Ladybugs for our Littlest Lady

We are lucky enough to have two little ladies in our home, and our littlest lady just turned 3! Unfortunately it's at precisely that age that they are losing or have lost their 'baby-ness'. So that's enough of an excuse for me to celebrate in a BIG way! Oh, and to finally get some professional family photo's done ~ but more on that another day!

Originally it was going to be a Peppa Pig party, but Mummy just happened to mention one day while reading a book that "that cute little ladybug there would make a super party!" which made her change her party thoughts instantly! Who would have thought *wink*

So while I will be holding onto my 'baby' for as long as I possibly can, we enjoyed celebrating her third birthday in the most Ladybug of ways!

~ The Invite! ~

Even little Jessica helped with her invitations! She got to put her tiny finger prints on and Mummy turned them into tiny ladybugs!

~ The Decorations ~

~ Drinks Station ~

~ The Cake! ~

Well, this little cake needs an introduction! Not for it's greatness, oh no! This little Ladybug was a disaster! I can tell you, and you MUST believe me, that the following photo's do not tell it's full catastrophic story! If you happen to visit my other page My Cake, Your Cake, you would have read that I had lost my 'Caking Mojo'! And when one needs to decorate a Little Lady's 3rd Birthday Cake the night before her party, that's not a good thing to lose! Unfortunately I think it was lost well before I had realised! You see, the party was on a Sunday, I had baked a cake on the Saturday morning, left it to cool while we went to the zoo {that was just fabulous! Face painting, merry-go-round, icecream, what joy!} When we got home I should have realised by the shape that it had cooled that I needed to bake a replacement ~ sunken top and concave sides! But hindsight being such a wonderful thing, I didn't listen, I ignored, and when I cut it open at 8:30pm (the night before the party) the cake was cooked, but it looked like play-dough, felt rubbery and looked just plain awful! So a re-baking I did, and waited patiently for it to cool, and at 11:30pm I was able to start filling and icing with buttercream. Then I went to bed.

There was no point in panicking, crying or screaming! It had happened, it happens, I'm not perfect, I just try my best. I had decided to explain to our daughter in the morning that I had tried my best and would it be ok if her cake was plain. {I love her to pieces} She said yes! Until she saw that it was plain white (from the buttercream), pouted and said "but I don't like white!"

So with 2 hours to spare in the morning, I managed to decorate ~ and I use that word loosely ~ her cake and make her eye's 'light up' with excitement. It was not what I had envisaged, it is not normally what I would be happy with myself, but it is what it is and I am now more than happy to accept it's outcome {even if there is a huge air bubble forming on the side and it looks like I've forgotten to write the start of her name!}

~ Ladybug Cake ~

So there she is in all her disastrous but happy glory!

The one thing I have quickly learnt when making cakes is that we, the cake maker, are our own worst critics. {See above Ladybug cake as a perfect example!} To us, the makers, all of the imperfections stand out shadowing any of it's greatness, but the receiver of the cake sees none of this! I guarantee you that for every flaw we see, they will see twice as many outstanding features. Just look at their faces! They are so thankful, grateful and their huge smiles and twinkle in their eyes just speaks for themselves. Isn't that why we do this in the first place?!
So don't be so hard on yourself, cake, bake & decorate from your heart for that is only what anyone else would want!

~ The Party Table ~

~ And some extra Food Details! ~

~ The Party Favors! ~

~ Last but Not Least, Some Extra Details! ~

{ Ladybug Colour In's }

{ Ladybug T-shirt ~ Made by Mummy! }

I had also managed to find a cute Ladybug Skirt which was red tulle with black spots, rather like the Ladybug balloons ~ she looked adorable!

So there you have it! One very Ladybug Party!
What a great day it was and with many a late night tinkering away here in my little room, I wouldn't have been able to pull it all together without the help and supplies of these fabulous vendors:

The Decorations ~ Invitations, Pompoms, Banner, Streamers,
Table Center Pieces & Ballon Bundles ~ From My Little Room, Me!

Ladybug horn ~ Spotlight

Gorgeous Ladybug Spotted Balloons ~ Candy Soirees
Red Chocolate Buttons & Spotted Paper Straws ~ Little Dance Invitations

Completely Edible Ladybug Cake ~ From My Little Room, Me!
Inspired by ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/custom_cake_designs/5841154883/

Cupcake Toppers and Cookie Pops ~ From My Little Room, Me!

 Ladybug Hairclip ~ Aprilrose Hairclips

Ladybug Crayons, Labels & Bag Toppers ~ From My Little Room, Me!
Lots of little ladybug extras ~ Ebay

If I have left anything out please let me know!

Thanks so much for visiting, from my little room, x Chrys

Baby Baby ~ Last but Not Least!

My final play mat ~ for the moment ~ is for my new niece or nephew, soon to arrive with my fingers crossed for an October appreance!

I have enjoyed making all of these lovely quilts come play mats and have a new found admiration for all the quilters out there! I will enjoy even more the new arrivals that will be lounging around on those mats very soon!

So here it is, last but certainly not least ...

Thanks for stopping by, from my little room, x Chrys

It's cozy in here!

My bestie {BFF} happened to receive a tea pot for Mothers' Day this year ~ lucky duck! And if I'm to be completely honest I have a secret love for tea pots, even though I only own 2! Anyhoo ... she had mentioned that to keep her pot warm, she was wrapping a tea towel around it. Now there's nothing wrong with using a tea towel to keep those lovely leaves toasty warm, but when I came across this gorgeous and easy pattern for a tea cozy I thought of her and decided to make her one for her birthday!

So this is for you and Happy Birthday to my dear friend who always knows how to make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Now your tea will feel rather posh as well as warm!

For those of you wishing to whip up a posh tea cozy of your own, you can grab the book "Quilting In No Time" by Emma Hardy, from here, then before you know it, that second cuppa waiting to be enjoyed will still be toasty warm.

From my little room, x Chrys

Baby Baby ~ And There's More!

I have been very busy of late, but there have been many babies of late too! So I have been sew sew sewing! And here are the siblings as promised from my first play mat ...

This is my second play mat for my dear friend in Brisbane who is expecting number 3! I'm so excited for her and I am waiting with baited breath for 'the phone call'.
 

Blanket number 3 is for my nephew, big brother to the owner of my first play mat. Follow that if you will! He loved his brother's play mat so much, even taking it to bed with him, so how could I not make something for him! I used all of the left over pieces to make him this 'mini' blanket ~ He is just so adorable!

There is one more on its' way, half way sewn, due in around 4 weeks, so I am hoping to have it all sewn up in the next week ready for posting! Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by, From my little room, x Chrys

Dancing Girl

My gorgeous niece LOVES to dance and she certainly has a natural talent ~ I'm sure I will see her dancing for the Australian Ballet Company one day. Well, maybe I am biased being her Aunty and all *wink* but she truly is gifted.

Anyway, my sister had asked me if I could make her a cushion for one of her props in a ballet routine she would be doing at the end of the year. Of course I would! Silly question! Unfortunately we live on the other side of the country, so whenever I get the opportunity to 'help' I jump at the chance!

I had free reign, so I rummaged through my many boxes of fabric until I was happy. So a little cutting and a little stitching, laced with a little extra love, I whipped this up ...

It's simple and pretty and I'm sure my niece will love it. I can't wait to see her next dancing concert, at least on dvd.

From my little room, x Chrys

Baby Baby!

Remember that fab fabric I found last month? Well here is what it has become ...

A Baby Blanket come Play Mat for my delicious nephew! I was so chuffed at how it came out, but silly me forgot to take a pic of the back ~ oh well, but it looked oh so good, ok go on then, close your eyes and picture the back covered in the blue/green chevron {zigzag} patterned fabric ~ cool hey! Anyways, there will be more brothers and sisters for this blanket in the coming months! 

I found the fantastic tutorial for this blanket here! Thank you Vanessa for sharing your gorgeous design and fabulous tips! I am so pleased I gave it a go!

Happy Sewing!

From my little room, x Chrys

A very Barbie Birthday!

I am always asking our girls what they want their next birthday cake to be. Kids being kids, more often than not they will change their minds as the year goes by, but that's ok, that's part of the fun for me! Our daughter Emily recently turned 5! A whole hand! I still can't believe it!

Thankfully I had been given plenty of notice regarding her 'desired theme' and I had started planning a couple of months prior, purchasing bits 'n' pieces here and there. And much to my husbands annoyance I had spent many a night tinkering away, here in my little room, creating her very first BIG party!

This year Emily stuck to her guns and wanted a Barbie party and another (yes there has been another!) Princess / Barbie cake : aka 'spare dolls torso and head shoved into a dolly vardon tin cake' cake. E - A - S - Y !!! I was super chuffed that she had granted me a relatively easy cake to make ... until a week before her birthday. I had asked her if I could please borrow her Barbie so that I could use it in her cake. I received a puzzled look. So I explained again, 'I will use your Barbie ontop of your birthday cake!' ... 'But Mummy, I want to be able to eat her!'

So here is Emily's 5th Barbie Birthday WITH an edible Barbie!

 

~ The Decorations ~

~ Drinks Station ~

~ Barbie, please make your first appearance! ~

~ A few details ... ~

As per our daughters' request 'Busty Barbie' *wink* is completely edible! She is a pink vanilla butter cake, with a buttercream crumb coat, Kellogs LCM shaped torso, covered in fondant and fondant details ...

~ A Before & After ~

~ The Party Table ~

~ And some extra food details! ~

~ Last but not least, the Party Favors ~

The party favors were made up of 3 parts ~ I'm not sure who got the greatest pleasure out of all of these, the kids or ME! Firstly there was a goodie bag with stickers, bangles, a Barbie horn, wand, a princess crown clip from Aprilrose Hairclips and a princess castle treasure box that come with super cute mini crayons, stickers and drawing pad from 2 Cute Party Bags. Secondly there were the princess crown cookies in a little 'thank you' bag, both lovingly made by me and thirdly a Barbie silhouette bed cushion! I had bucket loads of fun making those cushions ~ 'Crazy Lady' also seems to reside in this same 'Little Room'! The cushion inserts were from Ikea and cheap as chips at only $1.95 each and the main outer slip cover fabric was from a Bargain Buy I had stashed away for just such a rainy day! From memory I think I paid 70cents a meter and I brought the rest of the bolt, about 5 meters worth! I KNEW it would come in handy one day! I used a neat product called 'Heat n Seal' to bond the felt Barbie silhouette to the slip cover and finished her off with a bow in her pony tail and a cute little 'necklace'! These cushions were originally made for a game of 'Musical Cushions' and when each of the children got 'out' then they got to take away a cushion to keep, but alas they had too much fun bouncing of the jumping castle outside {and yes the weather was just FAB for a mid July party ~ how lucky are we!} and we ran out of time for our last musical cushion game, so they all got to take home a cushion anyway!

Anyhoo! ~ all good things must come to an end so that another may begin! But before I do, a list of the fabulous vendors I used to help make our daughters birthday a very happy one at that!

The Decorations ~ Pompoms, Banner & Streamers ~ From My Little Room, Me!

Helium Balloon Bundles ~ Balloons Abuzz

Water & Drinks Labels ~ From My Little Room, Me!

Barbie cups, plates, hats & horn ~ Spotlight

Pink Striped Paper Straws and Pink Choc Buttons ~ Candy Soirees

Completely Edible Busty Barbie Cake ~ From My Little Room, Me!

Cupcake Toppers and Cookie Pops ~ From My Little Room, Me!

 Princess Crown Hairclip ~ Aprilrose Hairclips

Princess Castle Treasure Box ~ 2 Cute Party Bags

Wand & Bangles ~ Big W

Barbie Cushion & Thank You Tags ~ From My Little Room, Me!

Thanks so much for visiting, from my little room, x Chrys

Sneek Peek!

Just a quick ~sneek peek~ of the fabric that I will be using in my next project! I can't believe that I found matching & funky fabric in Spotlight! I never have that much luck!

Stay tuned!

From my little room x Chrys

Pinned!

Mason Jars! Love 'em, but I can't get 'em! Well, at least not here in Australia at a reasonable price. I've searched high and low, maybe not hard enough ~ but of course when you're not looking, what do I find ... a "kind of" Mason Jar, close enough for what I want, and if I'm completely honest, better than a Mason!

I LOVE this shape! It was cheap, at just $4 and just perfect for what I wanted to do ~ a pin cushion! It also doubles as storage space for all kinds of odds and ends, buttons, bobbins, thread, ricrack {my latest love} the list is endless, well, for me anyway!

They're not any ol' jar, honest! You see, the lid on these jars come in 2 pieces ~ the screw down ring, and then the top central part of the lid is completely seperate, allowing for these lovely embelishments! YaY!

There are LOADS of tutorials on the net for these gorgeous little beauties, so I won't bore you with another tutorial, but here are a couple of snaps for my version of the Jar Pin Cushion!

Enjoy your week!

From my little room, Chrys x

Oh What a Relief!

I have been wanting to start a blog now for such a long time and I have finally plucked up the courage to do it! So happy snaps for me and {knuckle bumps} to anyone near!
Firstly, I feel I must apologise. Not for anything that I have done, but what I might do! I am a newbie to the word of 'blogging' and will try my best to get up to scratch, but if I happen to miss-inform, miss-link, miss-spell ... "I'm sorry!" But please let me know so I can make it right!
Well then, on with the show, and welcome to my little room ...