Birthday Party Recap

My childhood birthday party memories are filled with images of kids, cake, balloons, presents and pinatas (my Dad would make me pinata year after year for my parties). Simple pleasures. So I put aside the idea that Oscar's birthday had to be a production, and focused on making it purely fun. And to make it purely fun, I focused on making it easy. :)



My 5th birthday party with my friends from the street.


We hosted a birthday party on the Saturday for immediate family, which is why I was baking up a storm. A simply BBQ, and family brought salads and munchies. I ordered 24 helium balloons from my neighbourhood stationery store, and they delivered them the morning of the party and they were scattered throughout the house. I used my no-sew bunting flags for the event - they can be reused every year, something I intentionally wanted, to create some tradition to birthdays. Over the years the bunting flags will get worn, but I hope that little things like these will contribute to fond memories as he gets older.

Our Living Room was filled with helium balloons for Oscar

The next day, Sunday was Oscar's real birthday. Aubrey had to work, so Oscar and I spent the day taking a little walk to Starbucks to see his favourite barristas who all wished him a Happy Birthday, and playing with some of his new toys. At night we went to my Parents to celebrate his real birthday with a celebratory dinner, and this cake by my Mom....

My Mom made this cake for Oscar

Oscar's Birthday cake is a perfect example of how my Mom made birthdays so special for us growing up (and still does).  She found this recipe online at Betty Crocker and made it for Oscar. How cute is that!? When Oscar gets older, we're adding a pinata to the mix as it was one of my favourite traditions at my birthday. Not sure if others have traditions they have carried down for their children?

So there you have it. The birthday festivities weren't themed or overly planned. We just had family, sweets, balloons, presents, and a lot of hugs and snuggles. The perfect recipe for a perfect birthday weekend.

Birthday Party, The Cake

Oscar's Birthday weekend was great fun. There are so many different elements to the weekend that I thought I'd break them into a few posts as each element is unique and special. This is my last "Baking" post for a long, long time. ;)

Some birthday cakes are fancy, and beautiful. Themed and stylized. But I think there is something perfect about a simple, classic birthday cake. My Mom makes the most delicious cakes from scratch, and one day, I will try to recreate her famous cakes, but for Oscar's birthday his cake was courtesy of a Duncan Hines box. :) I took a chocolate cake, and a vanilla cake and did layers. The icing, being SUPER easy is home made. Simply Icing sugar, Butter, Vanilla flavour and some water.

The icing isn't perfectly put on, but that's what happens when your baby gets scared of the KitchenAid Stand Mixer and wants the cling to you as you ice the cake. It was a bit of a struggle but we did it in the end, together. The cake is 3 layers and topped off with sprinkles. I was going to put some circus toppers on it, but I just fell in love with the simplicity and stopped after the sprinkles. This may be common knowledge but if you want to know the trick to doing layers,  there is one simple step.

You need to slice that "hump" off the top of the cake off all of the inside layers. You want to make it as flat as possible, because if you start layering with the humps, your cake is going to wobble and potentially slide off one another when you ice.

Just do that with all of the "inside" pieces but leave the hump on the top one. :)

And there you have it. Our sweet classic cake, for our sweet little boy.

The Cottage Mama - What's New in the Shop?

As most of you know, I am going to be entering the world of children's clothing pattern design.  I have been sewing like crazy testing out some of my new designs to see if they are ready to be sent out.  But on top of all that I have added some new things to the shop that I wanted to share with you all.

I will be releasing some of these designs as sewing patterns (plus some that you haven't seen) and some of them will just stay as items in my shop and may be released as patterns in the future.

Strawberry Bubble Romper.  This is a fun play-suit for an infant/toddler and this strawberry fabric is one of my favorites.  The romper is fully lined and ties at the shoulder.  Perfect for a little crawler.

Flutter Sleeve Ruffle Peasant Dress.  I don't typically offer this style dress, but I wanted to try my hand at this easy-to-wear, casual girls dress.  This has been a really big seller in the shop and I am down to the very last yard of this vintage trim.

Purple Swirls Pinafore and Bloomer Set.  This outfit is a lot of fun and perfect for a little crawler or toddler.  I love the banded bloomer which gives these a little different look than your typical bloomer (they look a little more like a short).  The top has a retro-inspired cross-back and is very cool in the summer.  The top also looks adorable paired with a long-sleeved shirt and jeans for an easy transition to fall.

Summer Berry Frock.  This is a simple knot dress in fabulous bright, eclectic fabric!  I like these dresses for my girls because they transition nicely from season to season.  For summer I would just add a pair of sandals, but for fall I would pair this with a long-sleeved shirt, tights and boots.

The Sweet Dress.  This is one of my favorite designs done in one of my favorite fabrics.  The green and blue fabric is feminine without being super-girly and pink.  This is a great dress for a toddler on up and is fully-lined and comfy to wear.

Fully Reversible Bubble Romper.  Done in the same "sweet" fabric as the dress above, this romper is fully reversible and is two looks in one.

The Sweet Dress and Reversible Bubble Romper are two of my favorite looks for sister outfits.

All-Star Romper.  A little something for a baby boy or toddler.  This romper is perfect for summer-time play and will keep your little guy nice and cool during the warm summer days.  It has a large pocket on the front for collecting "treasure" and the pocket is accented with royal blue piping.

A-Line Mod Shift Jumper.  I designed this dress with a little bit older girl in mind, but it could certainly be worn by a toddler.  The sophisticated color palette of purple, grey, lime green and pink are perfect for a girl who wants something with a little style, but not too over the top.  The dress is fully lined, has two large pockets and closes at the shoulder with fabric covered buttons.

So that's just a little update about some new things going on in the shop.  If you are interested in keeping updated with new designs, exclusive sales and happenings with The Cottage Mama, come join us over on Facebook.  Click HERE to become a fan of "The Cottage Mama".

Reader Nursery

I love when readers send me pictures of their rooms and recently I opened my mailbox to find a gem. Of course I am always looking for nursery inspiration these days but to have one this cute delivered right to me was such a treat! The owners did almost the whole thing by themselves with LOTS of paint and it really paid off. Thank you Angie, I know Evie is loving her new home!!!!

{ Man Cave Updates }

not furnished yet, 

but I couldn't help to accessories it a bit...

this is the overall look

Everything was chosen with Danny in mind,

 The Dan Cave

The wall color is Koala Bear, by Behr, 

but it resembles the color eggs one of our chickens lay.

I know, pretty empty , right?

But, it's come along way since looking like this...

and then, this

Yikes.

so, without further ado,

I tried to accessorize with Danny's things, so it felt more 

Danny, than Denise.

{bear with me people, wait 'til he hangs up the furs!}

this is a shot of behind the bar.

I hung a shelf for his mugs and other what-nots.

{I know I'm missing a switchplate cover}

love the vintagey ceiling lights

the sconces beside the window are outdoor light fixtures from Home Depot

I always like the outdoor fixtures better than the indoor ones.

an old red chest I found on the side of the road, and the silver trophy cup as well,

believe it.

the bar top is not in yet.

it will be galvanized steel...eventually

{ehh hemm, Matthew}

here's a close up of the bar.  the facade is made of reclaimed lumber.

and the foot rest from plumbing pipes and 

re-purposed bricks from a cousins house.

I love the slate with all the wood and metal.

hidden gum balls.

I thought the gum ball machine would be a cute addition to the room, 

especially with its price tag of only 5 smackers.

But, Jonas proved me wrong.

It's not so cute when a 2 year old is drooling multi-colored spit, 

'cause he can't keep it in his mouth since his mouth is packed with gum.

So, now they're kept away from little fingers.

I'm showing you the stairs half way through a project.

I used 4 different colors on the risers.  

Each color was a left over from colors used throughout the house.

I'm planning on some thing else for the risers too, so 

stay tuned.