How a controlling perfectionist plans a birthday party: Pennant Flag Banners

Pennant flags are my favorite party decoration.  Depending on your time you can get pretty fancy with these...bunting, lettering, matching fabric patterns...but I keep them simple.  Felt is my favorite material to work with because it doesn't bleed, it doesn't fray on the edges, it is easy to use, holds itself nicely and you can buy it made from 100%  post-consumer plastic bottles.

When selecting the colors of your party do not just think in terms of that specific party but for parties in the future.  For example these are the pennant flag banners I made for Jack's Revolutionary War birthday party last year.  The obvious choice would be red, white and blue.  However, if you add multiple shades of each of those colors, in this case I excluded the white, then you get pennents that could be reused for a baby boy shower, baseball party or hung up for the 4th of July.

My friend is getting ready to throw a trash/recyling birthday party for her 4 year old and the colors are going to be orange and green.  My suggestion would be to do about 5 different colors in the orange and green family as opposed to just one tone of orange and one tone of green.  Eventhough this pennant flag banner is for her son she could use it for her daughter if she were to throw her ....say a Mermaid party next year.

Tutorial:

Supplies:
You need X amount of 8x10" sheets of felt, $.29 each at my local craft store (sometimes on sale, 10 for $1).  To figure out quanity felt sheets calculate desired banner length then factor in each individual pennent at 9" inch (once cut).
Time: 1-2 hours

Step 1:  Fold felt in half vertically

Step 2:  Draw a diagonal line across felt. 
A manilla folder does the trick.

Step 3:  Cut your felt while still in half.  Sometimes it moves so you have to keep an eye on it and adjust if you realize that your cut is not going to go from corner to corner.

Step 4:  From each 8x10" sheet of felt you get three triangles.  I like using all the large ones together on one strand and then the little ones together on another ...but feel free to get a little FLAG CRAZY and mix it up!

Step 5: Arrange pennants into your desired pattern.  It's best to lay them out the way you want them and then stack them up into a pile so that they are ready to feed into the sewing machine. 

Step 6:  Sewing the pennant flags into a banner.  Pull about 2 feet of thread from machine then place first flag into machine, backstitch, then run your entire strand of flags one at a time through until last flag, backstitch again at end and leave another 2 feet of thread.  The extra thread on both ends allows leeway for when hanging.

Slow down as you get to each edge of pennant to make transition to next pennant smooth.  Feed into machine immediantly after each other.  Some machines take the transition better than others.

[peaceful sigh]

These are so easy to make.  If you have a sewing machine they are a party must!

This is the third in a series of five blog entries on how to plan a children's birthday party.  Click here and scroll down to bottom of entry for series links.

How a controlling perfectionist plans a birthday party: Octopus Tee

This octopus design came to me when I was sitting at my friend's baby shower a couple months ago.  Hearts are one of the themes that run throughout many of my designs, so making two of the tentacles outline a heart was a must.  These are available in my Etsy shop PinkyBleu and I have affectionately titled them Lincoln HEARTS Octopii!  I like to use American made organic cotton tees by American Apparel so my costs are higher but you could find some pretty cheap tees and keep your costs relatively low.

Tutorial:
Supplies: Octopus pattern, 8x10" felt, pins, thread and shirt
Time: 1-3 hours (depending on skill level)

First, create your octopus pattern and cut it out.  Then pin your pattern to the felt to cut.  Using the shiny side of the felt will help keep the felt from balling up over time.  This octopus pattern is hand drawn by yours truly but you could easily just print one of from a number of children's coloring sites and use that as your template.  As long as you are not selling them you are not violating anyone's creative rights.

Position onto tee and then pin again.  If felt has a wrinkle then gently low heat iron...felt melts...trust me, I found out the hard way out!

Put some thoughtful consideration into your thread color and match thread and bobbin color for the cleanest look.  Since I was working with orange and brown I kept the thread brown to avoid any mistaken identities of my octopus, in particular with a Halloween arachnid! 

Use one continuous stitch for the entire octopus, backstiching at beginning and end.  Go slow and be careful as you stitch through each tentacle.  Try not to get too close to the edge because the felt will pull out from underneath the stitching.

Once you have completely stiched the octopus to the tee knot thread together for extra security and durability.  Knot both the top and underside of tee when you get back to your beginning stich.

This makes for a great birthday boy shirt at his Octopus Party or if you are overly ambitious ... as a party favor!  It ended up being perfect for Maggie's mermaid party because her dress had little octopii all over it!

Make 'em

Gift 'em

but please don't sell 'em if they infringe on my heart tentacle idea!

Thank You and a Happy Octopii to You!

This is the second in a series of five blog entries on how to plan a children's birthday party. Click here and scroll down to bottom of entry for series links.

How a controlling perfectionist plans a birthday party: Invitations

Throwing birthday parties for my children is seriously one of my favorite things to do!  It incorporates all my favorite things into one event:  my kids, entertaining, cooking, decorating, creating, classroom management (running my class or in this case, party, in a timely manner), making crafts and spending money!  Unfortunately, not since Jack's first birthday party have we really been able to invite all the people we want to since the Rogers' family alone is about thirty people.

Now as each child has entered my life the more control I've had to give up in the name of sanity.  There was a point where I made every single food item served.  The theme of Lincoln's first birthday was "circles" and I served circle food and if it wasn't a circle I made it into a circle with a cookie cutter, i.e. lettuce, cheese, melon balls.  Now I just rotate between copius amounts of fried chicken and 3 ft. subs ...  someone suggested tuna subs for Maggie's birthday but I felt like that was too close to mermaid cannibalism! 

This week you'll be guided on how a controlling perfectionist plans a party.  Many things I keep the same from year to year and party to party but just switch up the theme and/or colors.  Then I store all my creations and try to reuse them as new parties (birthday, baby shower, or whatever else) come about.   So the first thing I decide would be the theme and colors.  Usually, this is a couple months before the party so there is plenty of time to create everything and it is enjoyable not stressful...but this time I shaved it a little too close!

An awesome mermaid dress on etsy dictated Maggie's party theme this year!  There are soooo many cute Etsy mermaid finds for girls, here are some of Maggie's mermaid favorites if you are toying with the idea of a mermaid party this year!  The two party themes that will be focused on this week will be Mermaids and Octopii.

So first things first, invitations:

created by OhMyGluestick on Etsy

My Etsy "peep" Tommie at OMG! or OhMyGluestick made these invitations for me based on the colors from Maggie's mermaid dress.  She e-mailed me the file, I e-mailed Office Max the file, in two hours my invites were done and I picked them up on my way home from work!  Awesome and easy!  It is hard to tell from the picture but I had them printed on a pearlized cardstock called White Gold.  For a dozen 5x7" invites on the white gold cardstock, cut and ready to give it was under $5.  I used envelopes I had left over from Christmas to mail them out.  If I was a skilled scrapbooker I probably would have made myself...but I'm not!  At OhMyGluestick you can also find party banners, cupcake toppers and the whole sha'bang!  Most Etsy shop owners are very willing to customize anything you for you in their shop or create something new for you...one more reason to love Etsy!

These will be the topics the rest of the week:

Party decorations, crafts/party favors, baking the cake, octopus tees but of course they're will be no food creation entry since I gave that up about three years ago as discussed earlier.

Next week....

Mr. Rogers dutifully took over the blog this week with his own wonderful writings so that I could carry out all of my obsessive compulsive ways and work on Maggie's first birthday party....and that I did! 

Maggie and the boys in their handmade party outfits!

Next week will include many tutorials on throwing a Mermaid or Octopus party and a first hand example of why you should never lecture anyone about having a hicky on their neck!

God Scheduled for Book Signing in L.A.

Los Angeles, CA – Barnes and Noble announced Monday that in their flagship L.A. store, God, Creator of the Universe, is schedule for a Bible signing. “Since the Bible is the best-seller of all time, we have been sending him formal request letters for years. Let’s just say that He’s got the whole world in His hands, so we were delighted when He agreed to book the date,” said Larry Howe, Store Manager.
God, always available for comment, said “It’s remarkable PR for me and it’s a chance to mingle with the fans.” Customers had mixed reactions about the signing. “What if He inscribes something like, ‘I’ll see you next week,’” said Tim Bailey, “He is omniscient.” Despite the fear of the Lord, Barnes and Noble has been bombarded with heavy traffic on their web site and hundreds of phone calls. “We’ve never seen such a reaction for a book signing. God truly is amazing,” Howe added.
The Holy Spirit, who was given co-authorship credits, will be there to assist and comfort patrons.

[Note to Reader: Written by Mr. Rogers, Blog No.4 of Mr. Rogers Week]

Millions Of Lights In Sky Not Angry Greek Gods

[Note to Reader: Written by Mr. Rogers, Blog No.3 of Mr. Rogers Week]

Mauna Kea, HI - Astronomers at the home of the world’s largest telescope announced today that the mystical lights dominating the night sky are giant balls of gas called “stars,” and not rogue gods out to plague the earth and sleep with all its women, as previously believed. Protesters outside the observatory branded the astronomers as witches and demanded they be burned at the stake.

“‘Giant balls of gas,’ have you ever heard anything more ridiculous?” said one protester as he sacrificed a pig and drank its blood. In a related story, Zeus, king of the Gods, rained lightning bolts down over Missouri in an apparent attempt to win back a mortal woman from a St. Louis accountant.

Beware the Scantily Clad Dancers!

[Note to Reader: Written by Mr. Rogers, Blog No.2 of Mr. Rogers Week]

Watching the season premiere of Dancing With the Stars last night brought back a humorous if not horrifying memory. It was probably two or three seasons ago and Mrs. Rogers and I were watching the show after putting the kids to bed. It was during one of those phases when Jack would come out of his room and “spy” on us, although we could totally hear him sneaking down the hall.  One night he snuck into the living room, “What are you guys watching?” he asked. “Dancing With the Stars, Jack. You need to go back to bed.” I answered. He stood there a few minutes longer watching the television until I got out of my seat and started walking toward him. This threatening gesture usually does the trick. He turned and ran back to his room.

Ten minutes later we heard him walking down the hall again. Frustrated, I turn back to scold him and he is walking toward us in nothing but his underwear. When he has our full attention, he starts dancing around the living room. What in Zeus’ name is this kid doing? “I’m Dancing Dancing” he said full of enthusiasm, yet, clearly butchering the name of the show. A swirl of emotions instantly swell up in me, ranging from frustration that he’s not in bed, to nearly laughing my butt off, to somewhat troubled and deeply concerned, to utterly appalled. The frustration emotion took over, “Jack! Get your clothes on and get in bed! RIGHT NOW!”

As we settled back into our chairs to watch the show, Mrs. Rogers and I both looked at each other and started laughing. It’s going to be a while before we let our kids watch “Dancing Dancing” ever again.

Case and Point:  Edyta Sliwinska

Does your baby speak Wookie too?

[Note to Reader: Written by Mr. Rogers, Blog No.1 of Mr. Rogers Week]

Does your baby speak Wookie too? You know, guttural moans, gurgling yells, and invariable grunts and snorts? This is the language step our dear little Maggie is in right now. Our second son Lincoln obtained his nickname “Bear” for this very same reason. He would growl when he was hungry and snarl when he was tired - in other words complete and total gibberish. To put simply, it’s like listening to Han Solo converse with Chewbacca. The funny thing is that even after three kids, we still don’t understand what they are trying to tell us and I’m not sure they understand what we’re trying to tell them. It reminds me of a trip Mrs. Rogers and I took to Morocco and we haggled with a street vendor over the price of a ceramic cereal bowl using hand gestures, lots of finger pointing and broken bits of Arabic, English, Spanish and French. I thought they were going to kidnap us, knock us out, and we’d wake up in a tub full of ice with our kidneys harvested and sold in the black market. Happy to say that we ended up with the bowl at a price that both parties agreed upon (I’m sure they are still telling stories and laughing about the time they sold a bowl to some ignorant Americans for a day’s wages).

Although I love the baby phase, this makes me appreciate the conversations I have with our four year old all the more. Yes, he likes to talk about shaking his booty and peeing on ants in the yard, but his articulation and simple sentence structures are a welcome relief, even if they sometimes don’t make perfect sense.

Mr. Rogers changing Baby Wookie diaper:

Well put, Han, well put!

mE birfDay wAnt

[Dear Readers, it appears that Maggie escaped her crib last night, crawled into the living room, perused etsy and made a blog posting about it.  She has become a little obsessed with mermaids and this is no doubt a manifestation of her new found love of mermaids.  Please forgive Mr. Rogers and myself, we promise to keep a better eye on her but she has just gotten so squirmy lately]

ME wuvf mrmAds N et-C. 

thees me favRits.

pwees tell grama.

Small Threads

VintageLucy's

Papaya Studio

dis tank-u card

Becky Kazana

mermAds rule,

MR. ROGERS

Next week is SHARK WEEK, I mean MR. ROGERS, INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY WEEK on our blog! Mr. Rogers is quite a clever man and his witty writing often results in me laughing out loud and accidentally spiting food particles out of my mouth.

Mr. Rogers should have gone to work for the CIA…or maybe he already does??? He has this international look about him and can always pick up basic phrases with an impeccable accent wherever we are in the world. He is Italian in Italy, Greek in Greece, Persian in Iran, Hawaiian in Hawaii, Indian in India, Spanish in Spain, a freakishly tall Incan in Peru, a Columbian drug lord in Central America and in America he could be all of the above! When we were traveling through Morocco he would throw around a few standard greeting phrases and the locals would launch into full conversation only to realize, moments later, that he didn’t understand a word they were saying. Then they simply assumed that he was of Moroccan origin but living in France and that I was his French wife, oui!

So, sit back and relax next week as Mr. Rogers takes the blogging reigns.

The last of the blossoming trees...

Every year the blossoming trees enchant me.  Taking the kids and running them through the orchards while  singing, "the treeeeeesss are allllive with the sound of muuuuusiiiccccc," has crossed my mind more than once.  Here are some of the last blossoming trees as they make way for their fruit and leaves until harvest.

Tree blossoms have always been captivating to me.  The way that they grow sparingly on each branch, their petite nature, their delicate sense, and their contrast against the dark bark and the sky.  In Chengdu, scrolls of blossoms line the streets hanging at each artists booth.  In Japan, cherry blossoms are intricately carved into wood blocks and stamped onto paper.  In Holland, Van Gogh's almond blossom paintings show the beautiful contrast between the pink blossoms and the rich blue sky.  Wherever I am in the world these blossoms stop me and demand my undivided attention as I gaze at their beauty and reflect on their maker.

Other blossom posts from this season:

I say "Almond," you say "A-Mund"...either way they are BEAUTIFUL!

Local Woman Gets Swarmed By Bees In The Name Of Blog

Shamrock Shortage, oh no!

Luck, 8x8 Fine Art Photography

Silvia Reitsma by silviareitsma on Etsy

Our New "Pets" -- Part I

By nature I am a complete anal retentive, perfectionist, control freak. I've mellowed out a bit but each day, at numerous points in the day, I find myself succumbing to one of my natural states of being. This weekend it was beautiful but no exception to my often unreasonable ways. As a family we were playing outside and I took the opportunity to re-twine the new growth on the trellised jasmine and clean up the dead parts on the lotus succulent plants from the winter freeze. For whatever reason snails flock to my yard, breed, and happily take up residency among my beloved plants. I'm not one for snail bait, as one of my kids are always in a dirt eating phase, so instead I have trained the boys to be lean, mean, snail killing machines ... or you might say that we practice natural pest control. They have dutifully fulfilled this role for many years now but this year has taken an odd turn of events.

While collecting snails out of the beautiful succulents for Jack and Lincoln to dispose of, I noticed that Jack was doing something with them. WHAT?!?!?!?!? He was making them a house and referring to them as his "pets". Does the boy not realize that these "pets" feast on my plants each spring through fall? What is this new sense of compassion that he has found? This is where my opening sentence comes into play. My first thought is to tell him to "Kill the snails," "They are not pets," and "They destroy my yard if not routinely collected and killed!" Then I thought about just letting the boys collect them and put them in their "home" and then we would kill them after we were done gardening. However, the boys just got too attached to them and were enjoying them so much, giving them names, baths, feeding them and having one way conversations with them. [deep sigh] The thought of those snails loose in my yard was driving me CRAZY but I let him keep them in that bucket even after we were done gardening. Sometimes I really struggle with just letting the kids do their kid things and not let my anal retentive ways interfere. In my mind as we ate dinner I saw them escaping and slithering back to my beloved succulents to eat and breed. It hurt, but I felt too bad to go and kill the snails now. The boys were so happy about their snails ... and I too became happy when we went to check on them yesterday and they were all dead!!!!! [evil laugh] Many moms are good at just letting kids be kids but it is something that I have to work on every day. However, this day I'm really happy that both the kids and myself got exactly what we needed...the boys are excited about getting more pets next time we garden!

Jack preparing the habitat for his new "pets"

Lincoln was not so solid in his convictions as pet owner.  At one point he accidently slipped into old ways and murdered "Juicy."  Only moments later realizing that he just murdered one of their "pets"  Poor lad, he was so confused...killing machine, pets, killing machine!

I'm sure this was their conversation while in captivity!

Nursing A Baby Vampire ...it happens!

My sweet Maggie is nearing her first birthday! At the end of this month I will finally have my body back after SIX years of pregnancy and nursing. Each of our three kids are 23 months apart, which means after being pregnant for 40 weeks, I then nursed for a year, had a couple months off and then did it again TWO more times! As this stage of my life comes to an end I should be cherishing every single moment, and I was … until Maggie starting using nursing time as her time to test out her new “chompers”!

The last two times I nursed Maggie, she bit me…HARD! Don’t let the word “baby” fool you when referring to baby teeth. Those bad boys are like shards of glass when they come in! I didn’t know that I had given birth to little Renesmee and would now have to join Team Edward as my baby girl started to embrace her true vampire ways!

My illustration of dear, sweet, nursing Maggie
over the past 11 months of nursing.

My illustration of what I feel like is

going to happen upon latching!

Drawing on my three years of nursing experience, a flick and a stern “no” after being bit usually does the trick, but Maggie has been relentless. The girl just does not understand that “no” means “no”….ahhhh, what is a mom to do?

Strong Boy on Tour in California...how about this one?

Okay, if the La Donna Barbuta (bearded woman) look doesn't work for me, how about my little Lincoln becoming the beloved "strong boy"....would that work?  He can really work that mustache like L'uomo Forzuto!

A spitting image...we could make millions...but alas, the circus life is no life for our precious Lincoln.  Perhaps my dreams of the historic circus are best left to Italia's own CONTEMORI bottega creativa.

L'uomo Forzuto - The Circus Strongman

is one of the historical characters of the Italian Circus.

Amo l'Italia per il caffè, il gelato,
la storia e l'apprezzamento delle arti, mentre ha visto
 a CONTEMORI bottega creativa su Etsy.

The Bearded Woman of California...hmmm, maybe not!

This is so cute that it makes me want to grow a beard!  Although, I have a sneaking suspicion that some people might not think of me as quite so cute if I were to don a beard....

La Donna Barbuta (Bearded Lady)

is one of the historical characters of the Italian Circus.

Visit the other wonderful creations of

CONTEMORI bottega creativa on Etsy

and in her blog.

AHHHHH, Front Page of ETSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sad to say that I missed my Front Page Etsy Debut!!!!  Somehow it appeared on my FB Fan page and I was just left wondering if someone hacked into my account, duh....McFly!!!!

Well, the only thing else I can say is that I screamed really loud when I saw that it HAD been there.  Mr. Rogers came racing into the room to see if I was okay!  Shoot, I wish I had gotten to see it!

Jack's Handmade Necklace in Action!

As I stood there in my closet this morning deciding what to wear to work for casual Friday, I saw Jack's necklace he made me. "Pick me, pick me"  I imagined it saying.  So I put it on and when I walked out to where Jack was standing his face lit up.  He was so excited that I was wearing the necklace he made me that he wanted to take a picture!  Here is the picture he took of me before I left for work.

The best comment I got about the necklace,

"What's that attached to your boob?" -- their real identity is being protected.

Take the poll about wearing children's crafts in public, here!

Which one did not like my enchiladas?