making pet rocks

My girls are officially on summer vacation and amidst swimming, play dates and camps, we have been trying to do a weekly craft project. My 7-year old, Charlotte, loves nothing more than a trip to the craft store. She could wander the aisles for hours. My 4-year old, Amelia, likes it for about 5 minutes. Hence, we needed a craft to appeal to both ages. After a bit of brainstorming, we came up with the idea of making pet rocks.

The beauty of this project is that it can take as little or as long as your child has the patience for. The possibilities are endless. Ladybugs, panda bears, turtles.... the list goes on and on.

THE SUPPLIES  You will need a selection of rocks (I had a bag from IKEA – however, I'm sure you can find some in your yard), cement glue, masking tape (to hold the rocks in place after you glue them), googly eyes, paint brushes and either Tempura paint (for younger children) or acrylic paint (for older children).

The simplest pet rocks require no gluing, ala these darling ladybugs. This is a good starting point as your more in-depth "pets" are drying.

For Charlotte's polka-dotted panda bear, we had to wait overnight for it to dry due to the large rocks used. Masking tape came in handy for holding all the pieces together until they were completely dry. Then the fun begins with the paint!

Amelia adores her pet puppy dog which took approximately 3 minutes for her to paint. I adore that our "pets" require no upkeep...happy summer!

Update on 06.29.2010 by Blonde Designs

We were thrilled to be a part of Skip to my Lou's Craft Camp this month. Cindy featured a different craft from guest bloggers every day for the month of June. Check out her website for great ideas and summer projects for kids. I'm excited to try some of these fabulous crafts this summer!

easy father's day gift

As Father's Day approaches, I am usually at a loss as to what to get my dad. What do you get the man who has everything? Another box of golf balls? Yet another golf shirt (how many can one man have???)? I also felt that I'd exhausted sentimental gifts. This year I needed something clever but easy.

Hence, the "tower of junk food." My dad loves soda, candy and Cheetos (honestly, anything that can turn your fingers orange can't be good for you!) but tries his best to eat healthy most of the time. I figured if there's any day to splurge, it's Father's Day. The girls and I headed to the market to pick out some of his favorite snacks.

To fit into my aesthetic, all the goodies were wrapped in my favorite wrapping paper and tied with a grosgrain ribbon. I printed the label below on adhesive paper and will affix it to the tower of gifts. Let's hope he likes it!

photo & art wall

I've had some frames sitting in my office for awhile because I couldn't decide what to put in them. I thought of displaying some of my favorite Blonde Designs invitations or some inspiring wrapping paper patterns or some pages from a vintage typography book. Instead I framed some recent photographs of my kids and some of their artwork that was laying around my office. I love how this wall captures our family right now. I still hope to frame the invitations and wrapping paper sometime, but it makes me smile when I see their drawings displayed the wall every day. And they like it too!

easiest chocolate chip cookies

I love a good cookie and an added bonus is a recipe that is as delicious as it is easy to make. This one takes the cake, so to speak. No mixer required. Everything is mixed by hand in a microwave-safe bowl. I can whip these up in 10 minutes + baking time.

Microwave the butter and sugars until the butter is just starting to melt. Mix by hand with a wooden spoon and add in the remaining ingredients.

Even my 21-month old can make these! :) Click on the PDF recipe below to make approximately 4 dozen cookies.

jim gubler for justice of the peace

Believe it or not, I have entered into the world of political design as my father, whom I adore is running for Justice of the Peace in department #13. He is kind, honest, generous, has a killer sense of humor and has been practicing law in Las Vegas for 26+ years. You can read more about Jim Gubler here. If you happen to live in Las Vegas, the last day to vote is Tuesday, June 8th. Get out and exercise your civic duty. It is empowering.

As for the design, I wanted a color combination other than red, white and blue.  And, yes, my father does bear a striking resemblance to Jack Nicholson!

Update on 06.9.2010 by Blonde Designs

It was a close race but I am happy to report that my dad will be moving on to the general election in November. I like to think it was all due to my excellent designs! :) -Angie

alphabet/flashcard party

I love this alphabet/flashcard-themed 1st birthday party that one of our readers, Leigh, was kind enough to share with us. The theme of the invitation was "A is for Alex" and Leigh had her brother-in-law create a line drawing of her son from a photo.

The invitations were printed on heavy cardstock, front and back and then the corners were rounded like a flashcard. Brilliant!

Leigh continued the alphabet theme with an "ABC chandelier...."

...a flashcard banner....

...flashcard food labels (I absolutely love these)....

...and, finally, water bottle labels.

Favor bags were filled with M&M's and sealed with a label reading "This party was brought to you by the letter Mm." Darling!

a french-themed "unbaby" shower

My friend, Jen, just had her third girl and was completely opposed to the idea of having another baby shower – she felt that she could not, in good conscience, accept gifts for another girl. I, however, did not exactly agree with her sentiments – any excuse for a celebration and I'm in.

After much debate, we reached a compromise. Jen agreed to invite a handful of her closest friends to gather at her "unbaby" shower. It was a low-key affair full of good food and good company.

I chose a French theme to play off Jen's chosen baby name, Colette. The invitation set the mood and the food followed: a savory crepe bar and my favorite chocolate molten cakes for dessert.

Jen's favorite drink is Perrier and I whipped up some cute water bottle labels for those non-Perrier drinkers.

The favors were my favorite brownies and melt-in-your-mouth Carmelitas. Jen's favorite!

a beautiful home

A friend and former co-worker, Sara Hicks Malone, is very talented indeed.  She is a graphic designer, illustrator, and former art director for Martha Stewart Kids, she has 2 children and in her spare time, writes the lovely party blog, Party Perfect.  Add to her list of accomplishments, interior designer extraordinaire, as I am completely in love with her house that was just featured on Design*Sponge.  I love the way she balances modern elements with touches of vintage elegance and infuses it all with beautiful color.  I would like to move in.

stella mccartney for gap on sale!

In my continued obsession for chic clothes for my girls, I found myself in GapKids yesterday staring at the entire Stella McCartney spring line which had just been marked down not once, but twice, and was then featuring an additional 20% off. Be still my beating heart.

Now really, friends, I love a good deal as much as the next person but this was unbelievable. I thought I must be on candid camera. How could the collection not have sold out, especially with these mark downs? I looked around the store at all the brightly colored clothes – fuchsia pinks, bold purples, kelly greens and then came back to look at Ms. McCartney's color palette of beautiful muted browns, taupe and apricot. Am I missing something? How in the world did Americans not appreciate this collection?

Here is my tip for you.... get ye to a GapKids that sells the Stella McCartney collection, pronto.

Don't worry, I pretty much bought out the entire line – my husband is thrilled.....

cheerleading party details

The party table was set with pom poms, a personalized megaphone and a mini galvanized bucket for each of the girls. As mentioned in my previous post, the Ikea striped fabric is really great (I want it in the bold stripe too). It made a perfect tablecloth and I plan on using it all summer!

We started the party by making bead necklaces and decorating pennants. The girls loved both of these simple crafts (6-year old girls are pretty easy to please!). I hung the pennants with mini clothes pins on a ribbon and displayed them there after they were decorated.

Water bottle labels are a staple at Blonde Designs parties!

Rees wanted pink cupcakes with pink buttercream frosting - easy enough! I made the cupcake topper a bit bigger than usual to accommodate the cute cheerleader illustration.

I was lucky enough to find a green megaphone piñata (requested by Rees) at our local party store. I just modified by taking off the "Go Team" stickers that were on it and added Rees' name. The girls used their galvanized bucket to gather the candy.

I hired two middle-school cheerleaders to come over and teach the girls cheers. It was definitely the highlight of the party and the girls looked the part wearing their dollar store cheer costumes! I recorded some of their cheers with a flip video camera and the girls watched them on our t.v. before they went home. They loved seeing themselves doing the cheers and were actually pretty good. Rees loved her party and I love my 6-year old!