Birthday gifts

It has been a birthday-filled week in my extended family, and here is what has had me busy:

My sister-in-law loves alpacas and llamas. After making a giraffe fence sitter for her daughter last year (see that here) and then a giraffe and a lion for our grandson (here), my sis-in-law teasingly asked for an alpaca for her fence. As far as I know, there aren't any patterns for an alpaca fence sitter, so hubby and I made our own.

Unless you have a strong fondness for alpacas and llamas, you probably only have a vague image in your mind when someone mentions these animals. To make a caricature of an animal, you need a feature to focus on such as the giraffe's neck or the lion's mane. Figuring out how to create an alpaca on flat pieces of wood was a challenge.

Llamas and alpacas have teeth that grow continuously and need to be filed. I wasn't about to include them. They have shaggy or woolly coats that I could only hope to indicate by dabbing paint onto a white background with scrunched up plastic wrap. 

There wasn't much color in this project so I decided Al (he was known as Al Paca while here) needed to chew on a flower. I bought this stem of artificial whatever (gardening isn't my strong suit) and hubby dug out (routered?) a channel on the back side of the snout before it was glued and nailed in place. The hooves aren't anatomically correct but we'll claim artistic license on this. Hubby wanted to be certain they would hold on the wooden fence so we used the pattern  piece from the previous animals.

My sis-in-law and I are members of a knitting group that meet at a yarn store. We sit at a table, but beyond the table and behind a row of shelves is a seating area with leather furniture. I placed Al and a birthday card on one of the chairs for her to discover as we wandered around, looking at new yarn. Here is her reaction:

She is happy. Al is now in a loving home. Hubby and I are happy for both of them.

Tonight our clan will be together for a birthday dinner for one of my great-nephew's, a grandson of the llama lover.  The birthday boy will be getting cash from us, but I didn't want to just stick money in a card. Why not stick it in a bottle instead?

Based on something I saw on Pinterest, this is how I created his gift:

Remove the label from a bottle. Save it for a template or just take a quick measure for the new label you will make. There is likely to be some label and glue that won't come off easily. Don't worry about it. Wash a plastic bottle and set it upside down to dry. I did mine after cutting the flap in it but that shouldn't matter.  Crumple money that will go inside.

Here is the flap that I cut in the side of the bottle. I used a craft knife. I started with a kitchen knife but a craft knife is much easier. Whatever you use, be careful!

I knew I was only going to put money in this, but if you plan to put something larger inside, cut the flap to accommodate the largest thing you plan to put in the bottle but keep the cut within the label area so that you can cover it up. In other words, I would have made the U shape cut with taller uprights on the U going around the bottle if I was going to put a model car inside.

Here is the bottle with 5 one-dollar bills crumpled inside.

Sometimes thinking artsy-fartsy-let's-use-up supplies-on-hand gets me in a bit of trouble. A 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper does not fit around a 2 liter bottle. I cut the strip 5" wide and taped an extension on. The pattern didn't line up. Oh well. Once I glued the letters on, I decided they didn't stand out enough so I outlined them with a pen. The paper is textured so that didn't go as smoothly as planned.

Here are views of the finished bottle with 25 singles inside

  

I taped the birthday label on using a tape that is new to me, called Sookwang. It is double sided, super sticky and permanent. I mean PERMANENT! There is no chance of repositioning it. Of course the label ends didn't match up perfectly. It was less noticeable at the top for some reason, probably due to the pattern. I stuck a green tag on the bottom with our names on it.

If you like this but worry that you aren't crafty, make it easy on yourself and use wrapping paper for the bottle label. Regular tape should be fine for holding the label in place. I taped the flap before adding the label cut it probably wasn't necessary.

If you don't have enough items to fill the bottle, use some shredded paper as filler. I am pretty sure the birthday boy is going to be amazed and wonder how I got the money inside the bottle. It would be more amazing if I had an item in there that couldn't possibly collapse to fit through the neck of the bottle. I'm thinking that the next adult birthday that requires a fun or amusing gift might get a bottle full of bottles: airplane size liquor bottles, Tums, aspirin, etc.

I hope you have fun with this idea!

Three days of birthday celebrations

Three days of birthday celebrations can age a person!  The Prince of Sweetness (more commonly known as my grandson) turned 4 last Thursday. Daddy's birthday was the following day (he is almost my age now!) and Saturday was the Super Hero party that Mommy and Daddy hosted for the Prince's relatives and friends.

On his actual birthday, Papa and Gigi tagged along as his parents took him to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch. Going there mid-day on a school day was wonderful. I think there were only three other families there. The Prince had fun and we left with our hearing intact.

The simple joys of being four...getting prize tickets is as much fun as playing the game!

Daddy's birthday was much more subdued, partly because Mommy and Daddy were so busy prepping for the party. Daddy did get a handmade card with his gift from us that day. I was itching to use my newest Sizzix die which is officially called Picture Wheel, but known by many as the View Master die.

I used an image found online of a View Master sleeve, added a birthday greeting, printed it and glued it to sleeve (jacket? pocket?) that I made. The picture wheel held 12 photos. I chose photos from my son's early years, with his buddies, his wedding and with his son. In case anyone is interested, I sized the photos and printed them from a Word document. Some printing quality is lost, but I don't expect this to be used as a printed photo would. After cropping photos to get faces as focal points, I sized the photos to be .6 inches wide.

Saturday was the party, a huge success due to my son and daughter-in-law's planning and hosting abilities.

I love the cardboard cupcake tower. Perfect backdrop for Super Heroes, especially Batman (on the cake) but I think this would look good at Halloween too, maybe with some spidery webbing going on.

Captain America with his mask on top of his head. 

I don't care what your hair stylist says, you simply cannot get this color out of a bottle. Meet my daughter-in-law, Wonder Woman. 

I don't have photos of Papa and Gigi in our Super attire yet, much to Papa's relief. I made these as over-sized bibs that button behind the neck. The felt is heavy weight craft felt, leftover from the play house project. We have two couches in our house, the one in the living room being "Papa's couch" according to our grandson. Same thing with the remote out there. If he comes over and I'm on that couch, he asks me why I am sitting on Papa's couch. That is how I determined the logo(s) for Super Papa. Super Gigi got a ball of yarn and some bling, because one can never have too much sparkle. 

Super Gigi Pucker Pickle Puss with a $1 tiara from a craft store and eyeglass adornment made from sparkly craft paper, held on with thin ribbon and a bit of two-way tape.

No offense HRH Queen Elizabeth, but I really rule!

What a surprise!

My kids bowled me over with a surprise birthday party Saturday night. I'll spare you the details of how they pulled it off, much of which would only make sense if you knew the key players and how they interact. The stinkers. Those dear, sweet lovable stinkers.

 

When you aren't expecting something, you don't see suspicious activity, especially when there is a logical explanation accompanying that activity if you do happen to notice it. How can I read so many mysteries and watch so much investigative TV and have my head in the clouds or in the sand?

I don't have photos of people to share (I'm usually the photographer) and wouldn't have permission to share their faces here anyway. I was giving hubby grief (playfully) as we walked up our older son's driveway. They had a beautiful mum on their porch and we did not. I hadn't been able to coerce hubby to shop for a mum that afternoon. When my son told me to come into the back yard, that he wanted to show me something, I thought he had a mum for me.

I know I stopped. I know I cried. I don't know what I said that moment of for the rest of the evening. I made my way around the yard hugging everyone. We had just come from dinner with our younger son so I wasn't in a hurry to go downstairs where there was food. An hour might have passed before I got down there and found more people!

My once a month dinner buddies were there. Most of my knitting group was able to make it. Most of our neighbors were there. My dear friend since kindergarten was there. Our good friends from South Carolina were there (talk about a long drive to a birthday party!). People with mobility issues braved the damp night air and climbing basement stairs to celebrate my birthday.

I'm getting teary eyed again.

I'm not sure how my sons reached some of these people as some of my friends aren't really really family friends, even though they know about my family and my family knows about them. My younger son reached the knitters through my sister-in-law who is part of that group. Speaking of my sis-in-law, her family and mine have been together three weekends in a row now celebrating birthdays. This weekend is going to be boring without one!

What I want to tell you about today is a woman and her husband who drove 35 miles to be there among people they didn't know. Bobbi had met hubby a few times, long enough to say hello, and I think just one of my sons, also briefly. Her husband met me for the same period of time when I've been to her home.

Bobbi and I are internet buddies. We are part of a group of 12 women on a private message board that have been good friends for years. We all used to post at a huge forum on the HGTV site that shut down years ago. We didn't want to lose contact with each other so we formed our own board. I've met all but one lady, but I did meet her son when he was in the Detroit area twice on business.

I am as close to these women as I am to my kindergarten buddy, my South Carolina friend, my knitting sister-in-law and her daughters, and my once a month dinner companions who are 35+ year friendships. They heard me (or read) saying I want a mum, I need a mum, I'm gonna get a mum. They got me a mum, and "mooned" me:

The plant was in my son's backyard and was a pleasant surprise. The whole group mooning me was a surprise waiting for me in my flower bed at home. The plates were covered in plastic because rain was forecast but thankfully didn't happen.

There were 11 plates moons in all, each one with the board nickname of a very special lady.

 

No one group of friends is more cherished than another. It would be like picking a favorite child...impossible. I have been blessed with wonderful friends since the age of five. A number of the party guests were contemporaries of my kids and I count them as friends too. I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but I am grateful.

 

And speaking of luck, I have a slew of scratch-off lottery tickets to attack before I begin writing thank you notes.

More on friendships and a look at my loot tomorrow!

 

Zappy Do Do to me....

No idea when or why our family began zinging (singing?) 'Zappy Do Do' in place of  the real words to 'Happy Birthday', but we did. Not when it is officially time to sing and blow out the candles, but at unofficial moments like random phone calls and Facebook postings.

I'm not posting this to request birthday wishes or presents (but feel free to contact me if you need my address to have a store send something here ) but just to remind everyone that age is just a number, and most times, numbers don't matter.

Today I am 60. Provided my hair doesn't catch on fire when I blow out the candles, I will be fine.

When I was a mere child of 45 or so (wasn't that just a year or so ago?) I entertained the idea of throwing a 50th birthday party for myself. The theme was going to be that my youth was dead. I was going to have a cardboard casket, black flowers, etc. I thought it would be funny until I reached 49 and a very close friend who was also 49 got a very scary diagnosis. The thought of losing her made mock funerals not so funny.

Thankfully, she got through her medical crisis and is just fine today. I wouldn't criticize someone else having a tongue-in-cheek death themed party, but I could never do that now. Friends and neighbors have lost loved ones, sometimes at a far too young an age, and while dark humor in a card can probably be overlooked, a whole party might be way too painful. I am not about pain. I am about love and humor.

If anyone would like to do something to honor my birthday, consider a Random Act of Kindess today or sometime soon. I don't think anyone that I know through my blog needs this reminder, but I wish it would magically enter the hearts and minds of some that I encounter elsewhere.

Before I leave to go spackle my face and truss my body into something presentable, my goal being to look 58 instead of 60 , I leave you with a very early photo of myself.  I think it is from 60 years and 9 months ago, give or take a day.

Step right up!

First, a bit of seriousness:   Whatever made me sick in Florida reared its ugly head and attacked me again early this week. I knew it wasn't killing me, but it sure got in some hefty kicks even after I was down. Feeling much better today, I pause to consider all who live with pain on a daily basis, or with chronic illness that prevents them from living the life they'd like to live. I was never without compassion but definitely caught up in my own world that usually only has minor bumps in the road. To those who battle discomfort daily, I both salute your courage and strength, and pray for relief and cures.

Now, onto the fun! Are you ready to attend a Big Top Birthday Party? 

Mommy found this invitation in an Etsy shop. She purchased the download and was able to enter pertinent info about the date, time, phone number to RSVP, etc, all in the same font before printing the invitations, two to a page.

Mommy made this cake, based on directions she found online. It was four 9" layers, alternating chocolate and yellow cake. The popcorn on top and on the tray is actually mini marshmallows. Most had a snip or two made to make them look like popped kernels.The yellow was provided by spray on food coloring, lightly sprayed into a bag of the marshmallows and slightly shaken to unevenly distribute the color. It really did look like butter.

Red and white streamers draped from the basement rafters suggested the big top. Grandpa was pretending to adjust chairs down at that end, but the snacks are to his left. We can't see his left hand, can we? Hmmmmm.

Freshly popped popcorn! Mmmmmmm! Besides other party appetizers, bowls of jelly belly candies and bowls of circus peanuts were throughout the basement. 

The party was for family and close family friends. The young guests each got a take home box with a fake mustache, wax lips, and clown nose among other prizes. 

 Grandpa got some one on one time with the guest of honor before the other circus patrons arrived.

Colton didn't want to let go of his new best friend, Buzz Lightyear.

Sort of looks likes Christmas, doesn't it?

Uh-oh Buzz, this plane is pretty cool. You might not be the favorite toy anymore...just ask Woody how that feels!

 Happy Birthday to the light of many lives, our very own Colton! 

With love from the Carny's Strong Man and the Girl on the Flying Trapeze!

September Birthdays

I refuse to write about being cold in September. It is still officially summer and I am hanging onto it with everything I have, even my toenails which I've been told are painted a summery color, not a fall one. Hello? Do you not see that we have another week of summer by the official calendar and when I rule the world, summer will last until December 1st, followed by 3 weeks of autumn, one of winter, three to four weeks of spring and then summer will return.

* Ahem *

September is my birthday month. I found some fun facts about September birthdays and am about to share them here. I plan to do this for following months through next August, so please check back when your birth month rolls around.

September's birthstone, the sapphire, was once thought to guard against evil and poisoning. It was believed that a venomous snake would die if placed in a vessel made of sapphire. Traditionally a favorite stone of priests and kings, the sapphire symbolizes purity and wisdom.

The birthstones we associate with certain months now are not necessarily the same ones as in ancient times. Once, color was the most important feature of a stone. Ancients did not distinguish between a ruby and a garnet, for example. The names used in history may not relate to the stone we think of with that name today. For example, a sapphire in the Bible was probably what we know today as lapis.

September's birth flower is the aster. Asters are mainly symbols of powerful love. The other September flower is the morning glory. Morning glories are simple symbols of affection. Asters were once burned to ward off serpents. The seeds of some morning glory varieties contain a hallucinogenic acid.

These facts could explain why I don't like snakes but do like to take trips (but not "acid" tripping flashbacks!)

If today, September 16th is your birthday, your tastes are simple but excellent. You are domestic and require only pleasant and harmonious surroundings and one to love and be loved by. Demonstrative, impulsive. and somewhat jealous, you are easy to please and should take care in choosing your mate.Your birthday is shared by producer Allen Funt (b. 1914), musician B. B. King (b.1925) and actor Ed Begley, Jr (b. 1949)

I won't tell you which date is my birthday, but this is what I found for my birthday fact: You are a dreamer, have a vivid imagination, and make elaborate plans, which you never carry out. Cultivate self-reliance, perseverance, and foresight. You are loving and lovable, gentle and attractive, a favorite among your friends, and popular with everyone. The first line is probably the most truthful and accounts for why I have so many unfinished projects. Good to know I can blame it on my birth date, right?

If you were born between August 23-September 22), your astrological sign is Virgo, The Virgin.
Ruling planet: Mercury.
Element: Earth.
Quality: Logical. Ability: To reason.
You are the organized thinkers of the zodiac. With a critical eye, you dissect and analyze all sorts of data. You seek perfection, and you are able to see instantly the flaw in any given situation. Loving information, you file and store it away for future retrieval. You understand computers intuitively, as your own brain functions in exactly the same manner. Incorporating a sense of humor into your personality keeps you from becoming overly serious. Dependable and responsible, you must guard against taking on the accountability of others. Once you have truly learned how to have fun, yours is an enviable life.

I do think that my brain functions much like a computer, especially when I have a virus or am slow to boot up. We won't discuss the issue of Trojans as this blog is rated PG.          

Most of today's information was taken from the Old Farmers Almanac, but this last bit was not

Embrace what applies and disregard the rest. That might be good advice for everything in life!

P.S. As a Virgo, prone to critical review, I would like to point out that the left side of the above sign should read "you are" or "you're" instead of "your". Obviously this was not written by someone born between August 23rd and September 22nd!