Strawberries & Snails Gardening Party - LoLo 3!

I've been so eagerly preparing for this party that I have not posted anything in ages. I started planning the festivities soon after I returned from my Paris trip - about a month before the actual date.

Ugy dontottem hogy matol magyarul is irok a blog. :) Udv minden uj olvasonak! (Elnezest az ekezetek hianya miatt, de igy sokkal egyszerubb). Nem igerem hogy szo szoros lesz a forditas, de igy ha barki meg szeretne valositani az alkotasaim egyiket itt meg tudja majd nezni.  

It's never easy to pick a theme for a birthday party, let alone for boy/girl twins, whose interests are a world apart. So, instead of asking what they wanted and getting 15 ideas all at once followed by a fight, hair tearing and various other ways of forceful persuasion, I picked the theme myself. Strawberries are such a wonderful fruit and they are plentiful in May, so I figured I would go with that. "We could eat them, plant them, draw them" I thought, but was reminded later on that strawberries are too feminine (apparently), so I needed to add masculinity to the mix for London's sake. My inspiration turned out to be sitting in a basket at Ikea (I hate to do the advertising for the store, as I am sitting here fuming over their terrible customer service, but Ikea it was.) I found a cute snail finger puppet, which became a part of the theme and everyones' give away gift.    

Nem egyszeru szulinapi partyt csinalni ikreknek, de ugy hogy lany/fiu ikrek meg nehezebb, mivel annyira eltero a ket kis egyen erdeklodesi kore, hogy kozos nevezore sosem jutnank. Igy ahelyett hogy 15 otletbol vivtuk volna ki okollel, hajtepessel es harapasokkal azt hogy autos vagy babas partynk legyen nem kerdeztem es en valasztottam - az eper temaju bulit. "Majd epret ultetunk, eszunk, vagunk, festunk" - gondoltam en egeszen addig amig nem informalt ferjemuram, hogy az eper tulsagosan noi szymbolum ... Ferfias inspiraciomra egy Ikea kosarban talaltam egy lila/zold ujjbab csiga szemelyeben, amely a kesobbiekben a vendeg gyerekek ajandeka egy reszeve valt ...     

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing ... 

LoLo's STRAWBERRIES AND SNAILS gardening party ....

Tehat holgyeim es uraim ime az Eper/Csiga szulinapi party kepekben ... 

Party table in preparation with daddy Geoffrey in sight

Keszul a party asztal Geoff apaval a kepen ...  

I have to point out things I like and I don't like also .. See the burlap? We could only get the gardening kind, which has large gaps in the weaving and so the skirt of the table is see through 

(I don't like it! .. Should have put a pink tablecloth underneath the burlap ... Or if you would like the burlap look make sure that you buy the coffee bag kind and not this one. ) 

Ime az asztal, de be kell vallanom hogy nem tokeletes :( ugyanis a szoves a zsakon nagy lyukakat hagy, igy atlatszo lett :(( Ha zsakkal szeretnel asztalt teriteni ne a kerteszboltban vasarold a zsakot hanem mint en tettem. A kavezsak (peldaul) sokkal alkalmasabb ... bar en ezt eddig nem tudtam ... 

Table still in preparation ... We were waiting for the cupcakes to get to the place ... 

Meg mindig nem keszult el az asztal .. varjuk a sutiket ... (cupcakes)

Arrived! Strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese and strawberry frosting and a gummy strawberry on top. I like cupcakes in flower pots, but hated the idea of anything baked into the pots (or tins). God knows what chemicals are these things treated with, 

so all I did was insert the cupcakes to place ...

Megerkeztek! Epres "cupcake" eper-turo kremmel a tetejen es eper gumicukorral diszitve. Jol mutatnak a sutik a pici cserepben es sokan ebben sutnek is, de en inkabb papirban sutottem - sosem lehet tudni milyen vegyszerrel vannak a cserepek bevonva ...  A cserepek peremere szalagot ragasztottam hogy mutatosabb legyen.

LoLo's delicious strawberry/chocolate cake. A gift to LoLo baked by Edit, third year in a row. 

THANK YOU!

LoLo keresre sutott eper/csokis torta. Edit immar harmadik eve sutotte meg LoLo szulinapi tortajat ajandekba. KOSZONJUK!!!!

The MENU: Strawberries and whipped cream, savory muffins (feta, sundried tomato, basil muffins), mini crustless vegetable quiche, PBJ and cream cheese/strawberry slices sandwiches, strawberry cupcakes, baby carrots, celery sticks, baby tomatoes, baby bell cheese and cake. I really wanted to serve vodka/strawberry lemonade but there was no way of transporting the large glass dispenser to the park and we would have been probably also arrested for serving alcohol, 

so we didn't (but I really wish we did :))) 

A MENU: Eper es tejszinhab, sos "muffin" (szaritott paradicsom, bazsalikom, feta), mini zoldseges/tojas "quiche", PBJ - mogyorokremvaj es lekvar valamint kremsajt es eperszeletek szendvics amiket virag kinyomoval vagtam ki, babarepa, celler, baby paradicsom, baby bell sajt es torta. Igazabol en meg vodkas-epres limonadet is szerettem volna felszolgalni, de nagyon nehez lett volna a parka becipelni a tobb literes uveget teli itallal, na meg az USA-ban tilos nyilt helyen az alkoholizalas, igy netan meg buntetest is kaphattunk volna igy sajnos a felnottek is dzsusz dobozokkal iltottak szomjukat :) 

    

I cut out the sandwiches with a flower cutter. 

There were two baskets: peanut butter jelly and cream cheese/strawberry slices sandwiches. 

A ket fonott kosarban mogyorokremvaj es lekvar es kremsajt es eper szeletes szendvics talalhato.   

My talented friend, Bird from Bird's Party created all these wonderful printables (including this banner) - also third year in a row .. We basically don't do parties unless Didi (Edit) and Bird are involved :))

Baratnom, Bird keszitette a grafikat a nyomtatott papirdiszekhez (szinten immar harmadik eve) 

Nalunk nincs buli Edit es Bird segitsege nelkul :) 

Before all the baking was done I did some sewing ... 

Strawberry pillow for Lola and the snail (Crafting Tilda's friends) for London. 

The picture is a cork board covered in strawberry fabric with tissue flowers creating the #3

A sutes elott nekilattam varrni ... 

Az eper kisparna a Lolae, a csiga a Londye lett ... Az eper, a kisparnan kivul focilabdakent is mukodik mint ezt kitapasztaltuk ...  Egy tablara raragasztottam az eper anyagot es zold szalvetaviragokbol ragasztottam ra egy harmast. 

The netting was bought at Ikea and I added the bunting and ribbons. Now, this was quite a project as I hand-sewn all bunting to the frame for the fear of getting caught in the net like a mermaid ... 

A halo szinten az Ikea-bol van. Varrtam ra kis zaszlokat es szalagokat. Hat ez egy eleg nagy munka volt, mert nem mertem varrogepet hasznalni hogy bele ne varrjam magamat a haloba mint egy hableany.  

Tissue paper pom-poms are a must for an easy and impressive decoration. 

Szalvetabol keszult pom-pomokat egyszeruen lehet elkesziteni es nagyon mutatos disz.  

Everybody loves balloons!

A lufikat kicsit-nagyok szeretik! 

The take-away gifts. Water bottles stuffed with gummy strawberries and a finger puppet snail. 

A partyzok ilyen ajandekokat kaptam bucsuzoul a cserepes/nevvel ellatott/ kidiszitett eperpalanta, luficsiga es nyalokaviragon kivul ... Szines flakonok gumieperrel toltve es csiga ujjbabbal diszitve.   

Perhaps the most popular activity was picking flowers from LoLo's garden ... I was amazed how all these 3 year olds caught on to the fact that the center of the flowers was a lollipop immediately .. :)

Talan a legsikeresebb a gyerekek koreben ez a LoLo viragkert volt. Meglepo, hogy a gyerekek milyen hamar eszrevettek, hogy a virag belso resze nyalokabol van :)  

LoLo's flower garden

LoLo viragos kertje 

Flower picking was followed by decorating flower pots with foam stickers. 

All in preparation for the strawberry plants ...

A viragszedes utan cserepet diszitettunk szivacs matricakkal, hogy aztan legyen mibe ultetni az eperpalantakat 

We also had bubbles, did face painting, played with a ball, learnt a song called "A Little Seed" to which we were introduced by a local children's band Rolie Polie Guacamole and momma made her debut as a balloon artist making everyone a balloon snail of the color of their choice. 

A sok finomsagon kivul volt meg buborekfujas, arcfestes, jatszottunk labdaval (koszi aki hozta :) es megtanultunk a Rolie Polie Guacamole egyuttes dalat. Mama debutalt mint gyakorlott lufimuvesz es mindenkinek luficsigat is keszitett.  

Face Painting ... Arcfestes ... 

According to LoLo, there is no party without a party hat!!! (If this one reminds you of a paper cup it may not be by coincidence)  

LoLo velemenye szerint a party nem party party kalap nelkul, igy keszult az is fiuknak es lanyoknak kulon. Itt Miki viseli a fejfedot (ha poharra emlekeztet a kalap az nem veletlen ;)  

And for the girls with tissue pom-poms on top ... 

Es lanyoknak pom-ponokkal diszitve ... 

THE END ... LoLo party next year!

Jovore itt ismet .. LoLo Party!

Inspired by Paris

I just came back from Paris and I am so inspired by all things crafty I've seen that I've collected projects for the next 4 years, I think.

Here are some of my favorite pillows ... 

Cool ideas ...

Birdcages are so in. Everyone has them and this one is unique with a plate bottom. A few dry cleaning hangers and an old plate and a very strong glue is all you need (I think). 

Tie messenger bag 

Doll house (wall hanging made from cardboard)

How cute is this? I almost bought it, but figured 20 Euros was a bit too much for something I could easily whip up. There was also a garage, a laundry and a bedroom wall.  

Cute coasters 

A bit of vinyl, felt for the bottom and embroidery. Easy peasy!

Ribbon store in Marais 

I bought a few iron ons and a button to be made into a ring.

Graphics I love

My drawing talent stops at a snowman and a house (maybe a flower) so I always search for cute images that I could possibly copy onto a t-shirt or another project .. Check these out ... 

Could be made into pillows?

Art 

Sweat Shop Paris (thumbs down)

Ohhh this was my only Paris disappointment! I bought their book a while ago and got myself so excited about visiting this place. It just seemed like the coolest hang out for like minded crafters. 

The book has beautiful images of pastry and cakes and drinks and I imagined an adorable Parisian cafe with a workroom at the back. Well, not only that there was no pastry and coffee, when I walked in the people pretty much looked at me like "what does this person want?".  I felt so cheated! I made my friends do all this hike for a view of a work table and 4 miserable people cutting their fabric. 

Lesson learnt! Don't believe the pictures!

    

The End 

Duckie/Chicken (?) Easter Wreath

Last year I made a Spring wreath that I liked, but nobody else noticed in this household ... Does that ever happen to you??? So, this year I enlisted the help of LoLo in marketing my creation ("Look! Duck, momma made!!!")  and created an eye catching yellow, bright as a banana, feathery as a parrot wreath that nobody can overlook :)))

Do you agree? 

Hop on over to my lolovely friend Bird's blog for the tutorial and while there, 

check out her beautiful printables for your next party! HOP  

You can probably follow the directions and easily make a bunny rabbit also ... 

Happy Easter/Passover Everyone! 

Lo(lo)Ve, LV

One meal muffin

It's 10 pm. The toys have been cleaned up, I've finished my second round of vacuuming up the kitchen, the washing machine and the dryer are endlessly spinning around and around and LoLo is peacefully sleeping in bed. The last compulsory task of the day that remains is making lunch for school for the next day. A boiled egg and a sandwich is always a hit with LoLo and so I get the turkey and cream cheese out of the fridge and realize that I forgot to buy bread at the store.
What now? I'll make savory muffins for them and stuff as many veggies as possible .. came the idea to me. I pulled up a few blogs, mixed and matched the ingredients on screen and on the fridge (I never seem to have everything that any recipe calls for) and the results were so delicious I just have to share it here ...

Recipe
1 cup of all purpose white flour
1 cup of whole wheat (I use organic whenever I can)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup low-fat milk
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large egg
1 cup of Trader Joe's broccoli slaw
6-7 sundried tomato slices chopped
6-7 finely chopped leaves of fresh basil (don't substitute for dried basil)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F
2. Mix all ingredients together in the order from top to bottom
3. Fill cupcake pan with liners or grease and fill evenly with dough
4. Bake about 18 minutes on the top rack until the top of the muffins feel firm and a skewer inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
5. Enjoy and freeze if you'd like

P.S. I Lo(LO)Ve baking muffins - it's my ultimate one dirty mixing bowl recipe with hardly any clean up afterwards. If that's not an incentive to making muffins I don't know what is :) 

Toddler Apron

Saskia (my husband's college friend) is expecting a baby this May and when I got an invitation I decided to make it personal :) (the gift for the little munchkin). I knew a diaper cake wasn't the best idea, when her adorable sister emailed me back saying she will happily serve the cake at the event.
I came up with the idea of a toddler apron, because Saskia just started a new blog called "Bella Baking" and thought that baking will probably be something she will surely teach to her daughter and enjoy.

I fished out some pink and red/white checkered fabric, a pom pom ribbon (I love anything pom pom) and started drafting a pattern. I adore aprons of all kinds, but I have to tell you, I can not stand flimsy aprons! Not that I want mine to be bendable and sit in front of the TV watching cupcake wars, but those that collapse in the wash and you have to spend hours ironing them - those are my enemies!!! So, I dug out interfacing from some box from underneath our bed (Yes, we sleep on a top of craft treasures! Fabrics, buttons, hole punchers, ribbons, papers .. you name it!)

This is what I did:
1. I cut out the pattern 3 times from 2 different fabrics and the interfacing adding a quarter inch for the seams. Download the pattern below. As you see, the pattern has only two pages - the half of the apron. You may want to print out 4 pages and tape it accordingly so that you get the full shape of the apron OR you can fold your fabric half and cut it out that way. If you want to make it more boyish, just make the bottom straight!

 Lo Lo Vie Toddler Apron


2. You'll need to cut out 4 straps 4" by 22". Two straps are for the neck and two for the waist.
(Let's do the pocket later)

3. STRAPS
- Make a quarter inch seam at the end of all the straps

- Iron al the strips of fabric

- Fold in the middle (lenghtwise) and iron again

- Open the folds and fold both side to the middle and iron again

4. POCKET
- Cut out a piece of fabric 10" x 4"

- Cut out interfacing with the same measurements

- NOW comes the personalization of the apron:

I took a screen shot of Saskia's blog, cut out the header and her motto and printed it on a fabric sheet (available at craft stores).

I then ironed the logo to the top of the pocket. However, when you print on fabric the colors are not as vibrant as on the site or as you would want them to be, so I decided to embroider the name of the blog "Bella Baking". I zig-zagged around the label and NOW, it looked just the way I imagined it would!

- I ironed on interfacing to the embroidered back of the pocket
- Make quarter inch hems on all sides, sew in place. If you follow these instructions, your pocket won't be exactly at the place where it shows on the pattern, as hemming takes up a bit of space.

5. THE APRON

- Put the apron parts together facing with right sides (where the pattern/pocket is) and sew around.

IMPORTANT! Don't forget to leave space for all your four straps!

- Turn the fabric back out and iron around the edges.

- Take your straps and sew in place

- Sew over once again around the entire apron as close to the edge as possible

- The ice cream cone on the side is a cut-out from a fabric and is appliqued to the pocket.

Take your pom-poms ribbon and hand sew around the edges.
IMPORTANT!  DO NOT IRON on the pom-poms because they will singe. (Don't ask me how I know this!)

 Now off you go sewing and checking Bella Baking for a recipe you can't resist!

Other toddler apron patterns you may like:

Well, the one I made from a shopping bag for painting HERE of course :)

Reversible Apron by www.stardustshoes.blogspot.com

Boy Apron by www.sew-much-ado.com

Child's Apron, Chef's Hat and Oven Mittens by Melissa Stramel on www.chickensense.com

Happy Cooking/Baking Everyone!

LO(Lo)V(i)E, LV