Wordless Wednesday: One Happy Kid

Date: 2011.11.02 | Category: Just for Fun, My Life, Photography | Response: 1

My son, as Sojourner, the Mars rover.

Happy Halloween!

Date: 2011.10.31 | Category: Just for Fun, My Life | Response: 0

Last night, we celebrated with some of my sons’ friends and their families. We showed off my husband’s cool outdoor decorations. This is year one of his plan to go all out for Halloween, so we’ll be adding to it every year. Here’s what we’ve got so far. Tonight, we’ll add fog and lightning to the mix for trick-or-treaters! Have a spooky day!

The spider decorations my son and I made, glowing in the black light

This guy, and the white ghost behind him, have been around since I was a kid -- at least!

By the front door

And, because I am proud of them, here are a couple of the goodies I put together for the party.

Graveyard cake

Clementine "pumpkins"

Easy Halloween Party Ideas

Date: 2011.10.28 | Category: Just for Fun, My Life | Response: 2

We’re planning a little Halloween party for this weekend to show of my husband’s crazy decorations, so I’ve been keeping my eye out for clever ideas. Here are a couple of my favorite easy ones — many of which I found through Pinterest (follow me!) — that I’ll likely be using this weekend:

Clementine Pumpkins! (From The Princess and The Frog Blog)
How cute are these guys?!?

Monster Masks — Thanks, Sesame Street!

Cemetery Cake (From Family Circle)

We’ll also give bobbing for apples a shot, and I can’t wait to fill my house with the smell of mulled cider. And, there will be witches’ brew punch for the kids (and kids at heart). I love this time of year!

Wordless Wednesday Picture

Date: 2011.10.26 | Category: My Life, Photography | Response: 0

I love the trend I’m seeing across other blogs for Wordless Wednesday, so I thought I might jump on the bandwagon. The idea is to post a picture and just leave it at that. So, for today, I offer this picture I took of a double rainbow we saw last week while visiting my parents:

Cake Balls, Attempt 1

Date: 2011.10.25 | Category: Food, My Life | Response: 1

Cake, frosting, candy coating — what’s not to like?

I’ve had my eye on Bakerella‘s cake pops/balls ever since a friend posted them to Facebook a couple of years ago. Then, Family Circle put them on the cover of their Halloween-themed issue this month, and my son and I were captivated by the idea. It got worse when we found her new cookbook, Cake Pops, which is all mini cake bites all the time.

Here are the results of my first attempt:

They’re not the prettiest cake balls — I mean, Bakerella’s are perfect – but they are delicious! Some things I learned:

• When she says crumble the cake into fine crumbs, she means it. Next time, I’m going to use the food processor to crumble my cake.
• Keep rolling until the balls are round. I think I was so excited to finish them, I left them a little lumpy.
• Somehow, I have to get the coating on smoother. Any tips from cake ball pros out there?

No matter what, the family and friends I forced them on didn’t seem to mind too much. I’ll be attempting these again!

SALE and Other Shop Happenings

Date: 2011.10.19 | Category: Events, Sales, Shop News, Southern Maryland | Response: 0

Happy Wednesday! Here are a few things going on with Peace, Baby! the next few weeks:

• I’m having a SALE on all 6- and 12-month T-shirts, both long and short sleeves. I’ll be uploading more shirts in these sizes to the Etsy shop over the next several days, and they’ll be at my events for the rest of the year. Short sleeves in these sizes are now $12 (originally $15), and long sleeves are $14 (originally $17). And, yes, this includes holiday tees, like my candy cane and Christmas tree designs!

• You’ll find free domestic first-class shipping in my online store through Saturday, Oct. 23! Just use the coupon code FREESHIP at check out. I’m out of town during this time, so I’ll process all orders Oct. 23 and 24.

• Next event: Maker’s Market at Annmarie Garden near Solomons, MD. This great market features all things handmade, homemade, and homegrown in Southern Maryland. It’s one of my favorite events! The next market is Saturday, Nov. 5, from 9 a.m. to noon at the market. Free! Stop by and say hello!

• Did you know I do custom orders? If you’re planning to attend one of my markets and want something special, just contact me at least a week before the event. I can make your order and bring it with me to the market. Email me (peacebabybatiks [at] gmail.com) or send me a conversation via Etsy.

Glowing Spider Decorations

Date: 2011.10.12 | Category: Just for Fun, My Life | Response: 0

A few weeks ago, little guy and I were wandering around a big-box home improvement store looking at their Halloween decorations. We became enamored with some tinsel spiders, but they were too pricey (in my opinion) to buy too many of them.

So, we decided to make our own spiders, an idea that fit well with my husband’s plan to go all out for Halloween this year.

Any by all out, I mean, all out. Our house is going to be something else this year! I can’t wait to see it all put together. We’ve got lights and ghosts and pumpkins, of course. But, that’s not enough. Oh no — he’s got a fog machine and built a contraption to cool the fog so it settles on the ground, and he is rigging up some electronic wizardry to make it look like thunder and lightning.

Don’t let me forget about the black lights, which is where these little guys come in.

Here’s what you need:

• Styrofoam balls in whatever size you choose
• Paint (we used neon orange, neon yellow and black)
• Pipe cleaners
• Googly eyes
• Hot glue gun

Paint the spiders your desired color(s). If you’re lighting them with a black light, go for neon colors so they glow.

The balls need more than one coat to completely cover the Styrofoam. Let the paint dry completely between coats. Little guy had limited patience for so much painting, so I added the later coats on my own.

When the balls are dry, cut pipe cleaners in half for legs. Poke them into the Styrofoam and then bend them to look like legs with feet. Before we hang ours outside, I am going to go back and glue in the legs so they don’t fall out.

Cut another pipe cleaner in half and twist it into a loop. Poke it into the top of your spider to make a hole. Remove the loop, and fill the hole with hot glue. Poke the loop back in.

Glue on googly eyes, and find a great place to hang them.

Happy Halloween!

Peace, Baby! in VA this Sunday!

Date: 2011.10.10 | Category: Events, Shop News | Response: 0

I’ve planned a busy October for myself, and the last event on my October schedule is Falling for Handmade, the annual arts and crafts show hosted by the Capital Region Etsy Street Team (also known as CREST). I’m so excited to meet other local Etsians and participate in my first show outside of Maryland!

The show is this Sunday, Oct. 16, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ernst Cultural Center at Northern Virginian Community College in Annandale, VA. (Easy access from the Beltway; directions here.)

I’ve got a little work to do this week to be ready for Sunday, but when I am done, Peace, Baby! will have jack-o-lantern bodysuits and T-shirts (like those at right) and Christmas T-shirts and dresses ready for the sale. I’m also making a few more fire truck tees – this is a brand new design!

I hope I get a chance to walk around my fellow vendors – they’ll be bringing fantastic artwork, photography, handbags, children’s items, jewelry and lots more. Want a preview of what you’ll find? Check out this great slide show!

Find out more information about Falling for Handmade at the show’s website, and stay up to date by following the event’s Facebook page. Hope to see you there – please stop by and say hello!

It’s Leprechaun Lilly’s Time!

Date: 2011.10.05 | Category: Events, Southern Maryland | Response: 0

If you’re looking for me for the rest of the week, I’ll be pretty easy to find: I’ll be staffing my vendor table at the twice-yearly Leprechaun Lilly’s Children’s Consignment Sale!

The sale is a great way to get gently used children’s items from clothing to shoes to toys to nursery décor to furniture. In the past, there have been more than 20,000 items! This weekend’s sale focuses on fall and winter items.

This is one of my favorite it events of the year. Besides shopping for great things for my son, I get to meet lots of awesome families and see tons of cute kids. Peace, Baby! will be among the vendors with a full stock of jack-o-lantern tees and bodysuits, Christmas T-shirts and dresses, and some fun new T-shirt designs for boys and girls. Plus, I’ll be handing out a coupon code good for 10 percent off in my Etsy shop. Be sure to stop by and say hello!

The sale takes place at the St. Mary’s County Fairgrounds in Leonardtown, and runs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8. Want more info? Visit Leprechaun Lilly’s online and on Facebook.

Fall Activity: Apple Trees

Date: 2011.10.03 | Category: Mothering, Playgroup Activities | Response: 0

I love fall, and one activity my son and I have been looking forward to is visiting our local orchard to play in the corn box, go through the corn maze, and get some fresh apples.  A couple of weeks before we went, we did this simple apple tree activity with one of his friends.

My son’s orchard is a little abstract (he’s three and a half) – he was more interested in using the paints to draw rockets – but I love how the colors look together nonetheless. It’s still an apple tree to me!

Here’s what you need:

White construction paper, preferably white
Red paint
Green paint
Brown paint (I mixed red, green, and black to make brown)
Paint brushes
To make the trunk, paint the child’s arm and hand with brown paint. “Stamp” their arm and hand onto the paper, fingers spread, to make the tree (or, in our case, trees).

Wash off the brown paint, and paint the child’s hand green. Stamp handprints all over the top of your tree to make leaves.

Wash of the green paint, and dip the child’s thumb in red paint. Add thumbprint apples to your tree. (If the green or brown paint got laid on a little thick, you might need to play a bit between colors to let them dry a little.)

Have fun!