So I think it's fair to say that the Make-up Magnet Board has been popular. It's been featured on more than a few sites and I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone on Pinterest who hasn't seen it. I'm pleased that so many people have seen just how useful it can be and I'm still grateful for mine every morning when I get ready.
I've considered making and selling them before but I always get hung up on shipping. That across the border shipping is ridiculous, so after a lot of thought I've decided the answer is a craft fair. This Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm you can find me at the Garth Veal Ice Arena in Magrath at the Kids Show. I'll be there with a large stock of Make-up Boards and Jewellery Organizers, all for sale, all really beautiful. Let me give you a sneak peak.
I have some incredible frames and the colour combinations are so pretty. I can't wait to finish them, I'm just hoping they are as well received in Magrath as they have been here, on the blog.
So if you live in the Southern Alberta area you should stop by on Saturday and say hello and pick yourself up the best organizer you'll ever have. Admission is free and there are going to be a ton of different vendors there.
Perhaps if I have stock left I'll offer it here, we'll deal with the shipping when we get there.
I can't believe she's two already! To celebrate I wanted to keep the day sort of low key since she's two and doesn't really get birthday's yet but I still wanted her to have a nice day.
We started the morning with delicious chocolate chip pancakes and orange juice. Then she spent a couple hours pantless because that's what she wanted and it's her birthday.
Brynn and Gwen came over and the girls made cookies. We'd done this recently so I thought I knew what I was in for, turns out three girls are more difficult to entertain and find jobs for. We made it through with minimal mess and the girls had a good time.
Gwen cracked her first egg and did an awesome job.
The end result, they were delicious.
These are three really cute girls.
They ate lunch and then it was nap time.
Later in the evening we celebrated the 4 birthdays in September, the cupcakes were well received.
Her little people gift was a hit
And I figured out what I would like for my next birthday.
Okay, be prepared for an onslaught of photos this week. We had a good week with lots of activities.
Wednesday
Today cousin Gwen came over and the girls made cookies. It was adorable and they did an awesome job and I really should have done a post on this alone but I didn't. This was the first time I've really baked with Catie and it was so successful I'm sure there will be many more baking days in our future.
The cookies needed to be rolled into balls and Gwen was really good at it (until we could no longer convince her to stop making snakes). Catie's were a little less round, often she'd drop it on the cookie sheet and we'd hand it back to her again for a little more rolling.
I love how hard Gwen is concentrating.
Look at that pan of rolled cookies, they did so well.
Catie eagerly took each new lump of dough (the girl's aprons are pretty cute hey? You read about how I made them and find a tutorial here).
Once the cookies were rolled they needed to be slightly pressed with the bottom of a glass and it was some work convincing the girls that the glasses were for pressing and not for drinking. I kept having the refill Catie's glass between cookies. Again, you can tell Gwen is older because she caught onto this step really quickly, some of Catie's were really well pressed.
This is also my favourite picture because of the obvious bite out of one of Catie's cookies.
The cookies were delicious, a good time was had and the mess wasn't as big as I had anticipated.
Thursday
Nothing special happened today, just hanging around the house and again, I can't remember why she was so upset. I swear this sweater vest is magic, it just seems to have always fit her no matter how she grows.
Grandma laid down on the couch and Catie decided it looked like a good idea so she spread out on the love seat.
Saturday Every morning for breakfast I get Catie some cereal and milk and then while she eats I make a smoothie. When I'm finished I give her a little glass and a straw and she drinks a little but normally it's not very long before she tells me she's done so she gets down watches TV while I finish my breakfast. Only every morning she comes and sits on my lap to watch her show and drink smoothie with me, her head pressed against mine. It's lovely.
In the evening cousin Brynn and Catie fed the ducks (and geese and seagulls) and I couldn't have been more pleased with Catie's reaction.
She took the bread, threw it and then laughed. I just happened to get a great video of it so you can all enjoy her really great laugh.
Once the bread was all gone the girls spent their time chasing the seagulls and sitting on the edge of the lagoon. It was a perfect way to spend the evening.
Sunday
This girl is tall, she really needs some new church clothes.
Monday
Playing at Gwenn's house, she has the best toys. A cardboard play house and a dog bed.
Tuesday
We went to the park today, she's especially interested in the regular swings these days.
As if this post wasn't long enough, I thought I'd add a few Catie tidbits to make sure we remember them.
As all parents do, we think she's a genius. Through nothing we've done she's learned to count. She counts 5,6,7,8,9 and 10 all on her own, she knows which number comes next. When we count with her we say 1, and she says 5. We say 2 and she says 5. We say 3 and 4 and again she says 5. Only after we say 5 does she move on to 6.
She's getting pretty good at what animals say. She has a really great lion roar and dogs say woof woof (only her mouth stays in a really thin line when she says it). Sheeps say baa and birds say cheep cheep but hands down our favourite is what a cow says, BOOOOO, BOOOOO.
These cupcakes in a jar are so unique and beautiful and I knew I wanted to make some but I also didn't have any jars and wasn't willing to buy them. Then I moved in with my Mother-in-law and she had a whole case of small canning jars, not as cute as the ones in the photo but not bad. I knew I wouldn't package mine as beautifully (those wooden spoons are so awesome) but they still turned out not too shabby.
Before we go any further, let me tell you my opinion of red velvet cake. I think it's stupid. The colour comes from nothing but a whole lot of food colouring and I've never understood the draw to them. I do know that lots of people love them and they're kind of gourmet for some reason so I made them to take to my husband's work bbq. After making them twice now they might be starting to grow on me.
As I mentioned above, I moved in with my in-laws but most of our stuff is in storage including my cake decorating supplies. I tried to make do but my first attempt wasn't really anything special. I had to use an icing tip that was too small, a ziplock bag for my icing but worst of all I didn't have my gel food coloring. Instead I used what was on hand, the liquid stuff. Those red velvet cupcakes were awfully pink. People forgave me though and ate them anyway and they were tasty.
Not too long after my cousin was having what I thought was a Dr. Suess themed baby shower (I think mine was the only red and blue item there). Red velvet cupcakes with blue cream cheese icing was perfect for the theme (think Thing 1 and Thing 2). This time I got proper food colouring and borrowed a proper tip and bag and the difference was surprising. I didn't take a photo of my first attempt because they weren't photo worthy (being very pink and all). Just compare my two different batches of batter. I knew I was in trouble with the pink stuff there just wasn't anything I could do about it.
I used Bakerella's recipe for the cake and it was delicious (much better than the last recipe I used), like I mentioned above, it's cream cheese frosting tinted blue.
Since they're kind of unique I added a label to the top so people would know what they were eating.
And a photo from the top so you can see the pretty swirled top.
I'll definitely be making these again, they're delicious and so pretty.
Not too many pictures today, sorry. This was a good week though I think Catie turned two yesterday and started to act like it. I'm hoping it was just a bad day and not her new self.
Friday
We went on a walk today only as soon as we got to the path Catie wanted to be picked up. Then she proceeded to pick every dandelion in sight and then we went home, maybe 15 minutes long.
I love her cute swing-y skirt and she has a serious love for her boots right now.
Monday
Again with the boots. I bought the cute shorts and shirt at the same sale as yesterday's swing-y skirt. I don't remember why she was unhappy but I do remember that I was far too slow in getting whatever it was she wanted (We played with felt markers, hence all the marker on her shirt).
Tuesday
We went to the grocery store and on our way back into the house I asked her to carry my purse. I thought she was kind of annoyed with it so I tried to take it away but she got mad. I gave it back and she carried it around for a while.
It doesn't happen very often but occasionally Catie sees I'm taking pictures and is interested so I'll take a picture and then show her the result. She laughs and loves it, today was one of those times. In the photo below she just noticed me and in the next one she got really close (she had a cookie at the grocery store).
What a sorry blog this has been, for the past three weeks nothing but what Catie's wore. So sad. Well, it'll have to do for this week as well, sorry.
Thursday
I like the one strap under her arm, she pulled it off repeatedly throughout the day
Friday
She's quite the climber, we went tot he park and she was all about climbing up this ladder.
Saturday
Today we went to Calaway Park and Catie's cousins came with us, we had such a fun time. The girls are pretty little but they were still big enough to go on quite a few rides.
The ball pit was loads of fun. She carefully cleared a bunch of balls off the mat and then carefully laid down.
Riding a car all by herself. She waved and said "bye" every time she came around.
The carousel was easily her favourite ride. We went on it twice and she loved it both times.
Tuesday
We went to a wading pool today, it was hot and sunny and a great way to spend the morning.
She loves to play under the coffee table lately, she spent a good 10 minutes under there today.
She loves to play ring a round the rosie and today she stood in the box while she turned in circles and fell down.
Wednesday
Normally I wouldn't share these until next week but I loved them so you get to see them today instead. There's lots of fruit around our house these days and Catie tried her first nectarine and loved it. She ate very nearly the entire fruit.
