Felt Food Fridays

Happy Halloween, everyone! I've saved this special little pumpkin specifically for this weekend. I hope it's a happy one for you, reader!

Black Apples

I know it's been a while since I've posted any felt food, but I've been working on other things as of late. Namely, Christmas presents!

A few weeks ago, when my BFF visited, we had some craft time during Oscar's naps and we started making Black Apple Dolls. Don't know what a Black Apple Doll is? Well, Black Apple is one of my favorite blog reads and sweet little ETSY shop. She is this super cool gal who does these great illustrations. She went on Martha at one point and shared with the world her Black Apple Dolls, so Christie and I figured it would be wrong to not make some.

So, here are my Black Apples. (Alert! These really are Christmas presents, so if you are my sister or one of my buddies with a little girl, don't look at these pictures unless you don't want to be surprised!)


I think the best part of this project was having my little helper elf stuff the dolls with beans and "clouds" (what Oz calls fiber fill). Oscar had so much fun being mommy's "good helper" that he was almost sad when we finished these! He called each doll by their name and gave each of them hugs and kisses. We talked about how they are Christmas presents that we are going to give to our friends. Here is the line up of dolls...

Maya, Harper, and baby Helen (coming in January!)

Katherine, Emma, and Christina

Side note - I intentionally made each doll to somewhat look like her future owner with the exception of the Emma doll. I dressed "Emma" more for her mommy's liking. No, my niece does not wear an eye patch.

Here is a video of Oscar stuffing dolls...

Thoughts on Halloween

Aww geez! I'm really wishing I had a Halloween party to go to this year. I just found the most amazing costume idea here. I SO want to be "Expecting Barbie." Is this not the greatest?!? Who wants to paint their belly like a pumpkin or a basketball, anyway? Does anyone want to celebrate with me?

My Birthday Boy

Yes, this is a month late. But better late than never, right?!?

Happy Birthday Oscar! My baby boy is officially two. Never mind that he's been acting two for about six months... (Attitude and all.) Anyway, it's here! Oz is now a toddler.


We decided that this year we'd do a "big boy" birthday party, since this is the year that Oz will be getting his big boy bed, big boy room, and will also become a BIG BROTHER! So, I searched for giant sized items to make the party B.I.G. We didn't have a big budget nor did we want a big turnout, since we both kinda grew up with the rule of having as many guests as the age you're turning (parents and family don't count), but I think it turned out pretty awesome. We had some giant props for funny photo booth pictures, some biggie-sized treats, "giant bowling," and a BIG cupcake for Oscar to make a wish upon.

We had my parents come, my BFF Christie was there, and Oscar's girlfriends Katherine and Christina came along with their super fun parents Deb and Wing. We even had our neighbor Sean come with his two little ones, Liam and Kate. It was great fun and the kids all had a blast. When everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Oscar, he got the biggest grin I'd ever seen across his whole face. And he couldn't wait to blow out his candles. (We videoed the moment and he has literally seen it over and over and over again, even trying to relive the moment by huffing and puffing and blowing those video candles out! Silly boy.) Anyway, even if we hadn't had gifts for this kiddo, he still would have been over the moon.

Below are pics of "giant" bowling, which was basically huge bowling pins we made from cardboard and a big blue ball with pretend electrical tape holes. The pins were about two and a half feet tall, almost as tall as Oscar! I also bought a huge red ball cap, a clown bow tie and giant plastic lollipop, a giant toothbrush (which ended up being Oscar's fave), a big Texas mustache, and some giant pink glasses for photo booth props. I served up a GIANT sandwich (which was basically a french bread sub that we sliced and put on a huge tray to make it look extra long), giant black and white cookies, yellow cotton candy (yellow is Oscar's favorite color), and I made a huge cupcake from a cake mold I got at Michaels. That cake took two pound cake mixes! It was dense and tasted great, but caused me to use some colorful language when I tried to frost it. Frosting cakes is not my spiritual gift, let's just say.

Just look at my big boy!

Well, here is a little video that I created with Animoto for your viewing pleasure, reader. Also, if you're reading this on facebook, click here so you can actually see it (fb doesn't jive well with Animoto). And if you want more party pictures, you can always get them here.

Star Wars Trilogy in Paper

As found here...

Six and a Half Months

Yup. Today I am officially six and a half months along with my pregnancy. Crazy. I feel like it has kinda flown by me, as compared with when I was pregnant with Oscar. I guess cause Mr. Oz keeps me on my toes! Anyway, since we know it is a boy that's coming in January, I've been thinking nesting and nursery and whatnot. It's gonna be a robot room! I'm going with grays and yellows. (I know that yellow is not a super roboty color, but this way I can sort of tame the gray and not make it seem gloomy. It IS a nursery, after all!) Here is what I've been eying:

This seriously cool print from etsy...

Making some great finger puppet bots like these... (Sorry, I can't find the source. I remember it was a cool party featured on my RSS feed. Sorry about that.)

It's a real shame that she isn't creating anymore cause I loved her work! Isn't this paper cut robot adorable? I wish she'd make me one.

We also want to have a good collection of funky retro robots, like this one... So cute.

And this one...

And these book ends are killing me!

My Little Chef

Oh how I LOVE a man in an apron. Oz, you'll always be my top chef, even if your dishes are wooden and felt and completely inedible.

Zombie Barbie

Ohh... I can't wait for Halloween! I only really wish Tim would let me throw a party. Maybe if I hold my breath till he says yes? Just saw this awesome idea for old barbie dolls and I am itching to start decorating! I'm still brainstorming ideas for Oscar's Halloween costume. Any suggestions?

Baby Food Jars

Let's set the record straight... I am not a hoarder. It's just that whenever you need baby food jars, you just can't find them. It's true. So yes, I've kept most of mine and I have a REALLY hard time getting rid of them. They are just so darn useful! I've done oodles of things with mine. And I keep finding fab little projects to do with them. I just recently found a secret addition to one of my favorite blogs Prudent Baby. Turns out, they have a whole section dedicated to baby food jars! Score. Better watch out, Christmas.

I also saw this great idea at Merriment Design of spray painting the jar lids with chalkboard paint and using chalkboard washable pens to write on them for whenever I go to make a stash of food for our newest addition. Great idea! You can write what you made and when you made it. No more freezer-burn or surprise concoctions!

I've been working on downsizing my jar collection lately, especially since we are currently making room for baby number two in our family. I have been posting boxes of jars on Craig's List and sending them out to folks. I just gave one chick 120 jars for a (freaking HUGE) baby shower she hosted. She was so thankful that she sent me a thank you card with a pic of what she made! So thoughtful.

It got me thinking about using some jars for party favors for our gender reveal party. I just recently saw a Martha Stewart thing about using cupcake liners instead of fabric to decorate the tops of small gift jars when you're in a pinch, and I thought that was so brilliant! So, I raided my collection of jars and hunted down the perfect pink and blue cupcake liners to use. Hubs and I went all over town gathering pink and blue salt water taffy to fill the jars. Then we made a cute little "thanks for coming" circle tag for the top and put them all together, tied up with white ribbon, for sweet perfection!

Who's My Pretty Baby?

Okay, it's a couple weeks late, but I've finally finished putting a video together. Of course, I'm biased, but I think it was worth the wait. Anyway, here is the scoop on our Gender Reveal Party.

As killer as it was to wait to find out the results from our ultrasound test, both Tim and I really wanted to do something different and special this time around. Maybe it's because neither one of us are first born children or something... We both know that with the first child, there are more pictures and more firsts. And generally, when you tell people that you are having another, the excitement pales in comparison with when you told them about the first one. (It's true. Even grandparents are guilty of this.) I get it, though. I mean, it's not life changing for them like it is for us. A lot of people don't realize that when you go from being a three person family to being a FOUR person family, there are enormous changes. That's a discussion for another day, though. Back to our celebration. We really wanted to have our friends and family over for a party all about this new little life - something that wasn't a "baby shower" or anything. Hence the Grand Gender Reveal!

Here is a glimpse at the decor... (click on the pic to enlarge it)

We decorated our place in all blues and pinks (with a touch of yellow), had blue and pink sweet treats, and even asked people to come dressed in either color, depending on whether they thought I was having a boy or a girl. Tim and I both ended up in blue, as well as Oscar (he doesn't have any pink shirts...) and we got pictures of everyone's votes.

Voila Team Pink! (I was wearing pink earrings and pink shoes, just in case...)

Voila Team Blue!

As you can see, we had a CROWD! Anyone who didn't already know each other got acquainted real quick in our small apartment... And if space didn't factor in, the games certainly did. We had some rounds of "famous baby pictionary" going on and then a head-to-head combat baby food guessing game (with some intense flavors) that followed. I also had people fill out a baby ballot where people had to guess boy or girl, what the baby's temperament would be, who baby would look like, and what baby would grow up to be. We got some funny answers, for sure, everything from an architect to a circus ringleader. We also had guests help us compile a little book of "wishes" for our baby, something that baby will be able to read as an adult. The list of wishes were fill in the blanks. (I got this great list here...) Some of my favorites are: "I hope you'll become tranquil within," "I hope you aren't afraid to make mistakes," and one from my brother Andy, "I hope you'll never forget how much I'll always love you." So sweet.

For the great reveal, we had a baker take the (sealed-up envelope) results of the ultrasound and bake cupcakes with the revealing color frosted into the center. That way, we'd all bite into the cakes at the same time and everyone would find out together! It was a sweet way to find out. And definitely worth the wait.

Anyway, it was memorable. Enjoy the video! And for the cupcake reveal itself, here is a link to that video.



For more pictures of the event, go here! (And if you are viewing this on facebook, see the video here.)