Birthdays

 Today I turn 35 years old.

I HATE birthdays always have since the time I was very small I would cry at every birthday and I remember this vividly because my mother used to make fun of me every year for it.(Side note you should never make fun of children those memories last a life time.) 

I don't care that I am aging that doesn't bother me. Always young at heart and all that jazz.

Every year I wonder what have I done to make a difference in this world. What have I done to leave an impact and the world a little better. I try to tell myself that its the little things that cause a ripple effect. But in the back of my mind I am telling myself that isn't enough, I am not enough. 

I tend to treat life like a check list, like one of my to do lists. 

This year instead of a to do list I am creating a list of things I have done to impact others, things that I have done that caused little ripples in this world. 

Maybe one day I will create a bigger ripple, ones that make an impact at the world level. I doubt it but I can always dream right?

 I know, I know, its like saying I need validation through helping others to make me have self worth. But for me thats not it all. Every ounce of me has a need to help others. A need to right the wrongs and try to leave the world a little better when I leave than when I got here. 

 I don't need a pat on the back or a thank you or world recognition I just need to know in my own mind that I made a difference. 

 

 

Else Cake

All weekend we planned and prepped for a sweet little ladies 5th birthday, cake, food, gifts, people and location were all ready.

We made treat bags, a ton of food, and got the perfect gift!

And I made a stunning cake and a great outfit to make her day perfect. Well in the end it was all for not because her mother decided the morning of the party that we couldn't have the girls. My heart broke for that little girl for a couple reasons. One because I knew her mother wouldn't throw her a party at all. Two because she didn't get to see her dad on his day because her mother was being selfish. I will never understand why a mother will use her children as pawns.

Anyway everything is edible on the cake expect for Elsa she is a toy

The cake is chocolate and four layers like all of cakes. It has homemade buttercream between each layer and covered homemade buttercream on the outside.


The trees and snow flakes are make out of fondant using a small flower fondant cutter. Olaf is made out of fondant as well.

The Sparkle you can kind of see on the top of the cake and trees is shaved fancy sugar.

Although she didn't get to enjoy her cake everyone else loved it!

Construction Party "tools"

January is when I start planning Blaines birthday party and it falls in August. This years theme is construction, so like any good mom I consulted Pinterest for some great party ideas. I try and do as much as possible myself to save on cost and of course make it more memorable and fun.

Like any birthday party the plastic cutlery is tossed on the table to everyone grabs what they need well not this year!!! This year your “tools” are all neatly put together in a napkin.

I found a great deal at Party City on yellow cutlery it was buy 2 get one free so I got the cutlery, 70 cups and 70 plates there. Normally I get these things at the dollar store but it was a great price for 70 forks, 70 spoons, and 70 knifes.

The napkins and ribbon I got at Dollar Tree.

I printed on yellow card stock that I got at Micheals with my black and white laser printer that I got at Digital Friends Inc.

What you need:
Card stock
Printer
Ribbon
Napkins
Cutlery

Scissors
Hole punch

I used this template for the tool labels. I of course can't find the original link for the page so I will just include a jpeg of what I used.

Print the labels and cut them all apart. Punch holes in the one corner of each label. I printed them on card stock so if it was damp out they wouldn't curl.

I used a hole punch for this because it was easiest and I have one on hand but you can use anything you have on hand to make a hole, such as, a pen.
Make a hole center top of the tool labels.

Cut all the ribbon the length you need. I did about 12” each.

Fold one corner of your napkin over 

 Place your cutlery center on the the folded corner. 

Fold the bottom corner of the napkin over the bottom of your cutlery. 

Roll them up

Wrap the ribbon around the napkin, tie, wrap it again and tie. String the tools label onto the ribbon. Tie once more to secure it. Curl your ribbon ends!

TADA!! your done its that simple, now repeat 70 times or for however many cutlery that you need done and enjoy!

Birthday Banner

When decorating for a birthday party or any party really you need a good banner. Not only does it cover wall space it also reminds people what they are there for.

I make my own banners for the birthdays. This year Blaine's party is construction themed so of course it needs to be a construction banner and what better time to test out my silhouettes card stock cutting abilities.

Of course I went online and looked at other peoples experiences with cutting card stock. There were some horror stories about everything going wrong. One I read was the card stock would stick to your bored and tear from trying to peel it up, how I prevented this was by using the older cutting mat, you know the one you have lying around covered in dog hair and dirt from not remembering to put the cover back on it no matter how many time you promised to put it back on when I open a new one it just never happens, or if you are really lucky it falls on the floor face down, sigh. I used that cutting mat.

The other issue people said they had was with card stock tearing as it cut. I used the deep cut blade at 5 speed 10 force and 5 for the blade setting. With these I had no issues cutting my standard card stock that I bought from Micheal's.

What you need:
Card stock in the colours you are wanting (I used orange, yellow and black)

Printer

Silhouettes (or other cutting machine)

Glue stick

Ribbon

Hole punch

***If you do not have a cutting machine you can always print the letters and trucks directly onto the card stock and hand cut it out, it is what I did before I had a cutting machine, you can do it for the letters, trucks and triangles.****

You can either buy or create your own designs for use with in silhouettes software. I have a designer version so I can use .DFX files as well as embroidery files which is a bonus. I create .DFX files using a free software called Inkscape. I use Embird for my embroidery software.

I printed with my laser printer that I got from Digital Friends Inc 1 triangle the size I wanted each part of my banner to be and then just traced and cut how many triangles I needed which was 28.

I purchased and used the construction trucks from the Silhouette store. I cut one for in between each word, giving me 8 trucks in total.

I measured the inside of the triangles I had cut and made each letter I need for banner in Silhouette studio.

Once everything was cut, I used a hole punch and put a hole in the “top” of each triangle for the ribbon to slide through

Punch one hole in the trucks where ever you would like them hand from, or you can do what I did and just tie into the hole already in the truck.

Glue each letter to a triangle.

Lay out your banner how you want it to look.

Leave enough “tail” to hang your banner. Cut the ribbon when you have more than enough to string everything you want on it and a “tail” at the end for hanging.

I slid a truck on and tied it at the top of the truck this prevents it from moving and you have to rearrange it when you hang it. Then I repeated with each letter and tying at the top of each triangle.

My banner is 2 rows, repeat each row as you did for the first one. 

And there you have it, a birthday banner. How did yours turn out?

Cars 3rd birthday

It started out me finding Cars party supplies in London at Fresh Co LAST SEPTEMBER!!!!. I decided right then even if Blaine doesn't like the Cars movies his party will be Cars. You can't say no to supplies for 0.49 each!!! As time went on I kept my eyes open for more Cars themed supplies and well the new Cars hadn't been released yet so there wasn't much. Turns out Toys R Us was ending their sales of party supplies, yeah me! I got pretty much everything for his party under $15.00 of course not including food or pinata.

This years party wasn't like the years before, people who normally show up and should have shown up, but he had an awesome time and loved every minute of it.

I had to make the cupcakes for the Sarnia Humane Society's Snow White Party so Blaine got the short end of the stick and his cupcakes had cars toys on them instead of fondant figures, he loved them anyway.

Just like every year after his party we went to East Side Marios and had the pants scared off him by the wait staff singing Happy Birthday to him.