If only I were handy...

If only I were handy, I'd build one of these:



I love how compact this one is. It's so quaint with the hanging pots and pans!
via Life is Quaint.



Built from an old entertainment unit! How genius is that?!
Plans can be found HERE!



This one is so country. I love it!!!
via ohdeedoh



This one is so vintagey, I just loveeee it!
via Ohdeedoh

I grew up with one similar to this:



And while functional, I just don't think it is as pretty!

First birthday ideas

I'm so excited for my son's first birthday. It is February 21st, and next year that falls on Family Day here in Ontario. This means that everyone will have the day off, so our family members should be able to make it! :)

I've been brainstorming some great ideas.

Restrictions:
It's a winter birthday so we'll have to stay indoors for this one!

Theme:

I've given this a lot of thought. I'm not much of a 'theme' person. But right now, I'm leaning towards the idea of having a 'balloon theme' simply for cohesion.



Invitations:

I have no idea what type of invitation to do. But I do know that I want to incorporate real balloons for our intown guests.
I love
these invitations as featured on Oh Happy Day. I would probably use regular hellium balloons and put them into gift bags and hand deliver them to the guests. It is really cute, plus the kids will really like the surprise when they open the bags.



Cake:

I was watching Fresh With Anna Oleson on the Food Network, and she made a delicious White Chocolate Berry Cake for a wedding. (Recipe here) It sounded so delicious, and looked sooo yummy that I think I will use this recipe for my son's cake!



I try to be creative, but I usually fail miserably when it comes to baked goods. I think I'll work with fondant for his first birthday cake though, and decorate it with balloons. I love this cake:



These cupcakes are adorable too:



Decorations:

Obviously balloons if I follow through with that theme. We do not have popcorn ceilings, so we can get a bunch of hellium balloons and let them float around the party area.
I'm also really liking bunting.





It seems really simple. I would not use fabric to create my bunting, just scrapbook paper.

Food:

My FAVOURITE part! Yum. Here are a few ideas I have so far.

Fruit skewers



Meatballs



Bacon wrapped water chestnuts:



Brie and cranberry in phyllo pastry:



All images via Google image

Now I just have to wait.

Crafty Kid - Homemade Finger Paint

I loved arts and crafts as a child. And I always swore I'd be a mom who encouraged creativity in my children.

So this afternoon I rolled up my sleeves and made non-toxic homemade finger paints for my 5 1/2 month old son!

The recipe was really simple and I already had everything in my cupboard:

- 1 cup cold water
- 1.5 tablespoons white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- food dye

Add the sugar and the salt to the water in a pot, then the corn starch. Put it on the stove on low heat and stir until you achieve a paint like consistency. The recipe said it would take 10 minutes, but it took more like 25 for me and I had to add more water. In the end, I should have added even more water as it was still quite goopy, but of course the baby didn't notice :P




(obviously this is an outdoors craft for a small baby. At least in my house it is)





The finished product: My baby's first masterpiece



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The DIY Project Parade

http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/

Recent projects

We've been very busy lately! We repainted the kitchen, had lots of visitors staying with us, and the baby and I left for 5 days. Traveling was so much fun and we saw lots of family, which was so great. The baby also cut his first tooth! I suspected something was going to happen, but he was such a trooper still :)

I have lots of projects on the go. Right now my main focus is the home daycare I plan on opening in the near future. I'm not sure when exactly. I have to get the house together and also collect more toys. I'm having lots of fun planning so far, though. I plan on doing an inspiration post soon.

Here are some pictures of my recent aquisitions. I am in the middle of completing them and will post the 'afters' when all is said and done.