5.4.3.2.1. Blast off! A 5th birthday party

hello hello~  we have been pretty busy around this casa over the past few weeks.  The boy turned 5 and  we had a party just the 3 of us. Then a few days later a bunch of family and friends came to celebrate this little man.  We also found out that he was accepted into a program that he was on a waiting list for earlier this year. We had to juggle some school things around and are getting into a somewhat of a routine.  We love planning his birthday every year and this year he had plenty of his own input which made it even better.

The theme this year was ROCKET!  The Mr. designed and block printed the invites and made the 3 of us some pretty sweet shirts too.  We wanted a retro rocket theme.  We had originally planned on a Man in the Moon theme like from "Trip to the Moon," but after talking it over, we decided on a comic-y look.  I punched out several stars and sewed a little garland and draped them all over the treat table.

I bought some starry lights and they didn't really do what I wanted them to do based on the placement of light sockets and tape not holding the wires, but that is okay.  I am sure I will find another use for them.

We found all kinds of different candy and treats and I came up with some names and the Mr. made signs.  I found this great vintage set of cardboard standups with spacey things like rockets and aliens.

The lemon cupcakes had sprinkles shaped like stars. The cake pops did too!  I loved how the stars looked on the outside of the dark blue cake pop coating.

We had sixlets, pretzel sticks dipped and sprinkled, Milky Ways, rock candy on sticks, flying saucers (a really strange candy!) and cake pops.

The Mr chalked this giant comic book cover of the little man riding in his rocket

The rocket was the little man's and the Mr's project.  They went to Home Depot and found all kinds of stuff to repurpose and create this rocket.

They added a small fan to "fan the flames."

We had other food besides the cavity makers... really yummy tiny tacos, but we forgot to take a photo.  I made some limeade and some raspberry lemonade for punches.

I made some confetti out of tissue paper and put it in some clear balloons. It was much more exciting the next morning when we had to pop them. Confetti everywhere!!  Or, more confetti everywhere!

I found a company on etsy that makes these great wooden puzzles and they had rockets!  The treat bags had that and a space crayon and a Milky Way bar.

We had a blast!!  This may be the last birthday party in this house.  I sort of joked with the Mr that we should take into account decorating for birthdays when we are house hunting.  But, really, I was being serious.

More soon.... I have been busy knitting scarves for my December project!!

In the middle

Let me be the first to tell you, in case there was any doubt: opening and decorating a shoppe is much more fun than closing down two studios and moving everything.  That has been our life for the past few weeks.  We have everything out now and we are in full on party mode for baby hughes' 5th birthday.  The boy wanted rockets, so we are giving him rockets.  Not live ones, mind you.  That would be a disaster.  In the midst of all this, the Mr. has been super busy (which we are grateful!) He went to Chicago last week to chalk a booth at the BlogHer conference.  

We are giving ourselves at least until after the birthday party to really tackle what we need to get the house ready and on the market.  We are torn on putting it on the market this fall/ winter or waiting until spring.  I think the earlier, the better, but then I also don't want the house on the market over the holidays.  So, we will see.  I am just ready to start packing!  But, I also know that this move is much bigger than the ones I made in my single days.

The middle stages are always the hardest for me.  There is a momentum of an end and an excitement of new beginnings, but the middle is just kind of ehhh when it is longer than a few days or weeks or doesn't even have a determined amount of time.  I know it will all happen in time and to enjoy all the parts.  But, patience isn't one of my strong points.

It looks like there is a good chance that we will be moving to the Tri-Cities area if we stay in Tennessee, which we would like.  We still want to make another in depth trip there this fall and really look this time to see if it fits the bill.

Saying goodbye to our little space on Hardin Alley was hard, even as much as I like change.  I loved having my little shoppe there.  And, I know that it most likely won't be the only shoppe I have over the years, I will still have great memories of my time there.  And, I am excited to come back to visit.  Our friend that we met through the shoppe when she came to buy furniture for her sweet daughter is opening up a bakery there in the next little bit.  If you are local, you need to check out Delectable Art Bakery in Spring Hill.  I was so happy that someone I know is going to love the space as much as I did.

Okay, I think it is time to start cutting out several hundred stars!  I love party time!

Ding-Ding. I.Am.A.Robot~ A 4th Birthday

Hello there!  It has been a few weeks since the party, but Mr. Hughes has been so very blessedly busy that he hasn't been able to edit the photos from the party, so I stole the camera and did what little I can do.  We had a more low key year than the years before... we decided to have it on a Sunday and we had almost all our very favorite people with us to celebrate our little guy.

Originally, back when we started planning birthday number 4 (ahem... shortly after his 3rd birthday... hey, we like to party!) we thought we would have a superhero inspired party.  I pinned away superhero themes and dinosaur themes too.  Then, one day the Mr. came home with this 4 and it looked very robot-y to it.  We gave the boy the choice and I didn't even get out the whole word and he yelled... ROBOTS!!!  So, there you go.

Meet Bink the Robot.  baby hughes was a little disappointed that he didn't move or talk, but, I think the Mr. did a great job on him.

The Mr. brought these home last year... why I don't know.  But, they ended up being perfect for the party entrance.

A few hours before the party, Mr Hughes got a wild hair to chalk some boards with a bunch of different robots.

I totally forgot to take photos of the cute robot lollipops and little windup robots before I tied up the bags, but they are there.

The tissue decorations reminded me of gears and I love tissue decor... it is so festive!

baby hughes requested cake pops, cupcakes and cookies this year (he actually asked for a robot cake too, but I decided that is where I would stop.)  This was my first time making cake pops and they were yummy, but very sweet.

I found a cool gear shaped cookie cutter and used a little round one I had to cut out the center.  I rounded up some industrial trays that I got long ago to use for the food.... and there was food besides the sweets... not sure what happened to the photos of it.

The cupcakes were golden with salted caramel icing.  Mr. Hughes drew some fun robots and printed for me to make some cupcake toppers.

The Mr. used his extraordinary chalking skills to draw a robot as a backdrop.  

We had a few Rock 'em Sock 'em sets so everyone could play.  We have since used them to settle debates.

One of the last minute ideas the Mr had was to turn our metal set of drawers into a makeshift robot.  He gutted the vintage tv tube that didn't work and replaced it with a newer one that did and added a DVD player to play movies.  He did that with another thought in mind and just happened to place it on the set of drawers and voila... Robot!  He went and bought some arms and we played videos and photos sequences of baby hughes

Well, that was year 4. If you want to see previous years, check out 1, 2, and 3.  We obviously love having these parties and this year was fun since the little man had quite a few opinions regarding colors and what he would like and who to invite.  I hope he lets us do these for many years to come.

be back soon.  Things have been super, duper busy around these parts and I haven't been able to sit down and blog as much.  And I miss it!

bye for now~

It's that time of year again....

Yep.  It is about that time when the Mr. and I lose our minds and devote our energies into having a fun bash for baby hughes.  He is going to be 4.  The time truly flies.  This year we are going with a robot theme.  

For a long while, he has put a box on his head and said... ding-ding, I am a robot.  Something he came up with entirely on his own.  So, the Mr. designed a simple robot stamp and insert and baby hughes and I decided on the colors.  He has since told me that yellow is his favorite, not orange.  Oh well!  Maybe orange will be his favorite again in a few weeks.

He has also decided that he wants cookies, cupcakes, cake pops, and a BIG cake.  I am so glad we got a new oven to handle all this baking that is expected of me *wink*  This is has been fun planning since he is in on it.  He has told me things he wants and we have looked at ideas together.  The little "4" on the balloon is actually one that we were selling in the shoppe and he found and brought it to the desk and said he wanted it for his party *so proud*

Well, back to planning!  Have a lovely week!!

bye for now!

Featured: ohdeedoh!

hello all!  hope you are having a wonderful Labor Day!  I am taking a break from both of my jobs to let you know that baby hughes' birthday party was featured on ohdeedoh today... one of my favorite kid sites! We are so excited!  You can check it out here.

Okay, I am back to work.... finishing up furniture for the Barn Show, the booths, and some other goodies!  Enjoy your day!

bye for now!

All Aboard! A 3rd Birthday Party

Hello there!  I am finally delivering on my promise to share the craziness that we call birthdays around here... at least for baby hughes.  If you haven't seen them before,  you can see his 1st birthday and 2nd birthday parties to know that we have been sick for at least 3 years now, but most likely longer.  We woke up to a rainy day which sort of put a kink in our photo booth plans... we still did it, but the photos were a little dark and foggy.  That sort of bummed me out, but I got over it pretty quickly.  We had loads of fun, baby hughes especially.  So, here are a few (I mean, A BUNCH) of photos of the decorations before everyone came.

Mr Hughes made all the signs.  This one was to let everyone know where the party was, just in case the 3 foot yellow balloon wasn't a dead giveaway.

I almost painted the front door for contrast.  Almost.  

It needs to be painted anyhow.

I originally started out with a color theme of aqua and yellow.  Then baby hughes said he wanted orange.  Then I got all the balloons in and I threw the scheme out the window and just went with it.  I got the round balloons from a car lot supplier.  I couldn't be picky with the colors for the price.

My stack of vintage suitcases was broken up and spread out... some out side with balloons tied to them and here in the entry.  Mr. Hughes (who, no matter what he says or people think, is not a hostage... he willingly participates in the parties) found this vintage post bag and I filled it with the presents from us.

Months ago, I found this old chalkboard.  The lines were painted on it already... I almost positive that it is a train board.  I added the Arrivals and Departures to it with chalk pen.  This table had the engineer caps and the treat bags amongst all the vintage train stuff.

Mr. Hughes found this old handmade engine push toy and painted it.  Then, he decided it needed a caboose and a extra car. So he made them.  And I made jumbo confetti with a circle punch.  Be honest.... the confetti is what you notice... not the train *wink*

I just happened to have a metal 3 in my stash and he was able to rig it so that it worked.

Mr. Hughes had some vintage cross sections of steam engines and railroad maps blown up and printed and I taped them up all around the schedule board.

And, of course, we needed a brass whistle.

I forgot to take photos of the treats, but I included train stickers, a engine lollipop, a wooden train whistle (you are welcome, my dear friends and family!) and some graham crackers called Chugga Chews... they came in a train shaped box.  I painted some tags in chalkboard paint and wrote Thank You on them.

You can barely see them here, but I asked everyone to fill out a birthday wish for baby hughes on tags that sort of look like the vintage luggage tags.

Usually a few days before the party I will see something or come up with something at the last minute.  These streamers were that thing.  I also printed out photos from the past year of all the train related stuff that we have done.  As you can see, we usually stop anytime we see a train museum or depot or tracks!

A few more things the Mr. found on top of a stack.

He also found these vintage images... I think they were like a learning tool... anyhow, they were of bridges and tunnels and tracks.  baby hughes loved them!

Of course we had food!  I tried to think of train related noshables, but I came up short.

Kettle corn... well, because baby hughes loves.loves.loves kettle corn.

We even had some friends who donated some train things... this was a whiskey decanter that I spray painted

One of the the only "train-y" foods I could think of... Henry's Special Coal....which was chocolate oatmeal cookies (we call them No Bakes.)

The cake table!  I love cake!  And the hyena loves his cupcakes.  This year I made cupcakes for the party and a small cake for his actual birthday which was the next day.  I didn't make the fondant this year.  I ordered it and it was lemon flavored and delicious!  A sweet friend gave the bambino a vintage train set as an early birthday present and I used it on the table to circle the cupcakes.

This was another thing found by Mr. Hughes... a teeny vintage train and station.  It is so cute... there is a guy riding a scooter and a woman pushing a baby carriage.  Oh and if you had any doubts, I am NOT a professional cake decorator and fondant isn't my strong suit.  Just to clear things up.

I made little railroad crossing signs out of the fondant.  I may or may not have had the caffeine shakes while lettering them! 

See the baby carriage?  Can you believe people used to just give this stuff tho their kids?  It was from out  of the country, but I am pretty sure there was no warning for kids under three.

So that's all!  It was a shame that it was so cloudy... the photos weren't as clear as I wanted.  We had a great time, that is all that matters.  The balloons quickly became bopping weapons and the green one was fought over quite a bit.  We also had a little train table that you could decorate your own Thomas Wooden box car or fuel car... I am not sure where those photos are.  My baby is 3!  I can't believe it!  In the words of the hyena himself it makes me very "upcited."

Until next year... the birthday madness is over.

bye for now!