recipe would turn out. So most of the time I just made my set tried-and-true recipes and would venture out to try new things only every now and then. Thanks to Pinterest, I try new recipes every week. If I have a hankering for a certain food, I just search Pinterest and see which one was posted the most- thinking if it's common it must be good. So far, it hasn't failed me. Check out my board Yummy for the ones I love or want to try. Here are a few of the yummy recipes I've tried lately.

Crock Pot Baby Back Ribs

Wild Rice with Craisins and Almonds (this was incredible!)

 Individual Apple Pies

A few other recipes I've tried and loved (but didn't take a picture of) are:

White Chicken Enchiladas (I make these almost every other week now)

Slow-cooker Salsa Chicken (this is another on the frequent rotation)

Biggest Loser Oat Pancakes (I omitted the sugar)

Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

What recipes have you found on Pinterest and loved?

I LOVE Sibling Shirts

Ever since I created my I Heart Sibling shirts for my kiddos back when baby #2 was born, I've had lots of requests for custom sibling shirts. It's so fun to come up with fun color combos to make the shirts coordinate. Here is the latest set I created for a friend's two adorable little girls.

I was on a fabric flower kick back when I made these shirts, so I threw in some little hair clips to match.

I love the playful fun colors of this set! Happy colors for happy girls.

Big Boy Quilt

I've been going through my photo files and came across pictures of my son's twin quilt. It's been done since last June, and he's been sleeping in it since then. So this is late in sharing, but with a project that takes that much attention, I have to share. 

His nursery had the following color scheme:

I had painted this canvas for his nursery. 

 I wanted to make the painting and the other details and pieces transition right into his big boy decor. Here's a picture of his nursery to give you an idea. I wanted to reuse the navy curtains and all the stuff on his shelves.

So I headed to my favorite local fabric shop Cabbage Rose to see if I could find some fabrics that would work. I needed 9 different fabrics for the design I drew up, and I came home with 8. I had some Heather Ross fat quarters at home that I thought I could use if I didn't find anything I liked better. So all together I had my 9 fabrics: 3 dark blue, 3 light blue, and 3 green.

I got to work cutting my squares . . . I needed 100.

 Then I laid them out on the floor. I didn't want the fabrics to repeat consistently, I wanted it random, so down they went.

Then I sewed each row together. Then two rows got sewn to each other. 

After sewing my five, two row pairings, I sewed in some gray sashing, and a gray border. Then it was time to quilt it. I considered machine quilting it, but since I hand quilted my older daughter's quilt, and loved the look so much, I finally decided that was the way to go. Up went the quilt frame, and the hand quilting began. I finished it in 3 days- a little here, a little there, till it was done.

Then, I trimmed down the batting and quilt back, sewed on some binding (machine sewed the first round, and hand stitched the top round to avoid seeing any machine stitches.) Then it was done and ready to get put to use! Our little guy wasn't quite ready to sleep in the big boy bed, and for the first week or so, he would ask for his crib. We put his crib in the toddler bed setting, and let him sleep there until he was ready. I think the little doggies, fish, and campers on the Heather Ross fabric helped him come around!

So here's what his room looks like today. We originally had the crib on the opposite wall from his bed, but we decided to give baby brother his own room for a while. So the room decor is in a transitional state for now. There are two of those bed frames that were my uncles' when they were little. Then my sisters and I used them, then our older daughter used it, and now it's the boys turn. I dream of the day when my two boys have their matching big boy beds lined up on the wall, but for now, at least one big boy has a cute quilt to sleep under.