text: It was a very big day around here a couple of weekends ago.
  Our son was Baptized.
  And then we hosted a dinner for our family (on both sides) at our house.
  We had about 45 guests.
  Like I said it was a very big day!
  So how do you decorate when you're hosting a party and the guest of honor is a boy but you still want it to be fun and not just blue plus inexpensive and easy but fabulous and did I mention for a boy?
  Question....ponder...wonder......
  Call a friend.....
  Get a great suggestion and then let the good times roll!
  I called my friend Shonda (amazing photographer, creative genius) who said she'd seen a cute rainbow party on a blog somewhere....
  Then she reminded me of this song the kids sing at church.
  Rainbows! Perfect!
  So I used the words from the song and made these two printables. I decorated with balloons and crepe paper in rainbow colors.
  Each table was covered with a tablecloth one color in the rainbow.
  The smaller printable was in the center of the table with pictures of our boy around it.
  My daughter helped me make these fabulous cupcakes, (recipe here)
  image source OurBestBites.com
  Which we proudly displayed on a cupcake stand with one of the small printables I made on top.
  and guess who didn't get a single picture!
  Yep, to busy with everything else and forgot the pictures.
  This way you can imagine it as amazing and colorful as you want and I'll just say, "you bet, that's exactly what it looked like!"
  Easy, Easy, Easy, Fabric Headband Pattern and Tutorial
  There's a story to how this pattern came to be.
  I have two friends, Natalie and Jodi, who live next to each other. One evening Natalie and Jodi were out and the husbands were holding down the forts. Natalie's 3 year old daughter and Jodi's 4 year old daughter were playing together and decided to cut each other's hair. It was not just a little snip here and there but each had huge chunks of hair cut almost to the scalp.
  Both moms were devastated.
  That night Natalie sat down, designed and sewed these headbands in all kinds of colors to help hide the scalp and chunky layers of her little girl.
  But they turned out so-so-SO cute that Natalie started wearing them too. And she got lots of people asking her where she got her headbands.
  She was nice enough to share her pattern and teach the ladies at church too so they could make their own headbands.
  She also gave me permission to write a tutorial on this blog.
  So thank you so much Natalie, crafter, chef, mother, hairstylist, friend extraordinaire for sharing!
  In the tutorial I will show you two options for embellishing your headband.
  Option #1 has a gathered rosette and Option #2 has gathered/pleated coordinating fabric on top.
  Both headbands have frayed edges.
  Natalie came up with the rosette and I came up with the gather/pleats.
  3 coordinating fabrics at least 36 inches x 4 inches (I bought 1/4 yard each of three fabrics and have easily been able to make 6 headbands).
  Option 1 rosette embelished
  Print and cut-out pattern.
  Pattern piece #1 you will need to overlap at the line and tape together. Your finished pattern piece should measure about 17 inches long.
  Lay pattern piece #1 on fabric 1 with the edge indicated on the fold.
  Pin and cut out fabric. When cut you should have a strip of fabric approximately 34 inches long.
  Pattern Piece #2 - lay it on fabric 2 with the edge indicated on the fold. Cut out fabric.
  Cut one of the circle pattern for the flower on fabric 3.
  Find the center of each strip of fabric by folding in half and marking with a pin.
  Match centers and layer fabric piece 2 on top of fabric piece 1 you will have a little over 1/4 inch of fabric 1 showing on each side of the top fabric.
  Sew around piece 2 about 1/4 inch in from the raw edge all of the way around. This will attach the two pieces together.
  Do the same all the way around piece 1.
  We will be leaving the edges raw and so this edge stitching will keep the fabric from unraveling completely.
  I love the look of the frayed edge! I think it adds so much charm and character.
  Now we get to embellish the headband with a whimsical rosette.
  Just to one side of center lay your circle of fabric on the headband. (I have the center marked with a pin in this photo).
  Start tucking and bunching the circle in toward the center to make a rosette.
  I try to keep the outline of the circle as I bunch the fabric.
  Starting on the outside edge sew around the circle and spiral in toward the center as you sew.
  Be careful not to sew any of the pins and feel free to fold and tuck fabric under the presser foot as you sew.
  This really is a whimsical rosette so don't try to make it perfect.
  This is what the back looks like after you're done.
  See, not perfect at all, but full of character.
  Option 2 gathered embellished:
  For option 2 cut out pattern piece 1 the same as option 1
  When you cut out pattern piece 2 place the edge of the pattern that says "cut on fold" 9 inches from the fold.
  To make this piece just a little easier to cut out
  Grab the folded edge that is 9 inches away from the edge of the pattern and fold it in toward the patern.
  The fold farthest away from the pattern will now be 4 1/2 inches from the pattern.
  Next pin the fabric and pattern and cut out the pattern piece.
  I eyeball it and cut from one folded side straight down the pattern piece and then down the other side.
  Find and mark the center of piece 2.
  This is what piece 2 should look like.
  With the pattern piece still on top of the cut fabric lay out piece 1 with piece 2 on top. The edge of the pattern that says "cut on fold should be at the center point of piece one.
  Smooth out the fabric and pin the fabric that is the farthest from the center point to the bottom fabric.
  Pin the center point of both fabrics together.
  And then using the pattern piece as a guide do the same for the other end of piece 2.
  After you've pinned all three points your headband should look like this.
  You should have a lot of extra fabric.
  This is where you can get creative. You can fold in uniform tucks or gathers or you can just fold the fabric which ever way you want and let it look a little crazy. Either way it will be really cute.
  Let's pause here for a look at what was sharing my craft table space with me.
  It looks a little like Disney/Pixar Up meets G.I. Joe.
  I decided to go for the hap-hazard pleated look.
  Pin and then sew 1/4 from the edge of the top fabric all the way around.
  Sew 1/4 in all the way around the outside edge of your headband and you're done!
  I love these headbands because they're so comfortable and easy to adjust.
  Simply tie to the size you need.
  In fact....don't tell my extended family....but I'm making a bunch of these to use at our family Christmas Party White Elephant gift exchange and at another party where everyone is given play money and we have an auction with it for the white elephant gifts ( always so much fun!)
  Oh, and Natalie says she's made a bunch for her 8 year old daughter to give to friends for Christmas. Brilliant!
  After it was done my 8 and 11 year olds said, "Finally we don't have to be so worried about keeping our rooms spotless." You and me both guys!
  In fact here's a link to some very short instructions by Rust-oleum. I cleaned my basket thoroughly and let it dry and then I sprayed it with a 2 in 1 spray paint primer in grey.
  Really if you're going to make jam, freezer jam is the easiest and quickest way to go!
  Today's flavor of choice was Raspberry-Peach.
  The raspberries came from our patch (having the summer heat extend into October has meant we've gotten bonus berries! Yipeee!) and the peaches from a local fruit stand. (Utah peaches are the best!)
  I love sure-jell as far as pectin goes. I'm not paid by them but I'm certainly endorsing them.
  Their instructions are clear and easy.
  Cut up and mash fruit.
  Combine fruit and sugar
  Let set 10 min.
  Combine water and pectin
  Let boil 1 min.
  Combine pectin and fruit
  Pour into plastic containers
  Close 'em-up.
  30 minutes at the most! You're done! Ta-Da!
  Okay so they're a little more detailed than mine but you get the idea.
  My tip is to follow the instruction precisely. When it says to stir the pectin into the fruit and sugar for 3 minutes really stir it for the 3 minutes.
  At about 1:30 you will think, "Well, that looks like it's stirred in there. I think it's good. I'm going to stop."
  Don't.....just keep stirring, just keep stirring, what do we do? we stir and stir......Do you get what I'm saying. Don't scrimp on the stirring of the pectin into the fruit.
  Because if you don't the sugar may crystallize and then you have crunchy freezer jam and who wants that? I don't.
  And just so you know....freezer jam makes a great last minute gift! Who doesn't like home made jam? and freezer jam tastes so fresh and yummy.
  When We Travel We Listen
  We don't own a portable dvd player.
  Part of traveling is seeing the country you're traveling through and hopefully/possibly absorbing it all.
  So, instead of watching movies we listen to books on CD.
  We've listened to the Series of Unfortunate Events, Charlotte's Web, Magic Tree house, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter and various Lewis L'Amour stories, to name a few.
  On one of our road trips this summer we tried out a book middle son had been wanting to read.
  It's called 100 Cupboards.
  It's about a boy who is sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Kansas. He wakes up one morning to discover 99 cupboards on the wall in his bedroom. Eventually he discovers that each of these cupboards is a little window into another world....
  We loved it. We enjoyed the author's imagery and we thought it had just enough action. In fact we enjoyed it so much that when we got home we looked it up online and discovered that it is in fact the first book in a trilogy and all three books have already been published! (Score! That's the best time to start a trilogy - after they've all been published so you don't have to wait for the next one to come out). Anyway, we are now the proud owners of all three books. Well, my husband is, he got them for Father's day. He was truly happy about it too. The hard part for me was waiting for him to finish the second book so I could read it. They were, after all, his books. But he was kind enough to not mind that I read the second book, well, and the third book at the same time as him. And, ummm, I may have ended up finishing them before him.
  But the point is we've read them all. I have to say that the third book, Chestnut King, was my favorite.
  And just so you know, the second and third books were too intense for our 7 year old so we didn't read them to him. He just has to vivid of an imagination, and I like my sleep and I knew if we read them to him we'd have more than a few sleepless nights.