Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Japanese Erasers


Japanese erasers are so much fun! Julia has an entire collection of them. She doesn't erase anything with them, she just plays little pretend games with all of her little creatures. You can find tons and tons of cute ones here.

Monday, February 27, 2012

A Pink and Sparkly Birthday Cake





Ever since last summer, when I first happened upon it, I have been really excited to try making My My's Strawberry Layer Cake. I'll just link you to the recipe because it's all over the internet and I don't feel the need to write it down AGAIN. One note: I made the frosting in 2 batches and gave each box of sugar its own stick of butter. So I used two sticks of butter total.

So when Julia requested a Strawberry Shortcake dolly themed birthday party, I knew that it was time to crack out this recipe and give it a whirl. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed and neither was anyone else, I promise! 

The taste is a bit. . . like something NOT found in nature, but it really was delicious. The strawberry frosting was AMAZING. My cake layers did not rise quite evenly and I was too lazy to trim them so the end result was a bit lopsided from certain angles.

The best part about the whole endeavor? When my kiddo gazed at it and said "Oh WOW!" If you want pink perfection in a cake, look no further. Don't forget pink sugar sprinkles!

Fiona Hewitt Sugar Tin


Remember my Kingdom of Happy Joy post? Well I just saw this on Pinterest the other day, pinned my one of my favorite pinners! Same artist! Ok, I think I have to have this. You know, for Julia. Not myself. You can find more here but you'll have to race me to get it...

Friday, February 24, 2012

Pink Popcorn!



Yes my sweeties, pink popcorn exists and I have found it -- I am VERY PROUD of myself right now! Check out the recipe, this is beyond easy to make! I used up all my red food coloring tinting Julia's birthday cake PINK last weekend (pictures coming soon!), otherwise I would have made this recipe already. This is a MUST TRY, don't you think so?

Have a perfectly pinkalicious weekend and I'll see you next week!


(Image Credits: ciaobella50.com)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Hamukko World Ruler Set



This KuruKuru Ruler Set from Hamukko World is SO MUCH FUN! It's a mini spirograph set. Julia adores it and played with it for an entire plane ride to Hawaii. !!!! You can find one here.


(Image credits: Ebay)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Fairy Bread


Julia and I can't wait to make FAIRY BREAD! I found it on one of my favorite sites, Lobster & Swan. Every single image Jeska posts there is gorgeous and stunningly beautiful!

Wouldn't this be So Fun for a tea party, fun for a special breakfast, fun for a birthday?


(Image Credits: Jeska Hearne of Lobster & Swan)

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Letter J and Wild Animals

Julia wanted to to show you all some pictures of wild animals that start with the letter J! J is her favorite letter, do you know why? Because Julia starts with J! HURRAY FOR J!

Jellyfish



Jaguars



Jack Russell Terrier puppy



Japanese Beetle


Julia wants you to know that she wrote the names of the animals HERSELF.
Why do you like Jellyfish Julia? "I like Jellyfish because I like Jellyfish!!!"




(Image credits: fanny-fart tumblr.com, wallpapers.free-review.net, istockimg.com, arbordoctor.net)

Monday, February 20, 2012

The Cutest Kitten Puzzle!


This kitten puzzle from Ravensburger (they make SUCH darling games and puzzles!) is truly one of the cutest I've seen. It has just the right amount of challenge for the beginning puzzler. Julia received it as a present on her 5th birthday and it's still going strong -- we haven't lost any pieces and she really enjoys it even now, a year later!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Unicorn Poop

Unicorn Poop!

One of Julia's aunties sent me this on Facebook and truly, this may be the most fantastic thing I have ever seen ever in my life. If you do not also find it tremendously wonderful, I will feel tremendous sadness. I can promise you that every kid in the world will find this to be super amazing and they can't all be wrong, can they? Nor can Julia's aunty be wrong. I can also promise you that I will be showing this to my daughter and she will probably beg to see it 20 times a day. And because it is unicorn poop, it's OK to talk about it because unicorns are magical and awesome.

(If you want to know how unicorn poop is created and find out how you can capture the magic for yourself, click here.)


(Image Credit: Kristy Lynn)

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Mini Cinnis


Oh my GOODNESS, you are going to FREAK OUT when you see how easy these little mini-cinnamon rolls are to make! Julia and I are going to make some and have the World's Smallest Tea Party.

(The blog author who created this masterpiece over at Iowa Girl Eats claims you can eat one or two and feel perfectly satisfied. I must very respectfully disagree because I am pretty fairly sure that I would eat about THIRTY of these.)


(Image Credits: Iowa Girl Eats)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Who Wants to Ride on a Carousel?


I want to ride on THIS carousel. Does anyone know where it is? I can't find out where this magical creation is!


If I can't ride on that other swirly pink palace, I'd like to ride on a carousel in Paris.


Who wants to go to Paris in the springtime?



(Image credits: http://lekitty.tumblr.com/post/2914524622, erikadalya blogspot.com, http://www.canvas-of-light.com/2010/09/carousel-paris/img_750666/)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Rosebud Wishes You Happy Valentine's Day!

Our kitty Rosebud played peekaboo with us through the curtains the other day. Isn't she super cute?






Monday, February 13, 2012

Kingdom of Happy Joy



I am totally wild for the art of Fiona Hewitt, the British creator of Dumpling Dynasty, which includes quite simply, some of the cutest activity kits I have ever seen. Her art is so charming, so darling and I want to sprinkle every piece of art she does over a hot fudge sundae and eat it.

Sadly, the first art print, 'The Kingdom of Happy Joy' is sold out, but you can find a pillow with the same print on it here. Her 'Fortune Cookies' print is still available! And you must MUST check out the full range of Dumpling Dynasty products. You can also find more of Fiona's work here.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Has a Disco Ball Exploded?



Why no, it's just our new blog! My husband created the banner, which he describes as "an Evite gone Terribly Wrong." I love love what I do over at Julia's Bookbag, but sometimes I just wanted to GET CRAZY. And my daughter was begging me to let her take pictures and start making little blog posts. And I can only talk about Hello Kitty so much over on my other blog. So behold, BLOG NUMBER DEUX.

(Oh, and when did Hello Kitty get married??)