Bunnys and Flowers and Chicks....oh my!

Ahhhh...victory!  96 Easter cookies DONE.  One set was delivered today, while all of the others will be tomorrow.  I had to get them done by tomorrow because we will be enjoying our spring break someplace warm and sunny...now I'm just crossing my fingers that we don't get any bugs or viruses before Saturday's flight!!

Here are some photos from my crazy cookie week...

 

Cookies are based and ready to decorate!

 

 

All done!!!!

 

 

 

St. Patrick's Parade

Sorry I've been MIA...it's been one crazy week and weekend!

First of all, let me start by saying that last week's Quartermania event was AWESOME!!!  Both the vendors and the guests had a great time, and I was able to get my name out there and received some business.  They're having another Quartermania in May, but unfortunately I have a scheduling conflict for that day (May 18th)...so I'm hoping I can make the one after that. 

This past weekend was Hamilton's St. Patrick's Day Parade!  My oldest Pea dances for the Irish Arts Academy (Denogla School of Irish Dance), so we march in the parade every year.  This year was really special because her dance instructor, Miss Maggie, and her husband were the Grand Marshals.

 

It was a beautiful day for the parade.  The families of the dancers march in the parade also (directly behind the group), so fun was had by all...until the middle Pea had to go to the bathroom.  Luckily we made it to the end of the parade!

 



Quartermania Tomorrow!

Tomorrow's the big day...Quartermania!!  If you want more info about the event, click here for my post.  I think I am ready.  Just need to label everything and pack up all my goodies. 

Two of my auctions will be cookie baskets...here's a preview of them:

Spring theme...

St. Patrick's Day theme...

 

I hope to see you there tomorrow!  Just remember to tell the person at the door that you're here to see Three Peas and a Dog!

My Precious is Back!

My Precious is back!  My Precious is back!

For those of you who don't know, back in January my external hard drive crashed (link to post here).  You know, the one where I backed up ALL my photos.  Yup, everything GONE.

My process has always been:  Back up onto CD's, then move the photos from my computer to my external hard drive.  Well, I became busy (and who wouldn't be, with three small Peas?), so I was behind on my backing up.  The last CD was for May of 2011.  So, when the EHD crashed, I lost from June of 2011 until December of 2012, PLUS all of my youngest Pea's baby photos (yes, he was born in 2010, but I had a separate folder for his first year pics that I didn't back up either). 

So, after crying and throwing multiple tantrums (yes, I am a closet 2 year old), I worked with a couple of places to try and get my photos back. 

Yesterday, I met up with one of the techs from Cerberus, and we went through what they were able to recover.  There is one more folder he's trying to work through, but I got the majority of my photos back!!!!  Best. Day. Ever.  The only thing I don't see so far (I haven't looked through the photos he's currently working on) are my youngest Pea's baby photos.  I can see it now..."Mommy, why do my brother and sister have big baby scrapbooks and mine only has 10 pictures in it?".  Poor third Pea.  This makes me sad.  I'm really hoping this awesome tech guy can find them.

But, right now I will do my happy dance and go through the photos that were saved...and BACK THEM UP!!

Slacker

I'm sorry everyone for being such a slacker these past couple of weeks!  There have been some things going on (which I will share with you in the near future), and I've been buiding up my inventory for this Quartermania Event (check out that post here).  It's been hectic, but I was able to get a crap load of headbands done...

 

I am also finishing up some Boo-Boo Bags.  These take a bit longer, as they have more parts to sew...but I love them anyway!  Just need to fill and sew the rice sacks, and sew the outsides together...

 

 

 

For Quartermania, I have to auction off 5 baskets of items!  Here are the items some lucky winners will get:

 

1.  One Dozen Spring Themed Cookies

2.  One Dozen St. Patrick's Day Themed Cookies

3.  Mother/Daughter Headband Set

4.  Mother/Daughter Scarf Set

5.  Therapy/Boo Boo Bag Set

 

This week I'll focus on the cookies and the presentation of my items...I'll have more pics to post throughout the week!!



Quartermania!

I love holiday weekends!  We were so productive today!  The hubby organized the Peas toys, while I cleaned up the kitchen, sorted through school artwork and did some sewing.  I was working on my sandwich/large snack bag (different from my sandwich wrap)...I'm still working on placement of the "pulls", which help with separating the velcro.  I will try one more idea I have tomorrow. 

 

Sooooo, I've been hesitant about participating in craft shows right now because I really need to focus on building up my inventory.  However, this event came up and I couldn't pass it by!!!

 

QUARTERMANIA!!  I've never actually been to one, but everyone I've talked to that's gone said it's a blast.  This will be my first official event, so I'm super excited!  If you're in Central Jersey and you're free on March 2nd, please come and support me!  Here is the information, as per the Facebook event page:

 



What is a Quartermania Paddle Fundraiser? It is a cross between an auction, a raffle, and a home party! Local direct sales vendors, as well as local businesses, will be auctioning off new items for only 1-4 quarters per bid! You can win items retailing up to $100 for mere quarters! If you like Bunco, Bingo or Tricky Tray's--you will LOVE Quartermania!
 

Location:  New Egypt Elks Lodge #2457

105 Lakewood Road

New Egypt, NJ  08533

 

Saturday, March 2nd

 Doors Open at 5:00pm and the “Mania” starts promptly at 6:00pm

Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5 each - you will receive 2 game paddles
... Additional Paddles may be purchased for $2.00 each
MUST BE 21 TO ATTEND.
50/50
Cash Bar and Food, Snacks & Drinks will be available for purchase.

 

***Don't Forget to Bring Your Quarters!!!!***
Feel free to forward this invite on to all your friends!!!!
For more information contact Melissa Conk at melt1313@gmail.com

How It Works:
- Each item up for bid will be displayed for all guests to see.
- There will be a brief description, retail value and how many quarters you will need to bid. Guests that want to play will give their bid (quarters) and hold up their numbered paddle.
- When all bids are collected, the auctioneer will draw a numbered ball from the container. If the number on your paddle matches the number on the ball drawn, you've won that item! If a matching numbered paddle is not held up, the auctioneer will draw again, until we have a winner.
- Once we have a winner all balls will be placed back in the container and go to the next item to be auctioned.

 

Just send me a quick email or post in the comments section to let me know if you can make it!!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day!  It was a close one, but I was able to get all my heart cookies done for the Peas' classes!  I think I was happier with how the larger love bugs came out...

I'm sorry I've been MIA, but it's been a bit crazy around here!  Now that it's calmed down a bit (hopefully), I am going to catch up on sewing inventory (and maybe cleaning and laundry).  I finished two more cookie orders...Mario cookies (you can see what they look like here) and R2-D2 cookies...

 

The R2-D2 cookies were new for me...and fun to make!  A huge thank you to Sweet Sugarbelle's tutorial on how to make these cute cookies!

 

Communion season is coming up, so I've started practicing some cross designs.  I have a few orders already, so I need to be prepared!  I think I've figured out the cross design for the girls, so now onto the boys!

 

 

Okay...I'm exhausted!  Until tomorrow...



Surprise party cookies

Last week I mentioned that I was making cookies for a surprise party (find that post here)...the party was today, so now I can post the rest of the cookies!!

Starfish

Surfboard #1

Surfboard #2

Surfboard #3

Sea Turtles

 

As you can tell, the party was a luau theme.  I loved making all of these designs, but I think my favorite was the sea turtle!

 

Coming up this week...

 

Valentine's cookies

Mario cookies

R2D2 cookies



Cookie Crazy!

Phew!  It's been a busy week!!  I've finished an order for a surprise party, and I have two more orders (plus mass amounts of Valentine's Love Bugs) for next week!  Communion season is also coming up, and I am starting to finalize my Cross Cookie designs.  Lots to think about...too bad laundry and cleaning aren't part of my thought process.  Sorry family.

Here is a sneak peek at the surprise party order...can you guess what the theme is?

 

Tonight I will be bagging and tagging these cute cookies...I will post the others this weekend.  Next weeks orders will include Mario and R2D2.  I'm super excited to work on them!

 

Now it's time to get to the bus stop to pick up the oldest Pea.  Here's to hoping I can get her to sit down and get her homework done...

Love Bugs

Between the scrapbooking crop yesterday and Superbowl Sunday today, it was the perfect time to keep experimenting with my Valentine's Day cookies!  I served up some love bugs and lace hearts yesterday, and I will be doing the same today...

 

I also made larger heart cookies...I'm thinking the love bugs might be better using a larger cookie.  My goal this week is to try a larger love bug and lace cookie to see which look better...then it's mass production time! 

 

But first...Superbowl celebration and decorating cookies for a surprise party!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Yay for an early spring!

 

Day 33:  Happy Groundhog Day

 

Today was a productive day.  I had an all-day scrapbooking crop, which was long overdue.  I have a wedding album to complete for someone, so I was finally able to sit down, with my scrapping ladies, and work on the book!  And now...the Peas are in bed, the hubby's in bed (not feeling well), so I will continue my scrapping solo.  Yippeeee!! 

1 Snap a Day - Day 28

I love those days where everyone is in a good mood.  The Peas aren't fighting, everyone's listening...I haven't seen these days lately.  Today has been "that" day.  Happy Peas = Happy Mommy.  It's hard to believe that next year I will have two Peas in Elementary school.  I don't even want to think about when all three of them leave me!

 

Day 28:  Lunch Date

 

This little Pea is my only lunch date on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  He has the same thing EVERY time:  half a cream cheese and jelly sandwich, a banana and a cheese stick (or slice of cheese).  It rarely changes.  I want to remember these lunch dates...time is just flying by!

Just playing around...

Valentine's Day is coming up, so I thought I'd play around with some cookie ideas!  I have a plan to make some conversation hearts, but I was also intrigued with lace.  Sweet Sugarbelle has another great tutorial...this one about piping lace onto cookies! 

Here are my first experiments...

 

They were a lot of fun to make, but I think next time I will use a slightly larger decorating tip...the #0 tip I used showed EVERY little shake of my hand!

 

I think I will make these, along with the conversation hearts, for the Peas' school Valentine gifts.  Fun!

 

 

 



1 Snap a Day - Day 26

Snow!  Although there was only about an inch of snow on the ground, the Peas were chomping at the bit to get out there and use their new saucer sleds.  Those new saucers didn't even make it through the hour they were out (as you can see below)...

 

Day 26:  Broken saucer but no broken spirits!

 

I give 100% credit to my husband for taking these photos...he took the Peas out to play while I was baking my butt off in the kitchen!!

 

 



Birthday cookies!

Now I need to focus on something else besides my photos...I know!  Cookies!  I had two orders for today, both for birthday parties.  The first order was wrapped yesterday, 2 dozen in all.  Here they are, ready to go...

Day 24:

The next batch to go out was a dozen Lalaloopsy cookies.  This was my first time making them.  They were a lot of fun, and the tutorial from Sweet Sugarbelle was a huge help!  I would definitely make them again!

Day 25:

 

Next up is a surprise party!  I will post about that order AFTER the party happens...I don't want to be the one to blow a surprise!  You'll be hearing more about that in a couple of weeks.

Photo Recovery Update...

Today is a 2-post kind of day.  I've been taking the photos for the 1 Snap a Day challenge, but just haven't been able to get my act together and actually blog!

Some have been asking if my photos have been recovered (see the post about that here).  Well, we're onto phase two.  Phase one was completed on Monday.  My hubby's I.T. guy (thank goodness for Carl!!) was able to recover a bunch of photos before HIS computer crashed!  Unfortunately, the photos he was able to recover, I had already backed up onto disks (they were from 2006-2009).  So, on to the second phase...Rapid Response Computer Services.  They have been super nice and walked me through their process.  They will be sending my external hard drive out to a forensics lab to see if they're able to crack into my hard drive.  I'm really nervous, since I believe that if the FBI can't retrieve my photos, who can?!  I should hopefully know within a couple of weeks. 

The photos I really need back are my 2011-2012 photos and my youngest Pea's baby photos!!!  Between Snapfish, Shutterfly and Facebook, I am able to collect some random shots from that timeframe, but the Peas' birthday parties, holidays, sports, etc...I just can't believe that they might be ALL GONE.

Here's a cute photo of the youngest Pea that Carl was able to recover...

 

Please keep sending those good recovery vibes my way!

1 Snap a Day - Day 21

Guess what we've been doing since 7:30 this morning?

 

We've been building a fort!  A day off of school = awesome time for the kids, but not always so awesome for me.  I really hope that to day is a good day all around.  I actually have activities planned for them!  I'm really trying for that "Good Mom" gold star today.  I have to decorate cookies for a couple of orders this weekend, so the kids will have some cookies of their own to decorate.  Top that off with a couple board games, while the youngest Pea naps, and that should secure a medaling spot in the Good Mom competition. 

 

Now...off to make this tent bigger!

 



1 Snap a Day - Day 20

Day 20...

I thought it would be so cute if Santa brought the Peas each a Furby for Christmas this year.  I thought they would get a kick out of the "furbish" language and have fun trying to teach it English.  The excitement lasted about 5 minutes...then these three furbies started talking amongst themselves (for a VERY long time). 

Then the youngest Pea thought it would be so much fun to pull his brother's furby's tail and drop it in the floor.  That's when the furby got MAD.  There was fire in his eyes and, even though he was talking his furbish gibberish, you knew he was cursing you out.  Creepy.  And there's no on/off switch.  Highly annoying.

I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the living room and saw this...

 

The Peas collectively decided to give two of the furbies (the ones that still had working batteries) a time out.  They stuck them between the TV console and their play kitchen.  Awesome.  Why didn't I think of that!  Now I don't have to stare at those creepy eyes.  Yikes. 

 

 

1 Snap a Day - Day 19

It was a little quiet in our house.  Quiet is not normally a good thing.  The last time it was really quiet, the youngest Pea came out of the bathroom with lip balm covering his hair.  So, I was a bit nervous as I rounded the corner to the bedrooms.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this...

 

How nice!  The two older Peas were actually playing together.  And NOT fighting.  This was a serious picture moment.  This sibling peace lasted another 7 minutes and 21 seconds (yes, I timed it).  Maybe next time we'll shoot for 10 minutes.

1 Snap a Day - Day 18

Hello, old friend...

Day 18:

 

I really missed my coffee during these last 5 days of sickness.  That's right...no coffee since last Saturday.  For those that know me (and my coffee addiction), it seems impossible.  You know it's bad when your children can place your order for you...good to know, just in case I lose my voice. 

 

Today I'm feeling better, so I will continue my laundry marathon and do some much needed cleaning!  I'm also excited to get back in to baking and crafting.  I have two cookie orders that are due next weekend, so I will be baking tomorrow...yay!!!  I think next week I'll post some more step-by-step photos of how I use the Kopykake projector.  Remember the dalmation cookies?  I have an order for those, so I'll show you how the process works!  I will also be making Lalaloopsy cookies for next weekend...I can't wait to try to make them.  I love trying new designs.  Yippee!!