Tuesday, November 27, 2012

6th year Mario Cart Sleep over

This post is a little late. I saved it as a draft a while ago and time slipped away!  Also, there have  been issues with storage on my blog, mainly that I'm running out, so I'm researching ways in which I can continue blogging without paying much. I love to blog about life here at the PeaHen Pad, but since my blog does not generate any money, paying for more storage space is not in our plan right now. So hopefully we'll continue to run the blog, stay tuned!

Without further ado, pictures from my son's sixth birthday party, a Mario Kart inspired Sleep-over!  With one special friend invited, we kept things simple. Wew!  Here is the cake, which is vanilla with blue frosting and a Mario Kart Pull-back race car on top.  


You'll notice that I also added a Mario Brothers mushroom on top that Joe brought home from work. It was a gift to him filled with candy years ago.


On the evening of his party which fell on a Friday night, Joe took the boys to a movie at the local theater. Afterwards they came home for Pizza and cake. They had so much fun camping out in the living room that night in their sleeping bags and flashlights.  

My oldest son was the last one to get one of these home made banners. I felt bad that I had made ones for the two little guys, but not for him. So I went to Michaels and found six different sheets of scrap paper in black and white patterns. One of the sheets happened to have a graduation quote on it, so I cut it out and glued it onto another sheet, since I liked the quote and wanted to keep it.


The quote reads, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, Live the life you have imagined," by Henry David Thoreau.  I used yellow craft paint to paint letters on each one and had each sheet laminated.  After cutting them out, I used a blue ribbon to string them together.


I already had black, white, and yellow balloons on hand, thus reducing the cost of this shin-dig even further.  Not that I was trying to short change my son, but saving money is cool! :)


In the morning when the boys woke up, we made pancakes with strawberries on top. My son got to blow out another candle.  


I have to admit that having a sleep over with one other child was the easiest birthday party ever.  My son loved all the special time he got to spend with one good friend, creating happy memories for a life time.

xo
Cathleen



Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Easy Christmas tea towels

I've been a busy bee getting ready for Christmas this year.  With my new found sewing skills I wanted to create gifts for family and friends that were personal and thoughtful and saved a bundle over store bought gifts.   I've been sewing away making tea towels and other things (Shhh, it's a surprise) for family. Here is one example of a tea towel that I made out of Scottie dog fabric with red ball fringe. It was super easy to make, I'll show you how below. 


First off, I bought 1 yard of Christmas fabric from Joann's fabric store and was able to make two tea towels with each yard, by cutting length-wise down the middle.  When I got home the first thing I did was prewash my fabric so that it would shrink, using table salt and cold water.  After drying my fabric, I used the iron to get out all the wrinkles.  Next I trimmed off all the frayed edges using my rotary cutter and mat and yard stick as a guide.


After everything was trimmed nicely I used my zig zag stitch on my sewing machine to sew all the edges to prevent any more fraying.


Next I made nice corner folds by simply folding down the edges, pressing, and then folding in the sides and pressing again.


Next I straight stitched along the fold where the zig zag stitches were all around the whole towel and never lifting my needle as I went.



After the whole thing was nicely sewn shut around all the sides, I added ric rac to some of them and pom pom trim to others.  Here is an example of how I sewed the ric rac on. First I pinned it to where I wanted it and then used the straight stitch to sew it on, making sure to back stitch at each end so it won't lift up.


Here is the finished towel hanging on the oven.   I love this green fabric with modern trees.


I hope I don't ruin any surprises, and can't wait to give these out as Christmas gifts.  I've got other home made Christmas gifts to share with you, but I think I'll wait until after the holidays. Don't want to ruin all the fun. Happy Sewing!

xo
Cathleen

Monday, November 12, 2012

Thanksgiving time!

Welcome to our Thanksgiving home! Come on in and we'll show you how we decorate for the upcoming Mash Potato day. I have to call it that since most people say Turkey Day and it can't be Turkey day when you're a Vegetarian. :)

Here's my beautiful Fall wreath I put together last year, but I think it looks so great on the yellow door this year.

In our living room on our mantel I created a Fall/Thanksgiving theme using two brown cone shaped statues on either end and various Fall things in between. I'll show close ups so you can see them better.


Here is the sweet needlepoint my Grandmother made years ago, which is very fitting for the Thankful holiday. 


Last year I found this planter with purple mums that was on our table last year, but this year I decided to place it on top of some books.


Last year I found this at Home Goods and loved how it looked home made.  The black frame with orange hand stitched felt and white felt pumpkin and black felt crows was too adorable to pass up.  It was in the Thanksgiving decoration section but could work for Halloween too.


Fresh fall flowers give the mantel life.


These brown velvet wrapped sparkly cones were from Home Goods last year and I love how they give height to the mantel. 


The tan pumpkin is from Home Goods.  I shared it with you last year. 


This little ceramic orange pumpkin is a candle from Yankee Candle.  It was a gift from my husband for our anniversary. He knows how much I love Halloween and Thanksgiving.


I placed two glitter-coated pumpkins on top of the white Expedit book cases in our living room.


This year's table centerpiece is a simple trifle glass jar with a vanilla scented candle in the middle and acorns that my children find outside in our yard. They love collecting them and adding them to the table.


Can't wait for the Thanksgiving feast to begin!!

xo
Cathleen

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Pumpkin Love

Here are some of my favorite Halloween pumpkin designs this year.

Cool black painted pumpkin
via

Bronze spray painted pumpkin with white polka dots
via

Monogrammed pumpkins

Trick or Treat stacked pumpkins

Painted Chevron stripes and white dipped pumpkins

Black pumpkin with "Boo" and stars

White pumpkin with wrapped lace

xo
Cathleen

Monday, October 29, 2012

Woodsy PeaHens

We had our fun little neighborhood potluck this past weekend and wanted to share some fun photos of how we dressed and what we made.  We all decided on a "Woodsy" Woodland theme since some of the costumes were purchased last year on sale. One of the great costumes I found last year was this little 2T girl gnome costume from Target.  Here is my sweet E.claire dressed up and admiring the outside.


My costume was also purchased last year at a deep discount. It's called "Gretchen" but think I could be a fair maiden from the forest. :) I know it's a stretch.


My other sweet gnome child is here enjoying the fog machine in the living room.  My husband and I think his face looks photoshopped into a gnome costume kind of like the "Elf Yourself" from Office Max.    Those white patches of fur on his hat are supposed to be his eye brows, but his wee head is so large! His costume is also from Target.


My oldest son wanted to be a Lumberjack to go along with the Woodsy theme. He looks thrilled here having his photo taken!  I found his shirt from the Goodwill and the Ax from the local Halloween store. 


My very open-minded husband agreed to be a tree. It was that or a Mushroom.  I had trouble locating a mushroom costume that wasn't a "Mario Brothers" mushroom so a tree is what he would be!  He's so tall and statuesque so it works great for him.  And my oldest son had fun trying to chop him down all night with his ax. 


I made some yummy chocolate cupcakes from a recipe found here with chocolate frosting found here.  The tops are sprinkled with black sugar crystals and the picks are from Target.


I put together this quick snack mix that included pretzel sticks, Cheezits, corn chips, and candy corn. We also served sliced green apples with caramel dip, "Swamp Water" (Cola and Bailey's Irish Creme topped with dark chocolate shavings,) and "Cider Punch."  Both of the drinks were from Better Homes and Gardens online.  Our guests also brought lots of yummy dishes that included Mac and Cheese, Vegetarian Lasagna, Green Salad, candies carrots, veggie patter, and chips and dip.


Hope everyone has a very Safe & Happy Halloween!!



xo
The PeaHen Pixies!








Friday, October 26, 2012

A scary scarecrow

This has to be the scariest guy on the block. My husband thought him up on Sunday with the kids there to help.  We used Joe's old clothes to stuff with hay and two wooden boards nailed like a cross to prop him up.  I thought the mask in our attic made for a great head. What do you think? Scary? Too scary?



We left some hay around on the ground for a nice barn touch to our garden.


Here's the scary masked guy from outside our front window. He creeps me out every time I look out the window. 


He's going to watch the trick or treaters come down our drive way and scare the beejezus out of them! So much fun.


We're one day away from our annual Halloween neighborhood potluck. We'll be getting ready all day for that probably and pics to follow on Monday!

xo
Cathleen

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Velcome to our Halloween porch

Last year we DIY'd a mummy and shared it with you. He's been resting in our attic since last year so we pulled him out again this year. He looks spookier this year! Trust me when I say that every time I went up into the attic and saw him there it freaked me!


Here's our friendly spider that hangs in front of our porch windows. His big web flanks the glass behind him.


Our friendly light-up pumpkin now sits outside on our little side table. He used to live in our front window facing out, but he looks better outside.


When you stand directly in front of our door, you see this gravestone (purchased at Target last year) to your right. As you move the face changes to a grimacing skeleton.


So there you have it, our Halloween porch. More outsoor pics to come!

xo
Cathleen

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Going Batty!

A fun and easy craft you can do with your kids is cutting out paper bats.  I found a template online and simply traced a bunch onto black construction paper and used double sided tape to tape them across the front windows.




They look great from both sides and with just our sheer white curtains closed at night they really stand out.


Fun and easy!  Hope this inspires you this Halloween.

xo
Cathleen
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