Shade Garden and Birthday Splurge

This is Lady's Mantle that I planted in my garden a long time ago and I think it is absolutely beautiful. I love the chartreuse color of the blooms.

This is a miniature goat's bead. I love how the plant is so compact and the leaves are truely minature versions of the original plant.

Here is a wide shot of the garden. I had to do some rearranging this spring because some Hostas I had got way too huge and were taking over. I planted some foam flowers to fill in some of the spaces.

Here is my birthday splurge. It's bug bane and a very dark version of it. The label said that the color of the foliage stays true the entire summer. It doesn't fade. This little plant was $35 which would make me ordinarily pass it up but since it was for my birthday I figured "why not??" I planted it right between two goats beard plants so I think the contrast will be great when they are all full size.

Star Wars Party

Here are some pictures from Jack's Star Wars Party. I made the cake, cookies, Jedi robes and the light sabers. I made a safer version out of pipe insulation foam, blue hockey stick tape and duct tape. We had three training stations for the kids. The first was the saber skills segment where they had to hit a balloon through the hoop using their light sabers. The second was an obstacle course carrying Yoda in a back pack. The last was using "the force" to move an object. That was really funny. We used a magnet to move a metal object and the kids totally bought it. It was so funny to watch them concentrating so hard. The final test was to fight Darth Vadar who made a special appearance! Thanks Darth!

Luke, I am your father...

Jack's Darth Vadar cake I made. The party is tomorrow and I'll have more pictures to post afterwards.

Nora's Pink Party

Nora wanted a "pink, fancy party" for her birthday this year so I, like a crazy lady, obliged. I figure she's already seven and probably won't let me do this kind of stuff for long. I check out this blog by Amy Atlas often and let it inspire me. I used lots of crepe paper streamers and tissue paper flowers to decorate. The look on Nora's face when she saw it made it worth it! We had to decorate the game room too... And the food had to follow the theme as well...

Even down the the pink punch and the fancy glasses. It was funny watching the girls show each other how their mom holds a wine glass!

Pen and Ink

This is a pen and ink drawing that I did inspired by this post I saw on Design Sponge. I would have bought a print but there were limited ones left so I made my own...

Party Ideas

I made this little fabric clutch that I found at this website today. I'm trying out some ideas for party favors for Nora's b-day party. I like to give something useful or meaningful as a party favor instead of candy or junk. This actually went together pretty quick and I was able to use fabric scraps that I already have lying around. The only thing that I would have to purchase would be the zippers. This is definitely a contender.

Finally Up

I finally got around to hanging up some watercolors that I did for Benny's room a long time ago. I got the plain white frames from walmart with the mats for $13 each. Not bad...