This past weekend we celebrated our baby turning 5! She loves all things sweet so we went with a cupcake and bakery theme for the party. Weeks and weeks before the party I started hunting for cupcake fabric to make aprons for all our little guests.

I stumbled upon some cupcake tea towels at IKEA. These were perfect! They weren’t expensive, and already had some of the sewing done for me. I am not a great seamstress by any means, but with my Grandma’s old sewing machine, and a few straight seams I managed to make ten sweet little aprons.

I started out cutting off the top of the tea towels to make the aprons short enough for little ones, and create the apron shape. I ironed and sewed the seams.

I really wanted the aprons to be more pink, so I used some pink polka dot ribbon for the neck and ties, finished with a little fray-stop to ensure the ribbons don’t unravel. I also found ready made pink ruffles to add to the bottom. For the boys -cream coloured ties and no ruffles.

I just love how they turned out, and the kids seemed to really like them too. There we three different patterns to choose from. The aprons were also part of their party favour at the end of the party. When the kids arrived the aprons were hung over the backs of the chairs, ready for the little bakers to decorate their cupcakes and cookies with.

They were a labour of love, time consuming but pretty simple, and worth the effort in the end.

Our two have all the chocolate frosting washed off now, and they’re ready for future baking adventures! With aprons this cute, life really is a party!

Check out all the other great posts from this cupcake bakery party:

• The Cupcake Birthday Dress
• The Pretend Cupcake Bakeshop and Cafe
• The Cupcake Bakery Party Decorations
• The Cupcake Towel
• Cupcake Aprons made from Tea Towels
• Decorating Cupcakes

This post is linked up at Tatertots and Jello and Whipperberry.

• The Sweetest Sweet Table Ever

When I first saw the free pattern for this sweet bag -The Buttercup Bag- I knew I wanted to make one! It’s so cute. Ages later, I was in Fabricland during a big sale and decided to go for it. I really like how the denim came out, it has a nice weight and natural stiffness so I didn’t need to worry about a liner or anything. I added the pop of red as the liner and button detail for fun!

I am not a very experienced sewer -think back to grade 7 home ec, and a few projects at Grandmas house. I found this you tube video -Giddyup Buttercup really helpful, so if your thinking of giving this a try check it out. The free pattern is available here, and there are tons of photos of this bag that others have made if you’re having trouble imagining what fabric combo or colour to do it in, just check it out in google images!

I’m really pleased with my first attempt. It only took a couple of sewing evenings to complete, so even if you’re a beginner, it’s really do-able. I even did a fancy magnetic snap, and small inside pocket. I also lengthened the strap, cause you know they’re always just a little too short, especially with a winter coat on. I love how it turned out. Wouldn’t this be a lovely handmade Christmas gift. You’ve still got time to try it. I want to try a larger one next. I hope your handmade Christmas gifts are coming along…tis the season!

This post is linked up at Blue Cricket Designs, and Between U and Me.

This fall, I’m loving the look of burlap, twine, white pumpkins, and neutrals. Although the oranges and reds of fall are so beautiful, I also love the natural look of creams, whites and browns this year, and I really love the look it creates when I can be restrained enough to use a neutral palette. I spotted a fun twine pumpkin at Recaptured Charm, and thought that a grouping of them would make a great fall decoration. Lisa used a dark brown jute twine, see her great tutorial here. I wanted to try it with a lighter coloured twine and white cotton string as well.

I blew up several small balloons, all in slightly different sizes. I dipped the strings in white glue, and got my hands dirty wrapping the balloons.

After the string was dry, I popped the balloons, and made sure there was a big enough space in the bottom to insert a battery operated candle. Then, I went for a little walk to the forest, and found a stick large enough to resemble a pumpkin stem. I cut the stick to length, and glued it to the top of the string ball with a little hot glue.

I grouped the five little pumpkins on a cream coloured runner on my kitchen table. They look great flickering away in the evening.

This was a fun, and simple project, and I got lots of compliments on them at Thanksgiving.

This post is linked up at Blue Cricket Design, Savvy Southern Style, Whipperberry, French Country Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Faded Charm Cottage, and Tatertots and Jello.

I am excited to be involved in the decor for a Thanksgiving dinner at our church’s food bank this weekend. I’ve been working away to create something beautiful, and inexpensive and have come up with these fall branch centrepieces. I love all the beautiful subdued autumn colours.

I used my Cricut Expressions to create the leaves. After finally figuring out how to use the Cricut design software to isolate the oak leaf on the “Straight out of the Nest” cartridge, downloading upgrades, buying a new mat, buying a new blade, and getting close to shedding a few tears, I finally got 70 leaves cut out! I do love how they came out, especially the ones I made out of book pages, and brown craft paper.

After the leaves were all cut out, I hot glued them to some branches, and added a few acorns we’d collected.

I used inexpensive glass vases from Dollarama, and filled the vases with yellow lentils to add weight, colour and interest.

I really like the result, and that the food bank can use these other years, if they choose to. I can’t wait to show you how the whole table comes together, and on a budget too! Happy almost Thanksgiving everyone.

This post is linked up at Somewhat Simple, Between U and Me, Whipperberry, Tatertots and Jello, and Blue Cricket Design.

I’ve always wanted one of these antique garden benches. This year at the Christie Antique show, I kept looking for one in my price range. There were lots of beautiful ones, but nothing cheap enough, cute enough, or in the right colour. I did find some other great things there, but the more benches we looked at, the more my girl friend Allana and I thought we could make one for less. We were contemplating colours and designs, and snapping up pictures to copy. On the way home from the antique show, we spotted a little dealer, just outside of town, and stopped in for one last look. We struck gold. There was a little un-finished bench, and I got it for, I think $35. Allana and I figured we couldn’t buy the wood for that, and I went for it. All that was needed was a coat of paint, in any colour I wanted. It wasn’t old, just a repro. Great I thought, then there’s no guilt around leaving it out in the rain in the garden!

Here it is, before I painted it.

I started out with a couple of coats of white exterior stain. And I was tempted to leave it like this.

But, I always have to guild the lily. So, I’d seen on HGTV shows in the past, that to create a slightly rustic look, you can run a candle along the edges of your piece before you apply your top coat. The wax keeps the top coat from sticking well, and makes it easy to sand off on the edges to create a rustic look. I tried it, and it worked really well.

I put the finished, pink bench along the side of the deck. It has a cute little enamel ware teapot, that I got that day at the Antique fair, and it’s holding a simple pink geranium. It sits along side the muskoka chair, acting as a side table, or extra seating.

Looking down from the new bench, you can see my White Garden, between the pergola and the house. It’s my favourite garden, and although I think it looks better in early summer, it’s got some beautiful things blooming right now too.

The perennial sweet peas are flowering, although they look a little pink. There are a few pink and purple imposters in the white garden, a few that will be moved in the fall, but the sweet peas will stay, they’re almost white. The yellow extension cord is a temporary fix for my new fountain. I can’t resist showing you a picture of it, in a new little garden. It makes a wonderful noise, and pretty view from the deck, seeing it in front of the forest behind.

Back to the white garden, with a view from the house. You can see my flagstone path I created, and the intersecting one is pea gravel. I love the grey and pink colours it adds. Of course the table has a huge water toy set up on it, life with little children! But I know how quickly it passes, so I don’t mind having their toys scattered about these days.

The pergola is of course my very favourite part of the backyard. My amazing brother-in-law, Shaun built it for me, and we had the interlock done. I added the path ways and plants. Although we have a small, pie-shaped backyard, with our neighbours very near, I love the forest behind and the gardens we’ve been about to create. Here’s the view from our upstairs bedroom window. You can see the paths, and the courtyard effect the fence, house and deck create.

The main path leads to the back garden gate.

This little bell like clematis is doing well beside the fence, at the end of the other path.

And the cone flowers are beautiful.

My creamy coloured marigolds are so pretty beside a sweet little birdbath.

It’s amazing how many white flowers there are when you start looking. My mom and I, who started a white garden at the same time as I did, have a great time hunting and exchanging plants and ideas. Have a peek at her white garden here. And although it’s hard to be restrained and only use white, I absolutely love the effect it creates. This was just a little patch of yard, that was seldom used since it sloped down to the fence, and seemed kind of separate from the rest of the yard. Here was the only before picture I could find.

Just some grass and a tree. Now it’s one of my favourite places.

I hope you’re enjoying your garden this summer too.

This post is linked up at Whipperberry, and Tatertots and Jello.