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Yes, we finally did it! We took the plunge and now have our very own site. Please unsubscribe here and subscribe to our new blog.
Nothing will change except you’ll be *seeing* alot more of lil sis and I. We hope to blog a bit more frequently…about our crafts, our crafty mishaps, our daily happenings, our kids, the parties that we love/hate to throw. So come on over!
big sis
{via adventuresofabettycrockerwannabe.blogspot.com}
I found these reindeer pops on 
. They were too cute to pass up on making! I made some for Lila’s class, and I decided on making some reindeer pink because my own daughter doesn’t like chocolate. I know, strange for a kid not to like chocolate. I guess it’s a good thing.
It was a hit with the preschoolers. I’m glad I made enough pink reindeer because both boys and girls wanted pink reindeer versus the brown ones.
This will be my last post before Christmas, so Happy Holidays everyone! Enjoy this time with your loved ones! Stay safe and have fun!
xo,
lil sis
Tabi’s first birthday pictures are in, and I’m loving each and every one of them! Sako Pak of Sky Blue Seed Photography did a wonderful job capturing all of the special moments, both big and small. If you’re in need of a friendly, talented photographer, go to her website and see her beautiful work! Also, I must give a shout out to my dear friend, Amenda Beck Makeup Artist who did my makeup. She’s done makeup for fashion shows and for brides…she is one talented lady! I asked for a clean, natural look, and I loved the way it turned out. I would normally not pay to get my makeup done for a kid’s birthday party, but my old roomie said she would do it for me. I couldn’t pass that up! Thanks AB!
Before I start posting about the birthday, I just wanted to say hello to all the new subscribers to our blog 🙂 We’re hoping to transition to our new site very very soon! That’s our goal before the year ends!
Big sis and I have yet to post pictures of ourselves on our site, for various reasons. Well, that’s going out the window for 2012. We are so grateful to see our facebook fans growing, and we get so happy to meet you guys at the fairs. It’s only fair that you get to see who we are! You’ll see some pictures of me (lil sis) with my kiddos in this post, and big sis will show up eventually too.
Big sis and I are Korean, and in our tradition, the first birthday is a major event. The importance and the cultural meaning behind the first birthday also known as the dohl is what makes some of us CRAZY in the head when trying to plan the first birthday party. I hear many moms say planning their kid’s first birthday party is almost as stressful as planning a small wedding. Whether it’s being held at a hotel or at home, we are all just trying to make a memorable, joyful event for our little one.
We had Tabi’s first birthday party at Old Spaghetti Factory. This time around we kept it low key with around 60 guests versus Lila’s birthday which was a 100+ person party. There was no set banquet manager to help me, but all of the managers there were so accommodating. I worked with Erika, and she went above and beyond to help me out. What kind of venue lets you set up the night before until midnight!? It worked out perfectly because I didn’t hire anyone this time around to help me with decorations like I had for Lila’s birthday. Most of the stuff was DIY, and I am forever grateful to my girlfriends who helped me set up that evening because they pretty much did most of the work. I caught the 24 hour stomach virus that day, so I was ready to just collapse by the time evening came around. At one point I had to hold my head up with my hands because I felt so nauseous while they were both ironing my tablecloths. Worse timing to get sick!
Alrighty, on to to the pictures! This is going to be a picture overload post!
Private banquet room at OSF
Got this idea from the internet! I wish I can link to the site, but I don’t remember where I saw this. I loved the idea of taking pics of my daughter representing the items for the doljabi. The doljabi is a traditional game in which we have a variety of items laid out in front of the birthday girl/boy. The baby is encouraged to pick one of the items, and it’s believed that whatever he/she chooses is supposed to predict the child’s personality and future. Guests predict what the baby will choose and they enter a raffle. Tabi got to choose from the following (as shown in the picture above from left to right)
basketball ~ pictured in my husband’s alma mater outfit: athlete
microphone ~ pictured wearing her shades and singing in a mic: musician
money ~ pictured wearing big sis’ hand me down burberry dress given by a good friend of mine (thx rose) and holding up fake money: future baller
book ~ pictured reading a book: scholar
yarn ~ pictured playing with the yarn (couldn’t figure what to do with her on this one!): long and abundant life
btw, she chose money! cha-ching!
Yummy red velvet & vanilla cake pops made by Cats! The dol go ims (the traditional towers in the background made with beans) were also a project that I did about 3 weeks before the party. I didn’t have towers for Lila’s birthday, and I regret not making them for her so I had to make some this time around for Tabs. One tower says First Birthday (Chook Dol), the other is a tiger (Year of the White Tiger though I made a brown one), and the third one says her Korean Name (Chae Yeon). I took some pictures of the whole process, which I’ll post about later. There are some great tutorials on the internet on how to make dol go ims.
A Chalkboard fabric backdrop adorned with some felt flowers. I made one flower a night for a week w/ eco felt. Wool felt would have been better to work with because it’s stiffer, but I couldn’t get myself to spend the money on that felt. Instead, I just sprayed starch (used for ironing) on the felt and it made it a tad bit stiffer so the petals wouldn’t limp. The chalkboard fabric is hanging from the PVC pipe that the hubs made…again, a later post.
big sis’ made a big batch of these yummy mini cupcakes! i just glued some colorful paper strips on skewers to make some flags.
Paper placemat info here pictured with big sis’ daughter’s collection of squinkies.
flowers from la flower mart, fabric runner from joanns, floor length white polyester tablecloths from ebay member linentablecloths ($11 each). seriously i looked at every party supply store including party city. no one carries floor length tablecloths that are NOT PLASTIC.
glass vases were borrowed from friends. i had two short ones & two tall ones. i just cut up some white fabric into strips and knotted them around the vases. i added ribbon as well. i was really big on having different height levels, so i used a couple of boxes to make a stand for my cake stand. even a cake stand can have a stand! i wrapped wrapping paper (the white side) around a small pampers box for the bottom box. the smaller one above is an anthropologie gift box. i always ask for a gift box if i ever find myself buying something at anthro. their boxes are sooo pretty and super sturdy.
two days after the party, the peonies fully opened up and they looked so pretty. not so much here. 😦 there is a trick i found on the internet though! you spray some warm water on the peonies and it will help them open or you can dip the flower bud in a bowl of warm water. not sure if these tricks work, but it’s worth a try.
hello! that’s me, lil sis 🙂
i’m changing tabi into her traditional korean dress called a han bok. i’m so glad she didn’t rip off that headband like she does with all her hair clips. i’ve made so many clips for my girls, but she REFUSES to have one on her head.
the doljabi (btw, i’m addicted to picnik)
the girls’ birthdays are two days apart, so i got a cake for my three year old too. we had our guests sing happy bday to her as well. as you can see from the bottom left picture, lila was loving it.
the end!
Not sure what I was searching for on Etsy, but I stumbled across a first birthday placemat. It just had a 1 in the center and the birthday girl/boy’s name on the corner. It gave me inspiration to make my own custom paper placemats for Tabi’s birthday with some fun facts about her.
Thanks to Digital Scrapbooking, I was able to create a placemat pretty easily. It also served as decoration on the tables, so I justified that by printing it out in color. $.98 a copy versus $.20 (black and white). Sigh…doesn’t seem like a big difference, but I had to print out many many copies. It made me cringe a little to be spending that kind of money on paper and ink. I was hemming and hawing about printing it in color for days. My husband got sick of me asking him what looked better, so he said to just print it in color and stop bothering him. I got the hint!
I got the vintage cutlery placemat download (FREE PDF) from The Pretty Blog. I’m horrible with Photoshop, so I used Creative Memories’ Storybook Creator Program, which is a Digital Scrapbooking program to add the wording, banner, etc. I had a friend enlarge and space out the cutlery so that it would fit nicely on a 11×14 placemat versus 8.5×11 which is what the PDF file is set to. I went to Staples and had them print out the file on 11×17 and paid a $1.90 flat fee to cut all of them down to 11×14. I started corner punching each paper and stopped at like the third sheet. Seriously? Not sure what I was thinking because I prob had over 65 to do.
Anyhow, just thought I would share this. I thought it brightened up the tables since the decor is so dark and rich at the restaurant. Plus, it gave the guests something to read while waiting for their meal.
~lil sis
Happy 1st Birthday Tabi! Yesterday was her official birthday, and I’m SO happy to say the birthday party is over. This weekend was a crazy one for our family. We celebrated Thanksgiving, Lila’s 3rd birthday at Chuck E Cheese on Friday, Tabi’s First Birthday on Saturday, and then the whole fam got sick with the stomach bug on Sunday. Even lil Tabi! Whew. I want to say that I had the 24 hour bug because I’m pretty much over whatever it is that I caught, but my girls are still under the weather. Hoping they recover quickly so we can enjoy this beautiful weather we’ve been having here lately.
I don’t have any pictures to show (yet) from her birthday party. Though I did want to share my photos + my experience with the Los Angeles Flower Mart. I didn’t have a theme for her birthday party, but I incorporated flowers here and there as part of the decorations. I was on a mission to get a good deal on flowers for centerpieces to spruce up the tables. I drove to downtown LA on Black Friday and the freeways were absolutely CLEAR! I got there in record time!
So for those of you who have never been to the LA Flower Mart and are considering going, it’s not as daunting as it seems. There is plenty of street parking, but it’s by the hour…$3 to be exact. The meters take credit cards, so there is no need to scrounge for coins. If you don’t want to use your CC, they only take quarters! If you are planning on spending more than an hour looking around, you will probably want to park at a lot. For non trade/florists, they open up at 8am. It is $2 admission. It’s highly recommended that you bring some kind of rolling cart if you are planning on buying a lot of flowers. I brought this cart and stuck a Home Depot bucket inside so that right before I was ready to leave, I asked one of the florists to give me some water for my flowers.
I had about 30+ mason jars that I wanted to fill. I had my heart set on peonies because that is my favorite flower! I had them in my wedding bouquet too. Managed to find a pic of my bouquet…ahh memories 🙂
I looked through every florist vendor in the warehouse before actually committing to buy. Many of their prices are the same esp when they are for the popular flowers like roses, daisies, hydrangeas, etc. In addition to peonies, I wanted these small white wildflowers (don’t know the name) and yellow billy-balls. Love how cute they are! The white flowers were not as easy to find. Maybe one out of three vendors had them, and they were sparse. Prices varied, so I made sure to look around to see who had them for the cheapest. As for billy-balls, I only found one vendor that carried them! Can you believe it? Maybe I just didn’t look hard enough.
Here are the flowers I’m talking about…
(The pink flowers on the left but in white)
Mellano’s had the biggest selection of flowers, and they were super organized. They kept all their flowers in a separate temperature regulated room which felt like I was in a freezer! Pale pink peonies were 1.71/stem. The small white flowers were 2.75 a whole bunch (yay!). Billy balls were $5 a bunch, and to call it a bunch was exaggerating. I left with $65 worth of flowers, and 50% of them were peonies. Hydrangeas would have been the cheapest and more bang for your buck route because most florists were selling them for $6 a bunch.
Here are some of my flower mart pics~
Honestly, the LA Flower Mart has great deals, and you can’t beat their selection. I’m kinda itching to make a drive out there again before Christmas to decorate my house with Mellano’s fresh wreaths and garlands. I’m hosting my family’s Christmas party this year, and I’m excited to get the house decorated. Not gonna stress about presents this year. All the kids are getting Gap clothes…and I’m doing it all ONLINE! 🙂
Anyhoo, can’t wait to show you all pics of the birthday party!
~lil sis
I’m incorporating a chalkboard into Tabi’s birthday party, and I wanted to make some chalkboard tags to go with it for the kids’ goody bags. A new friend of mine was sooooooo generous to let me borrow her Cricut, and I am HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE with this machine! (BIG THANK YOU IF YOU’RE READING THIS E!) It can do everything. Really! Remember my post last year about how to make scalloped paper? Well forget that if you have a Cricut! Although they cost a couple hundred, I truly think it’s worth it especially if you like to craft. I can totally see me using this when my kids are in school, and I need to make gifts, cards, or things for school. I’m hinting towards the hubs that I want this for my Christmas present. Too bad you can’t use a Joanns coupon on Cricut machines or their cartridges. I’ve seen great deals on cartridges on Craigslist. Not sure I would trust buying a Cricut machine through CList, but I have seen some go for decent prices.
Cricut in action –
I used the tag function and cut 12×12 cardstock to 4 1/4″ tall tags.
Perfectly cut tags!
I spray painted the backs of the tags yesterday with Krylon Chalkboard Spray Paint. I didn’t get to take a picture of that, but here is the back sides of the tag. After the tags dried, I flipped them over to spray paint the other side.
Waiting for the last side to dry. I only sprayed each side once.
And here is the final product –
It’s a super easy project, and it can be a fun activity for your kids to draw with chalk INSIDE the house versus giving them chalk to draw on the sidewalk. I spray painted a piece of cardstock for my toddler, and she’s been having fun with drawing on her new chalkboard. It lasted about 10 minutes, but hey it’s something new for her and reusable which is always a plus!
-lil sis
My grandma past several years ago, but my memories of her will live on forever! She was a second mom to me and big sis. She practically raised us while my mom was working full time as a single parent.
As I’m parenting my daughters, I often think of my grandma. She was such a gentle soul and so nurturing without trying. I think it was all through her love of feeding us. I still remember her sleeping with this smelly fermented paste that’s meant to be mixed in soup. Sounds super gross, but she told me she needed to keep it warm. What best place is there other than her bed where she slept on a heated mattress. That’s dedication! She was such a great cook, and I’m so upset I never learned her recipes. 😦
I came across this plant the other day at Lowes, and the flowers were barely blooming. I got so excited because I recognized it instantly. It was one my grandma planted on our front porch. She had it hanging in various places, and it was the prettiest plant. She’s called HOYA!
Aren’t they so beautiful? They’re star shaped flowers all clustered together. They have a slight fuzz to the petals, and I’ve only seen them in white and pink. However, some flowers can be yellow, green, purple, or brown. They even have a scent to them. I briefly read up on caring for Hoya plants, and it seems fairly easy. They’ll bloom regularly without fertilizing or caring for them. Hmmm…my kind of plant! You can grow them indoors or outdoors, but they do need to be in 40-60% shade.
After the birthday party is over and I finish updating my resume (sadly, it is that time), I hope I can squeeze in some time to bring some Hoya love to my patio.
~lil sis
That’s what I’ve been up to! I’ve never procrastinated this much on planning a birthday party or any kind of event for that matter. I usually give myself a couple months to plan things out. I just looked at the calendar today and realized I have two weeks left before Tabi’s birthday party. I’m in serious party mode now!!!
I’m almost done with the backdrop! I don’t know what it looks like on the PVC piping because I have yet to figure out a way to hang it. I gave that job to hubby to do this wknd in the midst of his busy work schedule. This is going to be his third straight wknd working from home! I can’t complain because he doesn’t complain. I already gave myself a nasty glue gun burn on my finger, and I decided to wear my gardening gloves while I work now. Why didn’t I think of that before? I’ve gone through 2 packs of glue sticks and am halfway done with all my gluing projects.
I’ve been scouring Craigslist for some mason jars the past several weeks. I haven’t had any luck until this week! I got 20 for $7. I was totally ready to make daily trips to Michaels with my 50% coupon to buy the darn jars! Yay for Craigslist! I wasn’t going to have any centerpieces, but the tables seemed so sad without anything. I needed something to spruce up the dark decor.
ahhh and Photoshop. I wish the hubs could just take a week off so I can take a Photoshop 101 crash course. I can only learn so much through the internet.
I’m trying to remember to take pictures along the way. Just wanted to post about what I’ve been up to since big sis and I have been a little MIA lately. Tutorials + pics coming soon…perhaps on our new blog! That’s something else we’re working on. 🙂
-lil sis
So I’ve been on the hunt to find a tutorial on how to make a PVC Piping Backdrop. I heard it’s fairly simple, and you don’t need any crazy tools to build one. I’ve asked hubby (nicely) to make this for me this weekend even though he caught my nasty cold, so I’m super excited to take some step by step photos as I can’t seem to find a tutorial on the web that includes pictures. So far, I like the one from Wedding Bee.
I keep telling myself it’s worth it to make this backdrop for Tabi’s birthday party. I can always use it for years to come, right?
Wish us luck!
-lil sis
Hope the birthday girl likes her dollie! Thanks MBoyd!!
lil sis
lil sprinkles 