Fun Little Saturday

Ever since I moved back to Springfield from Athens I've wondered why they got rid of the Market Place (where the Heritage Center is now). I know they still have the Farmer's Market outside, but it just isn't the same. Four years later (oh wow I can't believe it's been that long already) my mom found out about a market in Dayton and we checked it out this past weekend. It's called the 2nd Street Public Market and they sell a variety of homemade foods (jelly, bread, bagels, maple syrup, etc.), homemade goods (candles, jewelry, etc.) fresh vegetables and eggs that are locally grown, flowers, and then of course there are food vendors. The day we went The Flower Man shop had a fantastic sale....10 bunches of flowers for $10!!! Of course my mom and I took advantage of the deal and here are the flowers I ended up with....

So the moral of the story is, if you are looking for something fun and different to do on a Saturday, check out the 2nd Street Public Market in Dayton!

There's a First Time for Everything

Last week I hosted my first grown up party in the form of a baby shower for my biff. It was a lot of work but I enjoyed all of it. I think the most important thing I learned was to RSVP to parties. I used to think no one did that and only sent in my RSVP to weddings, but after being a hostess I will be sure to RSVP to every party I'm invited to in the future (and I recommend you do the same!).

Since I like doing crafty things I experimented with many firsts while getting ready for the baby shower. Below are some pictures of the things I made for the shower (all for the first time).

 The Invitations

It was impossible for me to decide what color elephant I liked better so I did both! I cut everything out using my cricut and then used black marker and white pen for the eyes and some chalk for the rosy cheeks.

The Banner

In case you are having a hard time reading the banner, it says "Welcome Baby." Hands down this was the easiest thing I made. Again, I used my cricut to cut the elephants, peanut, and letters. Then I used a tool made by Martha Stewart to cut the circles. Next I used really thin ribbon and a hole punch to connect everything and prettied it up with some sparkly tule and colored ribbon (which I don't think you can see from this picture).

The Diaper Cake

 I made my diaper cake a little different from others I have seen before. I didn't like the thought of spending so much time rolling diapers just for the recipient of the cake to have to spend time unrolling them. So I used my favorite search engine and looked for alternative ways to make a diaper cake. I eventually found a video that gave instructions I could actually follow.

The Cake Pops

The cake pops were a big hit at the shower. The inside is filled with cake and icing and the outside is made chocolate candy. I saw a recipe book that had directions on how to make all sorts of fun cake pops and I bought it with the intention of making the "Baby Faces" but I was a little over ambitious for my first time. Making the actual cake ball was easy, it was the dipping part that was difficult. The book gives tips on different techniques to use to get the excess candy coating off after the initial dip, but it takes practice! After I was half way finished I decided it would be easier to make them upside down (the white ones). I'll be making them again in about 2 weeks and hopefully my dipping and tapping technique improves.