Gratitude Gathering

A few years ago I heard about how Oprah had given a party honoring the women she admired and respected. I thought it was such a wonderful idea. How often to we

tell the people in our lives or from our past that they make a difference. How much better would the world be for these little girls....if they grew up seeing other women express thanks for one another. So for the last three years I have hosted a Gratitude Gathering. A luncheon for the amazing women in my life. I usually invite my family and a few close friends and then I pick a few women from my lifetime that have made a difference in helping me along my journey. My daughter little Vintage also invites her cousins and a couple friends. Here is the 2010 Gratitude Gathering. Our theme was "Bee" cuz we're Grateful for You.


The place settings...all of our photography is thanks to my sister Breanne. Love this shot. I am not sure how she took it.

We picked the color theme from this wrapping paper, yellow with a blue and brown bee. The favor boxes I picked up 12 for $1 at the Dollar Store. I stapled a square of wrapping paper on the front and back. They had a bookmark, two flavored honey sticks and a small bag of bit of honey in each.

The little girls "Honey Bees" each had a sack lunch.

Their favor boxes were made the same way, but Vintage wanted to make little Tic Tac Toe Games, a ballet slipper necklace, pink bubble gum and a rosette hair piece in them.





We had Spinach Artichoke Humus, Pineapple, Peach Salsa and chips.

A super yummy pumpkin dip with ginger snaps and apples. If you want the recipe go here to my sister's Blog Food for Thought

I used the wrapping paper for the backdrop and for a Be Grateful Banner.

Here is the spread. Yummy chicken Spinach Pasta Salad, Bread sticks, appetizers and lemon cupcakes with Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting. Delish.

The white fence my hubby built for my wedding 9 years ago. I painted it white earlier this year for my brother and sister in law's wedding dinner. The rule with my hubby is that I have to use it at least twice year to keep it. So I have now used it twice and it has also been used for two wedding open houses this year. I love it.

Centerpieces for the Queen Bee Tables. I found the place mats at Kohl's on clearance and sewed some brown gross grain rick rack on the. The lemon drops were a fun color addition.

The centerpieces for the little "Honey Bee's" table.

The little girls received sack lunches with Triple Decker Berry Sandwiches wrapped in paper basically we used Peanut Butter, Nutella, and Marshmallow fluff on various layers with sliced strawberries and raspberry jam. A package of carrots, and an apple sauce with a Bee label on top.

We had a lovely day. Visiting, eating and giving thanks for the sisterhood of great women. It was a sweet "bee"utiful day.

Super Grover to the Rescue

So my maiden name is Grover. Which is so much fun when I get to come up with ideas for reunions or birthday gifts for my nephew. I wanted to do something a little more personal. I found this tutorial over at Make and Take crafts... we also made other versions with my kids the next day. Like a green monster with green eyes and nose. So fun. The puppet was fun to make and then it led me to another idea which was this cute t-shirt. I started out with a white tee from Walmart...$3.50
Then I purchased some fleece 1/4 of a yard cost me $1.71 felt for the eyes I already had. A pink pom-pom (had) red felt (had). I was going to try and wonder under it on, but decided just to pin it on. Then using blue embroidery thread I did a blanket stitch all the way around the fleece. Then I glued on the eyes, nose and mouth with hot glue and then I tacked the nose in place with some stitches.

Over all I think he turned out super cute. Everyone loved it at the party and it was so fun to make.

Two Fun Books for Kids

Here at the Homestead we read lots of books...including a lot of children's books. I actually really enjoying reading children's books. Here are two that we read over and over again and I still smile each time I read them.

Roberto The Insect Architect by Nina Laden

My favorite line... is "Best of all, when little termites play with their food, now their parents say: "Be creative!" Maybe someday you'll grow up to be just like Roberto. This is a fun inventive book that just makes me smile from it's references to Hank Floyd Mite and Steven Shieldbug...it is clever and fun of bug loving pictures.

Another book that we think is "Pink..erific at our house is "Pinkalicious" by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann.

I love this book. My daughter loves the color pink and we have had so much fun reading this book about a little girl who eats one too many cupcakes and acquires a rare case of "pinkitious" She finds out the the green stuff can be good too, even though she loves being "Pinkerbelle"

So take a look in a fun book and check out one of these fun reads....I promise they will have you smiling.

Apple Cupcakes....yummy, yummy and so easy.

So I took this idea from Family Fun Magazine....go here for the instructions. I thought these would be so fun for back to school treats. I also needed a hostess gift for a sister's girls night and thought these were perfect. I saved my clear blueberry container and cleaned it out. It perfectly fit four cupcakes. I used red cupcake liners from Michael's. Red frosting And red sugar sprinkles. The stems are tootsie rolls cut in half and rolled. The green stem is a green tootsie roll cut and molded to look like a stem. For the bite taken out...I scooped out some cupcake then filled with white frosting and bits of tootsie roll I had cut and molded to look like seeds. They really are Easy.

I closed the plastic berry container and put a cute ribbon and label on the top. Forgot to take a picture. They were so fun to for the kids to eat and fun to deliver too. So hope you enjoy!!

Abby Cadabby Gift Idea

So I had such a fun time making this I had to show it off. My niece turned three this past week and she is so fun and full of life. She also loves Abby Cadabby. The fairy in training from Sesame Street. She also loves dress up, so I decided to make her an Abby Cadabby costume. I took 2 inch elastic and measured it to fit a tiny person's waist...I measured on my son who is about the same size. Then I cut strips of blue and purple tulle fabric. I just tied them in two knots and let them hang down. I also used sheer ribbon in blue and purple and tied it as well. Then I sewed the elastic together and covered it with more tulle and ribbon. So easy and so cute. I bought pink wings at Hobby Lobby, but now they actually have them at the dollar store. I found the wand at JoAnn's for a $1 and tied ribbon and tulle around it as well. The beads came from Family Dollar and you guessed it they were $1. Then I found an Abby Cadabby coloring page online to put on the blue bag. I also found a Happy Birthday coloring book at the Dollar Store with Abby Cadabby on the front.
She loved her gift and looked so great wearing her wings and tutu. I had a great time making it. The entire gift came to just over $8. I couldn't even find a tutu for that at the store.

So here's to the newest fairy in training. Every little girl should have a pair of wings at sometime in her life.