Party Pics and More Toy Fair News :)

Middle Gal's family party yesterday was a big success.  We had a great time together with our family, celebrating eight years with Middle Gal.  I can't believe she's already that old!

I thought you guys would enjoy seeing pictures of Middle Gal's cake.  She chose a "Frozen" theme, as I mentioned yesterday, and Mom and Mimi did a wonderful job on the cake, as usual. :)

The complete cake.  The cake itself was yellow cake with homemade butter cream frosting.  The trees in the background were star-shaped sugar cookies with white frosting.  Mom and Mimi also used candy rocks and chocolate-covered strawberries for rocks, and then used white sugar sprinkles and white snowflake-shaped sprinkles to add extra texture to the "snow".

We found a set of mini Frozen dolls at Walmart that were just the right size for the cake.  Mom and Mimi put them on a clear little tray with sprinkles covering it so they wouldn't get frosting on their cloth dresses.

The set also came with a mini Olaf.  It was fun to have him on the cake, too. :)  

A closer look at the rocks and sprinkles.

The cookie trees were held together by wooden skewers.  To keep them from toppling, my dad got Mom and Mimi a big block of Styrofoam, which they covered in tin foil.  Then, all they had to do was push one end of the skewers into the foam, and the trees stayed in place perfectly. :)

They also made Middle Gal a mini cookie tree with a candle for her to blow out. :)

Just the day before the party, I happened to find this Frozen t-shirt just in Middle Gal's size, so I got it for her and she wore it for the party.  She also wore blue socks on her hands (to look like Anna's gloves) and a blue skirt.  Then she tied a pink baby blanket around her neck to look like Anna's cape. :)

For a finishing touch, and at Middle Gal's request, she wore two braids, and I braided a piece of sheer white ribbon into her right braid to look like Anna's white streak.  This was a lot easier said than done, and caused  a bit of a Sunday morning meltdown (from me, I'm ashamed to admit...stupid hormones). :{  I finally figured it out, though, and the end result was pleasing.

So, one Frozen party down, two to go.  Of course, at this point, Oldest Gal is considering a Frozen/My Little Pony party theme, so that will be interesting to figure out. ;)  When we were discussing it yesterday, the three girls were coming up with pretty funny scenarios from Frozen where the different MLP characters came in and added to the film.  (Middle Gal's idea was for Pinkie Pie to jump in right after Hans said "I would never shut you out," and shout "LIAR!!"  I could totally see it.) ;)  

Anyway, it's been a crazy weekend, but a fun one. :)

Before I go, I just wanted to link a couple of Ever After High videos from the Toy Fair that I found.  These are from YouTube user clawdeena9.  The first shows the lineup of regular EAH dolls but includes a look at Cedar Wood, the daughter of Pinocchio and the newest doll to the regular line.  You can see it HERE.

There's also a video of the four new "Throne Coming" dolls.  This lineup includes C.A.Cupid, Raven Queen, Blondie Lockes, and Apple White.  You can see the video HERE.  My girls saw these and said, "Look, Mommy, they have modest dresses!" ;)  Their eye makeup is a bit crazy 80s for me (especially Raven's), but it is refreshing to see them in dresses that go past their knees. ;)

More to come!  For now, I'm off to JC Penney's to have the girls' pictures taken.     

Happy Sunday :)

Hey everyone, just wanted to throw out a quick hello before a crazy day.  After church, we're having Middle Gal's family party, so I won't be posting my Kristoff review until tomorrow at the earliest.  Middle Gal chose Frozen for her theme, so Mom and Mimi made an adorable Frozen-themed cake for her. :)  I'll be sure to share pics with all of you. :)

I also just wanted to mention that the 2014 New York Toy Fair has officially opened today.  I'm there in spirit. ;)  Someday, I would love to go, especially since as a blogger I can get in for free. :D  Sadly, the airfare, hotel, and food is NOT free, and it's a long way from Northern California to New York. ;)

I'll be keeping an eye out for info and pictures on the new items shown at the Toy Fair.  I'm especially interested in seeing new releases for My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake (which will now be done by Bridge Direct instead of Hasbro), Hearts For Hearts Girls, the Zelfs, Ever After High, and Starpath Dolls (a new doll line).

I know that the Cedar Wood doll is supposed to be revealed for the Ever After High line.  I've also seen several pictures and videos for the My Little Pony releases.  Sadly, most of them are focused on the new Equestria Girls "Rainbow Rocks" line.  While I don't have a problem with Equestria Girls like many fans, I'm not into rock and roll, and I really don't care for the "punk" look they're giving a lot of the dolls. :(  You can see a video of the new items by Stitch Kingdom HERE and some great photos from Flickr user "insidethemagic", starting HERE (there are photos of lots of the other Toy Fair items in this photostream, too).

I know there are a ton of new releases for the Zelf line.  Many of them have popped up on Facebook and Flickr already.  And actually, right after typing that line, I checked the Zelf website and saw that all of the new releases (or at least most of them) are up on the site.  You can see the new medium Zelfs HERE, but be sure to check out the other sizes, too. :)  My contact from Moose Toys has told me that she's willing to send me some stock photos that I can share here when they're ready (most likely after the Toy Fair is over).  The new Zelfs are supposed to be released in the US sometime in March.

I guess that's about it for now.  Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.  I'll be in touch soon! :)

Birthday Pics and Exciting News

As promised, here are a few pics of Oldest Gal's birthday "cake", although it was actually a cake plate covered with "S'mores Cups" (a recipe of my aunt's).

Here's the whole thing.  Didn't Mom and Mimi do a great job?

Hubby helped by actually toasting the mini marshmallow that Dot is holding. :)  The bonfire is made of candy clay and broken toothpicks.

A closer look at the yummy S'mores Cups. :)

Dot looks like she's enjoying herself. :)

I believed I mentioned before that Oldest Gal requested a bonfire and S'mores for her birthday (which would explain the theme of her "cake").  Here's the larger of the two bonfires we built.  Unfortunately, this day ended up being one of the hottest we've had all year, so it was too hot to cook the S'mores at this fire.  Thankfully, the guys made a smaller, smoldering bonfire as well, so the birthday girl and the family were still able to have their S'mores. :)

And since it's the third birthday of the year, as always, I completely ran out of steam and forgot to take pics of Oldest Gal's gifts.  She got some very nice things, though, including mini Crumbs and her sister Sprinkle (Lalaloopsies), the book "All of a Kind Family", and more.

I took a lot of doll-related photos tonight to share with you, but I won't be able to get to the posts that accompany them until later.  And this brings me to the "exciting news" I mentioned in the title:  my uncle is giving my husband and me his old truck!   A very nice truck (that to us is not very old) with enough seating for the girls.  It's a huge answer to prayer, as our car has been having issues.  Tomorrow I'll be traveling several hours away to go pick it up, so I'll be gone for most of the day.

Then Saturday afternoon I'll be going to a local production of "Fiddler on the Roof" with my mom, my aunt, and my mother-in-law.  I'm very excited...it's been a while since I've been to a live performance. :)  Even better, one of the kids I used to babysit is playing the role of Perchik. :)  I'll have to tell you how it goes. 

So in the meantime, don't worry that I've fallen off the face of the earth or something like that.  I'll be back with more fun as soon as I can. ;) 

Middle Gal's Lalaloopsy Birthday "Cake", Thrift Store Finds, and Some Updates for the Week

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday. :)  Just a few random things and some updates today.  

First off, I thought you'd all enjoy seeing Middle Gal's birthday "cake" (although it was actually cookies instead!) from her family party.  Today is her actual birthday.  At 2:29 PM on this day seven years ago, my little bundle of joy joined our family.  I can't believe she's already that old! :}

As you can see, she's still very much into Lalaloopsy. :)  Mom and Mimi did a great job with the cake this year, as usual.  They used one of the Peanut Big Top minis, along with her accessories and her cardboard house.  The trees are made of star-shaped sugar cookies with purple frosting and pink sprinkles (Middle Gal's specific request), and are topped with dark chocolate Hershey's kisses.  Then Mom took two thin dowel rods , used cookies to secure them, and cut the Happy Birthday pennants out of scrapbooking paper.  

Adorable mini Peanut Big Top.

Middle Gal had a wonderful family party and is very excited about her birthday trip...but I'll get back to that in a bit.

I thought you'd enjoy seeing my latest Goodwill find:  45 My Little Ponies!  These were purchased over two trips, but someone obviously just got rid of their entire collection.

My Little Pony Palooza!! ;)

And here they are slightly more organized.  There are 45 ponies in all, 44 G3s and 1 G1.

Right now, I'm in the middle of going through the ponies, organizing them, and figuring out who they are.  Once I've finished that, I'll figure out which ones I'm keeping and which ones I'll be passing on. :)

I have some great upcoming posts planned, including some reviews and a couple of fun giveaways, so be on the lookout for those. :)

But first, I have an out of town trip this weekend!  Mom, Mimi, and I are taking Oldest Gal, Middle Gal, and Little Gal on a birthday trip to a Disney Store and several other places in the same vicinity.  This is a replacement for the 3 crazy "friend" parties I end up throwing 3 months in a row every year.  We thought it was a good year to try something different.  Each girl will still have a nice, low-key family party during their birthday month, but this weekend is the big celebration.  Each of them have about $50 to spend (gifts from family), so they're all super excited. :)  I'll share all about the trip when I get back.

I won't have Internet access while I'm gone, so don't be worried if I don't publish your comment or get right back to you...I'll be back in a couple of days. :)  

And on that note, once again I've found myself a bit behind on my emails.  I was hoping to get to them before this weekend, but it just didn't work out with packing and everything else this week.  If you've sent me an email recently, I apologize for the delay and will respond as soon as I can, hopefully by next week. 

That's about all for now...I've got to finish packing and get to bed! ;)

Oldest Gal's Tangled Party! :)

Okay, I'm determined to get a bit caught up on this blog!!  This week is going to be full and crazy, so I'd like to know I have things squared away here! ;)

I believe I mentioned before that Oldest Gal chose a Tangled theme for her birthday party.  It was very convenient of my girls to all want princess parties in the same year...it made it very easy when it came to party accessories like plates and party favors. ;)

So here is Oldest Gal's birthday table:

Ta-dah!! :)

Here's a closer look at the "cake", although there wasn't actually any cake on it. ;)  You might notice that the gingerbread trees and the Hershey's Kisses bushes from the first two parties made another appearance. :)  They were such a big hit before that we decided to do them again.  

I thought "Rapunzel" turned out really cute. :)  Like the other "cakes", this was made with a Chelsea doll (fka Kelly), the littlest sister of Barbie.  Her skirt (underneath the frosting) was a giant banana muffin, as Oldest Gal is not a big fan of cake.  Rapunzel's dress was made of candy clay.

The sparkly part down the middle of her skirt was made of decorative colored sugar.

After we took the first few pictures, Mom and Aunt Amy realized they'd forgotten to add Pascal, so they took a minute to do that before we did the rest of the pictures! :)

This is actually supposed to be an iguana, but I figured he was close enough to play the part. ;)  He came with the Chelsea doll.  This was what gave me the idea to do the doll cakes in the first place.  I saw the cute little blonde with an iguana and immediately thought of Rapunzel. ;)

My aunt did this cute braided hairstyle on her to make her look more like Rapunzel.  I was very impressed, because I'd tried braiding it and had no success!  The hair was super slick and a rather awkward length.  Good job, Mimi! :)

Rapunzel's tower was made of various sizes of round gingerbread cookies, stacked up and held in place with a wooden skewer.  Then everything was covered and decorated with candy clay.

The top of the tower was a pointy ice cream cone covered in purple candy clay.

The vines were made of candy clay, and the leaves were frosting.

Here's a closer look at a couple of the bushes:  Hershey's kisses covered with frosting and flower-shaped sprinkles. 

As a fun extra this time, Mimi and Mom made these really cute Pascal banana muffins.  They used green frosting and edible candy eyes to make Pascal's face conveying different emotions.  Mimi didn't think it was her best work (the artist is always the most critical of her own art), ;) but I thought they were adorable. :)

I bought a packet of Rapunzel napkins from Walmart and used the leftover pink plates from the last party. :)

Oldest Gal's Mattel Rapunzel graced the table, and I used a few of the same sheets of scrapbooking paper I'd used to make invitations to add some color.  Also, we bought a plastic tablecloth that looks like a lace one from Walmart.  We'd used a similar one for Little Gal's party, and I liked the look so much that I decided to use one for this party too. :)

This time around, I was able to find lots of nice but inexpensive Tangled treats to put in the girls' goody bags.  Each bag contained 3 large Rapunzel stickers (purchased on eBay in a big lot), a Disney Princess paddle-ball game (Rapunzel was even on them!), a mini Rapunzel notepad, a Rapunzel stamp, and a Disney Princess ring, all from Dollar Tree, a bracelet (selected from our stash of barely used hand-me-downs), and two Rapunzel crayons.  Michael's had sets of Princess crayons in their dollar section that just happened to have crayons with Rapunzel, Cinderella and Snow White on them, so I bought several boxes at the beginning of the year and used them for all three parties! :)  The goody bags themselves were also purchased at Dollar Tree.  So for this party, each goody bag including its accessories cost me about 87 cents!  I think that's a record! :)  The great thing was finding so many party favors at Dollar Tree in packs of 6 or more. :)

Middle Gal decided that the walls needed some decorations, so she drew this Rapunzel poster for her big sister. :)

One of the things the girls always look forward to is getting a birthday balloon.  Oldest Gal really loved hers. Unfortunately, it had a very short life span.  Before the party even began, she managed to poke a hole in it while pirouetting with her balloon and a CD case.  

Now, not trying to be unsympathetic here (although it wasn't one of my most compassionate mom moments, I'll admit!), but if you're going to dance around with a balloon and something that has four pointy edges...what exactly are you expecting to happen, especially when you're holding them right next to each other?  I know...I'm such a mom! :}

Thankfully for Oldest Gal, Daddy was able to save the balloon from complete annihilation with some Scotch tape.  It definitely didn't last or float as long as birthday balloons normally do, though! ;)

I decided that the living room needed a little something too, so I used my Eugene and Rapunzel dolls to decorate.  I also put out my "The Art of Tangled" book (a fabulous read, by the way...I recommend it 100%!).

Pascal even made an appearance! :)

The party was a wee bit crazy (we did have 12 girls under the age of 10 in 1 house, after all!), but the birthday girl had a great time with her friends.  As an added bonus, my mom, my aunt, my sister-in-law, and one of the moms stayed almost the whole time, so I even got some fun conversation with other adults in at the same time! :D  What more could you ask for? ;)

Oldest Gal got a lot of thoughtful gifts (some of which will be featured in future review posts!).  One of the things we got her was a Flynn Rider doll from the Disney Store, since her Rapunzel was lonely. ;)

All three girls love seeing me do my "Doll Set-Ups" for my photography, and they've really gotten into doing it themselves.  This is how Oldest Gal set up her Tangled characters:

The Battat baby horse is a stand-in for Maximus, by the way. ;)

Later that night, when I went to check something in the playroom, I saw how Oldest Gal had put away her Flynn and Rapunzel:

Apparently, they're very glad to be reunited! ;)

Hope you enjoyed the post!!  I've got a lot more to come, but they may not happen right away.  This week is the Ladies Spring Event at my church, so I'll be busy getting all of the last-minute details ready for my devotional.  I'll be sure to let all of you know how that goes and share some pictures as well! :)

Also, the week after this one is Middle Gal's Kindergarten graduation, so we'll be a bit busy then, too.  I'll be around, though, even if I don't post quite as regularly for a while. ;)

Oh, and A Spicy Muffin (I still have to stop myself from typing "Spice Muffin"!), I'll do my best to get to the 11 Tag if I can, but I can't make any promises.  I've been absolutely horrible at tags and blog parties lately...sorry about that everyone!  Hopefully this summer I can be involved in some of those a little more!

Talk to all of you soon! :)

Disney Tangled Party Invitations

I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but my oldest daughter has chosen a Disney's Tangled theme for her upcoming birthday party! (Yay!!)  Last night, the two of us worked on her birthday invitations together (as shown above).  These were really easy to make and ended up looking really cute, so I thought I'd share how we did it here. :)

First off, I dug through my trusty drawer of scrapbooking paper and found a packet of these lovely 12x12 sheets of card stock.  I thought the color and design looked just perfect for Rapunzel. :)

The paper was double-sided:  patterned lavender and cream on one side, and dark plummy purple on the other side.  (And I have no clue why Blogger randomly decided to upload this picture sideways!) ;)

As you can see, it came with a pretty pre-scalloped edge.

I started by folding each sheet of paper in half.

Next, I used my photo trimmer to cut the scallops off of one edge.  [Side note here:  I would definitely recommend using two hands to cut with your photo trimmer...I just did it one handed this time so that I could take a picture.  It's a lot less likely that you'll make a mistake if you use two hands!] ;)

As you can see, I cut it only as wide as the first scallop so that I could use as much paper as possible.

Next, I choose a good width for each invitation and cut.  I had pre-printed party info for the inside of the invitations, so I used that as a guide.  These may be a little wide for standard envelopes, so you might want to take that into consideration when you're making yours.

Now I had a nice card stock base.

I used a glue stick to secure the paper with the party info onto the card stock (I have it turned over so that our personal info remains private). :)

Now all that was left was to add the finishing touches!  I found these large Tangled stickers on eBay last year, when Oldest Gal was considering a Tangled party.  Now I can finally use them! :)  I was very pleased with the final result.

We decided to add another Tangled sticker on the inside to brighten it up a bit.  And there you have it!  Simple yet elegant Tangled party invitations. :)

I'll be sure to post pictures of the party after it happens.  We're either having it on Saturday the 14th or Saturday the 21st...I'm still working on the scheduling details! :}