August Obsessions and Other News

Hello, reader!  I'm sure you noticed that I took an unexpected hiatus from blogging.  Or maybe I am thinking too much of myself and you didn't.  But, I did, and I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the internet.   It was a little burnt out-ness, a little busy-ness, and a lot of tiredness and morning sickness....or as I like to say all day sickness.  Yep, Mr. Bean and I are having a baby!!  Baby Bean is expected to make his/her debut around January 27th, 2013.  As much as I would love to say 'that sounds so far away', Mr. Bean and I are hoping time slows down a bit because we have a lot to do before then and we are already wondering what we got ourselves into.  In a good way.  

I know we shocked quite a few people with the announcement.  I think most people gave up on us, but that made the surprise that much sweeter. We wanted to do something special to make the announcement to Mr. Bean's parents, but knew to keep it simple because they aren't extravagant people.  So, I made some cupcake toppers and a cupcake banner with the news.  They were definitely surprised and over the moon. I think my FIL calls me more now than he ever did Mr. Bean or Billy Bean. My FIL is a man of few words, so Mr. Bean is always surprised when he comes home and I am talking to his dad.

I am overwhelmed with the amount of love and support we've received from friends and family.  Especially Mr. Bean's family.  I get calls/texts/emails all the time from friends, uncles, aunties and cousins just checking to see how I am feeling.  While I don't always feel like talking - the morning sickness has been worse for me in the evening - I can't tell you how much I appreciate their thoughts and kindness. I know the "highly anticipated" - as my MIL says - Baby Bean will be loved wherever we take him/her.  And that means the world to me.

Now on to my August obsessions.

{image via Ben Gilman}

The Olympics.  I missed July's obsessions post in a big way, but I can tell you the only obsession I had. Because it carries over to this month's obsessions list: The Olympics.  Mr. Bean and I LOVE the Olympics.  I pretty much cry every day at least once.  Love hearing the athletes' stories.  Love seeing the athletes getting their medals. Love hearing the national anthem. Love the competition.

{image via Gloss and Glam}

butter LONDON.  And speaking of the Olympics, my friend gave me this Heavy Medal Collection from butter London as a gift.  Too cute.  butter LONDON is an eco-friendly nail polish line that I'm quickly becoming obsessed with. I have used all three colors and can't decide which is my favorite yet.  But, I think I will have to start stocking up on other colors because me likey.  Find out where you can buy their products here.

Bob Dylan.  I have had an ongoing obsession since about April that I haven't shared since I haven't blogged much.  Mad Men.  I started with season one on Netflix and am now down to the final two episodes of season 4.  It took a few episodes to grow on me, but I was definitely intrigued with the clothes and the furniture so I pressed on to total obsession.  It's a pretty scandalous show and sometimes I find myself yelling at Don Draper hoping he'll hear me, but I can't wait to get started on season 5.  I also love the music the show plays as the closing credits roll.  Heard this song on one ep and have been listening to Bob ever since.  

That's all for this month.  I promise to start working on some more posts!  

Cupcakes Need Banners, Too

Happy New Year!!!  I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!  While I am sad the holidays flew by so quickly, I am glad they are over.  I think this holiday season I slept less than when I was in college cramming for finals.

Since Mr. Bean's birthday is on New Year's day, I tend to slack off in the party throwing department.  He likes to just sleep in and veg out and I don't argue. Usually we are out late with family the night before, so when the clock strikes midnight we all wish each other well for the new year and then we always sing Happy Birthday for Mr. Bean.  I usually have a cake - if the host doesn't already have one for him - but this year I bought his favorite cupcakes for the party.  Since I was already slacking off in the party department and the gift department - he wanted to go skiing for his birthday, so his present is our airfare - not to mention slacking in the baking department, I decided to dress up the cupcakes a bit more and make him a banner for his cupcakes.  Because banners make everything cuter. 

I cut scraps of paper and sewed them together exactly like this card.  But for some reason my sewing machine didn't like these pennants as much, so it didn't come out as well. Last time I didn't have any problems and I am not sure why I did this time.  But I am pretty sure it has something to do with the machine and not the highly skilled operator.   

Anyway, I attached the ends to some lollipop sticks with glue dots and knotted them in place.  I used Basic Grey's Micro Mono Stickers to spell out 'Happy Birthday'.  The Basic Grey stickers are an awesome size for cards and projects like this one.  My only complaint is that they only provide two capital Y's.  So one 'Happy Birthday' and you are done with the sheet.   

Here are the cupcakes in action.  Oh, and yes, when I ordered the cupcakes, I kept in mind the paper I wanted to use for the banner so it would coordinate.  Because that's how I craft.  

I think it's safe to say Mr. Bean and I started the year off with a bang.  We went to an uncle's house for a family party.  Don't let the words "family party" fool you, though. Mr. Bean's family knows how to party.  We didn't get home until almost 6:00 in the morning.  I didn't get into bed until after 7:00 since Freddie needed some TLC with the backyard.  Luckily, Billy Bean was there to keep me company every step of the way or else I probably would have fallen asleep on the floor by the back door waiting on Freddie.  I didn't even dance that much, but I woke up at 3:00 in the afternoon feeling every bit my age.  Good times.

I have some good stuff planned for 2011!  I hope you guys do too!  Please leave a comment or email me and share it with me!  I'd love to post of pics of it all here so that this is less an all-about-me spot and more about crafting a cuter world.

Huge thanks to Prithwi for taking these pictures of the cupcakes for me.  Sometimes an iPhone just doesn't cut it.

A Birthday Banner and Some Cupcake Goodness.

Two of some of my favorite people were born in July. My friend Laura and my oldest nephew. I've known Laura for going on 22 years. Laura is one of those friends that basically always has your back. She's probably threatened to beat up every one of my shady boyfriends at one time or another, so when she met Mr. Bean and loved him, I pretty much knew he had to be The One. She inspires me to find joy in the little things in life - like the little chocolates you get with your meal on the airplane or the fruit tarts you find in bakeries all over France - as well as the mundane things - like cooking a pot roast. I don't know that I will ever understand why she thinks I am so awesome (because she really does tell people that I am awesome) but I hope I am half the friend to her that she is to me.

Laura has an understated elegance that I could never achieve. While I am loud and crass, Laura is quiet and refined. I love hot pink and bright orange, she loves pale pinks and blues. I love excess, she believes in moderation. When it came time to make her a birthday card, I decided to do something that was a little bit of the both of us: minimal with a little bit of drama.

My inspiration was basically a birthday banner. I didn't want to do a pennant banner because I wanted to challenge myself to think outside of my tiny creative box. I originally wanted to try a pop up card where when the card was opened, this banner pops up and basically screams 'Happy Birthday' at you, but it was getting late and I couldn't get it to work properly. Maybe another time. So, I decided to go with a party-in-an-envelope concept. In my head, it would be like an instant party.

Step 1. Pull the string.


Step 2. Start the party.


Isn't that kind of how it goes? Well, that's how it goes in my head, anyways.

For this card, I drew out all the letters by hand, then cut them out and sewed them together with my sewing machine. That's about it! The patterened paper is all Martha Stewart. The envelopes are from Paper Source. The kraft cardstock is Bazzill.

One of my other favorite people born this month is my oldest nephew. He is going to be 15 tomorrow. I can't begin to tell you how old that makes me feel. And short. Because he is probably 2 feet taller than me already. This year my sister-in-law decided to throw him a surprise party with all of his friends, so she asked me to make the cake. But, why eat cake when you can have a cupcake? That's my motto.

I tried not to make the cupcakes too childlike since he is 15, but I still wanted them to be cute. So, I took some of my Japanese washi tape and toothpicks and created some cupcake toppers.

Please forgive the color of the chocolate icing. I cut out some of the chocolate the recipe required because the grocery store only had semi sweet chocolate when I needed unsweetened chocolate. I was sweating it for a while, but luckily I only got one dookie comment from an entire crowd of 15 year old boys, so I'll count it as a success.

And, just in case you are interested - ok, really, I am trying to put off making dinner - for his cake, I made him a cupcake cake with 6 cupcakes and a ton of icing. I tried to decorate it so that it matched the cupcake toppers, but I doubt anyone noticed that. Since my nephew is a texting fool (he only uses about 20 minutes of actual phone time, but manages to send out about 25,000 texts a month....seriously), I thought I'd get all witty on him and put 'HB2U' in lieu of the much longer 'Happy Birthday'. Just trying to stay hip, you know. One cupcake at a time. Unfortunately, I don't think it worked. Instead of the high-fives and loud bursts of exclamations like "Your Aunt is sooo awesome!" that I anticipated, several kids asked what it meant. But, I look at it this way. Maybe I am just head of my time.....


Alright, well, I've neglected house, home, and husband this past week, so I've got my work cut out for me. Mr. Bean has been forced to eat sandwiches for dinner lately and I'm pretty sure the jig is up and he's caught on that it's not a home style version of the newest Quiznos sandwich.