Avery's Pooh Party!

So, I know you're just dying to see and hear the details of Avery's 2nd birthday, right?  Okay guys.  Humor me.  Just pretend you're dying to see it all :)

The "Pooh Party" that Avery had been talking incessantly about for over a month went off without a hitch. It was a vast improvement over how I felt after her first birthday party.  That was a disaster.  This time, I was relaxed, not stressed.  If my floor didn't get mopped or my tables didn't get dusted, oh well.  My house was going to be a wreck after people came pouring in anyway.  I didn't obsess over decorations or food or details.  I just worked hard on everything and then didn't stress the day of.  It made for a VERY enjoyable day.

Details!

Food:  I did Winnie the Pooh themed foods.

Bar-BEE-Que sandwiches as the entree.

P-BEE-and J sandwiches for the littles, if they weren't partial to BBQ.

Veggies, straight out of Rabbit's garden.

Rolls and "hunny."  This was a special request from the birthday girl herself.  We were eating at a local steakhouse that gives you complimentary honey with your dinner rolls.  While Avery was dipping her rolls in honey, she asked me "At my Pooh party??"  So, we HAD to have rolls and hunny.

Side note:  check out these honey bottles I found at Walmart.  I was just going to get the regular jars of clover honey that are in the shape of a bear.  Then, this jar caught my eye.....

AHHHH!  Winnie the Pooh shaped honey jars!!  I may have bought four of them. 

Next, a "Pooh" tato bar.  Baked potatoes that you could load up with your choice of toppings--cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream, broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, butter.

I didn't get a picture of them, but the baked potatoes were as big as your head.  Seriously.  I got them at Sam's Club and they were the biggest things I'd ever seen.  My sister told me that she felt like she deserved a t-shirt if she finished the entire thing.  Monstrous.

If you weren't feeling like a baked potato, you could also indulge in some "Pooh" tato chips. 

Finally, dessert. I didn't do a cake this year, but instead opted for cupcakes.  In my mind, I wanted to make something like this....

via

But this involved cutting apart yellow and black jellybeans and squeezing them together.  I'm too lazy for that.  Instead, I took Whoppers candies and drizzled them with yellow icing.  Lazy woman's version.  Sliced almonds for the wings.  Did they look as good as the above version?  Nope.  Don't care. 

Also, Tigger Tails!  Shout out to my sister-in-law for making these adorable orange colored chocolate dipped pretzels, drizzled in chocolate.  Marty can't stop eating them, three days later.

I bought a glass terrarium at Michael's and filled it with a yellow tablecloth to mimic honey.  Also to make the pretzel stand a little higher for easy accessibility. 

Avery's Outfit:  Many of you know that I stressed over what my little "hunny" was going to wear to her party.  Shoot, I wrote a whole blog post about it.  A Facebook friend sent me over to JossyBelle Bows on Facebook and she created exactly what I was picturing in my mind.  I didn't want a single Winnie the Pooh anywhere on it.  I just wanted it to be "Pooh-inspired."  This is what she made: 

And this is what it looked like on Avery: 

Decorations:  I honestly didn't do many.  My sister-in-law let me borrow some of the Pooh character stuffed animals, which I scattered around the house.  I bought red and Pooh-yellow tablecloths and put them on the food and present tables.  The only crafty thing I did was make a Pooh-inspired wreath that hung on the front door and that will be hung in her playroom later.  (inspired by this wreath on etsy).

Party favors:  I ordered some teddy bears online that the little girls could stuff themselves.  I also bought some Winnie the Pooh puzzles and some bug catchers at the Dollar Tree. Provided all the kids with a brown bag that they could keep their favors in.  I really hope the kids enjoyed them. 

Favorite picture of the day:  

*sigh*  Does it even need words?  It makes my heart smile so, so much.  She loves her Aunt Day-Day. 

Giggle of the day:  My sister-in-law had her son's Halloween costume from a couple of years ago.  Of course we had to try it on. 

Cuteness overload.  I can't handle. 

Favorite moment of the day:  There were lots of great moments, but by far my favorite moment happened when Avery opened a very special gift.  Marty's mom passed away in November of last year.  For Christmas, she had already purchased the kid's Christmas gifts before she passed, so they had something to open from her on Christmas Eve.  But a couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law found some presents in her old bedroom.  And one of them had Avery's name on it.  Inside, was a Winnie the Pooh doll and sticker book.  When Arlene passed away, we hadn't planned Avery's party.  We didn't know it would be Pooh themed.  Heck, back in November, Avery wasn't even into Winnie the Pooh at that point. I still can't wrap my head around it. 

She's slept with it every night since.  Thanks Gaga.

The party was literally perfect.  I wouldn't change a single thing.  Happy birthday, my little "hunny."  

The Time I Almost Killed an Inanimate Object

All you Pinterest-addicted ladies with toddlers, I know you've seen this pin and drooled over it.  

And you think "Wow.  That looks easy.  I can do that!"  

That's the point that you need to take your meds and lay down because you're talking like a crazy person. 

This is coming from a woman that tried this.  I temporarily lost my mind and tried this.  And, of course, I failed miserably.  Would you like to hear the story?

Once Upon a Time, a crafty young princess was perusing Pinterest and found this beautiful playhouse fit for a magazine.  She immediately thought "I can do that!" and convinced her husband to make a trip to their local store to pick up some paint.  

Oh.  Too flashy?  Sorry, I'll tone it down. 

When I first saw this idea, I put out some feelers on Facebook to see if I could actually find a playhouse.  I'd found a couple of them in Louisville for over $100 apiece.  Not ideal, but it seemed to be the going rate for a plastic house.  Long story short, I ended up getting pointed in the direction of a girl who actually lived two minutes down the road from my parents.  Someone saw that I wanted a playhouse, someone saw she had a playhouse for sale and hooked us up.  It seemed like fate.  

Once I had a playhouse and decided on what color I wanted to paint it, Marty and I went to Wally World and picked up a couple of cans of Krylon Fusion paint made especially for plastics.  I wanted a navy house, with black roof and black shutters and a white bay window.  So I picked up two cans of navy, one can of black and one can of white, thinking it'd be plenty.  HA! 

The week of Avery's birthday, Marty pressure washed the entire thing, wiped it down and it was ready for me to start painting.  One afternoon, my sister in law very graciously watched Avery so I could get things ready for her party and I decided to tackle the playhouse.  Dear Lord. 

Let me start by saying:  I'm not good at spray painting.  I don't know what length I should hold the can away from the object to get optimal spray coverage.  I usually end up going too close and leaving drips all over the place from excessive amounts of paint, or I hold my hand too far away and it goes on too lightly.  So, word to the wise...if you're like me and you are a terrible spray painter, this project is NOT for you. 

I started by spraying the shutters first and then moved on to the navy blue siding.  After doing half of one side of the house, I had the thought "Um...this looks kind of crappy."  

After finishing a complete side, I had the thought "There is NO way I'm going to have enough paint."  I had to send Marty to the store to get more.  This should have been the point that I stepped back, realized that maybe spray painting plastic houses is not my strong suit and let my husband step in.  But no.  I was determined to finish that stupid house. 

Seven cans of blue, four cans of black and one can of white later, I was crying and wishing I had a large bottle of Moscato wine in my fridge.  It.  Was.  Awful.  

You could see every single spray mark I made.  I sprayed with a heavy hand and went over each spray multiple times and it still looked like crap.    And, even though I'm obsessed with navy siding and black shutters on houses in real life, when I sprayed it on this little house, the combination was just too dark.  

I didn't even want to give it to her.  Not that she cared, she'd be happy if I threw paint all over it and let it leave drip marks.  But I wasn't proud of it.  It didn't turn out the way I wanted and I was ready to set fire to it and start all over again (and by "all over again," I mean "buy one brand new with pretty colors to start with).  

I ran inside to scrub the paint off my hands (and my nose....and inside my nose....and my cheeks....and my legs.....).

And then I texted my husband.

Did you notice the very last line?  That's why I love him.  I have a harebrained, ridiculous idea and screw it up and his only instinct is to ask how he can help me.  I seriously take him for granted. 

Because, later that night, he ran to Walmart, picked up primer and MORE paint and went out and fixed my mess.  I peeked out my bedroom window to see my husband, earbuds in place, spray painting our daughter's birthday present...and I cried.  I cried because I don't deserve him.  Because he totally saved the day. 

Once again, I have a crazy idea (Avery's first birthday present, the mantle I wanted mounted on a wall without a fireplace.....) and Marty steps in to make it a reality.  I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

One last picture:

Avery's first birthday present parked next to her second birthday present.  Marty's exact words to me:  "You have an obsession with painting plastic things."  Maybe so, Marty.....wonder if there's a twelve step program for that kind of addiction.....

Invitations at last!

I have a dream that one day my daughter will tell her friends that she's so thankful that her mother put so much work into making her birthday perfect. 

Probably won't ever happen.  But hey, I can dream can't I?

You'll be happy to know that the Great Pooh Invite Search is finally over.  But it ended in a very time-consuming, sticky conclusion.  For those of you that want to make your own special Winnie the Pooh invites that are different than everything else out there on Pinterest and Etsy, this post is for you.

After I wrote about not being able to find anything I liked for Avery's party invites, I literally went to bed and dreamt about them that night.  As soon as I woke up and got to work, I grabbed a piece of computer paper and whipped up a quick idea of what I wanted it to look like:

A hunny pot!  Not just any plain old hunny pot, but one that, when the lid is lifted, it reveals the invitations!


Hooray!!  I'm so pleased with how these turned out.  If you like them, here's how I did it...

Originally, I was going to cut out all the shapes by hand.  Such a stupid idea.  I'm incredibly blessed with parents that love me a whooooole bunch and got me a Silhouette Cameo machine for Christmas.  And I gotta say...a Silhouette Cameo is God's gift to the crafting world.  It's fantastic.  If you have a project like this that's going to take a lot of cutting, find a friend that has a Silhouette machine and see if they'll let you use it.  SO much easier than cutting everything by hand!!  Obviously, if you don't have a Silhouette, hand cutting is also an option--it's what I did with Avery's 1st birthday invites.  Not impossible, just takes longer.  So!  Let's get to it.

I found a honey pot shape on in the Silhouette store and downloaded it.  I figured out what size I needed the honey pots to be to fit into my envelopes and resized them accordingly. 

I continued doing this with other shapes until I ended up with all the shapes I needed.  When all the cutting was done, I ended up with two drips of honey, a honey pot and lid, a square for the invitation, bee wings and a body, and the word "hunny."  To ensure that I could put the invite down into the honey pot, I made sure to cut a line going across the top of the honey pot.

I made sure to pick a glue stick that would dry clear because I would be applying a whole bunch of it.  First, I attached the honey drips near the cut I made towards the top.  Then, I glued the "Hunny" words in the middle of the honey pot.  I attached the invitation I printed towards the bottom of the yellow square and then glued the lid to the top of the yellow square.  Finally, I glued the wings and the bee's body to the top of the lid and attached the RSVP information to that.

I slid the square invite into the slit at the top of the honey pot and voila!

 

Normally, when I have a creative idea in my brain, the finished project doesn't turn out like I envisioned it.  But this one was EXACTLY how I imagined it.  Pumped.  Best part about these?  Every invitation I found on Etsy that I halfway liked was like $3 apiece.  These invites (not counting postage or envelopes) were only 30 cents apiece.  Hooray for being cheap!

 

Oh, Pooh.

This Winnie the Pooh party will be the death of me.  They'll write on my tombstone:  "The Pooh did her in."

I had a mini-crisis earlier over Avery's birthday outfit.  That's been solved.

Now I've moved on to the invitations.  I'm seeing a lot of this kind of stuff....

via etsy

via etsy

Just kind of basic.  Easy (I really wish I knew what my aversion was to easy things...it'd make my life much simpler).

I know you're making fun of me.  And that's okay.  I love party planning.  I want everything to scream Pooh (without being cheesy overboard style) and I want everything to show that I worked hard on this.  That I cared enough to sit down and work on these invitations and didn't take the easy route.  I mean, did you SEE the invitations for Avery's first birthday party??  SUPER time consuming.  But so worth it.  I'm still getting compliments over those invites. 

So then I found stuff like this. And I die.

via etsy

At $55 for 8 invitations, this is not even an option.

via etsy

Again.  $44 for 8 invites?  Not gonna happen. 

I could make these myself.  But I have a Silhouette machine, which, unfortunately, doesn't have licensed character shapes for purchase yet.  So I would be hand-drawing all of the pots and Poohs and everything.  Doable....but very, time consuming.  

Sigh.  I need someone to make creative invites...and sell them for really, really cheap.  Is that too much to ask?