Under the Sea Birthday Party

Back in December we celebrated Kora turning 4. Kora's current favorite Disney Princess is Ariel so that was her top pick for a party theme this year. I wanted to make it feel more like an 'under the sea' whimsical theme rather than over the top Ariel. I used tiffany blue and pearl white as the color theme with accents of pink.

 

I designed the invitations myself. I used my silhouette to cut out the seaweed and sea horse to give it that extra touch.

Kora was so excited to welcome all her guests to her 'mermaid lagoon'. She could hardly wait for everyone to arrive!

 

As each guest arrived they were able to go into the 'Mermaid Salon'. In the salon there was a tutu for each girl, a coordinating headband and pearl necklace. They also were treated to a manicure and makeup (big thanks to my sister Trisha and our friend Rebecca for being our stylists!).

The girls were all so adorable in their tutus!

 

 

After they were all dolled up the mermaids were invited to do a craft. They made Ariel Snowglobes! I had found ariel cupcake topper figurines that fit perfectly on the inner party of the baby food jar lid. I used hot glue (which didn't end up working that well - a few days after the party ariel came loose. Maybe E5000 glue would work better?) to attach ariel to the lid. Then each girl got to fill the jar with their choice of glitter and various small sea shells. I then added tap water to each jar and screwed the lid on for them (as TIGHT as possible!). The girls loved them! 

I kept the decorations fairly simple. I made the tissue poms to hang above the table which we had all set for our sushi lunch.

I wanted to let the girls use real glasses to keep the table looking 'fancy'. I used my mason drinking mugs (which quickly have become my go-to entertaining glasses, love them!) and dressed them up with a little bakers twine with their name attached and a paper straw.

 



 

In the center of the table I used a combination of candles, aqua mason jars, star fish, sand dollars and other various beach decor.

 

Now, one bonus of being married to a chef is that he loves to help out with the food when it comes to party planning! So, I charged him with the task of making kid friendly sushi for the little mermaids. And then for the adults we had realy sushi. I did not get pictures of the sushi he made for the adults (so bummed about that, but it was delicious!) but here are a few of what was prepared for the kids. The close up picture is blurry but I still wanted to include it so you could see better how each plate looked. Each 'sushi roll' was made up of bread, sliced ham, cheese and pickles. Cody then built a tower made out of sliced apples and then filled with goldfish. It was a hit!

 

  

Now for my absolute FAVORITE part of any party....the DESSERTS! I made the cupcakes and was super thrilled to have them turn out just as I was envisioning! I made the chocolate starfish on top using a mold I picked up from the decorate shop and then dusted each one with a pearl dust that is made for cake decorating to give them each an irridescent look. 

 

 

I had one other treat for the girls. Octopus Marshmallow pops! Each pop is coated in a white chocolate that I colored light pink. I then used eyes that I purchased at the Decorate Shop. They are sitting in raw sugar to give it that sandy look. 

 

 

Thank you for checking out my party!

Mobiles

A while back I posted pictures of an alligator mobile that I made for a friend of mine. I finally got around to snapping pictures of the other mobiles I made for my kiddos. Kora was so excited the day we hung her butterfly mobile up in her room, I love how femanine and sweet it is. Thomas' mobile is the monkey one of course. It matches perfectly with the other decor in his room.

LynnDi Design - 75 sales!

Two years ago my sister and I decided to give selling on Etsy a try. We were super excited! We both had items that we had been making and had mastered so we thought we would share with the world. I got my best friend Mandy to create our logo, we snapped photos of our items and carefully typed out the items descriptions. On February 20th 2010 we opened our shop. When I first listed a few items I thought for sure I would have someone purchase them right away...but weeks passed without any sales. I started thinking about it though and realized - would I buy an item from a shop that jsut opened and showed no (or very little amount) of sales? Nope. I would not.

So I started to wonder how it would ever get up off the ground. But I didn't give up. I pressed on making new designs and listing them. I had a few sales here and there but a lot were from people who knew me and had seen my work in person. I still remember the day that a complete stranger ordered my shoes. I was beyond excited! Just this week we hit 75 sales in our shop! That still doesn't sound like that much when you compare it to shops that have been open for a while or hit success faster than LynnDi Design did, but I am proud of our 75.

I am thrilled with where LynnDi Design is today. We have worked hard to get here. I look forward to what the future holds. I have done many custom shoe orders lately and I love that. I also love that my shoes have been worn in weddings (by the bride and by flower girls) - how amazing to be a part of peoples big day!

If you haven't visited my shop you need to check it out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/LynnDiDesign

Thank you to everyone for your love, support and orders!


Here are a few shoe designs that started out as a custom order but now have becme a popular shoe design in my shop!

Thomas - my 8 month old silly monkey!

On Leap Day Thomas turned 8 months old! He is getting so grown up! He is fully enjoying lots of baby foods now as well as some finger snacks. And boy does he love his snacks! He gets mad a soon as he runs out...our once very patient baby boy is no longer that when it comes to getting solid food into his belly.

Currently he only has the two lower teeth still, but there are 4 (yikes!) that are about to break through, all on the top. Teething four teeth as well as a nasty cold took our happy boy away for about a week. He was pretty miserable and didn't want anything but to be in someones arms, but now that he is more comfortable again he is back to wanting to play and be on the ground.

Speaking of which, he finally has mastered sitting up! Until the last week he would sit up ok but didn't know how to ballance there very well so I couldn't trust him to sit without something or someone around him. He usually would flop himself over so tht he could lay and roll around. But, now that he has mastered sitting up he LOVES it! It is hard to keep that big head up :)

Most of all he is still just as sweet as ever. He has the most gorgeous eyes and long eyelashes (makes Mom jealous!). It is such a blessing to watch Thomas and Kora play and interact together. The other day I came in and Thomas was sitting on the floor but starting to get mad. When I walked into the room Kora was sitting right by him rubbing his back gently and softly telling him "It's ok buddy". I love that. Nothing makes me happier than watching their relationship and friendship develop already.

See the eyelashes!?! I told you they were gorgeous.

Here he is with Sophia (all you can see are her legs). he got Sophie for Christmas and she quickly became his favorite teething toy. She goes all over town with us. 

ThomasJames - 6 & 7 months

Dear Thomas,

On Sunday you turned 7 months old. Hard to believe. I can't hardly remember what life was like without you in it. You have brought so much joy into our lives. You hve quickly become Kora's best friend and it is so cute to watch you guys play together now. You love to watch her and she loves to entertain you so that works out great!

You still love your bathtime A LOT. You splash and kick and are super content in there. You officially started solids just over a month ago and you are liking all the new flavors you get to eat now. You most recently have started to eat Mum Mums and you just can't get enough of them!

I thank God daily for bringing you into my life. I love my sweet baby boy, pretty sure I am wrapped around your little finger.

But seriously, who wouldn't get lost in these gorgeous blue eyes!

Love you baby boy!

-Your Mommy

Finally, New Shoe designs!

I finally found time to get a few new shoe designs completed! I love coming up with fresh and new designs. Nothing excites me more than listing new items in my Esty shop and tonight I listed 2 new ones! YAY! Here are a few pictures of the most recent designs now available in LynnDi Designs shop.

 

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Personalized Burp Cloths

I finally got around to purchasing some of the interfacing for my silhouette machine which will make it possible for it to cut fabric! Opens up the possability of ALL kinds of FUN projects!! I was so excited to try it out! I have a few friends expecting babies in the near future so I decided to try and make personalized burp cloths. I made some similar to this for Thomas a little while back and love the terry cloth on the one side. Here are a few picutes of the finished product.

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