Here come the cards!

SQUEEEEE!!

It's one of my favorite times of the year-- when Christmas cards start rolling in and I get to see the sweet faces of all of my friends' families. Since I'm not on Facebook, I LIVE for Christmas card season.

I lined up our photo shoot with our favorite photographer over the summer & a few weeks ago, we went to an urban park here in Birmingham to get some really fun shots. Now, is the fun part-- picking our cards! 

Most years I design & print my own, but this year, being a busy single working mama, I decided to enlist the help of Tiny Prints. We ordered Save the Dates from them as well as Birth Announcements, and we've always been thrilled.

Their designs this year are SO CUTE. When I made my initial favorites list, I had over 30 designs picked out. Looking through our best shots, I'm starting to narrow it down... Here are a few of my favs!

 {source} 

{source}

{source}

{source}

What about you? Do you have a favorite?

To see the rest of Tiny Prints' holiday card collection, click here!
 
Psssssst, blog friends! I've moved since last year!
If I'm on your list and you need my new address, please shoot me an email!!

Sound the Alarm! Jack's 2nd Birthday.

This party almost didn't happen.

I'm back at work full time (more on that another day) and working single mommy doesn't have quite as much time to pull these things together as I used to. Jack loves firetrucks, and after a few attempts to get in touch with our local fire station with no luck, I had decided that we'd just celebrate Jack's birthday with a family dinner.

Then, a week ago today, the fire station called me back-- so I scrambled to pull something together in less than a week. And you know what? It was just as fun as the parties that I spend months planning. A few less details than I would have pulled off with more time... but he doesn't care about that. Give him a donut and a firetruck and he's happy.

So, our party was brunch & a tour of our local fire department--

There were burning buildings.

Fire hydrants bursting with cinnamon & orange rolls & donuts.

Wagons full of fruit.

And firetrucks, of course.

The setup.

 

The mamas had Bloody Marys. (And an egg & cheese souffle.)

 

We stuck two candles in a chocolate donut for Jack to blow out.

We gave our friends some fun party favors.

And mama even managed to grab a pic with the birthday boy.

We headed off for our tour of the fire station-- here's our crew!

He was one happy birthday boy!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sweet Jack! I love you SO much!

Fall.

 

 {source}

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

Liam, King of All Wild Things, turned three on Saturday.

We celebrated with a Where the Wild Things Are style Rumpus!  

The invite.

The setup.

Did you catch the handmade Max & Moishe dolls on the shelf? My friend Erin is AMAZING.

The cake was my first attempt at putting fondant on buttercream-- a baker/cake decorator I am not! However, I was really happy with this simple design & can't wait to try other things in the future.

I bought a set of these figurines on eBay-- a few of them are on the table & the others are on the shelves.

I made the Cake Pops with Oreos & cream cheese (yummy!) & the mini crowns are fondant.

We served boxed lunches-- sandwiches, chips and fruit. I made the stickers so that we knew what was in the box: Max meant Chicken Salad & Moishe meant PB&J.

A little sign on the table with a pic from the book.

:

These cookies were the party favors and they were well worth the 5 days it took to make them. This party really stretched my baking skills!

A total last minute project, the forks we used for cake are one of my favorite little details from the party. I tried an inkjet/mod podge transfer that I saw a tutorial on & I failed miserably. I was going to give up on these until I remembered some tshirt transfer paper I had in my craft stash. I made the design in Photoshop, printed it mirrored on the transfer paper, ironed the paper directly onto the forks, then peeled off the backing. It totally worked!

King of All Wild Things. I made these shirts with heat transfer vinyl.

Little Wild Thing.

The kids painted their own Max & Moishe on toilet paper rolls.

And we played Pin the Tail on Max, which was way too crazy to get an action shot!

Sign outside of the house:

One of the only pics I stepped into that day-- so glad there's one of me and the birthday boy!

Happy Birthday, my little Wild Thing!

I love you so much!

The Details

Invitations, Envelopes, Fold Over Cookie Tags & Stickers: ChloeTate (Me)

Paper leaves, tissue pom poms and printed Where the Wild Things Are Art:  Me

Crocheted Max & Moishe: Erin from The Cozy Baby

Chipboard Letters (ROAR) & Number (3): Hobby Lobby 

"Monster Fur" table runner: Fabric Depot (LOVE that you can buy in 1/4 yard increments!)

Birch Buckets: A local shop called Leaf & Petal but they can also be found here.

Where the Wild Things Are Figurines: Ebay

Bio Plus Kraft Take Out Boxes: Paper Mart

Tree Trunk Cake Stand and small stands: My dad and his chainsaw!

Cake/Cake Pops/Cookies: Me

Plain Bamboo Forks: The Pretty Paper Shop (Design added by me.)

Shirts: Made by me, using heat transfer vinyl, but using crown and banner shapes by Olive + Birch

Pin the Tail on Max Posters & Yard Sign: Made by me, printed by VistaPrint

Special thanks to NikkiikkiN for the ideas for the cookies, table runner & birch buckets. Her party is stunning!! And always, Pinterest....I pulled together my fav ideas from lots of different parties!

Wordless Wednesday: Back to School

Neither of the boys were into my photo shoot this morning, but they had a great first day! 

(And mommy enjoyed some much needed quiet time.)

Smitten.

We're at the beach this week, 

digging our toes into the powdery white sand that the kids adorably call "snow."

Jack is warming up to the water & Liam is smitten with the sea.

We're slowing down, 

enjoying spending time with family,

leaving our worries at home,

breathing in the salt air,

And taking lots of pictures. 

Wild Thing.

This space has been quiet for a month.

We're transitioning.

I'm not quite ready to post pics of the new house yet-- it's a work in progress.

Rob & I are doing just fine-- co-parenting peacefully & even working on our friendship.

The boys are struggling with the change (L in particular) but we're doing the best we can.

I'm staying very busy.

Single mama-hood is no joke, dude.

But I know we're going to hit our stride soon-- we have to.

So here we are, seven weeks away from Liam turning THREE.

(I know, I can't believe it either.)

Time to get going on birthday party planning-- I'm behind!

This year's theme:

Super excited to do another classic book theme-- We had such a great time with The Very Hungry Caterpillar last year.

So, as I've been poking around Pinterest deciding on decorations, I saw these cookies and I knew I had to try them. (Her entire party is stunning-- it's definitely the main inspiration for my party!) I'm no expert on decorating with royal icing, and I've never worked with fondant before, so I thought that it would be best to give these cookies a try long before the actual party. This weekend, I was in serious need of some craft time, so I decided to give them a shot.

 

I'm so happy with them!

They're not perfect, but they're monsters-- they don't have to be. I used store-bought sugar cookies for my test to save time-- for the party, I'll make my own & make them slightly larger so that the features aren't so crowded. Also, I'll start early-- the royal icing base needs a day to dry, the fondant features need a day to dry, and the fur needs a day to dry. I was rushing through these in less than 24 hours because I knew if I didn't finish them before Liam came home from Rob's, they weren't going to get done.

While this year's party needs to be scaled back from last year (single mama budget), I have lots of plans for personalized touches that I can do myself, without breaking the bank. I'm also looking forward to having the party at home-- it will be nice to set things up the night before, so that I'm not in a rush the morning of the party.

Can't wait to celebrate my Wild Thing!