Small Felt Crayon Roll

I've seen these crayon rolls floating around the web, mostly fabric ones in various Etsy sites. 

A friend showed me a felt one the other day that looked even easier. 

So after some hmming and hawing procrastination, I tried making one this weekend for a 4-year old's birthday. 

It still needs some tweaking, but I like it!  And really, pretty easy. 

I'd still like to try a fabric one, too.  Hopefully in time for Christmas.

Santa's workshop (also know as my studio) opens this week.  My shopping is done and now it's time for a little handmade mama love...

Is she really 5 now?

We celebrated E's 5th birthday yesterday with a Wizard of Oz themed party.

A table decked out with three yards of this fabric as the table cloth, matching cups, napkins, and plates from Birthday Express, some repurposed yellow brick road pieces, and some fun jingly rainbow trees.

I even found Wizard of Oz confetti on Etsy!

I made my first, somewhat sorry, attempt at a doll cake. Can you see that the layers were slowly sliding to the side?

And the much promised Dorothy Dress. Which she is wearing for the second day in a row and has already requested to wear again tomorrow. Made a size or two too big so that it will fit for a long, long while.

"Am I really 5 now?", she said to me last night after the lights were out.

"Because I really still feel like I'm 4."
"I should be as big as Noah. That's how big real 5-year-olds are."
"Oh sweetie," I told her, "you have all year to grow as big as a 5 year old."

The Preparations Begin

O requested a Fire Truck Party for his 3rd birthday.

Since party stores in general give me hives, I did some searching online a while ago and found some cool stuff here. I was especially excited about the fire truck favor boxes and the fire hydrant cups, though they do look a little... um... maternal without their straws..


I pre-washed the cups today and we started filling the favor boxes this afternoon.


While many events pass us by without us realizing then that it is 'the last time we...', we are aware that this is the last party for us where we invite whole families. With E this year and O next year, we begin just inviting their friends. I think realizing it ahead of time and knowing it in the moment will make us appreciate this celebration even more, if we have a moment to stop and think amongst the chaos.