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Hope Farm Housewife

my patchwork life

Archives for October 2011

“Green” Birthday

by CyleAugusta 1 Comment

I was on autopilot scanning the Birthday section at Wal- mart.

spider man?  ironman? or maybe Cars 2?

Picking up plates, napkins, blowers, cups, I felt a sense of dread, thinking, I do this every year and it’s such a waste of paper.  My mind wandered to the stack of glass dessert plates I never use in my cabinet and the new birthday banner I buy every time a birthday rolls around, not to mention the birthday hat I usually purchase for one time wear.

I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of birthday mania aisle and let the creativity run wild. I’VE GOT IT!

I ran to Michaels buying a stack of blue and red felt at five for a dollar and a blank red t- shirt for $2.50. My idea was to make a birthday banner out of felt to hang across the fireplace and for each birthday I will simply change the name banner. I also envisioned a coordinating birthday shirt that could be worn on the special day and worn again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started out by finding last year’s birthday banner that was falling apart. I broke apart the letters and used them for stencils. I then cut triangles out of dark blue and light blue.












 

 

I cut the letters out of red felt and hot glued them onto the triangles. Next, I glued the triangles with letters attached to a red ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looked so cute in our living room! My plan is to make the third part of the banner exactly the same in December with the name Tucker for the next boy’s birthday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember the red t-shirt I purchased for $2.50? I made a corresponding banner with small triangles and cut a large number six out of the leftover felt and my sewing saavy sister helped me sew it on!  This was one happy birthday boy who woke up to a festive banner and celebratory t- shirt to wear to school. He reported that everyone knew it was his birthday… due to the shirt , of course!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He never even noticed that there were no disposable birthday accessories:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He blew out a candle on a Dunkin Muffin, the muffin is sitting on a white plate and juice is in a regular cup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did, in fact use that stack of desert plates stowed away in the back of the cabinets. My new plan is to take my boys to Color Me Happy to paint their own birthday plate to use every year! Color me Happy is a local paint your own pottery studio, if your not local, message Meghan and ask her where to find one near you.

Unfortunately, I hopped on the  Green Birthday wagon about two days before the big day, not enough time to make the plate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a delightful day and no trees were killed on behalf of me. The three old is quick to remind me that I have to make him a shirt with a big four on it come December! These traditions came from a desire to not add to the dump yard with birthday festivities.

Some additional ideas include wrapping gifts in burlap sacks, I have not tried it yet. I’m taking baby steps with the green lifestyle you know!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Birthday Giveaway: Free August York CD

by CyleAugusta 6 Comments

Im going to give you a present! It might be you, in fact. It all depends on what Mr. Random.org decides. It is Birthday weekend for me, so what better way to celebrate than to give away a lovely piece of musical genius.

My brother and his wife just recorded a full- length album, this music is unique and beautiful. The musicality is  briliant while the vocals are riveting and jazzy in nature. The words are intricate, fun and poetic while the whole album  paints a picture of love and freedom. This music is not easily put into a genre, I can tell you it’s not corporate worship, I can tell you it’s not CCM, it’s not country, it is simply something you have to hear.

Do you want to enter to win? It is two easy steps.

1. leave a comment and tell me that you are either going to like their face book page or start following on twitter.

2. Either follow on twitter or like page on facebook

Drawing will happen Monday morning at 9.p.m via random.org

 

Official Website
iTunes Link
Facebook
Twitter

 

 

 

 

They also just released a music video which you can find on their home page, It was recorded in New York, where they were engaged!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Pocket Photographer: My Fair Story

by CyleAugusta 1 Comment

How many of you have said, “If only I had a photographer I could stick in my back pocket“?

So many times I’ve wished a pro photographer would follow our family around to catch all the memorable family adventures – the ones that often end up blurry and out of focus for those of us that are less than “pro”.

I’m not exactly calling myself a total amateur – I do shoot in manual and use multiple lenses. Nonetheless, it takes certain flashes and specialty lenses to capture quality action images like sports and the fair. Not to mention the fact that mommy dearest is rarely in these so-called adventurous pics –  I’m busy snapping them!

Speaking of the fair, we went last Tuesday night. I didn’t bring a camera other than the iPhone. Last year, I brought the SLR and it took hours to sort through the blur and out of focus messes, finding a mere few images worth editing into shape.

Not this year! I took a few images on the instagram and most of them were a complete beyond recognition.

With the handy wrist bands we were able to ride endlessly. Since the swings are one of our favs, we frequent them. On one of the swing escapades I saw a flash! I looked down to see our photographer friends taking pics.  Two days later an e-mail landed in my inbox title Fair photos.



I may not have a personal photographer but at least I could pretend for a minute, and the best part? Mommy made it in the picture! Thanks Chris Moncus Photography for being spontaneous!

Filed Under: Cyle, family Fun, motherhood, Photography

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