The Tooth Fairy

At 6 years old, my son lost his first tooth.  For me, of course it's a reason to celebrate!

 I found some really cute things on the internet.  The printable envelope is so sweet, I found it on DailyCandy.com.  It is easy to cut out and glue together.  The tooth fairy certificate was on the dentistry.about.com along with many others.  A hint of fairy dust (glitter!) in the envelope added to the excitement in the morning.

We discovered Marilyn Scott-Water's website The Toymaker.  Marilyn has a book out by the same title filled with magical toys you can make out of paper with your children.  Some of them are on her website.  We've filled many rainy days assembling some of her unique paper crafts found there. Above is her tooth fairy gazebo.  The details on it are amazing.

You can find some really inventive things out there, with just a little advanced planning...  I found a stamp of the tooth fairy's postmark on an Etsy store called Terbear Collectibles.  Who would have thought?  What child wouldn't be excited to see a "real" letter from the tooth fairy?  There's just something magical about childhood milestones.  They make us all remember a simpler time in our lives, and bring a smile to our hearts. 

Just For Fun

My daughter's preschool has a read to me program every year.  This year they concentrated on books by Lindsay Barrett George.  At the end of the year, they read the book Alfred Digs.  It's a sweet little story about and ardvark named Alfred and his pet ant, Itty Bitty.  Alfred loses his pet ant and has to dig for him in the dictionary.  The shape of Alfred is a lot like a rabbit, so I used a rabbit cookie cutter and some royal icing to make Alfreds goggles.  Did you notice Itty Bitty on his ear?  I found the sugar ants at Bev's Cakes shop.

A Flower Party

When my daughter turned three, I wanted a girly party for her without licensed characters, so I came up with this open theme.  It is easy to work with and can become pretty much what ever you desire.  Imagine it with all daisies, or a different color theme - it can become more casual or very formal.

This is where the whole party started.  I found the directions to make these flowers on Martha Stewart.  I found some beautiful tissue paper at Michael's Crafts.  I varied the petal edges and which colors were in the center.  I also made smaller flowers for variety.  Here they are hanging from our chandelier.  Some were hung in the corners of the rooms and backs of chairs.  

Here are some of the smaller flowers added to balloons on the front porch.  It's always nice to have something out front so guest know this is where the party is!

I chose orange and pink to go along with the tissue paper flowers,  and incorporated it into the remaining decorations.

We had boys and girls at the party, so I found these sweet little bead kits by Bead Bazaar at Piggy Roo.  They had flowers, butterflies, whales, bugs - something for everyone.  I love the idea that the children will have something creative to do when they get home.

I love to make cut out cookies and decorate them for birthdays or holidays.  Since the beads seemed a little small, I made a bag of cookies for each guest.  I kept them pink and orange to go with the tissue paper flowers.  I found some wonderful luster powder at my local cake decorating shop Bev's Cakes.  The powder is totally edible, and generally is mixed with alcohol and painted onto fondant.  I put mine in a fine sieve and dusted it over royal icing.  It has a wonderful glitter effect.  The luster dust is by CK Products.

My daughter loves brownies and requested brownie cupcakes.  So I made Ghiardelli brownie mix into cupcakes and topped them with cream cheese icing.  I found the little sugar flowers at Fancy Flours.  Take a peek at their site, there are many things to choose from, whatever your theme may be.  The cake stand is by Two's Company.  I found this set at Home Goods.

Mother's Day Brunch

It is finally nice enough to have a Mother's Day brunch outside!  It's so exciting after being cooped up all winter, and everything always tastes better al fresco!  I decided to make things a little elegant this year and used my grandmother's silver.

I decided to make things a little elegant this year and used my grandmother's silver.

I recently aquired a new pan to make filled pancakes from Williams Sonoma.  They take a little longer to make, but the results are well worth it.  We filled ours with Nutella, applebutter, or apricot jelly.  These pancakes are called ebleskiver in Denmark.  Other suggested fillings are lemon curd, fruit or cheese.  I could imagine making a savory version, perhaps with herbed goat cheese and serving these as appetizers.

The main course - Linguine and Prosciutto Frittatas, a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis of the Food Network.  They are so incredibly delicious and easy to make with Linquine, proscuitto, eggs, various cheeses and a hint of garlic.

We also opened up a bottle of Champagne  and added some orange juice to make some yummy mimosas.

I just love this compote.  It makes anything look a little extra special, doesn't it?  The blueberries and strawberries were super sweet, so I didn't do a thing to them.

Ah, newly mown grass and a white table cloth.  A nice balance between casual and extra special.