Winter Days

I'm back!  I know it's been a long time between posts, so I thought it was well and truly time for {a quick} hello tonight!  The lack of posts is really a good indication of how busy it has been here over the past few months.  As well as all the usual stuff, plenty of other exciting things have been happening, including the launch of my kids' party hire business (just a little something fun for me to work on when my boys are sleeping, but will not take up any of my precious time with the boys during the day!).  It's nice to have another creative outlet!

I'm looking forward to sharing some updated photos of the boys' playroom and bedrooms soon too (the above pic is a little sneak peak of the playroom).  As the kids grow and their interests change, it makes sense to update their rooms accordingly.  The need for new and improved storage solutions arises with the influx of new toys at Christmas and birthdays.  Oh, and I keep finding lovely new decorations (whoops!).  Besides, it's fun to change things around a little and keep it interesting for the boys!

Speaking of my gorgeous boys - they are growing up so fast.  Kallan will be ONE next month! I cannot believe how fast that year has flown by!  Sooo, that means another party is coming up too.  I've been trying to squeeze in some party preparations here and there, although it has been a rather slow process.  I'm really excited about the theme (and since it is a 'first' birthday, I get to choose it - yay!).  Something quite different to our previous parties ... and very colourful!  Any random guesses before it's all revealed?

Well, time for bed now.  Winter's here and the nights are getting so cold - I'm sure I don't remember them being this cold last year ... then again, I did have a nice big bubby bump to help keep me warm back them, hehe!  Thankfully the days are still been lovely and sunny, so we have been trying to soak up some sunshine at every opportunity! 

Hopefully my next post won't be too far away xx

Little Blue Car Party

Last month, our sweet little Rowan turned three and we celebrated his special day with a 'Little Blue Car' party!  It was such a lovely day and the best parts were, without a doubt, seeing how incredibly happy he was and hearing him say in excitement, "It's my party today!" ... several times.  I think he had been looking forward to the occasion since Damon's Red and White party back in January!

In an earlier post, I promised to share some photos and details of the party, so finally, here they are ...

Rowan's favourite colour is blue (a fact he likes to share with everyone) and he loves cars, so the party theme was a fairly easy decision.  He has a very cute little blue wooden car which became the inspiration for all the decorations.

Finding blue decorations and accessories wasn't too difficult and was a rather enjoyable task!  I decided on the gorgeous blue party range from Paper Eskimo and purchased some blue baking cups, paper straws, cups, plates, table runner and party bags.  Once again I used the pack of flags I already had (also from Paper Eskimo), selecting only the blue ones this time and arranging them in a way I thought looked effective.  I made the letters for Rowan's name on the computer, printed them out on sticker paper and then stuck them onto the bunting.  Instead of balloons, I found some gorgeous blue paper lanterns - just love them!  It was fun hunting around for all the other blue bits and pieces, many of which came from the cheap shops - I love it when you find gorgeous things at bargain prices!

I wanted to make my own printables for the Little Blue Car theme, so I took a photo of the little wooden car on my phone and sent it to my clever sister, Nicole, from Hue Graphics.  Nic created a fantastic picture of the car and sent it back to me in JPG form, which I then used to create the party bag tags, cupcake toppers, party hat stickers, chocolate bar wrappers, signs and other bits and pieces.  I always think it's nice to have personalised touches incorporated into the party if possible.

As for the party food ... it wasn't quite as easy to find blue things as I had anticipated, however I enjoyed the challenge and ended up with plenty of goodies for the sweets table. We served popcorn, homemade cupcakes, blue jelly (which I made in little glass baby food jars) and fruit salad.  We also had a range of blue lollies, such as blue sour strips, Columbines and of course, Allen's little blue car lollies (which the lovely lady at the lolly shop kindly picked out, one by one, for me!).  I also made cake pops - my very first attempt, in fact!  I was pretty happy with the way they turned out, although some of them did tend to fall of the stick after biting into them, so I will be working to improve on that next time!  The big blue lollipops were a great buy from Kmart and the chocolate bars were Furry Friends covered with the wrappers I made.  The Milky Way cars were my variation of the Milky Way teddy cars you have probably seen around - I just used blue M&Ms for the wheels, substituted Starburst Babies for Tiny Teddy biscuits and added a little blue lolly for the steering wheel.  The kids really loved those!  On the savoury table, we also had blue fairy bread, party pies and a variety of mini quiches.

At this age I find the kids are pretty happy 'just playing' at parties and I didn't want to bombard them with a whole lot of games, but I did organise a few activities to keep them entertained.  I hid lots of cute little ladybird chocolates around the garden and swing-set, gave the kids a noodle box each and they had a treasure hunt.  It was so cute to see their little faces light up when they found them!  I also set up a few activity tables for the kids to go to at their own leisure - one for 'colouring-in' and another for 'making a foam car', which they seemed to enjoy.

Finally, Rowan's birthday cake ... naturally it had to have something to do with a little blue car and I decided to try my hand at a fondant-iced cake this time, instead of frosting (although I personally think frosting tastes a lot yummier!).  I made a little blue car out of icing to go on top of the cake and put some bunting made from icing around the sides.  I then added some ribbon and voila - a little blue car cake!

I loved seeing all the little kids (most of whom were dressed in blue for the occasion) playing and enjoying themselves.  It was also lovely to catch up with friends (the mums) and some of our family members.  Most of all, it was wonderful to see Rowan having so much fun!  He still talks about his party quite a lot and reminds us how he blew all his candles out by himself.

"I'm three now - I'm a big boy," is what he tells everyone with pride ... love it!

Happy Easter

Lots of excitement in our house at the moment, in anticipation of a visit from the Easter Bunny tonight!

The boys have had a ball in the lead up to Easter, enjoying all sorts of fun activities ... homemade chocolates, plastic cup rabbits, paper plate Easter Bunnies, Easter biscuits and more.  I'd love to hear about some of your Easter activities for the kiddies too ... ideas to file away for next year!

 

We have also just arrived home from a holiday at the beach.  A change of scenery, quality time with the family, plenty of gorgeous sunshine and shopping at IKEA and The Infant Boutique!  In a word ... WONDERFUL!

Today is a busy one for me as I prepare for tomorrow's festivities.  As well attempting to entertaining the kids, catching up on lots of washing etc., I'm whipping up a little Easter Sweets Table for our family get-together ... just something simple and (hopefully) tasty for afternoon tea at my parents' place.  And yay ... I actually get a chance to use some PINK since it's not just a boy's party, hehe! I really haven't had much time to prepare, but I have squeezed in the baking of some carrot cupcakes and iced them with yummy cream cheese frosting, as well as few other little treats.  I've also designed and printed some really simple cupcake toppers and labels for the table.  After already creating my own, I came across some amazing free Easter printables (yes, free!) from Catch My Party, Mooo and A Little Delightful, which would have been great to use.  So, I thought I'd share the links with you in case you are needing any last minute gorgeousness for your Easter celebrations tomorrow ...

http://catchmyparty.com/printables
http://mooo.com.au/easter-printables
http://alittledelightful.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/printable-easter-treat-bab-toppers.html

Wishing you all a lovely Easter with your loved ones xx

Little Furniture

It's no secret that I love beautiful kids' decor and design, although lately I've realised that I really do have a 'thing' for child-sized furniture!  I keep finding myself oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over the cutest little table and chair sets, mini couches, stools, ottomans and bean bags (even though we don't really need any more in our house at the moment).  There are so many amazing pieces around!  That's where Pinterest comes in handy ... a great way to keep pictures of my favourite items all together in the one place.  You can view my Kids' Furniture board here if you're interested.

Today I stumbled upon the most gorgeous little Tree Stump Ottoman in our lovely local kids' store and just HAD to share it with you.  I've been thinking about it ever since and I might just have to get one for the boys.  It would suit our Playroom beautifully ... I'm sure we could squeeze it in there somewhere!

Oh, and we also made our own child-sized table the other day!  An old round timber dining table was collecting dust in the shed, so my handy hubby cut down the legs to make it child-sized.  I then gave it a few coats of white paint and it is now an ideal table for the kids to use out on the verandah!  Must take a photo of it at some stage.

Do you love 'little' furniture too?  I'd love to hear about some of your favourite pieces ...

Firsts and Crafty Things

Hello from The Bluebird Nest!  The past month has been a busy one for my little bluebirds.  We've had quite a few 'firsts' ... the emergence of Kallan's first two little bottom teeth, his first taste of solid food, Rowan's first day of Pre-Kinder and Damon's first day of 'big' Kinder, just to name some of the milestones.  Exciting times for our family!

Life in the 'Nest' has been busy, but fulfilling.  In addition to Kinder drop-offs and pick-ups (and staying at Pre-Kinder with Rowan until he turns three!), housework (mountains of washing!) and numerous outings, I have been cherishing the quality time spent at home with my beautiful little ones.  I know I've said it many times before, but I just can't get over how quickly they are growing up!

Despite my days being rather busy, I still make sure I squeeze in some little creative projects here and there to keep me sane.  I'm not good at sitting still and always have a million ideas of 'things to make and do' buzzing around in my head - definitely never bored, that's for sure!  Here are some examples of the crafty things I enjoy doing in any spare moments I may find ...

Jazzed up the doll house by making some 'retro' floor coverings - found some retro print wrapping paper from Kmart, laminated it and then cut it to size and there you have it ... shiny new retro floors! (I must add that the little house does not usually look so tidy, hehe!)

Decorated some biscuit tins for Playroom storage - Used some 'wood grain' contact adhesive paper, (also from Kmart) to cover some large tins, then trimmed them with red heavy-duty tape around the top!  Fits in well with the decor and the kids love filling them up with all sorts of things and carting them around - as kids do!

Covered Rowan's Letter 'R' with some gorgeous retro patterned scrapbook paper I found in Spotlight.

Looks rather nice on his bookshelf!

Now for a sneak peek of what I'm working on tonight ...

Yes, another little shindig is just around the corner and I'm having a ball making all the little 'bits and pieces', organising the decorations, menu and activities.  More details later ... I shall keep you posted.

Red and White Party

We had a special celebration recently ... our beautiful Damon turned five (yes, I really can't believe he's that old already!).  A 'Red and White' party was held at our place and it was just lovely.

The 'Red and White' theme actually started out as 'Red, White and Black'.  It was Damon's idea ... he wanted 'red' because it is his favourite colour and he also likes black and white because they are Doggie's colours (his favourite toy - kids are so sweet!).  After a browse around the shops for party 'bits and pieces' and also a rummage through our party cupboard (yes, we do have a party cupboard!), we both decided to ditch the black and settle for red and white.  Sounded like a good idea to me!

Being a colour-based theme, there wasn't a lot of restriction on the birthday cake, so Damon requested a rocket!  On a mission to produce some sort of rocket cake, I googled rocket pictures and cakes on the internet and of course pinned some ideas to my 'Party Inspiration' board on Pinterest.  We soon decided on a simple cartoon picture of a rocket as the inspiration.  I then sketched the picture on paper, cut it out and traced it onto the large butter cake slab I had previously made and had frozen.  Once the cake was cut to shape, I then decorated it with Vienna Cream frosting in (mainly) red and white and added some pops of colour with licorice and lollies!  The Birthday Boy was super pleased with the end result, so mission accomplished as far as the cake was concerned!  The recipes for the butter cake (which I quadrupled) and the Vienna Cream frosting both came from the Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book - a family favourite full of birthday cake inspiration which I'm sure I've mentioned before!

As for the finer party details ... well, me being me, I loved every minute of the planning, creating, baking and shopping.  I must admit that it was rather tricky to get everything organised with three littlies underfoot, so there were several late nights spent working on it while they were asleep.  I did have a few more ideas up my sleeve, but ran out of time so will keep them in mind for future parties.  While I was organising the 'party stuff', my wonderful hubby got busy in the back yard - filling in all the holes that our lovely Border Collie had dug (and continues to dig!) and ensuring our outside areas were looking respectable. The hours of preparation are all so worth it though, when you see the excitement in your little one's eyes on their party day!

When the big day arrived, rain was forecast and the weather was looking a little dubious to begin with, but the showers cleared in time for the party and luckily the kids were able to play out in the back yard (though I'm sure the rain wouldn't have stopped them from doing so anyway!).  We were relieved it was actually much milder than the very hot weather we'd previously been experiencing!

Damon had a wonderful time with his little friends, which was of course the ultimate aim of the day.  Here are some happy snaps of him and his party.  I have included some details under the photos in the hope that you will find some of it useful and maybe even a little inspiring for any upcoming parties you may be planning ...

The Birthday Boy after a run around in the early morning rain!

Little brother enjoying the balloons!

The Sweets Buffet in Red and White

I already had the beautiful flags/bunting by Paper Eskimo (this is the third party I've used them for), but this time selected just the red and white ones from the pack.  I drew some letters on red paper, cut them out and stuck them onto the flags with white stars to spell out Damon's name

The party bags, striped cupcake cups, cups and paper straws are also all by Paper Eskimo (gorgeous brand!).  Love, love, love the paper straws and will definitely buy them again!  I made the tags for the party bags as I always like to have personalised ones, and glued red and white ribbon to the pegs.  I already had the table cloth, glass jars and red spotted cupcake cups, and the red metal bucket came from Rowan's shelves.  Couldn't find any red and white party hats, so made my own from cardboard, elastic and white sticky dots!

The glass lolly jars are filled with raspberries, red snakes and strawberry chews.  I made the labels on the computer.  I also made the '5' and 'D' cupcake toppers myself by designing them on the computer, printing them on cardboard, then gluing them to toothpicks.  Simple but effective.  The cupcakes were made using the same butter cake recipe as the birthday cake.

 

 Little cups of popcorn - so easy to prepare and were a hit with the kids!

 

The kids' party table

The party was held in our undercover entertaining area.  The table on the left was used for the party pies, mini quiches, cherry tomatoes, cubed cheese and strawberries dipped in white chocolate

Mum (that's me!) putting the candles on the rocket cake

Time for Dad to light the candles

The Rocket Cake, waiting to be cut up and eaten by 12 little kiddies, oh, and the adults too! 

Rowan enjoying his BIG lollipop!

 

Opening presents!

Our big five year-old 

 Little Kallan was in amongst the action and was dressed in red and white for the occasion

One very happy Birthday Boy, having a wonderful time on his party day!