Peanuts Birthday Party

We celebrated Trevor's 13th birthday last Friday with a Peanuts-themed party at the ice rink. It was awesome. 

This is one of the easiest and most fun party themes I've done. The first step was making the invitation. I designed it using PicMonkey. Affiliate links below. 

With the invitations out, I turned my attention to party favors and decor. I started with plain treat cups, then painted each with Folk Art Multi-Surface Paint. I did two coats to get good coverage. When the paint was dry, I used a Sharpie to draw on the details. Can you name each of the characters?   

The top row is Linus, Charlie Brown, and Lucy. The bottom row is Snoopy, Sally, and Peppermint Patty. I filled them with peanuts for the party. They were a hit. 

I'd planned to make Peanuts-themed candy bar wrappers, but I discovered these amazing chocolates from the Vermont Country Store for way cheaper than I could have made them. I bought all that they had (sorry), but hopefully they'll restock them. 

Next, I made a banner featuring the same six characters. I cut triangles from colored cardstock, decorated them with a Sharpie, then used Glue Lines to attach them to yarn. (It's a bunch of chain stitches. I've been practicing since my crochet lesson.)

Here's the completed banner hanging above the cake. 

The cake was really easy to make. Whenever I make a cake that is a different shape than my pan, I cut a piece of paper to the size of the pan, then experiment with how to cut it to get the shape I want. I baked my cake in a 9"x13" pan. To make it into a shirt, I cut a strip off the bottom, then cut that on the diagonal to make two sleeves.  

The sleeves were a little too long, so when I cut the actual cake, I had a piece left over. Good thing, since it allowed me to do some cake quality control. (It passed.) I thought I had cake boards on hand that would fit my cake, but I didn't. So I had to build the cake on a baking sheet.

I used Wilton's gel food colors to get the frosting to just the right shade of yellow. I rolled out Satin Ice Modeling Chocolate between two pieces of parchment and used a sharp knife to cut the zig zag design.   

Far from perfect, but definitely recognizable!

The birthday boy was very happy with how it turned out. Check out the glow of 13 candles! 

Everyone had a really good time, which is all that matters.

 Happy 13th birthday, Trevor!

St. Mark's Lector

Today is Trevor's 13th birthday. I cannot believe how quickly he has grown! There are no words to express how proud I am of him, or of the joy he has brought to my life over the 13 years I've been his mom. This layout is about one of countless times he's shown the world what an awesome person he is.

St. Mark's Lector (affiliate link)

Trevor served as a lector at our church for the first time at age 10. He was so small we could barely see him peeking above the lectern as he read. But we heard him loudly and clearly. He did an amazing job reading the text at just the right volume and speed, with just the right inflection.

Since then, he's done the readings 8 or 9 times. He can see over the lectern now, and his voice is just as good as it was that first time. I don't take photos in church very often, but I am so glad I took this picture. I hope he'll get a chance to do the readings at least one Sunday in Advent this year so that I can take a photo. What a great layout that would be, showing how Trevor is growing in the church in every sense of the word.

Snake Pretzels

Know what's better than fresh, homemade soft pretzels? Not much! Homemade pretzels are so delicious. Most of the time, we shape soft pretzels into... well, pretzel shapes. Once, we turned them into candy canes. This time, snakes. 

---------

Snake Pretzels

                                     1 pkg yeast                                1.5 tsp. sugar

                                     1.5 c. water                               4 c. flour

                                     3/4 tsp. salt                               1 egg

                                     blue food color                           food markers (affiliate link)

Heat the water to approximately 110˚F and add the yeast, stirring until dissolved. Add salt, sugar, and flour, then stir to combine. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (approximately 10 minutes). Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a pencil-shaped roll,then place it on an ungreased pan, curving and overlapping it to make snake shapes.

Beat the egg, then add a small amount of blue food color. Use a food-safe paintbrush to paint the now-green egg mixture on the snakes. Sprinkle each lightly with salt (optional). Bake at 400˚F for 12 to 15 minutes.

When the snakes are cool, decorate them with edible markers.

Wouldn't these be fun for a reptile-themed party or something like that? As it is, they were fun alongside an ordinary meal in Casa deRosier. 

Favorite Hymns

Throughout April and into May, the members of my church were asked to submit their favorite hymns. Our summer music will consist entirely of these hymns. There were no limitations or restrictions; if it's a hymn and you like it, nominate it and the Worship Committee will do their best to find it if it isn't in the hymnal. 

Some hymns came to mind immediately, while others kept popping into my head randomly. I kept a list in my purse so that I could add new hymns to my requests each Sunday. The hymns I love most represent a mix of beautiful music, meaningful lyrics, and nostalgia. Some I learned as a kid at our Lutheran church, while others came from the Baptist church where I did AWANA. Others were introduced to me at friends' churches, when I was visiting for weddings, funerals, baptisms, or other ceremonies. 

Below are some of my favorite versions of my favorite hymns. Enjoy. 

I Love to Tell the Story

You Are Mine

When Peace Like a River (It Is Well with My Soul)

How Great Thou Art

Here I Am, Lord

Take My Life That I May Be (music starts 4:55)

 

He Leadeth Me

Other favorites:

• Lift High the Cross
• I Know That My Redeemer Lives!
• A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
• Beautiful Savior
• Blessed Assurance
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

I would love to know your favorite hymns. Please share titles with me in the comments, or include links to a particular version you love.

Cousins at 12

The final challenge I completed on National Scrapbook Day, from Scrapbook and Cards Today, was the most difficult for me. At this point, I'd completed 10 layouts and had been scrapping all day long. The challenge was to make a layout using pink, orange, turquoise and white. I hadn't printed any photos that would work with those colors, so I dug through older pictures and came across my nephew's school photos. I chose the one from age 12, Trevor's age now (for another few days!), to do a comparison of the cousins at the same age.

Cousins at 12 (affiliate link)

I started with the striped paper that had all the required colors, plus green. I journaled in orange on white and lined that up with the photos. I added horizontal strips of cardstock in blue, pink, and orange, but I didn't like how it looked. When I pulled out the pink and replaced it with green, which is prominent in the background of Timothy's photo, I liked it a lot better. The layout is really plain, but I'm ok with that. With no competing elements, the focus stays on the photos.