Froggies

For MissG's birthday party, we needed a game to entertain the littlest guests and some favors for them to take home. We gathered some scrap fabric from the stash and lentils from the cupboard and made bean bag frogs. Chris found the pattern on the web - something similar to this one. The game was simple - toss the froggies into the hole in the lily pond. Harder than it looks, though.

It was a fun idea. Even the adults got into the game. Some of the froggies had to have surgery before the end of the party because they were thrown with extreme vigor and enthusiasm.


At the end of the party, each little guest took home their own bean bag frog. Game and favors in one, all by using materials we had on hand. Very good.

Invites

Come help us celebrate with
a cupcake or two…

Little Miss Gioia is
turning ONE!

Sunday, May 25
4:00 p.m.

The party invitations are finished! Phew.

I had a difficult time with these. First, the laser printer did not want to print my text without smudging. So my tech support (Chris) and I printed almost 20 of them to get to a useable number. Then, the cardstock I used for the invites was not really watercolor paper. So the paint tended to sit on top instead of soaking into the paper like normal.


But I wound up with eight passable invitations. They are pretty close to the idea I had in my head.

Chris asked what the party theme was, and I said "cupcakes"! He says - that's not a theme. That's a food. Hmmm. My position is that - for a one year old - I am not sure if I have the energy for anything more elaborate. Wine for the adults, juice for the kids and cupcakes for all. Good enough, I say!

On a related note, we have searched all over Taipei for cupcake baking pans and cannot find them ANYWHERE. We have conscripted my mother-in-law to bring some pans when she comes. That means no practice cupcakes, but at least it is something. Although, she did ask if we had been to IKEA yet. Stupid us, probably IKEA does have cupcake pans. If I get any spare time, maybe I will check there too.

Again. Again!

Art classes in Taiwan are really different from in the States. In Chicago, I was given lots of creative space and encouragement.

"Draw a still life." GREAT JOB! "Now paint it." GREAT JOB!

Here in Taipei, I spend two hours each Saturday trying to make my fruit (after fruit, after fruit) look just like the instructor's fruit. After each session he points to one and says: "bu cuo (not bad)."

Sometimes I wonder if I am disliking the watercolors because I really hate the painting method or just because of the boring class. Or perhaps I need someone to let me do my own thing and then come over and tell me GREAT JOB!

I shouldn't hold my breath, though.

Ornaments in the Mail

About two weeks ago, I finished and mailed six ornaments for a flickr group swap. It was hard to let those kids go, but I was happy I did. My own mailbox was bursting this week with ornaments from my fellow swappers. The cameo ornament came from Tracie. The artwork on this piece is really lovely. If you have some time, pop over and see her other work as well.


Julia sent this sweet little sunflower shadowbox.


And Michele's mitten is cute as can be. The embroidered flower is delicate and charming. Love it.


Such a fun week. Thank you guys for sending such neat ornaments. They are all so different, yet still are perfect additions to our tree. I am so excited to see what arrives in my mailbox this week!