Capes and Blessings

It has been a bit like an audition for Mystery Men around here this week with all of the super-drama. I half-expected to see The Waffler parade through the kitchen with his syrup of truth!

Finally, both of our superheroes made their way to school, capes a-flying, for their respective presentations and parades. I have quite enjoyed watching when school has released each day and the kids (I mean avengers) have poured from the building in hockey vests, capes, headgear and socks of every color.

I do feel a bit like our own crusaders are “First-World” heroes. Saving the world from such afflictions as malaise, apathy and inflexibility, Creative Cutie and Gymnastics Girl may not be tackling the greater bowels of crime just yet.

I do wish that once in a while, I would get a visit from Laundry Lightning or The Valiant Vacuumer. It would be a bit more practical and give me more time to catch up on Downton Abbey on Hulu.

Now I have to be serious for a minute.

In truth, I cherish my girls’ ability to be Creative Cutie and Gymnastics Girl. We had a talk this week at our staff luncheon about human trafficking and slave trading that is occurring right now around the globe. Women and children being stolen from their homes and sold to labor, work until they break, or even worse fates. Having three girls, I realize how blessed we are to live where and when we do.

Not to turn this blog into a political, social or human-interest piece, and I won’t use this as a platform to shout Reform!, it just struck me how glorious it is that my girls have the freedom to express their joy and creativity every day and be rewarded for it. They are able to go to school, to learn and to dream dreams that truly have a decent shot of coming to fruition.

I also resolve to do more to make sure that other girls get that same chance. I’m not sure how yet, but I know I have to try. For the mothers who sit in dissimilar situations, desperate that they have three girls destined for lives of sadness.

My first stop is to read the book Half the Sky by WuDunn and Kristof. It was recommended in our luncheon. In the meantime, I plan to continue fostering the sweet spirits my girls exude and give them the chance to spread their wings (or capes) as wide as they can.

Have a blessed weekend!

No Capes!

Well, well, well, what have we here? My blog! It has been about a month-I know. I have been very creatively busy during that time, but don’t feel like you want to read things like “I made 60 wine charms from used wine corks today!” Woohoo! Excitement!

My cohort and I have been making things for the upcoming “Fall on the Mound” craft show at our church. Come see us-we will be plying our wares under the moniker “Stuff We Made”.

Sorry, we have no theme so we went with honesty!

At any rate, we have been scurrying around, stealing time wherever possible to complete our hair accessories, magnet boards, clothespins, coffee sleeves, necklaces, bracelets, t-shirts, etc. etc. etc. Wow-it is exhausting just typing that!

Also in the interim, the kids made their pilgrimage back to school. The oldest started middle school, so many a moment has been spent in homework and adjustment.

The first big school project of the year for the younger two is what has finally brought back my blogging.

The school’s theme this year is “Superheroes” and each grade has a different day next week for a “Superhero Parade”.

Does this mean Captain America, Thor or Wonder Woman? Simple-we’ve got all that in the costume bins upstairs. Done!

No.

This means create a super-persona and name that describes you. Then make a costume and wear it next week. Ahhhhh…. now I see where “project” comes into play.

The girls came home already shouting their super-names.

“I am Gymnastics Girl!” said the middle child, with gusto.

“And I am Creative Kitty!” said the youngest, with a bit more uncertainty.

“How does the Kitty part show your personality,” I asked innocently.

“Oh, yeah! I am Creative Cutie!”  The kid never missed a beat.

I sat down and asked them what they were planning for a costume. The middle child was very basic and outlined a simple leotard/shorts/belt combo. No cape? No cape. Done.

Could I escape that easily? No, of course not. The youngest child was chock full of plans for her costume (well, she is Creative Cutie after all) and gave me her Hobby Lobby shopping itinerary.

“Wee-lll…we need to get fabric first for the cape.”

Ohhhhhh….Cape……

****At this point, let me make two points:

One: The PTA helpfully mentioned that they are selling capes for $10 a pop. The youngest child declined this offer politely.

Two: I was immediately reminded of-and passed on-the wisdom of Edna Mode in The Incredibles:

“No capes!

Do you remember Thunderhead? Tall, storm powers? Nice man, good with kids? November 15th of '58! All was well, another day saved, when... his cape snagged on a missile fin!

Stratogale! April 23rd, '57! Cape caught in a jet turbine!

Metaman, express elevator!

Dynaguy, snagged on takeoff!

Splashdown, sucked into a vortex!

No capes!”

She blinked at me. No impression made.

So, off to the Hobbiest of Lobbies we went. We started in fabric with a very thorough examination of anything deemed “creative” by her highness. There was a colorful calico printed with puzzle pieces.

“Ohhhh…. I love puzzles. And they are very creative. Buuuuuut, no.”

Okie Dokie, moving on.

“This is it!!!!! This is it, this is perfect!” A very excellent piece of tie-dyed fabric made the cut.

“I love to tie dye and this has all the colors.”

Perfect.

“This pink looks so good for the inside and it is my favorite color,” she said, picking out a satin in hottest pink.

We had discussed a paint-splat for the back, similar to the Superman diamond shape. Her C.C. could go on that.

“This blue is so good for the splat.”

We next moved on to embellishments and worked our way down to glitter paint. I needed a few things for my aforementioned crazy craft fair endeavor. We were in an aisle near buttons and ribbons when she held up a clear plastic jar of ribbon scraps with the words “Jar of Ribbons” on the label, and looked at me with the most put-upon look a six year-old could muster.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious-we know it’s a jar of ribbons!”

Again, we may be a tad too sarcastic around here.

So, we bought it all, got home and I started to sew the cape. I was way over-estimating her height, or just not thinking. When I held the thing up to her it had about a two-foot train hanging off the back.

I cut it off, hemmed it and tried again. Now the neckline was too wide.

I cut it off, hemmed it and tried again. Now the Velcro closure scraped her neck.

I picked out the stitches, attached a breakaway buckle and all is well.

We cut out a paint-splat shape and wonder-undered the center of it to the back of the cape. Then the child glitter-painted around the edges to hold it in place and added the C.C. in the middle. She asked, before she started, “Is it hard to use the paint?” I told her she just needed to be slow and steady. “Will you help me if I need it?” Yes. “Okay, I will try to do it myself.” And she did.

  

When I took this picture she got a little annoyed and said, “When you keep flashing that at me it makes it hard to see what I am doing!” Point taken.

Ta-Da! Cape complete!

The middle child got home and saw it and said-everyone together now- “I want a cape!”

Off we went to the store, got the fabric and all the doo-dads and came home. I asked what she wanted to do on hers. She said, “Nothing-you can do it, I just wanted to pick it out.”

Fabulous.

I will post pictures of Creative Cutie and Gymnastics Girl once they are in full costume, so stay tuned.

What are the odds that I can convince them to be these superheroes for Halloween? Ha!

Everyone else remember:

Homemade Wedding Decor

Remember me? It has been a while! I can share with you now what we’ve been working on for the last several weeks (around summer camp and vacation time). It was the decorations and goodies for my Dad’s wedding.

It was a lot of work, but work I found easy and fun because:

      a)     I love to make stuff.

      b)    I love to make stuff for people I love. 

      c)     I love to make stuff.

I will give Pinterest props for some of this. I did get a few stellar ideas from the site. While I believe in giving credit where credit is due, I did tweak a few things and come up with a bunch myself. My brain hasn’t completely quit working in Pinterest’s wake!

I also had some little partners in crime who assisted in choices and making the decorations.

They are budding designers, I must say. Picture me saying that in an Ed Grimley-esque voice.

Many months ago, my Padre asked Cathy to be his bride. They planned a small, simple wedding, and the girls were over the moon at the thought of being flower girls. I was thinking that it was amazing that these two people found each other and found happiness. Then the planning began.

After much searching through the Internet, books (yep, real paper ones) magazines, etc. I had a rough plan. I pitched it, it was accepted and we kicked the process into high gear.

The plan was thus:

A simple, yet elegant, small reception that would be kid friendly. No problem right? Right? Right! With the help of several friends who handled food and helped set-up and assemble the site on the day of, it all came together beautifully.

The main idea was an elegant white backdrop. Tablecloths, swags of fabric and delicate baby’s breath accents all helped with this.

Add in some earth tones to simplify and tone down the white. This was accomplished with burlap, river stones and Kraft-paper accents.

A touch of flowers and candles and it all flowed perfectly.

Each table had a flower centerpiece, created from a quart-sized mason jar. Sliced limes went in first, followed by the flowers. Snapdragons in the jars echoed the gladiolas from the large church arrangements, and pink and yellow were the colors of the wedding-party flowers. A wide swath of landscaper’s tree-wrap burlap, tied with some green twill tape completed the vase. 

Six, alternating candleholders, surrounded the arrangements. Medium-sized jars held river stones and tea lights and were tied with jute twine accents. Smaller jars held floating candles and were tied with the same jute.

The patio tables received a slightly more rustic effect. Quart jars were filled with a handful of river stones, water and a floating candle. They, too, were tied with a jute accent.

On the cake and guest-book entry tables, a garland of paper hearts circled the tables’ edges. The girls and I took strips of scrapbook paper printed to look like old letters. We folded the strips in half and dabbed a little glue to the fold. We then applied a clothespin to each to hold until they dried.

Next, we looped the open ends around to make a heart shape and glued them together. Another drying period, clamped with clothespins. Finally, we hole-punched the center of each heart and strung them on jute twine in a haphazard way to form a rustic garland.

The guest-book table was the first table to be seen, so we added one of each of the centerpiece jars to the mix. I printed the couple’s important dates on burlap paper and framed it for the entry table.

On a side table, we made a blessings station. I stamped the words “and they lived Happily Ever After…” on white and Kraft-paper bookmarks and fanned them out near a huge mason jar. Guests were invited to write notes or blessings on the bookmarks and slip them in the jar.

This is also where the favor tower was placed. We wrote the couple’s Bible verse on the back of black river stones with paint pens. On the front, the letters C+D and the wedding date were written. I bagged the stones in tiny white and Kraft-paper sacks and sealed them with word stickers that said applicable things like “cherish” and “friends”. Guests were invited to take one home as a thank you.

Several of my good friends showed up to help put this all together and especially to swag the fabric, lights, burlap and baby’s breath on the front railings. It was such a beautiful, simple entry.

Food tables were clothed in white with burlap ribbons in alternating widths. The church flowers were added after the ceremony. Drinks were held in galvanized tubs swathed in fabric and burlap. 

Out on the patio, loaves of white bread were available for feeding the turtles and fish in the pond nearby. Kept the kiddos (and several adults) busy!

All in all, I would call it a success. A beautiful service, a beautiful reception and a beautiful couple. I am blessed to have been a part of it.