preschool ice sculptures

it’s that time again, preschool ice sculptures!!  the 4 year olds brought in their ice pieces last week, and babycake’s class (“the 3s”) brought theirs in today!

our contribution:

these were from “the 4s” – the girls and i love the rainbow-y one…

butterfly:

so pretty and so much fun!!  too bad we are getting 6″ of snow tomorrow to cover it all up, but i’tll be fun to watch what happens as it melts down.  there was one that had “guys” and dice and other things in it, it’ll be like an archaeological dig!

chalkboard paint!

look what i found at ocean state junk lot!

it says it works on wood, papier mache, terra cotta, canvas and most porous surfaces…. 

 i tried a little wooden picture frame i had.

this is after just 2 coats:

and this is with a little piece of green chalk smeared on all the sides:

frames like this might be a cute little gift with a piece of chalk for the receiver to decorate how they wish…

and it might be fun to change up the color of the chalk from time to time.  so many possibilities!

more cake!

so i did get to eventually go to bed last night…. where i hacked my lungs out til the wee hours.  being sick is FUN! =O

this a.m. i cut off the bumpy pieces on both cakes so they’d make good contact with each other when assembled.

beanie seemed pleased, even if she isn’t gonna eat chocolate cake… (she has funfetti pupcakes)

then we were off to grammie and poppie’s for the party!!  and for the frosting!! (here i’m about to work my magic)

in progress, it kinda reminded me of some sort of strange toupee… (or lack there-of…)

dessert is ready!

am am indebted (is that how you spell it?  that’s how i pronounce it.) to keith again at mindlesspursuits because i asked, and he told me exactly what to do.  i’m so good at following directions.  and look how good his directions were!!!  i think it was gorgeous.  and pretty tasty, too!  he’s got a great blog,  you should check him out!!

in short, my review of the pan? yes.  the wilton’s decorator icing? yes. making a girl happy for her 5th birthday? priceless.

everything is better when it’s GIANT!!

so you wanna make a big top cupcake….

assemble your ingredients… (why yes that IS 4.5 lbs of frosting!)

start a-bakin’…  (and yes it IS 10:56 pm!!) (wait.  did somebody say BACON??)  “how do you know how much is half?” i ask my hunny.  “i guess you eyeball it” he answers.  after i pour the batter, he says he doesn’t trust my eyeball.  i tell him my eyeball is just fine.

something’s happening…

and here i am an hour later with my little chocolate cake parts turned out of the pans and cooling…  i’m sure there will be many more developments tomorrow!!

more little frames

michael’s.  the little frames are from michael’s.  they have different colors now, but no white.

i got some silver

and some bright pink

i enjoy making valentine’s day crafts, though valentine’s really isn’t my holiday….  i love red and sparkles, and who doesn’t love a good doily or 2, so valentines crafts i make!

finished product

man, i wish i had bought 20 more of these frames, they are so cute!

first i yanked off the backing on each frame and used it as my template.  i traced the back onto the paper and a piece of chipboard (thin cardboard) and cut.  i attached the paper to the chipboard, then used a super strong glue to attach the paper to the back of the frame, then the backing to the chipboard.  this reinforced the paper for the glass stones (what are they called, really?)  once that was bonded, i added the glass stones with the same crazy strong glue.

 

they sat overnight so the glue could fully bond and WA-LA! here they are!  i’m going back and forth… for the etsy shop or for me??  i can’t decide.

 

changing holidays…

…i work on things when they inspire me, and i’ve been getting ahead on my christmas crafts for next year…. yes, i may have a problem.  but i’ve finally moved on to valentines day.  i saw a cute craft somewhere this a.m. and got all crazy and preoccupied about how i could do it with things i already had…. so far, i can show you this:

when i bought the frames i had no plan for them, and finally, like a year later i figured it out.  the glue is drying on the final result, and i’ll show you soon!

i’m a lucky girl…

within the past year or so, i’ve decided that i’m a WINNER!!  i enter contests, i call when i hear the touchtones.  in the last year i’ve won tickets to a comedy show, 2 concerts, a hockey game, chick-fil-a swag, xyron sticker maker refills and a few other things, i’m sure….  and then, here’s the latest:

yeeeeeha!!  (or, GAGA!!! as it were…)  and it comes at a great time, too… i’ve been cooped up with a couple of sick kidlets, working on business (mine and not-mine) and just basically lamenting the cold and the yuck.  this was a great surprise, and i’m gonna have an AWESOME time with mah buddeh, wether she wants to have a good time or not!! =D i just hope i have time to finish our matching bubble body suits.

wintertime crazies have set in…

o hi there!  yep, i’m still here… somewhere… doing stuff.  and things.  you know…

it’s cold.  i’m freezing water on my back porch.  my husband asks how long i’m going to keep it up, and i think i’ll continue til it’s warm, or til i’ve busted out the bottoms on all my plastic containers.  my little “icehenge” is coming along, it makes me smile when i step outside.

the girls think it’s interesting to see what happens to the pieces as the sun shines on them, or when a wild animal starts digging out the fruit, or when mom adds to the stacks in the middle of the night when she gets home from work!

FRUIT SALAD!

the girls somehow got it in their head yesterday that they wanted to make fruit salad.  really?  fruit salad?  so i humored them and yeah-yeahed them, and when they woke up this a.m. they were still all gung-ho about the fruit salad.  it just seemed to me that there are too many ingredients involved, and i was afraid someone’s baby head was gonna explode…

we’ve been at home for several days now, enjoying a quiet and relaxing vacation away from the frigid chill and germy people…  there was snow in the forecast, so i had decided we’d get out and maybe do a little shopping or lunch today.  but the snow began to fall hours ahead of schedule, so we just ventured to the little local grocery.  and OH LOOK! WATERMELON! ON MY FRUIT SALAD LIST!  and HEY! ORANGES! YOU KNOW WE LOVE ORANGES!  so i bought a couple of makings for fruit salad.  i love that they are entertained for such long stretches of time with a plastic knife, some grapes, orange slices and hunks of watermelon.  (and you know they did NOT eat the orange slices, they left those for me!)