Mayo Fiesta Birds

May is almost here!!  We just had 2 days of blowing snow…and finally this afternoon the sun burst out and is turning the snow to puddles.

Today I started thinking about May, since it begins tomorrow.  In many countries of the world, tomorrow, May 1st is a holiday, but not here!!  On the weekend there is el 5 de Mayo, which is another holiday also not around here!  I’m late for holidays this year….but I did make some festive cookies today…kind of for May fiestas, but mostly for Lilaloa’s cookie challenge!!

The challenge is to think outside the box….or outside the cookie cutter shape!  There is a diamond ring cookie cutter that is popular for engagement cookies, and Georganne over at Lilaloa has challenged everyone to make something different than a diamond ring, using that cutter.  I confess that I have been thinking about it for a week (or more!) but just haven’t had the umph! to make anything, until today…inspired by the sunlight and the festiveness of May….I made some parrots.  (I also happen to have been thinking that a parrot would be the perfect pet for our household.  Years ago we had a green parrot and he had such a fun personality!!  Ok, ok, lots of feathers everywhere….but he was my little baby….anyways…)

Here’s the blank cookie shape….see that big diamond ring?

I saw parrots.  My kids saw swimming fish and little people in hoodies.  I was going to try and make everyone’s vision….but….well, maybe I should let them decorate their own cookies this afternoon…

I’m liking the “1960’s filter” on these photos!  The lighting is so awful in my house….I have to try and edit to try and get near the cookies’ original colors… I know I complain a lot about the lighting…really I’m just not a great photographer and never use Manual 🙂

Get ready to have a great May!!

The Hello Kitty Party!! or “La Fiesta de la Hello”!

Yes, we have finally come to the Hello Kitty party itself! 🙂

I had been thinking for a long time that a Hello Kitty party would be fun, but here are the two things that made me feel really inspired to go ahead and go for it!!

this Hello Kitty chocolate “Easter egg”

and this Hello Kitty mug!

My photos of the mug didn’t turn out so great, but really the mugs were my inspiration for the party.  The girls have had them for years, and I am always seeing them!  The mugs have Hello Kitty with ice cream cones and candy, and they are done in these pastel colors.  So I decided that the colors for the party would be mint green, pastel pink and red, oh! and chocolate instead of black!  And that it would be a Hello Kitty Sweet Shoppe kind of theme!  Following are some easy how-tos for some of the Hello Kitty stuff we did for the party.  Links to sources and how-to posts are in red letters, so just click on them!

(An Aside:  my friend over at Paper Glitter did a Fab-U-Lous Hello Kitty Sweet Shoppe party for her daughter! It’s amazing!  I decided to go with my mug-inspired homemade party this time, though.  If my printer had been working, I would have printed some of Paper Glitters’ gorgeous Sweet Shoppe Party printouts and this sweeeeet stationary set!  Linnette makes the most adorable things for parties!  But my printer is on it’s last legs 😦  )

So mint and pink and red….and a little white cat!  A package of pastel card stock from the dollar store made a quick and easy backdrop.   Just tape the pages onto the wall with painter’s tape so they won’t stick forever! (We were able to print out one black and white kitty and my youngest colored it in.  We found it on this site of coloring pages).

The lighting in our house in the winter is just atrocious, and so all my photos look kinda strange…they look very brightly colored, but really are softer pastels, oh well, I guess you get the idea….

The little Kitty banner was so fast and easy to make. Check out the How-To here for a quick and easy Hello Kitty banner.

A trip to Party City for a few little party favors, and a trip to the T&T Asian supermarket for some fun Hello Kitty packs of gum and box of cookies!

At the dollar store, I found this cute little book of painting pages….(I must say the kids weren’t the only ones who had fun painting them!)

We set out a few of our Hello Kitty memorabilia to decorate…and something new….

And now for the party table set up!We found some bubble tea in just the right colors…they looked super, but just are not my personal cup of tea!  I made a plate of Hello Kitty crackers…um, those weren’t so fabulous, but might work out with a different recipe.Some easy party balloons in the shape of ice cream cones for the party table.  Just add some “cherries” and sprinkles!  There’s a quick how-to at the end of this post hereEverything was finally put together….with the Hello Kitty Cake, too!

I made a Pocky Cake and added Hello Kitty peeking over the top!  Her whiskers are made out of Pocky, too.  I posted about what a Pocky cake is the other day, what a quick way to decorate a cake!!The salad bowl was really a flash of genius, if I do say so myself!!  So fun and tasty, but super easy to make, too!

Here’s the post about the Hello Kitty Fruit Salad Bowl containing my favoritist sweet salad ever!  (I know that’s not a word! but it’s yummy)

My birthday girl!!!  No girl is ever too old for a Hello Kitty party!!It was a whole lot of sugary pastel colored sweetness, with a few Japanese and Korean treats thrown in!  The only things missing were these Hello Kitty strawberry treats!!  They were easy to make, but just didn’t make it to this party, haha!  The link for the how-to is here.

my favorite Pinterest

Ok, I admit that Pinterest is my favorite “down-time” activity.  I find it relaxing but not mind-numbing.  Maybe a bit addicting….But….try it, you’ll like it….  It’s where I get a lot of good ideas! 😉