very lonely firefly party

For the birthday party, I wanted the Very Lonely Firefly to be the bug getting most of the attention.  However, there are 6 girls cousins and only my two boys - so the Very Hungry Caterpillar and butterfly had to make an appearance too!

The goody bags were from the Target dollar section... a long time ago.

Each kid got parts to make a mobile.  The circles had each of the bugs from Eric Carle's books, as well as the star from "Draw Me a Star".  I used my Silhouette to layout the pictures and cut them.

The treats were runts and gummy worms...

in a Target dollar section container.

Some other goodies in their bags - fork and spoon (Target dollar section), glow sticks, sparklers, bug jar, bug rings for the girls, and bug finger puppets.

The finger puppets, jar, and rings were from Oriental Trading Company.

The three babies got socks.

Here is what the finished mobile looked like.

We also made fireflies, using Mountain Dew bottles, glow sticks, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and foam wings.

I used glue dots for the eyes and double stick tape to hold the wings on.

The pipe cleaner just got twisted around the top.

Since we planned on a picnic, I used some of my stickers on rocks to be decoration for outside as well as napkin holders if it was breezy.

The invites were simple.  Green dotted washi tape (Target), a picture of the birthday boy in the grass, and some star and bug stickers.

The insides were made with washi tape, stickers, and a computer printout.

The weather was rainy, so the picnic food was served inside.  The cake was a five layer yellow cake with dark blue frosting.  It was covered in gold stars, and a yellow star candle, and a little yellow paper bunting spelling out Braden's name.

The birthday boy, his siblings, and cousins had a blast playing together anyway, and the grandparents, aunts and uncle enjoyed time with the kids.  That's what really matters!

my firefly is one!

My firefly is one!  For his birthday outfit I used Patty Young's Natalie&Nate pattern, the boy version.  The fabric is from Eric Carle's Very Lonely Firefly collection.  The lining fabric is Brown Bear or Very Hungry Caterpillar - I forgot which one.


I also embellished a romper for him with a firefly star.  We now have five people in our family - so a star seems just right as our family symbol.  His older brother requested a matching tshirt, so he got an orange one with the star appliqued in the middle as well.

very hungry caterpillar

My daughter's latest dress is made from Patty Young's Frida pattern.

I finally cut into my Eric Carle stash.  The headscarf and bodice are from the Brown Bear collection.  The skirt, pockets, ruffle, and sleeves are from the Very Hungry Caterpillar collection.

She loves retelling the story and pointing at the foods on the skirt.

She wore it proudly for her brother's Eric Carle birthday party, and will hopefully wear it for the first day of Kindergarten.

pink hearts and purple stars

One of my nieces requested a dress with pink hearts and purple stars.  I did my best to fulfill her wish.

I used Patty Young's Addison pattern for the big girl.  (Her sister was the one who got the purple version in March).

Her doll got the Mini-Addison version, with slightly different buttons.

Happy birthday, G!

pouches pouches pouches

I've gone a little crazy with the Noodlehead tutorial.
I had so much fun with them I went ahead and bought the pattern so I can add a few more details and learn some of her tricks.

I tried different techniques of my own, adding piping or double layering the band across the front.

I love this ruffled ribbon!

I tried to mix it up a little too by sometimes including a divider or pockets on each side.

I quilted the top band.

It was a lot of fun mixing and matching patterns and trims and zippers.  I had to stop because I ran out of interfacing!

more knit dresses

I love Spoonflower.  It's a great concept, and although I've only used it once - I plan to use it again for another special project.  I bought this rainbow fabric in the organic knit and used Patty Young's Morgan pattern.

I used an old tshirt for the yellow, and some scrap knits for the green and the turquoise.  I cut the fabric carefully to get a nice zigzag effect at the shoulder and neckbands.

I love the pockets peeking out a bit of yellow!

This version was made for one of my nieces using Patty Young fabric and some other solids from my stash.

Here's another peek at the pocket.

The tuck at the neckline is a cute detail.

I've made many of Patty Young's Abigail dresses before.  This is my latest version.

It comes together so easily now, especially with my serger.  Easy breezy!