Lydia's fairy birthday invites

 We made these little fairy invitations for Lydia's birthday party. They were little pop-up fairies.

 Lydia colored some of them and I colored others.

This is just showing how when you opened it, the fairy popped out.

Lydia's fairy birthday party

 This is the little fairy we made to play "pin the fairy on the wings" game. Lydia thought it was creepy with her face on it, so I took it off. I thought it was funny.

 I LOVE these tissue paper flowers. They are super easy, cheap, and are like an instant party. Especially when you are decorating for a fairy party.

 Every square inch of the place was covered with tissue flowers, streamers, butterflies, and flowers.

 I got these foam flowers and some similar foam butterflies at the dollar store in packs of 24 each for $1! I stung them and hung them like garlands, I had some flying from the ceiling, and some placed on the table. (The poster board is the wings for "pin the fairy on the wings")

 I made these cupcake toppers with some fairy stickers and skewers. The flower cupcake papers are Wilton, I got them at Wal mart. Aren't they cute?

 Pink and purple overload? Pretzel rods (fairy wands) dipped in candy melts and decorated with sprinkles, etc. Little wood "fairy houses" painted and decorated with sequins.

Party girls consuming as much sugar as possible. We did mini (fairy) foods. Ritz bits, mini oreos, and fruit snacks. Also, they are eating their wands and cupcakes.
We finished up with a Find the Fairy treasure hunt. Each clue was a fairy. On the back was a poem riddle telling where to find the next clue/fairy. At the end they found the treasure, which was the goody bags. We always have them find the pinata at the end of the treasure hunt, but this year I was barely recovered from Christmas to throw a party let alone bring myself to make a pinata. But Lydia was really happy with the gift bags. We got some really fun fairy themed items to go inside. I am not going to make a big deal about it but I didn't get a picture of the goody bags (sob sob). I was really pleased with the way they turned out.

Handmade gifts: from Texas Sams

These Harry Potter inspired potions were a gift from my brother's family in Texas. They all collaborated on the names and looks of the potions. They are beautifully done and I hope to be able to fashion some great display for them.
Each was filled with candy, some of which corresponded to the name of the potion. The Ingenious Elixir had smarties in it. The Exploding Olio had pop rocks. I guess they must have been eating a lot of that Elixir because this gift WAS ingenious!
This picture on their blog might give a better view.

Handmade gifts: Felix

 Felix is totally on a Toy Story kick so the kids decided to draw him some pictures. Liam drew one with all the Toy Story crew. Felix pointed to each one and knew exactly who they were. He was very excited about it.

Zoe drew a picture of, as you can see, Felix the Cowboy. His hat and little belt buckle says, "Felix" and he is holding a sippy cup. Felix loves this one as well.
We framed them both and put them up in his room. I really like these pictures!

Handmade gifts 4: family and ornaments

 It has been awhile since I sewed a book. I was so excited about this project. I actually had the idea for it at the beginning of the summer. It is actually one reason our summer was so fun. I kept thinking about the book, so we did super fun things and took lots of pictures all summer, because I knew it would end up in the book.
After binding the book, I put pictures in. One event/outing/vacation per page, then labled it.
The kids weren't very excited about it, but at least I can get it out and prove to them what a fun summer we had if they ever doubt :)

Also, I put all of the Christmas stuff up in the attic today, WITHOUT GETTING PICTURES OF THEIR ORNAMENTS! I also didn't get pictures of the ornaments the kids made for us.
I make them an ornament each year and now it will have to wait until next year to document it. I made Zoe and orange Converse shoe. She loves orange and Converse shoes. I made Liam a dove to signify his baptism this year. I made Lydia an apple to signify her starting Kindergarten. Felix got the alphabet embroidered on some felt because he is OBSESSED with the alphabet. He carried it around for days naming all the letters on it.

Homemade gifts 3: Zoe

 This was my favorite project this year. I was so excited about it. Zoe saw a skirt she liked on a movie and pointed it out to me. Once I saw it I really wanted to figure out how to make it. It looked nothing like this, but Zoe told me just what she wanted, picked out the fabric, and I did the best I could. Thank goodness she was really pleased, because I felt like it turned out well. I never would have put these colors together but they look so cute. Also, she got some clothes from Travis's mom that go perfectly with it!

 Liam made this chicken stuffed animal for Zoe. Okay, "made" is used a little loosely. I had him draw it out. I did most of the sewing. He did the button eyes and wings. It was, perhaps, a bit ambitious for him, but I figure it was time well spent. We were in "Santa's workshop" (what the kids call my craft room) working together for Zoe.

Lydia made this button bracelet for Zoe. I did help quite a bit, but was super impressed with what she she was able to do.

Homemade gifts 2: Liam

 I made Liam some fleece black and white checked pajama pants, which he didn't take off the entire Christmas break (maybe a slight exageration). Lydia sewed the little pockets at the ends of this scarf. We got the idea from Family Fun.

Zoe made Liam a personalized bookmark. On the back are the names of all his favorite books.

Homemade gifts 1: Lydia

 I made this dress for Lydia using MADE's tutorial here. I used a dress shirt that was Travis's.I will have to post another picture later. I think it turned out nice and it fits her perfectly, miraculously!

Liam made a little fairy wand and working together with Zoe on the fairy wings. Zoe made a felt crown with shiny beads at the top (which is probably why it isn't sticking up).
Lydia was so excited about her fairy outfit gift that she decided that she wanted a fairy themed birthday party. I thought it was so cute that they came up with this idea (and executed it{with help}).