Alethea Turns Two! A Toddler Girl's Handmade Birthday Card

My precious granddaughter Alethea turned two last month.  I wasn't able to make it to her big family and friends birthday party as it was too close to Atticus' due date and I couldn't make the trip twice.  But we did have a smaller, more intimate nuclear family party for her later when I arrived.  So this lucky little girl got two birthday parties and two cakes!

As always, I made her a handmade birthday card.  I used the same Crafty Secrets set "Birthday Kids" that I used last year (you can see last years card in THIS POST).  I think I will use this same set for all my grand children's birthdays.  It's just so cute! I love the vintage images and the numbers.

To create my card I first stamped the background with the background image stamp in the set in a light pink.  I then put dots of clear Stickles randomly in the background.

The sentiments were stamped directly onto the main image panel in different colors of ink.  The little girl was stamped on a separate sheet of card stock and then cut out and framed using Spellbinder's Nestabilities.  The cake was also stamped on a separate sheet of card stock, fussy cut, then glued outside the frame.

When the card was complete,  I adhered the entire front to a pink card stock base.

And here are some pictures of Alethea's little birthday party with us and a few of her larger party.

Alethea's mom said Alethea was so excited for her big birthday party.  She loved helping mom in the kitchen making the cupcakes.  She was tickled pink that the party was just for her.  She is use to going to birthday parties for other people, but this was the first year she fully understood the party was for her.

She was so excited to open our gift from her:  a Melissa & Doug Fold and Go Miniature Dollhouse.  Her mom said every time she went to her cousin's house she would fight with her cousin over this dollhouse, so we thought it was about time she got her very own!  And she was excited to get it!

Her mom kept Alethea's party much more simple and low key this year (in comparison to last years😊!) because she was 9 months pregnant at the time.  They had the party in a local park and this was the table Ashley set up for her.

Alethea's mom and snuck out prior to our little nuclear family party to pick up a small cake and a balloon.  When we opened the door to the apartment we sung "Happy Birthday" and showed her the cake and the balloon.  Alethea had no interest in the cake at first, but went ga-ga over the balloon!

These are the home made cupcakes mom made for Alethea's first party.  Notice her 9 month pregnant belly sticking out on top of the picture?  ha ha!

While cleaning out some cupboards I found this cute little sun hat and I had no idea where it came from.  I'm thinking it was probably an adults garden hat that shrunk in the wash.  Good thing I kept it because it's the perfect fit for Alethea! She wore it quite often the few days we were with her.

Here Alethea is examining my homemade card.  Dad made sure Alethea took time to open and look at the card before opening the gift.  He knows how hard I work on those cards!

And finally a picture of Grandpa Todd showing Alethea where to put the furniture in the dollhouse.  Hopefully she will have years of fun playing with this dollhouse.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Stitch Fix maxi dress

I received this pretty maxi dress in my June box from Stitch Fix.  This is the fourth item I am showing you from that box.  The other items I previously posted were a Polka Dot Top, White Jeans, and an Embroidered Detail Tassel Knit Top.

I absolutely loved this dress.  The halter style is always one of my favs for it's so flattering on my body type (or any woman's body type for that matter!).  I loved the knit material, the sand dollar print, but most of all I loved the crochet detail on both the front and the back.  It was gorgeous!  The problem?  I received a very similar maxi dress from Stitch Fix last August that you can see HERE.    Of the two dresses, this is the better one in my opinion because of the crochet detail.  Too bad Stitch Fix doesn't have a "gently used Stitch Fix clothing" exchange program because I would have loved to exchange the dress I already bought for this one! 🤣

I styled my dress with a blue stone bracelet, a pink clutch from a previous Fix, and white jeweled thong sandals.

Here's some close ups of the gorgeous crochet detail both on the front and the back.  And isn't the neckline pretty too?  I just love everything about this dress.  The knit fabric is so soft and comfy to wear as well.

For those who'd like to request this dress in their next box or perhaps look on line for it, the name of the dress is "Dharma Crochet Detail Knit Maxi Dress" by Daniel Rainn.

I have one more piece from my June box to show you on Friday, then on Monday I'll do a review of the entire box where you will find out what I kept or sent back as well as the results of my Instagram Poll.

If you've never tried Stitch Fix before, use my Referral Code to receive $25.00 off your first box.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

My Early July Garden 2019

These are pictures of my early July garden when the garden was mostly green.  I took these pictures before I left for Illinois for the birth of my grandson.  Although I was excited about the birth, I was kinda upset to leave my garden because I could tell by all the buds that the garden was about to explode in a riot of color and I didn't want to miss it.  I wait all year for flowers, the thought of missing it and have to wait another full year was depressing to me.  I was right, everything exploded while I was gone, but I still got to see it in bloom when I got back and it was jaw dropping.  I will share those pictures next week.  For now, here are the before-explosion blooms.

The bee balm is still blooming and redder than ever.  This is a very long blooming plant, which is nice, as most perennials bloom for such a short time.  I did get a question from one of my readers if I thought this plant was invasive for me.  I do not consider this an invasive plant in my garden, but I do know for a lot of gardeners it is.  My garden is mostly shade or part shade, so this plant doesn't run amok for me.  Plus, it's a very shallow rooted plant.  If it spreads too much, just a slight tug on the roots by hand pulls it up.

The Baby's Breath did very well this year.  I have some planted in front of the Bee Balm and along the hillside.  The only drawback is there wasn't much else in bloom to make arrangements with when the Baby's Breath was in bloom.

View of the Baby's Breath in front of the Bee Balm.

Both the Annabelle Hydrangeas and the Endless Summer Hydrangeas started to bloom before I left.  My Endless Summer Hydrangea blooms pink because of my soil.  My husband and I were awestruck by all the gorgeous Annabelle Hydrangeas we saw in Illinois.  They were in full bloom there as they are about a month ahead of us.

This is an old fashioned variety of clematis I have blooming in my garden.  It's still in full bloom right now and you will see more pictures of it next week!

Here is another view of the clematis.

I use to have a lot of this yellow primrose plant in my garden, but it's slowly dying out as it requires sun and is not getting much.  But beware, this is an invasive plant in sunny gardens for it spreads by runners.  I'm not a fan of plants that spread by runners or seed.

The Stella d'Oro dailies are magnificent this year.  In this photo they are in the foreground, with the Bee Balm and Baby's Breath in the distance.  All the green you see is mostly Black Eye'd Susans which are just starting to bud, so you can just imagine all the color I should have in a few weeks.

Front row view of the Stello d' Oro day lilies.  This is a great perennial to plant in front a porch or a walk way because it's so low growing and the foliage is attractive even when not in bloom.

A close up of one the Stella d' Oro Daylilies.



This pink Astilbe plant was breath-taking this year, probably because we've had a very cool, wet summer and it is a shade plant.

This pretty little bell shaped flower is a Campanula.  It does reseed, but not prolifically and it's so cute I don't mind!

This is the white version of the same Bellflower plant.



Another re seeder from the Campanula family is this Clustered Bellflower.  It looks so pretty in my shade garden.

I planted orange marigolds around the Bellflowers.  I just love the color contrast.



A far away shot of the Clustered Bellflower seen in the shade garden.  All those tall Asiatic Lillie's you see with the buds on them have now opened since this picture was taken and this garden is gorgeous! I can't wait to show you next week's pictures.

Looking up at the house with a salmon Asiatic lily, tall phlox, and pink Endless Summer hydrangea in the foreground.

A close up of the salmon Asiatic lily.

I love to use this sedum as an edger.  The yellow blooms are so pretty.

A deep rose red Spirea bush.

A yellow Asiatic lily.  One of the first Asiatic Lillie's to bloom.

This is an Iris picture I meant to show you last month, but I forgot.  I wanted to show it because it's such a unique and pretty Iris.  Unfortunately a storm knocked the blooms down before I could photograph it in the garden.  So I cut the stems and brought them in the house.  I just love the color of this Iris.

This is a lynchis plant.  I love the fuchsia color of it's bloom and it's silver foliage, but I hate how it reseeds everywhere.  It also gets knocked down by wind storms every single year.  I managed to capture this photo of one before rain and wind smashed it to the ground.

Spirea "Little Princess".

I hope you enjoyed my little garden tour of my early July garden.  Come back next week if you want to see a riot of color!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!