cupcakes for birthday

I am going to a mommy's night out tomorrow night with my friends Nancy, Julie and Irene. We will be celebrating Nancy and Julie's birthdays with dinner and a movie. I got some gifts for both of them, but I thought to make it a little extra special, I made some cupcakes for them too. Each one of them will receive 1 dozen homemade cupcakes. You can tell that they are obviously homemade because no two look alike at all. LOL!

Threads came, still waiting for my sewing machine

I brought a bunch of thread for my new sewing machine (that was another investment in itself) *sigh*. I can't wait for my sewing machine to arrive so I can play with it.

Counting the days until the sewing machine comes....

Pasta Princess Playdate at the park

We went to the park today for a craft playdate. Before the kids did their crafts, they enjoyed the park.

After playing for about an hour, we sat them down for their crafts. Each mom brought pasta, and I brought ribbons along with 1 package of pasta for the kids to make their pasta necklaces.

DD loved making her pasta necklace.

She was so proud of what she made that she wore it the entire day.

Sewing machine has been shipped

I got a notice from Amazon.com today. My new sewing machine has been shipped (earlier than expected). Instead of arriving beginning of March, it will arrive next Tuesday. That's 1 week earlier than expected. I am pretty excited. Of course, it still will not arrive in time for me to make the birthday gift I want to make for my friend Nancy. So, I will have to figure out what else to give her.

But, I am still excited about my new sewing machine. Wooohooo!

I brought a sewing machine (even though it is not here yet)

After much research, I finally decided to buy Brother SE350 Computerized Embroidery-and-Sewing Machine. My last sewing machine was a Kenmore, so I hope that I will love my new sewing machine as much as I loved my old one. I read tons of reviews on the SE350 online, and I thought that this is just want I need. However, because I still was not 100% sure about it, I went to look at it at Walmart on Sunday. It is compact enough to store in the kitchen where I am doing my sewing, and I love that it is light weight so I won't have any problems moving it around -- since I am using the kitchen table as my sewing station, I have to put it away every night so we can eat dinner off the kitchen table.

Anyhow, it won the Consumer Digest Best Buy award, so I am sure that it will be a great machine. Instead of buying it at Walmart, I brought it off Amazon. Although the prices are the same, but I don't have to pay tax on Amazon and that saves me $29.45. The downside is that I will not be receiving this until beginning of March. Meanwhile, now that I am without a sewing machine, I have started using my valuable time cleaning out the office closet. It is not done yet, but I plan on finishing it before the sewing machine arrives. I also want to make DD a bunch of hair bows & hair clips while I am waiting for my new machine to arrive ^_^.

Lowe's Build and Grow: Valentine's Jewelry Box

After dropping my car off for service yesterday morning, we took DD to Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic (free to the public, we have been doing this for months now, and we totally love it) to build a Valentine's Day Jewelry box. DD was making this for her grandma.

Because we got there a little early, DH pushed DD around in their car-shopping cart. DD was loving it.

DH helped DD open up the package. DD looks so cute in her Lowe's apron.

After doing this monthly since December, she has gotten very good at using the hammer.

She is still too young to read the instruction on her own, of course. So, her daddy has to put the pieces together for her.

Daddy then hammers it a couple of time to get the nails half way in.

DD then finishes the job by hammering the nails all the way in. DH and DD makes a great team (I am sure Grandma will appreciate the jewelry box made by her son and her granddaughter ^_^).

Debra and her little girl Kaia decided to join us too. She said that she had so much fun doing the project with Kaia, they will be doing this with us again.

Josh and his daddy (Gary) was also there.

After the kids were done building the jewelry boxes, they had a lot of fun just running around. Here's a photo of DD with her bff Savahanna. I did not realized how much shorter Savahanna is in comparison to DD. DD is 2 months younger than Savahanna.

Check this out, this was DD and Savahanna when they were about 18 months old. They were about the same height. (Wow, they look so different now. LOL! )

Shopping for a new sewing machine

Yesterday, I went to Moore's by my house where they sell sewing machines. I was interested in a Brother SE350, which runs about $400. But, before buying anything online, I wanted to check it out in person at Moore's. It was slightly cheaper at Moore's than on other web stores, but unless I was totally in love, I was going to wait to buy it online. Anyhow, I asked for some assistance, and their sale's person recommended a machine that was $7000. Yeah, I kid you not. I was annoyed, instead of helping me with the machine I was interested in (which she actually called a "toy") she was trying to push for a machine that's $7000!!!

She claimed that the one I was interested in was too small and it's just full of problems. From my research online, I learned that it has been getting great reviews from many websites. Also, it being small is an advantage, because we live in an condo, I don't need anything huge. Certainly not one that is as big as the one she recommended.

I could not see myself buying a $7000 machine and I told the sale's person that it was not in my budget to buy something so nice. As much as I love sewing and making things, I am not a professional and I can't justify buying something so outrageously priced. The woman goes to on say that many people who used to own this $7000 machines have upgraded to a new brother's machine that's $12,000. All I could thinking about is that they actually have something that costs as much as a car. Geeze!

I think it's great that in this economy someone can afford such an expensive machine, but it is out of my price range and I simply don't have room for it. I can name more cons than pros in having a thing like that. Meanwhile, the woman was not able to help me which what I really wanted to check out. She was more interested in pushing an expensive item on me. (This must be how men go out to buy a $500 TV and come home with one that's $2000).

BTW, I am totally stressed about buying a sewing machine. I have the following fears:

1. Spending too much money on a machine with more features than I need

2. Buying something that does not have enough features

3. Machine works great but breaks in a few months

4. I actully get tired of sewing (since I owned the last one for 12 years, I don't really see this happening, although it is still a fear of mine).

5. Spending more money than I should on a machine. I know I already kind of said this. But it is a lot of money to spend at once.....

Valentine's Day gift for DD

The fabrics I ordered back in November finally arrived today. Yay! One of the fabrics I ordered was this cute cupcake fabric. It came in time for me to make new pillow case and blanket cover for DD's crib. In this photo, you can also see the giant teddy bear DD sleeps with every night.

Without the teddy bear :).

This was the last complete item I made before my sewing machine died. I planned on making several things tonight (valentine's day gift as well as birthday gifts), but since my sewing machine died I will not be making anything else. *sigh* Although I realized that my sewing machine was on its last leg, I really hoped that it would last at least another 6 months. I wanted to wait until we do our taxes and if we got a refund, I would use the money to buy myself a new sewing machine. However, it appears that I will be buying a new sewing machine sooner than I think. I supposed that I should not be upset. I have had the sewing machine for more than 12 years now, and I paid $100 back then. The sewing machine served me well, I am sad that it died and I hope to have a new one soon.

Towels, cupcakes and dinosaurs

While DD was at school today, I went to Costco to pick up some milk and juice for us. While I was there, I discovered that they had wash clothes for $9.99 (24 in a pack). I was pretty excited because I have never seen them that cheap before-- I think one of the reasons is that they are just plain white towels. Anyhow, I brought a pack because I have been waiting to either buy some or make some for DD (for her bathroom) but I haven't find them at a decent price.

So, I brought the boring white towels, and I decided to sew some fabrics on them for decoration. I made 10 of them. You can see what they look like stacked up.


This is what they look like unfolded.
Tonight, I made mini cupcakes for the playdate tomorrow. We are meeting at a friend's house for Valentine's playdate. They are not as pretty as I had hoped, but I am sure the kids will be ok with them.

I had extra cupcakes left, so I made some heart shaped ones for my friend Nancy.

While I was making DD's wash clothes today, DD was having fun playing with her dinosaur. She has developed such a love for them (between her giant dinosaur and her dinosaur books), I am thinking of making dinosaur bedding for her. Anyhow, I wanted to share some photos of her playing with her beloved dinosaur. While I was taking photos of her, she actually hugged the dinosaur and said "I love you" to it. LOL!

Birthday party and another crayon roll

We went to Cameron's birthday party on Wednesday. He turned 2. The kids had a lot of fun playing with Cameron's toys and of course, they loved the cake.


Jenni made Micky mouse nuggets for the kids, and of course that was a huge hit with the kids too.

Nikki really liked the crayon roll I made for Cameron. Her little boy, Josh, is turning 3 next week, so I promised that I will make one for him also.


I made this today. Crayon roll all rolled up.
Outside unfolded.

Inside of the crayon roll. I hope this is boy-ish enough for Josh :).

Crayon roll

We are going to a birthday party tomorrow morning. I brought a couple of toys as presents, but I wanted to add something else, so I decided to make a crayon roll for the birthday boy.


This is what it looks like all rolled up.
The outside unfolded.

Inside of the crayon roll. I used vinyl covered fabric for the interior, and it was difficult to work with. It took me longer than I expected because the vinyl was a little tough to sew.

Playdate at Amy's house

Yesterday morning, we went to Amy's house for a breafast playdate. DD ate 2 muffins and had a blast playing with Emi & Jude's toys.

Cloth napkins

I spent the day making cloth napkins. Ok, it was not exactly the only thing I did all day, but it was the main thing I did. I have been thinking about making cloth napkins for sometime now, but I kept on putting it off so I finally decided to make some today. I don't know, something about the crazy rains makes me want to sew. LOL!

Here's the ones I made for DH and myself. I know that they look very girly. I am using left over flannel fabric I brought for DD, so there isn't anything manly enough for DH. Anyhow, I made about 1 weeks worth of cloth napkins for the whole family. The ones I made for us (DH and me) are 9" x 9", and I sewed the edges to prevent fraying.

The ones I made for DD are 6.5" x 6.5". Because she spills so much while she eats and being such a messy girl, I made her napkins twice as thick as the ones I made for DH and myself.

So, you are probably wondering why I made cloth napkins instead of using paper napkins. Here's the reasons:

1. It's cheaper (in the long run). I used about 2 yards of flannel fabrics to make the napkins. On sale, you can purchase the fabrics from Joann's for about $2 a yard. So to make 1 week worth of reusable napkins for 2 adults and 1 toddler costs about $4. A month of not using paper napkins will cover the cost of the fabric. Of course, there is the cost of washing the cloth napkins. But I will be toss them in with our regular laundry, so the additional cost of cleaning them is very minimum.

2. Switching to cloth napkins is more eco friendly. We will be creating less waste by not using as much paper products ^_^. Btw, paper towels and paper napkins are not recyclable because they might have hazardous liquid on them, so they go stright to the landfill.

Here's a sample list of how long it takes for certain things to biodegrade/decompose :

banana -- 3 to 4 weeks
paper bag -- 1 month
cotton rag -- 5 months
wool sock -- 1 year
cigarette butt -- 2 to 5 years
leather boot -- 40 to 50 years
rubber sole (of the boot) -- 50 to 80 years
tin can (soup or vegetable can) -- 80 to 100 years
aluminum can (soda pop can) -- 200 to 500 years
plastic 6-pack rings -- 450 years
plastic jug -- 1 million years
Styrofoam cup -- unknown? forever?
glass bottle -- unknown? forever?

3. Better for the skin. DD has super sensitive skin. Because flannel is so soft, I don't have to worry about it rubbing against her skin. No more cheap rough napkins against my baby's buttery soft cheeks. Heeheheh!

2 parties in 1 day

Last Saturday we went to 2 birthday parties.

First, we had lunch with Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Meimei turning 4.

Here's a photo of the birthday girl.
Singing happy birthday.

The Chuck E Cheese we went to was nicer than the other ones we usual go to because it is new. Plus, they had a very organized party system. DD had a great time of course.

*********

The second birthday party we went to Savahanna's 3rd birthday party. It was held at a bounce house party place. DD had a lot of fun, and even DH and I joined her on the slide.

This was the huge slide that all kids and adults enjoyed.

DD coming down the slide.

DH usually does not go to birthday parties. But I asked him to be there to help me with DD. I know how crazy she gets in bounce houses. It was really nice to have him there. He was a huge help.

We tried to get a picture of all of the kids.

Take 2...