We all need someone who gives us the courage to be who we're meant to be.

A few months before Izzie's birthday we sat down together to brainstorm what she would like to do for her birthday party.  She came up with a handful of idea's....

1.  Beach party

2.  Lego party

3.  Soccer party

4.  Science party

5.  Ice Skating party

6.  Skateboarding party

7.  Magic party

First she was stuck on the soccer party.  Couple weeks go by and she decided she wanted to change it to a Lego party.  Then she decided to wanted to change it to a skateboarding party.... since she had already changed her mind so much I let her stew on that idea for a bit before preparing for the party.  The last one stuck!  Skateboarding party it is!  Whew. 

Here is the invite I made:

Searched high and low for some mini skateboards to go on the cupcakes.... finally found some two days before the party!  While shopping for supplies I saw a cupcake stand for $40... now I love me some cupcakes but I wasn't willing to drop 40 for a stand.  Made my own for under $3.00.

w0000000! :) 

She's crafty.

We all need someone who gives us the courage to be who we're meant to be.

XOXO

All you've got is all you can give and that will always be enough.

I was working on some items for Izzie's auction on her school and a friend in Boise saw it on my facebook status.  She msg'd me asking if I would be willing to donate some cake pops to her daughter's school to auction off.  We decided she would make a coupon and the person who won it could redeem it and I would send down some cake pops from Spokompton.  Well it turned out they wanted them the day after memorial weekend.  Perfect! I could make them while in B-town and leave them for her.  Cut the shipping out.  Schaweeeet! 

It was for winners son's birthday.  They chose chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.  I then dyed white chocolate to the colors desired and dunked the cake in that.  They asked if they could have a basketball cake pop.... BSU colors.  Um, sure! ;) Never done that before. How hard could it be.  Hahah. Hard! Here is the finished product. 

 

I did about 12 basketball cake pops and the rest were dunked in blue white chocolate with orange and blue sprinkles.  I think they turned out pretty darn good!

 

All you've got is all you can give and that will always be enough.

XOXO

I love life and life loves me!

Ohhhh how I enjoyed my  quilting class!  Our teacher Annie was such a joy, so patient, kind and the time flew by!!  Izzie came with me to our first class so she could pick out the fabric for the quilt and I could get her input and she could help me out.  Some good Mommy and daughter time :).

I was so consumed in my craftiness induced bliss I forgot to take pictures during the beginning! Here are some of my first pictures of absolute joy...

 

Ohhh it's getting exciting!! 

Setting these aside... thinking about using the fabric for the border and bright pink for choice of ric rac! Izzie's favorite fabric she chose had some pink in it she kept talking about along with her second favorite was pink.  What a fun choice to make some of her favorites pop!

I finished the border at home.... (the blackish gray fabric with black dots)...

Annie being the oh so nice and amazing teacher that she is.... invited me to come into the shop while she was working.  We picked the backing fabric (on sale, score!), sewed the back fabric together to the width and length needed, grabbed the batting and Annie showed me how to attached all three layers together to prepare to baste (sew) all three layers together.

Whew all three layers safety pinned together ready to sew!

 

With Annie's advice I decided to sew the inside of the quilt with hot pink thread and then switch when doing the border to black.  She showed me how to do the beginners diamond pattern and off I went to begin my adventure some more at home.  I was determined to finish this up before I left for Boise (two days later) where we would be celebrating CJ's, Little A's and Izzie's birthday's as a family.

Got the diamond pattern sewn! Whew... now to sew the ric rac around the edge between the outside border and the blocks.

 

Son of  a ..... don't you hate it when that happens!  Luckily I had bought the exact same ric rac for a skirt for Izzie that I hadn't used yet.  Cut a few inches off and problem solved.   whew. 

Removed the extra batting and fabric now it's time to attach the binding.  I was super confused as to how to do the corners of the quilt.... YouTube to the rescue!  Oh my how I love technology... can't tell you how many times the internet has saved me.

woo!

Now to do the not so enjoyable part.  Hand sew around the entire edge of the binding to attach it to the quilt to be finished.

 

Look!! I finished!! 

Ta-da!

I was soooo excited.  I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling, giggling and showing Aaron for his praise!  I think I surprised myself that I finished it in the time I set out to finish it.  Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it and don't give up.

Check it out!

My dad holding it up at the family birthday party (that post is scheduled to post in two days!) Izzie was shocked and looked so happy!  Izzie: "I was really excited you finished it! I was really surprised you finished it because your machine broke.  My favorite part is the pattern on the front.  I like the fabric on the back too!  Mommy, I love the whole thing"

Awe. Melt a mama's heart. Seriously.

I love life and life loves me.

XOXO

Previous Comments:

Annie - Aimee! I am so proud and excited! It is beautiful and you're one talented lady. Thanks for the compliments about my teaching, however, you are the one who did a great job! Happy Belated birthday to Izzie! Big Hug, Annie

Ame - Yay! Thanks for the compliments Annie :) Loved your class... might have to take another one soon!

Jamie - Yay!! It's beautiful!

Ame - Thanks Jaime!! :) Can't wait to see your finished project.

You can never have too much happy.

Time to get my craft on... making presents for the BFF's birthday.  First up... purse...

Hands down my favorite one I've made thus far.  Had a really hard time not keeping it for myself! ;)

 

Mini purse to go inside to hold chap stick or what have you.

Friend has admired my paper flowers I made and requested some for her birthday.  Tried to keep to the colors of her house.  I likie how they turned out. 

 

Off to dinner with friends to celebrate!

Ohhhh I think she likie! :)

You can never have too much happy.

XOXO

See the good around you, even if you have to squint.

I was put in charge of the dessert for Nancy-pants birthday party.  I decided on lemon cake pops cause someone is a big fan of them. 

 

 

The batch didn't make as many as it normally does and I may have taken a handful to my quilting class for the other creative ladies to enjoy.....  so I decided to bust out a

chocolate chocolate cake!

When it came time to frost it I realized I didn't have anymore of my trusty disposable icing bags (I know I know, I should have the non disposable ones... but I hate cleaning them out!).

Drat.  Time to improvise. 

Zip lock bag to the rescue. 

 

Triple layer chocolate fudge cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. 

Um. Yum. 

 

 

Elliott may have helped me lick the spoon...

See the good all around you, even if you have to squint.

XOXO

Every flower that blooms has to go through a whole lot of dirt.

Saw this on a friends Facebook status and couldn't help myself. 

Had to partake. 

Aimee:  I will send something handmade (yup, and you know how crafty I am) to the first five people who respond to this post. You must in turn agree to post something like this in your status. The rules are the "something" must be handmade by you and delivered sometime in 2010. w00t! :) ♥

Alison

Lynette

Emi

Jessica

Amanda

These 5 quickly added their names to my status.  Months and months (ok, maybe not that long) go by and I finally decided to do something about it.

 

 

Messaged them all asking what color they liked... the color they were picking was the color of the zipper.  Sneaky.  Cept Amanda... she didn't get to participate because she was leaving on a jet plane.  So she got the only color that wasn't picked.  Orange.  Odd... that's my favorite color! ;)

 

Alison's

 

Emi's

 

Jessica's

 

Amanda's

Lynette's

Every flower that blooms has to go through a whole lot of dirt.

XOXO

Previous Comments:

Aaron - Nice work there little miss crafty pants! All of them turned out super cool and all the participants are darn lucky to receive such a cool, hand-crafted gift! I love you and hope you're having a great day! XOXO